Fire Line

The newly regenerated, hideous tips grew back, but they seemed to show no reaction to Haoyuan's wide-open mouth.

Staying at a safe distance, they swayed from side to side, probing occasionally as if searching for a weakness.

Haoyuan's brow furrowed slightly. His dragon whiskers sensed that the monster's abdomen was drawing closer to his flood dragon body, and its viscous, tentacle-filled abyss was gradually opening wide.

“A feint?” He couldn't help but be surprised.

Thank goodness for his dragon whiskers. This monster was remarkably clever, actually using its hideous rounded tips to draw his attention while its true fatal strike was that corrosive, crimson, ruptured maw.

“Too bad it's too late for you...”

Evolutionary Paths: 1. Fire Line (Ready) 2. Aerial Flight (???)

“All fear stems from a lack of firepower! I don't care what kind of monster you are—as long as you're a carbon-based organism, you're bound to fear fire!”

“Complete Fire Line!”

The moment the thought settled, a majestic surge of energy flooded every single cell in his body. Like parched earth receiving long-awaited rain, his cells were continuously nourished, rejoicing as their internal structures shifted, gradually becoming lustrous and full.

They seemed to learn how to breathe as well, greedily absorbing a mysterious energy from the heavens and earth. With every breath, streams of heat were generated, gathering, flowing, and circulating through his entire body in cycles.

The Aquatic Lungs he had previously evolved gradually dissolved at this moment, turning into abundant energy that surged back into every part of his body.

A profoundly subtle feeling quietly took shape. It felt as though with just a single thought, the streams of heat throughout his body would respond to his call, obeying his every whim to erupt outward and transform into a blazing inferno.

“This is what a divine dragon is supposed to be like! Not relying on physical organs, but commanding a mythical element!”

Haoyuan's heart surged with excitement. He clenched his fists, feeling explosive power coursing through his entire body.

When he raised his eyes, a sharp light gleamed within them.

“You'll make a fine test subject.”

Opening his jaws, he spewed a slender thread of fire—no thicker than a pinky finger—straight into the darkness deep within the monster's gaping mouth.

The moment the Fire Line struck the deep reaches of the monster's throat and the three hideous rounded tips, it was like throwing fire into boiling oil, instantly erupting into a roaring blaze.

Once the flames filled its insides, a blistering wave of heat rushed back out, scaring Haoyuan into hastily yanking his head out of the monster's giant maw.

Even so, he caught a blast right to the face, leaving his scales blackened with soot.

“Cough, cough, cough...”

Haoyuan coughed uncomfortably a few times. When he looked at the monster again, he saw it thrashing its giant-mouthed head violently, wailing in agony on the ground after swallowing the fiery blaze. Bright fire gleamed within its mouth, and the three hideous tips were scorched a terrifying, glowing red that sent a chill through his heart.

Its entire hide surged and undulated like waves, expanding rapidly before violently contracting—a truly horrifying sight.

After thrashing around on the ground for a few seconds, twisting and screaming in pain, the tentacles wrapping around Haoyuan scrambled to retract. Enduring the blistering heat, they desperately bound the fire-spewing mouth tight, trapping all the flames inside.

However, the monster seemed to have forgotten about the corrosive, ruptured abyss in its belly.

The moment the flames were swallowed down into its abdomen, a thunderous explosion erupted! Blazing fire shot into the sky as a wave of intense heat swept across the area, blowing the massive body to pieces.

“Holy crap, no!”

Haoyuan scrambled and pounced toward the burning chunks of flesh. Ignoring their bizarre, wave-like thrashing, their agonized writhing, and the scalding flames, he swallowed them whole in great gulps.

“Energy Points! My Energy Points!”

The meat scorched his throat as it went down, but he didn't care at all, frantically scavenging every bit he could find—his body possessed a high tolerance for fire anyway.

Bite after bite, he didn't stop until he had combed through the entire area three times over and couldn't find a single scrap of meat left.

Rubbing his belly with lingering desire, he looked over the scorched remains scattered across the ground, still feeling a pang of regret.

“This Fire Line is a traitor technique! It burned away so much of my energy for nothing. I can't just use it lightheartedly in the future!”

“And I don't have a way to extinguish the fire either. If only I could cancel the burning at will after setting it off!”

Grumbling heart-brokenly, he opened his status panel.

Evolutionary Path: Fire Control (???)

“It's actually at maximum difficulty!”

Haoyuan felt a bit downcast.

“It took me ages to save up for Fire Line, but this difficulty level is like an endless abyss. I can't see the end of it at all.”

“If only a few more of these monsters would come along.”

Haoyuan stroked his belly, a look of anticipation in his eyes.

“I wonder where I can find more of them?”

...

He returned to his familiar sloping ground and lay down.

Haoyuan comfortably watched the vast hunting ground while digesting the monster's energy inside his belly.

“This monster is actually quite easy to digest.”

Compared to the Tyrannosaurus Rex it had mimicked, this monster's energy was pure and unadulterated, making it remarkably easy to absorb.

“Having fire really makes things a lot more convenient.”

Thinking back to the monster's tragic state today, he felt quite satisfied.

“Right now, I only possess ordinary fire. The temperature isn't that high, and it's easy to extinguish. I can use it twice a day, lasting three minutes each time.”

“The attack range is three meters—not particularly far, but it moves fast.”

Haoyuan summarized the information.

“Ultimately, it's because my body reinforcement isn't high enough. The flame energy I can draw in and store is too small, which is why my attack range and daily uses are limited.”

“These limitations can be broken using energy, but it drains way too many points.”

“Fortunately, after unlocking Fire Line, all my physical attributes can be enhanced once more, and Fire Line will naturally grow stronger along with them.”

“Not bad at all.”

He flicked his tail with satisfaction.

“When it comes down to it, it's all tied to physical strength. If I break through my current life tier, Fire Line's power will definitely skyrocket.”

Formulating a plan in his mind, he stared into the distant sky and muttered to himself, “Tomorrow, I'll search for more of those monsters. If I eat a few more, I'll accumulate enough energy to evolve my life tier. After that, I can raise my fire's intensity beyond ordinary fire.”

“Since those monsters like to disguise themselves as dinosaurs, I'll just call them pseudo-dragons.”

...

The next day, Haoyuan took a sweep around his hunting ground, but came up empty-handed.

None of the dinosaurs that saw him dared to charge forward.

“Looks like there are no pseudo-dragons in my hunting ground.”

Haoyuan felt a bit disappointed.

“I'll have to leave this familiar hunting ground.”

Deep in the forest.

Haoyuan traced the footsteps of a Tyrannosaurus Rex back to their source.

Along the way, he encountered a ten-meter-long Therizinosaurus with a relatively thin neck, a plump belly, and a pair of extraordinarily long, scythe-like sharp claws.

Without spending the slightest effort, Haoyuan killed it with a single claw strike.

“It really is a pseudo-dragon!”

Haoyuan was thrilled.

In front of his eighteen-meter frame, this pseudo-dragon was completely outmatched, and its energy was far less than that of the pseudo-Tyrannosaurus Rex.

“Looks like I'm heading in the right direction. The pseudo-dragons came from over there.”

Continuing along the tracks, he encountered an eight-meter-long Ankylosaurus with a back covered in rugged, thick armor and a heavy club on its tail.

With another swipe of his claw, he killed it. As expected, it was another pseudo-dragon.

“It seems the area ahead has already been infiltrated.”

“I wonder where these monsters came from?”

Haoyuan continued onward. Along the way, he encountered several more pseudo-dragons, either solitary or in small groups of three to five.

None of their sizes reached the tier of a Tyrannosaurus Rex, and they were completely unable to withstand the might of a single claw strike from him.

These monsters possessed pure energy that digested quickly, so they didn't take up much space in his stomach.

As the majestic energy nourished his body, all of Haoyuan's attributes rapidly surged, and his size gradually grew larger.