"Gwa!"
A now-familiar call echoed. The Fire Wyvern Grimalkyne Chief, unfazed, gathered up his report sheets, bowed slightly to Logan and Aki, and then returned to his quarters to handle his duties.
After two years of interaction, Aki seemed to have found her own way of dealing with this Chameleos. She no longer entered a state of full alert the moment she heard its voice—no longer let the creature provoke her emotions into a fit of helpless rage.
Now, whenever Chameleos dared to taunt her as before, Aki's response was simple: a single fireball tinged faintly purple.
As her Molt Progress reached about sixty percent, she could now release flames that carried traces of Cataclysmic Fire with only brief charging. If she gathered her strength fully, she could even spit a fireball infused with a vast amount of that destructive flame.
The power contained within it was something even Chameleos couldn't easily endure—let alone block Aki's fireball as effortlessly as it had two years ago with just a single breath.
When facing a monster that could actually pose a threat, the Chameleos, as always, started to grow timid.
Thus, since the Chameleos had already taken the initiative to yield, Aki no longer paid it much attention.
As light and shadow twisted, the figures of Chameleos and its young appeared inside the nest.
In just two short years apart, the Chameleos—whose body had once been purely violet—had somehow developed streaks of yellow patterns, and the young one in particular was covered in patches of yellow markings, looking somewhat like a dog with its colors mixed wrong.
Not exactly ugly, perhaps, but certainly not pleasant to look at.
Fortunately, Chameleos could turn invisible at will, so it didn't care much about its original coloration.
"Gwa!" (I'm here to take refuge, gwa!)
Chameleos declared bluntly.
This time, the Elder Dragon making the crossing was a Kushala Daora, and the landing point was very likely along the outer edge of the Ancient Forest.
If it were alone, Chameleos would most likely have stayed near Astera, and once Kushala Daora arrived, it would sneak over invisibly to see if there was any gossip worth watching.
However, that wouldn't do for the young one—it still couldn't achieve perfect invisibility. Once discovered by the somewhat short-tempered Kushala Daora, trouble would be inevitable.
After much consideration, Chameleos decided to bring its offspring to live for a while in the Ancient Tree.
Over the past two years, since it often came visiting, the creature had simply chosen a hidden spot within the Ancient Tree as its den. As for the young Chameleos—it seemed to have inherited its mother's temperament. After repeatedly playing pranks on the cats and Fire Wyvern hatchlings…
One day, it was finally trapped by the cats and forced to reveal itself.
Of course, whether it truly had been forced to show itself by the cats and Fire Wyvern hatchlings' antics, only it knew.
After all, even a young Elder Dragon was still an Elder Dragon!
"By the way, gwa, I sensed a familiar presence—it's heading this way from deep within the continent, gwa. If possible, could we… avoid a conflict, gwa?"
After lounging around Logan's nest for a while, Chameleos, lying flat as usual, suddenly spoke in a slightly pleading tone.
Seeing that Logan's expression remained unchanged, Chameleos added, "Of course, gwa, if you feel threatened, then strike as you please, gwa. Just don't expect me to help, gwa."
That made Logan somewhat curious. What was this familiar presence Chameleos had sensed? And from the way it spoke, there was an implication that Logan would most likely end up clashing with the newcomer. What made Chameleos so certain of that?
...
In the northern marshes of the Ancient Forest, a wandering Aptonoth that had been cautiously scanning its surroundings was suddenly lifted by an unknown force. It couldn't even let out a cry before its breath ceased altogether.
With a ripple of distortion, a massive Chameleos revealed itself. After devouring its prey, it resumed walking toward the Ancient Tree.
Its body bore numerous tears and wounds of varying sizes, faintly interfering with its camouflage ability.
Mist rolled in, and soon its form vanished completely into the thick fog.
...
Inside Astera, the Admiral, covered in dust from travel, had just returned. Looking at the increasingly organized base, he couldn't help but feel a surge of emotion.
For two years of jungle life, apart from sending regular quarterly messages to the Ancient Tree to signal that he was still alive—and having the Grimalkynes help relay those back to Astera—the Admiral had been traveling alone through the uncharted wilderness.
It wasn't until recently, when he encountered a new resource-gathering team of Grimalkynes, that he learned the Third Fleet was about to arrive—and with it, a new Elder Dragon Crossing was approaching the New World.
Worried about the base, the Admiral had ended his expedition and rushed back in haste.
"Quickly! Secure all the supplies properly—this time, the Kushala Daora will bring blizzard conditions! We still don't know the exact landing point, so everyone, move it! Let's finish the defensive preparations within two days!!"
Amid the bustling crowd, the Admiral looked somewhat out of place, momentarily unsure of what to do.
"You finally decided to come back, huh? Hurry up—Field Master and the others returned days ago; you're the only one left!"
At the Commander's reproachful voice, the Admiral gave an awkward laugh, tightened the weapon on his back, and headed toward the meeting platform.
...
The high-level meeting of the Research Commission had clearly split into factions.
Some believed that regarding this Elder Crossing of the Kushala Daora, Astera didn't need to take any action—just make proper defensive preparations.
At present, the Commission's manpower could barely sustain itself. Although the Third Fleet had brought four ships, eighty percent of their members were noncombatant scholars. Even if they attempted to track and study this Elder Crossing, the outcome would most likely yield nothing—while greatly consuming the supplies accumulated in the base over the years and severely delaying Astera's overall development.
The other faction, however, held a different view. They argued that although the Guild's observations showed the Elder Crossing had shortened from once every few centuries to once every ten years in recent decades, there was no guarantee it wouldn't suddenly return to its centuries-long cycle. Therefore, they needed to seize every opportunity during an Elder Crossing to uncover the true reason behind it.
Because of these opposing opinions, the debate grew heated, giving the Commander and the others quite the headache.
As for the Elder Crossing itself, they hadn't refrained from subtly asking Logan about it—but the only answer they received was, "It's merely a natural phenomenon."
As for why the interval between crossings had shortened, Logan only added, "There's a powerful existence drawing them here."
Such half-spoken words only deepened the scholars' confusion.
If it were truly just a natural phenomenon, they would likely attribute it to some biological instinct. But knowing that the shortened interval was due to the attraction of certain creatures entirely rekindled everyone's curiosity.
What kind of existence could possibly lure Elder Dragons across the sea?
Yet after offering those ambiguous remarks, Logan refused to answer any further questions regarding the Elder Crossing—leaving the Commission suspended between speculation and uncertainty. After much fruitless discussion, they eventually sent the data back to the Old World, hoping the scholars there could join in the analysis.
In the end, even when the meeting adjourned, no conclusion was reached.
Not even the usually decisive and rational Commander Carlos could make a final decision.
He had no choice but to dismiss everyone first and discuss the matter privately with the Admiral—after all, whatever decision they made next would affect Astera's development for at least the next five years.
...
On the Ancient Tree, although winter had already set in, the temperature here wasn't particularly low due to the abundant fire-elemental energy. At the very least, the cats still only needed to wear ordinary clothing—combined with their own fur, it provided decent warmth.
For the past two years, no new members had been born atop the Ancient Tree. It wasn't that the Fire Wyverns' bodies had encountered any problems again, but rather that as Logan's blood neared complete transformation—and his metamorphosis reached its critical threshold—
Under the influence of the Symbiosis trait, the Fire Wyverns sensed that something was off within their bodies. Thus, over these two years, although the Rathians actively adjusted their physical states and extended their breeding preparation periods, not a single pair chose to produce offspring.
All the Fire Wyverns were waiting—waiting for the day of the final metamorphosis!
Apart from that, something Logan had feared ever since the Fire Wyverns began their mutation had finally occurred.
The mutated Rathalos had developed isolation toward their "concubines"!
They actually showed a rejection response similar to that between subspecies and their original forms!
This meant that the Fire Wyvern group of the Ancient Tree was gradually deviating from its original ecological habits and evolving toward becoming a new species.
This wasn't like subspecies, where only one or two might appear among hundreds of individuals—it involved an entire population of nearly five hundred apex creatures!!
Such a situation could be viewed as biological evolution, yet from another perspective, it was also a provocation toward the existing order of nature.
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