Opening his eyes the next day, he was met with a fiery-red sea. Only then did he remember that he was still lying in the molten lava deep within the volcano.
His powerful respiratory system granted him the ability to breathe inside the molten lava, so he felt no stuffiness or discomfort whatsoever.
“What a satisfying sleep.”
He stretched languidly and leisurely swam upward, checking his panel as he glided.
Then, he suddenly froze in shock. His colossal body churned the molten lava, causing the volcano to shudder, but he was completely oblivious to it as his consciousness drew closer to the panel to take a look.
His energy had actually increased since yesterday.
Only now did he recall the days back in Dinosaur Valley, when he had coiled on the mountain peak and absorbed energy from the pristine white snow.
However, back then, the energy only increased by 1 point per day.
Now, it was an increase of 300 points in just one night.
It seemed eating living creatures was not the only way to obtain energy; he could also harvest it from the natural environment.
Haoyuan suddenly had an idea.
If he went to sleep inside a volcano every time he evolved his Life Tier, wouldn't he wake up incredibly rich in energy?
His eyes lit up instantly. This was indeed an excellent method.
Thinking of this, he suddenly felt a wave of regret for having slept in vain for six million years.
At that time, his body also possessed sufficient tolerance for molten lava.
If he had stayed at the mouth of an inactive volcano, who knows how much energy he could have accumulated over six million years? He would have absolutely soared.
But it was not too late to discover this now. He had a very long lifespan and could take his time.
The only issue was the constant shifts of the land and the passage of time.
There was a high chance that, just like his last slumber, he would start deep underground in a cavern only to wake up on the surface of a rainforest.
That would easily expose him to other living beings, and if he happened to encounter a powerful individual, it could be quite dangerous.
Therefore, if he wanted to go into deep sleep, he had to choose a stable volcano.
At the same time, he also needed to ensure he was powerful enough to prevent any trouble should another strong individual stumble upon the same volcano while searching for prey, just like he did.
With this, he also understood why those powerful individuals preferred secluded places.
For one, they feared being found by others; if a fight broke out, they might not necessarily hold the advantage.
Secondly, they likely had their own unique ways of obtaining energy from the environment, which was why they rarely showed themselves on land.
Having figured all this out, Haoyuan felt much more relaxed.
Continuing to search for large individuals from the perspective of energy intake, his luck was sometimes excellent, and he would find many. Other times, he would somehow find several even in places that seemed to have no energy at all.
This could not help but make him doubt his own theory.
Was a creature's energy acquisition not necessarily related to the natural environment?
Thinking along these lines and connecting it to how his energy had not changed at all during his six-million-year slumber, he suddenly realized that energy acquisition might be related to a creature's own self.
But on second thought, he felt like something was off, so he ultimately gave up thinking about it.
In any case, it was wonderful that he could obtain energy from the volcano.
Next, it took him a full eighty years to scour all the seemingly safe areas of this continent.
As for the dangerous places, he kept his distance, often activating Environmental Mimicry to sneak past quietly.
Through continuous practical combat, he discovered that Optical Camouflage was too limited, as it was completely useless in the dark.
Consequently, he evolved Mimicry, which conveniently incorporated Optical Camouflage into it.
There were not many changes elsewhere; after all, his six powerful abilities of Water, Fire, Wind, Thunder, Ice, and Mist were already a pinnacle that many creatures could never hope to reach.
By now, his body size had grown to fifty-one meters long. Although it had only increased by a single meter, he was still far from reaching the physical limit of his body.
It was just that after reaching the second Life Tier, his growth in body size had slowed down. He did not know if it was related to his eight-million-year lifespan, but in any case, growing in size was no longer that easy.
Standing on a high reef once more by the edge of the beach, Haoyuan looked down upon the sea.
As the salty, damp sea breeze blew over again, he let out a long sigh, shattered the reef beneath his feet, and glided into the sky, heading toward the endless horizon where the sea met the sky.
He had not found any dinosaurs or Dinosaur Valley on this continent, so he still needed to travel further.
Time had already diluted his obsession with Dinosaur Valley.
Truth be told, he even doubted whether dinosaurs were still alive.
However, when he left back then, he had promised the dromaeosaurs that he would return to find them once he woke up.
Thus, even if they might be separated by several oceans, he still wanted to keep his promise.
Sandwiched once again between two vast sheets of blue, with nothing to see except the salty sea breeze and the occasional fish leaping from the water, that sense of bewilderment and loneliness welled up within him once more.
He could only keep slithering forward, chasing the horizon that always remained out of reach, hoping that he would finally draw closer to it one day.
Swoosh!
The sound of rushing air suddenly came from below. Haoyuan's relaxed nerves abruptly tensed, and he could not help but look down.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
Five or six gigantic, purplish-pink octopus tentacles broke through the surface of the sea, unfurling and whistling toward him.
Haoyuan's pupils contracted. As his dragon whiskers swayed, he narrowly avoided them in a hair-thin escape.
The tentacle attacks missed, yet they generated sonic booms, the deafening blasts ringing in his ears and causing him sharp pain.
He was a full eight hundred meters above the sea, yet those octopus tentacles could actually reach this high!
Haoyuan's heart pounded wildly, unable to conceal the terror in his eyes.
The very next instant after his narrow escape, he immediately activated Optical Camouflage, mimicking the air.
Having lost their target, the octopus tentacles instantly began to flail about wildly.
Their giant suckers fully opened, vigorously sucking in the air like black hole vortexes.
Under the pull of the powerful whirlwind, Haoyuan's mimicry was instantly interrupted.
He exerted all his strength to channel Wind Grace, resisting this immense suction.
But the suction of the octopus tentacles was in a completely different league compared to his Wind Grace, and he was forced into a disadvantage almost instantly.
He knew that once he was caught by the suckers of those giant octopus tentacles, there would be absolutely no escaping.
In this life-or-death moment, lightning suddenly erupted all over his body, and violent lightning serpents poured out.
Flames enveloped his entire body, raging and roaring.
He had hoped to buy at least a second of time, but the octopus tentacles paid no heed to the fire and lightning serpents, sweeping directly up toward him.
Haoyuan's heart sank instantly as he helplessly watched the giant octopus tentacles blot out the sky and completely envelop him.
“Roar!”
Suddenly, a thunderous roar reverberated down from the vault of heaven.
As if a massive hole had suddenly blasted open in the sky, a terrifying wave of sound pierced through, instantly blowing apart the giant tentacles covering Haoyuan.
As if struck by lightning, the giant tentacles tightly closed their suckers and swayed unsteadily.
One by one, they began to fall back toward the sea, looking from a distance like slender petals blooming in reverse.
Haoyuan felt his eardrums instantly rupture, blood pouring back from his ear canals. It was as though his soul had been beaten out of his body. His physical body and organs suffered severe damage, and a massive surge of metallic-tasting blood immediately erupted from his mouth and nose.
His consciousness instantly plunged into darkness, and like a kite with a severed string, he plummeted from the sky.
Rate on N.U.
