A Windfall at Home, Too?!

"Kiju. Den."

Watching his character get hauled back to camp by the Cat Car, Luo Yun dejectedly set down the controller and stared silently at the screen for a long while.

As if his brain had suddenly frozen, he sat there for quite some time before slamming his palm onto the desk and roaring over the HP -1 impact sound. From afar, he looked like an overheated shrimp.

"What?! That could miss too?!!"

No, he needed to calm down!

Luo Yun let out a long breath and twisted his stiff neck, just about to get up and find his water cup.

The next second, a massive shadow engulfed him. Amid the deafening crash of the window and wall being smashed apart, only one thought remained in his mind.

"So you could get hit by a windfall at home too?"

Somewhere within the Ancient Forest of the New World, a cluster of glowmoss gave off a faint light inside a hidden tree hollow.

Around the glowmoss, several Forest Geckos lay quietly against the damp, moss-covered walls, waiting for insects to be drawn in by the dim light. Their eyes shifted slightly, making them seem like a group of seasoned hunters.

Little did they know that danger was gradually closing in on them.

Within the darkness, a figure crept closer. Upon reaching a suitable position, its powerful legs bent slightly to gather strength, its wings drew in, and it adjusted its balance.

With the scrape of claws against the ground, the shadow lunged forward, opening its bloodstained jaws. Before the Forest Gecko could react, it clamped down hard on its target, then violently shook its head until the prey in its mouth no longer moved.

After finishing all that, the shadow impatiently pinned the gecko's lower body beneath one foot and began tearing into it beneath the glowmoss.

In the dim light, the shadow gradually revealed its form.

It was actually a juvenile Male Fire Dragon!

The spines on his red carapace had only just begun to protrude. His oversized head was still somewhat disproportionate to his body, and the wings a Rathalos took such pride in were currently no more than a pair of featherless chicken wings plastered to his sides, utterly incapable of supporting flight.

No matter how one looked at him, he should have been a hatchling dragon still dependent on the nest, fed by his parents.

Yet this hatchling dragon, who should have been crying for food in the nest, had just completed a hunt alone, even if his prey had only been a harmless Forest Gecko.

Having completed another "hunt," he cleaned the food down to the last scrap, swallowed the fishy sweetness of blood in his mouth, and looked longingly toward the glowmoss. Only after confirming that the Forest Geckos showed no signs of gathering again did he reluctantly turn and walk back into the shadows.

The tree hollow was not small, but that was only relative to Luo Yun, who was still a hatchling dragon.

He wobbled over to another damp spot, bit off half of the poisonous mushroom he had deliberately saved earlier and swallowed it whole. After casually snapping up a passing Bitter Bug, he finally returned to lie beside the dark stream within the hollow.

He had been transported here for several days already, but he still could not understand why, as a Male Fire Dragon, he had been born not in a Rathalos nest or even a Kulu-Ya-Ku's food cache, but inside this tree hollow that so perfectly matched the description of a "beginner's safehouse."

There was a water source here, along with a certain amount of easily obtainable food—just enough to keep a hatchling dragon like him from starving after hatching. Combined with the narrow, concealed entrance covered by hanging vines and brush, at least those massive creatures over ten meters long could not get in.

A safehouse like this, with only one dragon living in it, made it hard not to suspect some sort of "arrangement by fate."

But there was no use thinking about that now. With his explosive growth over the past few days since hatching, the food in the tree hollow could no longer satisfy his daily needs.

Just like now, one Forest Gecko and a large mushroom could barely ease that terrifying hunger in his stomach. When he had first emerged from the egg, that amount would have been enough to fill him up completely.

So, did that mean his beginner tutorial was over?

Somewhat irritated, he thumped the ground with the tail that had only recently grown spikes. After calming himself a little, he slowly closed his eyes.

Gradually, a strange warm current rose from beneath the ground and was absorbed by Luo Yun. It could slowly and comprehensively strengthen his physique. In Luo Yun's eyes, this warm current was perhaps this world's unique Life Energy.

It was precisely this almost miraculous energy that had given rise to this world's dazzling and vibrant ecology.

Luo Yun himself was not sure whether he counted as an exception, but like the Elder Dragons of legend, he could sense and actively absorb the Life Energy flowing with the earth veins.

And in Luo Yun's blind spot, specks of Silver Particles glowing icy blue appeared out of thin air, then were drawn into his body along with the Life Energy. He noticed none of it.

Time passed bit by bit. Only when Luo Yun felt that he had reached some sort of limit did he open his eyes again.

"Sigh, I didn't expect that even after no longer being human, my body would still have limits. Was there any point in no longer being human, then?"

Luo Yun muttered to himself. With a thought, a crude panel visible only to him appeared before his eyes.

Name: Luo Yun

Race: Wyvern Species—Rathalos

Trait: Randomly drawing (99%)

The panel was simple, but as someone who had spent years lurking around Qidian, Luo Yun understood that this thing was one of the things he could rely on to survive in this world.

As for the rest, it was naturally the body of a Rathalos—an upper-tier creature in the Ecological Niche, bearing the title of "King of the Skies."

Rathalos might have often served as stepping stones for all sorts of monsters in the game from his previous life, their status dropping again and again. But in this real world, Rathalos were undeniably powerful creatures at the upper levels of the world's Ecological Niche, apex predators of this world!!

"Almost there, almost there. Just wait a little longer."

Suppressing the anticipation in his heart, Luo Yun closed the panel and headed toward the glowmoss.

The food inside the tree hollow would soon be unable to meet his daily needs. Leaving the hollow was inevitable.

And the skill and trait he drew next would give him one more measure of confidence.

As another Forest Gecko went down his throat, the trait section on the panel finally reached one hundred percent. After a dazzling stream of garbled text, the trait draw was complete.

Trait: Speed Boost (speed increases as battle continues)

"???"

Was this trait the one I thought it was?

Why did this description feel a little like something from a famous game in his previous life? It had merely changed from each turn to the duration of battle, and there was even a second new trait draw. So was it a composite trait? Could there be a third or fourth one?

Luo Yun was stunned by his own speculation. But if things were truly as he imagined, then his future would not merely be about living well. Perhaps he could reach for a certain realm—the realm known as "Forbidden," one that transcended this world's Ecological Niche!!