The little one... well, considering the speed at which this little thing's size is increasing and her current proportions, calling her "the little one" does feel a bit strange.
Let's just call her the Aerodrake.
In short, the Aerodrake seemed to have perfectly inherited the physiological modifications Asterion had made to his own body years ago in his pursuit of flight speed. Whether it was the thermal-gas system or the external structure of her body—and especially her weight—she was far lighter than Asterion had been at the same stage of development, at least proportionally speaking.
This was the conclusion Asterion reached after turning his blade-tail flat and using it to weigh the Aerodrake. It wasn't surprising; unlike him in his early days, the little one didn't mindlessly gorge herself on minerals and rocks. Her bones didn't contain nearly as much mineral density, nor did they need to. Combined with the weight-reducing air sacs in her body, it was only natural that she could fly more easily than Asterion ever could back then.
Having mastered flight, the Aerodrake acted like a child who had just received a brand-new toy, perpetually in a state of extreme excitement. Well, she was technically in her juvenile stage. From that day forward, the Aerodrake reached a point where she would never walk if she could fly.
Climbing up and down trees? She flew. Going to eat? She flew. Even climbing onto the bodies of Asterion or Kulve Taroth required flight. Essentially, any time you saw the Aerodrake, she was airborne, her claws never touching the ground. One had to wonder where she got such boundless stamina.
Learning to take off was only the beginning. Soon, the Grimalkynes of the Glavenus Tribe found themselves in a bit of a predicament. Every morning, as the first rays of sunlight pierced through the leaves, the Aerodrake would wake up as punctually as if she had an alarm clock in her head.
And then, she would fly!
She would burst out of the nest and soar above the canopy, eager to practice her maneuvers and study the relationship between the volume of her thermal-gas jet and her flight speed. Occasionally, due to insufficient thrust or a wrong angle, she would crash heavily into tree trunks or branches like an out-of-control meteor.
Sometimes, her high-speed flight would veer off course, leading her to smash directly into the houses the Grimalkynes had painstakingly built among the branches of the Great Tree.
The young Aerodrake was already beginning to show her nature as a symbol of calamity, a trait of the Elder Dragons. In the eyes of the Glavenus Tribe's Grimalkynes, the destruction caused by the "Little Boss" had already reached a level that even the Great Dragon Asterion and Mirrorblade combined couldn't match.
Every day, the air was filled with the pathetic wailing of cats who had been scared out of their wits or had suffered property damage. The Grimalkynes were truly going through a rough time—especially those who insisted on building their homes in unusual, high-altitude spots. They suffered the heaviest losses.
The Aerodrake had stripped them clean.
To avoid unnecessary property damage, and more importantly, to prevent any Grimalkyne from being injured or killed, Sparky issued an emergency order. All Grimalkynes living on the outer parts of the Great Tree's trunk were forced to move back to the center of the tribal settlement.
It was a necessary measure. Even if the Aerodrake harbored no ill intent, her rampaging destructiveness while practicing flight was simply too much. Every so often, she would pull off a terrifyingly failed high-speed turn, or her entire body would spin like a top that had lost the shackles of gravity, crudely plowing into the dense foliage of the Ancient Forest. She would carve out shocking, massive holes through the branches and vines, leaving behind a sky full of fluttering leaves and broken wood.
But even this wasn't enough. The Aerodrake constantly yearned for the grace Asterion had shown her—that effortless, masterful flight. One moment he would be streaking across the sky, and the next, he would dive toward the ground before performing an emergency pull-up to hover in mid-air.
It was too cool, too elegant. Compared to her father's free-flowing flight, her own straightforward charging felt far too simple and lacked any real challenge.
The Aerodrake stared longingly, wanting to imitate that free and easy style, looking like a true sovereign of the skies that no one could defy. She specifically envied the way his eight powerful wing bones could flex and open at different angles based on the airflow. This allowed him to precisely adjust his posture even in a violent gale, making it effortless to tilt his massive body while chasing prey or dodging attacks.
She was particularly obsessed with his trick maneuvers. One second he was breaking through the air at lightning speed, and the next, he would swivel his wing-bone nozzles to fire a reverse blast of thermal-gas for a dead stop—looking as stable as her mother, Kulve Taroth, did when she was charging across the ground.
Taking all of this in, the Aerodrake fantasized about herself flying in such a manner. Then, she would continue to try, and continue to work.
Her Mind:I've got this.Her Body:No, you don't.
That was essentially the situation. She thought it was just a series of uncomplicated muscle movements, but when she tried to replicate them, reality dealt her a harsh blow. Whenever she felt she was flying steadily and tried to rotate her wing bones for a fancy move, she would lose her balance and spin wildly through the air. The world would turn into a blur of colors; she couldn't tell her head from her tail.
She couldn't even distinguish the sky from the earth. The only result was her finding new and creative ways to slam into the ground, creating crater after crater in the forest surrounding the Great Tree.
The transition from a land-dweller to a flying dragon was indeed difficult. Watching the little one fall into the dirt time and time again, only to climb back up looking dizzy and ridiculous, Asterion—who was resting on the canopy platform of the Great Tree—couldn't help but remember his younger self. This sense of déjà vu made him even happier. You should experience some of the pain I went through, kid.
One had to remember that the very land the Aerodrake was currently crashing into was once littered with craters made by Asterion. Back then, he would jump off the top of the Great Tree over and over again, looking like a machine designed to plow the earth. Leap, fly as far as possible, and fall. Some of the craters he had smashed into the dirt and stone were still there, though they were now covered in moss and new vegetation.
Even so, many fallen trees could be seen, having long since rotted in the humid warmth of the Ancient Forest to become havens for various small organisms.
Those were the proofs of his past efforts, and now, years later, they were becoming the proof of his offspring's hard work.
Legacy, huh? Interesting.
Putting aside the noise the Aerodrake was making, Asterion was enjoying a relatively peaceful life. Every day, he either lazily sampled the heavily seasoned food prepared by the Grimalkynes or gave the Aerodrake "lessons," teaching her the skills for survival and hunting.
A dragon is, after all, a dragon. The juvenile stage is the shortest period in a dragon's life. With the Aerodrake's growth rate, she would soon be able to hunt and support herself. When that time came, neither Asterion nor Kulve Taroth would keep her by their side.
It might even happen sooner than the Aerodrake expected. Once Asterion confirmed that her wings were strong enough and that she had mastered basic survival and combat, he would ruthlessly kick her out of his territory. Even if she might come back to visit later, she had to try to grow on her own first.
It would be as decisive as when he kicked out Mirrorblade, allowing the Aerodrake to find her own path in the vast world.
As he watched the Aerodrake's size expand daily like an inflating balloon, her once bright and soft scales and armor gradually became hard and dark. Her innocent, restless playfulness grew rarer, replaced by the occasional flash of a top predator's composure and coldness. Asterion knew the day of their parting was not far off.
It was all for the best.
Asterion was already thinking about how to celebrate. Compared to the Aerodrake, who required less and less of his worry and care, what piqued his curiosity more was the chain reaction Mirrorblade might cause. That boy was bound to return to his human friends. And when the hunters of Astera learned the secrets he had shared with Mirrorblade, what choices would they make? What actions would they take?
Would they see themselves as the guardians and maintainers of ecological balance, as they did in the game? Would they claim the mantle of "justice," mobilize their forces, and draft a plan to launch a subjugation quest against him?
Just as hunters would periodically cull certain monster populations in an area based on scholarly research and Guild-issued quests, controlling the numbers of different species to maintain "balance" from a human perspective was exactly what humans loved to do.
In the game, Zorah Magdaros had indeed come to the New World because of Xeno'jiiva's call, intending to die in the Everstream. This would have caused volcanic eruptions and other natural disasters. But in truth, these were all part of a natural process. Regardless of Zorah Magdaros, given the activity of the New World's bioenergy, the volcanoes would have erupted eventually.
The hunters in the game, under the pretext of "we are also part of nature," abandoned the method of simply observing ecological evolution. They stopped trying to merely "balance" things and instead launched multiple operations to intercept Zorah Magdaros, eventually causing it to die in the ocean far from the New World, giving birth to a new land of life.
So, the question was... would there be a quest to "Subdue the Aerodrake"?
It was fascinating. This was an experience he had never had while playing the game in his previous life. Asterion looked forward to what would happen next.
While Asterion was teaching his child, across the vast Ancient Forest and on the other side of the cloud-piercing rock formations, in the Wildspire Waste, Astera was livelier than it had ever been.
"Hey! Over here! The planks are wet and might be slippery, watch your step!"
"Everyone, don't rush! Just come down slowly in order according to your squads! Welcome to the New World, a land of wonders!"
"Welcome to the New World!"
Following the first shout, a collective roar of welcome rang out. If you didn't know better, you'd think Astera had turned into some five-star hotel.
The waves crashing against the shore provided a rhythmic accompaniment to the greeting. A massive wooden sailing vessel was moored steadily at the docks. As heavy ropes were secured and the anchor dropped, various hunters clad in full armor, carrying Great Swords, Heavy Bowguns, and other weapons, began walking down the gangplank.
Carrying a mix of awe and yearning for the unknown, these newcomers couldn't help but puff out their chests and take deep breaths of the sea-breeze-scented air. It was as if every breath of air on this continent was fundamentally different from what they had breathed in the Old World.
"As expected of the legendary New World... this feeling... it's simply wonderful! Even the air feels more powerful than in the Old World!" A hunter with a heavy Charge Blade on his back closed his eyes and spread his arms the moment he stepped off the gangplank onto the wooden pier, letting out a heartfelt exclamation as if he had just been released from prison.
"Excuse me, could you move? You're blocking the way, thanks."
Before the Charge Blade user could indulge in his reverie for more than a few seconds, a hunter behind him wearing light leather armor laughed and patted his shoulder. "Didn't Scholar Pot explain it on the ship? The bioenergy contained in the New World's leylines is far higher than in the Old World. Living here won't just make you physically stronger and keep you from getting sick; your lifespan will even be longer than those back in the Old World."
"Ah, Scholar Pot talked so much I didn't remember it all... really?" The Charge Blade hunter blinked. "There's actually a perk like that? No wonder the air smells so sweet."
"The air is sweet because they planted a lot of flowers over there, you idiot!" A hunter who had disembarked earlier and was adjusting his item pouch at the edge of the pier turned back to tease them. "Look over there—the entire platform near the cliff is covered in plants... though I only recognize one or two of them."
"So that's why, haha." Not at all offended by the teasing, the Charge Blade hunter stepped to the side to observe the base. He marveled at the high buildings constructed layer by layer and the house made from a ship. Greenery was everywhere; there was even a tree sapling surrounded by a fence, though he had no idea what kind of tree required such protection.
"Everyone! Don't stop! Keep moving inward! Don't just stand on the pier! Watch your footing and hold onto your belongings—don't fall into the water!"
Further inside the base, on slightly higher ground, several hunters wearing armor they had never seen before—likely made from materials unique to the New World—were shouting instructions. The new hunters showed no signs of rebellion, following the guidance of the veterans.
"Don't worry about rushing ahead, you'll have plenty of time to explore the New World in the future! There are plenty of rooms, no need to fight over them!"
"Just pick an empty room you like and settle in. These rows of houses are for all of you. Put your luggage down, wash your faces, and get excited! Haha, there's a banquet tonight! Has everyone from the ship disembarked? Don't leave anything behind—once these ships leave, they aren't coming back!"
"Hey! Slow down on your way out! There are hidden reefs ahead! Don't crash into them!"
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