Fabius was also a man who valued efficiency. That very day, he arranged for a small transport Airship used for supplies to carry Altaïr, along with Bowgun Ammo, arrows, food, medicine, and other logistics, toward Metapetatto Bay in the western jungle.
While the Airship was being refitted, Altaïr took the time to return to his Hunter Cabin in Metapetatto to retrieve his Cool Cleavers.
He had originally intended to use this opportunity to gain more proficiency with his new weapon, the Khanga Rebellion, but ice and water element happened to be the two most prominent weaknesses of the Yian Kut-Ku.
When facing a powerful enemy, there was no reason to forgo the advantage of an elemental weapon.
Moreover, according to Lord Fabius, the number of Hyper Yian Kut-Ku at Metapetatto Bay was staggering. There would be plenty of chances to break in the new weapon; at worst, he could rotate between the two depending on the situation.
Altaïr wasn't the only one; Sajji was also filled with anticipation for this operation.
He had just developed the Yian Kut-Ku Model-1 and was frustrated by the lack of opportunity to observe the wing structure and flight patterns of a Yian Kut-Ku, as well as the lack of high-quality materials for experiments. Then, this mission appeared right before him.
"This is all the guidance of destiny, meow!"
However, since Engine No. 2 wasn't coming along this time, the Rathalos Model-09 would struggle to exert its full performance and might even become a burden.
Consequently, Sajji did not bring the Rathalos Model-09, which had the strongest frontal combat capability, nor did he bring the Zinogre, which had high environmental requirements but could deal massive damage to Monsters under the right conditions.
Instead, he only prepared the most versatile Rakna-Kadaki No. 3 and the Yian Kut-Ku Model-1 intended for testing.
In short, he wasn't going there for frontal combat this time.
Altaïr had no objections to this. The elite team specially assembled by Lord Fabius didn't lack the offensive output of a Palico, so Sajji could use this opportunity to focus on his improvements.
The only thing that made him feel uneasy was the act of boarding an Airship itself.
The last time he took an Airship, they were attacked by a Rathalos, a Khezu, and a Yian Garuga. The time before that, the Airship was outright destroyed by a Seregios, and they nearly fell to their deaths from the sky.
To say he was left without a psychological shadow would be impossible.
In fact, the same went for Sajji; that might very well be one of the reasons he developed the Yian Kut-Ku series.
Fortunately, bad luck didn't loom over them the entire time. The journey to Metapetatto Bay was free of surprises or danger, proceeding quite smoothly.
Two days later, in the evening, the Airship he was on landed in a cave camp on the shores of Metapetatto Bay, at the westernmost edge of the Jungle.
A Hunter's Camp had already existed here, and after a certain degree of expansion, it had now become a large-scale camp capable of accommodating several small squads for rest and refitting at once.
When the Airship landed, a Hunter stationed at the camp came forward to meet them.
Recognizing the man's face, Altaïr couldn't help but show surprise. "Senior Brandley?"
As the Heavy Bowgun wielder of the Vanguard Hunting Party, Brandley almost always moved with Serl and Buck.
Now that Buck was recovering from his injuries in Metapetatto, was Brandley operating alone, or was Serl here as well? Seeing Altaïr walk down the gangplank, Brandley looked equally astonished.
He sized the other up several times before speaking. "Is that... the Seregios set?
Good grief. I've only ever seen this Armor once back in Grom-Baum. It's from a rare 5★ Threat Level Monster, isn't it?
How long has it even been since we last met? Your gear has jumped two entire tiers.
Wait, didn't you just get promoted to 4★ two months ago? Even if you were piggybacking on a higher-ranked team, there's no way you could have leeched a full set of Armor and a weapon this quickly."
Altaïr could understand Brandley's disbelief.
Just like the time they hunted the Glavenus, the three 4-star Hunters in his party had joined Olivia's group. In the end, they only felt comfortable taking enough materials for Isis alone to craft a weapon.
Even Nymera, in her pursuit of the Rathalos Heavy Bowgun, had to join several hunts in a row before she finally gathered enough materials to forge the Rathalos Cannon.
To craft a full set of Armor plus a weapon, the materials from an entire Large Flying Wyvern would barely suffice, and that was assuming the Monster's carcass was largely intact. Otherwise, there wouldn't be enough.
Furthermore, Seregios were extremely rare. The probability of hunting multiple Seregios in succession within less than two months was practically zero.
If a 5★ hunter had led the team, the materials would never have been enough for one person to take them all. Since he had a full set, it meant he had claimed every single material from the hunt.
Under what circumstances could a 4-star Hunter claim all the materials from a 5★ Threat Level Monster?
"You didn't actually go poaching with Isis and the others, did you?" Brandley asked, his brow furrowed as he lowered his voice.
"No, no," Altaïr said, waving his hands hurriedly. "It was an accidental encounter during an investigation quest. We managed a difficult victory with the help of a Palico senior, so I was able to make these."
"A Palico senior..." Brandley's serious expression turned eccentric.
"Anyway, how are you doing, Serl?" Altaïr quickly changed the subject, sensing that further explanation would only make things more complicated. "I heard from Balina about Buck's injury. What happened?"
Brandley didn't answer immediately. Instead, he shot a glance at the Airship behind Altaïr. "Did Lord Fabius send you here?"
"Yes." Altaïr knew what Brandley was worried about. According to what Balina had said, they had been placed under a gag order.
Normally, he wouldn't pry into secrets he wasn't supposed to know. But now that he had joined the operation, learning the truth wasn't prying, it was simply exchanging intelligence.
Altaïr pulled out the appointment letter Fabius had prepared for him.
Calling it an appointment letter was a bit inaccurate; it was more like a stamped note proving that Altaïr was a fresh recruit he'd pulled in.
Brandley took the note, gave it a look, and handed it back with a nod. "Follow me. The Boss and Big Sis Olivia aren't in the camp right now.
I'll take you to drop off your luggage first, and then I'll fill you in on the situation here."
Altaïr called out to Sajji and quickened his pace to keep up.
"Remember about two months ago when the Boss invited you to hunt a Glavenus together, but you couldn't make it because you were rushing home to visit family?"
"Of course I remember. Another team took the quest instead, and it turned out to be a Hyper state Glavenus. That team was wiped out, right?" "Yeah." Brandley gave a bitter smile and gestured toward the empty space by the campfire, signaling Altaïr to sit and listen. "At the time, I thought the Boss was being a bit too cautious. It was only later I realized he was right.
After that incident, the Guild dispatched several investigation teams to Metapetatto to confirm the abnormal Hyper state phenomenon appearing in the Jungle.
The Vanguard Hunting Party, including Balina, was recruited into one of the teams formed by the Royal Paleontology Scriveners to cover this area in the western jungle.
It was here that we found traces of the Estrellian." Brandley paused briefly. "And not just a single Estrellian."
"Just as I thought," Altaïr said softly, staring into the campfire. "The Professor mentioned that Estrellians are social creatures."
"Social creatures? I doubt that's exactly how the Professor put it."
A woman around sixty years old, wearing a loose-fitting hooded leather coat, approached their campfire. Behind her followed a quiet young girl who looked to be about the same age as Erik.
The woman smiled. "I suspect his exact words were 'gregarious clustering'?"
Altaïr and Brandley hurriedly stood up.
"This is Ms. Sheila from the Royal Academy; she's providing us with academic support."
Brandley introduced both sides. "And this is Altaïr, a supporter sent by Lord Fabius. He's a 4-star Hunter, don't let his youth fool you, his strength is the real deal."
"I can tell. That Armor you're wearing is made from Seregios materials, isn't it?" Sheila gestured with her palm for them to sit back down.
"Oh, and this child is my student, Alma. She's majoring in cultural anthropology, and she's quite accomplished in archaeology and paleography as well.
However, if a scholar wants to make a living in this world, knowledge of biology and ecology is a mandatory course. You could say she's joined me on this trip to catch up on those lessons.
If you can, please help me look after her."
(Translated by yourtl.app)