Xingyan's Plan and the Hunters' Exploration

It sounds high-end. Not many monsters can threaten a Dragon Slayer's life, but that's all there is to it.

For an ordinary Dragon Slayer, this kind of territorial dominance is already a very fulfilling achievement. However, for Xingyan, such an achievement meant nothing.

So what if he became the strongest Dragon Slayer? So what if he was already one of the top predators in the Great Sand Sea's ecosystem?

In the end, he was still just an ordinary dragon.

Ordinary dragons have their limits. Xingyan learned one thing from his short dragon life: the more one relies on brute physical strength, the more one realizes the limits of ordinary dragons, unless they surpass ordinary dragons.

Only a unique and powerful special ability can allow a dragon to transcend the ecosystem. Storms, flames, miasma, viruses... Most Elder Dragons symbolize nature. However, setting aside this Elder Dragon power, in terms of physical strength alone, Elder Dragons and some large ordinary dragons are not significantly different.

At most, they are stronger and more enduring. If they don't use their Elder Dragon power and rely solely on physical strength, ordinary dragons cannot win in prolonged battles. However, in short battles, some ordinary dragons can go toe-to-toe with Elder Dragons, or even defeat them.

Even with special abilities, there are ordinary dragons whose combat power can rival lower-tier Elder Dragons.

This was information Xingyan confirmed through his own experiences. In such a situation, no matter how many ordinary dragons he ate, he couldn't break through the boundary between ordinary dragons and Elder Dragons.

After all, what he ate was ultimately ordinary material. If evolution were compared to building a spaceship that could withstand attacks and travel anywhere, it would be impossible to succeed with scrap metal... Xingyan wasn't a Ork, nor did he possess the power of "I think therefore I am."

To surpass ordinary dragons, he needed to consume higher-quality food—the blood and flesh of Elder Dragons, their organs, their Jewels.

This was where Xingyan felt troubled. His stomach was still as powerful as ever; there was nothing he couldn't digest. But his body itself had reached its limit, the limit of a Dragon Slayer.

He could still grow by accumulating more. Perhaps one day he could be called a "Veteran King Dragon Slayer," but this growth was incredibly slow.

Xingyan had already figured out what his special ability was after transmigrating. He could selectively evolve characteristics from the creatures he ate. However, evolving new characteristics required a large amount of Life Energy. The greater the change to his own body, and the more powerful the characteristic he evolved, the more Life Energy was needed.

Furthermore, when his body still had significant room for growth, by consuming food and having sufficient Life Energy, Xingyan could reach his physical limit in the shortest amount of time. To put it another way, it was like he had just broken through the Foundation Establishment stage and could quickly advance to the Grand Perfection of Foundation Establishment, preparing for the Golden Core stage.

In this world, it meant Xingyan had reached the Grand Perfection of an ordinary dragon and was preparing to advance to the Elder Dragon stage.

If he couldn't find a breakthrough in the direction of physical strength in a short period, Xingyan planned to focus on the direction of "skill."

Imagine two adults of similar size, each holding an equally sharp sword, dueling. One person only relies on brute force and swings wildly, while the other has received systematic training and mastered skills that could be called swordsmanship. The latter would undoubtedly win.

Xingyan planned to learn from others extensively.

"Is everyone here? Then let's share our intel."

On the Star Ship, or more accurately, at the former bow of the Star Ship, the leaders of the exploration team were gathered. They were around a small table, with their guild flag hanging behind it.

"I'll start," the Leader, a burly man with his arms crossed, coughed. "As the Leader of the Gold Rathian—cough! As the Leader," he said, staring at the map on the table, "it was indeed a Steel Dragon. We salvaged Steel Dragon Scales from the edges of the nearshore and the coast. Unfortunately, most of them have already rotted into decayed scales and are temporarily unusable."

Steel Dragon Scales are relatively easy to obtain as Elder Dragon materials, but they require special treatment. Otherwise, they turn into decayed scales, which cannot be forged into equipment or collected. Only by mixing them with Life Dust and nutrient solutions can they be revived as Steel Dragon Scales again, emitting a silvery-white glow.

"Not just decayed scales, but also Rusty Steel Dragon scales, which are completely unusable as materials now," the Technical Class Captain added. "It's a bit strange, though. We haven't found many Steel Dragon scales inside the wasteland. All the scales submitted so far were salvaged from the sea."

"The Hunters we sent out have redrawn the map. Several peaks that were used as landmarks have been destroyed, and a lake has appeared in the rocky area near the swamp zone. However, it's expected to disappear completely within two months, as there's no water source to replenish it," the Scholar representative also said.

"Then we can conclude that the extremely destructive storm half a year ago was caused by the battle between the Steel Dragon and the Rusty Steel Dragon. They fought from the skies above the nearshore ocean all the way into the Great Sand Sea, causing severe damage to the wasteland's ecosystem."

The Commander summarized with a serious expression.

Don't laugh, really, don't laugh—Hunters don't have Xingyan's comprehensive perspective. They couldn't send people out to explore during a natural disaster like a storm; that would be sending people to their deaths.

Under these circumstances, the investigation progressed slowly. It was perfectly normal to take half a year to roughly understand what had happened.

To be honest, during that destructive storm, the torrential rain, the gale-force winds, and the waves driven by tornadoes crashing onto the shore all caused immense damage to the Hunters' base.

Not to mention that many supplies were waterlogged, and some built houses were directly washed away. Rescuing the injured and rebuilding after the disaster kept the Hunters busy for the past six months, not to mention they had to send people to investigate the cause of this sudden natural disaster.

At the very least, they needed to figure out if this kind of natural disaster was a normal occurrence in the New World or an anomaly. This was the purpose of the investigation team.

"Yes... this is the power of Elder Dragons," the Scholar representative sighed with a heavy expression. "During the investigation, we found many animal corpses. They all died in that storm."

"The only good news is that we don't have to worry about those corpses causing an epidemic. The natives of the Great Sand Sea handled them well," Yano said, shrugging.

Those who like fresh food could eat it directly, and those who prefer carrion would eventually get their share. In the end, there were also various microorganisms to decompose the remains. For creatures living in resource-scarce areas like the Great Sand Sea, as long as they survived the natural disaster, they could fill their stomachs afterward.

"Haha, a bonus meal, right?" the Technical Class Captain laughed heartily. "For them, this was indeed an unexpected joy."

"But there are still unexplained things. The areas where the Steel Dragon and Rusty Steel Dragon fought seem to have been destroyed," the Scholar representative said, pushing his glasses up with a perplexed expression. "It wasn't due to rainwater erosion or other natural destruction, but was intentionally damaged by some creature. We found a large number of bite marks on the scene, from the soil to the rocks."

"In other words, there's still an unknown monster?" the Commander nodded seriously. "One that devours the scales or flesh dropped during the Elder Dragons' fight."

"Uh, perhaps not unknown?" The Scholar representative's perplexed expression deepened. "Normally, ordinary monsters shouldn't appear in areas where Elder Dragons fight. The aura of Elder Dragons, the aftermath of their battles... Considering their own safety, ordinary monsters would instinctively flee such areas."

"But we found traces of a Dragon Slayer in the areas where the Steel Dragon and Rusty Steel Dragon fought," Yano added. "Not old traces, but new ones that appeared after the area was destroyed by the Steel Dragon's power."

"...Are you suggesting that a Dragon Slayer was involved in the battle between the Steel Dragon and the Rusty Steel Dragon?" the Commander asked seriously.

It wasn't his fault for asking such a question; it was simply astonishing. Ordinary monsters might challenge Elder Dragons, and there were indeed ordinary monsters capable of defeating or driving away Elder Dragons.

But for one ordinary monster to attack two Steel Dragons simultaneously... and a Dragon Slayer, a monster known for its high intelligence even among ordinary monsters, such suicidal behavior was somewhat incomprehensible.

"Traces of Dragon Slayer attacks were indeed found at the scene," Yano replied concisely. "But strangely, we also didn't find any scales or slag dropped by the Dragon Slayer, nor any traces of fire breath."

"Dragon Slayer..." the Leader murmured meaningfully. "Speaking of which, haven't we seen that guy in a long time?"

Everyone knew who the Leader was referring to. There was only one Dragon Slayer familiar to the Hunters in the entire Great Sand Sea.

"Indeed, we haven't seen it for a long time," the Sword Master suddenly said. "The last time I saw it was half a year ago. I was hunting a Mudfish Dragon, and that strange Dragon Slayer was watching from a distance, not approaching."

"So, it really could be it?" the Technical Class Captain stroked his beard and mused. "I hope it's still alive."

It was a familiar dragon, a monster that rarely showed any hostility towards Hunters.

"It should still be alive, right?" the Scholar representative scratched his head. "Steel Dragons aren't carnivorous Elder Dragons. We couldn't find the Dragon Slayer's corpse, or even body parts. There were no scales or flesh left behind either... I have no idea what happened!! It's so frustrating! And so exciting! Is this the New World?! There are just too many unsolved mysteries!!"

As he spoke, the Scholar representative, his emotions suddenly running wild, slammed his hands on the table. Their investigation progress so far was practically zero, putting immense pressure on him.

On the table surrounded by the group, a map was laid out. The portion drawn so far appeared long and narrow, like an island. In reality, it was a map of the Great Sand Sea roughly sketched by the Hunters. The places marked with red circles indicated where the Steel Dragon had left traces.

"Well, that's part of nature's charm," the Leader said with a hearty laugh, patting the Scholar's shoulder to comfort him. "Aren't we here to explore these secrets? Having endless secrets to uncover should be a good thing."

"You can't let the Guild hear you say that," the Commander grinned. "They'd give anything to unravel the secrets of the Elder Dragon Migration as quickly as possible. The idea of endless secrets is a bit too terrifying for them."

"Hey, hey, be careful, you don't want to attract the attention of the Guild Knights," Yano joked. "The Guild can't help it, though. Every ten years, the Elder Dragon Migration causes devastating destruction to the kingdoms and villages along its path. It's good to figure out why this phenomenon occurs sooner rather than later."

Of course, there were Guild jokes among Hunters, especially among the higher-ranked ones.

Compared to their selves forty years in the future, these younger versions of themselves were quite... unrestrained in their speech and actions, full of youthful vigor.

Since there were no juniors around, they all knew each other well, so there was no need to maintain the dignity of a senior.

"Speaking of which, those two Steel Dragons fighting... could they be the ones we were tracking when we set out?" the Commander asked, stroking his chin after they had finished laughing. "The one from the Old World is an outsider to the Steel Dragons of the New World. Driven by territorial instincts, they would naturally fight each other."

"That's certainly possible," Yano nodded. "But didn't that Steel Dragon enter that Miasma Canyon? The ones fighting in the storm were a Steel Dragon and a Rusty Steel Dragon... Anyway, I probably won't be able to stay at the base for a while, Commander."

"You're leaving?" the Commander asked.

"Yes, thanks to the gear Captain helped me craft, I can try exploring that Miasma Canyon. I hope to find traces of that Steel Dragon," Yano said, picking up a gas mask from her waist and shaking it with a smile. "At least it will let us confirm a few things."

"In that case, go ahead. Just remember to check in regularly," the Commander nodded. "If the Steel Dragon we're tracking isn't one of the two fighting that day, things will get a bit troublesome."

That would mean at least three Steel Dragons were appearing in the Great Sand Sea, which was a bit too many.

"Oh? Then I--"

"Denied!"

The Leader's eyes lit up, but he was glared at and shut down by the Commander before he could even finish three words.

"Why?!" the Leader's eyes widened. "Yano can go!"

"Who do you think is the Leader here? Fulfill your responsibilities as Leader!" the Commander felt like kicking his friend's butt right then and there. "You're not going anywhere until the base is rebuilt!"

"Base--Nooo!!"

The free-spirited Leader, who loved freedom above all else, was doomed!