"Roar!"
The bass low growl startled the Wyverian girl; as if she had rehearsed it many times, she instinctively set the gem on the ground, then, with her toes exerting force in an instant, her whole body sprang back a long distance.
Just when Logan thought she would make another move, the Wyverian girl stopped again, her whole person giving off an aura of "I am weak, I bear no malice."
It had to be said that if it were an ordinary monster, it would indeed, out of bodily vigilance instinct, snap at the moment the Wyverian girl sprang back, and then, after failing to bite and seeing the Wyverian girl halt her own movement and present this appearance, give up the pursuit.
It had to be said that from this set of actions alone, one could judge that the Wyverian girl was definitely a seasoned survivor who had confronted many monsters.
Yes, a survivor, not a hunter.
She did not have that ferocious aura possessed by almost all hunters—of hacking out a wound from a monster even if it meant dying.
'However, to treat me as an ordinary monster...'
To be honest, it had been a long time since Logan had been regarded this way, and for a moment he did not know what to express.
Moreover, just now, he had merely seen this Wyverian girl—who was obviously very different from the Research Commission's Wyverians—start dazing out for no reason after approaching him; therefore he let out a low growl, a kindly reminder.
He had not expected that a single dragon's roar would actually draw out a silky combo.
Was the Wyverian girl too nervous, or was his current appearance too frightening?
Logan could not figure it out, but it did not stop him from stretching his head out and swallowing in one bite the gem that had been placed on the ground.
He had no so-called cheat plug-in conspiracy theories in mind; after so many years, Logan had relied on this panel to reach where he was today.
If not for this thing, not to mention how far he could have gone with his original aptitude—
Back when he was a child, he would already have died in an Anjanath's jaws.
No—without the Acceleration Trait, during his first hunt of a Pilot Hare, he would already have been rammed to death by a Kestodon; there would have been no way he could have lived to have that tense and thrilling great escape with an Anjanath.
Therefore, this bit of trust he certainly had.
As for the Wyverian girl and the group of cats, they were shocked by Logan's behavior.
He hadn't even said anything yet, and he just swallowed that mysterious gem emitting a strange light?
Tonkotsu's meow stuck in his throat. He had originally intended to explain to Logan that the Wyverian girl's behavior was due to nervousness, and also to tell him what he had learned from her about the origin of that gem.
Who could have thought that their Fire Wyvern boss would, without the slightest warning, swallow it in one bite.
If there was something wrong with that gem, if something happened—what then?
In the Monster Hunter world, anything that showed abnormal signs was never to be underestimated. After all, who could say for sure that this thing wasn't some bizarre object made by a strange Elder Dragon?
Especially those Dangerous First-Class Monsters—they loved doing things like that.
For a moment, the nest became chaotic. Especially when the cats saw that after swallowing the gem, Logan actually froze motionless!
At once, several guard cats drew their weapons, aiming at the Wyverian girl who, after realizing what was happening, took up a defensive stance and began looking for a route to retreat and escape.
Meanwhile, another group of cats stood neatly in front of Logan and the Wyverian girl, glaring at her angrily.
At the side, Aki, who had been quietly eating chunks of Aptonoth meat, lifted her head and looked in puzzlement at the suddenly tense scene, feeling somewhat confused.
In her perception, there was nothing wrong with Logan. However, since all the cats had taken such stances, it seemed a bit out of place for her to do nothing.
Thus, Aki stood up; amid the metallic friction of her scales, her cold gaze turned toward the Wyverian girl. She made no other movement—yet purely through the absolute difference in ecological niche, she brought tremendous pressure to the Wyverian girl's heart.
At this moment, Logan's mind was indeed in no state.
In his perception, the gem had turned into energy the instant it entered his mouth, merging into his body.
Then, within the life energy that had been slowly blending into his body with each breath, faint silver particles emitting an icy-blue glow began to appear, entering his body together with the life energy.
The life energy in his body, after merging with these particles, suddenly became even more active.
And the illusory panel that only he could see was now, amid twisting light halos, displaying clusters of garbled code, as if something were undergoing a difficult process of programming, continuously shifting into all kinds of characters.
He did not know why, but he kept feeling that this garbled text seemed to be some unknown script, and later on, the frequency of the garbled text began to show intervals, which changed the feeling for Logan.
It was as if the panel were conversing with some unknown existence.
A segment of garbled text would appear one moment, and after a second or two it would disappear; then the next segment would appear, very much like chatting.
Until, at last, the garbled text on the panel appeared faster and faster, as if growing more and more anxious, until the panel itself began to distort, and in one rush almost the entire panel was covered by garbled text.
In an instant, the panel's distortion vanished and became flat again.
And that mass of garbled text swiftly receded; the familiar status and traits panel reappeared.
Only, on the panel, the column that had originally represented the evolution bar was no longer blurry, indecipherable garble.
In its place was [Nature Affinity: 29%].
"What is this thing?"
Logan asked in his heart in puzzlement, but the panel, as always, gave no response.
In addition to this, beneath this column, a line of small text flickered faintly.
Looking closely: [Terastallization: unlocks at Nature Affinity 70%].
"Terastal!?"
The first moment he saw that line of small text, images sprang up in Logan's mind of Pokémon with their whole bodies covered in crystal, their appearances becoming crystallized, as if carved from gemstones.
Besides that, there was that huge Terastal crown on their heads.
It had to be said—that thing was truly ugly!!
And Logan vaguely remembered that in the game of his previous life, this trait of Terastal phenomenon seemed to have the effect that you could Terastallization right from the start.
"No—don't, that crown is really ridiculously ugly!!"
Although Terastallization is a powerful amplification state—so powerful it can change a Pokémon's typing—it is a highly playable mechanic, and it can give decent appearances to some Pokémon whose abilities are strong but whose typing is not so good.
But if he could choose, Logan would still prefer the boost of Dynamaxing; after all, although the Monster Hunter world also has a notion of attribute energy counters, it is not as clear-cut in its matchup relations as in Pokémon—what is more, there also exists here that kind of meta-rule–breaking attribute energy known as dragon-attribute energy.
Therefore, in Logan's view, this point about attribute transformation really was not of much use.
As if it had finished showing Logan and, after confirming that Logan had seen that small line of flickering text, that line swiftly disappeared again, as though it had never appeared on the panel.
At this moment, Logan, who had been immersed in his own senses, finally regained clarity.
After closing the panel, he saw a group of cats begin compressing the encirclement, while Aki was still at his side, putting on an act of being ready to charge at any time.
Their target was very clear: the Wyverian girl within the encirclement who had drawn a shield and a short sword, steady and calm, quietly building up strength.
At this moment, the Wyverian girl looked completely different from that previously cowering appearance; perhaps this still-composed bearing even after being surrounded was her true self.
"Roar~"
The familiar low growl made the angry cats glance over; seeing that Logan's eyes had already regained their liveliness and that he was issuing orders, looking as if nothing was wrong, their expressions flipped one after another, switching from anger to joy in an instant, and the posture of encirclement collapsed at once.
The Wyverian girl stared blankly at the cats who acted as though nothing had happened; for a moment her mind froze.
Do these cats change faces this fast?
---
I will post some extra Chapters in Patreon, you can check it out. >> patreon.com/TitoVillar
---