At the Ancient Tree, Logan spread his wings and soared above the canopy. From the air, the treetops looked as if they had been gnawed apart by wild beasts. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of the ground below—terrain almost completely altered, with massive tree roots of the Ancient Tree exposed above the soil, countless trees either snapped and toppled or reduced to ashes by flame.
The entire southern region of the Ancient Tree looked as though it had first suffered a forest fire, then been ravaged by relentless tornadoes.
In particular, the enormous trench carved by Kushala Daora's hurricane breath stretched for several kilometers—until it reached a mountain that had lost a full third of its mass to the blast.
Who knew whether a water channel might eventually form there because of it.
Right now, the Ancient Tree was in shambles, and the cats were patching it up piece by piece.
On the way upward, these busy cats didn't even walk—they were running the whole time, carrying various supplies, striving to repair the facilities damaged during the great battle in the shortest time possible, so the Fire Wyverns could return to their former way of life as soon as possible.
Descending through the air pressure, Logan landed steadily on a massive branch at the topmost canopy and gazed into the distance.
After tallying things up overnight, it was finally confirmed that the Fire Wyvern group had lost a total of only three individuals.
Two of them had fainted too close to the Ancient Tree and were accidentally caught in the aftershocks of Kushala Daora's attacks—torn open by the storm's force, their scales ripped apart, and they died from the fall.
As for the other one, according to the scholars' analysis, it had died from Chameleos's poisonous mist. Apparently, it had exhausted too much stamina and couldn't endure until the end.
At this cause of death, Logan's expression remained impassive. Within, he felt no anger—only a trace of humiliation.
The key point was that this had been a Rathalos, not a Rathian!
To die despite Chameleos holding back and Mother Chameleos's timely treatment—simply because it was too weak—Logan didn't even know what to say.
Ever since those days in the Wildspire Waste, after the Fire Wyvern group from the Ancient Tree developed the cooperative hunting habits that arose from food scarcity, their overall survival pressure had greatly lessened. Though large-scale starvation had never happened again, the improvement of individual strength had begun to slow.
After returning to the Ancient Forest, the group faced no monsters bold enough to challenge the Fire Wyverns due to Logan's deterrence. As a result, aside from the strength increase brought by Symbiosis-induced mutations, their combat ability had practically ceased to grow.
The deceased Rathalos had been a very young one.
From the time of the migration to the Wildspire Waste up until its death, it had always lived in the lowest levels. While the other Fire Wyverns strove to claim higher nesting grounds, this one had never once attempted a single challenge for a better perch.
To be honest, if not for hearing it from the cats' report, Logan wouldn't have believed that within the Ancient Tree's Fire Wyvern group, there really existed a slacker other than the Flame Rathalos.
Stretching his wings, he looked at the returning Fire Wyvern group that had gone out early in the morning to hunt afar, while also reflecting deeply on last night's battle.
Thinking back to Chameleos's actions, he realized he had probably outsmarted himself—what should have been a simple two-against-one trial had been forcibly turned into a hard-mode challenge.
Meanwhile, what should have been a desperate struggle for survival among the Fire Wyvern group in a battle between three Elder Dragons had instead turned into an easy mode—resulting in only three casualties.
Still, the ending was a good one.
Besides, for the Fire Wyvern group of the Ancient Tree, a single battle was hardly a true trial. It would be more accurate to say that time and the cycles of nature were the greatest tests for a new species.
[Whoosh—whoosh—]
The sound of wingbeats came from behind. Logan tilted his head slightly and saw the Flame Rathalos land beside him.
Yet at that moment, the Flame Rathalos's gaze seemed strange.
It glanced at the cats on the Ancient Tree, then at the sky above—where pairs of Fire Wyverns, joyful to have survived disaster, circled and intertwined endlessly. A trace of envy and jealousy flickered in its eyes.
For a long while, it seemed to wrestle with itself before finally firming its resolve. Turning toward Logan, it let out a low, heavy growl.
Logan's pupils widened slightly, for what the Flame Rathalos meant to express was that it wanted to leave the Ancient Tree for a while.
Last night's battle seemed to have rekindled the fighting spirit of this Flame Wyvern.
Its strength already ranked in the top tier below the Elder Dragons—perhaps even comparable to that Dreadking Rathalos from back then.
Life in the Ancient Tree was indeed comfortable, and Logan's Symbiosis trait had even caused its energy organs to undergo secondary development, granting it perfect control over its own flames.
But here, opportunities for growth were far too few.
As a special subspecies of the Fire Wyverns, it could no longer remain content with the present.
Besides, as long as it stayed in the Ancient Tree, it would never find a mate, would it?
Only in the molten volcano region could it both continue to slowly grow stronger and have even the slightest chance of finding its other half.
The envious look the Flame Rathalos had just shown didn't escape Logan's eyes—but perhaps that was just the result of being force-fed too much romance.
Normally speaking, for a special species like the Flame Rathalos—even harder to find a mate than the Gold and Silver Fire Wyverns—it was usually quite capable of enduring loneliness. Such creatures could stay in a volcanic region for years on end, and even when the time came to look for a mate, they wouldn't show such anxious impatience as this fellow did.
After all, even if it were anxious, finding one would still be difficult.
As for the Flame Rathalos's request, Logan told it to wait for a while.
After all—
A simple panel slowly appeared, fixed in front of him where only Logan could see it.
[Evolution Value: 91%]
After driving off the Kushala Daora and ensuring that the other had withdrawn its aura before leaving the Ancient Tree, the long-stagnant evolution value had finally advanced again.
However, this one percent of progress felt completely different from before.
It wasn't an external change on the surface of his body, nor an increase in physique or energy.
This one percent of advancement made Logan feel a leap in the very level of his life itself.
Although his physical strength and other attributes were already no weaker than a normal Elder Dragon's, this vast improvement in vitality alone was enough for him to clearly perceive the difference from before. For the same injury, Logan now suffered less impact than he had prior to his battle with the Kushala Daora.
And this was only the beginning. As the progress bar continued to grow, his vitality would completely reach the level of an Elder Dragon.
Therefore, for Logan in his current state, the increase in life force had brought an immense sense of emptiness to his body.
He felt as though he had become a bottomless pit, desperately needing a massive amount of life energy to fill himself up. The remaining nine percent of progress lacked only one thing—life energy.
Yet the concentration of life energy here beneath the Ancient Tree was clearly far from enough to supply Logan with the amount he required.
Thus, if it weren't for his sense of responsibility—wanting to finish giving instructions and stabilize the group of Fire Wyverns—he would have already planned to head for the Elder's Recess after his body underwent its second metamorphosis last night.
Now, what Logan was considering was whether, once the Fire Wyverns and cats had settled down again, he should bring some Fire Wyverns—or even some of the cats—along with him.
A full migration of the tribe was out of the question. The lava zones themselves had pitifully scarce food resources, and the monsters there were not only overwhelmingly strong but also unsuitable for the survival of social species.
Even the Gold Rathian and Silver Rathalos rarely stayed there for long—except during the periods when they were breeding.
Ordinary Fire Wyverns, generally speaking, only the tempered Rathalos or Azure Rathalos would venture to the Elder's Recess. In particular, the Azure Rathalos would often leave the Pink Rathian behind in the Coral Highlands, choosing to travel there alone.
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