Monster Hunter: This Dragon's Built Different-Chapter 402: The Great Metamorphosis of the Ancient Tree

The crystal that enveloped Logan was composed entirely of newly formed Terastal energy that had already been successfully localized and fused with life energy. This was a new elemental energy that had further sublimated from the original fire-aspect energy.

With the assistance of life energy, this Terastal energy took on a form that was nearly solid.

And within the "egg," amid the faintly circulating streams of light, Logan's entire body was covered by an incomparably sturdy Terastal shell, used to protect himself.

At this moment, his body seemed to transform into a machine for energy exchange. Various organs that had been strengthened and modified by his traits radiated absolute high temperatures—if not for the insulation provided by the Terastal shell, the Ancient Tree itself would likely have been burned into a massive crater.

At this time, His body simultaneously acted as a converter while also undergoing remodeling by the new Terastal energy.

As if it possessed intelligence, the Ancient Tree began to proactively transmit the life energy it had stored into the nest through its branches, using this to compensate for Logan's depletion during the metamorphosis process.

The new Terastal energy fluctuated in rhythm with Logan's heartbeat, at times dispersing outward and at times being drawn back in.

And the Ancient Tree, which continuously supplied life energy to Logan, the master of symbiosis, also gradually absorbed a considerable amount of Terastal energy mixed with life energy during this process.

As the sun rose and the moon set, the Ancient Tree—already permeated by Terastal energy and having begun to develop toward Terastalization—reacted even more violently at this moment.

Within just a few days, the patrol teams stationed throughout the Ancient Tree discovered that the newly grown shoots of the Ancient Tree were no longer a mixture of Terastal shoots and original green shoots, but had instead completely transformed into Terastal shoots.

Within the gaps of the tree trunks, which closely resembled veins, an icy blue color identical to that of Terastal energy began to flow openly, like blood coursing through vessels.

Upon the thick main trunk, crystal formations resembling hearts surfaced one after another on the exterior, and together with the circulating Terastal energy, they emitted a blue radiance in a highly regular rhythm.

The canopy layer—what had originally been nothing more than tiny Terastal shoots—now seemed to have been nourished, and could grow by a full meter every day. The Ancient Tree, which had originally used a pale green as its main color tone, had now become a mixture of green and icy blue.

Large swaths of bark were like armor, tightly protecting the icy-blue main body within.

The trunk became even harder, and the branches became even thicker and sturdier.

The entire Ancient Tree seemed to be preparing to undergo its next stage of metamorphosis along with Logan, to turn itself into an icy-blue Terastal tree.

Vast swarms of Radiant Crystal Butterflies wove back and forth among the branches, and the various buildings that had originally already been fixed in place were also shifted and relocated amid the cats' loud shouting.

This round of abnormal phenomena ended up causing Blazefire Village no small amount of loss. This, in turn, meant that the Ancient Tree, under lockdown, now had to allocate part of its manpower to cooperate with the engineers as they began new positioning adjustments and calibrations.

And these engineering projects, due to the Ancient Tree's renewed growth, progressed with exceptional slowness.

Amid such busyness, Darren, who had been away for a long time, finally returned to the Ancient Tree once again.

Of the three tasks, only the task of hunting down the Radiant Fire Wyvern pack remained unfinished.

Compared with Rajang, whose traces were being watched at all times, and the Lagiacrus group, which had its own fixed living area, those Radiant Fire Wyvern packs—whose territory range was quite large, and who flew insanely fast—had, up to now, still not truly had their nest found, much less the leader within it.

Thinking that their logistical supplies were almost empty, and not wanting to increase their own hunting difficulty, Darren discussed it with Mia, and they decided to come back first to replenish supplies, see whether the Ancient Tree guild here had the latest information on the Radiant Fire Wyvern packs, and also, along the way, take a look at whether the materials stripped from that Rajang were enough to craft a piece of equipment.

Yes—only one piece.

After all, the task of hunting Rajang had already gone far beyond the logistical support range of the Grimalkynes, and a hunter's pack was simply not capable of holding an entire Rajang. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

Darren could only, together with a Palico, rely on his own experience to carve off materials that had not been destroyed during the fight.

In the end, what they obtained was something that even Darren did not know was enough to make a single component.

As for the Lagiacrus side, although the materials on those Ivory Lagiacrus were clearly stronger than the materials on the Radiant Fire Wyvern set he was wearing, and they could also receive the Grimalkynes' logistical support, that battle at the time had taken place on a small island, and Darren's objective had only been to drive back the Lagiacrus leader rather than kill it.

Otherwise, in that location—with so many Lagiacrus—just piling up numbers alone would have been enough to grind him to death.

After all, you couldn't possibly expect these Lagiacrus to play by the rules and come at you two or three at a time, right?

That was dozens of them!

"Th-this… is this still the Ancient Tree? How did it become like this? Was it caused by some unknown Elder Dragon?"

At the lower levels of the Ancient Tree, seeing the freshly overturned soil and the icy-blue roots faintly glowing with flowing light through the split bark along the root tendrils, Mia covered her mouth in shock, subconsciously attributing this fantastical phenomenon to an Elder Dragon.

Darren, meanwhile, cautiously drew Blazing Wing and tried to pry open the thick tree roots.

"So hard!"

The moment he put his hand to it, he realized that this hardness already exceeded that of the normal Ancient Tree. Even so, under his monstrous strength, he still forcibly tore open a gap.

However, when he saw the Terastal energy flowing inside the roots like circulating blood, Darren's eyes still narrowed slightly.

"Ah! So hot!"

Out of curiosity, Mia reached out and touched the "blood vessel" inside the Ancient Tree's roots. The searing temperature made her quickly pull her finger back, blowing on it hard twice.

"Hey, hey, be careful! The Ancient Tree is undergoing metamorphosis right now—those flowing energies are extremely hot!"

At this moment, a voice rang out.

Darren looked up and saw an Ancient Tree hunter wearing the New World–style leather armor with the distinctive Blazefire Village aesthetic.

At this time, the other party was riding a tamed Jagras, walking down from the passageway.

"Huh? Isn't this the Fifth Fleet's reserve Fleet Master? You've finished your mission and come back?"

Darren was quite well known within the Ancient Tree Hunters' Guild. After all, he was someone who had received an audience and commendation from the deity—an honor that made the Ancient Tree's hunters envy him intensely.

Darren nodded in response. Before he could speak, Mia at his side, acting like Darren's mouthpiece, poured out all her questions in one go.

"Oh, it's nothing serious. It's just that the deity is finally about to undergo metamorphosis into the next form. And as the deity's dwelling, the Ancient Tree naturally follows in the deity's footsteps, metamorphosing toward a stronger state as well. Every day around this time, for about two hours, it's when Terastal energy flows rapidly through the Ancient Tree. During these two hours, the Ancient Tree's veins become very hot, so you need to be careful."

As the Ancient Tree hunter spoke of this, his face was filled with undisguisable pride.

Clearly, he was one of the supporters of the metamorphosis theory.

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