"Carted again."
Luo Yun stared at the screen where his character was being hauled back to camp by the felyne cart. He set down the controller and sat in silence, his mind drawing a complete blank.
After what felt like an eternity, his palm slammed against the desk with enough force to make his HP-1 headphones jump. His face flushed crimson as he roared, looking for all the world like a cooked shrimp.
"Are you kidding me?! How did that miss?!"
He needed to calm down. Take a breather.
Luo Yun exhaled deeply and rolled his stiff neck, preparing to stand and fetch his water bottle.
In the next instant, an enormous shadow engulfed him. The window and wall exploded inward with a deafening crash, leaving him with only one coherent thought.
"So you really can hit the jackpot at home, huh?"
New World, somewhere deep within the Ancient Forest, tucked away in a concealed tree hollow, a cluster of glowmoss cast its gentle luminescence across the damp walls.
Several forest geckos clung motionless to the moss-covered bark surrounding the light source. They waited with practiced patience for insects drawn to the glow, their eyes shifting minutely like seasoned hunters preparing for the kill.
Unknown to them, danger was creeping closer.
From the depths of shadow, a figure moved with deliberate stealth. Finding the perfect position, powerful legs coiled like springs while wings pressed tight against its body for balance.
Claws scraped against earth as the shadow burst forward. Jaws gaped wide, clamping down on its target before the forest gecko could even register the threat. The predator shook its head violently until all movement ceased in its prey.
Without ceremony, the hunter pinned the gecko's lower half with one foot and began tearing into its meal beneath the glowmoss's faint light.
The dim illumination gradually revealed the shadow's true form.
It was a juvenile Rathalos.
The red scales showed only the beginnings of the characteristic spikes, and the oversized head looked comically disproportionate to its body. The wings that would one day command the skies now hung uselessly at its sides like plucked chicken wings, incapable of supporting flight.
By all rights, this should have been a hatchling still confined to its nest, dependent on parental care and feeding.
Yet this supposedly helpless whelp had just completed a successful hunt on its own, even if the prey was merely a harmless forest gecko.
After finishing his "hunt" and licking the last traces of blood from his jaws, the young dragon gazed longingly at the glowmoss. Confirming that the geckos showed no signs of returning, he reluctantly retreated into the shadows.
The tree hollow was spacious, though that was only relative to Luo Yun's current size as a hatchling.
He ambled over to another damp corner and bit off half of a poison mushroom he'd deliberately saved earlier, swallowing it whole. A passing bitter bug met its end between his jaws as dessert before he finally settled beside the underground stream flowing through the hollow.
Several days had passed since his transmigration, and he still couldn't fathom why he—a male Rathalos—had hatched neither in a proper Rathalos nest nor in a Kulu-Ya-Ku's food cache, but rather in this tree hollow that screamed "starter safe house."
The place had water, just enough easily accessible food to keep a newly hatched whelp from starving, and an entrance concealed by hanging vines and undergrowth that was narrow enough to keep out the massive creatures that dominated this world. Monsters that routinely measured over ten meters in length couldn't squeeze through.
With such a perfect safe house and finding himself completely alone, it was hard not to suspect some kind of "destiny's arrangement."
But dwelling on that was pointless now. His explosive growth over the past few days since hatching meant the hollow's meager food supply could no longer sustain him.
Case in point: one forest gecko and a large mushroom barely took the edge off his ravenous hunger. When he'd first emerged from the egg, that same amount would have left him completely satisfied.
So was this the end of the tutorial?
He irritably smashed his newly-spiked tail against the ground to vent his frustration, then slowly closed his eyes.
Gradually, a peculiar warmth rose from deep within the earth, seeping into Luo Yun's body. This energy enhanced his physique in subtle but comprehensive ways. He suspected this must be the mysterious life energy unique to this world.
It was this miraculous force that gave birth to the vibrant and diverse ecosystem around him.
What Luo Yun didn't know was whether his ability was unique. Like the legendary Elder Dragons, he could sense and actively absorb the life energy flowing through the earth's veins.
Beyond his perception, silver particles glowing with icy blue light materialized from nowhere, merging with the life energy as it entered his body. He remained completely unaware of their presence.
Time trickled by until Luo Yun felt he'd reached some kind of limit. His eyes snapped open.
"Great. Even as a non-human, my body still has limitations. What was the point of giving up my humanity then?"
Muttering to himself, he willed a crude interface to appear—visible only to him.
[Name: Luo Yun Species: Flying Wyvern — Rathalos Trait: Random Selection in Progress (99%)]
The interface was bare-bones, but as someone who'd spent years browsing web novels, Luo Yun understood this would be one of his key advantages for survival in this world.
The other advantage, naturally, was his body—a high-tier predator bearing the title "King of the Skies."
Sure, in his previous life's games, Rathalos often served as a stepping stone for other monsters, its status declining with each new release. But in this real world, the Rathalos stood as an undisputed apex predator occupying the upper echelons of the ecosystem. They were among this world's most formidable hunters.
"Almost there, just a bit more."
Luo Yun suppressed his anticipation and closed the interface before heading toward the glowmoss.
The hollow's food supply was nearly exhausted. Venturing outside would soon become inevitable.
Whatever skill or trait he drew next would give him better odds of survival.
After downing another forest gecko, the trait bar finally hit one hundred percent. Following a dizzying cascade of garbled text, the selection completed.
[Trait: Acceleration (Speed increases as battle progresses)]
"Wait, what?"
Was this the trait he was thinking of?
The description seemed eerily similar to something from a famous game in his previous life, except "per turn" had become "over time in battle." And now a second trait selection had appeared—did that mean compound traits? Would there be a third? A fourth?
Luo Yun reeled at the implications. If his suspicions proved correct, his future might hold more than mere survival. Perhaps he could reach for something greater—that forbidden realm that transcended this world's ecological hierarchy entirely.