However, that ingrained way of thinking of his was soon shattered into pieces.
On the way back to Astera, the three introduced themselves. The freckled girl named Mia, after escaping danger, quickly returned to that lively nature of hers. The whole way, she chirped nonstop about everything they had seen and heard on their trip over from the coastal camp.
The tall hunter Darren, on the other hand, was rather quiet. While responding to Mia now and then, he habitually replayed Little Loren's performance in his mind. As he inferred Little Loren's possible fighting style, he also considered what method he should use if he were to fight Little Loren—how to avoid that kind of attack while finding an opening for a counterattack.
Noah took them around several key building areas in Astera, and Darren's lost Felyne also rejoined them amid a burst of joy. Soon, a horn sounded; after learning that everyone had been recovered, the Commander convened a new meeting.
As members of the recommended group—and the strongest recommended group within the Fifth Fleet—Darren and Mia naturally had the qualification to attend the meeting.
On the Fifth Fleet's side, because they did not know that Darren and Mia had successfully reached Astera, after some discussion they nominated Aiden, who had participated in multiple Elder Dragon hunting operations, and his compiler partner as the Fifth Fleet's representatives to attend the meeting.
"You bastard, I told you it wouldn't be that easy for something to go wrong!"
Aiden looked at Darren and the others arriving together with Noah, smiled, and punched him in the chest.
After seeing everyone present, the Commander gave a very official speech, thanking the Fifth Fleet for coming and so on.
Just as the Commander's voice continued to echo from the meeting platform, the keen-sensed Darren noticed that the fruit platter on the conference table was now losing fruit into thin air at an abnormal speed.
His eyes narrowed slightly. Focusing his mind, he then saw a faint, pale silhouette behind the Commander, continuously extending its tongue to curl up and take fruit off the tabletop.
Just as his right hand gripped the hunter's knife at his back, Aiden, standing beside him, pulled his partner Lea behind him. Having just drawn the iron Sword & Shield he had just switched to, he held it before his chest and stared dead straight behind the Commander.
"Careful! There's a monster!"
Aiden's voice wasn't loud, but it was exactly at a level that wouldn't startle the monster, while still letting everyone present hear him.
Hearing that, Darren stopped hiding as well. He drew his hunter's knife and prepared to pounce.
At the moment swords were drawn and tension spiked, the voice of the Huntsman—who had not spoken a single word until now—came from beneath his mask: "That's enough!!"
Darren stopped, his hand already braced on the tabletop and ready to push off. Seeing the Commander and the Huntsman exchange a smile, his thoughts turned, and he understood what was going on.
"Not bad. As expected of recommended group hunters—you were able to lock onto Lord Chameleos's exact position in such a short time." The Commander looked at Darren and Aiden, his eyes full of admiration.
But when his gaze swept over Noah—who still seemed not to understand what had happened—he couldn't help but sigh a little.
This grandson of his had really inherited him ten out of ten. Even though the Huntsman had personally guided him since childhood, his talent was only "not bad" at best. Compared with the truly genius hunters of the recommended group, the gap was simply far too great.
Fortunately, while Noah had inherited that barely passable hunter's talent from him, he had also inherited the corresponding calmness and sense of the bigger picture. Compared with hunters who charge on the front line, he was better suited to be a commander who oversaw the entire situation.
As the Commander's voice fell, a brief blur flickered behind him. A Chameleos—uh, somewhat round in build—was sprawled on the platform behind him in a "pancake" pose, its pair of round, beady eyes blinking, with a clear, innocent look to them.
But what made the freckled girl Mia cover her mouth and gasp was the fact that on the Chameleos's head, it was actually wearing a "flower crown" pieced together from all kinds of unknown plant blossoms, and even pretty-colored mushrooms—at a glance, something that fit Felyne aesthetics perfectly.
So lazy and utterly lethargic in demeanor, with almost no trace of wildness—it was really hard to imagine it as a large monster, let alone an Elder Dragon that usually only appeared in legends.
Little Chameleos's appearance directly shattered Darren's understanding of Elder Dragons. To be honest, for someone as vigilant as he was, seeing Little Chameleos at this moment, he actually had no thought at all of looking for an opening.
It was nothing but openings all over—how was he supposed to look?
It seemed that, having shown its face in cooperation with the Commander and completed its task, Little Chameleos swallowed the Max Potion as its reward in one gulp. Light and shadow slid across its body, and just as it was about to reenter its invisible state—
His pupils suddenly contracted. That thick tail was yanked up as if something had seized it tightly and hauled it skyward. Amid Little Chameleos's frightened croaking cry, it entered its invisible state while being forcibly dragged into the air.
All that remained on the meeting platform was the final, miserable echo of Little Chameleos's croak.
The scene fell into silence.
After a long moment, the Commander finally gave a tactical cough and announced the end of the meeting. Afterward, members of the investigation unit would, in batches, lead the Fifth Fleet into the Ancient Forest—both to acclimate to the New World's stronger and more chaotic wild ecology, and to take these newly arrived hunters to mine ore and hunt materials for new equipment.
As for the various ores and materials the Research Commission had prepared over the years for the Fifth Fleet members—
In the circulation area, the Fourth Fleet Master closed the notebook in her hands and muttered under her breath once more, "Admiral, damn you!!"
...
Early the next morning, Noah, acting as the guide for Darren's group, led the two of them into the Ancient Forest, heading toward a known Great Jagras nest.
Along the way, Noah watched Darren's back—wearing leather armor and carrying an iron greatsword—and hesitated, as if wanting to speak but holding back.
Recalling the scene from the training grounds the night before, when this guy had, right in front of him, used a greatsword to perform a Spirit Helm Breaker, Noah couldn't help the corner of his mouth twitching.
After communicating with Darren, he learned that when Darren had once undergone hunter training in a kingdom to the west of the Old World, he had been fortunate enough to receive guidance from a powerful hunter named Falcon. Gifted with extraordinary talent, he had mastered the use of all hunter weapons within just a few short years.
It was only that, as his physique improved and his muscles developed, he came to prefer using the greatsword.
As for wielding a greatsword to use a Spirit Helm Breaker, it was merely because he wanted to see the difference in energy conductivity between weapons forged from New World ores and those from the Old World.
This point was very important, as it helped him form a better judgment of the New World's weaponry and equipment.
Of course, Darren said it that way—but Noah simply felt that this guy just wanted to casually show off a bit of his strength.
"Another mission maniac!!"
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