Bingbingzi, a solitary monster, getting along with other members and even offering help was truly unexpected.
Li Fan opened his handheld device to check and found that Bingbingzi had gained a new status: Vanity.
He understood. The monster squad had been with him for so long that they had mastered many communication skills, their emotional intelligence far surpassing that of ordinary monsters. They must have been flattering Bingbingzi extensively during this time, which led to the cooperation.
Furthermore, by checking his device, Li Fan noticed that Yaya and Piaopiao had both gained a new status, leading them to enter a mutation phase. He suspected that if his guess was correct, their mutation direction would be towards the Frostfang Wyvern and the Frostwing Peryton. Bingbingzi hadn't fooled the two tribes back then; her abilities could indeed aid their mutation.
Could this "chilling energy cultivation" be similar to the activation ability of the Iceborne Wyvern armor in the game? No, this was released by the Iceborne Wyvern itself, so the effect should be even stronger.
Li Fan mused, drew out the Thunderclap Divine Blade, and inserted its blade into the ice, setting it upright in the snow.
"Bingbingzi, can you cultivate this chilling energy and release it onto this weapon?"
"Roar~"
Bingbingzi observed for a moment, then leaned in from the side, indicating she could.
"Go ahead."
Li Fan pointed at the Thunderclap Divine Blade.
Bingbingzi pushed herself up with her front claws and flapped her wings. A blue aura emanated from her body, condensing briefly into a blue ribbon of light that wrapped around the Thunderclap Divine Blade. The double-edged blade didn't form a layer of ice crystals; instead, it was coated in a faint, ethereal blue glow.
Li Fan reached out for the hilt. As he gripped it, a wave of icy cold surged into his body, rushing straight to his mind. After a brief period of adaptation, he raised the blade and took a step forward, slashing down. A faint cold light followed the slash, carving a blue arc with the blade's edge.
When he stopped, the dispersed chilling energy seemed to have a will of its own, reattaching itself to the blade's surface and gradually condensing.
"This enchantment is quite powerful! Yudora, come and try it!" Li Fan exclaimed excitedly.
"No, I felt the chill when you swung the blade just now. If it attaches to the Dragon Heat Mechanized Sword, it will significantly lower the sword's temperature." Yudora refused.
"Will a drop in temperature negatively affect the Dragon Heat Mechanized Sword?" Li Fan inquired.
"Yes, it will reduce the operational efficiency of the Crimson Dragon Vein Orb, making the eruption weak. If the sword's temperature increases to a certain level, the Dragon Vein Orb's eruption will become more powerful." Yudora had already figured out many things to pay attention to regarding this rather unconventional greatsword through her period of use.
"So that's what Zhan Zhan meant by a combined attack... Alright, I'll go find Cheche to spar." Cheche, Yaya, and Piaopiao, though not selected for the main combat lineup, could still find a safe corner in the Everfrost Tundra to avoid battle, so Pachi hadn't taken them away during the evacuation.
Upon hearing that Li Fan wanted to spar with her, Cheche immediately became interested.
"Dill, play the disc!"
"Done, meow."
"Be careful, Cheche, this is a greatsword enchanted with chilling energy."
With that, the human and the dragon began to fight on the snow.
"Clang! Swish~"
Li Fan performed a downward slash and retreated, his blade horizontally slicing at Cheche's front paw.
...Ice crystals and golden lightning simultaneously erupted, startling Cheche.
"Amazing, isn't it?"
Cheche's gaze deepened. She raised her left paw back, her forearm muscles tensing, and a raised, web-like pattern of veins instantly appeared beneath her skin. After a brief charge, the leaping Cheche swung her claw downwards.
"Bang! Boom!"
Li Fan, who had rolled backward, had his legs sink into the ground's fissures, which had cracked like a spiderweb, the moment his feet touched the ground.
"You learned a new move and didn't even tell me, you sly fox... I lose."
"Roar? Bang! Bang!..."
Cheche hadn't expected the spar to end so quickly and stomped on the snow in protest.
"There's nothing I can do, Cheche. We have to avoid overly intense battles for now." Li Fan appeased her while pulling his leg out of the fissure. To his surprise, it came out with a slight tug, and the cracked rock layer on one side slid off and collapsed.
"Is the ground in the Everfrost Tundra this fragile..." Li Fan couldn't help but wonder.
A week passed quickly. Besides training, Li Fan also found a hot spring for Puff as a habitat. He then took Brother Lei to the Elder's Recess aboard Huihui to receive the Elder Dragon insect swarm that had been raised in the containment area. Preparations were proceeding in an orderly fashion. The only setback was that Shanshan's undersea tunnel was still not completed. Although there were no anomalies visible on his handheld device, Li Fan was somewhat worried due to the inability to communicate from underwater.
On the dark, boundless ocean, a fleet of guild ships sailed in formation. The brilliant orange light rising from the sea surface was erasing the faint night sky that enveloped it. Peeking through the porthole and seeing the dawn arrive, Aibo, rubbing her eyes, got up, washed, dressed, and quickly went to the deck. She looked up at the Blazing Fire, which was being towed behind the ship, for a moment before sighing.
"It seems that being forced to evacuate the New World has indeed had a significant impact on them..." Five days ago, the Blazing Fire, which had followed their route, joined the fleet. After completing the towing, Pachi informed everyone that the Chief Squad was in very low spirits and did not wish to see anyone. Aibo had not disturbed them. But she still hoped that one morning, when she looked at the Blazing Fire, she would see those two familiar figures smiling and waving at her.
"We can't slack off during this time. Let's do today's marine climate observation first." Aibo encouraged herself and quickly walked to the bulwark in the middle of the ship. She pulled down the head-mounted adjustable telescope to her eyes, adjusted the focus knob, and the rising sun on the horizon gradually became clearer.
"Hmm... the sea breeze is so strong today... What is that?" Just as Aibo sighed, she noticed a very blurry area at the boundary between dawn and night. The light and darkness within were distorted, and no matter how she adjusted the focus, she couldn't see clearly. She retracted her upper body, which had been leaning out, back inside the bulwark, and opened the large book she carried at her waist, searching for similar climate phenomena. The result was fruitless.
"It would be great if Li Fan were here. At least he could give some hints." Aibo said helplessly. However, she had no intention of giving up, as the anomaly was continuously expanding, clearly indicating something was approaching.
Inside the captain's cabin of the lead ship.
"...Hold on, just a little longer and the shift change will come, and you can get some good rest." The helmsman, who had been on night watch, muttered to himself, holding the helm with one hand while downing a bottle of energy drink.
"Hiss~ Hiss~..." In the insect cage hanging from the ceiling, swaying with the ship, the Elder Dragon insects emitted bursts of strange noises.
"Captain... the Elder Dragon insects are reacting," the helmsman observed for a moment and then reported. The elderly captain with a beard, slumped in his chair, pulled off his captain's hat from his face and rubbed his face vigorously several times to quickly wake himself up.
"Lookout, this is the captain. Report the surrounding situation." After speaking into the brass megaphone, the captain received a report from the lookout: apart from a strong sea breeze, nothing unusual was detected.
"It shouldn't be an Elder Dragon. Otherwise, with the vast visibility of the sea, the lookout should have noticed it long before it approached the Elder Dragon insects' sensing range. Have I forgotten to feed them for too long..." The experienced captain analyzed and then looked up at the insect cage. When he saw the Elder Dragon insects, emitting red and black electricity all over their bodies, frantically gnawing at the iron mesh of the cage, the captain was stunned.
On the deck, the anomaly distorting the boundary between dawn and night was expanding in a circular pattern. The more Aibo looked at it, the more unnerved she became. She had experienced many dangers during her trip to the New World, but she had never felt this anxious.
"Clang! Whoosh~" The giant ship suddenly turned sharply. Aibo, thrown off balance, quickly grabbed a lifebuoy beside her to avoid being flung overboard.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!..." "Woo~ Woo~ Woo~..." The warning sounds of gongs and horns sounded in unison. Eight guild ships turned sharply on the sea, changing course.
What happened? Awakened by the violent jolting, everyone was pondering the same question. They rushed to the deck but found no signs of an attack. This clearly did not match the highest level of alert that had been initiated.
"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!" The strong sea breeze intensified again, and a hazy sphere streaked across the sky from a distance. The seawater below the sphere, squeezed by some invisible force, dipped downwards in a circular arc. As the sphere moved, towering waves surged to either side. Under the sunlight, the blurry sphere became clear and transparent. Aibo, who had been observing continuously, finally saw a dragon with flapping wings flying in the center of the giant sphere. Through its silhouette-like black outline, she saw two horns growing upwards from its head and wings that shimmered with both dark and light hues.
"Forbidden, transcending all life..." Aibo desperately wanted to open her book to record this, but her mind was blank, and she didn't know what to write. An extremely absurd thought crossed her mind: she felt that at least part of the ideology promoted by the Dragon Worshipers was correct. That is, never anger them. The immense pressure emanating from the divine realm, even from a distance, was enough to leave an unforgettable impression for a lifetime.
The deck, filled with hunters, was silent. This was not for concealment. It was because they, who constantly fought against nature, were unwilling to admit that there were existences beyond human reach. But the fact was right before their eyes, and no argument could refute it.
"We even took concealment measures for two outposts. Now it seems it was all a waste of effort." The Grand Guild Master on the deck gave a wry smile. The Black Dragon completely ignored the guild fleet, rendering many of the protective deployments during the evacuation meaningless. If the outposts were destroyed, it would only be due to accidental collateral damage.
"Don't be so self-deprecating. Humanity has reached this point precisely because of this caution. Weren't we even more flustered when we dismantled ships to build outposts back then?" Fray, who was observing with his arms crossed, felt that the investigation team's efforts should not be negated just because the Black Dragon was powerful.
"But can this caution alone allow us to survive for long..." The Grand Guild Master sighed with a hint of sadness. The guild's strong desire to understand ecology was essentially a warning for its own safety. It was to act and eliminate threats before they took shape. What the Monster Hunter world lacked least was various ruins. Every ruin discovered confirmed the demise of a civilization. And some of these civilizations were far more advanced in their technological level than the current one. Many hunter weapon developments were not breakthroughs in research but rather improvements based on blueprints found in ruins.
"Don't be pessimistic. I believe someone will find a way." Fray remained full of confidence for the future.
At the same time, on the frozen sea of the Everfrost Tundra, Li Fan led his team in searching for Shanshan.
"Roar~" Cheche looked towards the shore and indicated she could dig a hole to search.
"No, if you dig too deep, the soil above will collapse and fill it in. The team will have to work together to rescue you." Li Fan had just experienced a similar situation yesterday and didn't want to wield a shovel wildly again.
"Roar~" Cheche insisted it was the soil's problem, not her digging technique.
"I can't think of any way, meow. It's too difficult to reach underwater," Dill said, lying back on the ice, flipping through his book with great frustration.
"Sense... sense!" Li Fan muttered, turning his head to look at Bingbingzi, who was wearing earmuffs. Bingbingzi was currently releasing an effect on Yaya to further promote mutation. Yaya, with the richest dating experience in the team, naturally knew what Bingbingzi liked to hear.
"Bingbingzi, you've become even more beautiful again!" Li Fan walked up to her, exclaiming in surprise. Hearing this, Bingbingzi leaped backward, turned her body sideways, and growled, denying it and telling him not to speak nonsense.
"I need your help to find Shanshan, a key combat member of the team. Shanshan is underground, but I don't know her current location." Li Fan said, pointing to the earmuffs.
"Roar~" Bingbingzi happily agreed, indicating it was no problem. Then she bent her neck. Li Fan gently removed the giant earmuffs and saw the moonstone decoration covered in frost, sweeping it off with his hand. Bingbingzi listened quietly for a moment, her gaze deepened, and she growled, stating that another noise had appeared underground.
"Is that so? That means Shanshan is still digging, but it's been over a week... Can you determine the location?" Li Fan thought that the noise from the crustal movement caused by the Celestial Raging Dragon had almost driven Bingbingzi mad, so she would naturally be able to identify it easily. The remaining sound must be Shanshan's.
"Whoosh~" Bingbingzi took a deep breath, turned her head, and listened again. Soon, she flapped her wings and took off, leading the way. The team immediately chased after her on the ice. Not long after flying, Bingbingzi landed by the shore, walked back and forth twice, and repeatedly stomped her feet. Li Fan put the giant earmuffs back on her and looked at the marked points made by her footprints, asking doubtfully, "The agreed-upon landing area is nearby, which means Shanshan hasn't lost her way. But why isn't she coming up?"
"Let's dig down first." Yudora, picking up a shovel, suggested.
"Dig! Cheche!" In response to Li Fan's command, Cheche pouted and turned her head away.
"Uh... don't be angry. Yesterday you were almost buried alive, and I only stopped you from digging carelessly out of concern." After Li Fan's explanation, Cheche quickly turned her head back and leaped towards the paw prints. With her sharp front claws digging alternately, Cheche rapidly sank into the ground.
"Ragehorn, Brother Lei, let's work together to transport the excavated soil and rocks. We must prevent collapse and backfill." Under Li Fan's command, the team began to busy themselves.
Zhao Lala reminds you: Remember to collect after reading.