All sorts of thoughts flashed rapidly through his mind. At that moment, as his vision gradually cleared, Beiyuan finally saw the true form of the “red” figure that had been swaying before his eyes.
The terrifying-looking Yan Beast was staring intently at him. Its enormous body made the boy seem like a stray insect or ant, not even as big as one of its claws.
You could hardly imagine just how apocalyptic and overwhelming the scene would be if it fully spread its wings and moved about.
Yet, for some reason, even when facing such a shock, apart from a brief moment of daze at first, Beiyuan didn’t feel afraid at all.
At that time, Beiyuan hadn’t realized this stemmed from some extremely arrogant instinct born from his new bloodline.
He even naturally recalled the name of this scaled insect-like monster from his mind.
The boy opened his golden eyes and called out in a childish but pleasant voice, “Yan King?”
The master of Yan Flame Mountain instantly shrank its pupils, letting out a low, ambiguous hum.
Uncontrollable, excited energy surged at its throat, making its entire neck glow with a golden-red light— if it wished, it could spew scorching flames and magma the very next moment.
Although he couldn’t understand the Yan Beast’s roar, Beiyuan could completely sense the creature’s excitement at this moment.
But all he did was call its name?
He quickly poked his head out from the crack in the egg, crawling out while reaching out his hand as if to soothe it.
However, his approach seemed to act as some kind of catalyst.
The red Yan Beast suddenly vanished like a whirlwind, its wingbeats so fast they blurred. In the blink of an eye, Yan King’s roar echoed from the distant forest.
The monster, unable to restrain its surging emotions, finally vented without holding back, and only after a minute did it return to Beiyuan’s side.
If he hadn’t just clearly heard its roar, Beiyuan would have thought it was as restrained and calm as it appeared.
Returning, the Yan Beast lowered its head and gently placed the prey it held in its mouth onto the ground— a Wind Gale Bird, already roasted to perfection by its fiery breath, the meat tender and succulent, a delicacy even the former master of Yan Flame Mountain would be reluctant to eat.
Beiyuan blinked, but with his current body, this didn’t seem to be on the menu.
He didn’t feel much desire to eat the Wind Gale Bird before him, so he could only regretfully refuse and chose instead to gnaw on the eggshell behind him.
Surprisingly, Yan King didn’t seem disappointed by his refusal— though still a juvenile, this was a legendary creature far more overwhelmingly powerful than it.
Just as the wolf king gets first pick of food in a wolf pack, in reverse, the wolf king naturally also has the right to refuse the tribute and flattery of the pack.
And anything “chosen” by the “wolf king,” even if discarded, becomes a prize for the pack to fight over!
Yan King lowered its head with restraint and, appearing slow but actually with just a few gulps, devoured the Wind Gale Bird.
Beiyuan didn’t know why, but he felt the other party seemed quite excited.
…Was it really that tasty?
Though it was their first meeting, this ferocious monster showed him an abnormal degree of friendliness— or rather, it was more than just kindness, but an exaggerated obedience rooted deep in the bloodline.
This quickly reminded Beiyuan of his new bloodline— the Dragon.
Beiyuan had never seen a dragon in his previous life.
He had lived on a low-tier planet at the farthest edge of the Empire, a world known only by a code, where the internet was his only window to the outside.
Yet even in the all-knowing, all-powerful online world, “Dragon Clan” was a legend extinct for a millennium.
And now, he had become that “legend” from his past life.
Or— Beiyuan slowly walked to the nearest riverbank and saw his current form reflected on the water’s surface.
The face of a seven or eight-year-old child looked solemn, and finally, he turned his head and covered his face: No matter how he looked at it, he could only pass as cute! Hopefully the Dragon Clan’s growth period wouldn’t last long enough to drive him mad!
No matter what, he needed to quickly get used to his new body. Beiyuan had a gut feeling that he didn’t have much time left.
And whenever “getting stronger” was mentioned in a “game,” the first method that came to mind was, naturally, fighting monsters to level up.
The forest from earlier had been emptied by Yan King’s roar— not a single creature to test his hand on could be seen.
Maybe they should move elsewhere first. At Beiyuan’s suggestion, Yan King flew up with him high into the sky.
The giant Yan Beast flapped its wings, soaring into the sky in the blink of an eye.
Seated on its back, Beiyuan looked down from above.
His gaze pierced the drifting clouds, and he finally saw the full terrain of the land he’d just been on: crimson volcanoes stretching far, bare red rocks with no grass in sight, and a ring of lush, dense forest at the edges.
The entire vast, strange land looked like a ruby lying in emerald, especially spectacular from above.
And farther from Yan Flame Mountain was a mysterious land shrouded in mist, seemingly waiting for brave and great adventurers to explore the unknown.
The wind howled past his ears.
This was the kind of experience most people would never have in a lifetime: clouds swirling, majestic mountains and rivers, peaks of unparalleled wonder.
The grandeur of nature was enough to make anyone who experienced it tremble with excitement and passion.
Beiyuan gently moved his shoulders.
As a newborn dragon, his mimicry shoulder blades itched, as if another true form was urging him— telling him to follow his instincts: to greet the world in the most brilliant way, to soar high in the sky and declare his arrival with a roar!
Beneath him, Yan King seemed to sense it, its blood suddenly surging and burning restlessly within.
So Beiyuan quickly realized that now was not the time to reveal his true form.
“Let’s land over there.” He decisively pointed in a direction, soothing the increasingly restless Yan Beast.
The Yan Beast let out a hoarse growl, then bravely beat its wings and, dragging its long tail, dove down from the sky, landing with a thunderous crash by a riverbank.
This river was at the edge of the map and seemed to be the territory of a certain kind of fish.
These fish resembled real-world catfish, but had enormous, gauzy fins like transparent skirts, and the larger ones were over a meter long.
Catfish Monsters looked just like the cannon-fodder mobs that appear early in every game, but Beiyuan, having just been born, was technically still in his juvenile stage.
As everyone knows, the young are fragile— even these small monsters could be quite dangerous, but likewise, defeating one would yield lots of experience!
Beiyuan had no idea how this body attacked, so he decided to start by testing the basics: speed, strength, endurance, and agility.
To avoid scaring off the Catfish Monsters, Beiyuan signaled Yan King to stand a bit farther away.
The monster he’d ridden here slowly folded its wings, movements stiff, as if still unable to recover from their earlier close contact.
The trembling sensation in its bloodline made the monster exhale a scorching breath, curl its tightly wound tail, and crouch low to the ground, like a dormant volcano that could erupt at any moment.
From this angle, Beiyuan’s posture was even clearer.
Meanwhile, after some thought, Beiyuan suddenly picked up a stone from the ground, aimed at a fish swimming in the water, and gently tossed it—
The world fell silent for a moment, then, the next second, the water exploded with a deafening roar.
Violent force blasted the river water sky-high, and the fish inside soared up in droves, raining down everywhere.
The air was thick with the fishy smell unique to aquatic creatures, and a pair of giant bat wings spread above his head.
Behind him, the Yan Beast watched the flying fish with a dangerous glint, clearly about to open its mouth.
Stunned, Beiyuan caught a fish that flew past. The fish, its survival instincts on full alert, slapped his palm with its tail, then leapt straight from his hand, making a leap of faith back into the river.
Beiyuan blinked and stopped the thoroughly riled-up Yan King behind him.
…What’s going on?
Wasn’t he supposed to be a juvenile that needed mimicry to protect himself?
Is this reasonable? This isn’t reasonable.
“If only I could see my own level,” Beiyuan couldn’t help but think.
In “Wanzu,” there was no clear numerical level system— cold numbers would rob the world of its realism— but there was a general classification.
By difficulty, from low to high, they were: Weak— Normal— Dangerous— Extinction Level— Disaster Level— Annihilation Star Level.
Of course, in the game, the more impressive the better— devouring the heavens, extinguishing stars, conceptual ascension, all were commonplace.
After all, it could never happen in reality, right?
But this general danger assessment was a function only available to Players; NPCs didn’t have a Player panel.
So, Beiyuan changed his approach.
Just like a chess grandmaster could see a beginner’s skill at a glance, he should be able to tell just how much weaker something was compared to himself, right?
The moment he had this thought, the data program loaded on him automatically started running. The central management system determined this request was logical and executable.
The next second, a dialog box appeared in Beiyuan’s vision, labeled: “Luo Luo River Greattail Catfish, Dangerous Level, a creature you don’t need to worry about. Note: According to the world’s latest bounty, purchase price is 10 small rare ores each.”
So this was a Dangerous Level…? Seeing the fish blown away so easily, he couldn’t really feel the danger.
Maybe Dangerous Level creatures were just that easy to deal with now?
Countless Players who’d suffered and wept in this river in Wanzu would have something to say about that.
Beiyuan then checked Yan King beside him, “Yan King, Disaster Level, not bad.”
Thinking this, Beiyuan looked back at himself, only to see the dialog box said: “I am very strong. I know.”
Beiyuan: “……”
So it was perfunctory and arrogant when judging others, but overly confident about himself. Let’s just treat this as a new (bu) feature he’d unlocked, but wasn’t this assessment a little off?
The next moment, someone walked over with a tag above their head reading “a creature you don’t need to worry about, 20 pieces.” It was a humanoid being with a catfish head and a human body.
Beiyuan hadn’t expected such a refreshingly unique new species in the world and was instantly amazed.
Yan King noticed as well, finally managing to tear his gaze from Beiyuan and cast a sharp look at the newcomer.
The Greattail Catfish King immediately knelt down, raised both hands, and presented a palm-sized crystal. “Great Adventurer, congratulations on completing the Trial of Luo Luo River. As proof of your courage, please accept this fragment of Outer Meteorite.”
—It was just like loot automatically dropped after defeating a monster.
Beiyuan didn’t take it but asked, “I hurt your kin. Aren’t you angry?”
The Greattail Catfish King looked quite respectful. “Of course not. Maybe at first I was like them, but evolution made us different. Just like humans don’t interfere too much with gorillas, I respect their law of the jungle. And you… you are much stronger than I am.”
What the Greattail Catfish King didn’t say was that he sensed an ancient and terrifying aura from Beiyuan.
He couldn’t even see through this lord’s true form, but the menacing scaled insect behind him said enough.
Maybe… a certain guess made the Greattail Catfish King’s breath catch. He nervously touched his wet fish head.
Though he’d only just left the river, he suddenly felt as if he’d been trudging under the scorching sun for ages, barely able to stand.
—With excellent language and logical skills, and vivid expressions, he was almost too real to be a virtual being.
Even Yan King, always by Beiyuan’s side, was astonishingly flexible in every way.
Beiyuan didn’t know if this was the latest in interstellar AI, or if some unknown change had occurred in this world.
In any case, as someone living here now, he couldn’t just see them as data.
After a while, Beiyuan reached out and took the crystal. “What is this for?”
“It’s a material for forging peerless divine weapons. You need a weapon that truly lets you use your power.” Only then did the Greattail Catfish King answer naturally, his expression extremely respectful, with a barely contained passion. “My clan and I have guarded it for generations. The moment I saw you, I knew you were its true master.”
Beiyuan pondered. Was this a side quest trigger?
So he carefully examined the crystal in his hand. It looked like crystal but was much harder. As he looked, a strange urge rose within him— he couldn’t help but take a bite.
Seeing him crunch into the world’s only piece of Outer Meteorite like it was a snack, the Greattail Catfish King, worth 20 pieces, instantly turned green.
After swallowing, Beiyuan’s eyes shone— he felt like he’d finally found this new body’s menu.
“Are there any more of these?”
His hopeful gaze made 20 pieces step back.
“No, I swear there’s only this one in the world!” The Greattail Catfish King slapped his ear fins in panic, looking ready to faint from dehydration.
“…What about other rare ores?”
“QAQ”
“Sorry, forget I asked.” Beiyuan’s last bit of conscience made him stop. “I can’t forge weapons. Maybe you could recommend a good blacksmith?”
“Everyone knows the Tianjing Clan are the best smiths. They are the fathers of half the divine weapons in this world! Only those forged by their hands are worthy for you to wear!”
…Tianjing Clan? Yet another unfamiliar race, like these maps he knew nothing about—probably all created in the years since his death.
“Where can I find them?”
“Head south,” the Greattail Catfish King pointed, “Above Cloud Sky, that’s their land.”
Just as Beiyuan followed his finger to look up, he suddenly heard a loud voice, as if from another dimension, completely out of place in this world—
【Server maintenance complete】
In that instant, countless data not belonging to this world surged in from another world. Beiyuan knew—he had once been one of them.
【Player entering the world】