On the Ancient Tree, a Wyverian girl watched the departing group with envy. After sighing, she vigorously rubbed the little head of the Grimalkyne kitten she was holding, and, under the other party's somewhat blissful expression, walked toward the Fire Wyvern Grimalkyne tribe.
In the Elder's Recess, Logan naturally would not know that just moments ago, the Ancient Tree had nearly fallen into a crisis.
At this moment, he was in a mining area, gnawing in utter dejection on a piece of ore mixed together with Bioenergy Crystal.
It was not some kind of lava ore or other ore needed by Fire Wyverns—just an ordinary, run-of-the-mill metal ore.
As for why he had come to gnaw this stuff, the problem still lay with the newly acquired trait "Multiscale."
During this period, Logan discovered that these newly grown scales were, in terms of weight, much lighter than the original old scales, but in quality they were quite a bit worse.
Never having encountered such a situation before, Logan panicked somewhat. Through constant guessing and constant trials, he finally discovered that he only needed to ingest metal ore; his digestive system would automatically break down the required substances, causing the newly regenerated scales to grow into normal scales.
Good news: the scales got lighter, so the impact on speed was not great. Bad news: he had also become one of the ore-gnawers!
The taste of ore was not good—in fact, it could be called bad. Several times he gnawed into some unknown ore that made Logan so nauseated he retched like crazy.
He swore he had never eaten anything so disgusting—it was even worse than rotten flesh.
So from that day on, before gnawing on ore each day, Logan would carefully inspect it, cautiously bite off a small piece, and only after confirming there was no problem would he start eating in earnest.
A massive monster repeatedly tasting a small chunk of ore—such a sight was truly an eyesore.
Time passed...
This round of 'earthquakes' lasted for over a month, and battles in the Elder's Recess also raged for more than a month. The number of ordinary monsters sharply decreased, but many, many Tempered monsters appeared.
From an overall standpoint, it was quite a good boost in strength. Moreover, aside from some monsters that originally lived in volcanic regions, many of those that successfully broke through to the Tempered state chose to leave this meat grinder.
Although entering had been difficult, leaving was much easier. They would scatter across every corner of the New World with stronger physiques, giving birth to offspring innately more powerful, thus contributing to the overall advancement of the New World.
With the cessation of the singing and the return to slumber of that Great Being, the Elder Dragons also gradually came back one after another.
That greatly busied a certain massive black hedgehog who had returned as well, for there were now so many Elder Dragons for It to choose from.
Above the Elder's Recess, all sorts of natural disasters frequently broke out, and battles would occasionally affect the entire area.
Yet according to Logan's observations, even though the Spiky Boi fought many bouts, it had not achieved a single successful hunt. After all, the Elder Dragons dwelling long-term in the Elder's Recess each had their own methods of dealing with the Nergigante, and over so many years, every time Shara Ishvalda awakened, such battles would always occur.
They had grown used to it.
Only the Nergigante still relished it, never missing a single opportunity.
Not far from Logan's basalt nest, three kinds of different flames burned wildly, scorching the surrounding basalt pitch-black.
Three figures were locked in combat there, the fight overall in a stalemate.
Logan stood at the edge of a cliff, grooming his scales while watching the battle. On another basalt rock across the diagonal, the Teostra crouched beside two dragon eggs, controlling its body temperature and quietly observing the distant clash.
Ever since some time ago, when the restless Lunastra, during a hunting trip, encountered Aki and the Scorching Heat Rathian who were just about to head out, such battles had been occurring frequently.
At first, both Logan and the Teostra had been extremely tense about such battles, confronting each other several times.
But after several bouts, they found that the Lunastra was simply venting the restlessness in her heart, easing the negative emotions accumulated during pregnancy, and relieving the irritation caused by the prolonged weakness of her body after giving birth.
As for Aki and the Scorching Heat Rathian, they treated the somewhat weakened Lunastra as a sparring partner for gaining experience, retreating once they were injured to a certain degree.
Since both sides merely stopped at that point and showed no intent to fight to the death, Logan and the Teostra no longer felt so tense.
To be honest, if possible, neither Logan nor the Teostra wanted to go all out against the other.
The main reason was that it was simply too unpleasant to fight.
Two fire-using Elder Dragons engaging in hand-to-hand combat—Logan's newly developed Heatblade Wings clashing with Teostra's smoke-dust form—after fighting for half a day, all the damage was purely physical.
Elemental energy damage was practically nonexistent; their proud breaths and massive explosions could only barely break defenses and even caused less damage than physical collisions.
But as balanced-type Elder Dragons, such damage meant almost nothing to their vitality.
Over time, they simply let Aki and the others fight as they pleased. Logan focused on studying his new techniques, while the Teostra quietly stayed in its temporary nest incubating the eggs.
The two sides had reached a sort of tacit understanding.
Only another Elder Dragon living atop the same basalt suffered for it.
The Kushala Daora was quite troubled lately.
After finally enduring the noise pollution of Shara Ishvalda, it now had to deal with a Lunastra fighting two special Fire Wyverns right outside its doorstep every few days, while down in the basalt's lower mining zone, there was now another one gnawing on ore.
It just wanted to peacefully absorb life energy in this region, seeking even the slightest chance to break through the limits of its lifespan—so why did so many troublesome things keep happening?
Indeed, this Kushala Daora was the very same one that the First Fleet had once tracked.
Years ago, after clashing once more with a Tempered Namielle and being interrupted by Nergigante, it had finally come to the Elder's Recess.
Yet over these years, its lifespan had drawn ever closer to its end, and its metallic shell had already taken on a lifeless, ashen-gray hue.
Now it no longer dared engage in any high-intensity battle; otherwise, all hope of a breakthrough would truly be lost. That was also why it did not drive away the Lunastra and the others who had intruded into its territory.
Elder Dragons that shared the same thought as this Kushala Daora were not uncommon in the Elder's Recess, for although only in recent decades had the intervals of the Elder Crossing begun to shorten, long before that, many Elder Dragons had already come here drawn by that unknown lure.
Each of these Elder Dragons already at their limits was just like Kushala Daora: on ordinary days, if they could avoid fighting, they would avoid it; most of the time they hid their auras, living out a retirement within the few fields of their own territories—strolling about each day, feeding, and then, in hidden nests, straining with all their might to absorb life energy.
Yet when the tree wishes for stillness, the wind does not cease.
Deep within the Elder's Recess, within the Confluence of Fates, there existed that being which, so long as it could successfully break out of its cocoon and grow to maturity, would become the one known as the "Elder Dragon King," possessed of infinite potential.
The pheromones It emitted drew these Elder Dragons that had come to life's end to this place—not to let Them come here to retire, but to make Them obediently accept Their impending deaths, becoming nourishment for the New World, and at the same time, nourishment for It.
So, after Shara Ishvalda's noisy wake-up service, a certain future Elder Dragon King—still only with instinctual consciousness, in its egg form—once again began to disperse Its special pheromones.
Unlike other monsters' pheromones, Xeno'jiiva's pheromones were in fact more inclined toward the ability to utilize life energy.
In Logan's senses, these pheromones contained only one message: absolutely pure life energy, vast to the point of being practically inexhaustible!
Matched with a prime locale like the Elder's Recess, even young Elder Dragons found it hard to withstand the temptation and wanted to come try to take a share.
Let alone those aged Elder Dragons who were approaching the end of life and urgently needed such outrageous life energy to defy fate and extend their lifespans.
For a time, the Elder's Recess—which had begun once more to return toward calm—grew frenzied again.
Only this time, the ones driven mad shifted from ordinary monsters to Elder Dragons!
As soon as the Shara Ishvalda had just fallen into slumber, the "Elder Dragon King" awoke again—like a cycle—ceaselessly jarring the nerves of ordinary monsters and Elder Dragons alike, and through brutal competition, completing the New World's ecological cycle.
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