Jinouga Leader's Goal

Feeling somewhat exhausted, it lay down on the spot. Although it could feel its stamina slowly recovering, the Jinouga leader understood that its life force was still draining away.

If this were four years ago, that Thunder Jaw Dragon wouldn't have been able to get up so quickly after taking a direct hit. Not only that, but it had also escaped with such vitality. The loss of its life force was already starting to affect its strength. If it couldn't find a way to heal, it would have no choice but to find a secluded spot and quietly wait for death.

The Jinouga leader remained lying there. As a high-tier ecological monster, no foolish creature would dare disturb it, and the surrounding creatures instinctively took detours.

As time passed, several tall Jinougas arrived beside the Jinouga leader, carrying food, and as always, they let it taste the prey first.

For the past four years, despite the abundant life energy in the Ancient Tree region and the sufficient nutrition from the food, the Jinouga leader's injuries had not been healed. It had only managed to alleviate the symptoms.

Facing the approach of death, the Jinouga leader made a new decision.

In this world, for ordinary creatures to become stronger, they either relied on magical life energy, making places like the Ancient Tree region, which were ley line nodes, the preferred settlement areas for most powerful creatures.

The second method was the most basic: eating!

Eating various nutritious foods, eating various energy-rich foods, and relying on digestive abilities to improve oneself.

Since the life energy of the Ancient Tree region was not enough to heal its injuries, the Jinouga leader, at its wit's end, wanted to try a different approach.

It would seek out monsters in the Ancient Tree region that had undergone special changes or possessed traits different from ordinary creatures, and then eat them!

Although, except for some special existences, it was highly likely that eating these special creatures would have no effect.

However, from the Jinouga leader's experience, this was its last struggle.

This Thunder Jaw Dragon was the closest to the Jinouga's territory and was also a creature that had mutated over the past four years, making it the Jinouga leader's first target.

However, after a series of exchanges, it discovered that this Thunder Jaw Dragon was actually just a Veteran Great Jagras whose behavior was less aggressive, whose combat skills were excellent, and which was mutating towards becoming a Thunder Jaw Dragon.

At most, its strength was slightly above average, but compared to a veteran individual, this level of power was still within an acceptable range.

It did not reach the "special" condition the Jinouga leader had anticipated.

Therefore, the Jinouga leader merely repelled it and did not call its pack to surround and kill it.

There was no need for that. If the opponent's desperate counterattack caused the already dwindling number of Jinougas in the Ancient Tree region to decrease by one or two more, it wouldn't be worth it.

"Roar~"

Seeing that all the Jinougas had finished eating, the Jinouga leader let out a long roar and led the pack of Jinougas to gallop towards the edge of the Ancient Tree region.

The next target was the Great Rathian that was about to surpass the limits of a veteran individual!

Unaware that the Ancient Tree region, which had been peaceful for four years, was about to be stirred up again, Luo Yun was currently closing his eyes and absorbing the ley line energy. Ya Ji, meanwhile, was continuously marking territory and patrolling the surroundings.

Only Luo Yun and two Deters, who were busily cleaning the nest, remained inside the den.

After a long while, feeling that it was about time, Luo Yun opened his eyes. He opened his rudimentary panel for the first time in a long time. The progress bar for his new trait was four-fifths complete. Calculating the time, he would be able to unlock the next trait in about half a year.

Luo Yun had figured out some patterns regarding the traits he had drawn.

The first trait, Acceleration, was used to enhance his speed during combat.

The second trait, Mighty Strength, improved and strengthened his physique while also granting him physical strength and power far exceeding that of Fire Dragons of the same age, thus comprehensively enhancing his physical attack capabilities.

The third trait, Body of Flames, modified his flame sac and all his poison glands, allowing his venom and bodily fluids to be manufactured into highly viscous, combustible liquids. It also granted him the ability to control these bodily fluids to control the flames around him.

The fourth trait, Fire Attraction, caused his fire attribute to become energized, similar to Ancient Dragons. This not only greatly increased his fire resistance but also allowed him to absorb flames and increase their temperature, forming a self-sustaining cycle of energy and greatly reducing energy consumption.

The fifth trait, and the one he was most satisfied with currently—Mind's Eye—greatly enhanced his senses, which was of great help in combat.

The sixth trait, Scorched Body, acquired the year before last, compensated for his defensive shortcomings.

These traits were all reinforcing his physical foundation and could become even stronger as he grew stronger himself, directly allowing him to break free from the constraints of age and body, possessing the capital to fight against veteran individuals in the same ecological niche.

Thinking of veteran individuals, Luo Yun recalled the beauty of the stats of those veteran individuals in the games of his past life.

When equipped, normal individuals all became "small animals." But when he encountered veteran individuals, he once suspected if he had forgotten to equip his gear.

The exaggerated stat inflation, faster attack speed, and shorter wind-up and recovery animations directly turned him back into a skillful hunter.

And now, in this world where it had become reality, the situation was the same. In front of him and Ya Ji, ordinary monsters in the same ecological niche could only be suppressed by their strength. Unless they were in large numbers, they posed no significant threat.

"Roar!!"

A roar accompanied by a strong wind blew into the den. Luo Yun's eyes lit up, and he immediately trotted out.

After quickly looking around, he saw his neighbor, the Female Fire Dragon from the Fire Dragon couple living by the reservoir on the slope, currently chasing a fleeing Scratch Bird.

The Scratch Bird, with a look of fear on its face, still tightly held onto the dragon egg in its hands, constantly dodging by using its agility and the dense branches of the Ancient Tree to leap left and right through the canopy.

"Good grief, I saw a Scratch Bird in the hunting grounds not long ago, and now I see another one. These guys are truly desperate for their eggs."

Was it that stealing Rathian eggs became too difficult? Or was eating Herbivore Dragon eggs no longer tasty?

Why did it have to provoke a Fire Dragon? Now it's been discovered, right?

Luo Yun saw the Female Fire Dragon's furious attacks, completely disregarding the egg, as if attacking with the determination that the egg could be lost, but the egg thief must die.

Regardless of the Scratch Bird's final fate, that egg was definitely not going to be saved. With such a mother Fire Dragon, it would be good if two eggs out of a clutch could grow successfully.

ps: Because many readers have not played Monster Hunter, or only enjoy the combat of Monster Hunter and overlook some of the terminology and settings, I will provide a brief explanation of the Monster Hunter term "Veteran" here.

"Veteran" does not mean "having experienced many battles" as the literal meaning suggests. Instead, it refers to individuals that appear in regions with abundant life energy and rich nutritional resources, based on the original monster species, and possess stronger strength and higher danger levels.

In game terms, veteran individuals are monster individuals whose stats have been significantly increased.

I won't elaborate on the strength; it's just stat beauty.

Their appearance is reflected in their size, scale color, or both.

With the boost from their stats, veteran individuals possess combat power that significantly suppresses standard, ordinary individuals.

The veteran individuals in the book currently:

Ya Ji: Length 20, Standard Female Fire Dragon: 17.54

Veteran Great Jagras: Length 21, Standard Great Jagras: 16.46

Veteran Great Rathian: Length 20, Standard Great Rathian: 11.09

Lastly, I'll mention that I've set the growth period for Fire Dragons to reach adulthood at 15 years, with a few more years of slow growth afterward, which I won't describe in detail.

P.S.: Another chapter is being written~~