Thus, when Logan—so deeply immersed in developing dragon-attribute energy that he could not pull himself free—saw Darren appear at the nest wearing a full set made from his own "wife's" armor, his mouth nearly fell open.
He had already endured the Admiral's Gold Rathian armor. After all, Gold Rathian—although rarer than even Elder Dragons—could still be found if one searched carefully enough.
But the Cinder Moon Dragon armor was truly far too wrong!
The feeling it gave Logan was like this: one day, a creature of an entirely different species suddenly appears before you wearing a new outfit stitched together from fragments of your wife's clothing— and it just so happens to be during a period when you have been away from home for a long time and are unbearably longing for your beloved wife.
That sense of awkwardness was so strong that Logan barely managed not to spew the fire caught in his throat!
Taking several deep breaths, he turned around, too lazy to look at the hunters below, and continued his experiments on dragon-attribute energy.
The few people on the ground did not notice Logan's abnormality at all. After quickly greeting the Admiral, they began formulating the next phase of their investigation plan and handling logistical matters.
Their small team, led by the Wyverian hunter, would venture deep into the fissures beneath the depths of the Elder's Recess to conduct exploration. Later on, there would likely be close to a hundred hunters and cats transporting supplies over, as well as providing auxiliary reconnaissance and support work for them.
Just as the Wyverian hunter and the Admiral were discussing some of the main matters to come, as well as the Elder's Recess's specific recent situation, the distribution of Elder Dragons, and the territorial issues of various powerful monsters...
Aiden nudged Darren, who had been staring at Logan in the sky the whole time, and leaned in as he whispered, "Did you notice? Those crystal-like spines on the Sunblaze Dragon's wings will briefly turn red when He uses energy... I've heard that the predecessor of the Radiant Crystal Butterfly—the hazardous creature called Qurio—was also red."
Facing Aiden's doubt, Darren pondered for a moment, then shook his head and said, "No. He is the Sunblaze Dragon!!"
After everything that had happened recently, Darren—who, among the recommendation group, was the one most focused on Logan—had also, during that period when he was doing missions at the Ancient Tree, browsed the shrine of Blazefire Village and studied many reports recorded by the Ancient Tree research base about the Sunblaze Dragon.
Finally, after learning so much information, he also began to agree with what the Admiral had said back then, and likewise understood what the Sunblaze Dragon represented in the New World—especially within the Ancient Tree and Astera.
It could be said that He was entirely a spiritual pillar-like existence.
Not to mention that right now the Sunblaze Dragon only showed red light and shadows when using energy— even if one day in the future the Sunblaze Dragon completely turned red, that would still be nature's choice!
Hearing Darren say something so similar to what the Admiral had said back then, Aiden looked at Darren in astonishment.
During this period, Darren had been active around the Ancient Tree, while Aiden had been taking on quests at Astera and dedicating himself to tracking the now-active Kushala Daora. Finally, on a certain rainy night, he joined forces with three other hunters from the recommendation group. After setting up sufficient equipment, they fought Kushala Daora through the entire night, and in the end, by a narrow margin, managed to drive it back and obtain the materials for this set of Kushala Daora armor.
Therefore, he had not paid too much attention to Logan's deeds.
As a member of the Fifth Fleet whose contact with Elder Dragons was second only to Darren, Aiden had experienced, in his childhood, the tragic event of Lunastra passing by and burning his village to the ground. This left him with an indelible sense of vigilance toward Elder Dragons deep in his heart.
Hatred had once existed, but he also knew that it was not entirely the fault of the Elder Dragons.
It was just that he truly could not wholeheartedly accept the view that Elder Dragons completely belonged to the side of "order." Sometimes, power that was too great was also a bad thing in this world!
The communication between the Wyverian hunter and the Admiral ended quickly. Because the abnormalities in the land veins had been growing increasingly pronounced recently, the Wyverian hunter—already capable of sensing land-vein energy—took the Admiral's hand-drawn simple map and hurried to begin the related investigation.
Only after Darren and the others' figures were no longer visible did Logan slowly descend. After drawing in the dragon-attribute energy on his body that had been activated by the Marvel Scale trait, he breathed lightly, steadying the restless Terastal energy within him and his rapidly pounding heart.
Dragon-attribute energy was simply far too special. To Logan, it felt like an abnormal variant of life energy, with a tier comparable to Terastal energy.
Moreover, in order to accurately grasp the proportions of dragon-attribute energy, and with too few samples available, he could only experiment on his own scales. This resulted in an astonishing level of physical exhaustion.
As for the red color that Darren and the others had seen, it was the dragon-attribute energy circulating across Logan's body surface—after the violent black portion had been neutralized by Terastal energy, what remained was that crimson hue.
Right now, dragon-attribute energy, to Logan, was like a door that had been shut tight. He clearly knew that once it was opened, the other side of the door would be treasure, yet he was missing that crucial key.
"Panel, oh panel—come on, let me see your limit!!"
After this transformation was completed, and after realizing that, with his current strength, there truly were not many threats left in this world, Logan reopened the panel that he had long neglected.
His Natural Affinity, after resolving the Zorah Magdaros incident and indirectly influencing the Nakarkos subjugation battle, had successfully reached seventy-five percent.
But that was not the focus. Now, aside from being curious about what would happen when Natural Affinity reached one hundred percent, Logan's attention was instead placed on the initial trait extraction section.
That ninety-one percent progress bar was extremely encouraging. Based on Logan's analysis of this thing over so many years, he had already figured out its pattern.
Every single trait extraction could be said to be of enormous help to him at his current stage.
Although he did not know where the panel's limit truly lay, there was one issue: up to now, among all the traits Logan had extracted, they were still only relatively ordinary traits.
In the past, it could be said that because his various physical attributes had not met the required thresholds, he was unable to withstand those powerful traits that belonged exclusively to divine beasts.
But what about now?
After Monster Hunter became localized, ordinary traits, for Logan, were of little real help unless they were related to Terastal energy.
Therefore, Logan truly held one hundred percent expectation for the next trait!
What was more, His Mind's Eye was also vaguely telling Him that the next trait would be exactly what He was hoping for!
Closing the crude panel, Logan proactively absorbed the life energy in the air to rapidly restore himself, preparing for the next attempt at dragon-attribute energy.
Time passed slowly—one day, then another.
No one knew how "Nature's boss" was thinking, but the energy pulses emitted by the Xeno'jiiva cocoon grew increasingly intense. Judging from its aura alone, it already possessed the kind of overwhelming presence that only Disaster-level Elder Dragons could have.
Moreover, compared to Disaster-level Elder Dragons like Logan, within Xeno'jiiva's aura there was also a profound malice toward this world— as if everything in this world, including the world itself, was prey that He had fixed His gaze upon.
This aura, which could be called the most evil of all, drove all the remaining ordinary Elder Dragons in the Elder's Recess to flee. In the vast Elder's Recess, only Logan and Kulve Taroth remained—along with one Ruiner Nergigante who wanted to leave, yet felt that if he dared to depart at this moment, he would one hundred percent die.
That's right. Logically speaking, an aura of this level should not have made Ruiner Nergigante fear battle.
But who could blame him, when the malice emitted by Xeno'jiiva was something Ruiner Nergigante had once experienced in the Guiding Lands?
The aura released by that unknown Elder Dragon, which had been besieged by more than a dozen Disaster-level Elder Dragons, was exactly the same as that of the current Xeno'jiiva cocoon!
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