Red Dragon Monster Hunter Template.

Upon arriving at the protruding platform at the cave entrance, the first thing that catches the eye is a series of shallow craters and shattered rocks.

The ground was covered with large patches of charred black, and in some places there were even traces of melting. Several wooden poles of different lengths were scattered haphazardly on the ground.

Thor stretched out his paw and rummaged through the ashes, prying out some half-melted arrowheads and examining them closely.

'Bows and arrows, and perhaps javelins, plus maggots with long hooves…'

Thoughts flashed through his mind like sparks, and Thor felt as if he had guessed the truth.

What race in the wilderness is the most skilled archer, wielding longbows and heavy arrows? The answer is the centaur.

There might be a centaur settlement near these hills, and Daenerys's hunting grounds clearly overlap with theirs.

After all, Thor had also found a heavy arrow on the wild boar he had brought back earlier, which was likely the prey of the centaur he had stolen.

Centaur: A creature with the upper body of a human and the lower body of a horse.

They are generally 2.3 meters tall, about 3 meters long, and weigh an astonishing 2000 pounds, close to a ton.

Since internal organs such as the heart and lungs are housed in a horse-shaped body, the upper body of a human-shaped body, except for the esophagus and trachea, is almost entirely composed of well-developed muscles in the chest and abdomen.

This gives them even greater strength and explosive power to their already larger and more robust human bodies, allowing them to easily draw a longbow weighing over 100 pounds and shoot heavy arrows comparable to small spears.

The lower body of horses endows them with powerful high-speed movement and charging speed, making them natural-born heavy cavalry.

Even without any training, adult centaurs possess a challenge level of up to 3, comparable to that of a seasoned adventurer.

Large centaur settlements are home to many advanced beings, and even adult dragons would not easily provoke them.

…………

"Damn it! Could it be that my cheap mother has brought the centaurs back?"

"Then she can just flap her wings and fly away, but what will I do?"

This speculation gave Saul a sense of urgent crisis.

He thought Daenerys was just irresponsible, and that at worst he would live a hard life but he could get through it. He never expected that she was such a deep pit.

"No! I must prepare early; I can't wait until the crisis hits before I think of a solution."

Thoughts flashed wildly through his mind, making Thor's expression momentarily uncertain.

He had considered leaving these muddy hills.

However, the fledgling dragon, which has only been hatched for less than a month, is not only weak, but its wings are also not fully developed, making it unable to fly long distances.

The true dragon's flesh and blood can be used as precious magical materials. Running around in the wilderness on four legs is like a child carrying gold through a bustling city, especially in the free country of Amelia.

While staying near these rocky hills might not provide the Dragon Queen's protection, her fierce aura could still deter some of the most ferocious predators, offering a degree of safety.

…………

"Don't panic! Don't panic! Daenerys might not lure the centaurs here, and maybe those arrows weren't even left by the centaurs."

Before everything is completely confirmed, we must not panic; we must remain calm!

Thor shook his head, trying to clear his mind of the jumbled thoughts.

He crouched in the shadows at the cave entrance, his pale golden eyes gazing at the boundless plains outside, and began to calmly consider how to proceed.

First and foremost, regardless of the circumstances, improving one's own abilities should always be the top priority.

Although a true dragon's strength will continue to increase over time even if it does nothing, it will definitely grow faster if it actively trains.

Thor had stayed in the cave without moving because he was hungry.

The amount of food we eat every day is barely enough to support our growth and development, let alone provide the extra energy for high-intensity exercise.

However, the appearance of the dragon crystal made up for this deficiency. At this moment, the piece in his stomach is still continuously releasing active life energy, constantly making up for the previous deficit.

"It seems I can't just randomly draw from the source anymore. I need to exchange all my spiritual essence for dragon crystals to accelerate my physical growth."

If there are any left over, save them first and then extract a biological template.

"As long as you draw the right creature, regardless of combat strength, your survivability will definitely be greatly improved."

Chapter Nine Centaur

As dusk fell, the sky was painted with a gradient of colors from dark blue to orange-red. The low-hanging sun slowly sank into the distant hills, and the afterglow, like melting amber, gilded the withered grass with a warm golden hue.

A wild skink cautiously peeked out from a crevice in the rocks. Its grayish-brown body served as its natural camouflage, and its black eyes darted about as it carefully searched for food to fill its stomach that day.

At sunset, when many insects are active, a grasshopper on a grass stem quickly caught the skink's attention. It leaped forward and accurately snatched the grasshopper in its mouth.

Just as the skink was about to enjoy its meal, a slight tremor suddenly came from the entire rocky hill. The small stones seemed to be dancing, and a huge iron hoof came down from the sky, instantly crushing it into mincemeat.

Looking up from the iron-black hooves, one sees a strong horse's body, but instead of the horse's head, there is a robust male body on its neck.

With muscular arms, a longbow slung over his shoulder, and scimitars and javelins hanging from either side of his lower body, he was clearly a centaur ranger.

Not long after the centaur appeared, a large cloud of dust rose up on its way, resembling a galloping yellow dragon.

More centaurs began to appear on the low hill; a rough count revealed that there were probably dozens.

Their upper bodies were all nearly naked, muscular men, while their lower bodies were equine bodies in shades of brown, black, gray, yellowish-brown, or even striped or spotted.

Due to the lack of iron in the wilderness, or rather, the lack of skilled craftsmen among the centaurs, they did not wear armor, only simple protection on their hooves and chests.

Even so, when these terrifying creatures charge, the power they generate is by no means weaker than that of a well-organized heavy cavalry unit.

An exceptionally tall centaur stepped out from the ranks and asked the centaur who had arrived first.

"Still no trace of that red dragon?"

He has pure white hair with silver tips, which is extremely rare among horses, making him look as if he is draped in the bright moonlight.

Unlike ordinary centaurs who are nearly naked or simply wrapped in animal skins, their upper bodies are draped in a white linen robe, through which one can vaguely see silver armor.

A blanket embroidered with intricate patterns was draped over the white horse's back, and golden anklets adorned its calves.

The centaur, when asked, shook his head, placed his right hand on his chest, knelt on one knee in a gesture of respect, and replied with an apologetic look in his eyes.

"Sorry, Lunaris, it flew too fast, I couldn't catch up."

However, I found this; it should be nearby. If I search carefully…

After saying that, the centaur opened its left hand, which had been clenched into a fist, and in its broad palm lay a broken red scale.

…………

It has been almost a week since Chiliel returned from her injury.

Although the Red Dragon has always been known for its brutality and cruelty, leaving the world with the impression of a mindless brute, and their behavior seems to reflect that.

But this is simply because their inherent greed and arrogance often overwhelm their reason, leading to irrational behavior.

However, when faced with a situation that truly threatens their lives, even the most arrogant red dragon will regain its caution.

Therefore, during her recovery period, Chiliel tried to minimize going out. Even when she went hunting, she did so at night, taking advantage of the cover of darkness.

The purpose of doing this is to avoid being targeted by other dangerous hunters when injured.

Only today did her injuries fully heal. As soon as night fell, she rushed out of the cave, her wide wings billowing with the night wind and magical elements, and quickly disappeared into the distance.

Thor, who witnessed the whole thing from a corner, didn't know whether his adoptive mother was going to seek revenge or do something else. He just hoped she wouldn't cause him any trouble.

When the red fledgling dragon stepped into the moonlight, it became apparent that it had grown significantly larger than it had a week ago.

The length from the tip of the nose to the tip of the tail has increased from 2.3 meters to 3 meters. The bulge on the top of the head has risen again, and a small protrusion has appeared on the scales along the spine.

The abundant energy from the dragon crystal caused his body to develop rapidly, making him vastly different from Sistana and Karp, who are still only a little over two meters tall.

Even the short wings on his back now look much more harmonious.

This is thanks to the fact that he has been flapping his wings whenever he has free time over the past week.

When a part of the body frequently consumes energy, the body will naturally supply it with more energy, allowing it to grow faster and develop more.

This clumsy method did improve Thor's gliding ability considerably, but he still couldn't fly freely.

This may be because the magic power within him is not enough. After all, red dragons only awaken their first real magic when they reach infancy.

To acquire the ability to fly long distances, one would probably need to reach infancy.

"I wonder what I'll get with the first biological template. Among the environmental creatures, there don't seem to be any particularly strong species."

Thor glanced at the huge wheel in his mind. His mental essence balance had reached 9.14, which would probably be enough to make a draw tonight at 10 o'clock.

Then, he leaped down from the platform at the cave entrance. The cool evening breeze blew in his face, making a loud rustling sound as he flapped the membranes on his wings, and began searching for his prey for the day.

His enhanced gliding ability allows him to search farther distances, and his pale golden pupils, like those of an owl with night vision, are completely unaffected by the darkness.

Thor only dared to glide freely near the mudstone hills where Daenerys's cave was located; otherwise, even with the cover of night, certain ferocious birds of prey that preferred to be active at night might take his life.

He would land on the ground to rest for a while every 10 minutes or so before flapping his wings and taking off again.

After some time, a pair of twitching ears suddenly caught Thor's attention in the dense grass under some bushes.

So he began to descend, taking advantage of the night wind, and silently approached.

Once it got close enough, the wings spread on its back retracted slightly, and it plummeted downwards.

The whistling wind startled the alert prey below, and a fawn sprang up from the ground, trying to escape.

But a pair of sharp, outstretched claws, using the force of the fall, had already firmly landed on its back. The fawn's spine could not withstand the impact and broke instantly. Its internal organs were pierced by the broken ribs, and blood gushed from its mouth and nose. It was motionless in an instant.

"I'm in luck today. I caught a big one. I'll have a good meal again."

To prevent the smell of blood from attracting other animals, Thor couldn't wait to start eating voraciously, tearing off chunks of meat and swallowing them whole without even chewing.

A young dragon can eat almost its own weight in food at a time, and by the time Thor's belly begins to swell, there is hardly any prey left on the ground.

He left one of the hind legs uneaten, instead carrying it back to the cave with his claws.

The faint smell of blood quickly caught the attention of Sistana and Calp. When they looked over with red eyes, they saw Thor slowly licking the strips of flesh off his leg.

Seemingly noticing their gaze, the red fledgling, which was a size larger than them, turned its head disdainfully and spoke arrogantly.

"You two stupid fools, you didn't catch any prey again today?"

"Why don't you kneel down and beg me? Maybe I'll take pity on you and give you a couple of bones."

Chapter 10, Template 1

Anger, jealousy, hatred, plus an overwhelming sense of envy and greed.

The negative emotions surging in Sistana and Calp's eyes as they looked at Thor were almost overflowing. If given the chance, they certainly wouldn't mind pouncing on him and biting him a few times.

However, the growing size difference acted as an invisible barrier, preventing them from daring to approach rashly. They could only grimace and arch their backs, resembling two angry wildcats, stubbornly shouting at each other.

"You damned bastard, who wants to eat your rotten flesh!"

"We ate a lot outside a long time ago, we're not hungry at all!"

Thor gave a noncommittal chuckle, his eyes gleaming with undisguised mockery.

Words may lie, but the fleeting hint in his eyes of the increased number of spiritual essence fragments was undeniable.

Soon, the balance displayed above exceeded 10 points, and Thor licked the last bit of meat off the deer leg.

He casually tossed the white bone club aside, and it landed on the ground with a soft thud. Overwhelmed with excitement, he stepped into the corner of the cave where he usually stayed.

The dragon crystals he drew previously have already greatly helped Thor's growth. If he can draw a suitable biological template this time, it will definitely bring about a qualitative leap.

As the 10 points of spiritual essence transformed into a streak of starlight and crashed into the giant turntable, the two outer layers began to slowly rotate.

A bright light, like a chaotic neon light, flickered around on the turntable, finally settling steadily on a small square. Upon closer inspection, a pterosaur was sketched in simple lines within the square.

[Congratulations on obtaining the Pteranodon template. Do you wish to withdraw your winnings immediately? Yes/No.]

[Note: Loading must be completed immediately after withdrawal. Low matching or conflicting energy attributes may cause loading failure and lead to adverse consequences.]

Current match rate: High.

Information about the pterosaur flashed through Thor's mind.