Monster Hunter: I can hear the monsters' thoughts

Chapter 437 A complete childhood should include both laughter and tears, even tears from explosions.
Regardless, this newly hatched baby drake already considers Sophia its mother, and with Jumpy as a living example right in front of them, no one has any objections to Sophia adopting the drake. Moreover, perhaps because the drake cub is unexpectedly cute, everyone in the guild likes the little guy.

However, due to the birth of the baby dinosaur, the tour group, which was originally scheduled to depart immediately after the airship was completed, had to postpone its departure time slightly.

Besides worrying that this little guy, who should be living in a volcanic area, wouldn't be able to adapt to the sky, there was actually an even more important reason:
Not long after Sofia learned from Lin Lin's experience in taking care of Da Kong and made a meat paste for the little thing as its first meal, a small explosion suddenly occurred at its mouth.

The explosion might have been nothing more than a tickle to an adult wrathful dragon, but for this newborn creature, it nearly killed it. Its shell shattered, and it was covered in blood. If Sophia hadn't used life-giving dust and healing potions in time, it would have died at the speed of light.

Before it hatches, the slime mold on its mother's body has already flowed into the crack in the eggshell along with the dripping saliva and attached itself to the egg.

There was no explosion at first because the concentration of slime mold was too low. After Sophia fed it, the little dragon was nourished, and the active factors that catalyze the growth of slime mold in its saliva increased, causing the slime mold in its mouth to grow rapidly, which led to that small explosion.

In the open space of the village, the weak little dragon lay in the center, while the members of the troupe gathered together to help Sophia analyze the situation and come up with ideas.

Lin Lin carefully examined the little dragon's body with a magnifying glass for a moment, then slowly said:
"Most of its body is covered with slime mold, but the concentration is low and it is difficult to see with the naked eye."

"As long as these slime molds are not completely removed, such explosions will inevitably continue to occur frequently until their newly formed shells are strong enough to withstand the power of the explosions."

Of course, another possibility is that it couldn't withstand the explosion and died on the spot, just like its brother or sister from the same litter. However, Lin Lin didn't say it out loud. Firstly, he wanted to consider Sophia's feelings. Secondly, wild baby dragons could only grit their teeth and endure the explosion on their own, while this little guy had them by his side, with all kinds of healing potions and Sophia's careful care. The risk was much smaller than that of its wild counterparts.

"Can I let this little guy take a bath more often, meow? Even if it doesn't wash away all the slime mold, soaking him in water will greatly reduce the risk of him exploding, meow?"

The cat chef tapped the large iron pot on its back. In its spare time, it would use this pot to boil water, and the dragon-man merchants especially liked to use it for bathing.

"But isn't this just treating the symptoms, not the root cause?"

After considering for a moment, Ye Zi spoke:

"It can't stay submerged in water forever. As long as it leaves the water, the slime mold will still explode. The only solution is to let its shell transform into a true 'obsidian armor'."

Sofia nodded in agreement.

Before picking up this little guy, she had learned a lot about Slime Dragons because of her love for them. At that time, she believed that only when a creature achieved symbiosis with slime mold could it be considered complete and called a Slime Dragon.

Although this idea changed a lot after picking up the little dragon and seeing it nearly dead from the explosion, and I thought it would be good if it could grow up peacefully without the slime mold, it seems now that the slime mold is probably impossible to get rid of, and we can only let them adapt to each other.

"How about attaching fungal beads to it? Aren't those supposed to inhibit the activity of slime molds? And didn't you make quite a few before?"

The dragon-human merchant pondered for a moment and then came up with an idea.

“A very constructive idea,” the blacksmith exclaimed. “It’s a pity that the decorations only work reliably when they are ‘embedded’ in specially designed ‘holes’ in the armor. I can’t exactly drill holes in this little thing, can I…”

"It seems the only way is to find a way to quickly increase the strength of its carapace?"

Gemma leaned on a huge forging hammer, her gaze fixed on the little dragon lying on the ground, emitting soft purrs.

With the help of various medications, the little guy's condition stabilized quickly, and he has now completed the initial healing process.

Gemma's words seemed to remind Sophia that since she couldn't prevent the little one from suffering, she could only try to shorten the duration of its pain.

"According to known ecological data, the carapace of the Broken Dragon becomes stronger after each wound heals. In addition to repeated regeneration, the reason why the Broken Dragon is able to achieve symbiosis with slime mold is that minerals from the volcanic region are mixed into the carapace during the regeneration process, which further enhances its strength."

Lin Lin understood:

"So, if we get more high-strength ore materials and place them around it, mixing them in during its regeneration, we can make this little thing quickly resist the explosion, right?"

The dates also seemed to be deep in thought:

"So, the composition of the carapace of each wild Broken Dragon varies slightly depending on its habitat, meow... If we provide this little guy with some ores that are stronger than normal, could we shorten this time even further, meow? And... if we do that, it might become stronger than its own kind in the future, meow?"

Lin Lin and Yezao exchanged a glance and said in unison:
"The ores on the Fengshan Dragon's body!"

These are materials from ancient dragons, so their strength is unquestionable. At the very least, they are at the level of Shining Dragon Stone, and higher-level materials like Spirit Crane Stone are also quite common. Crimson Iris Stone and Cloud Dove Stone, which are often used in ancient dragon equipment, are also plentiful.

"Eh?"

Sophia was taken aback; she wasn't quite sure what Lin Lin meant by that.

However, Lin Lin had a slight misunderstanding, paused, and continued:

"Hmm... Although there are a lot of ores, considering the size this guy will grow to in the future, it seems a bit too little."

"But it's alright, it can't grow that big in a short time. After this trip, I'll just go to Mrs. Fengshanlong's place and get some more ore."

Seeing Sophia becoming increasingly confused, Yoko shook her head and then briefly explained their encounter with Mineyama Ryu in Lokrak, which made the members of the troupe widen their eyes in astonishment.

"So, we need to go back to East Doruma first and bring those ores with us, meow?"

Nia turned her head to look at the Isana moored in the village, then at the little broken dragon, and asked a question.

"Shall we return to Dongdoruma first? That would be a good idea. I've been wanting to open up trade routes to Dongdoruma for a long time."

The dragon-human merchant nodded in agreement.

"I've heard that Dongdoruma is the most prosperous city on the entire continent! I'd love to see it for myself!"

Gemma's eyes lit up.

Seeing that everyone supported going to Dongdoruma first, the brigade commander and the blacksmith exchanged a glance and did not object, so the matter was naturally settled. "In this way, the problem of this little thing itself can be considered to have been solved for the time being, but don't forget that once a certain concentration is reached, the slime on its body will also be transmitted through contact. Just because it can withstand it doesn't mean that we can withstand it too."

The blacksmith turned his gaze to Sophia:
“Especially you, if you have to take care of this little guy for a long time, you will almost certainly get slime mold on your body.”

"Fortunately, I got a lot of carapace after capturing the Brachydios. I'll put aside my other work for now and rush to make a batch of Mycium Beads. That way, you'll feel much more at ease when you're in contact with it."

Sophia was stunned for a moment. She had been so focused on the little dragon that she had completely overlooked the problem. Now that the blacksmith had brought it up, she realized what was going on and her face immediately lit up with gratitude.

"But meow, Sophia's host uniform shouldn't be considered armor, right? It has slots for socketing, meow?"

The date palm noticed a detail.

"Well, there's no need to worry about that!"

Gemma, carrying the enormous forging hammer on her shoulder, explained:

"You might not know this, but the mascot's outfit is actually a type of hunter's armor, and many female hunters choose the mascot outfit as their everyday wear!"

Lin Lin nodded slightly. It seemed that there was indeed such a thing. In all the Monster Hunter games, the equipment that the protagonist could make seemed to have the costumes of the current mascot girl. The most memorable one was a screenshot from the game Dawn.

Fire Sprout and Water Cloud traveled a long way by boat to the stronghold of Elgard, where they sat on a bench and enjoyed rabbit dumplings. Meanwhile, Flame, the protagonist of the game, stood beside them wearing the same equipment as Fire Sprout and Water Cloud.

"Fire Buds, Water Yun, Earth Dog".JPG
Thinking of that picture, Lin Lin subconsciously turned his head to look at Ye Zi beside him.

Well, it's alright. Games are ultimately different from reality. I think this girl's beauty is in no way inferior to the Fire Sprout and Water Bloom sisters. Moreover, perhaps because the Insect Glaive requires a high degree of physical agility, this girl's figure is quite slender among Hunters, which is completely different from his big and burly appearance.

"Um... wait a minute..."

Just as Lin Lin was lost in thought, the brigade commander suddenly spoke, attracting everyone's attention.

"Um, have you considered that besides the little wrathful dragon itself, there might be other things that its explosion could damage, such as those of us who will come into contact with it?"

Everyone looked at their leader, and after a moment, their gazes followed his and landed on the Isana not far away.

"It seems...right..."

"What if an airship was flying in the sky and suddenly a large hole was blasted out by slime mold..."

Lin Lin thought about that scene and suddenly felt a chill.

Man! Hh, what can I say!

"Don't worry! It's easy to handle!"

Seeing the serious expressions on everyone's faces, Gemma quickly waved her hand:

"The interior space of the Isana is quite large. We can renovate a separate room, add an explosion-proof layer, and make it a special place for the baby dragon to rest!"

"It's just adding two layers of explosion-proof material, it's very simple! We can finish it in less than two days!"

It's clear that this little girl really likes the little dragon and is trying her best to get the group to take it on their trip.

The brigade commander rubbed his forehead and sighed helplessly:

"Alright, let's do it this way. We'll do two more days of modifications, then head to East Doruma to get the ore Lin Lin mentioned, and then we'll go find Xinard Village."

"Great! Thank you, Commander!"

Sofia was overjoyed.

The guild leader chuckled, arms crossed. "It's alright. I'm also quite curious about how different a shattered dragon raised by humans will be from a wild one."

……

Over the past two days, the renovation project has proceeded smoothly. With the Shattered Dragon gone, the area around the village has been quite peaceful, and no other dangerous monsters have approached.

However, compared to the tranquility of the surrounding area, the village itself is much more lively. The events of the past two days include, but are not limited to:

Under Sofia's meticulous care, the little dragon's injuries healed quickly. Even though it was blasted by its own slime mold on average once a day for three days, it hardly suffered from pain for long and appeared quite lively.

This little thing is incredibly energetic. At first, it just crawled and played around Sophia, but then it gradually got to know the rest of the group and realized that they were actually its "family and friends group," so it had even more fun.

One moment it runs to the blacksmith's forge to watch him forge iron, the next it runs to the cat chef's iron pot to smell the aroma and drool, then it runs around with a date-carrying cat sword, causing the cat to meow and chase after it, playing a game of chase, and then it runs to the open space where Lin Lin and Ye Zi usually train, watching them sweat profusely with each move, and then it randomly tries to imitate their movements...

Even when faced with Jump, it went from being terrified and running away in panic at first glance, to later realizing that this big guy wasn't hostile towards it. At most, it would use its wing claws to grab Jump off when Jump climbed on it and frolicked. After that, Jump completely let loose and was just like a husky without a leash.

—Hmm, it's similar to when Da Kong was first born. Back then, when Jumpy was still the Yellow Velociraptor, I was often forced to take care of the baby. Now I'm somewhat used to it. The only thing I need to pay attention to is to keep the scale powder from forming, so that the little thing doesn't get sick.

If other wild wrathful dragons knew that one of their kind had such a happy and fulfilling childhood, they would probably be green with envy.

In addition, Lin Lin and Ye Zi also took their pickaxes into the hunting grounds during their free time these past two days and chipped away at some high-quality ores, which they planned to pile up in the room reserved for the Broken Dragon to serve as materials for its body enhancement.

After battling Rajang and Brachydios, Jumpy has grown even larger than when it hunted Armored Dragon. While taking care of the little Brachydios, Sofia also measured Jumpy's body data. According to her prediction, as long as Jumpy continues to have sufficient nutrition, it shouldn't be long before Jumpy undergoes its second metamorphosis.

(End of this chapter)