The New World was bustling with activity, and the Hoarfrost Reach was no exception.
However, the depths of the Hoarfrost Reach were simply far too cold—places where humans could not survive or remain active for extended periods of time. As a result, the Seliana outpost's investigation of the Hoarfrost Reach had been limited to its outer regions, as well as certain interior areas that possessed natural volcanic hot springs.
After receiving the news about the Velkhana brought back by Darren, the Commander deliberated repeatedly before deciding to dispatch a small team to investigate along the direction in which the Velkhana had departed. The priority was to ensure that the Research Commission's subsequent investigation routes would not overlap with Velkhana's nest, so as to avoid unnecessary trouble.
Looking at the Seliana camp outside the tent, which had already undergone preliminary construction, one could see that not only were boilers installed to ensure warmth throughout the outpost's buildings, but the gathering hub itself had also been established beside several natural hot springs, providing hunters with a comfortable space to rest.
The foundation had been laid. Next, the Commander needed to return to Astera—that was where the bulk of the work awaited.
However, after thinking it over carefully, he realized that although the Second Fleet Master, the Fourth Fleet Master, and the Fifth Fleet Master were all present at Seliana, there was, surprisingly, not a single person capable of coordinating everything.
At present, within the entire Research Commission, counting the Commander himself, there were only four people capable of overseeing an entire outpost.
The Analytics Director and the Admiral remained stationed at Astera—especially given the Admiral's relationship with the Sunblaze Dragon, it was impossible for him to come over here.
The Analytics Director also needed to oversee research on Elder Dragons and various monster subspecies; any extra energy he had could only be used to assist in decision-making as an aide.
The Third Fleet Master stayed on the mobile research base year-round, leading the scholars of the entire Third Fleet in all kinds of work, and was also busy to the point of being overwhelmed.
Thinking it through like this, Seliana really couldn't find a suitable person.
Seated in his chair, the Commander rubbed his chin as he looked at the simple Hoarfrost Reach map in front of him. In the end, he shifted his gaze to the Field Team Leader who was helping him handle some routine work—his grandson, Noah.
Those muscles were certainly eye-catching, and he was also the Huntsman's disciple.
But there was no denying that Noah's talent as a hunter had basically reached its limit.
As a result, after the Fifth Fleet arrived and took over the investigation tasks, his position as Field Team Leader became somewhat optional. Most of the time afterward, he stayed at the outpost as the Commander's assistant, handling administrative matters, and rarely led teams out to carry out missions anymore.
Perhaps… it was worth a try!
Their generation was already old.
The Fifth Fleet's recommended team—especially Darren's combat strength—gave the Commander tremendous confidence.
There was plenty of room for trial and error, and his relationship with Noah was extremely close. The way those two young men got along was like the Admiral and him back in the day—maybe it really was worth a try.
The position of Commander was not some kind of supreme post. The highest leader of the Research Commission had always been the Admiral. In terms of authority, the Commander was actually not much different from a Fleet Master—merely part of the upper echelon.
This investigation of the Hoarfrost Reach could be handed over entirely to the younger generation to act freely. After all, these old fellows were still around to cover things if anything went wrong.
Having made up his mind, the Commander walked out of the tent and headed toward the gathering hub.
There, he found Darren and Mia. After the three of them discussed the matter in private for quite some time, the decision received Darren's support.
Darren understood his own personality and way of doing things very clearly. Although his strong sense of responsibility, his willingness to endure hardship without complaint, his habit of always taking on the most difficult tasks at the front, and, on top of that, his strength had successfully convinced the other members of the Fifth Fleet, allowing him to become the Fifth Fleet Master, this was basically his limit.
At most, he could handle things to that extent. Asking him to face a pile of trivial affairs and make decisions amid constant trade-offs and balancing acts would practically be asking for his life—far worse than simply picking up a blade and going to cut down an Elder Dragon.
As for Noah's performance, Darren had seen it clearly as well. This guy looked rough on the outside, but was meticulous on the inside, and had the patience to handle documents.
When the Seliana outpost was first being established, it was also Noah who had coordinated everything. Darren acknowledged this ability.
After several people finished their discussions, it did not take long for the Commander to summon the Fleet Masters stationed at Seliana and make the decision public.
Noah looked at the Commander with a completely blank expression, then turned to the others who expressed their support. He felt no sense of joy at all—only the heavy weight of responsibility pressing down on him just like that.
Even so, he was still just a young man of around twenty. Among those present, even Darren was a bit older than him, not to mention the Field Master, a First Fleet veteran.
Yet the moment he opened his mouth to refuse, he was stopped by the others.
Who among those present wasn't burdened with a pile of responsibilities?
Even the Field Master, whose workload was comparatively lighter, was still busy dealing with matters related to the expedition ships. As for the Second Fleet Master, because he needed to research and develop equipment suitable for the Hoarfrost Reach, the top of his head—already bald to begin with—had become even more polished.
There was no need to even mention the others.
Thus, a meeting that lasted barely half an hour came to a swift end. The Commander pushed aside the matters in his hands and did not leave behind any clear guidelines on what needed to be done next.
Just like that, he patted his backside and, together with the Third Fleet Master, boarded the mobile research base and returned to the New World.
Noah stood in the position where the Commander had originally been standing. Looking at the encouraging gazes of the others inside the tent, he took a deep breath. After thinking carefully for a moment, he began assigning tasks to the various Fleets in accordance with the current situation.
"Next, I'll be counting on all of you!"
After wrapping things up, watching the others hurry away, Noah collapsed into a chair and slowly caught his breath.
"Well done, kid. Keep it up—the future belongs to you young people."
From a corner, the Huntsman's muffled voice came from beneath his covered helmet. Beside him, the head of the Ecological Research Center, who was flipping through a thick book and comparing its contents one by one with the monster data collected in the Hoarfrost Reach, also nodded in agreement.
That's right—although the Commander had left just like that.
He had left the Huntsman and the head of the Ecological Research Center behind as well, effectively serving as a safety net for Noah.
Hearing this, Noah gave a wry smile and shook his head. Although he felt somewhat unwilling to see his hunting career come to such an abrupt end today, at this point he could only be pushed onto the stage and give it his all.
Taking a deep breath and steadying himself, Noah faced the piles of documents on the conference table and began to review them carefully.
Deep within the Hoarfrost Reach, Nergigante—almost turning into a frozen pincushion—clattered its upper and lower teeth together as it trembled its way to the peak of a snow-covered mountain. Enduring the icy ground that froze its feet, it slowly entered a hidden cave.
As it continued deeper inside, warmth from the Everstream gradually began to emerge, easing the cold clinging to its body.
After an unknown amount of time, it walked out of the cave, and what came into view was a canyon filled with flowing magma.
The upper reaches of the canyon were blanketed in ice and snow, while below lay a crimson river of magma thick with the stench of sulfur.
At the midpoint of this sharply divided canyon sat a dragon egg, faintly glowing with a pale blue halo and looking somewhat undernourished and listless.
Threads of bioenergy were transmitted into the dragon egg through the web-like filaments surrounding it.
However, because the Everstream had shifted its course, and because this place itself lay at the very end of the Everstream corridor, the energy here was fundamentally insufficient to sustain the egg's growth.
And at this moment, this super-shrunken Xeno'jiiva egg was, in Nergigante's eyes, the most sumptuous lunch imaginable.
Although it knew that consuming this dragon egg would mean bearing the responsibilities and risks that followed.
It knew this would very likely be its final meal.
But was that not precisely what the Nergigante species had been born for?
The New World needed balance. It needed stability.
An excess of overly active Elder Dragons, as well as those drawn in by the surging bioenergy from the other side of the world, were all destabilizing factors that could shatter the New World's existing ecology.
A mere handful of Ruiner Nergigante were simply not enough!
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