Through Tonkotsu's halting translation, Logan roughly understood the scholars' ideas.
As things stood, there were only two problems.
First: Chameleos was unwilling to spend so much time maintaining its medicinal mist to keep the Fire Wyvern embryos alive within the eggs.
To address this, the scholars' proposed solution was to find a material with strong energy circulation and retention properties, and after some processing, allow it to absorb Chameleos's medicinal mist. By then artificially applying it over the Fire Wyvern eggs, it would form a kind of alternative medicinal cocoon, achieving an effect similar to being enveloped in the mist.
But materials capable of this were not many.
Second: the issue of nutrient absorption by the Fire Wyvern eggs.
The scholars had not rushed from Astera without having done anything.
At the very first moment they learned the Fire Wyvern eggs were malnourished, they used certain mysterious ancient techniques to perform a preliminary analysis on the eggshells.
The conclusion reached was that within these Fire Wyvern eggs lay some inert fire-elemental energy. While this energy protected the eggs, it also blocked external energy from entering.
As for the solution, for now the only idea the scholars had was to raise the external temperature of the eggs, thereby stirring those inert fire-elemental energies.
Of course, this was only a clumsy method. Simply raising the external temperature could only activate part of the inert fire-elemental energy, and the temperature could not be too high—if too high, it would in turn negatively affect the Fire Wyvern embryos inside the eggs.
Thus, in the scholars' own words, this second solution was no more than barely better than nothing.
"Temperature" and "activating fire-elemental energy"—hearing these words, Logan almost thought these scholars had analyzed something about him, giving him a faint sense of being vaguely targeted.
Still, looking at their troubled expressions, Logan could not be bothered to press the matter.
All the more so because, for the scholars right now, the most difficult issue remained the first problem.
"According to our thinking, the material most suitable for the first problem is the silk of a creature known as the Rachnoid. This silk is often used as the breeding ground and nest for the Rachnoid's subordinate young spiders, playing an important role in their incubation and growth."
"Based on related research records, Rachnoid silk can indeed meet the requirements for the first problem."
"However, there is also an issue: we have not yet found any sightings of the Rachnoid in the New World, and at the moment we cannot find any corresponding substitute."
After the scholar finished speaking, he let out a sigh. Having a solution in theory, yet being powerless in practice due to all sorts of limitations—this truly felt unbearable.
"Webs? Silk? Energy conduction and retention."
As Logan listened to Tonkotsu's translation of the scholars' words, the Admiral stroked his chin, as though something had come to mind.
"Take a look at this—will this do?"
The Admiral suddenly pulled out a ball of thread and handed it over to the scholars.
"Th-this is!!"
The Deputy Director, upon touching it, immediately sensed the peculiarity of this thread. Wyverians possessed energy perception far beyond that of humans—this was also why Wyverians could master wondrous alchemy that humans so rarely managed to achieve.
"Eh? You also have this kind of thread?"
The Smith, who had come over to watch the excitement, also leaned in beside the scholars. After carefully examining the thread the Admiral had produced, he then drew out from his own toolkit some thread the Grimalkyne resource-gathering team had brought back earlier. Upon close comparison, he found it was the very same material.
"This I collected by accident a short while ago while tracking the traces of an unknown monster in the trees."
The Admiral himself was puzzled. He and Falcon had spent several days investigating that injured, enraged Nargacuga and Glavenus, and what he had found along the way might have been related to the monster that had stirred up all the commotion.
Never did he expect that the Smith, who had been stationed at the Ancient Tree forging furnace, would also have some in hand.
"This one of mine was given to me by the Grimalkyne a few days ago. I noticed it was much stronger than ordinary spider silk and was considering how it might be used, so I kept it with me, hoping to find some inspiration."
The Smith explained, never imagining it would turn out to be such a coincidence.
"The Grimalkyne resource-gathering team, is it?" the Admiral said in a low voice. "Seems I'll have to ask them about this later."
Just as the Admiral fell into thought, and Logan still looked a bit bewildered, the scholars performed a preliminary test using a small vial of some unknown liquid.
"This thread is incredible! I've never seen silk with such powerful energy circulation properties. Another new discovery—truly, coming to the New World was the right decision! This place is astounding!"
One Wyverian scholar exclaimed excitedly. Gazing at the silk in his hands, he looked as though he had found a priceless treasure. Were it not for the setting, and for the Admiral and Logan staring him down, he might well have tried to pocket some of it to serve as his next long-term research project.
"It seems this silk should indeed meet your requirements!" The Admiral's face broke into a smile. At last, there was a solid beginning to the solution for the Fire Wyvern eggs.
"Of course it can, but the quantity is far too little. With so many Fire Wyvern eggs, even if only a third of them can hatch, this bit of silk won't be enough." The Deputy Director, though thrilled, still gave a pragmatic reply.
"No matter. Leave that problem to me. You only need to figure out how to treat this silk. If it succeeds—"
Logan glanced at the Admiral, understanding what he wanted, and through Tonkotsu he spoke the words: "You will gain all the Fire Wyverns of the Ancient Tree—and my friendship!!"
...
The resource-collecting cats, who had been resting at their homes, were suddenly summoned to Logan's nest.
Of the four cats, only Steak had ever been inside before; the other three had only ever glimpsed it from afar.
Now, within the Fire Wyvern tribe of the Ancient Tree, the posts and ranks of the Grimalkynes had already been clearly distinguished. Under normal circumstances, only the Fire Wyvern Grimalkynes could enter Logan's nest. Other cats could either participate in the yearly Fire Wyvern Grimalkyne selection to join their ranks, or—like now—be summoned there by Logan personally.
In the hearts of the cats of the Ancient Tree Fire Wyvern tribe, the Fire Wyvern Boss had already gradually been deified, becoming something like a totem of worship.
Thus, even the outgoing, familiar Spice involuntarily shrank his body when passing by the patrolling Fire Wyvern Grimalkyne warriors.
After all, these were Fire Wyvern Grimalkyne warriors, the most finely equipped, most powerful fighters in the entire Ancient Tree Fire Wyvern tribe.
Legend had it that, under the leadership of Guard Captain Tonkotsu, a squad of only four cats had once taken nearly a month to successfully hunt down an Anjanath. Now, the yearly selection for the Fire Wyvern Grimalkynes had even added a new criterion: one needed to have the feat of repelling a Great Jagras!
If the requirements for ordinary Fire Wyvern Grimalkynes were already that high, then needless to say the Guard, the very elite among them, were even stricter!
The Fire Wyvern Boss's Guard consisted of only sixteen Grimalkynes in total. It was said that each of its members possessed the qualifications to become hunter cats. Steak, the captain of their resource-collecting team, had once been one of its members.
At this thought, Spice's body stiffened slightly, afraid that he might not do well enough anywhere.
Soon, the collecting team cats arrived at the interior of the nest, where they saw Logan's silver-white figure tinged faintly with red.
"So beautiful… those scales, I want them!!"
The tension that had filled Spice vanished the instant his eyes were drawn to the scales reflecting a silvery metallic luster. His big eyes sparkled as he froze on the spot, entranced.
His companions noticed Spice's rude behavior and secretly poked him, finally snapping him out of his fantasy.
Only then did Spice realize where he was. The next second, he lowered his head, flustered, at a loss, terrified of being scolded by the Fire Wyvern Boss.
"Meow!! How could I zone out at such a critical moment, meow!! Am I about to be hated, meow?"
Just the thought of being disliked by the Fire Wyvern Boss, and then word spreading until all the Grimalkynes of the Ancient Tree Fire Wyvern tribe despised him, made Spice suddenly feel that his future life as a cat would be bleak indeed. He might even be driven out of the Ancient Tree!
Don't think this an exaggeration—if one divided it by era, the Ancient Tree Fire Wyvern tribe was precisely in a semi-civilized age of religious faith. One could say every single cat was a zealous devotee of the Fire Wyvern religion, and Logan was its "main god," its "divine king."
In such an environment, even the Fire Wyvern Boss's smallest expression of dislike could decide the life or death of a Grimalkyne.
Fortunately, Logan felt nothing amiss about Spice's rudeness.
He was long used to it—especially since, whenever he molted scales, his cat Guard members had once gone so far as to stage a full-on brawl for a single scale.
---
I will post some extra Chapters in Patreon, you can check it out. >> patreon.com/TitoVillar
---