The two dragons complained back and forth, each getting a word in. Xingyan seemed more like he was talking to himself, venting his frustration, while the Bird Bro brothers chimed in alongside him. Their little one had grown so big and become so powerful, and now he'd suffered such a serious injury... No matter what he said, he was right!
After arriving in this familiar yet unfamiliar world and seeing his first Elder Dragon with his own eyes, Xingyan could only think that these Elder Dragons... were pretty damn annoying.
Every last one of them acted like, "I don't eat beef," and never considered how their wanton release of power might affect the surrounding environment and living things.
The real world obviously wouldn't bring monsters out in order from easy to difficult, just to accommodate the player's experience like a game. Elder Dragons and Tempered monsters could appear anywhere at any time, whenever they felt like it. They didn't need a reason.
It was like some random mod had been installed, and you'd been punished with a low-rank, two-star quest to hunt a zombie Great Jagras (Kirin).
Xingyan had always understood the reasoning behind it, but accepting it was another matter entirely.
Every corner of the New World was brimming with Ley Line Energy. Even places where it was blocked, like the Great Sand Sea, had far denser Ley Line Energy than the Old World.
That was thanks to the Elder Dragons who had chosen to die naturally here over countless years. Among them were even top-tier Elder Dragons like the Serpent King Dragon. It was their remains that had nurtured the New World's terrifying abundance of life.
Of course, the Light Dragon, concealed in the deepest reaches of the Ley Line, deserved thanks as well. Its tireless calls over countless years had attracted so many Elder Dragons to meet their end here.
This had directly caused the Elder Dragon population in the New World to exceed its limits. Not only did elderly Elder Dragons nearing the end of their lives choose to come here to die naturally, but many young ones also settled here, drawn by the abundant food or Life Energy.
It was only that Elder Dragons generally didn't choose to go to war with one another lightly.
Whatever the Light Dragon's intentions, the end result was that Xingyan now had to face a world where Life Energy was so abundant that Tempered monsters could be found everywhere, while Elder Dragons roamed about whenever the whim took them.
The Great Sand Sea was already like this. Xingyan hardly dared imagine what the Ancient Forest was like, with its greater variety of creatures, more plentiful food, and fiercer competition.
It couldn't possibly be Gold Fire Dragons roaming the ground, Silver Fire Dragons flying through the skies, Spike Dragons patrolling the Great Forest, Purple Poison Princesses lurking in the shadows, and Moon Swift Dragons and Azure Electric Masters... Yeah, just thinking about it was enough to scare a dragon.
Ahem! No need to frighten himself!
He'd just be extra careful when he went there in the future.
As he and the Bird Bro brothers babbled away in dragon language, complaining about all sorts of things, Xingyan's thoughts ran wild... Today, for the first time, he had truly experienced what survival of the fittest meant.
It was a cruel world, a cruel nature, that he had never experienced when he was human. There was no compassion or warmth. If you could survive, you lived; if you couldn't, you died.
Many of the lives killed by the aftershocks of the two Kushala Daoras' battle hadn't even known what had killed them before they died.
That was what terrified Xingyan. It was even why he was so angry: because he wasn't an Elder Dragon, but an ordinary life that could be easily affected by their power.
This lack of security, this anxiety over having no control over his own life, had taken deep root in Xingyan's heart, making him yearn more and more to grow stronger.
The rainy season in the Great Sand Sea had turned disastrous this year. Many creatures living there had died in the calamity, but many others rejoiced at nature's generous gift. They had obtained a great deal of food without any danger at all. It was the most bountiful rainy season in years.
Everyone had their own lives. Xingyan had no interest in worrying about all that, and there was nothing he could do anyway. He had always had a good attitude. After quickly pulling himself out of his gloom, he began making plans to move with the Bird Bro brothers.
Before, he'd been wondering whether to expand this old den. Now, he didn't even need to hesitate.
Instinctively, Xingyan wanted to find a way to move to the Dragoncrystal Land or the Leyline Corridor. They had volcanoes, lava, and plenty of minerals, making them ideal places for Glavenus to live and grow.
But places a hundred times more dangerous than the Great Sand Sea weren't suitable for the Bird Bro brothers. They were also far too hot for birds, and Xingyan had no intention of abandoning them and leaving on his own.
After considering that and a number of other things, he discussed it with the Bird Bro brothers, and they decided to move underground, to the area where the sandy, rocky terrain met the desert.
As mentioned earlier, the rocky cliffs in the Great Sand Sea were arranged strangely. Layer upon layer had been forced up from underground, like a forest made of stone, with the parts protruding above the surface laid out in a regular, orderly pattern... Well, like a pack of fries, each one distinct.
After years of weathering and damage from dragon activity, the stone pillars that protruded aboveground had gradually become environments like rocky deserts and canyons. Their underground sections, meanwhile, formed a unique subterranean kingdom.
The terrain and environment here were far more complicated than the game had shown. Underground caves of all sizes and crooked tunnels through cracks in the rock connected every which way.
Aside from the larger caves, only small creatures came here. The Bird Bro brothers' size actually made them safer in this place, and they could use the underground passages to reach the Flower Field Marshland Area directly, allowing them to carry out their daily egg-stealing routine.
The only problem was that, with Xingyan's enormous body, finding a cave where he could move around freely and safely was no easy task.
Fortunately, he could eat dirt, so he could pick a spot first and then expand the den himself, saving him a lot of trouble.
Xingyan wasn't in a hurry to fulfill his death pact with that old Rusty Steel Dragon. It might have been nearing the end of its life, saying at every turn that it was about to die, but it was an Elder Dragon. When an Elder Dragon said "soon," it definitely didn't mean in a day or two. It meant at least a year or two, or two or three.
Maybe even longer.
That Rusty Steel Dragon had deliberately bitten off Xingyan's Sword Tail before leaving, then told him to come back after reforging it.
One reason Xingyan chose to build his new den underground was to avoid any dangers that might come in the future, such as another natural disaster caused by Elder Dragons fighting each other in the Great Sand Sea.
Another reason was to make mining more convenient... This place was closer to the depths of the Ley Line, and the minerals pushed out by the shifting Ley Line were buried among the layers of rock. Xingyan's only concern was digging too far and burying himself.
Clang, clang. Crunch, crunch.
Xingyan didn't have a pickaxe, so he could only eat through the rock with his mouth or keep digging along any ore veins he found.
Fortunately, a Glavenus's teeth grew back after falling out. Otherwise, Xingyan wouldn't have dared wear his teeth down like this.
For the creatures living in the underground cave system, any sound made here seemed to stretch through the empty space and travel a long way through the stone, its echoes lingering without end.
And now, besides the clanging of hunters swinging their pickaxes, another sound had appeared in the caves at some point: a crunching, munching noise, as if some terrifying monster were feeding.
It was enough to scare ordinary small creatures into hiding.
Xingyan, however, was completely unaware. As long as he didn't accidentally dig straight into Rich Woman Dragon's home, he wasn't worried at all.
Well, if he could eat some of Rich Woman Dragon's Golden Carapace... that might be pretty nice too?
A Golden Dragon Slayer, perhaps.
Life suddenly became peaceful again. Every dragon had things to keep busy with. In order to forge his most important weapon as quickly as possible and make it even sturdier, Xingyan had gone many days without hunting large monsters to build up Life Energy.
Half a year ago, he had even gone back to the battlefield where the two Kushala Daoras had fought, hoping to find some Steel Dragon Scales to eat. He'd indeed found a little, though not much.
Most of it was rust flakes that had fallen from the Rusty Steel Dragon's body, and rust flakes had no value. They couldn't be used as minerals.
Speaking of which, Xingyan had indeed eaten the important organ the Rusty Steel Dragon used to control the storms outside its body that day—its Steel Dragon horn. But honestly, no matching Glavenus horn capable of controlling storms had appeared on his body.
Xingyan had two guesses about this. One was that he hadn't eaten the Steel Dragon's gem or the special organ inside its body that generated wind. That organ and the horn worked together.
The other was that after eating the Steel Dragon's horn, he had indeed gained the potential to evolve the corresponding ability, but he hadn't eaten enough Steel Dragon flesh to acquire Elder Dragon blood, nor had he obtained the great amount of Life Energy that evolution would consume. So the hidden potential had yet to become an expressed trait.
But that was fine. Once he truly defeated the Rusty Steel Dragon and ate every last part of it, all his questions would be answered.
Could there be a better opportunity than an old Kushala Daora nearing the end of its life and already looking for death?
To cross the nearly impassable chasm between ordinary dragons and the Ancient Dragon Species, and evolve the very essence of his life.
Young dragons had dreams, and life held hope. So Xingyan had nothing to complain about or grow tired of in this life of burrowing into the earth to search for and eat minerals, hidden away from the sun. Instead, he was full of motivation.
But Xingyan didn't know that as he spent more time underground and widened his range, his presence was gradually becoming familiar to the creatures that had always lived in the caves.
Xingyan had his head down, happily munching through a Lapis Lazuli vein. He'd rarely come across such a rich deposit. It wasn't just Lapis Lazuli; he could also eat the occasional Lightcrystal and Sharp Armor Jade... Naturally, Xingyan couldn't recognize these high-grade minerals in the real world. He only knew that eating these shiny things was better for him.
They could make his carapace harder and his Sword Tail heavier and sharper.
Above Xingyan, in the gaps left where two jutting stone pillars crossed, several pairs of eyes watched him. Their owners had been keeping an eye on Xingyan for a long time, so they were already familiar with his daily schedule.
Sure enough, around the time dusk fell over the surface of the Great Sand Sea, Xingyan, who'd been busy all day, began to feel tired. He stopped swallowing the mineral vein and headed back to his den along the passage he'd dug out.
Compared to an ordinary Glavenus, Xingyan alone needed at least as many minerals as four or five of them.
Ordinary Glavenus ate minerals only to forge and maintain their Sword Tails, and at most to refill their Flame Sacs. Xingyan was different. Besides forging that exceptionally heavy and sharp Sword Tail, he also had to cover his body in mineral secretions—even two full layers!
One layer covered the base carapace, which was tightly fitted over his muscles, to strengthen his defense. The other covered the Air Sac Carapace over the base layer. That added defense and increased the damage when the Air Sac Carapace exploded.
Well, the more satisfying it was to fight, the more of a hassle it was to make up for it afterward. The worst part was that he couldn't finish the job once and be done with it. After every battle, Xingyan had to eat minerals to remake his Air Sac Carapace.
It was like DIO stopping time and carrying Polnareff down the stairs: a glorious show in front of everyone, hard labor behind the scenes.
Most importantly, raw ore wasn't the same as mineral secretions. The conversion rate was about three to one: three portions of raw ore were needed to refine one portion of mineral secretions, not to mention the high-grade minerals.
Xingyan couldn't do much about it. If he wanted to be stronger in battle than an ordinary Glavenus, he had to give something up. Time or energy, whatever it was, he'd have to lose it first.
There was no such thing as a peaceful life. You just had to bear the weight and keep moving forward.
The Bird Bro brothers had already returned to the den. Who knew how many eggs they'd eaten while they were out? They'd even brought one back for Xingyan as a gift.
At Xingyan's current size, a single Aptonoth egg wouldn't even count as something to pick his teeth with. Still, he praised the Bird Bro brothers, who were looking up at him expectantly, until they chirped with delight.
The eyes hidden at the top of the cave watched Xingyan all the way back to his den. The layered layout of the underground world concealed them well, and after confirming that Xingyan had returned, the owners of several pairs of eyes quickly left.
They rustled along through broad caves and narrow cracks in the rock. Before long, the owners of those eyes reached another cave closer to the surface. It was next to a sheer cliff, and sunlight streamed in through several window-like openings, while thick rock covered most of the ceiling, keeping out the wind and rain.
It was a safe, cozy haven. A bonfire had already been lit in the middle of the cave, and several sticks with pieces of meat or fish stuck on them stood beside it. They were already sizzling with grease, and the aroma drifting past their noses was faintly detectable.
It was full of the comforts of everyday life.
Before you continue