Ever since construction of the New World outpost officially began, every hunter in the Research Commission had spent time working as a miner in the Great Sand Sea. The ore needed to build the outpost, the materials for making and maintaining hunters' weapons, and even the pickaxes and other tools—all of it had been dug out of the rock by hunters, one pickaxe swing at a time.
Glavenus's Sword Tail was forged from ore. This was no secret to the scholars; it was a conclusion they could easily reach just by observing it.
That was why it was easy to understand how an injured Glavenus with its tail severed and a shell unlike that of other Glavenus—one that seemed to be covered in mineral crystals—had suddenly appeared here.
After all, among all the creatures living in this corner of the Great Sand Sea, only the hunters and this strange Glavenus would dig for ore with any plan or purpose. The hunters had come across traces left by this Glavenus many times while searching for ore deposits.
It would chew through rock walls with its teeth or dig out a hole, find an ore deposit, then eat every last bit of it. Honestly, those caves, covered in teeth marks, looked like the lairs of monsters from some horror story. They had frightened quite a few hunters the first time they found one; some had thought they'd stumbled into the home of an unknown monster.
This behavior was one of the reasons the scholars believed Xingyan was different from ordinary Glavenus. At least, Glavenus from the Old World weren't crazy enough to start eating ordinary rocks for no reason, stuffing both rocks and ore into their stomachs as they went. Glavenus weren't dragons that mainly ate rocks.
Rock Glavenus, Ore Glavenus... The scholars here in the New World had already come up with several names, but they hadn't yet settled on the most accurate one.
In any case, they knew this unique Glavenus had a great need for ore, and was now injured, with its Sword Tail broken. The outpost seemed to be the only place where it could find a large quantity of ore all at once, at least in the short term.
"Kaluo?" The Commander turned his head. "Go bring over a cart of ore."
"Yes!"
Though he didn't quite understand why the Commander had given such an order, the hunter named Kaluo would work it out as he carried it out.
There was no need to mention the strength of an Ape Dragon Species. With two others helping him, Kaluo took little time to push a cart piled high with ore over from the outpost.
"I'll do it." Once the cart arrived, the Leader spoke up. "No matter what happens next, stay calm. Don't show any hostility."
As he spoke, he walked over and took hold of the cart's handle.
"Leader?" Kaluo looked even more nervous. "Maybe you should let me—"
"All right, let's do as the Leader says." The Commander patted Kaluo on the shoulder, then turned to the Leader. "Don't get yourself killed."
"Haha! Who do you think I am?"
With a hearty laugh, the Leader's arms tensed around the cart's handle, the powerful muscles bulging. He barely seemed to exert himself as he pushed the ore-laden cart all by himself—a cart that would have taken three hunters to move.
"As expected of the Leader..." Kaluo stared in amazement.
With that kind of strength, well, if he had it, he could wield a Great Sword like a Long Sword.
"All right! Here I go!" Without the least sign of effort, the Leader called out cheerfully and pushed the cart toward Xingyan.
Closer. Closer still.
Thirty meters. Twenty. Ten...
"ROAR!!"
The moment Xingyan roared, the people standing behind the Leader all held their breath. The Leader himself, on the other hand, was incredibly bold. He didn't look the least bit flustered. Instead, he calmly set the cart down and walked around to its side.
"Hey, little guy! Ah, maybe I should call you big guy now, but I'm still not used to it." The Leader patted the ore on the cart and laughed. "These are a gift. I don't know if you understand what a gift is... Uh, eat up? Don't be shy. Just think of it as a gift from a friend."
Under Xingyan's watchful gaze, the Leader picked up a head-sized chunk of ore and tossed it toward him. Honestly, that was an incredibly provocative gesture—so much so that even the Commander, who trusted his partner without question, felt his legs weaken.
The Leader had aimed for Xingyan's mouth, but Xingyan didn't open it to catch the ore. He simply let it smack against his chin.
The Leader: "..."
It was a sight rather like tapping the head of the Fiery Cloud Evil God with a little stick.
"Hmm... Not to your taste?" The Leader was clearly feeling the pressure now. A sheen of sweat had appeared on his forehead.
But compared to the few people standing farther away, hands on their weapons and on the verge of drawing them—if the Leader hadn't specifically warned them before setting out—the Leader was calm enough.
Xingyan moved.
He really hadn't expected those familiar faces to push over a cart of ore, apparently thinking he'd come to find something to eat. Well, maybe that wasn't quite right. According to the Grand Commander, the ore was meant to make friends?
Yes and no.
No, he was in the middle of seriously trying to learn by watching. What was with them crowding around him?
Xingyan felt a little awkward. After all, you couldn't hit someone who came bearing a smile... Anyway, he wasn't taking the ore!
He curved his Sword Tail, which was still long despite its broken tip, and used its blunt end to nudge the cart back in the direction it had come from. Then he roared toward the Sword Master and took a few steps backward. Once he'd made sure his next move wouldn't hit the Grand Commander nearby, he suddenly thrust his Sword Tail into empty space!
A thrust!
There wasn't much to see in that attack. After all, horizontal swings, vertical chops, and thrusts were basic Sword Tail moves and part of Glavenus's regular attacks. But what came next was different.
The thrust was followed by a horizontal slash. It struck the rocky slope, and the next moment, to the hunters' astonishment, Xingyan leaped straight into the air—Dragon Ascending Dragon!!
A vertical slash plunged down at high speed!!
In the Hunter's Guild's official terminology, the move was called Aether Blade Kabutowari. Xingyan, however, was still used to calling it Dragon Ascending Dragon.
No—in his current form, this move should be called Dragon Ascending Dragon!
Boom!!
Even a broken Sword Tail possessed peerless power. The heavy vertical slash carved a deep gash into the slope.
After delivering that blow, Xingyan didn't move again. He turned to the Sword Master, still standing some distance away, and roared.
"I understand!!"
The Sword Master had seen the light. He understood completely.
He suddenly realized why this strange Glavenus had been watching him from a distance, and why it had only been watching him—it was clearly trying to learn his swordsmanship!
"No, that's not how you use that move!" he shouted without thinking. As he called out, the Sword Master hurried toward Xingyan.
Scholar Bent tried to grab him, but the Commander stopped him.
With the Sword Master's speed, it didn't take long for him to pass the Leader and reach Xingyan.
"Watch closely!"
With a shout, the Sword Master drew the Female Fire Dragon Long Sword from his back and performed the same sequence: a thrust, an overhead slash, an Aether Thrust, a leap from the spot—then an Aether Blade Kabutowari!
The series of moves flowed smoothly, though the Sword Master didn't charge his blade. He was only demonstrating.
"ROAR!"
Xingyan roared, but unfortunately, the hunters couldn't understand his words the way Elder Chief Detel could. Even the elder could only grasp Xingyan's meaning vaguely; if he tried to express anything more complicated, the elder wouldn't understand.
Xingyan wanted to tell the Sword Master that he was different from the Ape Dragon Species. He couldn't gather his strength in his weapon the way they could. But after a whole string of roars, the only response he got was the Sword Master's bewildered stare.
He couldn't understand. He couldn't understand at all.
Feeling helpless, Xingyan could only imitate the moves the Sword Master had demonstrated in front of him and perform them with his Sword Tail.
Thrust, horizontal slash, vertical chop, diagonal slash...
For a moment, the desolate stretch of land presented a curious sight. A hunter in armor performed his martial skills slowly, while more than ten meters away, a giant Glavenus followed his movements a beat behind.
The hunter wielded the Long Sword in his hands, while the Glavenus swung his Sword Tail.
You thrust, I thrust.
You swing, I swing.
You step back, I step back too.
Their movements were so perfectly synchronized, except that one was always a beat behind.
"This is truly... amazing!!"
Every word trembled with excitement. Scholar Bent's hand shook as he clutched his glasses. What he was witnessing was as precious and momentous as the Research Commission's discovery of the New World!
What had he just seen?!
A Glavenus was consciously and deliberately learning a hunter's techniques?!
This could serve as proof that high-level monsters had intelligence not much different from humans'!
Of course, intelligence and civilization were two separate matters. Being intelligent didn't mean they could develop civilization, nor did it mean monsters would give up hunting savagely or attacking humans.
But it was still momentous.
"Yano will definitely regret rushing off once she hears about this, won't she?" The Leader couldn't help laughing. "If she'd waited a few more days to leave, she could have witnessed this for herself!"
Thinking of Yano's curiosity about exploring the unknown, the others all laughed.
"I thought this unique Glavenus had come here to ask us for help. No—could this count as asking for help too?" The Commander shook his head. "It's just completely different from the kind of help I imagined."
"Not for low-level resources like food or minerals, right?" Bent answered the Commander's question while quickly scribbling in his notebook.
"Exactly. So, what did I tell you? This little guy is different from the rest." The Leader looked pleased with himself as he patted the Commander on the shoulder. "I bet he got beaten badly by Kushala Daora. Otherwise, he wouldn't have thought of coming here to learn something like this."
"I think so too." The Commander nodded. "No matter how lofty a name you give them, the techniques hunters have mastered were ultimately created to let the weak overcome the strong."
"They were made so humans could defend themselves against powerful monsters, and so that humans, with their frail bodies, could unleash enough strength to drive monsters back or even defeat them. That is the essence of technique, and of swordsmanship."
They were skills the weak had painstakingly developed to defeat the strong. It was through techniques that could be learned and passed down from generation to generation that humans had managed to survive in the cruel natural world.
But there had never been any rule saying the strong couldn't learn these skills. It was simply that, in the past, the strong had looked down on learning them.
The strong—dragons.
Against ordinary dragons, even the techniques hunters spent their lives honing only barely allowed them to stand against their foes. Every hunt came with the risk of death, while dragons only had to eat and sleep.
There was even less to say about Elder Dragons or Forbidden Monsters. Hunters could never reach their heights, and no technique could ever bridge that gap.
But putting aside those creatures who were on another level entirely, for Xingyan right now, the techniques the weak relied on, combined with the natural strength he possessed as a dragon, went together better than Oreos dipped in milk. They were a perfect match!
Most importantly, unlike his kin, who still relied on their teeth, claws, and bodies to make crude attacks, Xingyan was a Glavenus. He really could wield a weapon like an Ape Dragon Species.
Perfect.
He was born for this.
Eat—uh, could he really eat this?
"Are you an idiot?! Why does every slash land in a different spot?!"
"One spot! Understand? You need to control your sword, not let it drag you around!"
"Control your weapon! Make every slash hit the same spot!"
The Sword Master shouted at him furiously. This was absolutely the worst class he'd ever taught. A hunter who couldn't even swing his weapon properly—no, someone at this level wouldn't even qualify for a hunter's license at the Guild!
He wasn't even as good as a one-star rookie!
"Wait, how did things suddenly turn into this?" Kaluo's eyes widened in shock. "I'm seeing this right, aren't I? The Sword Master is actually scolding that Glavenus? And it isn't getting angry?!"
Not only was the Glavenus not angry, he was following the Sword Master's instructions and working hard, repeatedly swinging his Sword Tail through the empty air.
"You're seeing it right." The Commander's expression was hard to read. "And I haven't seen him like this in a long time."
The look of disdain he reserved for idiots.
Well, to be more accurate, it was as if he'd come across a rookie hunter who'd barely learned how to use a weapon and was already taking on quests... Someone who might die by the roadside one day without anyone ever knowing.
It was hard to watch.
It might sound unbelievable, but the fact was that this clever Glavenus had temporarily stopped swinging his Sword Tail by instinct and was instead trying to make each swing orderly and systematic. And his swordsmanship was, to put it mildly, quite ugly.
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