Ancient Forest, at a distant hunting ground—
Logan and Aki soared together through the sky, playfully chasing each other and climbing ever higher.
Suddenly, Logan stopped midair. With a flap of his wings, he hovered in place, his sharp eyes locked onto something far off in the distance.
He watched as the temperature of the air began to rise. Flocks of Wingdrakes scattered in panic.
Even some Rathalos nesting in remote corners of the Ancient Forest flew out of the woods, all veering away from a single creature’s flight path.
“Teostra…”
Logan stared at the crimson Elder Dragon, with its four legs and two massive wings, soaring above the forest like a moving sun. Though it wasn’t flying in his direction, even from this distance, he could clearly feel the endless waves of scorching heat radiating from its body—and the pressure that a superior lifeform exerted on a lesser one, deep in his blood.
He didn’t understand why the Teostra from the Wildspire Waste would pass over the Ancient Forest, but just by watching it fly overhead, Logan could feel the forest’s temperature rising rapidly. Its presence seemed to resonate with the blazing sun high above.
Staring blankly at the scene, Logan’s heart began to pound.
The fire energy stored in his Flame Sac stirred to life on its own.
Somewhere deep within his body, the Wyvern Gem began to slowly break down, bit by bit. Flecks of silvery energy flowed through his bloodstream and spread throughout his body.
Then, something that normally wouldn’t appear appeared once again before Logan’s eyes—a familiar interface.
In addition to all the usual elements, a new section had appeared at the very bottom.
[Evolution: 29%]
“This is…!”
Logan stared at the interface, then looked toward the distant Teostra, and finally turned his gaze toward the sun in the sky.
The blinding sunlight seemed to pierce through his eyes and into the depths of his body.
“Roar?”
Aki landed beside Logan, tilting her head in confusion. She too had noticed the Teostra just now.
But Aki had no particular thoughts about it. That Teostra wasn’t going to clash with them, after all. She didn’t understand why Logan had suddenly fallen into a daze.
He took a deep breath and slowly exhaled the burning heat from his chest.
Suppressing the emotions rising in his heart, Logan gave Aki a quick response and descended toward the hunting grounds below.
Aki, still puzzled, flapped her wings and followed closely behind.
...
Teostra’s passing had only caused localized chaos within the forest.
But at that moment, high above the sea—still quite a distance from the New World—
A group of strong, muscular Rathalos were flying behind a much larger-than-normal male Rathalos. The patterns on its wings glowed an intense crimson, and flames would occasionally spill uncontrollably from its body. They were all headed straight for the Ancient Forest of the New World.
At the same time, from another direction over the ocean, a group of more than 30 Seregios—each covered in backward-facing, blade-like scales—was also migrating toward the New World.
Two groups of high-tier Flying Wyverns, along with scattered individuals from other species, were all riding the wake of this Elder Dragon crossing, drawn toward the New World.
Atop the Ancient Tree, Logan—returning from a hunt with Aki—tossed down the corpse of a Kestodon.
Just then, a strange cry echoed from the nest of the Rathalos couple atop the nearby slope.
“Waaah! Don’t bite my tail, nyah!”
A panicked Grimalkyne sprinted ahead, while two Rathalos hatchlings flapped their stubby wings and gave chase like oversized ground chicks, wobbling their big heads with relentless determination—refusing to give up until they caught that tail.
The Rathian in charge of watching over them merely lay quietly in the nest, calmly observing the scene before her.
Whenever one of the hatchlings was just about to pounce on the cat, she would gently pick the little one up in her mouth, drag it a bit farther away, and then watch once again as the game of “Chase the Tail” resumed between the Grimalkyne and the young ones.
Several days had passed since the day they saw the Teostra.
During that time, aside from his routine patrols, hunts, and occasional strength training sessions with Aki, Logan had spent most of his efforts trying to increase the progress bar in the newly appeared evolution slot on his panel. Yet, no matter how much he actively absorbed leylines’ energy or pushed himself through grueling training, the bar remained completely unresponsive.
Of course, it wasn’t necessarily that the progress bar hadn’t moved at all—it might just be advancing so slowly that he couldn’t notice any change.
Still, throughout all these experiments, he did make one unexpected discovery: his efficiency in absorbing life energy had improved.
The amount of life energy he could absorb and store each day had noticeably increased ever since the appearance of the evolution progress bar. His capacity to store life energy had taken another leap forward.
It was, all in all, a pleasant surprise.
“Meow meow!!”
A Grimalkyne suddenly dashed up to the entrance of the nest, meowing frantically at the Fire Wyvern Grimalkyne who stood guard at the cave mouth.
After living among the Grimalkynes for so many years, Logan could at least understand some of their language.
The tone of the meowing clearly conveyed urgency—a call for help.
After listening to the newcomer’s message, the Fire Wyvern Grimalkyne's eyes shifted. It dropped to all fours and sprinted over to Logan, quickly explaining the situation, finally allowing Logan to understand what had happened.
The Grimalkyne had indeed come to request aid.
He served the household of the Azure Rathalos and Pink Rathian couple. Likely due to their subspecies nature, while the eggs of other Fire Wyvern couples had already hatched and their hatchlings were now chasing after the cats during hunting practice, the Pink Rathian had only just completed her gestation period and laid their eggs.
However, this Azure-Pink couple had only arrived at the Ancient Tree a little over three months ago, and their relationship with the Grimalkynes was limited to a willingness to accept services under the Ancient Tree's rules. They weren’t particularly close yet.
On top of that, the Pink Rathian’s temper was far more explosive than a typical female Fire Wyvern. After laying the eggs, she had even driven off the cats who tried to help with perimeter defense.
As a result, this Azure-Pink couple had become one of the rare few families without any Grimalkyne support during this period—an obvious hidden risk.
Early this morning, a Kulu-Ya-Ku somehow managed to sneak in again through one of the Ancient Tree’s secret paths.
It slipped past the Grimalkynes’ patrol and waited until the Pink Rathian, frustrated and needing to relieve pressure, flew off to circle the airspace above the Ancient Tree—then stole one of the Fire Wyvern’s eggs!
Fortunately, a Grimalkyne from a neighboring territory spotted the thief just as it was trying to slip away. They blew a horn at once, drawing the Pink Rathian’s attention and calling her back.
But no one had expected that the Kulu-Ya-Ku would be so agile—it actually evaded the Pink Rathian’s attacks and fled straight back into the narrow path.
The inner paths of the Ancient Tree were a tangled, narrow maze—far too tight for a Rathian to enter.
By now, the Grimalkynes had developed a strong attachment to their current way of life. So, without hesitation, several patrolling Grimalkyne warriors had immediately chased after the thief down the path.
This particular Grimalkyne had come seeking help—hoping that the Fire Wyvern Grimalkyne, the strongest among all Grimalkynes serving the Fire Wyvern clan of the Ancient Tree, could lend his strength and support the pursuit down that hidden path—and, ideally, recover the stolen egg.
Logan didn’t need much time to think it over—he agreed right away.
However, he also made it clear to the Grimalkynes that they should only do what they could. After all, it was just an egg. If they realized they couldn’t win, they were to retreat immediately.
The Fire Wyvern Grimalkyne warrior, upon receiving his approval, solemnly promised to retrieve the Fire Wyvern egg no matter what. Then, without delay, he began rallying his forces.
Four Grimalkynes, each riding a Jagras and clad in full Zinogre Palico gear, quickly set off under his command, racing toward the hidden path.
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