Monster Hunter: This Fire Dragon has characteristics

Chapter 252 Are all the cubs premature?
Offspring are a big deal for any race. Although fire dragons follow the ecological law of the survival of the fittest and do not have the concept of needing to be supported by offspring, this is their nature, their instinct, and an absolute rule engraved in their genes.

If it weren't like Rathalos, who couldn't find a partner, who wouldn't want to leave one or two offspring in this world?
A group of fire dragons were making so much noise that Luo Yun didn't even have time to think.

A dragon roared, and a terrifying sense of oppression instantly enveloped the entire scene.

The fire dragons were like being paused, and instantly fell silent. At this moment, the tree canopy finally became quiet.

Luo Yun slowly folded his open wings, and his azure pupils swept coldly over the group of fire dragons below.

There are only about thirty pairs of fire dragon couples that plan to have offspring this year, including a pair of new battle-experienced fire dragon couples.

One of them did not hatch, and they were the battle-hardened fire dragon couple.

To be precise, it is a battle-hardened male Rathalos and his ordinary female Rathalos companion.

Except for these more than 30 pairs of fire dragon couples, the other fire dragons gathered here out of concern. After all, this matter also concerns them. The lack of breeding plans this year does not mean that there will be no breeding plans next year. Of course, they will also fall into panic.

Fortunately, Luo Yun now not only has enough prestige among the fire dragons, but also has the strength to convince all the fire dragons. Therefore, with Luo Yun's appeasement, the fire dragons dispersed.

Flapping his wings and flying up to the clouds, the low temperature in the air made his mind much clearer. After thinking for a while, Luo Yun glanced at the ancient tree. After confirming the location, he flew towards the middle level of the ancient tree.

Among all the fire dragon eggs this year, only the hatching rate of the few pairs of fire dragon couples in the middle layer was slightly higher. Basically, every pair of fire dragon families that laid eggs hatched one or two cubs. Perhaps we can see something from them.

In the cloud, Luo Yun thought about several possibilities.

First, of course, it is because of the magical life energy of this world.

The higher the ecological niche of a monster, the lower its fertility rate. This is a universal rule in many worlds, and the Monster Hunter world is no exception.

The only known exception is a pair of ancient dragons with extremely high ecological niches. It is difficult for them to even meet each other. Even if they find the other side and have the idea of ​​reproducing offspring, they will be attacked by nature with thunder and force and a bunch of "thugs" will be summoned to encircle and suppress them.

When the ecological niche reaches a certain level, the reproduction of the monster's offspring does require a large amount of life energy to assist, so as to ensure the survival of the cubs in the eggs while also ensuring the safety of the mother.

However, the problem arises. Although the ancient tree fire dragon group has undergone a certain degree of mutation due to the symbiotic relationship, its overall strength has also been improved to a certain extent. Even if it continues to mutate like this, it may become a new subspecies of fire dragon in the future, and it is possible that it will be reproductively isolated from the original species.

However, in terms of ecological niche, the ancient tree fire dragon group is still similar to the original species. Even in terms of strength, most of the fire dragons in the ancient tree fire dragon group are not as good as ordinary blue fire dragons and cherry fire dragons.

So it can't be considered as insufficient life energy.

Besides, where is this place?

Ancient tree!

The place with the most abundant life energy in the entire ancient tree forest, the node of the ancient tree forest's geomantic corridor, coupled with the filtering of ancient trees, makes the life energy even softer.

Therefore, in terms of overall strength, the monsters in the ancient tree area are stronger than those in other areas, and there are more battle-hardened individuals.

Such an environment is more than enough even for an ancient dragon like Xialong who is not picky about the breeding environment.

Not to mention the current group of ancient tree fire dragons.

Therefore, after eliminating the problem of life energy, the only possibilities are external factors or internal genetic instability. With a preliminary judgment in mind, Luo Yun quickly arrived above the nest of a fire dragon couple.

The oppressive feeling brought by the silver-white body with a hint of red scared the fire dragon cub, which was very sensitive to the smell, and it panicked and screamed, making the cats responsible for taking care of the cub a little at a loss.

The female fire dragon, who was flying not far from the nest to relieve her tension, immediately turned back with a roar, feeling something in her heart.

Before the dragon appeared, angry roars were heard.

It landed in its nest at an extremely fast speed, spread its wings wide and roared towards Luo Yun in the sky.

This was just the female fire dragon's stress response. Luo Yun didn't care about it and waited for its partner to return.

Soon, the male fire dragon, who was patrolling his territory, also noticed something strange in his nest and arrived late.

Fortunately, unlike female fire dragons, although male fire dragons are also worried about the situation of their cubs, they can basically remain calm most of the time.

Therefore, after flying past Luo Yun, he quickly comforted his partner.

After the Fire Dragon Family below had completely calmed down, Luo Yun slowly descended in a gust of wind pressure.

As Luo Yun growled, the female fire dragon reluctantly pushed out the fire dragon cub hiding behind it.

It was a big-headed cub just like any other, but judging from the layout of its scales and thorns, it had obvious characteristics of an ancient tree fire dragon group.

Luo Yun looked at it carefully, and the more he looked, the more he felt that there was something wrong with the cub.

He is in good spirits, has good body proportions, and there is nothing missing from his body, but he looks like he is malnourished.

After looking at the cubs, he looked at the nest nearby. There were four intact eggs in it, but at this point, there was still no sign of hatching. The color of the eggshells had begun to darken, and they would most likely become dead eggs after a while.

For newborn fire dragon cubs, these unhatched eggs will become dead eggs and will immediately become food for them and the female fire dragon mother.

After finishing the inspection, Luo Yun did not stop, but continued to fly in the middle layer of the ancient tree to see the situation of other fire dragon families.

This continued for the entire day. After returning to the nest, Luo Yun became even more confused.

This batch of fire dragon cubs were born young, and why did they all look so thin and small, like premature babies?

But these cubs are full of energy and don't look weak at all like premature babies.

Yaji looked at the returning Luo Yun with some worry. She was also a little worried in her heart. She was also afraid that the eggs she would lay in the future would become like this. However, out of trust in Luo Yun, she believed that Luo Yun could definitely solve it.

"Premature birth. Premature birth"

After eating the corpse of the herbivorous dragon that Yaji brought back, Luo Yun felt that he seemed to have found the problem.

(End of this chapter)