Chapter 546 Woodland Coyote and Gravel-Scale Lizard

Deep in the jungle, in a small clearing concealed by shrubs.

Several brown-furred wolf cubs, barely a month old, pounced and tumbled in play. Their undeveloped milk teeth held no lethal power; they were merely clumsily mimicking the hunting strikes of adult wolves, getting themselves covered in grass clippings in the process.

A short distance away, the mother wolf guarding the den lay atop a small dirt mound. She half-closed her eyes, seemingly taking a lazy nap, but her ears stood tall, alert to the slightest rustle of wind or movement in the grass.

Further back, closer to the mother wolf and the den entrance, was a small cub whose eyes revealed a clear gleam of intelligence.

Compared to when he had first emerged from the den, his fur was now slightly ruffled.

Having finally broken free from his littermates' playful wrestling, Xia Nan very cautiously chose a spot near the adult—a position where he could easily dive back into the den or turn and flee into the dense shrubs.

It was no complex maneuver, but it slightly improved the survival odds of his current frail body.

If a predator targeted this litter, whether swooping down from the sky or pouncing out of the woods, it likely wouldn't choose Xia Nan, who was closest to the mother wolf and the den entrance.

It was his first bit of cleverness since his mind had fully cleared.

His grayish-blue wolf eyes glanced at the tumbling clump of cubs nearby, then he lowered his head to look at his own two fleshy little paws pressing against the earth.

Xia Nan leaned his furry body against the side of the small dirt mound, pondering his current situation.

First, there was one crucial point that had to be clarified.

Just a moment ago, when his mind had finally shaken off the hazy grogginess of his initial awakening...

As Xia Nan focused his attention, he realized he could see from two different perspectives.

Similar to zooming out on a webpage on a computer desktop from his past life, his primary perspective was this wolf cub, but with a mere shift of his will, he could also see the view from his human body currently suspended frozen over the sea.

This meant that Xia Nan—who had been brought here and turned into a wolf cub by the light barrier enveloping Stodd Island—had not entered through a physical transformation.

Rather, only his spiritual consciousness had arrived in this space.

'So, is death—permitted?'

Though he suspected that the survival or death of this body might not heavily impact his real body, Xia Nan obviously wasn't going to test that theory on himself.

Shifting his focus to the real world, he could see the halfling Alton and some members of the two Adventurer Squads enveloped in blue light just like him, suspended in midair on the nearby coast.

Xia Nan figured that those adventurers must have also arrived in this world the same way he did, their consciousness separating from their physical bodies.

'What should I do?'

'How can I break free from this Secret Realm ritual?'

He could guess his current predicament was related to "Algae Scale" Dodd, and that the man had likely turned the entirety of Stodd Island into the necessary staging ground for some sort of ritual.

However, he didn't know the pirate's ultimate goal, nor did he have any way of learning the operational mechanics of the Secret Realm they were in.

But no matter what, strengthening himself couldn't possibly be a mistake.

All he could do right now was survive in this world in this body for as long as possible, then wait and see what happened.

"Whoosh—"

A chilly breeze blew through the woods.

Despite being covered in thick fur like a ball of yarn, his frail, young body couldn't stop shivering.

Ever since becoming a Class Holder, it had been a long time since he had experienced such a weak body.

Xia Nan didn't feel frustrated or discouraged; instead, he worked hard to adapt to this wolf cub's body.

His underdeveloped, stubby limbs moved alternately, his chubby, round body wobbling and flopping around in the clearing before the den.

He was testing the strength of this body in his own way.

The results, though somewhat disappointing, were to be expected.

This wolf cub that his mind had incarnated into didn't seem to have any special abilities. Its physical strength was merely on par with an ordinary wolf cub.

It was likely just the most common wild beast on the Aifala Continent, rather than a powerful magical monster like the Winter Wolf or Dire Wolf, whose adult forms possessed Challenge Ratings.

The only fortunate thing was the physical familiarity, perhaps due to his main body having trained [Fang Hunt] to Mastery.

He adapted to this body extremely quickly.

In just a few short minutes, the stiffness and sluggishness from when he first emerged from the den were gone. His movements were even more agile than the other cubs playing on the meadow ahead.

'Wait, [Fang Hunt]?'

Suddenly, as if realizing something, Xia Nan's round, petite body paused.

Turning around, his small, padded paws exerted a bit of force. Looking somewhat clumsy, he struggled up the dirt mound in a half-crawling, half-rolling, yet inexplicably balanced posture.

Puzzled by the sudden movements of this cub who had been acting strangely from the start, the adult mother wolf resting atop the mound turned her head to look at him.

Because of this, Xia Nan was once again able to see the reflection of his current body in her wolf eyes.

Then, in a practiced manner he had repeated millions of times, he held his breath and focused his attention.

The next second, the translucent characters symbolizing the Attribute Panel materialized within the reflection of those wolf eyes.

[Name]: Xia Nan [Race] (Temporary): Woodland Coyote [Attributes]:

Strength: 1

Agility: 1

Constitution: 1

Intelligence: 1

Perception: 2

Charisma: 3

[Feats]:

Slashing Expert, Bronze Sinews and Iron Bones, Light-Bathed One—

[Skills]:

Spinning Slash lv5 (Ma), Fang Hunt lv5 (Ma)—

'Just as I thought!'

Xia Nan's emotions surged.

It was exactly as he had anticipated, even though he had temporarily lost control of his physical body in the real world and his consciousness had been swept away to this place.

His Golden Finger, the Attribute Panel, had still followed him!

His mind unconsciously recalled his movements when climbing the dirt mound just now.

Although it had been a bit of a struggle due to this body's sheer frailty, when his paws landed on the unstable slope, his tumbling and crawling displayed a sense of balance that no ordinary cub possessed.

—

He hadn't noticed it before because he was too eager to confirm his theory, but thinking back on it now, realization dawned on him.

Wasn't this exactly how his [Tidal Stabilization] feat manifested when active?!

Once attained, forever possessed!

Even with his physical body temporarily lost, Xia Nan—armed with his Attribute Panel Golden Finger—had carried over all his previously learned feats and combat techniques into this wolf cub's body, including but not limited to [Night Mother's Gaze], [Fang Hunt], and [Ember Echoes]!

Xia Nan instantly realized something.

If their current location truly was a ritual held by "Algae Scale" Dodd, and a massive number of adventurers on Stodd Island had been dragged into it...

Then the existence of the Attribute Panel—these combat techniques and feats inherited from his human body—would become his exclusive, overwhelming advantage over everyone else!

At this thought, Xia Nan's mind raced.

With a shift of his will, he subconsciously mobilized his spiritual energy, attempting to cast his most convenient skill, [Gravity Control], to prove his theory.

The good news was that Xia Nan's guess was correct.

The combat techniques and feats from his human body truly could be used in his wolf form.

The trace of gravity he invoked caused a small pebble by his foot to float slightly upward.

The bad news was that his current newborn wolf cub body obviously didn't have enough spiritual energy to sustain [Gravity Control].

Even though he had channeled it for less than a second, it instantly drained all of Xia Nan's mental energy.

His vision went dark, and he lost his balance.

His fluffy, round body swayed twice on the spot like a ball of brown yarn, then lightly rolled all the way down the dirt mound.

Meanwhile, in a desert extremely far from the woods where Xia Nan was located.

Inside a sand cave reeking of blood.

Pale yellow eggshell fragments, their surfaces coated in slime, lay shattered across the floor.

This should have been the nesting ground for some oviparous creature to incubate its young.

But at this moment, the six oval, watermelon-sized beast eggs originally hidden in the deepest part of the cave had all been completely shattered.

—

The little lizard that had hatched first had killed its five unhatched siblings—who should have grown up alongside it—with a ruthless decisiveness absent in ordinary infant beasts.

It turned their flesh and blood into nutrients for its own growth.

Gulping down the nutritious, viscous flesh and fluid remaining in the shattered shells, it felt a warm current spread from its stomach to the rest of its body.

"Algae Scale" Dodd carefully examined this new body, and a highly human look of satisfaction appeared on his scale-covered face.

To advance to the Transcendent Tier and take up the class of [Scale Shifter], one of the mandatory requirements was to "emerge victorious in a large-scale competition themed around savagery and the primal."

This was exactly why he had used that metal ring of unknown material as a medium, harnessed the magic particles invigorated by the Lunar Tide Banquet, and planted a massive amount of Deep-Sea Resonance Stones across Stodd Island to hold this ritual.

A full one hundred of the strongest veteran adventurers on the entire island—the perfect stepping stones for his ascension.

They had all been dragged into this Secret Realm by him.

They descended here in the forms of newborn beasts, starting entirely from scratch.

No enchanted gear, no Class Holder physique.

"Combat techniques," "feats"—everything their physical bodies had previously mastered was left behind in the original world.

Everyone, including "Algae Scale" Dodd himself, was starting from the exact same starting line.

Slaughter, evolve—

And in this ritual of savage, primal competition, he would claim the ultimate victory and take that final step toward the Transcendent Tier.

Bound by the ritual requirements of the [Scale Shifter], "Algae Scale" Dodd didn't actually enjoy too many conveniences. Just like the other adventurers, he had temporarily discarded everything from the real world to start anew.

To be honest, he was confident that even without relying on any other tricks, he could easily defeat and kill the other adventurers in the ritual by purely relying on the experience and growth capabilities he had cultivated over the years.

But after all, this concerned whether he could advance to the Transcendent Tier. No matter how confident he was, Dodd wasn't going to be overly arrogant.

Instead, leveraging his identity as the "ritual setter," he had prepared a few "insignificant" little tricks in advance.

First, knowing the content and mechanics of this ritual inherently gave him an absolute advantage in terms of information.

Compared to the other adventurers who had just entered this world—ignorant, bewildered, and likely paralyzed by shock at their new beastly forms...

Just knowing what he needed to do put Dodd ahead by the most crucial step.

Secondly, when setting up the ritual, Dodd had also made specific arrangements for his own origin.

This was incredibly important.

Because the inherent mechanics of the ritual meant that a sufficiently high racial starting point would help him evolve into a more powerful creature at a much faster rate.

He could guarantee that the beast identities of the vast majority of adventurers entering this world would initially be the most common, ordinary wild beasts on the continent, possessing no special abilities.

But Dodd himself, as the ritual's controller, was able to exert a bit of influence in this regard.

Restricted by the relative fairness required for the ascension ritual, he naturally couldn't directly spawn himself as a member of a mighty race like a true dragon or Giant Purple Worm.

But simply elevating his origin slightly to gain a certain head start at the very beginning—that wouldn't interfere with the progression of the ritual.

The Gravel-Scale Lizard was his choice.

Living in deserts and rocky badlands, this creature wasn't considered a particularly powerful magical monster.

Even upon reaching adulthood, its Challenge Rating barely scraped 2.

But regardless, compared to the ordinary wild beasts the other adventurers had started as, the Gravel-Scale Lizard was a legitimate creature with a Challenge Rating, fully worthy of being called a "magical monster."

It was enough for Dodd to slaughter the vast majority of the ritual's participants with overwhelming superiority right from the start.

Moreover, though the Gravel-Scale Lizard's Challenge Rating was low, its body genuinely contained a thin trace of dragon bloodline.

Strictly speaking, it actually belonged to the "sub-dragon" category of creatures.

Using this as a foundation, Dodd effectively had a clear path for evolution.

As long as his luck was good enough, he wouldn't even need to kill many adventurers before he could steer his evolution toward the true dragon path.

When that time came, even if he only became a White Dragon—the most controversial of the chromatic dragons—its innately powerful physique combined with its terrifying Dragon Breath, a nightmare for countless living beings, would be enough for Dodd to claim final victory in this ritual.

And lastly, there was the trump card that gave Dodd the confidence to complete the ritual at maximum speed.

He could pinpoint the approximate locations of the one hundred adventurers he had just pulled into the ritual.

In his mind's eye, one hundred faintly pulsing fluorescent blue dots were scattered in all directions, centered around his own location.

Some were moving rapidly in a wobbly manner, while others remained frozen in place.

The closest one to him was a mere five or six kilometers away.

With all three factors combined, Dodd's advantage would only snowball larger and larger as time went on.

He could already envision a scene in the near future where he, having evolved into a sufficiently powerful draconic creature, hunted down those specks of light in his perception to slaughter and devour the adventurers one by one.

"Gulp."

Swallowing the last mouthful of egg fluid, the Gravel-Scale Lizard that Dodd had incarnated into let out a burp.

After briefly getting his bearings, he began crawling out of the sand cave.