The wetlands weren't far from Logan's lair; a round trip at a light trot took him less than an hour.
When he returned, Zhu Peiniang was still out playing like a maniac. The lair was deathly silent and, as the sun was nearing the horizon, the interior had grown dim.
His nostrils flared slightly, catching a faint, unfamiliar scent. He raised his head, his eyes sweeping across the cave like searchlights, but he found no significant differences from when he had left.
Did some small animal sneak in while I was gone?
The thought flashed through his mind, but Logan didn't pay it much more attention. After all, this was an open cave; it was inevitable that small creatures would visit. There was no need to overthink it.
He poured the stale nutrient fluid from the trough onto the fermenting wood chips, rinsed out the residue with the fresh water from his bucket, and refilled the trough. Then, he turned to grab some sugar crystals to drop in.
However, the moment his claw touched the wooden vat where the crystals were stored, his sharp eyes noticed something off. The silk-like material wrapped around the exterior was covered in more dust than usual, and the wooden plug at the top wasn't sealed perfectly flush.
This was understandable. Despite Yuan Ye's superhuman physical fitness, she was still limited by human physiology.
The vat was taller than she was. When she had stood on the rim trying to press the plug back in, she had no leverage to work with; she could only rely on her own body weight. But a mere hundred-odd pounds was far too light to force that massive wooden plug back into its original, airtight position.
Logan's brow scales furrowed. He gripped the plug with his claw, pulled it out with ease, and peered inside. Nothing seemed to be missing, but he was absolutely certain: the vat had been opened.
Under normal circumstances, an animal might break into a container to steal sugar, but it would never put the lid back on afterward. The only beings capable of such a thing were humans.
Have I been discovered?
He knew the nature of humans all too well. Once they encountered a creature they had never seen before, their first instinct was to capture it for detailed study. Then, based on the results, they would judge the creature's value and rarity to decide whether to keep it in captivity or release it back into the wild.
However, he wasn't overly worried. This was the New World, a place currently beyond the reach of human dominance.
At this point in time, the only humans active on this continent should be the limited members of the First Fleet. Their moral standards were generally trustworthy, and because resources were so scarce, they didn't actually have the means to capture and keep a creature like him.
The most likely scenario was that they were observing him from the shadows to learn his habits and collect biological data. As long as he didn't enter into a violent confrontation with them, he shouldn't be in any real danger.
As for the Second, Third, or Fourth Fleets that might arrive later? Time was on his side.
Once he realized this, his slight unease vanished. However, the thought of someone wandering around his "home" behind his back still left him feeling annoyed.
Multiple evolutions had given him a powerful stomach—he could eat plants, meat, or even ore—but there was one thing he could never swallow: being slighted.
Yet, when he thought about the "tin can" in full armor and the golden-haired hunter, the desire for violent retaliation failed to take root.
If the hard way doesn't work, let's try the soft way.
He was convinced that whoever had entered his lair would definitely return. When they did, he would give them a little "gift" as a bit of interest on his debt.
The distance between Logan's lair in the Wildspire Waste and the Ancient Forest wasn't far—but that was by his standards.
As a massive beast thirteen meters long with powerful limbs, a single casual leap could cover over ten meters. His speed was dozens of times faster than a human's pace.
Furthermore, the Astera base was located on the coast, separated from the border of the forest and the waste by a significant distance.
Consequently, by the time Yuan Ye returned to the base, nearly half a month had passed.
Trekking through the wilderness was an arduous task. Not only was the terrain rugged, but she often had to take long detours to avoid dangerous monsters. Even with her extensive survival experience, she was exhausted. Her wheat-colored skin had darkened further, and she saw no hope of it lightening again anytime soon.
Upon her return, Yuan Ye immediately gathered her companions, eager to share her monumental discovery.
They sat around the same familiar wooden table, though fewer people were present as some were still out exploring.
She first detailed her experience, then pulled the items from her satchel one by one, lining them up on the table: a small pile of broken white scales, samples of the nutrient fluid and mycelium, and a fist-sized transparent crystal.
Everyone picked up a scale to examine. They were palm-sized, over two centimeters thick at their densest point, and felt heavy in the hand.
A short man with a large, rounded nose and four fingers on each hand—a Wyverian—peered through a magnifying glass at the cross-section of a scale, murmuring in amazement:
"What an exquisite structure! Though the material is similar, the properties are entirely different from those feather-like scales you reported before. Has it adjusted the internal composition? Is it bone? Or something akin to dental enamel?"
As he spoke, he took a knife and lightly scraped the surface. A sharp sound rang out, like metal on thick glass; the scale remained unmarred.
"Toughness seems slightly lower, but the hardness has increased significantly. Ordinary bowgun shots would likely bounce right off! If a Hunter using a Longsword or Dual Blades ran into this fellow, they'd be in for a real headache."
Beside him, a young man in a white coat and glasses focused his attention on the white mycelium and the unknown crystal.
As part of the Research Commission, they had brought some equipment from the Old World despite the scarcity of supplies, allowing for basic sampling and analysis.
After a brief discussion, he took the two items and buried himself in his lab.
A few days later, the preliminary results arrived. The white mycelium was a common fungus, but it exhibited extraordinary vitality. The source of this phenomenon was the crystal.
The crystal was not only rich in nutrients, but it also contained a unique active factor that could accelerate metabolism, repair cellular structures, and boost biological activity, pushing an organism toward "positive" evolution.
If a creature consumed it over a long period, they would not only gain a stronger physique but could even have their lifespan extended.
It was nothing short of a miracle. Longevity—the ultimate pursuit of all life—was enough to drive the entire world into a frenzy.
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