Ao~
Xi Xi expressed her willingness.
Despite being in a state of mutation for a long time, Xi Xi did not resist it and desired a final outcome.
"Since the mutation was triggered by the egg of the Hundred Abyss Thunder God Dragon... finding a mate might be the crucial factor."
Li Fan said, scanning Xi Xi's golden body.
"Mutation, and raising a child, finding a suitable partner is difficult."
In the eyes of other female electric dragons, Xi Xi was a green giant.
Nurturing offspring also went against the natural instincts of electric dragon herds, making it completely incompatible.
"We can only approach it from the perspective of stimulating mutation."
Before long, Li Fan, who had been pacing back and forth, locked onto a direction.
Compared to adapting to mutation characteristics to achieve mutation, stimulating mutation was certainly more dangerous.
Fortunately, Xi Xi's attributes were no longer what they used to be, possessing extremely strong risk resistance.
However, the material needed to stimulate mutation became a new problem.
If the attributes were of the same origin, there would be no repulsion, and it would possess extremely high energy intensity. It would be even better if it were related to the source of mutation, the Thunder God Dragon...
Wait, isn't this the Yuan Yuan's Lan Yu?
As Li Fan thought, he suddenly realized that the thing that could promote mutation had always been with him.
The orange-yellow flower bud bloomed in his palm, revealing a round jade stone emitting a bright yellow light.
Puchā~
When they reached a sufficient distance, two golden electric arcs connected between Xi Xi and the Yuan Yuan's Lan Yu.
"Do you feel anything special?"
Li Fan asked.
Ao~
Xi Xi said no.
"It seems this resonance induction should originate from the mutated part."
Li Fan deduced.
The rest was simple: let Xi Xi swallow the Yuan Yuan's Lan Yu and observe her condition.
"I'll gather the monsters to stand guard first, Dilu, you prepare for the mutation stimulation support."
"Okay, meow."
Dilu said, unstrapping her backpack and rummaging through it, finally pulling out a large honey bug.
A moment later, Hui Hui circled in the sky above the dense island forest.
Mei Mei Zi was already in the dense forest, waiting to try the release of the giant gnawing worms, and quickly arrived at the scene.
With all preparations complete, Xi Xi lowered her neck, picked up the Yuan Yuan's Lan Yu, and then tilted her head to swallow it.
Gudu~
Shā shā~ Hōng~
The rain continued, and a flash of white lightning streaked across the distant clouds, followed by a dull rumble.
Gulp~
In the silent observation, Xi Xi opened her mouth and let out a burp, with a few tiny golden sparks flashing.
"Don't you feel anything?"
Li Fan asked.
Ao~
Xi Xi said no.
"The mutation was triggered by the Thunder God Dragon egg, and the Yuan Yuan's Lan Yu can be considered the top-tier stimulating material. This shouldn't be the case..."
Li Fan fell into thought, wondering if something had gone wrong.
Cī~ Cī~ Dāng~....
Dilu, holding the recovery honey bug with her claws, saw the small shovel she had placed on the ground slowly sliding forward, so she extended a claw and firmly stepped on it.
Cī~ Dāng~...
However, the small shovel did not stop sliding.
Dilu looked down for a moment, then looked up at Xi Xi, and suddenly realized something.
"Li Fan! It's magnetism, meow! Xi Xi is attracting the iron shovel!"
"Ah?"
Li Fan looked down as Dilu lifted her claw.
Cīlāng... Hū~
The small shovel rolled forward, heading towards Xi Xi.
When it was still several meters away, the small shovel suddenly floated up, strangely circled Xi Xi in mid-air, and began to slowly drift and rotate.
"This is the Thunder God Dragon's use of magnetism..."
Grabbing objects and circling them around the body for defense or attack were common moves of the Wind God Dragon and Thunder God Dragon.
Although this ability looked similar, one relied on magnetic attraction, and the other on wind currents, with completely different implementation methods.
Dīnglíng~
A prompt sound from a handheld device rang out.
"Uh... it succeeded?"
Li Fan quickly took out his handheld device to check.
Xi Xi's name changed from Electric Dragon to Hundred Abyss Electric Dragon, and her rating changed from six stars to seven stars.
The prompt sound came from the reward unlock of the seven-star illustrated book.
What could it be?
Li Fan's finger lightly touched the screen.
"Egg Ball, you can only claim one. Unless you leave here, do not reveal its contents to anyone..."
Li Fan softly read the description and pressed his finger.
A rainbow sphere, surrounded by seven colors, quickly converged in front of him.
He reached out and took it, then pressed the round button.
Kadā~ The sphere opened.
"Empty..."
After confirming there was nothing in the sphere, Li Fan's gaze darkened, and his arm hung limply.
But recalling the text that flashed on the inner wall of the sphere, he thought it might not just be decoration, so he quickly picked up the egg ball and brought it closer to examine it carefully.
What language was this?
There were four lines of strange characters flashing on the inner spherical wall. Li Fan found these fonts only slightly familiar, but their meaning was completely incomprehensible.
It left me a message but didn't let me understand it. What is this supposed to mean?
"Is it a new type of ball, meow?"
Dilu asked curiously.
"Yes, but its purpose is to record information. Unfortunately, I can't understand it at all."
Li Fan said, handing the egg ball over.
"Uh... I can't understand it at all, meow. The writing found in the ruins doesn't seem to be of this type either."
Dilu wanted to help decipher it, but it didn't conform to any known writing type.
"If it's not the language of this world, then no one can decipher it. Does this mean the value of this information is not in whether I can decipher it, but in its ability to be safely transmitted?"
Li Fan vaguely thought of a possibility.
But why would the person transmitting the information show it to me? And at this stage?
Capturing seven seven-star monsters unlocks the ultimate illustrated book reward.
What kind of information could help someone in this state?
After thinking about it without any result, Li Fan decided to focus on the matter at hand.
Although Xi Xi had mastered magnetism, she was clearly not at the level of the Thunder God Dragon, who could pull a Dragonator from underground.
So Li Fan devised a training plan to help Xi Xi quickly improve her ability.
"Will my iron shovel never come back, meow?"
Dilu asked softly, looking at the small iron shovel floating and circling in the air.
"Not only is the iron shovel Xi Xi's training prop, but I'll also have to go back to the camp to get some pots and pans. Don't worry, when we get back to the base, I'll buy you 100 G-rank iron shovels as compensation."
Li Fan said generously.
"No compensation is needed. It's just that this iron shovel is most convenient for digging holes and burying poop, meow. But since Xi Xi needs to train, she can use it."
Dilu explained.
"Goodbye, Xi Xi."
Ao~ Ao~ Ao...
After completing the deployment, Li Fan waved goodbye, but was called back by Xi Xi.
"The team will indeed face strong enemies soon, but with our current combat power, you can rest assured and stay with Xiao Xi."
After Li Fan informed her, he went with Dilu to find Mei Mei Zi, who was guarding the perimeter.
After discussing the plan to periodically replace the giant gnawing worms, the latter agreed to try.
For Mei Mei Zi, who could only follow the ultimate host route, this was also a good way to train her control over gnawing worms.
Next was the actual test. The giant gnawing worms would eat other gnawing worms, thus reducing their spread.
But after releasing them to a certain extent, what impact would they have on the ecosystem? This was still undetermined.
Using the relatively isolated island dense forest as an experimental site was perfect.
A week passed, and according to the observation and investigation results, the spread of gnawing worms in the dense island forest was effectively suppressed.
As for the giant gnawing worms, if they couldn't occupy space on Mei Mei Zi's body, they only had two options.
One was to fight each other for position.
The other was to parasitize powerful large monsters.
Self-consumption and the characteristic of only parasitizing powerful monsters greatly reduced their harm compared to ordinary gnawing worms.
On Mei Mei Zi's side, due to the cruel elimination mechanism among the giant gnawing worms, the individuals that could survive and parasitize for a long time showed a trend of developing into elites.
These elite giant gnawing worms grew at a terrifying rate every day, to the point that even Mei Mei Zi took them seriously.
"It's time to go back to the base."
Li Fan lowered his binoculars on the beach at noon.
Merchant ships had disappeared from the sea in recent days.
Instead, there were constantly returning hunting ships and heavy warships of the kingdom.
Such frequent hunting expeditions were rare, even in low-risk areas.
Clearly, the spread of gnawing worms was entering a full-blown stage.
Migration, frenzy, aberration...
The immense ecological changes created countless threats that needed urgent solutions.
In the abandoned camp, the team began packing and organizing supplies.
Most of the iron tools had been taken by Xi Xi for training, so there wasn't much to take.
Li Fan picked up the flower-shaped active crystal wall of the Yuan Yuan's Lan Yu from the table, a look of hesitation on his face.
Without the jade stone inside, the active crystal wall was naturally useless, but it felt like a pity to discard it, and the team didn't lack money to sell it.
"Right, I can put it in here."
Li Fan said, taking out the teleportation talisman given by Geralt.
This talisman was small and fragile, and it was an item from another world. How to preserve it properly had always been a headache.
As he was about to put it in, Li Fan caught sight of the strange characters carved on the surface of the talisman, and his gaze paused.
He took out the egg ball and compared them, finding that the two sets of characters were highly similar.
"So it's the language of the wizarding world... but he's already gone back."
After a moment of thought, Li Fan put the teleportation talisman into the egg ball, and then stuffed the egg ball into the flower-shaped active crystal wall.
"Since you are all related, let's put you together."
Sensing something being placed inside, the orange-yellow petals slowly closed, turning into a bud.
The Courageous, setting sail, soon returned to Elgard.
Looking at the port piled with countless ships, since the team didn't need to unload supplies, they decided to use Wirebugs to fly and land at a non-docking point.
In the noisy square, all one could see were hunters.
Even though two additional guild reception areas were opened, a long queue still formed in front of each counter.
"Although this scene can inspire fighting spirit, I wish the storm would pass sooner."
Yudora sighed.
The current situation was no longer something that could be solved by simply hunting a monster.
The commotion continued into the next day with no signs of abating.
The infirmary was already full, and countless wounded could only be treated and recuperated in the square, making the already chaotic scene even more chaotic.
In the command center converted from the royal palace, documents on the table had piled up into a small mountain.
Admiral Garias, looking somewhat haggard, picked up a document and flipped through it, only to find it filled with distressing content.
"Report! The Chief Squad has arrived!"
A knight called out his report.
"Please invite them in immediately!"
Even if it was just a visit, it was the only good news Garias had heard in recent days.
"Li Fan, the workshop has developed a new technology to stimulate additional abilities in armor using aberrant materials. How is your progress?"
Garias asked urgently.
"We have found traces of the Zorah Magdaros on the island dense forest."
Li Fan informed him.
"I've been receiving sighting reports of it recently, but given the current situation, the Guild and the Kingdom's Knight Hunters are unable to pursue and investigate."
Garias said helplessly.
"Indeed, hunting Elder Dragons now is unwise. However, what I want to say is about the inhibitory effect of Zorah Magdaros on the spread of gnawing worms."
Li Fan said, handing over the ecological report in his hand.
Garias read half a page, and his gaze was firmly locked onto it.
"Giant gnawing worms, and this characteristic. If we could guide them to the most severely affected areas..."
"The Chief Hunter Squad can handle this."
"But after all, it's an Elder Dragon. The only investigation team that had contact... Right, you were also part of it, and Puxian also said that you were the ones who induced the Valstrax to participate in the battle back then."
The most professional people for this issue were right in front of him, and Garias instantly gained confidence.
"However, even if we succeed in inducing it, it will only be a temporary relief."
Li Fan reminded him.
"I understand. We will provide full support wherever needed. The most severe area is currently the Citadel Highlands. Do you have any plans for the squad?"
Garias turned and pointed to a map marked with red dots.
"Withdraw hunter squads from non-urgent missions. When encountering Zorah Magdaros, be sure to avoid it."
Li Fan stated his deployment.
"Okay, I'll issue the order now."
After creating convenience for Mei Mei Zi's actions, the squad rushed to the Citadel Highlands.
Trees, grass, mountains, rivers.
As far as the eye could see, dark red light spots were clearly visible, constantly dispersing in the air.
These were traces left by the frequent activity of aberrant monsters.
Thanks to such distinct trace characteristics, tracking aberrant monsters had become much easier.
Of course, this also included factors such as monsters no longer concealing their whereabouts after being parasitized by gnawing worms.
In addition, the Aberration Research Institute had also conducted detailed classification of aberrant monsters.
The method of identification was not complicated. Those that could withstand the absorption stage and achieve aberration were basically extremely strong individuals.
As long as the two key points of aberration progress and species information were found from trace analysis, a grade rating could be given.
This evaluation, more direct than star ratings, allowed the squad to clearly know the combat power of the target.
In the area of the castle walls where the Silver Rathalos was recuperating, monster corpses were scattered everywhere.
"It seems even the aura of Elder Dragons cannot stop monsters from approaching."
Li Fan felt that deploying bodyguards was indeed a wise choice.