Ch.196Preparation (2)

“It’s nice to go around together.”

[Zz (Really?)]

“I wish the little one was here too.”

[Zzz z zzz zzzz (Don’t worry. I’ll definitely bring it along)]

“Yeah!”

I gently stroked No. 26 who was perched on my head. In response, it softly caressed my horns with its tentacles.

“…It looks cute when you just see that.”

“Unanalyzable physical response detected from main controller.”

“I think I know what that means.”

“Middle child’s statement is very interesting. Information sharing requested.”

“W-why are you asking me that?”

After resting well and recovering from my injuries, I left the nest with the kids. We were going to hunt for new prey together.

‘This opponent would be tricky to hunt alone.’

This enemy isn’t like the Ice Horror with its powerful abilities, nor like the Glacier Fiend commanding numerous minions. It’s troublesome in a different way. Even the Sky Mother shuddered when I brought it up.

I glanced at the Sky Mother who was bickering with PS-111.

‘Is that her new form?’

Thanks to consuming the Ice Horror’s heart and the Winterwalker heart I brought, she gained the power of a Wendigo.

The Wendigo in Space Survival looks quite different from its legendary depiction. In this world, Wendigos resemble skeletal black deer walking on two legs.

Wendigo powers are divided into two main categories: temperature control abilities like generating cold, and mental disruption abilities against other creatures.

Unlike Griffons with their short flight capability and close combat prowess, Wendigos specialize in combat support and crowd control.

‘They have advantages in group battles rather than solo fights.’

Perhaps that’s why Wendigos are generally beloved by their companions.

Ironically, they’re unpopular among Volf players. Wendigos are notorious for their unsightly appearance.

‘That was certainly the case, but…’

The Sky Mother’s current appearance has changed significantly. Some Wendigo characteristics have been incorporated into her form.

She still had the white eagle head, magnificent mane, and golden-furred lioness body, but several elements were added. Two black horns grew from her head, and black wave patterns appeared on her body.

All these changes came from her perk.

‘It looks cool.’

She seemed uncomfortable with the transformation, but I thought it looked quite good.

These changes were all thanks to her perk, “Hunter God’s Transformation Shell.”

Typically, Volfs choose which mythical beast (幻獸) to transform into when they reach the Incarnate stage. Since this beast essentially represents the Volf’s true nature, once chosen, it can never be changed.

However, the Sky Mother’s perk, “Hunter God’s Transformation Shell,” isn’t bound by this limitation.

As she explained, besides her initial Griffon form, she can transform into one of four additional mythical beasts.

If she meets the required conditions to unlock a transformation, she can change into that unlocked beast once per month. For instance, if she transforms into a Wendigo here, she cannot change into another animal until a month passes.

The duration she can maintain a transformation varies depending on the beast. For Wendigos, it lasts up to 5 days.

That’s why she’s saving her Wendigo transformation rather than using it now.

‘Anyway, characteristics of unlocked beasts are partially reflected in her Griffon state.’

Like the deer antlers growing from her head now. Also, she currently doesn’t feel cold at all, thanks to the Wendigo’s cold immunity trait.

‘She’s unlocked two additional beasts, so two more remain.’

The materials needed to unlock transformable beasts are generally similar in difficulty to the Wendigo—meaning you need to hunt Apex-level monsters.

In the future, I should look for monsters that could help her as No. 26 grows.

‘Come to think of it, she unlocked another beast before the Wendigo. How did she get that?’

While pondering this question, the Sky Mother called out to me.

“Where do you plan to start looking? If we just start searching randomly, it’ll take forever.”

[Zzzz zz zzzz (I’m thinking of heading north)]

“North?”

Our nest is in the middle of a forest near the foothills of a mountain range. If we head straight north, we’ll reach the mountains that form the range.

Today’s plan is to search one of those many mountains.

[Zzz zzzz zzzzzz zzzzzz (You said you saw it at the twin peaks, right?)]

“According to reports received when I hadn’t lost my intermediate terminal function, that is correct.”

As soon as I woke up this morning, I asked PS-111 if it had seen the creatures I was looking for.

The mutant screamer that served as an intermediate terminal remembered information transmitted by lower-ranking individuals. Apparently, PS-111’s subordinates had spotted the creature I was hunting.

‘Spotted at the twin peaks, huh.’

The prey we’re targeting now is characterized by its extremely wide hunting grounds. If it was spotted near the twin peaks close to the forest at the mountain range’s entrance, then this entire area must be within its activity range.

‘It only builds nests in very high places, so there might be one up there.’

The twin peaks are tall enough to be visible from the ice plains. We’ll have to check in person, but there’s a good chance it inhabits the area.

‘I need to catch it anyway to save Adhigh Orr.’

To fight Gallergorn, I absolutely need one ability.

Flight ability. And not just ordinary flight, but the ability for high-speed movement and space navigation.

All Gallergorns, from Hatchlings onward, can fly. As Adhigh Orr demonstrates, Gallergorns actively use flight abilities in combat.

Moreover, White Gallergorns possess useful aerial combat traits beyond the “hyper-acceleration” ability of Green Gallergorns.

To face such creatures, I too must possess powerful flight capabilities.

‘Sky Whales have flight abilities too, but…’

Sky Whales are beings that survive by absorbing formless natural energy. Since this planet has dragon nests highly concentrated with psychic power, we might encounter Sky Whales here.

The problem is they never descend to the ground until they die. Without flight abilities, even meeting them would be difficult.

If I catch a Gallergorn, I could gain flight-related traits, but they live in groups, which presents another problem.

That leaves the creature we’re looking for at the twin peaks now—the “Crystal Wing.”

[Zz zzzz zzzzzz zzz zzzzzz (Today’s goal is to find a Crystal Wing nest)]

“Do we have to do that tedious work here too?”

The Sky Mother shook her head as if tired of the idea. Just then, No. 26 poked my head with its tentacles.

“Big child, what’s a Crystal Wing?”

[Zzzz zzzz zz zzzzzz (It’s an animal with sparkling wings)]

“Wings?”

The concept seemed unfamiliar, and it signaled that it didn’t understand.

[Zeeeeee zzzz (The things Adhigh Orr has)]

I wanted to show it by spreading my gliding membrane, but that’s not possible in my Clever Predator state. Still, being smart, it quickly grasped what I meant.

“The flapping things! Flap flap!”

[Zz (Yes)]

No. 26 pulled out two tentacles and flapped them.

Adhigh Orr’s actual flight is more like gracefully swimming through the air. It’s different from what No. 26 described, but the meaning got across, so it doesn’t matter.

We continued north toward the twin peaks.

As we got closer to the mountains, the surrounding landscape gradually changed. Trees became fewer while the terrain grew rougher.

Ice chunks dozens of meters tall were randomly embedded in the ground, and crevasses of unfathomable depth appeared—pure, untamed nature. If I were human, I would never want to come to such a place.

‘Of course, that doesn’t apply to us.’

I kicked the ground hard. My body flew through the air, leaping across a crevasse tens of meters wide.

“This is fun!”

No. 26 on my head enjoyed it every time. The Sky Mother and PS-111 behind me also followed with light jumps.

Since we all have exceptional physical abilities, the challenging terrain posed no problem.

After reaching the mountain, we were greeted by cliffs or slopes so steep they might as well be cliffs. Again, no problem. Our movement speed didn’t decrease at all.

When we got hungry along the way, we hunted wild creatures roaming the mountain. Snow Banshees moving cautiously along the cliff became our main prey.

“There’s one more over there.”

“I will attack.”

When the Sky Mother spotted prey with her excellent vision, PS-111 attacked it with the Demolisher on its tail.

“Keek!”

A Snow Banshee hit by the matter-disintegrating energy bullet fell. As it plummeted down the cliff, its body suddenly stopped as if fixed in midair.

“Yap!”

When No. 26 waved its tentacles, the creature’s body trembled and then split apart with a popping sound. The shattered body parts divided into four pieces, transforming into meatballs. Even the flowing blood defied physics, getting sucked back into the meat chunks.

‘Impressive.’

As expected of a Seed Demon, it was manipulating psychic power very skillfully. Even Jason, whom I fought days ago, couldn’t demonstrate such skill.

No. 26 handed each of us a meat chunk that used to be a Snow Banshee while we clung to the cliff.

“Big child, eat this.”

[Zzz (Thank you)]

Though unnecessary, it placed the meat chunk directly into my mouth.

A chewy texture with a slight soy sauce flavor of salted meat filled my mouth. As I noticed yesterday, Snow Banshee meat tastes like beef jerky and dried squid.

‘It looks like a salamander, which makes it even more interesting.’

Occasionally filling our stomachs as we moved, we finally reached the vicinity of the twin peaks after quite some time.

Above us was a sky filled with gray clouds, and ahead was another peak that matched this one. Behind that peak stretched a wide ridge extending from the twin peaks.

Looking down, the black trees below appeared white due to snow accumulated on their branches. Beyond the snow-covered forest, the ice plains stretched endlessly.

‘…Beautiful.’

The frozen land viewed from the peak was remarkably spectacular. I hadn’t seen such an amazing landscape since meeting the Bubble Amoebas with No. 26.

‘If I hadn’t come to this world, I would never have seen something like this in my lifetime.’

I wasn’t the only one amazed by this magnificent natural sculpture. The Sky Mother beside me was also blankly admiring the scenery.

“Friend, aren’t you cold?”

“I am designed to function normally even below minus 150 degrees.”

“I don’t understand what that means, but that’s amazing!”

“Thank you for your praise, main controller.”

No. 26 and PS-111, with sensibilities quite different from ours, weren’t feeling any particular emotion.

Anyway, having reached our destination, we explored the area around the peak. Within minutes of starting our search, we found the traces we were looking for.

“You’re right. There’s a Crystal Wing nest nearby.”

She put down the branch she had been holding in her beak. It was a branch from trees in the forest surrounding the mountain. However, there was something different about this branch—it had jewel-like particles embedded in it.

‘A branch brought to build a nest.’

Those jewel-like particles are substances formed when a Crystal Wing’s saliva dries.

A Crystal Wing’s bodily fluids transform into jewel-like substances over time. Though they look like gems, they’re not even minerals.

‘Actually, comparing them to jewels would be an insult.’

The creature’s bodily fluids are overwhelmingly more expensive than jewels. The fluid crystals emit special electromagnetic fields, making them useful for developing premium alloys or as materials for ship computers. If I weren’t an AMorph, discovering just one nest would earn me enough money to buy a warship.

With such meaningless thoughts, I followed the sparkling branches. The jeweled branches that appeared sporadically became more frequent, and before long, a shining jeweled nest appeared before us.

While Gallergorns also line their nests with jewels, they don’t create this kind of structure. This is definitely a Crystal Wing’s nest.

‘Good. We’ve found the nest.’

I put No. 26 down for a moment and examined the nest with the Sky Mother.

Seeing a frozen, mummified corpse in the nest, it seems the nest has been vacant for quite some time.

“How many do you think there are?”

[Zz zzzz zzzz (From what I can see, at least two)]

“Two? But there’s no sign of eggs?”

[Zzzz zzzz zzzz zzzzzz zzz zzzzzz (This part shows reinforcement. A male built the nest)]

“A young couple, perhaps.”

The number of targets is at least two—a newly paired male and female.

After mating, the male Crystal Wing builds a nest, and the female prepares to lay eggs on it. If eggs are produced, the female tends to them while the male goes out to find food.

As I mentioned, there are signs that the male has diligently reinforced this nest. Yet both male and female are absent, suggesting they went hunting for food together.

‘It didn’t seem like food was that scarce.’

Since they’ve built a nest, one of them should stay to guard it, which is unusual.

‘Perhaps their movement is restricted because of the Gallergorn.’

Both Gallergorns and Crystal Wings occupy the top predator position in the wild. Being food competitors, they attack each other on sight.

However, Crystal Wings are stronger than Green Gallergorns but weaker than White Gallergorns. So when the two species clash, the group-living Gallergorns usually win.

Crystal Wings know they’re at a disadvantage, so despite being apex predators, they move cautiously.

The problem is that there are at least two groups of Gallergorns on this planet. Since the territory occupied by Gallergorns is effectively doubled, finding food must be difficult for Crystal Wings.

“Even if they’ve settled, it’s a problem. If they’ve gone hunting, we don’t know when they’ll return.”

[Zz zzzz (That’s true)]

When Crystal Wings go hunting, they don’t return to their nest for extended periods. They roam outside looking for food for anywhere from a week to half a year. If there were eggs, that period would be drastically reduced, but we can’t count on that luck now.

“What do you want to do? Wait? Or look for another nest?”

The Sky Mother asked, but I didn’t answer immediately.

‘Which option is more beneficial?’

If Adhigh Orr hadn’t been kidnapped, I might consider waiting for an extended period, but I can’t do that in the current situation. My time is limited.

‘But finding another nest isn’t easy either.’

There are hundreds of peaks in this mountain range. Including other potential Crystal Wing habitats, there must be thousands of places to search. We can’t possibly check them all one by one.

‘Having found the nest, there’s only one option left.’

[Zzzz zzzz zzzz (Let’s wait for up to two days)]

The Sky Mother nodded, respecting my opinion.

If the Crystal Wings don’t come after waiting, we’ll have no choice. We’ll either have to risk targeting Gallergorns or catch other winged creatures.

With that, our outdoor camping was decided less than a day after building the nest.