It took Logan three full days to finally find a relatively gentle slope within the Great Ravine that encircled the Coral Highlands. Before beginning their ascent, the two giant beasts gorged themselves as usual, ensuring their bodies had stored enough nutrients for the journey.
As a creature that had undergone multiple evolutions, steep mountain terrain was no longer a difficult obstacle for Logan. Even when facing smooth, near-vertical rock faces, he could use his hardened claws to forcibly gouge into the stone and pull himself upward.
Zhu Peiniang was even more at home here. A Zinogre's natural habitat is the Spirit Peaks; they are creatures perfectly adapted to mountainous terrain. Their forelimbs are more developed than their hind legs, their shoulders sit higher than their hips, and the massive hooked claws on their front paws are a biological design naturally gifted at climbing.
A height of several thousand meters was nothing to giant beasts with such abundant stamina. As for the altitude sickness caused by the rising elevation, it wasn't even worth mentioning for Logan, who possessed a dual respiratory system.
If he weren't worried about accidentally slipping and falling to his death, Logan could have sprinted across the mountainside with reckless abandon.
Before long, they successfully reached the summit. The extreme altitude caused the temperature to plummet. A piercing cold wind howled past, even leaving flecks of frost clinging to their bodies.
In the distance, a row of black dots flew by in a "7" formation. They looked like a flock of Wingdrakes, though it was hard to tell if they were Barnos or Noios.
Speaking of which, these creatures likely evolved from Flying Wyverns as well. However, unlike their kin who pursued strength, dominance, and raw power, they chose to occupy a smaller ecological niche at the bottom of the food chain to survive.
A smaller size meant lower energy consumption. By discarding the high-nutrient demands of heavy scales and offensive organs, they funneled those saved nutrients into faster growth, enhanced reproductive capabilities, and better adaptability. Judging by how Wingdrakes are ubiquitous and diverse across the globe, this strategy was undoubtedly a success.
Watching those fading black shadows, a flicker of envy flashed in Logan's eyes. In the history of biological evolution, flight is perhaps the ability closest to the definition of "freedom."
As for how to obtain the ability to fly, Logan already had a detailed plan in mind. However, since it wasn't a requirement for immediate survival, its priority remained relatively low.
...
As the saying goes, "Going up the mountain is easy; coming down is hard." The natural barrier surrounding the Coral Highlands was called the Great Ravine for a reason—it wasn't just a simple mountain range.
It was composed of two mountain ranges with a massive chasm sandwiched between them. It felt as though an unimaginably powerful force had once descended from the heavens, squeezing and bulging the surrounding earth outward to form this unique structure.
Leading Zhu Peiniang, Logan spent nearly five times as long as the ascent just to inch his way down the mountain. The Great Ravine, trapped between the ranges, was exceptionally dark due to the perennial lack of sunlight. The thin layer of soil on the ground was incapable of supporting large plants.
But that didn't mean it was devoid of life. Without direct sunlight, moisture didn't evaporate easily, and the towering mountains blocked the howling winds. This allowed ferns and mushrooms—which have low requirements for light and soil—to proliferate in massive numbers.
These plants provided food for small animals, which in turn attracted predators like Wingdrakes. However, because the number of creatures at the base of the food chain was limited, no overly large carnivores had ever emerged here.
Logan strolled through the canyon, looking for a flatter spot to climb. He plucked every mushroom he encountered along the way and stuffed them into his mouth, unconcerned about whether they were poisonous; he needed to replenish his energy first.
Just then, a sharp cry echoed from the cliffside ahead. On a protruding rock, a brownish-red Wingdrake was spreading its wings and singing loudly.
Logan recognized it as a Noios. It had a large vocal sac hanging from its throat capable of emitting high-frequency sound waves. As a fierce carnivore, even though it lacked special abilities and was only five meters long, it was a top predator in this resource-scarce canyon filled only with small rodents.
However, in the next second, a flash of white light streaked through the air. A feather-shaped scale over a foot long buried itself deep into the creature's chest, piercing through its back. The intense pain caused it to instantly lose its balance; it tilted and tumbled off the rock, slamming heavily onto the ground.
"It looks like a pile of chicken bones, but hey, even a mosquito has a bit of meat!"
Logan tossed the Noios carcass to Zhu Peiniang behind him. He could eat anything and had a layer of nutrient-rich fat, but the little one behind him couldn't do that. She was in her growth spurt and had been whimpering from hunger for a while.
He wondered if it was the sugar crystals taking effect, but Zhu Peiniang's size was already approaching ten meters. Even by Zinogre standards, she had entered adolescence, yet her growth showed no signs of slowing down.
By Logan's estimate, her weight was likely increasing by nearly a hundred pounds a day. Consequently, her energy consumption was no small matter.
Fortunately, the Wingdrakes of this world weren't as scrawny as the ones Logan remembered from his previous life; they had more meat on them than they looked. Otherwise, given the tiny size of a Barnos, even if it flapped its wings until they broke, it probably couldn't carry a fully armed Hunter.
...
After eating a little to pad their stomachs, the two giant beasts continued searching for a way out. It took another full day to find a gap in the circular Great Ravine.
What followed was another long climbing process. Those undulating mountains looked insignificant on a map, but actually crossing them was truly exhausting.
As the sun of the fourth day began to sink in the west, Logan and Zhu Peiniang finally crested the last obstacle. At this moment, they stood upon a towering cliff, with the Coral Highlands spread out beneath them.
The orange-red sun was about to vanish completely beneath the horizon, leaving only a final shimmer of pale yellow twilight. Looking out from the cliff, the view was filled with soft, terrestrial coral. Pink branches swayed gently in the breeze, and under the influence of rising air currents, coral eggs drifted everywhere like snowflakes.
A flock of Skyward Snappers suddenly flew in from the distance. They had pale blue, jellyfish-like bodies, and their translucent caps were decorated with bright bands of light. As they swam through the air, the light bands pulsed rhythmically, brightening and dimming.
Such a bizarre and fantastical scene looked like something straight out of a fairy tale. It instantly captured the gaze of both Logan and Zhu Peiniang.
To his shame, Logan had lived most of his previous life without ever seeing the ocean, let alone witnessing the beauty of a coral reef. However, the sight of the Coral Highlands made him feel that the true beauty of the seabed probably looked just like this.
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