Watching the gradually receding figure of the Nergigante, Logan couldn't shake the feeling that it wasn't wandering aimlessly out of boredom. Part of him wanted to follow, yet he feared drawing its attention.
After all, Elder Dragons were its extravagant feast—but ordinary monsters were its staple meals.
Logan had no desire to end up as its food.
Just as he thought this, he suddenly realized—
No, wait!
The Nergigante was indeed strong—terrifyingly so.
But its strength lay in its raw power, its overwhelming vitality, and that utterly unnatural hyper-regeneration.
Its speed, however, was not that impressive.
Take the Valstrax, for example. Among Elder Dragons, its strength was only middling, yet it could wander the world fearlessly. It was even temperamental enough to smash headlong into anything it disliked with a so-called "cute little starry dive," caring nothing for whether its target was an Elder Dragon or not.
Why was that?
Because of its absurd flight speed! The thing was practically a jet fighter among Elder Dragons.
Sure, it couldn't win against many Elder Dragons—but they couldn't catch it either!
As long as it didn't stupidly provoke a Forbidden Monster, or the very top echelon of super Elder Dragons, it could strut sideways like a crab, unchallenged.
By the same reasoning, Logan too was safe enough.
As long as he wasn't facing one of those built for speed, or one with some method of boosting its velocity—say, a Kushala Daora—then with the twin blessings of Gale Wings and Acceleration, escape was no problem.
Which meant he could afford to tail the Nergigante from afar and see what it was searching for. If, by chance, he could swoop in and pick up something valuable in the process—that wouldn't be half bad either.
Fortune favored the bold.
So Logan began shadowing the Nergigante at a distance, moving stealthily, relying on his keen eyesight to monitor its actions.
He followed it for an entire day, until night fell.
And yet he gained nothing.
Still, he was certain—the Nergigante really was looking for something. It ignored even the Kirin, and aside from devouring a single Paolumu, it spent the rest of the time searching ceaselessly.
And like Logan, it only delved into dark, lifeless places where few creatures roamed.
He didn't need to guess to know what it was after.
But given the Nergigante's appetite, it clearly wasn't after Gore Magala. Those undeveloped juveniles hadn't even drawn out the power of Shagaru Magala yet. Aside from their tenacity, the energy they possessed was nowhere near enough to satisfy the Nergigante.
Which meant it was seeking an even stronger existence.
"Shagaru Magala?" Logan muttered.
He found it unlikely. The Nergigante was powerful, yes—but compared to Shagaru Magala, it still fell somewhat short.
Then again, thinking ahead to the Fifth Fleet era, when the Nergigante even attempted to hunt down Zorah Magdaros, perhaps it wasn't entirely impossible.
Even now, Logan couldn't help but wonder: with a body like a living mountain of magma, and defenses like a moving fortress, how could the Nergigante possibly break through Zorah's armor?
Night had come, and Logan decided against continuing the pursuit.
For now, the wiser path was to keep focusing on hunting Gore Magala.
His progress bar for the new trait had already climbed past eighty percent—he only needed to hunt down two more Gore Magala to unlock it.
Wouldn't it be better to steadily improve his own strength?
Having thought it through, Logan gave up on tracking and instead found a high vantage point. There he left claw marks and a few scales to mark his territory. Bathed in the bright moonlight, he soon drifted into a deep sleep.
That same night, at the great ravine beside the Coral Highlands, an uninvited guest successfully crossed the sea to arrive here.
At the cliffs that directly connected to the ocean, it had not passed through forests or deserts, but had come quietly and stealthily straight into the New World.
Spreading its wings, platinum-colored scales shimmered against the night, while golden eyes gazed without joy or sorrow across the ravine—toward the Coral Highlands. Its twin wings unfurled like radiant halos.
After dealing with the "followers" left behind in the Old World, it had followed that faint, elusive pull across the sea to this place.
It only hoped it wasn't too late!
This world had no need for a second Shagaru Magala—especially not one that might truly succeed in completing its metamorphosis. That very creature had once slipped away right under its own nose.
At the thought, Shagaru Magala's eyes filled with killing intent.
Like light piercing the darkness, it cast aside all thought of rest, spreading its wings once more as it soared toward the Coral Highlands.
Meanwhile, hidden in some unknown recess of the Coral Highlands, the Chaotic Gore Magala had no idea that the creature it once believed could complete the final metamorphosis had indeed transformed into a Shagaru Magala.
And not only had it finished scattering scale-dust across the Old World to suppress Gore Magala metamorphosis—it had even chased them all the way to the New World.
But even if the Gore Magala had known, it would not have brooded over it. The truth was simple: its strength was lacking, its luck poor. Even with all those years of free time, it still had failed to complete its metamorphosis.
As for crossing the ocean just to scatter Frenzy Virus scale-dust that could suppress Gore Magala metamorphosis—such an act was perfectly normal for Shagaru Magala. Even after its own successful transformation, if a Gore Magala managed to escape, it would still pursue and release scale-dust upon it.
After all, this world did not allow for extra "hosts" of the Frenzy Virus!
Three days passed at a steady pace.
In those three days, Logan clearly observed that the amount of miasma in the upper layers of the Rotten Vale beneath the Coral Highlands was increasing. Perhaps it was because so many corpses had recently fallen down, fueling the proliferation of the miasma.
The temperature of the Coral Highlands also seemed to rise significantly. It was clearly autumn, and with the high altitude and frequent updrafts here, the temperature should not have been this warm.
At the same time, water sources were becoming more abundant, with localized thunderstorms breaking out from time to time.
All these strange shifts in weather felt like omens—signs that something was on the verge of erupting.
In the meantime, Logan's efforts to search for Gore Magala grew steadily more adept. In places where he once would have proceeded with extreme caution, now a single burst of flame was enough to give him a clear picture of the situation.
Over those three days, he had managed to track down two Gore Magala. One of them he even discovered in a very narrow area, close to the Rotten Vale.
And truthfully, that spot was extremely well-hidden. Only from the remains of its prey within the nest could Logan deduce that this Gore Magala had sought out another path, sneaking into the Rotten Vale to fight Odogaron for food!
Excited, Logan returned to the high reaches of the Coral Highlands.
Gazing upon the brilliantly colored coral reefs glistening under the sunlight, his gloomy mood of the past days finally began to lift.
Finding a patch of coral to perch upon, he picked up one of the Coral Highlands' unique delicacies—a coral egg—and nibbled it as a small snack. Only then did Logan open his panel to check what spoils he had obtained!
Opening the panel, Logan steadied his excitement like a gambler about to look at his hole cards, forcing himself to stay patient as he examined the traits one by one from the very beginning.
"Blaze!!"
Even though he had already drawn traits many times before—so many that he thought he could now face any new trait calmly—he never expected to receive one like this.
This was a massive surprise!
His main method of attack right now still revolved around the use of his own flames.
And his current shortcoming was not the amount of fire-attribute energy he possessed, but rather the quality of his flames.
One could say that Logan, at this point, was essentially a "pseudo Silver Rathalos"—his stats in every aspect other than flame were not weaker than a Silver Rathalos.
While he could exchange a few blows with an Elder Dragon, that was all—just a few blows.
The moment an Elder Dragon unleashed its apocalyptic special abilities without restraint, no longer "playing fair" with melee or small-range attacks, Logan had absolutely no countermeasures.
But now—it was different!
With the Blaze Trait, he finally had the ability to enhance himself, the power to overturn adversity!
[Blaze: The heavier the damage suffered, or the worse the condition, the more the body's energy organs will be strengthened accordingly, improving the quality and conversion rate of attribute energy.]
And following the rule that "the fewer the words, the greater the problem."
The Blaze Trait already revealed itself to be an incredibly perfect match for Logan. Moreover, within its description, the phrase "worse condition" was particularly noteworthy.
What exactly did "worse condition" mean?
Did excessive stamina consumption count as a worse condition?
Did suffering from abnormal statuses count as a worse condition?
Condition was truly a word with an extremely broad range of meanings.
What it encompassed would have to be tested by Logan himself, one by one.
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