"Looking at it from another perspective, doesn't the report suggest that the Aero-Glavenus tacitly allowed Mirrorblade to grow within its own territory?" the Third Fleet Master added.
"It even consciously instructed the Acidic Glavenus and Mirrorblade in the art of the sword. If there were no connection between them, the Aero-Glavenus would never have shared its domain, would it?"
"Exactly! Hahaha!" the Admiral burst into a sudden, boisterous laugh. "Old Boss Glavenus isn't exactly the 'approachable' type. Any large monster that wanders into his territory usually ends up as jerky."
"But that makes things quite strange," the Admiral said, his smile fading into deep contemplation. "If Boss Glavenus is an Elder Dragon, but his offspring are not—and haven't inherited his unique abilities—then is it the species that is special... or just Boss Glavenus himself?"
The leaders of the Research Commission looked at one another, their investigation into the facts gradually leading them into uncharted territory. Aside from marveling at the many mysteries of nature, the only thing they could do was continue their investigation.
A temporary setback couldn't stop these confident, brave, and proactive people. It was as if they were incapable of feeling despair or frustration. Even though the Second Fleet Master had lost his right eye in the recent battle, he acted as if he hadn't been injured at all, laughing and joking with Dot, who had already retired.
Never give up, never be satisfied. Perhaps this was why the humanoids could rebuild their civilization even after it had been severed once before. Meanwhile, even with their long lifespans and high intelligence, the dragons remained stuck in the most basic stages of predation and survival after countless millennia.
Asterion... didn't feel much of anything. He didn't know yet that the Hunter's Guild had already settled on a new name for him, nor did he know that Astera was currently buzzing with an atmosphere of frantic construction. However, he could guess that the hunters would be excited this time—after all, they had scavenged a pile of high-grade materials for free, enough to craft some excellent weapons and armor.
It had taken a long time to travel back to the nest with the Bazelgeuse brothers, eating along the way. Asterion was now focused on fully digesting the legacy of the Kushala Daora and half a Nergigante, while simultaneously pondering his next evolutionary step.
The Kushala Daora's Wyvern Gem, the sharp horns on its head, and its internal organs had all gone into his stomach. In exchange, the meat from the other parts was given to the Bazelgeuse brothers. Of course, the steel scales—things a Bazelgeuse couldn't chew—also belonged to Asterion.
Asterion was considering whether to keep pushing down the path of fire-gas propulsion until the end, or to wait until he could acquire high-grade Dragon element energy in the future. After all, Dragon energy really was a tier above the rest.
If the thrust generated by Dragon-gas was naturally higher than that of fire-gas, then spending life energy now to research and evolve organs related to fire-gas propulsion would be a thankless, inefficient task.
He wasn't in the position he used to be, where he couldn't fly at all. Compared to flying longer or faster, Asterion, having just survived a massive battle, actually desired supernatural dragon power.
To put it simply: the ability to change the external environment on a large scale according to his will, and for those changes to last as long as possible.
Rather than adapting himself to the environment, he would make the environment adapt to him—that was Asterion's new evolutionary goal.
Just like... Alatreon?
To achieve that, he needed life energy far exceeding that of a standard Elder Dragon.
Standing atop the canopy, Asterion gazed into the distance, deep into the New World, toward the original home of the Bazelgeuse brothers: the Elder's Recess.
He had his sights set on Xeno'jiiva.
Cough! It wasn't that Asterion was getting cocky or losing his sense of reality. It was just that, after experiencing such a grueling battle, he was surprised to find that with his current strength, he could actually start thinking about these things.
After all, even Nergigante, a native of the Elder's Recess, had become his meal. The place he once viewed as a death trap—where he thought Tempered monsters were everywhere and Arch-Tempered monsters crowded the halls—didn't seem quite so dangerous anymore. At least, it wasn't a "guaranteed death if you go" situation.
And so... Asterion was tempted.
In the game's plot twenty years from now, the Zorah Magdaros would truly provide a massive boost to the Commission's exploration progress. Perhaps it was because its life was truly ending, or perhaps because the Zorah Magdaros had come and gone several times without offering up its life energy, leaving that Xeno'jiiva very hungry.
In short, to ensure it could obtain sufficient life energy and be born in its most perfect, powerful form, the Xeno'jiiva twenty years in the future would stop calling to all Elder Dragons and instead focus all its efforts on luring the Zorah Magdaros.
From the Xeno'jiiva's energy perspective, the Zorah Magdaros was likely a fat, sweet cake of life energy, but no matter how it called, the titan refused to obediently deliver that energy into the Everstream.
After switching its method of calling, the Xeno'jiiva did indeed succeed. Twenty years later, the Zorah Magdaros would stubbornly try to burrow into the Everstream. To do so, it would even smash through a cliffside at the edge of Astera, creating a gap connecting the Wildspire Waste and the Ancient Forest, allowing hunters to reach the beach outside the Ancient Forest directly via land.
Even though the hunters would repeatedly block it without knowing the truth, the Zorah Magdaros would still open a path and gap for the Commission leading to the Elder's Recess. Its "kindness" was as heavy as a mountain, directly accelerating the exploration progress that had been stagnant for years.
This meant that the Everstream and the Elder's Recess were currently still in a closed state... Asterion thought about it and decided against trying to reach the Elder's Recess through the Everstream.
The main issue was that he didn't know the way. The Everstream sounded like a corridor you could walk through, but in reality, it was full of lava—categorized only as "lava not hot enough to melt your feet" and "molten lava you can't step on."
The terrain inside the Everstream wasn't static either. Whether it was the eruption of undersea volcanoes or the flow of life energy itself, a region could easily be piled with or submerged in lava. Not to mention Elder Dragons like Kulve Taroth who lived in the Everstream year-round. Her favorite thing to do every day was to clear the pipes—no, rather, to clear the Everstream, unclogging whatever was stuck.
In short, the situation was extremely complex, completely unlike the surface environment. The Bazelgeuse brothers couldn't fly to scout the way, either... and Asterion didn't plan on bringing them on this trip anyway. In a relatively enclosed environment like the Everstream, the Bazelgeuse brothers' fighting style would undoubtedly just increase the difficulty for everyone.
With all that exploding, they might end up burying themselves inside. Their stiff wings weren't great for flight either; it would be pure torture for them. So, it was better to let the Bazelgeuse brothers stay and guard the nest. That way, he wouldn't come back from a trip only to find the Glavenus tribe torn apart by some invading dragon.
With the strength of the Bazelgeuse brothers, now evolved into Seething Bazelgeuse, they could basically do whatever they wanted in the Ancient Forest as long as they didn't have the bad luck to run into an Elder Dragon's face. They would be the ones bullying others, never the ones being bullied.
Asterion planned everything thoroughly. Decades had passed, and this was the first time he had made such detailed arrangements before a long journey. He gave orders to the leaders of the Glavenus tribe, headed by Leaf and Sparky, telling them he was heading to an unknown area and instructing them to shrink their activity range and hide as much as possible until his return.
Avoid battle first; if you can't avoid it, go find the Bazelgeuse brothers. Asterion also specifically warned the Kulu-Ya-Ku brothers not to run around or offend any dragons in the coming days; if things got bad, they were to flee toward Astera.
He was too careful, too unusual—so unusual that it seemed like a man who knew he was about to die was leaving a will. This immediately caused Leaf to burst into tears.
"Boss, don't die, meow!!!"
Asterion: "???"
"Roar!" (What kind of nonsense are you talking! I won't die even if you do!)
"But, but that's exactly how the Master was before he died, meow!! He explained everything, meow!! Told us to be careful, meow!!"
"Guga?!!" (The kid is gonna die, meow?!! No, kid!!)
Before Asterion could blacken his face and scold these stupid cats, the Kulu-Ya-Ku brothers charged over and headbutted him. It nearly triggered Asterion's combat reflex, almost giving them a face full of exploding blade-scales.
"Roar! Roar roar!!" (Quiet! Stop causing trouble!!)
After a bout of chaos, Asterion finally grabbed the Kulu-Ya-Ku brothers and gave them a vigorous shake before setting them down. But the bird-brained things weren't scared at all; instead, they were as excited as if they'd been drinking.
Without explaining too much, Asterion simply repeated the precautions the Glavenus tribe needed to take, which could be summarized in two words: stay low. After all, even Asterion didn't know when he would return.
Even the teary-eyed Kulu-Ya-Ku brothers couldn't stop Asterion's departure. No matter how sad the bird-things were, Asterion only sighed and told them to run to Astera if things went south.
On the other hand, the Bazelgeuse brothers were still full of hot-blooded energy. As soon as they heard Asterion was going somewhere to get stronger, they got incredibly restless, their minds filled with thoughts of becoming stronger themselves.
After some final consideration, Asterion didn't trigger a new evolution. He simply had the "Dragon-Elect" chefs work overtime for one massive meal in the nest, and then he set off on his journey to the Elder's Recess.
It wasn't that he hadn't thought about flying straight up to the Elder's Recess, but after asking the Bazelgeuse brothers again, he abandoned the idea.
According to their description, the entire Elder's Recess was surrounded by an exceptionally high rock wall and blue-white crystals that emitted a blue glow. It was like a basin—low in the middle and high all around, making it difficult to enter or exit.
It was also incredibly high, even higher than the Coral Highlands. It was the highest point pushed up by the collision of the New World's rock layers.
With Asterion's current flight capabilities, he couldn't possibly clear that outer wall unless he was willing to consume life energy to evolve his fire-gas flight system—so, the Everstream it was.
That raised the question: where to enter the Everstream?
In a region like the Wildspire Waste where the Everstream energy was blocked, even if Asterion bit downward, he would only hit hard, cold rock because the life energy didn't flow there; it transmitted neither heat nor light.
But in a region like the Ancient Forest where the Everstream flowed freely, the best place to enter was beneath those "one-tree forests"—the giant trees. It was precisely because these trees were situated directly above the nodes of the Everstream's main or tributary branches that they grew so much taller and more lush than their peers.
Considering the safety of his home and the Glavenus tribe, Asterion deliberately invaded another dragon's territory and began digging from the base of a giant tree. Downward, and further down.
The roots of these ancient trees were even harder to chew than rock. Over countless years, these root systems had reached deep into the Everstream, absorbing life energy at zero distance.
At first, digging down felt chilly and cold, and the moisture became increasingly heavy. But as Asterion's digging depth increased, he finally felt the surrounding temperature warm up, becoming hotter and hotter.
This slow rise in temperature was actually quite subtle. Asterion only realized it when he noticed the soil and rocks he was chewing through were becoming dry—CRACK!
After an unknown amount of time, accompanied by the crisp sound of shattering rock, Asterion's head punched through. The glowing crimson light momentarily blurred his vision. Along with the surging heat wave came the fragrance of minerals.
Sulfur? Firecell Stone? Obsidian?
He couldn't tell, but it smelled delicious, radiating from the flowing lava before him.
Good grief, just how many minerals had melted into this river of lava?
The discovery of a new area made Asterion exceptionally energized. Like a child arriving in this world for the first time, he explored his surroundings with overflowing curiosity.
Naturally, he felt no discomfort. At his core, the Glavenus was a species built for high temperatures. Theoretically, the most suitable area for a Glavenus to live was a volcanic region because the temperature was high and it held vast amounts of high-purity minerals left by eruptions. These could supplement trace elements and be used to forge their tail blades.
A Glavenus capable of surviving in a volcanic region was already the equivalent of a "rich guy" among their kind, enjoying higher mating rights than those in other regions.
No matter what form he evolved into, the Glavenus remained a vital part of Asterion's physical makeup. Combined with the dragons he had gorged upon, he had absolutely no issues with heat resistance.
The fellow even reached out his snout to touch the flowing lava river. After confirming he wasn't injured, he stuck out his tongue and licked it—still no injury.
There was no need to hesitate now. Asterion opened his mouth wide and took a massive gulp!
Refreshing!!
It was hot, spicy, and full of mineral fragrance. With one gulp, his body instinctively knew this was the good stuff.
The flavor was incredible!!
Asterion's eyes were practically glowing. Back when he was digging for ore everywhere, how much trouble would he have saved if he had stumbled upon such a nutrient-rich lava river? Even his air-sac carapace might not have needed to degenerate; with so many minerals, he wouldn't have feared the wear and tear.
It was a good start. Asterion raised his head to survey this Everstream hollow. He didn't know if this branch was a main artery or a tributary, but according to his plan, he would follow the main flow of the Everstream all the way until he reached the Elder's Recess.
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