"Phew~ Boss Fire Wyvern is finally back, hehe, then I'll…"
The Admiral turned his head to look at Carlos; without finishing the sentence, the Commander understood what the Admiral meant.
Nodding, he replied with a smile at the corner of his mouth, "Since He has returned, then the investigation plan about Him will continue. Remember to bring back some good news."
The Commander was also in a good mood. Since Ahtal-Ka left, the return of the Sunblaze Dragon already counted as rare good news.
"Don't worry. I'm also very curious—after our old friend completes a new metamorphosis and successfully steps into what scholarly analysis calls the 'youth stage' where the true posture begins to show, how many surprises He can bring us."
The Admiral instantly understood: the Sunblaze Dragon's further metamorphosis, successfully entering the next ecological stage—this wondrous phenomenon was enough to drive countless people filled with the desire to know mad.
What is more, the Admiral could also try to inquire a bit about the situation of the place where Logan underwent metamorphosis. Even if, with the Research Commission's current capability, they still could not cross the Great Ravine and on a large scale go to other regions of the New World, as long as they could get some information from Logan, that would also be a great step forward.
Besides, it had been more than a year without seeing one another; they certainly had to send someone to properly maintain the relationship, and in this respect there was no one more suitable than the Admiral.
Relationships, after all, are all built through contact.
On the other side of the meeting place, Mother Chameleos also heard this news in full. Her big eyes lit up, and she flew back to her own nest, preparing to set out for the Ancient Tree.
Of course She knew where Logan had gone over this past year, and She was also clear that Logan's trip this time would certainly not have been for nothing.
Besides holding the same intention as the Admiral—to go and strengthen their relationship—Mother Chameleos especially wanted to see whether Logan and that "simple" little female wyvern had, by chance, taken this opportunity to produce offspring.
Another reason was that ever since the cats had taken over as the main source of cultivated supplies for the Research Commission, the plantations at Astera had become quite neglected.
Although Her daily ration of medicinal materials and food had not been reduced, the "snacks" in the plantations were gone, and judging by the Research Commission's current state, they clearly had no plans to restart the plantations.
When Ahtal-Ka was around, the Research Commission's attention had all been focused either on Ahtal-Ka or on Her unfilial child, while the attention toward Mother Chameleos had decreased significantly.
Now Ahtal-Ka was gone, yet the Research Commission still remained the same.
Sure enough, ever since the Provisions Manager left, no one in the Research Commission had cared about Her anymore!!
Therefore, Mother Chameleos felt that She should "run away from home," go to the Ancient Tree to scrounge, and properly improve Her meals!
She felt that Her new changes would probably last only these few years, and She definitely couldn't let Herself suffer.
The moment She thought of the high-quality medicinal herbs that the cats hauled over by the cartload, and the cat meals specially made according to Fire Wyvern diets—obviously more suitable for monsters—Mother Chameleos already felt hungry.
Beside the nest, the noticeably grown little Chameleos, through the sensory organs on its tail, discovered that its mother's camouflage was a bit unstable, the colors constantly shifting, and for a moment it didn't quite know what mood She was in again.
Sometimes, after spending a long time with the people of the Research Commission, the little Chameleos always felt somewhat out of place with its own mother.
As Mother Chameleos packed up, all the secret medicines and other drugs stored in the nest were taken away by Her, and it was only then that the little Chameleos realized something was wrong.
Its mother really was having another fit, and this time the commotion was not small—it was clearly the pace of setting off on a long journey.
But before the little Chameleos could stop Her, it saw Mother Chameleos flap Her wings and leave the nest very swiftly, leaving only the dazed little Chameleos tilting its head.
"Leaving is one thing, but why take away my stored snacks too!!"
...
On the Ancient Tree, Logan felt a bit of a headache.
Ahtal-Ka had come, and had even very proactively taken on the job of building Logan's new nest. A perfectly good top-tier monster had been forcibly turned into a construction foreman, all just to be able to observe Logan at closer range.
This sort of behavior that easily caused misunderstandings almost made the jealous one at Logan's side blow her lid.
The results of these days of reintegrating into the group were pretty good. After a few days of adapting, Aki once again began leading the Rathian out to hunt.
However, the present Aki seldom struck first. First, because her camouflage had disappeared after her molting; those glittering golden scales were far too conspicuous in an environment like the Ancient Forest.
If she took the first shot, she could only ensure that she herself hunted prey, while the other Rathian would have to chase after the prey that scattered in all directions.
Aki, who still hadn't recovered from that "several battles a day" state in the Elder's Recess, had been unable to get any release after returning. Aside from her nightly routine of squeezing Logan, she could only occasionally find an open space and now and then spit a couple of breaths of fire to ease herself.
As for the Scorching Heat Rathian who could trade a few moves with her, she had already successfully been led astray by her mate, that is, the Flame Rathalos. "After carrying out several consecutive strength tests, they were successfully conquered by the cats and entered an idle 'health-preserving' state.
Now, this kind of move from Ahtal-Ka had undoubtedly ignited that breath in Aki's heart, only she didn't manage to start a hearty battle with Ahtal-Ka under Logan's obstruction.
This left Aki giving Logan no good face for several days in a row.
With Logan's return, the Fire Wyvern group at first fell into an active state; they had more confidence in going out to hunt and such, and each one's mood was extremely high.
But along with the issuance of Logan's new order, that high mood quickly diminished.
"For the next two years, breeding offspring is not permitted."
That's right, it was a breeding ban again.
Ever since those incidents with stillbirths last time, there had once been a period when they were forcibly ordered by Logan to be prohibited.
Who would have thought that as soon as Logan came back this time, he would actually start this ban again. This left many Fire Wyverns somewhat unaccustomed, but under Logan's hard-line demand, they could only comply.
Logan also had no choice. After returning to the Ancient Tree, as the distance closed, the Symbiosis Trait once again brought the Fire Wyvern group into the energy pyramid.
Logan's ecological niche had been elevated, and the Fire Wyvern group's genes were about to begin new mutations because of the Symbiosis Trait.
As for problems he had encountered before, he would not make the same mistake twice.
Rather than attempting remedial measures afterward whose success was uncertain, causing the Fire Wyvern group to become unstable again, it was better to implement a ban from the start and lift it after the Fire Wyverns adapted.
In Logan's original nest, at this moment, besides him, the Fire Wyvern Grimalkyne leader was also present.
At this moment, the nest seemed somewhat stifled under Logan's silence.
Because a problem had arisen—a problem concerning the ecology of all Fire Wyverns in the New World.
Namely, during the more than a year that he had been away, apart from the young born from the natural reproduction of the Fire Wyvern group, not a single new Fire Wyvern had joined.
Yes, not a single one!
Under the influence of the Symbiosis Trait, strictly speaking, the present Ancient Tree Fire Wyvern group already counted as another subspecies of Fire Wyvern; even though they had no interspecific discrimination toward native Fire Wyverns, differences in physique and the emergence of a gap in strength caused the Fire Wyvern group to begin exhibiting exclusion.
According to the original rules on the Ancient Tree, after a new Fire Wyvern initiated a challenge, if it won it occupied the nest, or established a new nest on the same level.
If it lost, it directly scrammed.
But if it drew, it likewise could have the qualification to reside.
But according to the Fire Wyvern Grimalkyne leader, during the period when Logan was away, not only were Fire Wyverns that initiated challenges driven off, even some that barely won were also rejected by the Fire Wyvern group.
The Fire Wyverns of the group had actually exploited a loophole, having the stronger Fire Wyverns on the same level make a move and drive them out.
One must know that the upper-layer rules of the Ancient Tree were aimed at all Fire Wyverns of the New World; these were things that, over endless ages, had been engraved into their genes.
In the short term it was fine, but as time went on, Fire Wyverns driven away by the Fire Wyvern group by means that violated the rules would certainly become more and more numerous; by then it might well incite an internal war between the Ancient Tree Fire Wyvern group and the Fire Wyverns of the entire New World.
This would cause a major ecological upheaval; for Logan, who now understood ecology more and more and had integrated into the ecology, this was an outcome he could not easily accept.
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