funbook-pk Chapter 306 The Flower Feather Gathering (2)
Chapter 306 The Flower Feather Gathering (2)
The group then arrived at the test flight site, which is also the testing site used to assess the pilots' qualifications.
The test setup was complete, and the test flight crew was equipped with fuel cell wings, ready for takeoff. Meanwhile, the pilots of the traditional fumed wing-like aircraft, serving as a comparison, were also prepared to take off together. This also served as a precaution, allowing for a rapid response in case of unforeseen circumstances, as the fuel cell wings were still a newly invented technology, and their stability was unknown.
"Are you ready? Set, go!"
With Chaska's command, both sides took off together. At first, they were able to keep up with each other, but as time went by, the Pteranodon team gradually began to lose stamina and their speed was no longer as fast as before.
On the contrary, the fuel-powered wing team maintained its speed. Just as both sides were about to complete the test flight, an accident occurred. The fuel-powered wing's tail ejected fuel suddenly became inconsistent in size, and then it stumbled and fell forward.
Fortunately, the destination was just ahead, and the pilot was lucky enough to avoid a complete fall from the sky, sustaining only minor abrasions. Subsequent examination revealed only unstable energy output, which could be easily corrected with minor adjustments.
Hearing this, those who had test-flown the fumarole breathed a sigh of relief. After all, they were among the people who were closest to the sky. Most of them had not yet become official pilots because they had not yet been recognized by their own fumaroles.
To be honest, if things continue like this, many of them will lose faith and become "wingless" – those who, for various reasons, lose their will to fly.
Some people are unable to fly again due to physical or mental trauma caused by accidents, while others fail multiple times in flight tests and eventually give up because they cannot obtain approval from the Pteranodon.
Many of the people selected this time were those who failed the flight test; after all, they were only missing the approval of the Pteranodon to fly into the sky.
If they could use the pyrotechnic wings to give them the opportunity to fly, they might later gain the approval of the velvet pterosaurs. With this in mind, Chasca agreed to cooperate with the caravan.
With the affairs of the tribe settled, Chaska prepared to head to her mother's lair. But then, an unexpected event occurred: the caravan, which had just left the tribe, was attacked again, this time by Chaska's sister, the velvet winged dragon whom Chaska called Koya.
Fortunately, Chaska appeared in time and made Koya stop. However, the angry look in Chaska's eyes made her subconsciously look away. In that instant, Koya left.
By the time Chaska came to his senses, Koya had already flown far away and disappeared from sight. In order to prevent any further accidents from happening, Chaska decided to escort her back to the camp first.
After escorting the other party, Chaska returned to the Flower Feather Society. This time, she signaled the captain and Kong to follow her closely before riding the wind and flying towards the cliffs not far away.
Seeing this, the captain and his companion quickly followed. After flying for a while, the three arrived at the foot of a cliff not far from the Flower Feather Society. Clearly, this was their destination.
Chaska looked around and then called out to her Pteranodon mother. A moment later, a Pteranodon whose feathers were clearly starting to fade flew down from its nest halfway up the mountain and landed in front of the three of them.
"Let me introduce you. This is my Pteranodon mother, Qimupu. And these are my two friends."
Qimu carefully observed the two men Chaska had brought, then looked at Chaska with a mixture of relief and confusion in his eyes. He was relieved that Chaska seemed to be planning to find him a partner, but puzzled as to why there were two of them.
Then Kimoku spoke up. Although the captain and the other captain didn't know what Kimoku said, judging from Chaska's subsequent reaction and words, it seemed to refer to something like a partner.
However, Chaska had already given an explanation, and Kimopu was slightly disappointed before starting to inquire about the important matter.
"It's like this, Mom. Just now I saw my sister attacking a caravan, but thankfully I stopped her. Although my sister has disliked humans for a long time, she doesn't hate them to the point of attacking caravans. Do you know anything about her lately?"
After listening, Qimu Pu shook her head and said that she didn't know the specifics either, but she did know the location of Koya's current nest. If you wanted to know, she could ask her.
"Then I'll have to leave it to Mom. After all, my sister is angry right now, and if I ask her, I definitely won't get anything out of her. Instead, I'll just blame Mom for telling me about her hideout."
After saying this, Qi Mu Pu also prepared to set off to find Koya to ask about the situation. Seeing this, everyone else chose to follow out of concern.
Qimu Pu did not stop them, and the group followed him to the foot of a cliff very close to Ochikanata. To ensure the two dragons' conversation could continue, the three chose to hide in the shadows and eavesdrop.
Not long after, Koya, who sensed her mother's presence, also arrived in front of Qimupu. Through Chaska's translation, everyone roughly understood the truth.
However, this truth really angered Chaska. Simply put, the reason Koya attacked the caravan was that the caravan had kidnapped her child, Chime, which is why Koya chose to attack the caravan.
After all, Koya hated humans because Chaska ultimately chose to return to human society. Feeling betrayed, Koya chose to live far away from humans. However, she never expected that this decision would lead to her being attacked, and her child was kidnapped during the attack.
Although Koya didn't know who attacked her, she was able to pinpoint the source of the child's scent to the caravan transporting the Pteranodon. It was unclear why neither Koya nor Chaska had seen any juvenile Pteranodons in the caravan, but regardless, it was certain that the caravan was involved in poaching Pteranodons.
Just as everyone was discussing how to investigate the caravan, an accident occurred. Several arrows that appeared out of nowhere struck Qimu Pu, and within seconds Qimu Pu collapsed to the ground unconscious.
Koya instantly locked her gaze on the group of people hiding in the shadows who were firing arrows. Realizing they had been discovered, the group came out of their hiding places and knocked Koya down again. However, before they could do anything else, the enraged Chaska rushed out and quickly dispatched the group.
Seeing that they couldn't defeat Chaska, the group quickly took out the Burning Element Wings from their backpacks and tried to escape. Unfortunately, the Burning Element Wings were not fully activated. After activation, the Burning Element Wings in their hands began to become unstable and looked like they could explode at any moment.
Considering that her two injured family members were nearby, Chaska did not choose to detonate immediately, but she also did not know how to suppress the rampaging Burning Wings.
Fortunately, the other party knew the method. After realizing that the Burning Element Wing was no longer something they could completely control, they quickly had Chasca use elemental power to suppress it.
Upon hearing the other party's words, Chaska immediately manipulated his elemental power to suppress the Burning Element Wings, but this was only temporary. As time passed, Chaska could clearly feel the Burning Element Wings becoming increasingly unstable. After estimating when he would completely lose control, Chaska flew towards the distant sea with the Burning Element Wings. Just before he could no longer hold on, Chaska forcefully threw the Burning Element Wings into the sea.
With a bang, the Burning Element Wings exploded in mid-air. Chaska, having regained his footing, returned to the group and began checking on the two dragons. Meanwhile, the poachers had already been bound hand and foot by the captain and Kong, awaiting interrogation.
The good news is that after examination, Qimu Pu and Keya were simply unconscious. It seems the enemy wanted to capture them alive, which is why they coated the arrows with anesthetic. However, anesthetics that can take effect quickly against velvet drakes are rare, and most are circulated within the Flower Feather Society. These people are not members of the Flower Feather Society, yet they were able to obtain such anesthetics, which suggests that someone in the tribe is illegally profiting from this.
However, the immediate priority was to find out from them who had hired them. During the subsequent interrogation, Ricciaska learned the mastermind behind it all—Tepar, which was the mastermind's name.
Chaska pondered for a moment, feeling the name was strangely familiar, but he couldn't place where he had heard it before. During this time, he inquired again about Tepar's current whereabouts, but the answer was indeed no one knew.
It wasn't that these people couldn't speak, but rather that Tepar always contacted them via letters, and on the rare occasions he appeared in person, he always wore a mask. Even when handing over the Velvet Winged Dragons and the Burning Element Wings, it was always through a few of their trusted confidants.
It was only then that everyone realized the leader was none other than Isidore, the caravan's leader. Their attention had been elsewhere until he personally mentioned the handover of the Flamewing Wing and the Velvet Winged Dragon, at which point they finally understood. However, what they hadn't expected was that the Flamewing Wing wasn't invented by Isidore, but rather by a man named Tepar.
However, Koya, who had already woken up behind Chaska, couldn't stand it anymore and yelled at her. Chaska immediately stopped Koya, since she was still injured and not in a good position to fight.
Chaska then gestured for the other person to continue, and the other person took the opportunity to explain why the Elemental Wing had gone out of control, which was also why they had captured the Pteranodon.
Because it is very difficult to refine gaseous phlogiston to a level that can power the phlogiston wings, it is easy to lose control if you are not careful. The phlogiston wings that were previously handed over to the Flower Feather Society have already been iterated once, but they still have the drawback of instability.
The velvet dinosaur is naturally adept at using gaseous phlogiston, so using them as a medium can greatly increase stability. However, the other party did not mention how to use the velvet dinosaur in detail, but judging from the other party's reaction, the velvet dinosaur's fate is bound to be not good.
Realizing this, Koya immediately roared angrily at the other party, and Chaska's face also darkened.
"Enough... Where is the Pteranodon you captured?"
“They should all still be in Tepar’s hands! But only he and his trusted men have ever been to his stronghold.” To show his sincerity, Isidore continued, “We’ve tried to find them privately…we’ve even followed them! But we can’t find them…we always lose track of them…”
"Could it possibly fly up into the sky?" Paimon speculated.
"Maybe it really is in the sky," the captain said. "Paymon, do you remember the hot air balloon we saw over at the exam hall?"
"You mean that hot air balloon is Tepar's base? But is that small place really enough?"
"That hot air balloon is very likely just a small part of the enemy's base. The actual base is probably hidden in the high sky, which is invisible to the naked eye. The hot air balloon just descended for some reason and that's why we saw it."
"Really?" Paimon asked.
“It’s obvious the captain is just guessing,” Kong said. “After all, even though that hot air balloon is high, it’s not impossible for it to fly up there.”
"Is it okay?" Paimon turned to Chasca and asked.
"Theoretically it's not impossible, but it would require a lot of manpower, making it a thankless task."
Just then, Elder Alpa flew over from afar.
“Elder Alpa? You’ve come too?” Chasca asked.
"Here's what happened. I was patrolling nearby when I heard a loud explosion, so I came over to check it out."
"The thing is like this..."
Kong informed Elder Alpa about the situation here and Tepar.
"So Elder Alpa, do you recognize the name Tepal? I vaguely remember seeing it in the roster of previous flight trials."
"Could they be from your tribe?" Paimon asked.
“No, if it were someone from the Flower Feather Society, my impression wouldn’t be so shallow,” Chasca retorted.
“…Now that you mention it, I do remember a stranger who participated in the Flower Feather Society’s flight trials,” Alpa said. “You were on a mission at the time, so you probably don’t remember him. He was a craftsman from the Echoing Children, but he longed for the sky and wanted to join our flight team.”
"The Child of Echoes? That's quite a rarity."
"Unfortunately, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't even reach the threshold of the trial, let alone gain the approval of the Velvet Winged Dragon. In the end, he became a wingless one, left the Flower Feather Society in despair, and returned to the Echoing Children..."
"The Wingless One... Could it be that he created the Burning Element Wings to take revenge on the Velvet Winged Dragon?" Paimon speculated.
"Maybe... he just wants to make up for the regret of not being able to fly into the sky." For some reason, Alpa's tone became somewhat lost.
"...No matter what, it cannot be a reason for him to trample on the lives of the velvet pterosaurs. I'll take these people back first, reveal the truth to the public, and quell this conflict between humans and dragons as soon as possible."
“Wait, Chaska,” Alpa called out to Chaska. “While you’ve been investigating, a group of people in the tribe have emerged who support Burning Wings. What you don’t know is that their attitude towards Burning Wings is now close to fanaticism.”
Their leader hasn't been revealed yet, and their testimonies regarding the Burning Element Wings' power source are only speculation. Pushing them to the forefront, without convincing those in the Flower Feather Society who support the Burning Element Wings, could very well escalate the conflict. After all, many still harbor resentment towards the Velvet Winged Dragons because of previous events.
"Is this also Tepar's reason for coming to capture my sister?"
"This... I don't know either! But Tepar did tell us to find a way to say more bad things about the velvet pterosaurs and give some money to those who don't like them..."
"But didn't Koya attack humans because her child was captured?"
"People who are already swayed by their emotions will not easily change their minds unless more irrefutable evidence emerges..."
"Does this mean we have to capture Tepar?" the captain asked.
"I suppose so. Until then, I'll take them back to the Flower Feather Society."
After saying this, Alpa led the group away. The remaining people also learned the direction of the investigation. After discussing it, they set off for the Echo Child.
As for Ochikanata, there's no rush. The little guy has plenty of time left, several years in total. It's enough time to deal with the immediate issues.