Dragon Fins

Over the next two months, Haoyuan treated the riverbanks and swamps as his personal grinding spots.

His frequent hunting made life miserable for the giant crocodiles. They couldn't even enjoy sunbathing in peace. Some couldn't take it anymore and chose to risk swimming across to the opposite bank.

A massive silhouette suddenly leaped out from the river, swallowing the leading beach crocodile whole and leaving behind concentric ripples spreading across the water's surface.

Haoyuan, who was just lamenting how the giant crocs running away made his dragon life ever harder, was instantly startled by the huge commotion.

“What was that? A Mosasaur?”

He truly hadn't expected a top underwater apex predator like a Mosasaur to be lurking in this broad main river channel.

“This era truly is fraught with danger,” Haoyuan sighed, shaking his head.

Now that the giant crocs in the swamps and riverbanks were on guard against him, he had no choice but to find a new hunting ground.

“I wonder how the baby dinosaurs have been doing lately? Let's see if they've fattened themselves up!”

Thus, after enjoying a few months of peace, the herbivorous dinosaurs found that the white nightmare had returned.

In the blink of an eye, ten years passed.

Haoyuan's Kirin Arms had grown even thicker and more powerful. He could even rely solely on the force of his Kirin Arms to drag his entire eight-meter-long body up into tall trees.

All these years of hunting made him increasingly aware of his own strength. His mastery over his Kirin Arms had reached perfection. Combined with his Trunk Strength, he could propel himself far forward in a sudden, leap-like burst.

Relying on this explosive technique, he tackled many five-meter-long medium-sized herbivorous dinosaurs. Life grew increasingly comfortable.

However, good times don't last forever.

Haoyuan's appetite was too immense. Long-term hunting led to a scarcity of young four-to-five-meter dinosaurs in the nearby area. To satisfy his energy demands, he needed a larger hunting ground.

To that end, he migrated along with a massive herd of dinosaurs to a much broader floodplain.

Water was abundant here, with plenty of crocodiles and even more dinosaurs—Triceratops, Stegosaurus, Styracosaurus, hadrosaurs... they had everything.

Correspondingly, large carnivorous dinosaurs were also plentiful.

However, for the sake of evolution, Haoyuan decided to stay. He just needed to choose a swamp as a habitat to evade the pursuit of carnivorous dinosaurs.

Like birds in his previous life, dinosaurs were filled with air sacs throughout their bodies, making it hard for them to sink to the bottom of the water. The water, on the other hand, was his paradise; not only could he swim fast, but constricting prey was also much easier.

Before long, Haoyuan selected a well-located swamp with a suitable water level. On his way to the swamp, he casually killed a five-meter-long herbivorous dinosaur and dug in heartily.

The herbivorous dinosaurs and giant crocs here weren't on guard against him yet, giving him the perfect element of surprise.

A gentle breeze blew past, and his swaying dragon whiskers suddenly stiffened.

Haoyuan's brow twitched slightly, and he quietly kept eating his meat without giving anything away.

Soon, two massive figures approached him from behind. Their footsteps were exceptionally light, their eyes filled with cunning.

The distance was close enough, yet the big white dragon still hadn't noticed them. Exchanging a look, they wore triumphant expressions and charged forward together.

Long legs sprinted closer as bloody maws gaped wide, foul-smelling saliva dripping from their teeth. His nape and torso were right before them.

Then suddenly, the white silhouette moved.

As if having eyes on his back, he leaped out of their strike zone in an instant. Agilely creating distance, he suddenly exploded upward, lunging high into the air and tackling the nearest massive figure to the ground.

As if practiced countless times, a chokehold and constriction were executed in one fluid motion!

Before the other behemoth could react, its companion was already bound tight. Explosive force surged from his broad frame, followed by a chorus of cracking bones.

Its companion perished in the blink of an eye.

The surviving behemoth was stunned.

The big white dragon happened to lift his head from the chokehold at that moment. The moment their eyes met, it saw a bloodthirsty glint shining in his molten gold amber eyes.

Gazing at the departing massive figure, then looking at the unlucky creature beneath him that had already breathed its last, a sense of accomplishment welled up in Haoyuan.

An eight-meter-long Nanotyrannus.

Only one step away from being a large carnivorous dinosaur.

“Not bad!” Haoyuan praised himself simply and went back to devouring the meat.

With his Kirin Arms, he no longer had to fear these tall carnivorous dinosaurs.

In the time that followed, Haoyuan completely dominated this vast hunting ground. He only needed to avoid the fifteen-meter-long Tyrannosaurus Rex in the forest.

In the blink of an eye, eighty years passed.

The Tyrannosaurus Rex in the forest had long since died of old age, and its fourth-generation descendant had become the new king of this land.

Sustained by the immense energy provided by this hunting ground, Haoyuan finally gathered enough energy. He found a sufficiently safe underground karst cave once again and fell into a deep sleep to evolve.

Springs turned to autumns; twenty years passed.

Inside the underground karst cave, a long, pillar-like rock began to crack inch by inch. The life sleeping within awakened.

His Temperature Regulation automatically switched, his heart thumping loudly like a drum or a bell. Warm blood flowed through his entire body as his stiff frame gradually regained vitality.

Haoyuan opened his dragon eyes and found himself buried deep in mud.

Flexing his Kirin Arms, he forcefully pulled his body free. As his muscles and bones stretched, a series of sharp cracking sounds erupted.

“How long was I asleep?” Looking at the cave that had undergone slight changes, he felt surprised.

He opened his status panel.

Name: Haoyuan

Race: Flood Dragon (Custom)

Lifespan: 5,000 years

Evolution Path: 1. Aerial Flight (...+) 2. Large Size (--)

Energy: 108

“My lifespan increased by so much this time?” Haoyuan was somewhat surprised.

“It seems that for a snake, growing larger while remaining capable of slithering fast truly is a difficult challenge.”

Through his dragon whiskers' subtle perception of air currents, Haoyuan discovered that two rows of serrated dragon fins had grown along his broad back.

With a gentle flick of his tail, his dragon body slithered several meters forward.

“As expected, it really is nimble!” Haoyuan was thrilled.

Clearly, the dragon fins were organs designed for body lightness, or perhaps they altered the internal structure of his body.

“My strength has increased as well.”

Slithering out of the cave opening, he casually killed a five-meter-long herbivorous dinosaur and carefully sensed the changes in his body.

“My body is still eight meters long, but my overall attributes now have tremendous room for growth.”

“I am completely a different species from a snake now.”

“My digestive capabilities have drastically improved; digesting a five-meter-long herbivorous dinosaur takes only half a day now.”

“And I haven't reached the limit of an eight-meter body size yet; I can keep allocating points to evolve!”

Haoyuan became exceedingly excited, a sharp glint in his eyes.

“This isn't just a change in speed alone; this is a comprehensive upgrade the body undertook to match that speed!”

The blazing sun hung high, and the weather was scorching hot. It was now the height of summer.

Looking over this vast hunting ground familiar to his memory, Haoyuan felt his heart surge with emotion.

“Time to grow my body size.”

...

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, five years passed.

Haoyuan's body size reached ten meters, and all his attributes were maxed out.

His appetite had grown immensely. Six-meter dinosaurs were no longer enough to satisfy him, so he set his sights on seven-meter ones.

It was precisely this move that attracted the attention of the Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Its hunting ground absolutely did not allow for the presence of a creature on the same level.

Over six meters was already a violation; seven meters was an outright provocation.