After eating their fill and donning the Wind Dragon armor, Great Boar King Qingtian came online, humming.
Unable to bear the disturbance, Eudora and Dilu could only remove some of their gear to seek peace.
Li Fan, as the listener, had no such luxury. Fortunately, he could understand some of the humming.
Therefore, Qingtian's humming wasn't entirely noise to his ears.
After listening for over half an hour without a response, Li Fan speculated that perhaps the Nameless Dragon required a lot of sleep and had limited online time each day.
He then approached Qingtian and asked it to rest for a while.
Qingtian, full of fighting spirit, declared it didn't need rest and was ready to fight all night.
Li Fan then found a cushion and leaned against Qingtian.
He indicated that if the Nameless Dragon came online, it should be reminded, and then removed his Thunder God Helm and closed his eyes to rest.
Late at night, the full moon hung high, and a cool breeze swept across the land.
Qingtian, humming incessantly in its consciousness, was now lying on its side on the ground, its eyelids heavy with sleep.
Li Fan, resting his head on its round belly, let out soft snores.
"Roar~ Roar~"
Two dragon roars sounded, and Qingtian immediately woke up. Its already round belly bulged further.
Li Fan, jolted awake, saw Qingtian's sharp gaze and the white mist constantly spewing from its nostrils. He immediately grabbed his Thunder God Helm and put it on.
"Hum~ Hum~ Hum~...."
"Roar~ Roar~ Roar~...."
Neither side held back from the outset, unleashing their full power.
"Presumptuous... audacious... this King will never forgive you..."
Li Fan muttered as he recorded the information transmitted by the Nameless Dragon, trying to find any crucial intelligence that might aid in its capture.
After about ten minutes of recording, Li Fan increasingly felt that the Nameless Dragon was incredibly difficult to deal with.
This was because, from the information received through its ecological inheritance, it stubbornly believed it was born a king.
The reason for this belief was unclear, but from a self-perception standpoint, it was obviously extremely detrimental to capture.
Two hours later, through high-frequency intense exchanges, the Nameless Dragon further comprehended the meaning of Qingtian's humming and began a more targeted communication.
"This King will shove your fangs... into your nostrils... Is this fully deciphered? Qingtian! Guide the conversation towards it."
Li Fan reminded.
"Hum~ Hum~"
Qingtian replied that it couldn't.
Li Fan then realized that Qingtian did not possess the same comprehension ability as the Nameless Dragon.
Once it understood the roars in its consciousness to a certain extent, it could not go any further.
Without understanding deeper meanings and being unable to give precise responses, it couldn't guide the topic.
"I see... Then, use pig language and repeat what I say in your consciousness."
After Li Fan provided a solution, Qingtian immediately stopped humming in its consciousness and waited quietly.
"You always say you are a king, so where are you a king from? Dare you say it?"
"Hum~ Hum~"
A moment later, Qingtian's humming appeared in its consciousness.
The previously raging Nameless Dragon suddenly fell silent.
"As expected, since it hasn't been born yet, it doesn't even know where it is."
Li Fan immediately made his deduction.
"Hum~ Hum~"
"Ah! Qingtian, don't translate this sentence."
Li Fan immediately covered the pig's mouth.
"Roar!"
The Nameless Dragon angrily declared that it was born a king, no matter where it was.
Li Fan realized that the other party hadn't noticed anything unusual and continued to cooperate with Qingtian.
"Since you are a king, you must know when we will meet, right?"
"Hum~ Hum~"
"Roar! The Nameless Dragon said it won't be long, and the first thing it will do after being born is to eliminate you."
It not only had no concept of its location but also a very vague understanding of time, possessing a rash temperament and simple thinking.
After Li Fan recorded the intelligence, he responded, "I, the Great Boar King of Akina Mountain, await you. Then we shall see who is more qualified to be called king."
"Hum~ Hum!"
"Roar! The Nameless Dragon boldly declared that kings do not lose, so come at me."
Removing the Wind Dragon armor, Li Fan began to analyze the intelligence he had gathered. The situation was not very optimistic.
Although there were the Capture Ball, Oath Ball, and Destiny Ball, which were relatively suitable for capturing the Nameless Dragon, it was far more likely that it would refuse capture entirely.
Moreover, whether they could defeat the Nameless Dragon was still an unknown.
The only advantage was that the Nameless Dragon was developing well and was on the verge of breaking out of its cocoon, meaning it was not a premature birth.
Therefore, as long as Muer could locate the Convergence Land, they could theoretically make their move.
However, how to lure the three Elder Dragons there and utilize them effectively would require more thought.
The next day, the team continued their search.
Huihui helped pinpoint the area with the highest concentration of Dragon Crystals. Although they found nothing upon visiting, Li Fan thought of another problem through the difference in Dragon Crystal purity.
That is, the extremely high crystal purity of the Convergence Land would provide the Nameless Dragon with an unimaginable home-field advantage.
This was not simply a matter of energy being of the same origin; it was the ability to directly draw external energy to its body.
Huihui needed at least some absorption and conversion before she could use life energy, whereas the Nameless Dragon could directly resonate with the Dragon Crystals.
The immense home-field advantage of the Convergence Land, coupled with luring the three Elder Dragons into battle...
A plan suddenly emerged in Li Fan's mind.
"As long as the battle location is not in the Convergence Land, both these problems will be solved."
Having devised a solution, Li Fan immediately put it into action.
Two hours later, the upper reaches of the Guiding Lands.
Shanshan, who was waiting, was still grinding her fan blades. Seeing the team arrive, she thought they were there to load the Serpent Emperor Ballista and became excited.
However, the instruction she received was to practice using the Giant Serpent Citadel to excavate the rock strata.
Although Shanshan couldn't quite understand, she complied.
However, the upper reaches of the Guiding Lands did not have many areas suitable for excavation, so she piloted the Giant Serpent Citadel to the Coral Highlands.
Her appearance immediately attracted the attention of many hunters, and a flurry of sighting reports was sent to the research base.
The resurrected skeletal remains of the King Serpent Dragon, along with the Third Expedition's leader Ni Zhen and the scholar, could not find any similar cases in their ecological records.
They could only issue a warning for hunters to stay away.
The search for Muer's contract was thus halted, and the team returned to the Star Base.
Li Fan processed some emails in his cabin and saw a message from the Second Expedition's leader stating that research on a new greatsword had encountered difficulties and requested assistance. He then headed to the workshop area on the second floor of the base.
After hearing the other party's description, Li Fan learned that the design of the sword's structure and the placement of the Dragon Gem had been well resolved.
However, insufficient air intake and the injection of dragon attribute had become problems.
"Continue manufacturing it," Li Fan said after carefully reviewing the design.
"No, if these two conditions cannot be resolved, the airflow introduced by simply swinging it will be completely insufficient to support the operation of the Dragon Gem within the sword."
The Second Expedition's leader insisted.
"The user can adapt to these two challenges. Trust me."
Li Fan informed him.
"You are not the user?"
The Second Expedition's leader asked in surprise.
"Yes, the true user is another chief hunter, Eudora."
"That floating female hunter?"
"Uh... yes."
"Alright, then continue manufacturing according to the original plan... Li Fan, how many research points do you have?"
The Second Expedition's leader asked curiously.
"I'm not sure of the exact amount. Have they run out?"
Li Fan asked in surprise.
Logically, having submitted countless top-tier reports, he should have the most research points in the entire base.
"No, I told Flay about the consumption for developing the new greatsword and asked if I could have an advance if it was insufficient. He said not to worry, as these point consumptions are nothing for Li Fan."
The Second Expedition's leader informed him.
"That's good... How is Commander Flay doing recently?"
"He was busy establishing the land routes. Today, he just received news that many people in the Coral Highlands have witnessed the Azure Star falling, so he might start an investigation."
The Second Expedition's leader speculated.
Hearing that Commander Flay was still busy and not wandering around, Li Fan felt considerably relieved.
To gather as much intelligence as possible, Li Fan and Dilu went to the Guild branch of the Starship.
Due to the extremely rapid growth of the Fifth Expedition members and the successful interception mission of the Elder Dragon, there were no longer any urgent threats requiring investigation or resolution.
Therefore, many restrictions to prevent hunters from being seriously injured or killed had been lifted.
The formation of hunting teams had also become more flexible.
However, contracts with extremely high threat levels still required registration and certification at the Starship before a compliant departure.
Li Fan sat at the round table and had a couple of drinks with Dilu, hearing only rumors about Aiden posting a contract to hunt the Teostra.
He went to the Guild counter and asked the female receptionist for details about the contract.
It was common for hunters to post hunting contracts. 220,000 research points plus a reward of 50,000z was a considerable sum even on the New World.
It was just the hunting target being the Teostra that was truly outrageous.
Li Fan speculated that Aiden had come up with this method out of eagerness to avenge his master.
However, given the highly intertwined nature of the three Elder Dragons' actions, no hunter team on the Old World would dare to touch it.
In fact, the Guild would likely not allow such a contract to be successfully posted, as angering an Elder Dragon could result in the destruction of several nearby villages.
Only on the New World, with fewer concerns, could the contract be successfully posted.
If the Nameless Dragon truly appeared on the surface, the three Elder Dragons would undoubtedly fight with all their might, and coupled with Meowscular Chef's constant targeting of the Teostra,
it would prevent the opponent from recovering from its injuries, and even worsen its condition.
There might actually be a chance...
Li Fan looked at the contract, thinking that taking away the Teostra might not be impossible.
However, at the same time, the Monster Squad would have to fight the Nameless Dragon with all their might, leaving only the Fifth Expedition members as the only usable force.
"A severely injured Teostra should be manageable..."
"Fifth Expedition Leader, are you going to accept this contract?"
The tall, silver-haired female receptionist asked expectantly.
"No, I just came to take a look because it has attracted a lot of attention."
Li Fan explained.
"I heard that you hunted several Elder Dragons on the Old World, so you can definitely handle the Teostra."
The silver-haired female receptionist encouraged him with a clenched fist.
"You've heard my stories?"
"Although there are some minor discrepancies in the details, most Fifth Expedition members can tell them... like kicking the Valstrax into the sky with one foot."
The silver-haired female receptionist said with reverence.
"That's all nonsense. Hunting Elder Dragons is not that easy. How about this, I'll have the compiler record this contract first, and if there's a suitable opportunity, I'll try it."
Li Fan said, and then called Dilu, his compiler, over.
The land route to the Dragon's Vein had just opened, and the first batch of hunter teams had not yet returned.
Therefore, the intelligence they could gather was very limited. However, many hunters were speculating about the whereabouts of the Ecological Vessel.
This was because Flay had mentioned that it might bring everyone a surprise, leaving a lot of room for imagination.
Li Fan returned to the Ignis and organized the collected intelligence piece by piece, beginning to refine the latest plan.
Feeling tired, he glanced at the Lao Shan Lung still moving forward on his 3DS before falling asleep.
Three days later, an Felyne apprentice in the base's workshop came to the Ignis and informed them that a weapon needed to be received by the chief hunter team.
Eudora was quite surprised by such a formal notification.
Li Fan, however, was not surprised and was instead relieved that it could be crafted so quickly.
Upon arriving at the workshop entrance, dozens of artisans stood at the doorway to welcome the team.
"Li Fan, what kind of weapon did you build?"
Eudora whispered.
"A weapon that only you can wield... the Monster Squad will also need to help when it's used."
Li Fan explained.
Behind the conveyor belt, the Second Expedition's leader, seated, stood up, leaning on the hammer handle.
As he pulled the lever down, the stationary circular conveyor belt began to rotate.
Behind the extinguished furnace, a giant blade with a peculiar design was revealed.
The metal pipes arranged on the blade, the segmented grip, and the nozzle-like structure.
Eudora had never seen anything like it on any greatsword.
"It's here! Let me introduce you to this new type of jet greatsword, the Dragon Heat Engine Type [Fierce Star], jointly developed by the Star Base workshop and the chief hunter team!"
"Is this really a greatsword?"
Eudora walked to the conveyor belt, reached out, and lifted the greatsword, examining it closely.
Seeing her lift it so easily, the Second Expedition's leader couldn't help but smile.
Due to its complex internal structure, the Dragon Heat Engine Type [Fierce Star] was far heavier than ordinary standard greatswords.
Eudora's ability to lift it with ease indicated that her arm strength was first and foremost qualified.
"It's a bit heavy... the center of gravity of the blade is a bit forward."
After evaluating it, Eudora took a few steps back, crouched, and swung the greatsword back, preparing to attempt a charged attack.
As her hands tightened on the grip, the outer wall of the nozzle at the tip of the blade suddenly opened.
*Clack!*
She looked back in surprise, realizing that the grip she was holding was actually the switch for the nozzle opening.
"Excuse me, what is this for?"
Eudora asked curiously.
"Bring me some Elder Dragon blood."
The Second Expedition's leader said. An Felyne holding an old sealed bottle quickly ran up to them.
"The opening on the side of the blade is used to inject Elder Dragon blood... Lily, you poured too much."
As the Second Expedition's leader was explaining, he saw the apprentice Felyne holding the sealed bottle and pouring it into the Dragon Heat Engine Type [Fierce Star] with great fervor, and immediately reminded it with great distress.
Lily's ears drooped, and she immediately retracted her claws.