Monster Hunter: I can hear the monsters' thoughts

Chapter 422 Jump's Path to Growth

Lin Lin's lips curled up slightly. "That's exactly what I've been waiting to hear!"

"Jump, let's go!"

Upon hearing this, Jumpy let out a low growl, flapped its wings, and was about to swoop down. Sophia, who had just been so dashingly giving permission to launch the attack, was now extremely nervous, instinctively gripping Jumpy's carapace tightly.

"Wait, wait a minute! Can you put me down first...?"

A fierce wind howled as the enormous, jet-black dragon swooped down, its target the swarm of fledgling spiders on the web.

This time, however, Lin Lin did not drag Sophia to experience the thrill of bungee jumping. Jump was in sync with him, and as they were about to land, his wings suddenly spread out, his speed rapidly decreased, and he finally landed steadily on the spider web.

As for the juvenile spiderlings that gathered together, they were small and weak, and unable to resist the strong wind pressure when Jumpy landed. They were all blown away, and the dark swarm of spiders was cleared out in the middle, creating a large open space.

"Roar!!!"

Jump Jump braced itself on its wings and let out a loud roar at the Shadow Spider opposite it.

The Shadow Spider immediately raised its forelimbs and let out a few hissing sounds, but to Lin Lin, it was clear that the creature was putting on a brave front while being wary of Jump.

These young shadow spiders seemed to be bullies who preyed on the weak. They had fearlessly surrounded Ye Zi when she was facing her, but now, after leaping down and letting out a roar, they were afraid of her aura and scattered in panic, no matter how much the shadow spiders hissed, they could not be called back.

"Huh? It seems unnecessary to hunt down these little creatures?"

Lin Lin flipped off Tiao Tiao, clicked his tongue, and sounded a little regretful.

He also wanted to see Jumpy unleash his full power and mow down the spiders like a madman, but it seems these little creatures aren't so stupid after all.

Sofia jumped down as well. Having experienced the previous parachute drop, the excitement was significantly reduced this time. All she felt was a slightly rapid heartbeat.

"Brother Lin Lin!"

Yezi exclaimed with delight the moment Tiaotiao appeared, but paused slightly upon seeing Sophia:
"Sophia? What brings you here?"

Sofia patted her chest. "Well... it's a long story..."

"To put it simply, she wanted to observe our hunt firsthand and followed us. Jump and I were looking for targets in the sky, so we couldn't ensure her safety and took her along."

Lin Lin gave a brief explanation, then looked at the Shadow Spider that was baring its teeth and claws at Jump Jump to make itself appear larger, pausing slightly in his speech:
"Should we let Jump Jump come next, or should you continue?"

Yoko gave Sophia a strange look. Although she had witnessed the scholars' fanaticism back in Barbare, she still couldn't understand their thought process. Oh well, she didn't understand, but she respected them.

Yoko retracted her insect club behind her back, and the kinetsu beetle landed back on her arm:

"Let Tiao Tiao come. The purpose of this training session has been achieved, so let's not waste any more time."

The Insect Glaive isn't exactly a weapon that can unleash high-powered, decisive blows. You can continue fighting, but there's absolutely no need to continue.

Having finally received approval, Jump stopped confronting the Shadow Spider and pounced on it, slapping it down with its wing claws.

I don't care about your poisonous horns, sleeping stings, or sticky spider webs; I'll just use brute force to create miracles. If one slap isn't enough, I'll use two!

However, the Shadow Spider was indeed much stronger than the Ghost Frog. Seeing the Jumper's fierce attack, it didn't dare to take it head-on. It nimbly dodged with a side jump and used its silk sac to spray out a large amount of spider silk, which stuck to the wing claw that Jumper was attacking.

Following this, the Shadow Spider, its abdominal silk still connected, took small steps on its six legs, trying to circle around Jumper, wrapping Jumper in its silk to restrict its movement. Once the silk had covered Jumper sufficiently, it could use its sedative venom to weaken Jumper's resistance, and finally inject digestive venom to soften Jumper's flesh.

In the past, this trick was almost always effective. Even those stupid poisonous birds with larger bodies could not exert any fighting power under the wrapping of spider silk. As long as they avoided the dizziness caused by the strong flash above their heads, this trick would hang a new large spider silk cocoon in their nest as a food reserve.

However, this tactic is no longer working.

Feeling the dragging force from the wing claws, Jumpy didn't hesitate to fight back. He swung his wing claws forcefully in the opposite direction, and under the burst of force, the Shadow Spider at the other end of the spider silk stumbled. Instead of circling around Jumpy as expected, it was pulled headfirst into Jumpy.

Although he didn't scatter scales to sense the Shadow Spider's location, with Lin Lin watching from the sidelines, Jump could clearly see the Shadow Spider fighting him from a third-person perspective.

Without hesitation, it swung its other wing claw and slammed it down heavily on the Shadow Spider's head.

Once broken, Wolong comes out of the mountain!

The Shadow Spider's defense is much weaker than that of the Ghost Frog. After taking a big hit, the Ghost Frog was only dizzy, but the Shadow Spider's head was already shattered, and dark green fluid was splattering everywhere. It has already reached 1.4.

Only the limbs that twitch occasionally with nerve reflexes still speak of the tenacious vitality of the horned monster.

Jumpy wanted to finish it off completely, but Lin Lin quickly stopped it:
"That's enough, that's enough. The Shadow Spider materials are pretty good, don't ruin them all."

Yoko heard the key words:

"Brother Lin Lin, are you planning to use the Shadow Spider's materials to make a Charge Blade? Or armor?"

Lin Lin shook his head slightly:

"No, the materials from the Shadow Spider are too light, so the weapon made from them won't have high attack power, which isn't suitable for me. But the Insect Glaive itself is a light weapon, which is actually an advantage for you. Also, if you add the Shadow Spider's sleeping bag, the weapon you make should also have a sleep attribute effect, which would be quite good for crowd control."

"Huh? For me?"

Jumpy wanted to give it another swipe but was stopped. It let out a roar of frustration and then put its wing claws back on its shoulder.

After successively killing the Ghost Frog and the Shadow Spider, it felt an indescribable sense of exhilaration. The power of the mad dragon flowing within its body seemed to become even more active and more responsive to its commands.

Was it because of the battle?

Jumping tilted its head in confusion. Since transforming into its current form, it hadn't participated in many battles. The battles against the Ultimate Thousand Blade Dragon and the other Black Eclipse Dragon had almost exhausted all its energy and stamina. After the battles, it was extremely tired and weak, and it didn't notice whether such a change had occurred.

"Huh? Is there such a thing?"

Lin Lin pondered for a moment, recalling what Sophia had said about Tiaotiao seemingly growing up a little, and he had some guesses in his mind.

Only one of the Black Eclipse Dragons can successfully transform into a Celestial Dragon, but who can transform and why they can transform before the other Black Eclipse Dragons are not mentioned in the game; they are completely blank.

Does growing faster mean eating more, and thus molting faster? Or does it mean fighting and battling again and again, ultimately molting before the other Black Eclipse Dragons?
But the fact that Jumpy has this feeling right now suggests that battles are beneficial to its growth. However, this is just speculation, and we need data and actual testing to find the answer.

……

Naguli Village.

With Jump Jump's help, the Shadow Spider's corpse was brought back whole and handed over to the blacksmith for dismantling into materials.

Upon learning that the Ghost Frog and Shadow Spider had been successfully defeated, the villagers of Naguli Village, who had been eagerly awaiting their arrival, cheered and declared Lin Lin and his group to be great heroes of their village. The village chief, with his horned beard, was so overjoyed that he burst into tears, hugging Gemma and sobbing uncontrollably. His expression was as exaggerated as could be.

However, some people raised questions. A villager with a heavy accent stared at Lin Lin with innocent eyes:

"The chicken monster has been defeated, so why hasn't the lava sea girl returned? I can barely afford a cigarette!"

Before Lin Lin could speak, Gemma, who was shoving her father's big face with a look of disgust, had already spoken up:

"It's not the monster's main body blocking the lava, it's just the big rocks it moved. Why bother the hunters with this? We can just use a few barrel bombs, right?"

The villager blinked his eyes:

"Report copper?"

Gemma: ...

Never mind, it was my fault for talking to you.

Gemma struggled to break free from her father's grasp and waved to several familiar villagers:

"Everyone, now that the monster threat has been eliminated, let's quickly grab our gear and clear the lava passage again!"

……

While Gemma led a group of people to clear and unclog the lava channels, Lin Lin and others in the village were also busy taking measurements for Tiao Tiao and comparing them with previous data.

"It actually grew..."

Lin Lin looked at the comparison of the two measurements with some surprise. Could it be that he had grown ten centimeters in less than a day?

If it really is because of combat, then we'll have to do some serious testing later.

If possible, try to catch up on the progress. At that time, the Black Erosion Dragon that was about to transform was already nearly 20 meters long, while Jump was only less than 15 meters long. Such a huge size difference means it has no competitive advantage on the path of evolution.

If possible, he would still prefer that his dragon could snatch that one and only spot and complete the sublimation of its life level.

With this in mind, Lin Lin went to find Sophia to ask if there were any tasks that Tiaotiao could take on next, so she could practice.

Unfortunately, Sofia's answer greatly disappointed him:
"I received two requests as soon as I arrived in Naguli Village, which is already a lot. After all, this is just a small village with a small population of only a few hundred people. Most of the time, it is difficult for a village like this to have a decent request every two or three years."

With no targets to hunt, Lin Lin had no choice but to go to the blacksmith to see when his shield and axe would be finished.

Even the usually composed blacksmith couldn't help but roll his eyes at this:
"Things have to be done one step at a time. I just finished disassembling the Shadow Spider materials."

The blacksmith counted his workload to Lin Lin, holding up his fingers:

"Your Thousand-Blade Dragon Shield Axe and Yoko's Thousand-Blade Dragon Armor were designed from scratch. Now we need to add a Shadow Spider Insect Glaive. After the lava flows are restored, I will also be involved in the construction of the airship..."

Okay, you do seem very busy...

Going to see Yezi, they found the girl patiently teaching Niaru how to train. They went to find Yezi, but Yezi was quite interested in the Earth Dragon Clan's craftsmanship and went to learn from the village chief of Bull Horn Village. The tour leader was searching everywhere for villagers to inquire about the Pure White Dragon Scales, and the Dragon Clan merchants were actively exchanging ideas with the Earth Dragon Clan to expand trade routes…

Lin Lin suddenly realized that everyone else had their own things to do, while he was the only one in a leisurely state with nothing to do. After looking around, he found that only the caravan's cat chef seemed relatively free, so Lin Lin simply gathered around the big iron pot and started to watch.

He casually picked up a nut and popped it into his mouth, chewing it like a candy. Lin Lin watched as the fried rice in the cat chef's wok tumbled around, golden in color and fragrant, and his mouth watered.

In this other world where the staple food is Western-style dishes like roasted meat, the cat chef's expertise in frying, stir-frying, and cooking feels so familiar and comforting.

"Oh? It's Lin Lin. What would you like to eat, meow?"

Chef Cat served the freshly cooked fried rice to the villagers and diners nearby, then turned to look at Lin Lin.

Although it looks like a petite feline, judging from its occasional self-proclaimed title of "Auntie Cat," it's clear that it's not young at all. At least for Lin Lin, a young man in his early twenties, calling it "Auntie Cat" is a completely natural thing for him.

"Auntie, I'd like a plate of fried rice with egg!"

"No problem, meow! I've got this covered, meow!"

Lin Lin didn't go find a seat, but stood there and watched carefully.

Chef Cat had actually noticed Lin Lin watching for a while, his hands never stopping, and he took a moment to ask:
"Is Lin Lin interested in becoming a cat chef, meow?"

Lin Lin twitched the corner of his mouth. "Auntie, I'm human, I can't be a cat chef..."

"Watching you cook reminds me of my hometown. Your cooking style is very similar to that of my hometown."

"So that's how it is, meow. It seems that the source of my cooking skills is in the very far East, meow. Could it be that Lin Lin's hometown is also there, meow?"

"Are you homesick because you've been away from home for too long? It's okay, come visit me more often, and I'll cook whatever you want to eat! Tell me what dishes from your hometown you'd like to eat, and I'll try my best to recreate them!"

Lin Lin's Adam's apple bobbed slightly. After a moment of silence, he slowly nodded:

"Thank you."

"No need to thank me, this is auntie's 'motherly love,' meow! Just accept it, meow!"

(End of this chapter)