When Logan saw the Admiral standing in the palace with a smiling face, the expression on the dragon's face instantly collapsed.
What was this about?
What was he trying to do this time?!
Not long ago, the supply support issue had already significantly lowered the treatment of the Radiant Fire Wyverns. The cats had been run ragged as well, and even his shrine maiden—speaking on behalf of the ancient Wyverian community—had tactfully complained to him once or twice.
And now this again?
What now?
Every single time Logan saw the Admiral wearing that expression, he knew this guy definitely had something he wanted from him—though it was never anything truly major.
If Logan refused here, then based on his understanding of this old friend of several decades, the Admiral would definitely go find that useless little brat in his household. After a round of smooth talk, the matter would be settled just like that.
This kind of maneuver left Logan both speechless and helpless. After all, the Admiral's way of "persuading" people wasn't particularly clever—he simply used Logan as a stimulus to provoke little Loren. And yet, this rebellious son fell for that kind of rhetoric every single time, without fail.
It could only be said that little Loren's intelligence was indeed high, but he lacked a certain wildness. He actually pursued things like familial affection and recognition from elders—his way of thinking leaned far more toward human sensibilities. Whether that was good or bad, Logan really didn't know.
Upon hearing the Admiral's request to borrow wyverns—having the Fire Wyverns living in the lower strata team up with hunters to head to locations marked by the scholars for related investigations—
Logan immediately felt that something was off.
When the Admiral took out the simplified New World map the scholars had made, and Logan looked at the way the Everstream nodes were clearly marked on it, he immediately knew what they were planning to do.
He had to admit—these scholars really did have some skill. With no information support from the ancient Wyverians, and without an Elder Dragon's powerful ability to sense Everstream energy, they had still managed—based solely on their research into the Everstream and the conditions of each region—to deduce where the Everstream nodes were located. They had even already drawn out a spiral diagram of the main Everstream vein.
At this rate, finding the endpoint of the New World's Everstream was only a matter of time.
After listening to the Admiral's explanation, Logan realized this guy still had at least a bit of a conscience.
As for all the marked areas: within the already-explored regions, any place that might involve an Elder Dragon would be investigated entirely by hunters on their own. As for those uncharted locations that were only inferred, although Fire Wyverns and hunters would go together, if they detected even the slightest sign that might indicate an Elder Dragon, then—if safe withdrawal was impossible—the Fire Wyvern could completely abandon the hunters and leave on its own.
In other words, most of the risk would be borne by the hunters, and any Fire Wyvern who participated would do so purely voluntarily.
And the price the Research Commission would pay was that the hunter partnered with a Fire Wyvern would, for the next half year, be responsible for all the various medicines that Fire Wyvern needed—along with the related expenses for the Fire Wyvern's Cat meals.
Overall, the income would definitely exceed the expenditure. Under these terms, even some Radiant Fire Wyverns who had been living a bit harshly probably couldn't help but feel tempted.
Now that the Fire Wyverns' hunting grounds had expanded into the areas where the ancient Wyverians once lived, ordinary prey was a minor matter—but Fire Wyvern cat meals were a major one.
Many of the special ingredients involved had extremely low yields even when cultivated on the Ancient Tree, and their environmental requirements were simply too demanding. They required either cats to gather them or the issuance of related quests to the Hunter's Guild in order to obtain sufficient quantities. For Fire Wyverns who had already grown accustomed to a trade-based system, these expenses were indeed not small.
Even if it were only for half a year, it was enough to make the Fire Wyverns willing to take on a certain amount of risk for this mission.
Logan had no reason to refuse.
After obtaining Logan's consent, the Admiral left happily to conduct the relevant negotiations with Blazefire Village.
As Logan watched the Admiral's departing figure, he instructed Tonkotsu, who was standing guard nearby, to have the ancient Wyverian prophet share information related to the Everstream and Shara Ishvalda with the Research Commission.
The sooner his dragon brother's matter was resolved, the sooner he could finally sleep soundly.
Shara Ishvalda was truly insane right now. If not for Kulve Taroth and Dalamadur having, over countless years, opened up innumerable Everstream tributaries beneath the New World to stabilize the Everstream and support the New World's development, then based solely on Shara Ishvalda's recent wanton triggering of tectonic movement, the New World's ecology would have long since begun to collapse.
Dead volcanoes erupting, frequent earthquakes, and even large-scale changes in terrain and landforms were all enough to wipe out many ordinary monster species.
Not to mention monsters that could not fly—even in a previous life, with far more advanced technology, humanity was still extremely powerless in the face of large-scale natural disasters. An Elder Dragon of Shara Ishvalda's level, once it caused harm, represented a continent-level catastrophe.
With Logan's approval granted, the relevant orders were quickly delivered into the paws of the cats belonging to each Fire Wyvern family, and from there conveyed to the Fire Wyverns themselves.
Before long, one Fire Wyvern after another shot into the sky, carrying their cats as they rushed toward Astera.
This time, the hunters assigned to carry out these investigation tasks numbered only a little over six hundred in total. Counting team-based assignments, the actual number of missions was just over two hundred, and once Fire Wyvern participation was factored in, it had to be reduced yet again.
To begin with, those ordinary Fire Wyverns at the lower levels—if they wanted to keep pace with their growth and accelerate their transformation into Radiant Fire Wyverns—required sufficient quantities of new Fire Wyvern cat meals as support. Faced with such generous conditions, and with the leader's approval no less, who could possibly pass it up?
Even some Radiant Fire Wyverns were tempted by it, let alone these ordinary Fire Wyverns.
The Admiral hung beneath a Wingdrake, flying back to Astera together with the main force of Fire Wyverns, the smile at the corner of his mouth impossible to hide.
One point of divergence between the Admiral and the Commander was that he always felt the Commander sometimes insisted on drawing an overly clear line with the Ancient Tree.
In his view, since they had long resolved to spend their entire lives in the New World, and this place had already become their home, why not integrate more deeply into the civilization here?
Perhaps because he had long served as part of the Research Commission's upper leadership, the Commander not only had to manage the entire Commission but also handle communication with the Guilds and kingdoms of the Old World. That constant communication was like a continual reminder, causing him to regard the New World as merely a second home. As a result, on a subconscious level, there was always a barrier that prevented him from fully integrating into the New World.
The concrete manifestation of this feeling was that in certain matters—where cooperation with the Ancient Tree could clearly make things much easier—he nevertheless prioritized having the Research Commission solve them independently.
It could not be said that this was wrong; it was just that, in the Admiral's view, this approach was simply far too inefficient.
When one Fire Wyvern after another arrived at Astera, the hunters and scholars who had already learned of the Admiral's plan became visibly excited.
Having lived this long, cooperating with Fire Wyverns—top-tier monsters of this level—was something even the Fifth Fleet had only ever heard about from the mouths of old hunters preserved in the Research Commission's records. They had never expected that it would now be their turn!
Just thinking about such a miraculous experience was enough to make one feel thrilled.
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