Inside the Ecological Research Center, the Admiral looked at those young Wyverian scholars standing in a row and being scolded, and, hearing the angry chittering roars coming from outside, felt a headache coming on.
Here is what happened.
Because the Wyverian girl had "voluntarily" stayed behind at the Ancient Tree, as time went on, during one casual stroll she bumped into a scholar who was researching ancient alchemy and saw the familiar symbols and characters in the other party's notebook.
Out of good will, the Wyverian girl began to explain them.
Although, as part of the combat sequence, the Wyverian girl did not have particularly high academic attainment, what this scholar had recorded—texts rubbed from that pile of "junk" on Ahtal-Ka—were exactly the things her Wyverian tribe dealt with in daily life. By drawing analogies, the research institute's study of ancient-civilization alchemy advanced rapidly.
And then something happened!
Several young scholars, for reasons unknown, after repeatedly failing to reproduce the alchemy on the ancient Dragonator, got impulsive and once again launched research on the ancient Dragonator.
The ancient Dragonator itself was already far too old, and under the young scholars' "targeted" operations, they accidentally damaged one special node inside it, causing the ancient Dragonator to become, completely, an ordinary large weapon that merely had the appearance of a Dragonator.
It just so happened that, at this time, all the metals Ahtal-Ka had brought that needed processing were finished.
With its outlook broadened by what it had seen and heard at the Ancient Tree these days, and immensely satisfied with the processed metal, Ahtal-Ka directly abandoned those dug-up stone and wooden parts, planning to build all future walking fortresses using metal and the perfect wooden pillars provided by the cats.
With nothing left that needed processing, Ahtal-Ka naturally came to retrieve its Dragonator.
The moment it took the weapon in its hands, it discovered that this weapon, which had always been an extension of its arm, no longer had the former penetration and offensive power.
Anxious, Ahtal-Ka examined it closely through its compound eyes and found those subtle points of difference.
Realizing that its Dragonator was broken, Ahtal-Ka immediately lost its temper.
Possessing high intelligence rather than being an ordinary monster, it promptly followed the trail to find the scholar responsible for researching the Dragonator, and thus the scene of blocking the door appeared.
Fortunately, the cats mediated from the middle, which prevented Ahtal-Ka from plunging into a state of complete rage; otherwise, they would have been fighting already.
Whether Ahtal-Ka would lose, whether the Research Commission would suffer heavy losses, or even be forced out of the New World were all secondary.
At the very least, the Ancient Tree would definitely be severely damaged.
"Enough. Stop. I'll go talk to the other side and see if there's any other way to resolve this."
Scolding alone would not solve the problem. Over these years of dealing with the Fire Wyverns, the Admiral had developed some insights. He knew that while things had not yet spun out of control, and while the Grimalkynes could still hold the role of a mediating middle party, they had to resolve the matter quickly to avoid a larger conflict.
Although the one blocking the door right now was not a Fire Wyvern, since the other party had not lost its reason and charged in, at the very least it had the intention of communicating first.
As for saying that monsters would not have such thoughts, that only applies to ordinary monsters. Having observed Ahtal-Ka and having also received a great deal of related information from the Grimalkynes, the Admiral knew very well that this special monster, named Ahtal-Ka by the Old World Guild, absolutely possessed such intelligence.
Outside the research base, although Ahtal-Ka was angrily chittering and looked very upset, even attracting a crowd of Fire Wyverns to watch, in reality it was far less enraged than it appeared.
Any component will have wear. For Ahtal-Ka, which had long been excavating old ruins and using materials from ancient times to make parts, wear and tear were everyday occurrences.
This Dragonator was something its mother had passed down to it, and its service life had long since reached its limit; Ahtal-Ka was always extremely careful when using it in battle.
In the past, there were no conditions—there was only a fine thing like the Dragonator. Now, with those metals that had been re-smelted, Ahtal-Ka's horizons had already been raised far too much; it didn't even want the other junk anymore, let alone a single Dragonator that had already reached its limit.
It had originally planned to have those craftsmen see whether they could refurbish the Dragonator as well; even if they failed and it was scrapped, it would not be a pity.
It just hadn't expected that someone would break it ahead of time.
Ahtal-Ka was indeed very angry at the time. After all, wear that one consents to and wear that happens passively are two different things.
Later, under the cats' constant persuasion, Ahtal-Ka, which had already begun blocking the door, accurately caught words like "better craftsmanship," "more good things," and "can compensate," and that instantly calmed it a lot.
At this moment, the vines were parted. Relative to a monster several meters tall, that very narrow vine entrance was pulled open, and a somewhat familiar-looking fellow carefully walked out step by step.
Seeing that Ahtal-Ka was still letting out low chitters but, at least, was making no dangerous moves, the Admiral judged that things were at least on a good track from this angle.
He walked out with his heart in his throat and, after putting on a kind smile, looked at Ahtal-Ka, which had halted its movements, and began communicating through the cats.
Before coming out, the Admiral had already discussed with the Third Fleet Master what kind of compensation should be offered and had even prepared to haggle.
Yet after he conveyed it through the cats, Ahtal-Ka actually agreed without the slightest hesitation!
"Agreed just like that?"
The Admiral felt that something was off. According to the Research Commission's internal assessment of Ahtal-Ka, this should be a monster that possessed extremely high intelligence but was relatively difficult to approach and communicate with, and whose emotions were not as rich as Logan's.
But now, it didn't seem all that hard to communicate with after all.
Ahtal-Ka was very satisfied with the Admiral's compensation. Setting aside the 10 new metal pillars, the mere fact that the other side would forge a new Dragonator for it was enough to satisfy Ahtal-Ka.
As for the timing mentioned by the Admiral, that was a small matter!
Ahtal-Ka was not an Elder Dragon, but as one whose upper limit of strength was unsealed and who possessed ancient genes, it inherently had an extremely long lifespan, and just like Logan at this moment, for Ahtal-Ka, the least valuable thing was time.
As for wanting more, even with its high intelligence, Ahtal-Ka was still a monster that had not seen much of the wider world, and there was simply no such thing as "negotiation."
If the terms were satisfactory, it agreed; if unsatisfactory, it opposed. It was that simple.
Only regarding the Admiral's request that Ahtal-Ka go together to Astera, Ahtal-Ka did not care much—this stemmed from confidence in its own strength.
Of course, the reason the Admiral dared let a monster other than a Fire Wyvern go to Astera, apart from having equal confidence in Astera's defensive capabilities, was even more because of the presence of Chameleos there.
They did not fear an "ordinary" monster causing trouble.
...
It can only be said that the Research Commission had never seen Ahtal-Ka fight, and thus did not have a full understanding of Ahtal-Ka's strength.
Perhaps, if they threw cost and price to the wind, and if Chameleos were likewise willing to help and grind it out to the death while fighting a guerrilla war, they could defeat this Ahtal-Ka that had not yet grown to its strongest state.
But what a price that would be. Given Ahtal-Ka's destructive power, Astera would definitely suffer heavy losses, and even the facilities accumulated over many years would be destroyed seven or eight tenths.
A negotiation that had made the research base personnel tense was thus completed with ease. Ahtal-Ka returned to its temporary nest at the base of the Ancient Tree to fetch its walking fortress components, and the Admiral and the others also began making the corresponding preparations.
After having a Hunter ride a Wingdrake back ahead to deliver the news, the Admiral then brought several scholars researching alchemy and escorted Ahtal-Ka back to Astera together.
Watching the enormous metal construct lifted up by Ahtal-Ka, the Admiral's eyelids twitched nonstop. He kept feeling that the Research Commission's internal assessment of Ahtal-Ka's strength was somewhat off.
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