The meeting room... if this open-air setup could even be called a meeting room. That said, the atmosphere here was certainly less solemn than before Dot arrived; the Commander just watched his companion making a scene with a hearty chuckle.
He had seen many hunters who, unable to accept becoming invalid after a disabling injury, chose suicide simply because they realized they knew nothing but hunting. Even if the Kingdom and the Guild were willing to care for these hunters, their pride could not accept the reality of their own powerlessness.
So, seeing Dot in such a stable state of mind after waking up was truly reassuring—genuinely stable, not the kind feigned to prevent others from worrying.
"Then, in the name of the Commander, I hereby appoint the former Prowler, Dot, as the Head Chef of Astera." Deliberately putting on a stern expression, the Commander spoke solemnly, "It is time for Grammeow's skills to flourish in the New World as well. Is that acceptable?"
"Just leave it to me, meow!" Slapping his muscular chest, Dot held his head high. "From now on, call me the Head Chef, meow!"
"Why?" The Admiral paused for a moment.
"Because Astera has a lot more juniors now, meow." Dot shook his head with a hint of helplessness. "I can't provide food for so many hunters all by myself, meow. I need to recruit a batch of apprentices, meow."
"Is it to maintain authority in front of the apprentices?" The Commander held back a laugh. "That is... reasonable. Alright then, from now on, we shall all call you Head Chef in front of others."
"Mhm, mhm." Stroking his whiskers, Dot had already begun to envision the future. "It'll be called 'The Weapon and Wildcat Pavilion,' meow. You have to give me the spot with the best scenery, the kind that makes people hungry just by looking at it, meow."
"Then go pick it yourself," the Commander said generously. "Tell me once you've chosen the location. Even though we are busy right now, everyone will certainly be willing to build a place where they can eat well first."
"True, I'm already looking forward to it." The Admiral cracked his knuckles and chuckled.
"Don't worry, it won't be too much trouble, meow." Dot said with certainty, then asked, "So, are there any follow-up investigation results on the monsters from that day, meow?"
"We've only just begun." Speaking of this, the Commander felt a bit helpless. "The scope of the battlefield involving those four monsters was simply too vast. Several kilometers of ground were burned into magma. Even though the heat is dissipating or being extinguished by seawater, we can't send squads in to investigate yet."
"Four?"
"That's right," the Admiral confirmed. "After you all evacuated the battlefield, another new monster flew in. It looked a bit ugly, but its temperament was extremely ferocious. It launched indiscriminate attacks on the other three monsters simultaneously and could continuously trigger terrifying explosions using the lumps hanging from its neck and tail."
"Sounds very strong, meow." Dot scratched his feline head. "So there's no follow-up investigation, meow?"
"Actually, there isn't much to investigate." The Admiral became more serious when discussing business, crossing his arms over his chest. "The boys couldn't possibly find any traces in a burning magma pool, and it's even less likely after it cools."
"Indeed. So, it is fortunate that you stayed behind and provided us with a lot of intelligence," the Commander nodded and said. "Although by convention, scholars should name those two unknown monsters, given the scarcity of current intelligence, this step can only be temporarily shelved."
"Any guesses, meow?" Dot asked.
"Yes," the Admiral said seriously. "I believe it was precisely the Teostra that crossed the sea from the Old World that attracted the dragon clad in black thorns. Combining the descriptions from the Second Fleet members, that black-thorned dragon flew straight from the horizon toward the Teostra, and subsequently, the two monsters battled on the sea surface."
"In other words, that black-thorned monster viewed the Teostra as prey, meow." As a veteran Prowler, Dot easily saw the essence of the matter. "But the Teostra is an Elder Dragon, right meow? Is there a monster capable of viewing an Elder Dragon as prey, meow?"
"Hard to imagine, isn't it?" The Commander said gravely. "But considering it had never appeared in the southern end of the Wildspire Waste before—meaning it didn't attack to drive a monster out of its territory—we can only make this conjecture: It is a previously undiscovered Elder Dragon that feeds on Elder Dragon species."
"Hara actually thinks this guess is reasonable. After all, Elder Dragons need to ingest food too. Since they can prey on ordinary monsters, it's normal for a monster to appear that feeds on them."
"Anyway, the battle that day was chaotic," the Admiral recalled. "First, it was a four-way melee. They had no fixed opponents; whoever was closest was the enemy that needed to be killed—Oh! Speaking of this, as expected of Boss Glavenus; in the middle of the battle, he suddenly used language to persuade that ugly, exploding monster to ally with him and fight the other two monsters together."
"Wise Mirror Blade, meow?" Asterion's image flashed through Dot's mind for a moment. "If it's him, that's not strange, meow."
"That's right, though I'm still used to calling him Boss Glavenus, probably because that's what those Grimalkynes call him." The Admiral shrugged and said, "Boss Glavenus shouldn't be an Elder Dragon... at least not yet. He couldn't engage in a head-on slaughter with the black-thorned dragon like the Teostra did."
"But Boss Glavenus's attack power is sufficient to deal damage to Elder Dragons, meow. Even that black-thorned dragon with its extremely strong self-healing ability couldn't ignore him, meow."
Dot argued back; he seemed to be Asterion's, uh, fan?
"That's true too." The Admiral laughed a couple of times before saying, "Let's get back to the monster alliance. The doctors didn't let us tell you these stories before, afraid of agitating you—we've hunted so many monsters together, but this is the first time we've encountered two powerful monsters allying to face an enemy. This is absolutely strong evidence that high-tier monsters possess extremely high intelligence."
"I can already imagine how excited the scholars are, meow."
"Exactly, they are indeed very excited," the Admiral continued. "That monster that explodes from head to tail was in a similar situation to Boss Glavenus. When they joined forces to cover each other, they actually fought the two Elder Dragons to a standstill—unless you witnessed it with your own eyes, you absolutely couldn't imagine the degree of tacit understanding in the coordination between two monsters."
"Here he goes again." The Commander rubbed his temples helplessly, explaining to Dot, "I don't know how many times he's told this story."
"Because it really was brilliant," the Admiral chuckled before continuing. "And then, Boss Glavenus and the others seemed to suddenly reach some agreement with the black-thorned dragon and began to besiege the Teostra together."
"Then the Teostra was dead meat, meow," Dot made a judgment.
"Yes. Unfortunately, I don't know what happened after that." The Admiral sighed deeply. "Realizing its death was imminent, the Teostra began to fight for its life. For safety's sake, I could only take a Wingdrake and flee at top speed."
"There's nothing to regret. Compared to investigating the truth, you coming back alive is the most important thing," the Commander said gruffly. "The Research Commission can't be without its leader."
"Well, I'm back, aren't I?" the Admiral said casually.
"Is that so?" the Commander said coldly. "Then who was it that sneaked back over on a Wingdrake the next day?"
"Ahem! Wasn't I just wanting to know the battle results? You guys wanted to know too. Anyway, sooner or later..." After muttering a bunch of alien gibberish, the Admiral hurriedly changed the subject. "Err, anyway, when I went looking the next day, I only found the Teostra's skeleton."
"The Teostra? It was eaten completely, meow?" Dot's feline eyes widened.
An Elder Dragon being eaten alive... that was an Elder Dragon, after all.
"That's right. The Teostra's skeleton was just soaking in the magma, and no corpses of other monsters were found." The Admiral sighed heavily. "It's a bit of a pity. I should have flown over immediately after dodging the explosion released by the Teostra. I completely missed the end of the battle... Next time, I must stick it out."
"You still want a next time?" The Commander's fist looked a bit itchy.
"Maybe Boss Glavenus is still waiting for me! He wanted to fight side-by-side with me! It's just a pity I couldn't go back in the end," the Admiral said plausibly. "He must be very disappointed—yeah, next time I definitely won't be late!"
"Even if you weren't late, rushing back to the battlefield before the Teostra died wouldn't have been much use, right meow?" Dot roasted him mercilessly. "With magma all over the ground, how would you fight, meow? Don't add a meaningless burden to Boss Glavenus, meow."
"Don't say that," the Admiral scratched his head. "Didn't we help out in the earlier battle?"
"Fine." Dot sighed. "So what did Boss Glavenus say, meow? You guys haven't gone to find him in all this time, meow?"
"We couldn't see him," the Commander said with some confusion. "The Grimalkynes wouldn't let us near. Boss Glavenus seems to be injured... but that is to be expected. How could one fight an Elder Dragon without paying any price?"
"I hope to see Boss Glavenus again soon. Having him appear near the base always gives people a strange sense of security," the Admiral said seriously. "To be honest, we really saw Boss Glavenus's true power this time, right? That tail."
"Like a saw, meow," Dot nodded and said. "I didn't expect the scales could open up. It looked like it had strong killing power."
"The scholars seem to have gotten inspiration from Boss Glavenus's tail. Some scholars are communicating with the technicians of the Second Fleet; they seem to be preparing to forge a new style of weapon," the Commander said. "I am quite optimistic about this weapon."
"Indeed, Boss Glavenus even used it to slice through those thorns I couldn't cut at all, meow," Dot recalled. "Hara must be very happy this time, right? Her judgment was correct, meow. Boss Glavenus really is likely an unknown Elder Dragon species, meow, the kind that actively hunts other Elder Dragons."
"Yeah, she's still guarding over by the Grimalkyne settlement right now," the Admiral said with a look of longing. "When Boss Glavenus was guarding the shore, we were right beside him. As soon as the battlefield of the black-thorned dragon and the Teostra landed on the ground, he rushed up. There's absolutely no need to doubt it; Boss Glavenus came to hunt."
"I really want to know what Boss Glavenus's true form is..."
Mmm, the Admiral's expression right now was somewhat dreamy, completely at odds with his brute image.
"I'm a little curious too, meow, but not that curious. After all, I've already retired, meow." Dot's expression was relaxed, carrying a bit of friendly teasing. "You guys need to be careful though, meow. There are actually two monsters that feed on Elder Dragons. The New World is truly too terrifying, meow."
"...Indeed." The Commander suddenly couldn't smile anymore.
The intensity is truly high, this New World.
It was hard to evaluate who caused a greater impact on the Wildspire Waste between the Kushala Daora and the Teostra, both unleashing their power wantonly. Some questions often require a long time to yield an answer.
However, life could still survive under Kushala Daora's storms—many creatures even took the opportunity to eat a full meal, or several. But the scorched earth caused by the Teostra would not host any life for a very long time.
Asterion couldn't worry about all that. He had already realized that the essence of this world was to live if you can, and die if you can't. As long as you survive, everything is correct, everything makes sense.
He was recovering from his injuries and, incidentally, digesting that Teostra Gem.
Not getting to eat the Teostra's special organ meant Asterion couldn't evolve the abilities unique to the Teostra, but it didn't matter. As long as he fully absorbed this Gem, what Asterion gained would not only be the life energy sufficient to support his next evolution but also some Elder Dragon power that should have belonged exclusively to the Teostra.
Skipping the preamble and postscript, the Gem is the essence of a dragon's body and soul.
As a Fire-element monster, this Teostra Gem provided a massive boost to the Fire-element power within Asterion's body—the kind of boost that goes from zero to... well, he could spew fire now.
It must be known that what a Glavenus usually spits is actually a magma ball, a mixture of metal fragments shed from its tail blade, carapace, and combustible ore. To ignite it, they even specifically consume coal. Therefore, fundamentally speaking, a Glavenus does not possess the ability to produce fire itself.
They merely store these smelted materials in the Flame Sac, using them either to directly spit at and attack enemies or to grind their tail blade.
But now, the part of Asterion that still belonged to a Glavenus had evolved. He could produce fire himself and spew it—right from his Flame Sac, consuming stamina and life energy.
The temperature was very high. He only needed to aim at a rock and spray for over ten seconds, and that rock would be heated red-hot; continuing to spray would presumably melt it into magma quickly. However, Asterion didn't do that, saving himself some effort.
This was a breakthrough evolution, marking that Asterion had finally mastered supernatural power sufficient to influence his surrounding environment—it also meant he was one step further away from being a "proper" Glavenus.
Further and further away.
However, being able to self-produce fire was merely a natural change that occurred while Asterion digested the Teostra Gem. When the next active evolution begins, perhaps he can do even better?
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