"Naturally! Don't forget who the Leader is here!" Craning his neck in triumph, the Leader laughed even louder.
"Is that so?" the Commander remarked indifferently. "Since you are the Leader, I'll leave the resource calculations to you then."
"Cough, cough, cough, cough!!"
The laughter cut off instantly. The Leader burst into a violent fit of coughing, followed by a stream of gibberish—something about "although I'm the Leader, you are the indispensable pillar of the Research Commission," or "everyone has their own strengths," and so on.
A wave of laughter ensued.
"In other words, are we returning to the Old World?" Once the laughter had mostly subsided, the Huntsman asked in a deep voice.
"Yes, it is time," the Commander nodded. "The New World has already transported enough timber and provisions from the Ancient Forest. It is time for it to fulfill its true mission."
Returning to the Old World to report everything the Research Commission had discovered so far to the Guild, and—most importantly—to request support.
What the Research Commission lacked most in the New World wasn't supplies, but manpower.
"Finally heading back, are we?" The Chief Engineer took a sip of his drink. "Good. Many of the young ones have been looking forward to this day for a long time."
"Indeed. I imagine many will choose to leave," the Leader nodded. "After all, when we first set out, no one expected a single mission to last this long. Many weren't prepared for that."
"Like Hank, meow. He just got married right before we left, didn't he?" Dot chimed in. "If I were him, I'd probably want to go back too, meow."
"That's right," the Leader smiled. "It's regrettable, but it can't be helped."
"Once the New World returns, the next batch of hunters to arrive will be different. The Guild should make the pros and cons clear to them," the Commander said, crossing his arms. "I really hope they get here quickly. Otherwise, we won't even have enough people to defend Astera in the interim."
"It is a bit dangerous," the Leader scratched his head. "Come to think of it, I haven't asked you all yet. Are you going back?"
"Of course not!" The first to react was actually the Chief Engineer, the elderly Wyverian. He spoke without hesitation: "I'm ready to work here until I die! Hahahaha!"
Similar to the Chief Engineer, the others also gave their answers: refusal.
"It seems we've all been captivated by the charm of the New World," the Leader grinned happily, having guessed his old friends' choices. "Brand new life, unknown mysteries... I couldn't bear to leave without figuring it all out."
"Pretty much," the Commander smiled and nodded. "Although Hara isn't here right now, I suspect she would choose to stay as well—her curiosity about the New World is no less than ours."
"Definitely, meow," Dot's voice was a bit muffled as he gnawed on a steak. "She's been out investigating for a long time, meow. If she didn't truly love it, it would be hard to keep going, meow."
"Well, that's true," the Leader sighed. "It's just a pity she couldn't make it to your wedding... Hmm, when she gets back, we must punish her by making her drink a few extra rounds!"
"Totally agree, meow!" Dot raised a paw and shouted.
Thud!!
Just as they were speaking, a burlap sack—faintly emitting a strange stench—landed heavily on the ground. A slightly hoarse female voice followed immediately after.
"Did I hear someone speaking ill of me?"
There was obvious mirth in the voice. Turning around, they found Hara standing not far away.
The effluvia-resistant gear the Chief Engineer had crafted for her before her departure hung casually around her neck, askew. Her exposed skin had been tanned to a healthy bronze. Compared to when she left, Hara was noticeably leaner, but her overall complexion looked healthy.
"Hara!!"
Shouts of pleasant surprise rang out. Hara's safe return made the Leader and the others even happier; good things were happening all at once.
"Tell us quickly, meow!" Unable to wait for Hara to rest, Dot pulled her into a seat and handed her a drink before asking impatiently, "Did you encounter anything interesting, meow?! What is it like inside that ravine of effluvia, meow?!"
The most similar trait among all members of the Research Commission—Dot included—was an extremely vigorous curiosity.
Palicoes were no exception.
"Interesting things? There were too many," Hara recalled her experiences over the past two years, sighing with emotion. "As expected of the New World, there is so much worth discovering and recording."
"Then start with the discovery that impressed you the most," the Leader laughed. "I'm dying to know."
"Then brace yourselves, my story is quite long." Clinking glasses with the others, Hara smiled. "Let me think... All right, let's start with what I found right after I set out."
"I explored all the way north... In the fourth month after my departure, I discovered that the storm whipped up by the battle between those two Kushala Daora had actually spread to the depths of the Wildspire Waste. The plants there grew rapidly due to the heavy rainfall..."
Hara slowly recounted her findings and deductions. The facts were exactly as she had surmised back then: the Wildspire Waste had suffered a locust plague, followed immediately by a famine.
"In other words, the root of this disaster was still the Elder Dragons?" Crossing his arms, the Commander spoke with a solemn expression.
Even though the Research Commission had safely weathered this disaster, it was only because the hunters already had plans to build a ship, and the ship happened to serve a purpose. If the locust plague had arrived when the hunters were unprepared, the Commander dared not imagine what kind of losses the Commission would have suffered.
"That is the nature of Elder Dragons." Thinking of the miserable state of the monsters discovered during recent explorations and the current desolation of the Wildspire Waste, even the optimistic Leader couldn't help but sigh. "Even the aftershocks of their battles are enough to have a profound impact on the environment."
"That is a natural disaster," the Chief Engineer said calmly. "Why do you think we are here? It is precisely because the Kingdom and the Guild could not tolerate the losses caused by the Elder Crossing every ten years."
"Actually, I could have returned sooner, but I wasted a lot of time skirting around a few monsters," Hara shrugged. "Except for the northern area near the Rotten Vale, basically everywhere along the way was hit by the locusts. The number of monsters has decreased significantly, but the ones that survived are extremely ferocious."
"Fortunately, I didn't miss your wedding, Commander," Hara smiled. "Otherwise, I would have been truly regretful—you know, the kind where I couldn't sleep at night."
"Thank you." The Commander clinked glasses with Hara and joked, "So, where is the gift?"
"Right here." Hugging the large burlap sack at her feet, Hara said earnestly, "I brought gifts for all of you... Er, don't tell Bent and the others yet."
"What kind of gift, meow?" Dot craned his neck to ask. "Why can't we tell Bent and the others—meow, actually, yeah, we probably shouldn't tell them, meow."
Hara had opened the bag. With one glance, they could see what was inside: several large pieces of shell and scales.
They understood.
With just these few pieces, if they told the scholars, not a single one would be left for them. It wasn't that they selfishly wanted to hoard anything, but they wanted to keep a little souvenir before handing it over to the scholars.
"Actually, there were a lot more, but they were just too heavy. I could only carry this much to ensure a safe return; otherwise, it would have hindered my mobility," Hara said somewhat helplessly.
"So, what monster's scales are these, meow?" Dot asked.
"They look a bit familiar." The Huntsman stared thoughtfully at the sack.
"Of course they're familiar." Hara laughed. "Do you remember that strange Glavenus? The one we found when we first arrived in the New World."
The Leader and the others exchanged glances.
"We remember. Is there something wrong with it?" Finally, the Commander spoke as their representative. "These shells and scales belong to it?"
"That's right." Nodding heavily, Hara suppressed her excitement and said, "We may have discovered an unprecedented Super Elder Dragon, perhaps even a King of Elder Dragons!!"
"Hah?"
The expressions on the Leader and the others' faces instantly turned bizarre. However, Hara, immersed in her excitement, didn't notice this detail and continued speaking.
"I need to apologize to you, Leader," Hara said earnestly. "If a monster looks like a Glavenus, fights like a Glavenus, and acts like a Glavenus, it turns out it might actually not be a Glavenus."
"Do you want to listen to what you're saying?"
The Leader's expression became increasingly strange.
"No, I'm serious," Hara said solemnly. "At first, I didn't connect that monster with the one we had seen before, after all, there were huge differences in their appearance."
"What did you discover?" the Leader asked expectantly.
"I—let me think where to start," Hara pondered for a moment. "I encountered it in the Rotten Vale. That day, I was resting in the safe camp when I suddenly heard the sound of crushing stone and chewing..."
In concise words, Hara recounted how she had encountered the evolved Asterion, how she interacted with Asterion, and finally, how she witnessed Asterion kill and devour the dying Kushala Daora with her own eyes, detailing the changes that occurred in his body one by one, without concealing anything.
"After it left, I dared to enter the cave to check the pile of shells and scales that had fallen from its body. The scales were indeed unknown scales, but the shells were clearly Glavenus shells—no different from those we saw on that peculiar Glavenus."
"That is precisely why I am certain it is the Glavenus we are familiar with." Hara looked around and realized the others had odd expressions. "What's wrong? Why aren't you saying anything?"
"Ahem, Hara," the Commander coughed. "Can you describe the appearance of that monster? Specifically, its appearance before and after the transformation."
"Of course," Hara nodded. "When I first saw it, it was covered in azure-blue scales, but arranged like a chessboard. There were protrusions of shell at the junctions of the scales. Its attack methods were no different from a Glavenus, and its body structure was the same, except for the tail blade which was completely different. There was no mineral accretion covering the tail; its sharpness came from the sharp scales on both sides of the tail blade."
"And after it devoured the Rusted Kushala Daora, the scales and shells on its body fell off. In a very short time, that monster regenerated a completely new set of shells and scales. This time, both the shells and scales were a silver-gray color similar to a Kushala Daora."
"Most importantly, its forelimbs changed. They were no longer the small, vestigial arms of a Glavenus, but transformed into proper legs strong enough to support its body—"
"—And a pair of very small wings grew on its back, likely unable to support flight."
The last sentence was spoken by the Commander. He interrupted Hara directly, voicing what was in her mind.
"Huh? You've already seen it?" Hara looked surprised.
"More than seen it, we even participated in a festival hosted by it," the Huntsman laughed heartily.
"Hosted by it—a festival??" Hara wore a dumbfounded expression. She recognized every word the Huntsman said, but couldn't understand them when strung together into a sentence.
Monster? Hosted? Festival?
What a strange combination of characters. Hara couldn't imagine what kind of scene that would be—she couldn't even judge which was more supernatural or shocking: a monster changing its form on the spot after eating another monster, or a monster hosting a festival and inviting hunters to attend.
One was a physiological shock, the other was a psychological shock.
"No, no, no, Hara, don't misunderstand," the Leader waved his hands repeatedly. "Boss Glavenus didn't come over to invite us; we invited ourselves during an investigation."
"Boss... Glavenus???!" Hara was shocked to the point of facial distortion.
"Sigh, it's messy. Let me start from the beginning," the Leader scratched his head. "It started shortly after you left the base. That peculiar Glavenus suddenly appeared on the hillside outside the base one morning. It appeared every day, observing the Huntsman and other hunters..."
Despite his rugged, muscular appearance, the Leader was quite good at storytelling, not just reciting dry points.
From the Glavenus learning swordsmanship from the Huntsman, to the New World natives holding the Big Eater Festival for Boss Glavenus, and the intelligence Boss Glavenus displayed before and after the festival, the Leader explained it all clearly.
Yes, Hara also regretted it clearly.
"Why... Why was I in such a rush to leave?!" Her eyes dimming slightly, Hara gripped her wine cup and murmured, "A monster learning swordsmanship from a hunter—oh my god!!"
Bang bang bang.
The table was banged loudly.
"See? I said she would regret it, meow," Dot shrugged.
The muscular cat even high-fived his partner, celebrating their foresight.
————
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