novelraw Chapter 502 502: The Slump of the Ancient Tree
Chapter 502 502: The Slump of the Ancient Tree
After remaining on high alert for many consecutive days, the Secluded Valley stayed calm and undisturbed—so much so that Logan began to doubt his own dragon instincts. It was only after he proactively communicated with the newly born natural consciousness of the Guiding Lands that he learned that, all these days, he had been outsmarting nothing but thin air.
When he heard from that slightly immature voice of nature that it had not sought help from any other forbidden beings—and had not even prepared any contingencies beyond him—Logan had nearly turned red all over.
Grumbling that this newborn natural consciousness was nowhere near as seasoned as the one on the New World side, which always left sufficient room for error in every incident, he flew back to his own nest and instantly entered a sleep state, directly blocking out a certain natural consciousness's "explanation."
Although, as a natural consciousness, it normally would not possess excess emotion, for the sake of cooperation—regardless of whether Logan was listening—it still offered him an explanation.
Nothing more than this: as a newborn continent, the Guiding Lands simply could not afford the consumption of two forbidden beings.
After all, forbidden beings were different from other creatures. Other creatures would consider it a decent reward to receive a bit of bioenergy or a slight increase in energy affinity. But when facing a forbidden being, one truly had to allocate an entire region as its nest—sometimes even dedicating a branch of the Everstream exclusively to it.
Only a uniquely special forbidden being like the Black Dragon did not require such arrangements.
Because whether it was Logan or Alatreon, both belonged to the "nature" side of forbidden beings, symbolizing nature's ultimate regulation.
What the Black Dragon represented, however, was "the end of human civilization." Put simply, it specialized in countering humans. Only when human civilization reached an extremely dangerous stage would it truly act and destroy everything of that civilization.
Although, looking across history, most human civilizations had destroyed themselves. Fewer than half had truly been eradicated by the Black Dragon.
With Alatreon no longer posing a "threat," Logan finally felt much more at ease. Life gradually returned to calm.
Within the Secluded Valley, the heart of Safi'jiiva served as an energy source. The energy was abundant—enough to satisfy Logan's daily consumption while also providing sufficient power to generate certain special Terastal crystals as food for Aki.
Life was leisurely, though the drawback was the blandness. Only when Aki occasionally went to the Hoarfrost Reach to hunt some deer did their meals improve somewhat.
Over time, Logan began to miss the cats' Fire Wyvern cat meals, as well as delicious Mosswine.
Once a thought like that took root, it really would not stop.
The Secluded Valley, which he had originally been quite satisfied with, now looked empty no matter how he viewed it. Even if the crystals were as splendid as ever, and the scenery as beautiful as ever, with only him and Aki, it still felt rather quiet and lonely.
He snickered inwardly. Since being born into this world, his greatest wish had already come true—he had gotten what he wanted and become a forbidden being—yet he was actually being affected by an emotion like loneliness. It really was…
But then again, who said a forbidden being had to live all alone, and had to be able to endure solitude?
With endless life and absolutely overwhelming power, he obviously had to live according to his own ideas—otherwise, would he not have broken through for nothing?
With that thought, Logan successfully convinced himself.
He went to find Aki, who was lying atop the tip of a Terastal pillar basking in the sun. After discussing it, the two dragons directly left the Secluded Valley and flew toward the New World.
In the forest region of the Guiding Lands, Mother Chameleos stared blankly with lifeless eyes as she listened helplessly to the commotion coming from below her nest.
Ever since she had fled the Secluded Valley that day, she had returned to the nest above the hunter camp, cowering here for several days straight. Only after the hunters returned and brought back the news that Logan had dealt with that red forbidden being did she finally begin moving around again.
It was just that—perhaps because she still had a bit of conscience—when she encountered hunters during her day-to-day movements, she would always feel a little guilty, and so she chose to avoid them.
She had thought the small days would pass like this. But for some reason, a portion of those ordinary Fire Wyverns from the Ancient Tree who had followed Aki over chose to stay in the Guiding Lands. And because the survival competition here was far too intense, those Fire Wyverns, who were used to sticking together, actually chose to cooperate with the hunters, forcibly seizing the territory around this hunter camp and beginning to build nests here—leaving Mother Chameleos unable to get a good night's sleep for many days.
Until today, when she truly could not stand it anymore.
"Gwa! It's too noisy, gwa!!"
A draconic roar carrying that quacking tone came from above, startling the Fire Wyverns that were building nests and the ones basking in the sun.
Just as they lifted their heads to check the situation—and as Mother Chameleos was about to roar twice more, to let these fellows know what the pressure of an Elder Dragon meant—two figures happened to cut across the sky overhead.
That familiar pressure and that familiar airflow made Mother Chameleos forcibly swallow the roar back down.
She was not actually afraid of Logan. Although she had indeed decisively fled the Secluded Valley at the time—without even saying she would go support him—Mother Chameleos believed that Logan would certainly understand her. After all, in that kind of battle, if she had gone, she would have been nothing more than cannon fodder.
Logan would not fuss over such matters—but that unreasonable tyrant would!
She had no desire to attract Aki's attention and then suffer a vicious beating she would not even be able to fight back against.
As for those ordinary Fire Wyverns from the Ancient Tree, the moment they saw Logan, they skillfully lowered their heads and lay prone on the ground, displaying their submission to this king.
Even though Logan did not notice them.
Even though, at this moment, they could already be considered to have left the Ancient Tree.
...
On the Ancient Tree, the bustle of its most prosperous period was no longer there.
After Logan left and Aki led part of the ordinary Fire Wyverns to support the Research Commission in going to the Guiding Lands, the Radiant Fire Wyverns, having lost their two main pillars, showed a noticeable decline in activity. Especially after traces of some Elder Dragons appeared within the Radiant Fire Wyverns' hunting range, they proactively abandoned those areas and contracted back into the Ancient Tree region.
Fortunately, Little Loren and the Flame Rath couple were still on the Ancient Tree, able to provide sufficient deterrence against those active Elder Dragons. Otherwise, even the areas beneath the Ancient Tree might have been affected.
Recently, however, according to the household cats responsible for the Flame Rath couple, for the sake of their newly born hatchling's growth, the pair seemed to be considering moving to the Elder's Recess to live.
That is right—Scorching Heat Rathian successfully laid and hatched a female hatchling. Yet this hatchling did not display many characteristics of Scorching Heat Rathian. Instead, she resembled the Terastal-transformed form of Scorching Heat Rathian. The bloodline within her seemed to have undergone atavism; astonishingly, she possessed Elder Dragon blood from birth.
This also meant that, after reaching adulthood, this little one would have a certain probability of becoming a true Elder Dragon, rather than merely an Elder Dragon-level creature.
Out of the distinctive sense of responsibility possessed by the Ancient Tree's Fire Wyverns, the Flame Rath couple wished to take the little one to the Elder's Recess, where bioenergy was more abundant, to live.
With the upper echelon of the Ancient Tree's Fire Wyverns departing one after another, those below were left in anxiety. Not only did the Fire Wyverns not know what to do, but even the villagers of Blazefire Village and the Ancient Tree Hunter's Guild felt somewhat at a loss.
Under the influence of such emotions, even the atmosphere atop the Ancient Tree began to grow despondent.