Splash!
Haoyuan broke through the water's surface, dragging the water monster's carcass toward the shore.
In the sky, colossal fireballs continued to rain down, though their diameter was far smaller than at the beginning—measuring only ten to twenty meters across.
The violent earthquake persisted unabated, the mountains shaking and the earth trembling as ravines crisscrossed the land and abyssal rifts tore open everywhere.
The dinosaurs' mournful cries had never ceased, though most were already dead.
Faced with the terrifying natural disaster brought by this asteroid impact, they were utterly fragile, like candles flickering in the wind.
The land they relied upon for survival had become an endless inferno; every second of being alive was agonizing torment.
Despairing deaths played out continuously.
“Hah... hah... hah...”
Haoyuan had expended a massive amount of energy, and his physical strength was wearing thin.
Earlier, he had dived into the lake to avoid the earthquake. Now, confronted once more by this dire situation on land, he had no choice but to grit his teeth and push forward.
Compared to the terrifying lake behind him, what was this surface disaster?
After catching his breath for a moment, he began devouring the water monster's flesh and blood in ravenous gulps.
Like a whirlwind sweeping away remnant clouds, he stripped it bare, leaving not even a scrap of bone behind.
This simple, efficient method of eating had been honed through years of hunting and was etched deep into his bones.
Once he was full and had recovered some strength, he strode into the endless inferno.
As he passed a hill, he was reminded of the feathered stitched monster.
“Back when I was hunting it, it kept running straight toward this lake. It must have known its kin lived here all along.”
Dodging tremors as he walked, his thoughts grew active.
“Still, the water monster had more abilities than the others, especially those golden spiritual eyes—they seemed to share an origin with the giant eye at the bottom of the lake...”
Both could hard-lock living beings simply through eye contact.
However, that colossal golden eye was vastly superior. Without even consciously activating an ability, a mere casual glance could achieve an effect far beyond what the water monster's molten-gold radiance could ever hope to reach.
Utterly terrifying.
Thinking back to it, a chill still ran down Haoyuan's spine.
That ethereal sensation of facing a magnificent, unfathomable power beyond comprehension resurfaced vividly.
“The entire lake bed, hundreds of meters across, was merely its eyelid. Just how massive is its true form?”
The more he thought about it, the more terrified he became.
Haoyuan felt his scalp tingle with dread.
“What kind of world is this to spawn such a terrifying entity?”
“And what kind of connection did that water monster have to that colossal golden eye...?”
...
After seven days of arduous travel, Haoyuan found an expansive, deep network of natural karst caves.
A large number of surviving dinosaurs had gathered here.
Both carnivores and herbivores were present.
Both sides coexisted peacefully without causing any turmoil.
After all, it was still early in the disaster; the carnivores had plenty of carcasses to scavenge and saw no need to take risks. What would happen later, however, was painfully obvious.
Haoyuan showed no hesitation. Relying on his massive twenty-five-meter body, he squeezed his way into the cavernous corridors deep within the cave system and submerged into the largest subterranean river.
Given his prior encounter with the water monster in the lake, Haoyuan was far more cautious this time, carefully scouting the area before slowly entering the water.
There were plenty of fish and shrimp in the water, as well as a good number of large fish.
There were even crocodiles among them.
“True champions of survival...”
Haoyuan chuckled silently.
Seeing the crocodiles actually made him quite happy; their selfless contributions had helped him through his difficult and meager early days.
Continuing to sweep for danger, he discovered a population of freshwater Mosasaurs ranging from eight to twelve meters in length.
To him now, they no longer posed any threat.
Still uneasy, he channeled Wind Grace and Water Surge to explore with steady caution, ready to pull back and guard himself the moment anything seemed amiss.
Finally, his persistence paid off. Deep within the river channel, he discovered a strange amphibious monster, covered entirely in mucus, measuring twenty-five meters long.
“I knew there’d be something lurking in these out-of-the-way corners!”
Haoyuan was startled at first, but an excited gleam soon flared in his eyes.
After the water monster incident, he had gradually come to realize that these abnormal behemoths loved hiding in secluded, rarely visited corners.
Otherwise, during all his years of hunting mimic monsters, he would have run into them long ago.
Of course, it was also possible he had simply never crossed paths with one by chance.
After all, the world was vast.
The monster was a slimy, dark green all over, looking rather revolting.
Its body resembled a freshwater Mosasaur, equipped with powerful limbs and sharp claws, with webbed structures like a duck’s on its feet.
Its neck was rather long, and its head looked like an eel's or a snake's—giving it a shifty, furtive appearance.
Yet its maw bristled with sharp, jagged teeth, unmistakably signaling its nature as an apex predator.
Overall, it gave off an unsettling sense of wrongness.
When Haoyuan spotted the monster, it spotted him as well.
Unlike the mimic monsters, however, its first instinct was actually to flee.
It seemed convinced that Haoyuan was an overwhelmingly powerful predator.
That threw him off; Haoyuan had originally planned to keep his distance and test the waters first.
Seeing it turn tail, he threw caution to the wind and gave chase immediately.
These were Energy Points delivered right to his doorstep!
Then, after an exhilarating, dripping-wet chase and battle—well, Haoyuan found it exhilarating, while the slimy monster was dripping cold sweat.
In short, Haoyuan slaughtered the slimy monster and feasted heartily.
This creature had been quite weak.
It only had a decent water-attribute divine ability and an optical camouflage ability.
Its water-attribute divine ability was utterly laughable before Haoyuan, whose water-attribute abilities had been reinforced after devouring the water monster.
Its optical camouflage ability couldn't hide from the minute perception of his dragon whiskers and wide-area sweeps of Thunder.
All in all, Haoyuan's fight against the slimy monster had been an absolute, one-sided slaughter.
The harvest in Energy Points, however, was rather disappointing.
It was barely on par with a single pseudo-wyrm.
Nowhere near the water monster.
Whether due to some extraordinary quality or something else, the energy from the water monster had actually been equivalent to twenty pseudo-wyrms.
The day he completely digested it, Haoyuan had been thoroughly shocked.
Twenty pseudo-wyrms!
Granted, it had the advantage of a massive thirty-meter frame, but possessing only two more divine abilities than a pseudo-wyrm, its energy had multiplied by that many times.
Yet soon enough, he came to understand why.
Because he realized those two divine abilities were completely absurd.
Status Panel.
Name: Haoyuan
Race: Flood Dragon (Custom)
Lifespan: 100,000 years
Divine Abilities: Water, Fire, Wind, Thunder; Icy Mist; Molten Body; Whale Gulp Dragon Inhale
Evolutionary Paths: 1. Aerial Flight (???); 2. Self-Healing (... +); 3. Digestion (... +); 4. Dragon Might Gaze (Insufficient Life Tier); 5. Water Pressure (Insufficient Life Tier)
“Insufficient Life Tier...”
Those few words explained everything.
The water monster's two divine abilities exceeded the upper limit of his current Life Tier.
That was why it had yielded so much energy.
By contrast:
Evolutionary Path: Optical Camouflage (??)
The slimy monster's ability was far simpler.
Haoyuan evolved it without a second thought.
Furthermore:
Evolutionary Path: Aerial Flight (Can be completed, but will induce deep slumber)
Though Aerial Flight and Whale Gulp Dragon Inhale both displayed three question marks of difficulty, there was a stark difference between the two.
According to the panel's evaluation, Whale Gulp Dragon Inhale was merely a standard three-question-mark ability.
Aerial Flight was top-tier.
Once its evolution was completed, it would mark a breakthrough to the next Life Tier.
Hence the deep slumber.
In other words, if Haoyuan wanted to advance to the next Life Tier, all he needed to do was evolve Aerial Flight.
Rate on N.U.
