A heavy rain swept across the Elder's Recess. In this place where rain was rare, such a downpour eased the tension of many monsters that had recently entered the area.
The erupting volcanoes also returned to calm, and amid the rising mist, the monsters once again left their hiding places to continue their unfinished battles.
At the edge of the cliff, Aki's pupils contracted. She suddenly straightened up, gazing at the figure flying through the curtain of rain toward her, and let out a high, resounding dragon roar.
A call to celebrate the victory of the one returning triumphant.
The Scorching Heat Rathian, hearing the commotion through the smoky rainfall, also lifted its gaze toward the rain, letting the flames on its body evaporate the falling water as it stepped outside the nest to look at the approaching Logan.
A trace of doubt flashed in its eyes.
He won?
The Scorching Heat Rathian wasn't sure. Apart from a few patches where the scales seemed slightly disordered, Logan's body bore not a single visible wound. Having never truly witnessed Logan fight, it was natural for the Scorching Heat Rathian to harbor such doubt.
As for the previous battle with Teostra, since both sides possessed extremely high resistance to Fire, Logan's strongest flame abilities could not be fully displayed, so it hadn't provided the Scorching Heat Rathian any clear reference.
But in truth, there were still some injuries. While venting his rage and slashing the Savage Deviljho with his Heatblade Wings, Logan had occasionally been struck or hit by a tail swipe that couldn't be avoided.
However, such wounds, given Logan's current level of Regeneration, would heal within just a few breaths after leaving combat—and even during battle, only one or two minutes would suffice.
Logan had once speculated that when his strength climbed to the point of complete release, he might possess regenerative recovery on par with Nergigante's.
As Logan slowly descended, the Flame Rathalos happened to return as well, carrying the corpse of a Glavenus. Judging by the wounds on the body, however, it clearly wasn't slain by the Flame Rathalos but rather "borrowed" from the mouth of some kindly monster.
In the Elder's Recess, there was never any shortage of such "kindhearted" dragons—after all, those unwilling to lend often ended up becoming another's meal in the end.
The Flame Rathalos, seeing Logan return looking refreshed, did not, like the Scorching Heat Rathian, wonder about anything. With such a big commotion made, the opponent had surely been dealt with.
Its—indeed, the entire Fire Wyvern group's—trust in Logan had been built battle by battle.
Even if he had brought back no trophies as proof, it did not matter; they would only assume Logan had scattered the other side's corpse to the winds, and think nothing else of it.
Just so, the "gift of nature" it had obtained in less than twenty minutes out was just right for a celebration.
Watching the Flame Rathalos eagerly carry the food to Logan's side, the Scorching Heat Rathian, for once, had no thoughts about it, as if this were only natural.
Seeing that Logan did not reject it, only then did she give a low growl and lower her head before him.
At this moment, on the energy pyramid of the Symbiosis Trait, the cluster of energy representing the Scorching Heat Rathian slowly surfaced on the second layer. This proud Rathian of the Flame lineage had, at last, truly become one of the Ancient Tree Fire Wyvern group.
Inside the nest, Aki was tearing at the soft flesh of the Glavenus's belly, while Logan stared at the curtain of rain outside the nest; he seemed to be thinking, but in fact he was checking the panel.
He had not expected that, clearly the boss had not assigned an order, yet after he took care of the Savage Deviljho, the extraction progress bar for traits filled up again.
It could only be said that the Deviljho species, in this world, received treatment much like the Shagaru Magala—both were unwelcome existences.
And the "reward" brought by an Elder Dragon–class monster was indeed ample; after the bar filled, there even seemed to be some surplus, pushing the next trait's extraction progress bar up by a full one-third.
[Multiscale: Because the body's ever-stronger vitality increases scale growth and accelerates the rate of renewal, the scales achieve multiple layered iteration, greatly enhancing defensive capability and reducing absorption of all kinds of damage.]
As for how to put this trait—if not for the carapace on his forehead, his brows would already be tightly furrowed.
The trait's effect was very good. Logan's scale defense was strong to begin with; when activated, under the second enhancement of Charred Body, he even took head-on the tail swipe of a power-type monster like the Savage Deviljho and suffered little harm.
And the existence of Marvel Scale further reduced Logan's absorption of abnormal statuses and elemental damage; when fighting the Kushala Daora during the Elder Crossing, it could even support him in taking several slices from the wind field head-on.
Now, with Multiscale added on top of that, how high would his defense be?
Even if it could not compare to those Elder Dragons specialized in defense, among ordinary Elder Dragons, he would be in a class of his own, right?
However, what worried Logan was whether these increased scales would affect his flight capability.
This was a big problem!
More scales meant a large increase in weight. Compared with higher defense, he preferred greater speed and more agile flight; after all, defense could be broken, whereas if his speed was high enough, he could both preserve his life and seek the possibility of victory.
Besides, what difference was there between a Flying Wyvern whose flight capability was weak and a useless lump?
The more he thought about it, the more he felt this trait's disadvantages outweighed its benefits; the irritability he had thought he had vented by taking down the Savage Deviljho welled up again from the bottom of his heart.
Impatiently, he spread his wings; amid a few crisp clinks, several scales scattered.
"This is already starting?"
According to Logan's experience, generally speaking, body traits that directly acted on his normal state all needed a period of time to complete the changes to his body.
He just had not expected that this time it would be so fast.
This made Logan, whose mood had already not been very good, feel even worse.
With an irritable sweep, his wings closed again.
At this moment, a few flashes of silver shot rapidly toward the basalt rock wall to the side; after crisp collision sounds, they struck out a few white marks.
Looking closely, they turned out to be a few silver-white scales, and at this time, one end of the scales still bore a red hue that had not yet faded due to the high temperature.
Noticing this, Logan felt somewhat puzzled and walked over to examine those scales carefully.
Only then did he discover that when he had just swept his wings in anger, the combustion gland had inadvertently seeped some combustible liquid, which had hung at the ends of the scales.
In the past, this liquid would only have been reabsorbed and would not have flown out together with the shedding of the scales.
Because of the new trait Multiscale, the metabolic rate of Logan's scales had increased; as a result, the combustible liquid had not had time to be reabsorbed before it was carried out.
The combustible liquid, already highly flammable by nature, was directly ignited through the friction between the scales and the air.
Only, there was too little combustible liquid clinging to the scales.
But what if Logan deliberately controlled the secretion of combustible liquid, allowing it to heavily soak his scales?
Or, to put it another way—if the scales were used as a medium and a large amount of combustible liquid were infused into them, what would happen?
This question already had a living answer.
That's right—it was you, Bazelgeuse!
Only, Logan's scales were not as thick and heavy as those of the Bazelgeuse, and the power of his combustible liquid was greater, while its stability seemed somewhat lower.
Moreover, he still possessed other Traits that could be combined with one another to develop new moves.
The degree of operability within all this seemed to have an enormous range!
This discovery instantly calmed Logan's agitation, as if a child had obtained a new toy—he began excitedly letting his imagination run wild.
Of course, the development of a move was not something that could be achieved merely by thinking about it; it required time and testing to complete. And right now, what he happened to have most in abundance was time.
On the contrary, in that future of seemingly endless life, developing all kinds of moves through these Traits would likely become his main way to pass the time, accompanying him throughout his life.
After all, Logan could not possibly be like other Elder Dragons, spending all his time in boredom aside from maintaining his ecological role.
Aki gulped down a mouthful of meat that did not taste very good, tilting her head to look at Logan—whose mood was rising and falling—with those bright blue eyes. She was already used to this kind of thing.
After all, every few outings, whenever Logan defeated a powerful enemy, he would always enter such a state for a while.
There was no need to mind him; given time, he would naturally return to normal.
Thinking this, Aki tore off another piece of meat and swallowed it whole.
Only by replenishing her strength could she face the battles to come!
...
Atop the Ancient Tree, outside the Ecological Research Center of the Ancient Tree, a radiant golden Ahtal-Ka was waving its scythe-like forelimbs and chirping incessantly toward the inside. If not for several cats, including Spice, continually shouting and trying to restrain it, the Ahtal-Ka would likely have already cleaved through those obstructing vines before it and charged straight in.
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