When the baby Chameleos woke, it was no longer in the warehouse, but in a spacious room. At this moment, a musically trained Felyne was playing a gentle melody, seemingly to lull it back to sleep.
That's right!
The only special room in all of Astera had now become the Chameleos' nest until it developed its own ability to defend itself!
It was also, in truth, a place for observation.
After all, the baby Chameleos still held deep wariness toward the Commission. Coupled with its invisibility ability, if there were no restrictions, one careless moment might see it slip away entirely.
The Felyne absorbed in its music noticed the hatchling had woken and immediately called softly to a Fire Wyvern Grimalkyne who was arranging things around the room.
Yes, a Fire Wyvern Grimalkyne, not just some ordinary cat from the Ancient Tree's Fire Wyvern group.
As Astera's resident liaison cat, Egg Tart had suddenly received an order from the Commission's leadership: in its spare time, it was to act as both caretaker and interpreter for the baby Chameleos.
At first, when Egg Tart was given the task, it was dumbfounded. This was an Elder Dragon hatchling!
Was such an important duty really something a single cat could handle?
But the Commander's reasoning left it with no grounds to refuse.
As a Fire Wyvern Grimalkyne who had served under and followed the Sunblaze Dragon—the Fire Wyvern boss—Egg Tart had far more relevant experience than the human members of the Commission. In truth, only Egg Tart was suited to the job.
And so, after being talked into it, Egg Tart became one of those responsible for caring for the baby Chameleos.
"You're awake, meow? Do you feel unwell anywhere, meow?"
Egg Tart asked softly, but when it saw the baby Chameleos staring back with a blank, confused look, it couldn't help but feel helpless.
It was obvious—the little Chameleos couldn't understand a word it was saying!
At first, the only reason Egg Tart could communicate with the Fire Wyvern boss was because their tribe had lived in the Ancient Tree for so long that they eventually learned the Fire Wyvern's language.
But this was a Chameleos!
A monster Egg Tart had never even heard of before—how was it supposed to communicate?
Seeing no reaction from the baby Chameleos, Egg Tart felt a bit lost.
Fortunately, the little one showed no hostility, not even the slightest intention to flee. Even though its body had been cleaned, it didn't slip into invisibility.
Just then, the Provisions Manager's voice rang out.
"You're awake, huh? Want something to eat?"
When Egg Tart saw the Provisions Manager walk over, it finally breathed a sigh of relief. It immediately made way, planning to ask the Field Master about the ecological habits of Chameleos and do its homework properly.
The baby Chameleos watched the Provisions Manager approach and relaxed a little.
Although this two-legged beast didn't look like a good creature, at least his actions back in the warehouse had shown some goodwill. So the Chameleos only acted somewhat aloof, without displaying any hostility.
Seeing the little one silent, the Provisions Manager recalled the Field Master's instructions.
"When dealing with Elder Dragons—these highly intelligent monsters—it's almost impossible to completely erase their wariness. It's a long process. You need to keep trying to release goodwill until they finally accept you."
That might be true, but facing the baby Chameleos right now still gave the Provisions Manager a headache. Luckily, in order to find a breakthrough, he had also consulted the Admiral, since the Admiral had managed to build a decent relationship with the Sunblaze Dragon.
"How did I build that relationship? Let me think. Honestly, I didn't do much. I just took Sita along while the Fire Wyvern boss was out hunting and cooked a meal for his mate. Then I refused to leave, kept showing up, and spent days making roast meat. That's when the relationship finally started to improve."
From those words, the Provisions Manager drew out the key points.
Food—and shameless persistence!
He immediately pulled out a special potion, and sure enough, the baby Chameleos' gaze locked onto it at once.
Seeing the longing in its eyes, the Provisions Manager placed the special potion on a tray, set it down in front of the baby Chameleos under its wary gaze, then slowly backed away.
But when he saw the hatchling still not eating, he sighed inwardly and chose to leave the room altogether.
There was still time. Sooner or later, the day would come when its guard dropped completely.
As soon as the Provisions Manager left, the baby Chameleos exhaled in relief and prepared to dig in.
But then—the potion simply vanished into thin air!
A second later, an utterly ordinary vial of healing potion materialized and fell onto the tray.
The baby Chameleos turned toward the direction where the healing potion had appeared, and sure enough, it saw the half-transparent form of the Chameleos outside the balcony of the special room, seemingly about to leave.
When the elder Chameleos noticed its gaze, it gave a soft, encouraging cry, then departed without looking back.
All that remained was the baby Chameleos staring at the tray and that unremarkable healing potion—leaving behind a Dragon's Tear.
With the Chameleos' return, the monsters near Astera once again began keeping their distance from the mountainside. The Azure Rathalos and Pink Rathian couple, who had long been cooperating with the Commission's research, also curbed their tempers. Astera as a whole regained its former state.
Meanwhile, at a natural harbor in the Wildspire Waste, a Tigrex about 18 meters long, its entire body covered in hard blue-and-yellow interlaced scales and packed with powerful muscle, was scanning its surroundings, sensing something amiss.
Suddenly, a massive figure spread its wings. With a deafening roar of air between them, it dove at extreme speed from the sky.
As an apex predator, the Tigrex naturally reacted, roaring in defiance as it charged forward.
The next instant, it was struck head-on by the other's meteoric attack, sent flying with a cry of pain.
Fortunately, the attacker made no move to pursue. Struggling to its feet, the Tigrex fled in disarray.
Having driven off the Tigrex, the "monster" turned its gaze toward the natural harbor, toward an adventure ship that had run aground who knew how many years ago. With heavy steps, it approached the vessel.
That ship—was its very purpose here!
...
Although it was called the New World, that didn't mean it was a newly formed continent. Compared to the Old World, the "age" of the New World might be a little younger, but it was still a continent, and the time of its growth was measured in tens of thousands of years.
Before the Research Commission arrived, many Old World expedition fleets had already successfully reached this place, and quite a few adventurers, after setting foot on the New World, never returned. So in various hidden corners of this land, one could occasionally find such wrecked ships.
The "monster" slowly moved up to the shipwreck as if observing it. After a short while, it suddenly lashed out at the wreck in fury, like an irritable demolisher, and soon reduced the vessel to complete ruin.
Fragments of the wreck drifted out with the waves into the depths of the sea. But several intact pieces seemed to be drawn by some unseen force, flying neatly through the air.
Following the monster's footsteps, it returned to the wasteland, glanced casually in a certain direction, then walked into the sandy ground. Amid booming rumbles and a storm of whirling yellow sand, the "monster" and the wreckage vanished into the earth.
From afar, the Tigrex that had been driven back by the "monster" stared at the gradually settling sand, its eyes full of doubt and suspicion. Yet, driven by a living creature's instinctive sense of danger, it ultimately chose to avoid the area.
Atop a massive termite mound, an Ancient Wyverian cloaked in specially made camouflage gazed blankly at the spot where the "monster" had vanished, muttering to himself: "Has the newborn queen finally begun to fill her throne?"
...
Astera. Several days later, the little Chameleos had at last started to adapt to the feeding routine of the Provisions Manager and Egg Tart.
There was no way not to adapt! Locked inside this uncomfortable little space, even though it was fed regularly every day, if the little Chameleos failed to eat its food right away, its thieving old mother would appear on time and swap all those tasty items—Max Potions, Herbal Medicine, Mega Nutrients—for nothing but plain old Healing Potions.
Day after day, aside from insects and some fresh meat, the little Chameleos was forced to drink Healing Potions until it was ready to vomit. Even worse, sometimes its own mother wouldn't even spare the fresh meat!
Was it only fit to eat bugs?! Thankfully, the little Chameleos had finally discovered a pattern: when the two-legged beast and the cat were around, its old mother wouldn't be so brazen in stealing its food! So, in order to improve its meals, the little Chameleos had no choice but to force itself to eat the potions and other "snacks" right in front of the Provisions Manager and Egg Tart before they left.
Even if it meant being misunderstood as letting down its guard toward these two-legged creatures, that didn't matter. A little shame was worth it if it meant finally getting a decent meal!
The Provisions Manager watched the little Chameleos as it ravenously tore into a large slab of Aptonoth belly meat, already weighing whether it was time to take the next step. After all, since the little Chameleos no longer resisted the food it was offered, perhaps it was time to find an opportunity to get closer to it.
With this thought in mind, the Provisions Manager was just about to act when his nose twitched slightly.
"What flowers did they put out today? Why does it smell so fragrant?"
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