TitoVillar
patreon
MHD Chapter 119: Pawprints of Evolution
🕑 Added 2025-08-13 20:25:28 +0000 UTC“Good, very good!!” Logan nodded in satisfaction, praising Egg Roll warmly. When Egg Roll finally relaxed and let a pleased smile spread acr
“Good, very good!!”
Logan nodded in satisfaction, praising Egg Roll warmly. When Egg Roll finally relaxed and let a pleased smile spread across his face, his body temperature began to drop, and the flames on his ears faded away.
Logan quickly asked him what he was feeling at that moment.
“Feeling, meow? A bit tired… and like my belly’s all empty—but I’m not actually hungry, meow.” Egg Roll rubbed at the paw-mark pattern on his stomach.
Right now, it just felt hollow there, as if something was missing.
Logan blinked knowingly. He recognized that feeling—he’d experienced the same thing when fighting the Deviljho, the hollow sensation after his flame sacs had been completely drained.
It seemed the mutations in the Fire Wyvern Grimalkynes caused by Symbiosis began at that paw-mark. He didn’t know the exact mechanism—whether it was the growth of an entirely new organ, or a transformation of something already there.
Either way, this change in the cats had finally met his expectations. The only question now was whether their evolution would stop here… or continue even further.
Logan suspected it would be the latter, but how far it would go—only time would tell.
Once everything was cleared up, Egg Roll, still grinning foolishly from Logan’s praise, padded out of the nest, completely ignoring the Tonkotsu who had been silently following behind him the whole time.
It wasn’t until Egg Roll reached the living quarters that he finally noticed Tonkotsu’s expressionless face.
As the son of the Fire Wyvern Grimalkyne chieftain, the only hunter among their entire tribe, and the captain of the Fire Wyvern Boss’ personal guard, Tonkotsu was the unquestioned successor to the role of Fire Wyvern Grimalkyne leader.
So when Egg Roll realized Tonkotsu had followed him all the way back, he was more than a little confused. He was just a lowly Palico—what could Tonkotsu possibly want with him?
As for whether there was any malice—don’t be ridiculous. Among Fire Wyvern Grimalkynes, there was no scheming or underhanded plotting. If something upset another, they’d say it on the spot, hash it out, apologize if needed, forgive if they felt like it, and move on. They wouldn’t let it drag on this long.
“Tonkotsu, big brother… is there something you need from me, meow?”
Tonkotsu remained silent, circling Egg Roll—who had already removed his armor—once before squeezing his arm. Then, under Egg Roll’s puzzled gaze, he made a request.
“Arm wrestle, meow?”
“Why, meow?”
Egg Roll didn’t understand, but with a chorus of playful jeers from the other cats, he agreed to arm wrestle the much larger, heavily muscled Tonkotsu.
The result was no surprise—Egg Roll lost miserably.
But Tonkotsu looked thrilled. Seeing Egg Roll rub his sore wrist in confusion, he stated outright that Egg Roll now had the potential to become a hunter.
Egg Roll was stunned.
“Meow? Me?”
He wondered if Tonkotsu was joking. After all, he had become a Palico precisely because, during training, he’d been judged incapable of becoming a hunter. How could Tonkotsu suddenly say he had the potential now?
It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Tonkotsu—it was just that, when it came to hunter training, the Research Commission was the ultimate authority.
Of course, if the Fire Wyvern Boss himself said it, Egg Roll wouldn’t doubt it for a second.
Watching Tonkotsu, overjoyed, shout that he was going to report to the Boss, Egg Roll—still skeptical—couldn’t help but start to feel a flicker of excitement.
If he could become a hunter, not only would he grow stronger and be able to contribute more to the tribe, but he could even join the Fire Wyvern Boss’ guard and protect the greatest Boss of them all.
Just thinking about it made any cat’s heart leap with joy!
When Tonkotsu came back, all excited, to tell him that Egg Roll now met the basic requirements to become a Hunter, Logan realized he might have underestimated just how much the Symbiosis trait had changed the cats. It turned out that, beyond granting fire, it had even strengthened their physical constitution.
After all, every Fire Wyvern Grimalkyne warrior had been tested before, and apart from Tonkotsu, not a single one had qualified to become a Hunter.
Egg Roll was the first cat to undergo this Symbiosis mutation, but he certainly wouldn’t be the last. With time, the Fire Wyvern Grimalkyne might experience a wave of enhancements across the entire population.
Logan was genuinely pleased by this.
But alongside that satisfaction came a hint of doubt. From what he could tell so far, the Symbiosis trait had brought the cats a solid boost—but for him personally, it hadn’t provided much of an improvement.
In the long run, having cats fanatically loyal to him gain new abilities was indeed a good thing, yet he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was missing.
A thought lingered in Logan’s mind: this trait might be more than it seemed. He just didn’t have any concrete leads yet.
As time passed, Egg Roll’s mutation was like a door that had finally been opened. One after another, more Fire Wyvern Grimalkyne began to display the same mutation—enough to account for one-third of the entire group.
The rest of the cats, though unchanged beyond their paw prints turning dark red and a slight boost to stamina, still stood out distinctly from the ordinary Ancient Tree Fire Wyvern cats.
After some well-spread publicity, the Fire Wyvern Grimalkyne whose fur color had changed found their social standing among the Ancient Tree Fire Wyvern cats elevated once again—so much so that they even gained priority in choosing mates.
Logan wasn’t particularly aware of these social shifts. After his initial excitement over the cats’ mutations, later news no longer stirred the same eagerness.
Gone was that early drive to see everything firsthand, to hear every detail about how the others felt.
The Research Commission, however, remained far more enthusiastic—whether it was scholars eager to understand why the Fire Wyvern Grimalkyne had mutated and what was different afterward, or the high-ranking members desperate to bolster combat strength and hoping for enough Ancient Tree Fire Wyvern cats to form a Palico Mercenary Guild.
With so many Fire Wyvern Grimalkyne suddenly meeting Palico qualifications, their enthusiasm was boundless.
Amid this atmosphere, a group of cats from the Wasteland Guardians, hailing from the depths of the Wildspire Waste, arrived at the Fire Wyvern settlement. Nervously watching the wyverns come and go through the area, they witnessed the rapport between the Ancient Tree Fire Wyvern clan and the Fire Wyverns, as well as the cats’ breeding practices.
Originally, they had planned to meet with the Research Commission to discuss support for their cart transport teams, but for reasons unknown, they instead requested an audience with the Ancient Tree Fire Wyvern Grimalkyne leader.
Hearing the news, the Fire Wyvern Grimalkyne leader narrowed his eyes as he looked at the line of somewhat thin cats.
“The Wasteland Guardian Grimalkyne seem to have their own unique ways of surviving and fighting, meow. And it’s been a long time since our tribe welcomed any new members, meow.”
The Fire Wyvern Grimalkyne leader smiled warmly at the Elder Grimalkyne.
The Elder Grimalkyne understood instantly and nodded.
“There’s still one-third of the Fire Wyvern lords without Grimalkyne caretakers, meow. We really are short on paws, meow. And food in the Wildspire is nothing like the forest—new partners will surely know the best way to make those spiky cacti taste good.”
And so, the two most intelligent and experienced cats among the Ancient Tree Fire Wyvern tribe shamelessly poached a team of naïve, unsuspecting countryside cats from the Wasteland.
...
Wildspire Waste – deep in the desert.
Logan dove down, killing a panicked female Kestodon. The rest of the herd scattered in all directions.
Without a second thought, he deftly used his talons to tear away the scaly skin from the Kestodon’s belly, eating in large, tearing bites.
Before long, most of the female Kestodon had been eaten. The remaining parts were covered in hard keratin, and even if brought back to the nest, the cats wouldn’t be able to strip much meat from them. Better to conserve his strength and hope to get lucky enough to catch fresh prey elsewhere in the area.
Beating his wings, Logan retraced his route to where they had first found the herd. Aki had made the first catch and stayed behind to enjoy her meal, while Logan continued the chase.
When Logan returned, he saw Aki circling above, roaring down at the sandy ground below.
His sharp eyes spotted the half-eaten body of a female Kestodon lying untouched in the middle of the sand. Clearly, Aki had barely started eating before something had driven her away.
Seeing Logan return, Aki growled low at him, voicing her intent to fight, then dove straight for the Kestodon’s body as if to snatch it away in flight.
But just as she neared the ground, the sand below began to tremble. In the next instant, a massive, earth-brown figure burst out of the dunes—its fearsome twin horns thrusting straight for Aki.
Prepared for the strike, Aki twisted her body aside, skimming past the Diablos’ horns and veering down to the sandy ground nearby.
Having missed, the Diablos let out an enraged roar. Faint red patterns pulsed along its great horns, and wisps of blackish smoke curled from the corners of its mouth.
This was the sign of a Diablos fully entering battle mode, driving its strength to the limit.
