"Huh? Why are you running so fast? Are the people of the Second Fleet chasing you?"
The Huntsman's voice came from behind. After the Admiral slowly calmed his breathing, he spread his hands and said, "Exactly, I was almost caught just now."
Seeing the Admiral's helpless expression, the corners of the Huntsman's mouth, hidden beneath his face-covering helmet, raised slightly as he smiled with mock seriousness and said, "Who told you to fail to figure out the base's material reserves and open your mouth with twenty metal pillars."
Faced with these words, the Admiral could not refute. He had simply underestimated the amount of ore needed to forge such metal pillars and overestimated the base's resource-gathering capacity and the craftsmen's forging ability.
This is the New World. Resource gathering—especially mineral resource gathering—basically relies on using pickaxes to dig and then manual transport.
Even though people in this world have very strong constitutions, and Hunters' constitutions are downright monster-level, the efficiency for mining is still very slow.
What is more, judging from the Research Commission's current survey of the areas under its control, they have not found any large ore veins at all. The base's reserves have been accumulated over the years by mining those veins exposed on the surface.
And the loss during smelting ore into metal and then forging and shaping afterward is also not low.
It can be said that the Admiral's offhand promise directly overdrew at least the next year's worth of mineral resources—and that was even counting the mineral resources needed to maintain the Hunters' equipment. If that necessary portion were excluded, the date would have to be pushed even farther back.
But the gains were almost zero. After all, these were merely "compensation" for the Ahtal-Ka.
So how could the Second Fleet possibly have no complaints.
"Blame me, blame me. Mainly, I was thinking that the small smithy over at the Ancient Tree could make 6 metal pillars in half a year, so here at the base, using 30 to obtain the friendship of a monster with combat strength comparable to an Elder Dragon shouldn't be a problem. In the end, hehe."
Seeing the Admiral's regretful expression, the Huntsman also sighed, patted the other's shoulder, and said, "This morning, the Second Fleet Master submitted an application to Carlos, intending to bring forward the mechanized assembly-line forging plan that was originally scheduled to begin five years later, prioritizing completion of this transformation. This way, not only can the rough processing of metals be accelerated to fulfill this unprofitable 'order,' but it will also make things easier for the smithy in the future."
"This…"
The Admiral was stunned, then smiled bitterly and shook his head. By his own power alone, he had forcibly slowed down the entire Research Commission's pace.
The smithy's reconstruction would be beneficial for the future, but during this period of rapid expansion following the Third Fleet's personnel reinforcements, the smithy—such an important logistics facility—coming to a halt for reconstruction would also slow down the pace of expansion.
"What did Carlos say?"
"He agreed."
The Admiral fell silent. "As expected, I'm still not suited to make decisions."
The Admiral gazed at the bustling Astera, feeling deeply dejected.
Time passed, and the years flowed by.
After the turn of four seasons, the Elder's Recess still maintained its appearance of "calm."
The occasionally erupting volcanoes, the unending black clouds of ash, and the ceaseless battles—these were all the norm here.
Amid a blazing zone of searing flames, the Lunastra raised her forelimbs and slapped aside the charging Scorching Heat Rathian, then powerfully flapped her wings and swiftly retreated within the howling wind, evading Aki's fierce aerial tail swing.
Seeing the blue-violet glow emanating outward from the scales on Aki's chest and feeling a faint stinging pain from her left wing, she knew—the toxicity of Aki's venom had grown stronger again!
At this moment, after a year of fighting, this Golden Fire Wyvern, upon entering the Flame Calamity state, finally possessed a might no weaker than her own.
Upon seeing this, the temperature around Lunastra rose rapidly once more, and even traces of scorching flame appeared in the air itself. She intended to use a bit of an Elder Dragon's "willfulness" to regain a little dignity.
Just as Lunastra was only beginning to mobilize her authority, two very young roars—tinged with a bit of grievance and anger—came through.
The originally tense, drawn-bow-and-crossbow situation instantly relaxed.
The flames beside Lunastra subsided; without the slightest hesitation, she let out a loud bellow and shot upward, madly flying toward the top of the basalt cliff face.
The calamity flames on Aki's wings receded. After exchanging a glance with the Scorching Heat Rathian beside him, who had likewise let the flames on his body fade, they secretly followed along the direction Lunastra had left, flying upward for a short distance.
Before long, they clearly heard the irritable roar of Lunastra, as well as the surprised and pleading whimpering of Teostra.
Right, and mixed into the roars of this husband-and-wife pair were also two tender cries that seemed to be tattling.
There was no need to look to know: up there was definitely yet another "monster version of a domestic-violence scene" from a monster family.
Speaking of which, this species, the Flame Dragon, really is very similar to the Fire Wyvern. Whether from the perspective of family values or living habits, the Flame Dragon seems like a strengthened version of the Fire Wyvern.
The husband and wife jointly conceive and guard their offspring; before the offspring possess sufficient ability to survive independently, the female will prioritize the hatchlings.
After the hatchlings have the ability to survive independently, they will rapidly shift to the mode of "the hatchlings were an accident; Mom and Dad are the true love."
Therefore, ever since two months ago, when the Flame Dragon couple's egg successfully hatched, this kind of "domestic violence" has basically occurred once every few days.
According to Logan, it seems this is Teostra's first time being a father, so he simply hasn't regarded the hatchlings as hatchlings, but as some sort of novel toys to play with—very much with the air of an old father bringing up a child—so long as it doesn't die.
As for why Logan would be this clear, one can only say that over this year, Lunastra and Aki have fought once every two or three days, with Teostra and Logan each covering for their own partners, preventing them from truly setting real fire.
Then both sides also happen to be the kind of dragons with stable emotions, their nests are close to each other, and Logan can control the temperature, letting this old father relax a lot when incubating the egg.
In this back-and-forth, the two sides could be considered barely familiar.
Thus, after the little Flame Dragon hatched, by chance, Logan discovered, beneath Teostra's "mature" exterior, that restless heart.
Judging from the roars of the Flame Dragon couple and concluding that the Lunastra would not be leaving the nest again today, Aki and the Scorching Heat Rathian began to return to the nest.
At this moment, in the nest, the Azure Rathalos, its whole body covered in injuries, threw the now-tattered bag woven from Ahtal-Ka silk off the cliff, then quietly waited for the medicine to take effect.
Although the Azure Rathalos was in great pain at this moment, its eyes were filled with excitement.
A year, a full year!
It had finally, through all sorts of battles, forced its body to passively accept the strengthening of excessive life energy and had finally succeeded in becoming a Tempered individual.
Beside the Azure Rathalos, the Flame Rathalos, happily eating Lavasioth meat, couldn't quite understand the Azure Rathalos's emotions, but it was also very happy at this moment, because the boss had said they would be returning soon.
Thinking of those fellows in the past who liked to parade their lovey-dovey acts in front of it, once they went back, it would immediately issue a challenge—no, a strength assessment!
And it would be the kind where the husband and wife fight together!!
Thinking of being able to slap the faces of those who showed off their affection, the Flame Rathalos got excited all on its own.
In the sky, Logan slightly moved his wings; amid the sound of metal scraping, pieces of excess scales fell.
At this moment, from the outside, the scales on Logan's body were layered one atop another, yet they did not appear bloated; rather, they gave a sense of streamlined security, and the glints that occasionally swept across the scales also testified to the strength of those scales.
Ever since he returned from the Rotten Vale, the Elder's Recess had entered an unprecedented state of calm.
There was no noisy "song," nor any pheromones that would rouse the Elder Dragons to restlessness; even that big black hedgehog that spent all day chasing after the Elder Dragons' backsides had, for no apparent reason, vanished without a trace.
If not for, once in the lava region, seeing a Dodogama that had been half gnawed and whose body was studded all over with white spines, Logan would have thought Nergigante had kicked the bucket.
Dropping rapidly from above the nest, with Gale Wings beating, and after calming the wind pressure it had stirred up, Logan looked toward the Azure Rathalos at the cliff edge that had grown a size larger; under the crimson firelight shining from afar, its silver-white scales reflected like a mirror, scattering all sorts of colors.
Once this guy recovers, it will be time for them to return.
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