Monster Hunter: This Dragon's Built Different-Chapter 415: Try Asking the Sunblaze Dragon for Advice?
In the Elder’s Recess, aside from the same unadorned sulfurous smell of gunpowder smoke and the Bioenergy Crystal visible everywhere, another group of Radiant Crystal Butterfly could now be seen flying about among the normal living creatures.
These Radiant Crystal Butterfly, which looked harmless and were also brilliantly multicolored, relied on the pure life energy within the Bioenergy Crystal to continuously accumulate and multiply, and their numbers quickly reached a level sufficient to cover the entire Elder’s Recess.
Besides stockpiling a vast reserve energy supply for Logan, they also took on the work of reconnaissance and intelligence gathering.
Although the Radiant Crystal Butterfly, lacking a complete language of their own, could not achieve real-time communication, they could still manage some basic communication.
However, even with Radiant Crystal Butterfly at this density, they still failed to find the specific location of the Xeno’jiiva cocoon during this period, and could only confirm that it was indeed within the largest cluster of Bioenergy Crystal.
But within that Bioenergy Crystal cluster, according to Logan’s observations, at least five Elder Dragons lived there!
And in appearance, it was not merely a single massive crystal like in the game from his previous life, but an entire vast, continuous crystal thicket—a crystal forest!
In that forest, finding even one Elder Dragon was difficult, let alone finding an egg!
Knowing that he truly had no way to find Xeno’jiiva in advance through such means, Logan also settled down again, carefully sensing the state of the Everstream every day and adjusting his own condition.
As of now, the amount of life energy in storage was no longer that important to Logan; having a bit more or a bit less no longer meant much to his current reserves.
What mattered more was the way life energy was used, and the development of his own abilities.
Counting the Disaster-class Elder Dragons, aside from special Elder Dragons like Gaismagorm—deeply affected by the symbiotic influence of Qurio, and already entrusting most of their abilities to their symbiotic beings—the rest were basically all continuously developing power that belonged to themselves.
They found ways to deepen their connection with the world, strengthen their use of life energy, and thereby grasp more powerful strength.
The most typical example was Amatsu: through the development of its own characteristics, from initially controlling wind and rain, once developed to a deeper level it could indirectly grasp lightning as well, and in this regard it was not inferior in the slightest to an Elder Dragon like Kirin, which purely uses lightning.
Through such a method, it established its own higher ecological niche in one stroke.
Therefore, what the ecological niche pursued by Disaster-class Elder Dragons sought was no longer entirely the amount of energy, but rather finding ways to make themselves more fantastical, until they transcended the category of ecology.
On the other side, several days had already passed since Zorah Magdaros broke free.
Perhaps because Logan had temporarily added quite a lot of Terastal Crystal, after Zorah Magdaros woke up, it had to expend even more physical strength to break free of its restraints, far exceeding the physical strength Zorah Magdaros had planned for this escape.
This led to the Research Commission’s subsequent pursuit of Zorah Magdaros being even bolder: they dispatched nearly half of their elite hunters, probing Zorah Magdaros’s position day and night without pause.
And by relying on the Great Ravine passage that Zorah Magdaros broke open while freeing itself, a natural route into the interior of the New World—leading to the Coral Highlands—was opened up like this.
Under the Commander’s orders, a group of recommended-team hunters entered the Coral Highlands, fired off contact signals, and established contact with the Third Fleet’s mobile research base.
Then, with support from the mobile research base, over a hundred hunters, together with Blazefire Village’s Palico support units, quickly moved in and took up residence in the Coral Highlands.
This core region, wrapped by the Great Ravine and always independent from the other ecologies of the New World, finally became lively again; one cable car after another was built in various places, used for everyday travel.
"So Zorah Magdaros’s final destination is the Rotten Vale?"
By analyzing Zorah Magdaros’s direction of advance, the Third Fleet’s investigations over the years into the Coral Highlands and the Rotten Vale, and in addition the information from that ancient Wyverian prophet of Blazefire Village, the secret of the Elder Crossing was finally revealed at this moment.
There was no so-called mastermind, and there was no especially mysterious secret; all the answers turned out to be this straightforward and simple.
The so-called Elder Crossing was simply Elder Dragons growing old and choosing a suitable graveyard for themselves.
As for why they would go to such trouble to cross the ocean to the New World, that was entirely because there was a place like the Rotten Vale—a natural, top-tier cemetery sufficient to accommodate the demise of many Elder Dragons.
The area of the Rotten Vale, plus the fact that it was the beginning of the Everstream, and finally the existence of a group of Vaal Hazak that could manipulate effluvium—caring not for your body while you were alive, only for your corpse after you died.
This made the Rotten Vale far surpass similar regions of the Old World, becoming the most ideal burial ground for all dying Elder Dragons.
Thus, the secret of the Elder Crossing was unraveled. For a moment, everyone present fell silent, each digesting this suddenly resolved truth in their own way.
The Third Fleet Master and the Field Master exchanged a glance, both understanding what the others were thinking—after all, when they had first discussed and reached this conclusion, they themselves had found it just as hard to believe.
After quite a while, the big-hearted Mia was the first to come back to her senses. She slowly let out a breath, then looked toward the Third Fleet Master with a thoughtful expression and said, "The secret of the Elder Crossing has been uncovered, but why have the intervals between Elder Crossings been getting shorter and shorter? It can’t be that these Elder Dragons on the verge of old age are still communicating with each other about this, and then agreeing to come to the New World together, right?"
As she spoke, Mia ended up making a joke of it.
The Third Fleet Master pressed her lips together and gently shook her head. With her slightly husky, mature voice, she spoke slowly: "They are not making appointments. According to our communications over the years with the ancient Wyverian prophet, it seems that in that place where energy accumulates, there is some kind of organism that periodically releases a signal. Through the New World’s unique spiral-shaped Everstream, that signal is greatly amplified."
"The signal spreads across the entire world, thereby drawing these dying Elder Dragons to the New World. After arriving here, these Elder Dragons are unable to find the signal’s source for a long time, and in the end can only choose to die in the Rotten Vale. Their life energy then circulates through the Everstream within the New World, promoting the New World’s growth."
"So that’s how it is!"
The Third Fleet Master’s explanation was not difficult to understand, and everyone present was an elite; they were able to grasp her meaning with ease.
But now things became rather troublesome.
The culprit behind the shortening intervals of the Elder Crossing could already be determined to be somewhere within the New World. However, this culprit was also closely tied to the New World’s ecology. If the Research Commission were to stop it, they would affect the New World’s ecological cycle.
Yet if they did not stop it, the Old World would continue to suffer the calamities brought about by the Elder Crossing. For hunters, this was undoubtedly a difficult choice.
For a time, everyone fell silent. Even the Commander did not know what to say, because once a wrong decision was made, the eventual impact would be enormous.
After a long while—
"How about... trying to ask the Sunblaze Dragon for advice?"
At this moment, a clever individual put forward their suggestion.
In an instant, the eyes of everyone present lit up, as if they had found a direction.
---
I will post some extra Chapters in Patreon, you can check it out. >> patreon.com/TitoVillar
---
