"Really, there's nothing different at all?"
Logan had the Fire Wyvern Grimalkyne warrior turn in a circle. From the outside, there truly wasn't the slightest difference compared to before. So, he had no choice but to ask again and again, telling it to carefully feel out its own body. Perhaps the changes brought about by the Symbiosis trait didn't necessarily show on the surface.
"Meow~"
The Fire Wyvern Grimalkyne warrior let out a sigh. It had already gone over every part of its body in detail—there really was no change. But it couldn't withstand Logan's repeated questioning.
Out of trust in Logan, perhaps something really had happened to its body without it knowing.
The Fire Wyvern boss never spoke without reason, so if there was an issue, it had to be with itself!
"Meow… I'm sorry, Boss, meow. I really, truly don't feel anything."
Sensing Logan's disappointment at those words, the Fire Wyvern Grimalkyne warrior nearly burst into tears.
It had actually let the Fire Wyvern boss down!
"It's fine. If you don't feel anything, then you don't feel anything."
Logan frowned and told the Fire Wyvern Grimalkyne warrior to leave for now.
Perhaps he was being impatient. This time, the Symbiosis trait's target wasn't himself, so the changes in the Felynes might take some time.
A change at the level of a population—or adaptive evolution—always needed time to accumulate.
In any case, since it was a trait extracted, it wouldn't manifest for no reason. He just needed to observe more, and sooner or later, he was sure he'd figure out what was going on.
Seeing Logan frown and tell it to leave, the Fire Wyvern Grimalkyne warrior drooped its head in dejection and turned away in sadness.
Within the black cat-paw pattern in the snowy white fur of its belly, a single hair fell away, and the new hair growing in had an almost dark-red hue, resembling the outer shell of a Rathalos.
But the cat's fur was far too dense—for just a few hairs, there was no way to notice any difference.
After this Fire Wyvern Grimalkyne warrior left, Logan still felt a bit unwilling. After only a short while, he called in another Fire Wyvern Grimalkyne—yet again getting no answer, and leaving this one doubting itself as well.
In the end, Aki couldn't stand it any longer and bit down on Logan's wing, dragging him out to hunt, keeping him from staying in the nest and tormenting the cats.
And so, even after several days in a row, there was still no result. Logan gave up, and gradually pushed the matter to the back of his mind.
A trait could be strong or weak. Perhaps one day, it might suddenly give him a surprise.
...
Time passed swiftly, and the New World entered winter.
Although the Wasteland's climate was colder than the forest's due to geographical conditions…
The Fire Wyverns hated winter most of all. While it didn't get to the point of snow or freezing over…
The activity of prey had started to noticeably thin out. Across the major hunting grounds, the harvest from hunts visibly declined.
Sometimes, the Fire Wyverns would fly over two or three hunting grounds in a row without seeing a single prey animal—only spotting other monsters on the same hunt.
In such an environment, the cats' role in breeding and husbandry began to show its worth.
Some hatchlings, who would have gone hungry due to their Fire Wyvern parents being out hunting for long stretches, managed to pull through with the cats' food aid—at least avoiding any cases of starving to death.
Some of the weaker Rathalos pairs, seeing this, quickly grew more fond of the cats. Without the burden of caring for their hatchlings, they began choosing to hunt in more distant grounds—sometimes being gone for an entire day.
During this period, it wasn't as if a few weaker Rathalos hadn't thought about going after the cats' food. But under Logan's intimidation—and the contemptuous stares from other Fire Wyverns—they abandoned the idea and obediently took part in cooperative hunts instead.
Sometimes, when hunger became unbearable, they would even take the initiative to fight certain Brute Wyverns with lower ecological standings.
The reason was simple: most Brute Wyverns lacked any ability to attack in the air, and compared to other monsters, they yielded more meat.
Though the meat quality was terrible—so poor it was hard to swallow—for the sake of survival, these Rathalos forced themselves to choke it down.
Of course, hunting other large monsters was always rare. Even Brute Wyverns with little to no aerial combat ability could still injure a Rathalos if they fought desperately. And if mistakes piled up or the terrain was unfavorable, it was entirely possible for a fight to end in a one-for-one trade.
This harsh winter affected Logan and Aki as well. On the routes between their home and the leyline branch, prey numbers had dropped significantly. At times, Logan had to spend more time and energy traveling farther afield to hunt.
Almost every hunt now involved a battle against other monsters lurking nearby, watching for a chance to strike—slowing hunting progress even more.
His days became packed to the brim; even his territory patrol time was heavily cut down. Over time, even with Logan and Aki's strength, they began to feel a hint of fatigue.
What's more, their current strength only placed them at the higher tier among ordinary monsters—it didn't mean they had no opponents.
Monsters like Diablos lurking beneath the sands, Glavenus wandering due to food shortages, the absolute powerhouse Tigrex, and Seregios and Astalos adapting to the New World—all had individuals strong enough to pose a real threat.
They might not be a match for Logan and Aki outright, but causing trouble? That was never a problem for them.
The worst part was that Logan had reached the third rapid growth stage of his life. His appetite had increased greatly, and he grew hungry far more easily. Food stores that could once last him two to three days were now often gone by nightfall.
To ensure stable growth and avoid the torment of hunger, Logan had no choice but to head out early each morning to absorb life energy from the leyline vein branch, then spend the rest of the day either hunting or traveling to a hunt.
During this period, Logan became far more dangerous, his temper noticeably more volatile. Any monster that tried to compete for food was met with unrestrained force—a saturation bombardment with no regard for energy consumption—both to vent his anger and to quickly drive the opponent away.
As a result, the rate of injuries among monsters in Logan's usual hunting grounds grew more severe.
In the notebook of one researcher who happened to witness Logan in battle, a new warning was added:
At no time should one provoke a "Hungry Wyvern"—especially a Rathalos.
Of course, Logan's berserk approach hadn't always been a success.
One time, the monster that came to steal his prey turned out to be a Rajang!
When Logan, unwilling to back down, leveraged his aerial advantage to launch an attack, that thing suddenly entered its enraged state without hesitation.
The golden mane on its back blazed with light, and its speed became so great that Logan could only see afterimages—his very perception struggling to keep up.
And then came those exaggerated bursts of lightning breath, forcing Logan to climb higher into the sky, helplessly watching as the Rajang lifted the corpse of a Kestodon with one hand and vanished into the yellow sands.
In Logan's view, that Rajang had absolutely no sense of fairness—who goes straight into full power the moment the fight starts?
Good thing he could fly—otherwise, with that attack frequency, an ordinary monster would have been beaten to death in no time.
In the end, he had no choice but to admit defeat, stubbornly enduring his hunger as he headed to the next hunting ground, where he wrested a Kelbi from the claws of a Seregios.
Deep within the Wildspire Waste, in a desert region—
A team of Fire Wyvern Grimalkyne warriors, equipped with Zinogre Palico gear, was resting beside a massive boulder.
"Based on the Grimalkyne totems we found earlier, the desert tribe we've been tracking should be somewhere in this area, meow."
Without riding a Jagras—which would stand out far too much in the Wasteland—one of the Fire Wyvern Grimalkyne warriors squirmed uncomfortably as it cleaned the sand from its claws.
This four-cat team had accepted a commission from the Research Commission, taking on the job to earn rewards and ease the resource strain on their own tribe. Their mission was to head deep into the Wasteland to find the Grimalkyne tribe that lived there and negotiate, on behalf of the Commission, matters such as cooperation in cart services.
However, unlike the Fire Wyvern Grimalkynes, the Wasteland Grimalkynes seemed far more timid and cautious.
Even when spotting fellow Grimalkynes, before any attempt at communication could be made, they would dig a hole and flee.
Following the trail and guided by the totems, the Fire Wyvern Grimalkyne squad had finally tracked the location of this desert guardian tribe.
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