novelraw Chapter 500: The New Nest
Chapter 500: The New Nest
As the core of the perpetual energy engine, the heart appeared no different from an ordinary heart on the outside. In reality, however, both its defensive capacity and energy resistance far surpassed those of the rest of the body.
Even though Safi’jiiva was already dead, the heart was still striving to restore energy. It was simply that this amount of energy was no longer sufficient to replenish the life force that Safi’jiiva had lost.
As Logan swallowed, the vein-like energy circuits across Safi’jiiva’s body flickered in and out of visibility. Streams of flowing light followed the reflux of energy, converging into the heart and being devoured by Logan.
The injuries on Logan’s body also healed rapidly as this pure energy replenished him. The energy circuits that had been hidden within his blood vessels and muscles due to the insufficiency of his own permanently stabilized energy were like withered branches that had been dry for a long time and suddenly received rainfall. From the region of the heart, energy poured outward, and they began to regain vitality.
That exaggerated hunger gradually subsided amid the continuous devouring.
Finally, when Safi’jiiva’s heartbeat became exceedingly faint and the vast majority of its energy circuits had withered away, Logan at last felt a sense of fullness.
Releasing his teeth from the heart, he cast a sidelong glance at Safi’jiiva’s body—now shriveled by more than half and long devoid of life. Somewhat conflicted, he curled his hind limbs and crouched down on the ground.
Unlike organisms within the ecological chain, after the death of a Forbidden being, what rapidly dissipated was only the transformed life energy within its body. The solidified energy that constituted the perpetual energy engine, however, did not easily disperse. Even if it fell into the Everstream, it would still require many years to be fully digested.
After all, the solidified vitality contained within it had already surpassed the upper limit that organisms of this world could reach.
Not to mention anything else—just this heart, which had already been absorbed by Logan for the most part yet could still beat faintly: if some civilization possessed extraordinarily advanced biotechnology and could create a body capable of accommodating this heart, it might truly be possible to artificially manufacture a Forbidden being.
Regardless of whether that Forbidden would rank at the bottom among its kind, its lower bound would still remain at the Forbidden tier.
What Logan was conflicted about at this moment was how to deal with the remaining permanently stabilized energy within Safi’jiiva’s heart.
He was already "full." The energy circuits he had now were all completely saturated. Unless he could, in a short period of time, open up a new energy circuit from the heart toward other regions of his body, continuing to absorb would amount to nothing more than indulging his devouring urge, with only a negligible increase in strength.
But if he simply handed it over to the Everstream like this, he couldn’t bear to.
He had worked hard to climb from a mere wage slave to a partner. Now that this "profit" was in his hands, he was fully entitled to keep it all for himself.
Yet in the battle just now, that surge of energy welling up from the Everstream had indeed helped him greatly—when it came to give-and-take...
Logan scratched the spot on his head with a wing claw where he had just healed; it itched a little. Out of the corner of his eye, he swept his gaze across the Secluded Valley, which had been completely transformed. Terastal flowers bloomed everywhere, and Terastal pillars were visible at every turn, turning the Secluded Valley directly into a Terastal Valley.
To be honest, although it hadn’t been intentional, this valley—drastically altered by their great battle—now looked rather in line with Logan’s aesthetic tastes.
"Wait!"
Logan rose and lightly beat his wings, flying up into the air. He took in the entire valley at a glance, and an idea formed in his mind.
The Secluded Valley had originally been sucked dry and stripped clean by Safi’jiiva, leaving only a small tributary of the Everstream struggling to hold on. From an ecological standpoint, this was already a dead land abandoned by the world. Leaving it unattended would only mean that, at some point, it would be wiped out along with continental plate movement.
And hadn’t Logan come to the Guiding Lands precisely to find a new territory to dwell in, to wait for his metamorphosis?
Now that the metamorphosis was already complete, rather than searching for another place, driving off other organisms, and rebuilding an ecosystem that belonged to him, he might as well take this secluded valley directly—saving himself the process of driving other organisms away.
As for the missing Everstream energy, not only was Logan’s Terastal energy not especially dependent on Everstream energy, but this Safi’jiiva corpse and that still-beating heart weren’t they the best energy source of all?
No sooner thought than done—Logan descended quickly. With a shift of intent, Terastal crystal slowly wrapped around Safi’jiiva’s remaining body. After it was completely sealed into a crystallized fossil, it slowly sank into the ground along with a faint tremor.
When it reached the boundary between the remnants of the Everstream and the Terastal domain, Terastal tendrils extended one after another, wrapping the specimen crystal like a spiderweb and forming a different kind of energy cocoon.
At the position of Safi’jiiva’s heart, Terastal spikes pressed against the surface of the heart one after another. Each time the heart beat and restored energy, that energy was extracted at the very first moment and transmitted throughout the Terastal domain. While maintaining the domain, surplus energy could still dissipate into the valley, supplying Logan’s daily consumption.
Having accomplished the feat of returning Safi’jiiva to its original state, Logan wandered about the valley in satisfaction, looking around to see what needed repair or adjustment, and began bit by bit to shape this place into his future nest.
The hunters who had hurried over landed on a horizontally grown Terastal pillar, staring blankly at the terrain below, which had already been completely transformed.
How had such a vast valley turned into this after just one battle?
When they saw Logan strolling leisurely through the valley as if inspecting his territory, there was not the slightest trace of battle visible on him.
Yet they had clearly rushed over at the very first sign of that disturbance. Had the battle ended just like that? Where was Safi’jiiva’s corpse? Could that monster have escaped in another direction?
Within the crowd, the Admiral carefully observed Logan’s current state. After confirming that the sense of crisis in his heart had not reappeared, he let out a breath of relief. He flung out the rope in his hand and, before the hunters could stop him, quickly swung toward Logan.
Now, every movement of wind and grass within the Secluded Valley could not escape Logan’s perception. The moment the Research Commission hunters arrived, he had already noticed them. It was just that, being in the period of fatigue following battle exhilaration, he was not particularly inclined to pay them any attention.
But when he saw that old fellow land before him in a hero-like pose, this dragon began to feel a headache coming on.
"Yo, old frie—"
"Roar!!"
Before the Admiral could finish speaking, a furious dragon’s roar descended from the sky.
A massive shadow enveloped them.
The Admiral’s eyes widened, and he swiftly dove to the side to evade.
The rapidly descending shadow struck Logan with brutal force. Amid the harsh screech of scales grinding against Terastal crystal, it forcibly knocked Logan dozens of meters away.
Its gaping maw opened wide and bit down mercilessly onto Logan’s neck. Its powerful hind limbs stepped on Logan’s wings, pressing him back down by sheer force.