A Beast from the Start

Starting with an Egg

Zhang Yang sat down right after boarding the plane, only to hear the guy on his right making a phone call.

"Babe, we'll go get our marriage license the moment I land."

Zhang Yang's eyelid twitched.

Immediately after, the announcement chimed.

"Passengers, I am the captain of this flight. This is my final time piloting, and I'll be retiring after this trip..."

An old man on his left muttered, "Hmph, all that insurance I bought before turned out to be useless, I won't buy any this time. At least I can save a bit of money."

Zhang Yang couldn't sit still anymore.

A middle-aged man in the back row stood up with a "swish" and shouted loudly, "First, I am not superstitious. Second, I am getting off this plane!"

A flight attendant hurried over to calm him down.

Zhang Yang hesitated for two seconds, took out his phone, and sent a message to the girl he had a crush on for three years: "I like you."

Unexpectedly, she replied in seconds: "I don't like you."

Zhang Yang smiled; this flight should be safe now.

The next second, the world spun upside down.

When he woke up again, Zhang Yang's mouth was full of a earthy taste.

Zhang Yang wanted to sit up, exerting force through his limbs, and a crisp cracking sound rang by his ear.

He looked down and saw something like a dinosaur eggshell had shattered.

He dazedly wanted to reach out and pick up the egg piece to take a look, but suddenly found that what stretched out was not a hand, but a claw. Black scale armor covered thick knuckles, tipped with sharp hook-like talons.

He froze for a moment, looked at the claw he had extended, then looked at his lower body, and attempted to use this claw to touch his face, discovering something utterly unacceptable to him.

"I turned into a monster?"

Opening his mouth did not produce a human voice, but a deep roar.

Just at that moment, a massive flood of information rushed into his mind.

Golden Horned Beast, the peak bloodline among Star Beasts.

It devours metal to grow, possessing three major innate arcane techniques: Reinforcement, Devouring, and Clones.

Rank divisions: Planetary level, Stellar level, Universe level, Sector Lord, World Lord, Immortal...

Clones, the core innate talent of the Golden Horned Beast, allowing only three clones to be nurtured in a lifetime, which must be unlocked with realms: the Planetary level, Universe level, and World Lord level each grant one opportunity for nurturing.

Clones must be nurtured within the Inner World, requiring genetic samples of the target race, and absolutely cannot copy life-forms whose genetic tier exceeds its own by a hundred times; their initial strength also cannot surpass the main body.

Zhang Yang silently digested the realm system within the inherited memories, knowing that every major realm represented a tremendous transformation in the essence of life. The Planetary level condenses stars in the sea of consciousness, the Stellar level undergoes origin transformation, the Universe level comprehends domains, the Sector Lord condenses the Life Core, the World Lord forges the Inner World, until Immortal powerhouses merge with the laws of heaven and earth, possessing boundless lifespans.

"So, I transmigrated, and into a newly born Golden Horned Beast at that?"

After being dazed for a long time, he lowered his head, picked up an eggshell piece, chewed it up, and swallowed it.

A warm sensation spread throughout his body, his scale armor grew brighter, and his claws grew sharper.

After finishing all the eggshells, a sensation of shackles opening welled up from within his body.

He had broken through to the first tier of the Planetary level!

Zhang Yang slightly familiarized himself with his body and understood the abilities of the Planetary level. Aside from being able to fly, there was nothing else to it, and he hadn't had time to learn the various arcane techniques in his inherited memories yet.

He tried swishing his claws, feeling strength far surpassing an ordinary first-tier Planetary level. According to his inherited memories, the genetic tier of the Golden Horned Beast was ten times that of ordinary life-forms. This meant that although he was only at the first tier of the Planetary level right now, his strength was already close to the third or even fourth tier of an ordinary Planetary level.

Zhang Yang looked around once more. In the distance was a trident-shaped mountain ridge, and the mountains and earth within his line of sight were all reddish-brown, just like rust. No plants were visible, resembling a barren, uninhabited Gobi desert.

"Where the heck did this bring me?" Zhang Yang could not help but emit a soul-searching question.

Over the next few months, Zhang Yang began a cautious exploration.

He flew slowly, hugging the ground, hiding at the slightest sign of trouble and continuing his flight only after confirming there was no abnormality.

Yet there were no enemies, no living creatures whatsoever, not even the chirping of insects; all he could see was the Gobi desert.

By the fifth month, he finally couldn't hold back anymore and soared into the high sky.

Fifty meters, one hundred meters, five hundred meters—looking out into the distance from the air, there was still nothing.

By the sixth month, he stopped hiding. Flying at full speed, his figure swept across the vault of heaven like a black bolt of lightning, flying past mountain ranges, dry riverbeds, and huge meteorite craters.

Eight days later, he saw that familiar trident-shaped mountain ridge again; it was the place where he had taken off.

"I circled the planet once."

Zhang Yang hovered mid-air, remaining silent for a long time.

There were no enemies on this planet, no friends, no life of any kind, only ores.

Endless ores.

Since no other creatures were in sight for the time being, he might as well eat ores first. After all, who else could grow stronger simply by eating dirt?

Zhang Yang directly used his Devouring Talent, sucking right at the ground. Countless metal-rich mud and rocks on the ground were devoured and digested by him—truly eating dirt.

A month later he discovered that the quality of the ores varied unevenly, and the energy converted from ordinary ores was pitifully little.

Thus he began to eat selectively, consuming only ores that tasted good and were rich in energy.

He used his claws to rake open the surface layer of the earth, picking only high-quality ores of deep color and large density. Although he dug slowly, the energy conversion rate was a whole lot higher.

In the days that followed, Zhang Yang became a miner.

He dug out one mine tunnel after another underground, extending in all directions like a huge web spread across the depths of the planet. When encountering hard ore veins, he lowered his head and fiercely rammed them with the golden single horn on his forehead.

Boom, the ore shattered, and he swallowed it in one gulp.

That golden horn was harder than any metal, serving as his handiest tool.

His cultivation also continuously improved during this process: Planetary level, second order, third order.

Occasionally there would be surprises. One day he dug out a rich ore vein of several hundred tons of high-purity iron concentrate, every piece radiating faint energy fluctuations.

Zhang Yang froze for a second, then opened his wide mouth and crazily devoured!

The wind whistled, and the ore rapidly decreased. Energy surged in like a tide, the muscles beneath his scales bulged, his bones strengthened, and there was only one word in his heart: awesome.

Planetary level, fourth order!

Days passed just like that, day after day. Zhang Yang almost forgot the time, caring only about mining, devouring, and growing.

Five years later, his cultivation successfully reached Planetary level, ninth order.

Today, while he was frantically mining deep underground, he suddenly heard a different sound.

It was neither crustal movement nor the sound of shattering ore, nor even the whistling of the wind.

It seemed to be the roar of engines.

Zhang Yang dropped the ore in his mouth and quickly returned to the ground along the mine tunnel.

Only half of his head was exposed, covered completely in dust.

He saw a silver-gray spaceship landing slowly in the distance.

Zhang Yang's heartbeat accelerated.

A spaceship? Having a spaceship means having a civilization, and having a civilization means finally not having to eat dirt anymore!

He forcibly suppressed his excitement and took a deep breath.

Five years! Heaven knew how he had gotten through these past five years!

Every day consisted of eating dirt, waking up to eat, and eating to sleep! Now there was finally a chance to leave this place!

But his inherited memories told him that myriad races populated the universe and slaughter was constant. Upon encountering strange Demon Race members, it was better to be a bit careful.

Zhang Yang decided to observe first.

Four figures flew out from the spaceship.

At first glance at their appearance, two words flashed through Zhang Yang's mind: Demon Race.

Two had relatively slow flight speeds, and two were relatively fast. Judging by the sensory methods in his inherited memories, there should be two Planetary level and two Stellar level.

Himself: Planetary level, ninth order.

Zhang Yang was silent for a moment, slowly retreating back into the mine tunnel.

Break through to the Stellar level first. Otherwise, going up directly to communicate might be dangerous.

Ten days later, a majestic force burst forth from deep within Zhang Yang's body. His scales trembled, and every single cell cheered and underwent metamorphosis.

He successfully broke through to Stellar level, first order!

The Origin Core within his body began to disintegrate, and at the moment of disintegration, it reorganized, transforming into a tiny, chaotic 'space'. That was the embryonic form of his Inner World.

Zhang Yang sensed that although this space was only the size of a fist, it could store far more energy than before. His vitality also surged explosively at this moment; the lifespan of approximately ten thousand years he had possessed at the Planetary level had now multiplied at least severalfold.

More importantly, his body's adaptability to the vacuum of space had greatly increased, allowing him to survive briefly in outer space even without the aid of a spaceship.

Zhang Yang did not rush out. He searched his inherited memories and found two sets of secret techniques.

One set for body refining, strengthening physical defense capabilities.

One set for attack, strengthening the tearing capability of his dual claws.

He practiced bitterly in the depths of the underground for several more months, constantly waving his claws and swinging his tail, familiarizing himself with the various capabilities of his body, shattering countless ores, and testing his own attack power and defense.

When the body-refining secret technique was activated, a layer of golden light film would emerge on the surface of his scales, increasing his defense by nearly half.

The attack secret technique made his dual claws even sharper, increasing his tearing destructive power by about fifty percent.

As for that golden single horn on his forehead, under the blessing of the secret technique, its lethality could double.

When he returned to the surface, the scene before his eyes had changed.

Beside that small spaceship from before, there was now an even larger spaceship. Nearly a hundred semi-transformed Demon Race members were busy all around, mining, transporting, and operating machinery.

Zhang Yang lurked in the shadows, observing for a few days.

Taking advantage of two demon race members working in a secluded mine tunnel, he silently approached from behind, striking them down with one palm each.

The two wolf demons were sent flying, embedded into the mine wall and coughing up blood.

Zhang Yang walked over, looking down from above.

"I speak, you answer. Nod if you understand."

He used the universe common language.

The two wolf demons looked at each other in terror, then nodded frantically.

"What race are you? Where are you from?"

"L-Lord, we are from the Sirius clan. My name is Big Black, and this is my younger brother Second Black. We come from Sirius."

"Who sent you here?"

"Lord Steel Fang of the third-order Stellar level. He detected that the mineral deposits on this Chiyun Star had extremely high purity, and sent us here to mine."

Zhang Yang narrowed his eyes. A third-order Stellar level—one of the two Stellar-level beings he sensed initially.

"What about the other Stellar-level?"

"The other? You must mean Lord Blazing Fire. Lord Blazing Fire went back to recruit manpower and will be back in a bit."

"How many demon race members are there currently? What are their strengths?"

"One hundred at the Planetary level, mostly below the third order. There are ten above the fifth order acting as captains, and Lord Steel Fang is the only Stellar-level."

Zhang Yang fell silent.

He was only at the first-order Stellar level, and Steel Fang at the third-order Stellar level possessed a baseline combat strength roughly four times his own. However, with the Golden Horned Beast's ten-times genetic tier, plus secret arts blessing, his actual combat strength was enough to surpass Steel Fang.

In a head-on fight, he had at least a seventy percent chance of winning, and if Steel Fang underestimated him, the odds would be even higher.

The problem was that Blazing Fire could return at any time, or even bring stronger reinforcements.

Ultimately, Zhang Yang concluded that he could not stay here for long.

"What is your demon race's attitude toward unfamiliar demon race members?"

The two wolf demons exchanged glances, hesitating.

Zhang Yang frowned, abruptly releasing his Stellar-level aura like a mountain crushing down from above.

"Answer, or die."

Second Black shivered in fright. "I'll speak! Our demon race isn't xenophobic, but you need a clear identity, and rules only matter on demon race planets. But here, on a barren mining star, Lord Steel Fang might not be very friendly in order to keep the mineral deposits secret."

Zhang Yang understood. On this isolated mining star, there were no rules, only fists.

"Last question, do you know how to fly a spaceship?"

Big Black and Second Black stared at each other fiercely, their faces filled with shock.

Zhang Yang did not make them guess, saying straightforwardly, "I'm going to seize that small spaceship and leave here."

Big Black replied, "We know how. The spaceship is the simplest kind, equipped with an intelligent system. You just give voice commands, and it has a complete star map built in."

"Which is the nearest demon race planet?"

"It's Sirius, the one we came from."

Zhang Yang pondered slightly, changing the question. "Which is the nearest multi-species mixed planet?"

Second Black quickly replied, "It's Myriad Monster Star! That's the largest trading planet in this stellar region. It's rumored to have a Sector Lord level lord holding down the fort, and it's very tolerant of any demon race. The variety of demon race members living there is enormous."

Sector Lord level?

Zhang Yang's heart sank. With his current strength, he wasn't even considered an ant before a Sector Lord. But looking at it from another angle, having a powerhouse holding down the fort at least meant order.

"And," Big Black cautiously sized up Zhang Yang, "my lord, your physique really resembles certain races within our demon race. As long as you don't actively expose yourself—"

Zhang Yang's heart stirred slightly.

Disguising himself as a demon from a remote, minor race—it was feasible.

"Where are the mined ores kept?"

"Handed over to the captains for registration every day and sent into the warehouse. The warehouse is right on the spaceship where Lord Steel Fang is located."

Zhang Yang's eyes lit up.

Ores mined by nearly a hundred people for half a year constituted a considerable fortune.

"Take me there."