ă€Šlord of prideă€‹


 chapter 1

    Abiathar aero angrily limped down the hall of the medic center he was trapped in. snapping at a healer who tried to help him, he tried to push down the memories that lead to his current imprisonment.

    Aero was a member of the Grinine Race native to the planet augustine. The grine were humanoid being with vibrant skin tones not a single hair on their body plus then but strong exoskeletons a different color from their skin. An interesting characteristic of the grine is that the male bears their offspring and are held in high regard yet treated like glass something aero hated, the glass thing not the other one.

    Augustine was a thickly forested planet with many fast reproducing species that for a reason unknown to them hate the Grine. To repeal these aggressive creatures the Grine opened melee school where they trained people to specifically deal with them. Areo was attending one of these schools which made him world-famous as he is the only male to do so period. There were two responses to this those who supported him but asked him to be careful and those who told him he should stop before he hurt himself, he disliked the first type and hated the second.

    Anyway, the reason he was injured was that on his last training mission where he was supposed to take care of a small pack of babbits a somewhat horrid-looking mix between a rabbit and bat but were a very dull green. It turned out that it was forty large packs of babbits. Aero was to take out 35 packs before he ran into trouble. One of the babbits managed to bit his ankle the situation went downhill from there. capitalizing on his injury the beast knocked away his weapon before ganging upon him. Though he was able to take down a few more, but he knew that unless something happened he would die. So seeing he had no other choice but to ask for help and get was recused by-

    Slamming his fist into the wall denting it Aero tried to push down the rage and shame in his veins,'' damn the zalts why did it have to be her. There are hundreds of students what bad luck did I have at that time.'' straight up growling at the nurse who tried to help him Aero started moving back to his room. Tearing the curtain aside he groaned at the sight of the man known as Adir beit looking over his medical report school. Taking a deep breath he growled," Hello Adir."

    "Hello Aero, how''s this place treatingyou?"

    "Like I''m glass but the foods decent." the younger male grumbled as he walked over to his bed. Beds used by the Grine were basically giant quilt beanbags, the design of each was unique to each owner because the squares making up the quilt record significant events of their life with a representative image and the date. Aeros bed had the generic first few squares birth, first sentence first friend first fight won, okay that last one wasn''t generic but he was so happy and proud of it his mother couldn''t not make a square for it(a lot of people said she should have waited until after his punishment to give it to him). Flopping in his bed Aero tossed his cruth to the side before rolling over he listened to Adir talk about some mindless things as he tried to plan his return to school and how he would deal with the whispers that were sure to greet him. His first idea was to ignore them but he vetoed that because he didn''t have a saints patience(or much at all), his second idea was to knock out a few whispers but the teacher would have him scrubbing floors again(not happening), maybe he could knock out the whispers in a challenge then he wouldn''t be scrubbing the floor but few would accept a challenge from himˇ­

    It was seven and a half petals later that a comment from Adir pulled Aero from his planning," so your mother gave me a message to give you, first she ask that you wait until your injury fully healed before you start training, secondly don''t be too mean to the staff remember most people walk on ice with you, third you''ll be getting a patchfor this event," immediately Aero tried to speak up but Adir cut him off," you may not like it but this is an event that has a big effect on your life so you will get a patch, those are your mother''s words exactly." Adir finished up from the other side of the roomwhere he moved while he talked(just because Aero was injured didn''t mean he was harmless)

    Grumbling Aero turned over grabbing the medic center issued blanket at the foot of his bed and pulled it over his head. Sighing Adir grabbed his leather sack from where it sat next to the door and pulled out a rather thick scroll. Placing the scroll on aero''s he whispered farewell before leaving. Hearing the curtain move Aero pushed the blanket down to his lap before sitting up and grabbing the scroll, ''birth of the lords'' the leather binding of the scroll read. Curios and having nothing better to do he undid the leather opening the scroll.

    The story was in treating talking about how the universe was created. The one who created was the source,at one point the topic change to some bad guy who did seven grande sins for power. How he fought with the source and lost the battle. The war on the other hand came to a standstill as the source was injured and seven in killable beasts were born.

    "What interesting story!" he commented after rewrapping the scroll."what if it was real?" the intruder caught his leg like it was nothing smiling brightly.

    "Now, now!" they caught his crutch, " I''m not here to fight you I''m here to ask you a few things."Aero tried to take back his crutch so he could hit the intruder, sighing they attacked a never cluster in aero''s stunning him.

    A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    "My name is Abhimani, I''m female and the cosmic lord of pride. Would you mind becoming my successor?"

    "Successor to what" she only had him best for the moment,but that wasn''t gonna stop him from kicking her ass. Especially for looking at him like that like he was a harmless little thing.

    "Why the lord of pride of course! Like in that story scroll." aero remembered that, the temporary lord made from the parts of the companion.

    "I don''t want your power!" aero said trying to figure how he could move again.

    "I''m not offering you my power, I''m offering you a chance to make your mother proud and make those naysayers eat their words. I''m giving the chance to make sure there''s never a repeat of needing to accept help from someone you hate."

    "I know you''re trying to use my pride against me!"

    "The fact you can realize it only makes you a better successor, control your immense pride that is why I''m offering to you. but the question will you take the title, the title that will allow you to live up to your endless pride?" the smile on their face was the smile of someone who knew they would win.

    "no!" just to spite them he smiled as he said it he wanted that title but he wanted to be manipulated less.

    "that fine, I''ll just have to give it the one more worthy than you." bait

    "huh, by the zalts is that?" in the back of his head aero heard a warning.

    "why the one you saved you!" line

    "no, NO NO! NO!! she is not better than me.I know this like I know the rights of Koneas the zaltses of work! that female is not better than me!" if his leg could handle it he would have stood and tried to strangle the stranger, he would have tried if he could move

    "then prove it and take the tile of lord of pride" sinker. "I''ll take it and show you that no one will be a better pride lord than me!"

    "really thank you, to give you the titles are heart must be near each other. that won''t be a real problem seeing how most species have their heart in their chest" the current lord of pride didn''t dare have their successor show him his bareback, he lacked armor there so it was an intimate place.

    in the end, they placed their chest together allowing the transfer to start, aero flinched when he felt the prideful energy flow into him.it was strange how the energy felt prideful but aero calmed himself allowing the transfer to happen." ah I''ve been found out!" calm aero was able to understand, and yes he was pissed the other but he was also impressed. he was even more pissed at himself for falling for such a simple trick, he wasn''t gonna hit them yet partly because he still hadn''t regained full use of his body.

    the transfer took almost twenty petals o complete and by that time Aero could move once more the first thing he did was try and slap his provider. they moved out of the way, smiling the entire time. "you should sleep the power will settle by the time you wake up, and then I will tell you about the responsibility of the lord, and one final thing my call me prejudice!" with that they disappeared leaving Aero alone in his room.

    "I''m gonna kick their ass one day!" then he grabbed his quilt and curled up under it. he was asleep within minutes off to the realm of Onna the zaltess of slumber, he dreamed of dancing colors and sounds. when 13 flowers passed he worked up and rolled off his bed before crawling toward his crutch and standing. after doing the stretches his doctor instructed him to do he went for his first meal, he could have it brought to him but he saw pity and concern in their eyes.

    the pity set him off and he admits to overreacting but just because he couldn''t walk didn''t mean he deserved pity."ow! ow! ow!" his leg was hurt something strong right now, stopping he leaned against the wall to rest it.'' how can I get to the mess hall?'' it was a bit far and he didn''t take his pain slime yet so he was feeling the full force of his injury.

    "would you like some assistance?" Aero looked up at the nurse and growled at her, she was taken back for a moment before trying to help again. snapping his teeth at her he would have walked away if he hadn''t almost fallen from his leg giving out under him, he managed to catch himself but the nurse had grabbed him by the waist a moment later. for a moment there was silence before told her to get off she did if only to avoid getting his with his crutch that he had raise.

    she back up outside his sticking range but stayed close enough to assist if need. Aero decide that she didn''t exist before counting his way to first meal, he was able to make it this time and blended in with the crowd. grabbing his jell, a mix of vegetables and meat what kind he didn''t know Aero found a spot where he could eat alone. bitting into the jell he marveled at the texture, it was great but his mothers'' was still better.

    it took several bit bites before he cleaned his plate, he didn''t move from his spot until he was sure that his meal had settled in his stomach not wanting it to come back up. returning the plate he started the trackback to his room, it wasn''t easier than the walk from his room.

    back back on his bed, he prepared to sleep, "good moring young lord!" right he forgot about them." prejudice right?" he kept his gaze on the ceiling, they only laughed before crossing their legs and floating mid-air. "the main job of the lord is to keep the beast inside its cage, their cages can only be broken from the outside so they try and influence those outside it." aero felt the air shimmer with energy one, it wasn''t the kind his race fought with." the best way to do this is to deal with the energy that is created by pride."the Grine sat up this energy felt like the power he received last night except a hundred time more.

    "there a three good ways to deal with this energy, destroy the source, absorbed it, or disperse it!" the pride energy was becoming dense the more prejudice talked, "so which path will you choose? how will you deal with the prideful energy of your race and beyond?"

    the curtain door was pulled open, the doctor was here to give aero his medicine. "well how are you doing this fine morning?"

    "My leg hurt like usual!" he told her eyes snapping between her and prejudice who was currently sitting on the ceiling.

    "well let''s fix that!" with much more gentleness than needed the doctor removed his bandages, under them was his cracked leg exoskeleton and under it a femur with a hairline fracture. the doctor felt the wound and judge his reaction, something he had to let show to his displeasure. but she said it was healing well and he could lose the crutch in about two weeks if he was smart." I am smart!" he declared as she rewrapped the leg.

    "yes a very smart boy you are!" she reassured him handing him his pain medicine, a small ball of jelly. he took the sweet-tasting thing and swallow in one. she congratulated him on not fighting her today before making a retreat, but not before promising to return in a few hours with another dose of medicine.

    "What a nice woman!" prejudice floated down "now did you think about my question?"

    "I''ll do what I want!" he told them plainly. he didn''t expect them to laugh but he did expect his anger at the lighter.

    "don''t worry I''m not laughing at you it just the other lords of sin said something similar, they all wish to do things their way? but that doesn''t bother me in fact I can''t way to see how you do things aero!"

 2

    "you take pride in your work don''t you?" aero has been a lord for three days and he was just learned how to feel the energy of pride. it wasn''t all that surprised to feel it come from every person, it varied but everyone had pride. he did notice that it changed deepened on what they were doing like for example the nurse he was unwilling letting attended to him, he felt it went up as she did her job with a smile.

    "of course I take pride in it, doesn''t everyone take pride in a job they enjoyed?" Aero mummed as she changed his bandages, her following action was to check the state of the rest of his body which was unnecessary but she likes to be thorough." your muscles haven''t weakened, you''ve been exercising when you shouldn''t be!"

    "you can''t stop me." and they both knew this was a fact even though he was unarmed and injured he''s been tried in the art of combat for several years. for a moment she considered just tracking him until he left the hospital but that was likely to gain her his wraith and she read news articles about what happened to those who gained his wraith. even with her years of medical practice, it amazed her how much damage could be done to someone without killing them.'' people should not bend such way!'' she shivered remembering some of those pictures.

    "well see you later" retreating the nurse left Areo alone who crawled out of bed the moment he could no longer her footsteps. in one movement he was on his hand toes all pointing to the roof, he held himself there for 13 petals before lifting his right arm until it was horizontal to the floor. 3 petals passed before he switched to the other arm.

    He repeated this 10 times before rolling to his back, there he stretched out every part of himself. lifting his uninjured leg above his head Aero led it there and complemented the recent change to his mind.'' i fell for a simple trick and accept a huge responsibility, mom would be so unimpressed with me!'' sighing he released his leg and folded it close to him.

    sucking in a deep breath he touched the tips of his finger together before whistling a melody, it was a simple one that made light bloom between his hands. melody manipulation, the supernatural ability of the Grine Race. for reasons they don''t completely understand by stringing certain sounds together they can perform actions mistakenly for miracles. everyone can use melodies but the level of their actions very, there are ways of changing this but there are grueling.

    at school, Areo learned to fight with melody manipulation and by the zalts was it hard. he spent days in bed because he simple overstrained himself or something backfired, the number would be lower if he let teachers help him. but he refused to be glass. Right now he was simply trying to maintain a melody for a long period of time, a simple workout for someone healing was the best thing.

    "man I can''t wait for when I get my staff back" huffed aero tired from sustaining the light for only 7 petals. the reason he wanted his staff back, which was part flute, was because it took the stress from melodies. but on the downside, he had to do a lot of maintenance or the thing would break mid- that could get him killed.

    when his lungs no longer ached he started up another melody, this one made sparks that could be used to make fire. after humming it for a few seconds he switched to one that weakened heat a few more seconds and he switched again. he kept switching melody until his lungs ached again. couching a bit aero laid down looking at the ceiling, the carved stone wasn''t anything special but sadly he has memorized it. he wanted out of his hospital soon, he didn''t care if he had to fight his way out of here.

    "you seem in a bad mood" prejudice said after pooping into the room out of aero rang. and for good reason as the boy swung at him the moment he heard his voice," but I know something that should make you happy. aero turned to the higher being with a late look, "I''m leaving!" okay that did improve his mood a bit," I''ve taught you enough to get you started and I''m gone go lean my power to the part guarding the last beast before joining the rest of my part watching all of the source''s creations."

    "well it was strange knowing you!" he didn''t like him but the person taught him a few things and he was grateful for that.

    "well it was strange knowing you, by the way, you get the helper whether you like it or not!" with that the one name prejudice disappeared.

    "I told him I didn''t need help!"

    ''it doesn''t matter if you need it or not you will receive my help'' a rather deep and fiery voice said.

    "try it and you will regret it!" the helper didn''t respond to that instead they explained the services they offered. enclouding a shop a status screen and a skill record,'' the final is currently empty until you use some skills.'' instead of looking at any of them aero went back to his melody exercises, repeating the one he already did until the midday lunch.

    the trip to the cafeteria was easier than a few days ago, even though he still refused the help of the nurse that followed him there. downing the jelly that was spicey aero gagged before downing a glass of water, then getting another.'' still don''t like spice foods!'' getting up he began the trackback to his room. the nurse followed him again but stay far enough away that aero didn''t mind.

    Stolen novel; please report.

    back in his room, he started on the studying his teachers assigned it was honestly busy work but he had grades to maintain. study of fighting techniques was interesting but it also took the longest, hypothetical situations were frustrating. ''how does he come up with this stuff?!'' but he got it done as well.

    work away he laid back in his bed and thought about taking a nap,'' not in a napping mood.'' instead his thought moved to him being a lord, more specifically how he should deal with those with too much pride. "what effects would it have on them and me?" this was a question that popped up and there wasn''t anyone he could reall-"by the zalts!" several more curses flowed through his mind as he released it was less than a day and he needed the helpers to help. ''doesn''t mean I''m gonna ask,'' something ugly bubble up from his chest at the thought.

    ''it, not an urgent matter it can wait until I feel like asking them!'' he pushed the ugly thing away with logical thought. sighing he calmed down and rolled over to force himself to nap, it was a long fight.

    he woke up to fingers against his cranial exoskeleton and a familiar murmuring sweet nothings to him."hi mama!" the finger paused for a moment before resuming their movement," hi my little beast!" looking up he saw his mother smiling face, it was beautiful actually his mother was beautiful no matter what and if you said otherwise you meet his fist.

    "you got time off?" this place was pretty far from their house but closer to the close still a round trip took a whole day." wasn''t too hard," her boss gave it gladly but-"your worrying?"

    "Just thinking about the bills," this place wasn''t exactly on the cheap side," and no I will not take your money!" she cut off her child before he could speak. "why?" he whined/asked, he''s earned plenty of money from hunting beast more than enough to pay his own school intuition despite the several scholarships offers he''s been offered." don''t wanna become one of those parents!." he knew what she was talking about.

    ''maybe'' he felt for his mother''s pride and had to refrain from jumping back when he felt it. it was a lot but calm, what really got him was that most of it was aimed at him. "do you take pride in me?" it may have been completely out of the blue but wanted to know her answer.

    "of course, I take pride in you. your a strong and independent young man your happy with the way your living and I see you smile every day!" Aero smiled feeling warm to his toes, "I take pride in you as well my mother you raise me supported me even though so many people saying that you should and you should stop me!" his mother laughed before nuzzling closer to him and he nuzzled right back.

    '' if any more energy builds up she will be in danger from the beast'' the helper pipped up a while later. "absorbing it will have no effect on how she feels as the energy is a byproduct of pride, unlike say lust or wraith the energy has no effect on the feeling" Aero took a mental note while not reacting to the helper''s words. '' how would I destroy the byproduct energy?'' he asked even though it kind of hurt, okay it hurt a lot but something happing to his mother would hurt more.

    ''as general rule energy is best attacked with similar energy or opposite energy, so turn your pride into a weapon or learn modesty.'' aero asked how to turn his pride into a weapon, he knew, in theory, he could learn modesty but he wasn''t blind and knew it would take a very long time.'' infuse the pride with a medley that''s the way your people fight is it not?'' that was true but making medley that was order taller than a certain zaltes.

    ''a perfect challenged for me!'' but where did he start medley creation had been brushed on in class but nothing more.'' take a step back and think'', they have talked about how a medley worked. but that class was almost a year ago and he fell asleep halfway through.'' guess I have to hit the scrolls when I go back to school,'' until then he should try and become familiar with the energy within himself. he''d do it after his mother went home, for now, he opened his eye and suggested they head to the gardens and walk.

    "Should you be walking?" she asked after grabbing his crutch."yes to make sure that my muscle should weaken too much!" he said with utmost confidence. His mother stared at him for a long while to see if he was lying and decided he wasn''t, handing the crouth she then helped him climb out of the bed. it was a 10 petal walk for them to reach the gardens and it was worth it as the garden was filled with beautiful plants that had health benefits.

    "so what are your plan when you get out of the hospital?" aero shrugged knowing his mother would approve of some of his plans," probably study and learn so this doesn''t happen again!"

    "asking for help is not such a bad thing," she said as they found a spot to sit in the grass." I''m fine asking for help as long as it from someone worthy of helping me, as she is not and never will be!" the mother sighed at her son pride, "at least say thank you when you go back to school." Aero huffed but agreed, the topic changed to something they both agreed on the sliver clouds floating across their planet''s sky.

    ''lord aero I''ve been doing a scan of your body and besides your injured leg there appears to be a lot of strain on your body, part of it seems to be from medleys and the other part is how hard you push yourself!''

    "I have to push myself hard or is ould be as strong as I am today, and I have to push my self even harder to become stronger,'' aero prepared to hear words he''s heard before. that he should slow down or stop.

    ''you''re an idiot pushing yourself the wrong way!''

    "huh?"

    ''from your memory, I''ve seen the way you''ve train, it abysmal and doing more harm than it is good a saying from the universe work smarter not harder! the reason you had to help is that your body was giving out on you from too much training! if you don''t want a repeat, take this advice! increase your skill, not your power!''

    "What makes you think that will work?" Aero didn''t shoot them down immediately mostly because no one had ever given him advice like this before.

    "you have the strength to split rock, raise your skill and you can split the rock four times with half the effort. at least that''s what the lord of sloth say and they live trying to do the least amount of effort possible and source help the one who makes them!''

    "sound like an interesting person," aero commented, "but fine let''s see what increasing my skill can do." less unwilling he asked the helper where he should start.'' the basics of how you learned to fight...what was the first thing you were taught when you learned to fight?" the asked after a moment. they quickly learned their helper was self-taught and his first lesson was hit back harder.

    ''okay, thank the source I''m aware of ten zillion fighting styles, my lord let''s start with the proper way to throw a punch or kick!'' aero climbed out of his bed and got to his foot and crutch,'' sit back down this is a lecture'' Aero stood just because of the helper''s tone, he got the feeling they sighed but started speaking.

    ''there are as many ways to throw a punch as there are kinds of punch, but they''re a few general rules. one position your fingers the correct way to prevent injury, put your weight behind it to do the most damage, kept your stance in case you need to dodge or bloc...'' the helper went on for flowers but Areo paid rapt attention this was the most he learns about fighting from someone else.

    when the lecture came to an end Aero decide that the helper was worthy of helping him, but he wouldn''t admit it for a while.

 3

    "finally" aero gave a small cheer as the doctor felt the room, he been cleared to leave the hospital. his was more or less healed three days ago but they didn''t want to let him out just to make sure, well it what they said and Aero didn''t believe it.

    "zalts!" his mood soured when he realized his mother''s boyfriend would be the one to help him pack up, could he do it himself. he ran through the numbers in his head his bed his bag on a weak leg, yeah that wasn''t gonna happen! cursing one more he laid under the covers for a bit, it ended up being a short nap.

    when he woke up Adir still hadn''t arrived but he was fine with that, getting off the bed he started stretching out." just like you said it sour stiff and feels weak!" he commented to the helper as he stretched out his recently unbandaged leg. it trembled when he put his weight on it he stretched it more before taking a lap around the room.

    he had taken multiple laps around the room with needed breaks before Adir arrived, he did with a gift hoping to negate aero''s hate for him long enough to get the younger male back to school. it was unnecessary as Aero decided to ignore the older while he packed up his things until he threw the bed at him. they walked out of the hospital with several nurses and doctors wanting to help but the look in Aero''s eyes.

    outside, they loaded the things into the wagon which was pulled by one of the few non-hostile creatures. they looked somewhere between sheep and wolves, but don''t think for one moment the large creature could bite of a limb. the entire ride to the school was silent which Adir found awkward but every time he tried to start a conversation aero looked at him with pure disgust.

    ''you know it would hurt to try and talk to him, what do you dislike about him so much?'' the helper asked almost seven flowers in. ''like every other guy on this planet!''

    ''except you'' the helper commented but was blindsided when aero said they were wrong,'' no the trait I don''t like about him is one I see in my self and that trait is simply the effects of being pampered all your life.'' aero hated the arrogance they all had, there was no problem taking pride in your gender but the amount!

    Aero decide at some point he wanted to earn his pride, and he did with hours of training and combat. he told the helper this, they didn''t say anything for a moment ''a thought process worthy of the lord of the pride, well what will you do about it? arrogance is born from pride making you it lord!'' aero had to think about that, what should he do? should he do anything at all? he complemented this the rest of the ride to his school.

    the school building was pretty old but sturdy as the day it was built. the fields that surrounded the school were for training to relax or to pick fights. Aero drew a lot of attention from the rest of his schoolmates, he would glare and growl if it was still effective. more than a few stepped up to offer their assistance. they got harsh words in return, none felt threaten as they knew if they didn''t push he wouldn''t strike.

    it was an annoying trip up to Aero''s dorm, near the teacher to prevent someone from trying with him being the only guy. it was sparkling clean so he knew the cleaning lady had been here recently hopefully no one else! when everything was in place Aero kick out Adir without a word and started some cool-down stretches before crashing into his bed for a dozen flowers.

    it was dark out when he woke up, stretching out he moved around his room a bit.'' i need food before training'' leaving his room and locking it behind him he heads to the cafeteria. the night shift was there so he got his jelly before heading to the training fields. a few fields were occupied by a couple of girls doing some night training, thankfully they were absorbed by it and didn''t notice aero.

    ''alright the basics right lord aero, the first thing is your stance we talked about it he took a short stance cause he cares for agility more than stability. he held that stance for a bit before starting to practice basic punches and kick, he kept it for a good long while. he wasn''t sure how long he had gone for until he saw the sun start to rise, "class doesn''t start until tomorrow thank the zalts!"

    he took a stop at the cafeteria before going to his room for a nap then returning to the training fields this time with a staff. ''i''ve been using this the wrong way.'' he used the staff as a way to create melodies in combat and nothing more, the helper showed him the staff was a weapon on it own. he felt like an idiot," but I will be better som much better!" he swung once more repeating the motion at least ten times before doing another. he followed this pattern until his limbs ached too much to continue.

    "should probably stop here for today anyway" he was supposed to go easy on his leg anyway, exiting the shed where the practice weapons were stored he looked at the sun which was nearing its peak, he should go talk to his teachers after like anything else.

    he ended up wandering to the library finding some scrolls to read,'' my lord would you mind if I scanned all the literature in this place? it should allow me to serve you better!'' Aero gave the good ahead and they got to work looking through the information held here, it was very useful and enlightening. especially the scroll containing information about the Zalt, according to them they were people of the past. people who did tasks or learn things far beyond what the Grine race called mortal.

    Stolen story; please report.

    ''there something strange here?'' the helper noticed something in all the stories.'' it was on the tip of my metaphorical tongue!'' making note of this they changed to looking at the history of this world. many flowers wilted before Aero headed back to his room for a bit of quiet before going to talk with his teachers.'' they can''t be that bad my lord?'' the helper asked as aero stood before the teacher dorms.

    ''oh, source these people are about to get hit! my lord doesn''t clench your jaw like that you could damage your bones!'' not even a full seven petals passed and aero heard several soft suggestions to resign from his current life path, ''take pride in your self-control for not slapping someone yet!'' they tried to encourage. Aero quickly explained that he would get expelled if he did and there wasn''t another school that would take him. so the helper switched gears and informed him of several methods to keep his anger at bay.

    "are you sure you wish to continue learning here?" a teacher asked. aero''s face was twitching as he said yes he would like to continue his school life, "alright in that case you''ve turned in all the work and you''ll be able to continue without a problem. "thank you!" aero ground out through his bared teeth.

    his quick retreat was unstopped, he heads straight to his room where rant to the helper about how that women dare look down on him, how dare she thinks that a simple injury was gonna scare him, make him stop." I am one of the top students at this school, I''ve complete the most missions this year and the second term hasn''t started yet." the male stopped to huff and puff with a few growls.

    "How will you prove that to her?" the helper asked after a moment. Aero froze, "I have nothing to prove to her!" his tone could have put out the sun," very well my lord!" aero could hear a hint of pride in the neutral voice. it didn''t take a petal to release that he had just been tested, he decided not to confront the formless being and instead returned to his ranting.

    "ugh!" with that he flopped into bed after burning himself out with ranting. "blah!" classes were starting tomorrow that meant dealing with people. "ugh!" more specific that meant facing her, the now. he wouldn''t be surprised if she asked for a date when he said thanks, he shivered before wrapping his covers around himself. the helper takes his mind off the next day by explaining the befit of haveing a sub-weapon and which ones would work great with his bo staff.

    the next morning Aero wakes up to sunlight in his eyes and an empty stomach. climbing out of bed he got ready for the day before heading to the cafeteria. he eats on the way to first-class which is mostly a history class, but the history of grinine wasn''t much. they were too busy fighting against the beast to fight each other so there were few wars. and the one that happened didn''t last all too long.

    next was survival class like it name it where students learn to survive weather at home or in the wild during long term missions. Aero like this class second to least as the teacher focused on his way too much so time it disrupted class Aero has attempted to challenge the teacher to get her to stop but she flat out refused.

    since the class 3 flowers, part lecture, and part hands-on practice lunch followed the second class. then after a flower, the lord had weapons class. no, it wasn''t learning to fight with weapons more about the creation and care of your weapon. "this is worse than I remember!" aero commented looking over the wood chips that were his bo staff, "then again I was fainting when my weapon was destroyed."

    pulling out his notes from when he carved the staff and was struck with the realization that it lasted a lot longer than it should have. his improved knowledge compared to two-orbit cycles ago, his pride swell at his own skill. "now to make something even better than before!" the first thing he needed to improve the durability he was gonna fight stronger beast from now on. he could go for a heavier wood with his strength higher than before, ''maybe I should consider making from a metal?" nan then I would have to change the way I play melodies

    going to the back of the room he went through the books to find a suitable wood while the helper scanned all the books hungry for information. "this one should work!" the wood he found was 40% heavier than the last but twice as durable plus it was a nice shade of silver. going to the teacher he put in his order for the wood. "mmm, valley weeping willow that grows pretty far from here it will take a few days before it arrives!"

    "that''s okay!" aero returned to his note before she could say anything, with them he started planning how to carve the wood, he didn''t consider painting it. when the time was up he headed for his next class, in which they learn and studied melodies, he listened closely to the lecture about water manipulation melodies. Aero practice one that made bubblies a bit before going to where the book was located,'' yes you can scan them all,'' aero told the helper while he looked for the book he needed.

    the hidden sounds of the world are where melodies are born, the sound of the fire, of light, of the stone, of the air itself. to make melodies the first thing you must do is learn the hidden sounds, "so what the sound of pride?" closing his eye he sensed the pride of his classmates before trying to hear what sound it made." mm!" he barely suppressed the scream of pain from the hurricane of noise.

    ''you tried too many at once,'' the helper informed after understanding what went wrong.'' i advise learning the sound of your own pride first so you can weaponize it," aero nodded and listened to the sound of his own pride once his ears stopped ringing.

    Aero for a moment thought about how strange it was to hear the sound his own pride made. said the sound was a lot softer than you would have thought for Aero''s pride, but a strong kind of soft. he listened to it for the rest of class trying to understand the sound, "it goona be a while before I can turn this into a melody," walking out of the call he made a stop in his room for a nap before heading out to the training fields for some shadow sparing.

    "wait!" he paused mid-punch she didn''t approach him, he saw her doing survival. he knew she looked at him and he looked at her, he moved to talk to her but a mix of the teacher and his stomach becoming a mess kept him in his seat. "why didn''t she approach me?" he didn''t understand every female his age has taken any chance they could to hit on him. so why hadn''t she, seriously he didn''t get it and it made making his carapace itchy.

    "how unsettling," he decided before continue his practice. it late that he headed back to his room after a stop In the cafeteria, the mild ache of his muscles distracted him from how unsettled he still felt. he was nearing his room when he saw a familiar face," the zaltess of luck is messing with me." cause for no other reason would she, Rahav, the girl that saved his was standing near his room. the helper felt that if the grinine were caple Aero would hurl, "hello Rahav what can I do for you?"

    when she opened her mouth aero changed his mind and before she could speak, "no screw that I thank you for saving me and demanded you tell me you waited till now to talk with me!"

    "you despise me despite the fact we''ve never spoken, I''m not sure that''s fair."

 4

    *smack* Aero wouldn''t regret slapping her no matter how many floors he had to scrub." you wanna talk fair, then let''s talk fair." he didn''t know where this calm in his voice was coming from." it not fair that everyone at this school treats me like glass despite the fact of my ability, it not fair that quite a few people think the only reason I''m here to impress a girl to bind with. it not fair how the student or teachers treat me. so come on let''s talk fair."

    "you right," aero looked liked Rahav slapped him, "it not fair. may Onna grant you a pleasant slumber" then she left to think leaving aero even more flabbergasted.

    "helper what just happened?" he''s never encountered this before.'' i believe your'' words reached her,'' his words reached her what did that mean. sighing aero went to his room and prepared to enter Onna''s realm, he woke in feeling a lot better mentally and physically. he had his first meal before heading to history class today''s topic being a zalt which definitely interested Aero, the entire time he could tell Rahav''s eyes on him. but he ignored the gaze with practiced ease and focused on the lecture.

    through the rest of the day she still looked at him until Aero confronted Rahav after survival class, they learned about some wild cooking recipes. "why are you staring?" she seemed to think very hard about her words before speaking, "I''m thinking about what you said." then she walked away, again she left him flabbergasted," what is happening?"

    several flowers later he stood on the training grounds practicing some combos, just as he was about to start a new set someone came up to him." who are you?" he knew the face and the feeling of her exoskeleton breaking under his blows but not her name.

    "Rotem is my name pretty," aero gave her a flat look before going back to his combos. "I heard from the rumor mill that you''ve been talking to Rahav," he didn''t acknowledge her. "so are you finally looking for someone to bond with, if y-" she couldn''t say more as Aero spun around and grabbed her by the throat.

    "stop bothering me unless you wish to challenge me!" he let go and returned to his training, Rotem rubbed her throat before walking away mumbling how he was unapproachable as ever. he felt nothing about the words she said continuing on with his training it was a few petals before the helper asked a question hoping to better understand their lord." I don''t want to be approached by her or anyone like her but these people are thick thinking they can break through my wall. if I want you in I''ll let down the gate," Aero responded as he threw some kick between his punches. the helper corrected his form before asking another question.

    ''are you only?'' aero paused for the barest moment.

    "I have my mother and unluckily Adir if I''m feeling desperate," he could hear the helper hum. they were quiet for the rest of aero''s time at the field and while he had last meal. at his room,'' as a lord, it''s best for your mental health that you learn to form bonds even if one in a hundred is meaningful,'' aero had a moment to think over that before now I''m going to explain the concept of the counter.'' the lecture that followed was pretty long but it had Aero''s complete attention even if he acted otherwise.

    with his eyes closed, he imagined him countering some of the attacks he''s had aimed at him over the solar cycles. he fell asleep doing that, his limbs twitched in his sleep like he was fighting. and in the morning he woke up mildly ready for the day which he started by listing to the sound of his pride. he still couldn''t figure how how to make a melody with it.

    at first meal, he went over what he knew about melody making. they could be slipt into three parts the first part was called lock, the second part was manipulating, and finally the action. the fire melody locked onto heat in the air manipulated it into gathering to make a small fire. it''s mostly used to light camping fires and such.

    "how do I get it to lock onto my pride?" maybe he should compare the locking parts of melodies, yeah that sounded like a good idea it would definitely give him more insight. on his way to class he wisted out the first part of several melodies and he was getting something. during class, he tried to get more but he couldn''t keep his focus all too well.

    ''i advise against this course of action,'' Aero stood on the training fields ready to try out the locking part of the melody. from what he read is this went wrong the worst was a headache, if it went right he would feel something similar to the time he used other melodies. when he started humming everything went fine for about half a petal, then all he what a sword through the brain felt like. His jaw almost crackled with the force he uses to prevent the scream from leaving his throat

    "yep did that wrong," he flexed his jaw to ease the acts before heading back towards the building causes after seven petals the headache wasn''t fading. on the way back to his room he tried to focus on the sound of his pride to try and figure out what went wrong but the drums inside his skull were not helping. groaning he pushed the curtain into his room aside making a beeline for the wardrobe. in the bottom under the clothes he had hanging was some common medicine he had, the medic here looked at funny.

    This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

    "a mixture for head pains," pulling it out he closed the wardrobe before dropping onto his bed and uncorking the bottle. taking a few drops before he corked the bottle and set it by his bed. laying down he let the mixture take effect, the pain in his skull faded but the weight of his eyelids grew tenfold Aero let them close.

    rising from his slumber he took note of the dark sky,'' definitely more than a few flowers wilted.'' rolling out of bed he stretched out before heading to the cafeteria he was eaisly about to find something since he missed last meal. with his stomach settled he returned to his room and listened to the sound of his pride to see what he might have done wrong.

    by the time the sun was up he had nothing, and still had nothing for more than a week before on a whim he listen to the sound of his other feelings.'' they changed!'' he feeling changed moment to moment his pride should probably be the same. so for the entire day, he listened to his pride and found he was right it changed depending on what he was doing.

    ''water heat and light is self shifted constantly but one could still lock on them with a medley, you just need to do it right. in the middle of his last class he hummed out the locking part. it worked no skull-splitting pain, next was manipulation and action both he''s discussed it with the helper over the week. he manipulated it to coat his body, this took more longer than predicted it would but he continued to the action infusing with his skin.

    now he could attack a person''s pride directly, well in certain situations he would have to make other melodies maybe one to drain the pride other people possed. now, who should he test this melody against, sensing the pride of his classmates Aero was surprised to find most of their pride was pretty low level at the moment. he felt out further but now really getting anything,'' add widening my pride sensing range to my training list.''

    ''of course my lord,'' the helper replied happily, on another note he realized that his or was making great progress. ''tonight I should show him to the beast of pride, maybe I should bring up the shop again he''s never looked at his stats either,'' maybe he should go over these things once more cause he wasn''t sure his lord was listening back then. hopefully, he would listen this time.

    he sorta listens while wielding a practice weapon after lessons were over, the helper took it as a win when the young lord opened his stats menu.

    Abiathar aero

    lord of pride

    mind 2.5

    body 2.9

    energy 0.5

    lord level 0

    ''why is my energy stat so low?" aero was pleased to see the stats of his mental and physical stats. '' you retain little energy in your body  that makes the biggest difference in the energy stat.'' Aero nodded in understanding and asked how he would change that,'' I''m unsure my lord I need more time and studying of your race and how your melodies work.''

    ''well tell me when you figure it out,'' he opened the store immediately going for weapons and then materials when he saw nothing he could use. ''this would make great weapons but the price!'' sweet zalts he''s never seen that many numbers on a price before. there was no way that he ran that much money before his grandchildren were his age.'' you know I can earn that much?''

    ''yes actually, the lord of sloth discovered it, infusing sin with items create special items. he infused sloth into rocks, they gained the power to make being tired, lethargic, etc. when the lord of rath tried the stone made people bloodthirsty, so whatever your stones do it will make money from someone.'' aero was curious about what infusing pride would so but also about his fellow lords, so he asked about them.

    ''i''m sorry my lord but I''m forbidden to talk about them until you reach at least lord level two,'' aero frowned why would he be forbidden from learning about his fellow lords.'' okay what the retirement for level two?''

    ''lead at least 10 groups of at least four people to reach level two, for level 1 five groups of 4 at least. the level of a lord goes up as you lead.''

    ''Why is that, did the last lord lead,?'' ''yes, prejudice did lead''.

    ''why did they lead?'' ''even the source creator of the universe can not be in a septillion places at once.''

    "what do you know about leading?" aero stopped practicing he needed to give this his full focus, he knew he needed to do it aero wasn''t looking forward to leading anyone because he was male. he was too precious to be leading people on the front line, he was too precious to risk his life like that, to bear the responsibility.'' it''s not gonna go well,'' the helper waited until he returned to his room reclining on the floor.

    ''for every kind of person, there is there are ways to lead. some lead with force others with respect maybe a mix of both, some lead the charge themself some stay back and plan. some care for their teams like family others like tools, what kind of leader do you think you''ll be and what kind do you want to be?''

    ''what kind I leader do I want to be and what kind I''ll think I''ll be?'' aero was honest with himself and his world, there was no way any female would listen to him in a nonpatronizing way. which would infuriate him and lead to at least a few arguments if not right out fights. '' I''m probably gone be a leader who leads with force, but I would love to be a leader who leads with respect '' to was too bad so even tried to let him earn it.

    "Ah, may the zalts help me!" he was gonna go reading until there was less trouble in his future or he hungry, he got hungry first. the next morning instead of heading to class after first meal aero headed to the mission center. here students could pick out missions, they were hunting and tracking, signal and team missions. the rewards for completing mission weren''t too bad, aero usually went right for the solo missions that offered money or let him kept the carcass o what he hunted.

    today with a very unsettled stomach he went for the team missions board, the few other students that were here gasped watching his every move. why would they this was the first time the school only guy looked at this board, Aero knew rumors were going to be flying before the end of class. ''what should I take, probably a team that needs one more so no one joins just to be near me. something without too high of a threat level causes it not gonna go smoothly,'' after looking for a while he found something.

    "tracking dearks, huh" he fought one before looked so harmless and grace-full. that image went out to the stars the moment it opens its gaping maw filled with hundreds of teeth, the also went into insane blood frenzies that had them tearing anything they came across apart. aero remembered when he was tracking one it was beautiful to watch until it got hungry and he almost lost his second meal.

    pulling the mission off the board and brought it to the adult in the room," oh thank the zalts!" aero was confused she usually tried to talk him out of going on missions worried he would get hurt, maybe she thought his future teammates would keep an eye on him. an amused huff left his lips, he watched here make the mission give his a small scroll with more information he needs.

    on his way to class, Aero checked when the mission started, huh just enough time for him to get his bo staff ready. in fact, he was gonna skip his lesson to work on what he knew the wood arrived this morning, turning he headed for the weapons classroom. the teacher was in the middle of a lecture when he slipped into the classroom. slipping the back he found the wood, he got to work uncaring how much noise he need up making there was really no way he could change that plus this isn''t the first time someones worked during class. because it was aero the teacher came to the back to check on him more than once. he pushed down the desire to lash out until classes were done for the day.

 5

    the sound of air being cut alongside some soft notes was familiar to aero, the weight of the staff was a bit different but he could adjust with time. putting his practice to a stop he affixed the staff to his back before heading towards his room he had to change clothes, the Grinine, for the most part, wore animal product clothing. females usually had plain clothing, short sleeve loose shirts, and high cuff pants. on the other side, males wore highly decorative togas. this difference in style was for one simple reason male skin, for they to carry during pregnancy and after their skin had to be a certain texture or young wouldn''t survive long. that and they didn''t do much work.

    their skin was maintained by a certain amount of air flowing under their clothing, this clue aero into how he should dress when lose togas was a bad idea, like when he was hunting dangerous animals. the fabric offered little protection, and ones that did weren''t loose enough and would give him rashes from the lack of air. after many weeks he found a solution, clothing he could change make tighter or losses depending on what he needed.

    his mother made it very decorative but practical, keeping it in the loose state aero went to join the team. they were waiting at the front of the choose, "oh!" seeing them a realization struck him he fought all of them before and won. their names were escaping him at the moment but he remembered ab ti about the fights. "are you sure you wish to come with us?" a share wielder girl Aero fought twice asked. "yes I''m sure now let''s go or we''ll miss our ride," he was already feeling tired.

    they made it in time to get on the carriage, the females were thankful silent for the first few petals then they started trying to talk to him." look I don''t want to talk to any of you, especially you .... ax girl." the saber wielder seemed to notice something about what he said." do you not know our names?" aero was looking elsewhere he wasn''t proud of this fact.

    "hoe could you not know our names, we''ve all fought you before!" the chain wielder cried. aero turned to her slowly with a look of boredom," your fight didn''t make an impression worthy of remembering your names." they all reeled from that his words stung, the look in his eyes stung. it hurt in a way they have never felt before, a guy so beautiful and skillfully didn''t see them as anything worth remembering.

    "our names are not worth remembering, that incredibly cruel." the ax girl commented, clutching all 8 of her fingers." how cruel, how very cru-" her words were cut off by aero laughing, a clear mocking laugh."I guess now you know how I felt, each one of you came up to me unprompted. each of you acted like a was lost that a made a mistake by choosing to come here. just because I''m a guy that meant I shouldn''t fight, that I couldn''t. even after I fought you and won your view of me didn''t change, you think I''m fragile."

    "you are fragile guys weren''t meant to f-*crack!* she didn''t see staff until the end smashed into her jaw.  putting it on his back aero stalked toward the ax wielder, "listen here ax girl, the one deciding anything about me is myself. not else decided anything for me, no one has that right, not even my mother with how much I love her."

    ''control your pride, my lord,'' the helper interrupted mostly to prevent a fight but his lord''s pride energy was leaking out. " now keep your mouth shut or I will shut it," with that Aero returned to his seat and worked on calming himself down. the ax girl wanted to say something but saber put that to a halt, they rented the carriage so they had no right to destroy it in the fight that would surely happen if this line of conversation continued.

    "So has anyone seen the news about the dancer?" aero and the ax girl stayed out of the following conversation actually aero didn''t say a word to any of them the entire two-day ride in the carriage. ''my lord don''t forget your goal in coming here,'' aero grumbled that he knew what he had to do. he just wanted to do it less than before.

    "listen up I''m leading this mission!" his declaration caught shocked everyone." zaltess walk this plane that can not happen," the ax wielder was the first person to respond. "why because I''m a guy?" he reached for his weapon. when the ax wielder the saber wielder stepped between them, "why do you want to lead?"

    "I want to experience leading!" Aero told them plainly hand still on his staff ready for a show of force." all alright, they say you never learn without trying." then saber forcefully moved ax away from Aero until they were out of the male''s hearing range." why did you agree to that? a guy shouldn''t lead." saber held up a hand to after being whisper yelled up. "maybe you''re right about that. I''m not too sure but the fact is that he''s stronger than any of us, or need I remember he hit you before anyone could react!"

    ax grumbled something unpleasant," look when the mission is completed I won''t stop you from doing whatever you want." saber then walked back aero, "what''s our first course of business?"

    "information what do you all know about Derks," they complied with their information the one who knew the most was tonfas wilder. she knew their tracks, diet, and preferred habitat. "okay that should be good stay in hearing range and spread out, look for the tracks." aero turned towards the high grasslands before and marched forward not looking back to see if they followed or not. saber tonfas and crossbow followed, "I can''t believe this," ax growled out before following into the grass.

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    "they go through this area a lot," aero mumbled looking over the tracks he found. they pretty fresh at least a day old though, staying low he filled the track seeing where they went. he followed them right up to a pile of bones, at least they weren''t Grine bones. studying the bone he was able to determine how long they''ve been laying here, not every long seeing as there were still bits of meat attached.

    "you know being a leader means following your own orders right," saber stepping out of the grass looking over the bones. "I''ll have to remember that fact," he asked if she found anything of interest "same thing you found tracks and bone."

    "mm, let go check in with the others," two meals in this area meant they were more than a few Derks or a few were staying in the area both were bad things. Derks weren''t totally social animals preferring small groups, which lead to exceptions mean bad things for them. Derks were also mobile creatures moving all the time even in their sleep.

    "I have two ideas of what going on,  saber looked at him to go one," one is mating season the other is afterward." he didn''t have to explain to her why both these were bad, the first meant very horny and temperamental Derks the later when Derks that were protecting there young. both promised a difficult battle if they got caught, finding the members of their team they shared information." so what the plan leader?" ax asked mockingly aero ignored her and turned to tonfans asking her what she knew about derk habits during and after mating season.

    "they stay near large bodies of water to keep any young they have safe, it also helps feed them with aquatic plants." crossbow spoke up after her," I know this area a bit and there a late body of water about seven-length north or northwest from here."  aero sighed before tightening his clothing.

    "Unfortunately," we have to lay eyes on them to complete the mission so be very quiet and ready to fight. stay hidden in the grass and don''t bleed." with his orders done they moved out as quietly as they could, aero remained completely focused keeping an ear out for anything other than them. seven lengths weren''t that hard to cover but trying to be a silent as possible added a few petals.b

    "may the zalts help us!" the number of Derk was high Aero kept losing track a 50, "this will be a stamped soon." aero agreed with saber this was stamped soon, they need to retreat and send a message so this Derk could be slathered before they slathered a village or a city.

    "well I guess there wasn''t much to your strength!" ax commented as they retreated. "well that just proves I best you in brains and brawn, I don''t even have to say anything about looks." he didn''t even look back at her leading the retreat, he probably should have and he could have stopped her next action," I will not take that even if you are a male!"

    "oh no!" crossbow said interrupting the silence that filled the girl yelling, they weren''t out the drek''s hearing range." run!" ordered all of them abandoned any notion of stealth breaching into full sprints aero took up the back unsheathing his staff. "create instructions!" they didn''t understand what he went until he was humming a melody one most students at the school knew.

    the end of his staff coated in a fireproof and clear residue caught alight, swinging the burning end he clipped a derk the had gained on them. a low swing spread the fire the grass scaring the beast and allowing him and his team to gain a better lead." you set the field on fire what if it spreads!" ax yelled at him.

    "This is you fault so sip it, also this place had to have rained recently or the ground wouldn''t be this soft!" ax twitched because he was right about the second thing she would deny the first. the continued running leaving unleashing obstacles or diversion when the derks caught up, which was often because they were fast.

    seeing the end of the grass coming insight Aero started another melody between his rapid breathing. the moment he passed the border he unleashed the melody''s power, fire much stronger than before took the form of a wave it burned the grass and the derks that followed. the grass was quickly turning into a sea of flames but he didn''t care.

    joining the other on the cart the first thing he did as it started to move was socking the ax wielder, once she was on the ground he turned to the others. "anybody hurt?" they shook their heads looking at the ax wielder got on her feet, "good now who want to give are report because that seems like a fun conversation."

    "Why don''t you*grunt* give it dear leader!" ax climbed to her knees only before aero to use her as a chair. "I know exactly what their gonna say if I talk to them, something about me not being able to handle it because of my gender and that I should retire my fighting career actually there gonna say that no matter who talks to them but if I go there''s gonna be a fight!" he sounded resigned to this fact but also incredible annoyed.

    "not it!" saber declared a moment later. crossbow filled her example, " the zaltes have abounded me!" tonfan groaned no one of them knew that ax going to be the one to make the report, they weren''t even sure if they were gonna see her again.

    "What kind of gift should I bring to her burning?" crossbow whispered to saber who smacked her on the arm. "he''s not gonna kill her, he gonna put her in a medic center though." the later he done many times to many people. the carriage ride was silent except for the grunt from ax as she tried to get out from under aero but after a few petals he knocked her out with a blow to her spine which she recovered from quickly so he did it again.

    when they arrived at the school they went there different way except for ax who was out for the moment.'' my lord I should say that the girl with the ax had pride energy overflowing, the beast has already noticed and is trying to take advantage of it but the companion interference is still running strong.''

    "interference?"

    ''yes as instead of dealing with every overflowing pride they created a way to interfere with the beast''s attempt to content to said pride.'' Aero hummed as he arrived at the weapons workshop, he needed to redo the fireproof resin plus he wanted to see how if there was any danger from its first time using it, besides in training.

    "Could I use the interference?" the helper told him no,'' with the current level of your abilities it would take your life. you must grow much more before you can, but the good news is that your lord level has grown'' Aero steps faltered hearing this information.

    "why? I didn''t do that much leading," frontally the helper knew exactly what to say, ''making sure no one is left behind that is the action of a leader. you stay at the back to defend and to make sure no one got left behind even though you could have left them all in the dust. when you were helplessly outmatched you ordered a retreat to not risk the lives of your team.''

    "oh," he didn''t think those meant much but apparently they were leader-like. "okay what should I do?" he asked the helper as he pulled the fireproof resin from the shelves and a brush to apply it with,'' the best thing for you to do is deal with that ax girls pride before the beast uses her to attack you. and before you say she, not a threat the would give her strange but powerful abilities''

    applying the last of the resin, "okay I will deal with her. but mostly because it just another reason to send her to the medic center!" he hopped she was ready.

 6

    the way challenges worked at the school was pretty simple you issue one, and the receiver chooses to accept or not. it wasn''t strange for the student to make bets on the fights, doing the loser''s homework, or something like that. despite his strength people usually accept his challenges, why he bet something everyone wanted. a putting with him, a chance to show that they were worthy of courting him.

    "she said no!" it hadn''t been to flower since he returned to the school and she rejected his challenge, maybe she was smarter than he was giving her credit for. but she probably wasn''t still too smart he just had to tempt her more, "maybe that will work." adding to the betting part of the scroll he handed it to the teacher who took it to find. not even five petals later Ax charged into the room, "are you serious?"

    Aero smiled at her knowing he had her, "yes I am serious win this fight and I will allow you to court me with no objections for one month." her face revealed her inner struggle Aero set back and waited for her to the cave so he could have what he wanted.

    "fine we''ll fight, but prepare to fall for me!" Aero scuffed as the teacher arrived and finalized their challenge telling them the time they could use the arena. it was soon enough that aero was glad that he didn''t change his clothes, leaving he heads straight for the arena.

    there was a fight going on in the area when he got there, it was wrapping up soon. "she tired herself out," the other would be the winner unless a sudden change occurred."clever," the change came in the form of a melody that allowed her burst of speed. she tackled her opponent out of the arena winning the match. "I don''t know this girl," that meant he hadn''t fought her before he may actually share some classes with her.

    watching the arena get repaired he was glad that he never fought her before, the way she fought probably meant she would worry about hurting him to actually fight him. "that hammer of hers would totally hurt though," tightening his clothing Aero saw ax girl enter the arena. the moment the repairs were complete Aero jumped down from the spectator area just as their fight was being announced.

    "where''s your weapon?" aero knew something was missing he had left it drying in the workshop. sighing he looked at her bored," what makes you think I need it against you?" getting into a fighting stance he waited for the starting signal.

    "on the name of the Zaltess of combat fight with honor!" Aero broke into a sprint when he got close to ax he tried to sweep her leg from under her. she jumped over it unclipped the blunt training ax she brought to this fight, she swung it down but her attack was stopped by aero smacking the side of the weapon making it a miss.

    using the opening that followed the male lashed out with his leg nailing her gut sending her sliding across the arena. aero got to his feet first instead of attacking he started humming, hearing this ax cursed, and shot to her feet having no intention of letting him finish. weaving around the attacks continued his humming, the moment the melody was complete Ax went on guard. the fact he punched her with what looked like a normal fist was too shocking to block.

    ''my lord it worked, her pride has been damaged,'' aero smirked. the melody took the energy generated from his pride using it to coat his body, which he could use to attack someone''s pride. his attack on ax confirmed it,'' how much do I have to hit her?''  the helper told him however much he liked.

    Aero charged meeting ax halfway going low he avoided her slash and passed through her legs, he followed by body-slammed her back knocking her onto her hands. he followed with a kick to the abdomen, she blocked it with her arms but it did knock her over allowing for a second kick she couldn''t block. he felt her chest carapace take the blow which hurt against his heel but he pushed through it and jumped over the ax strick that would have broken his leg.

    ''that much strength laying on her side, definitely shouldn''t let her hit me!'' landing he quickly found himself in a bad position. Ax was using her weapons range to prevent him from getting within striking distance, as he weaved around the slashes aero figured an unpleasant way to take away that advantage.

    seeing the next strick coming he braced himself before catching the ax by the pole, his leg sythed through the air into her elbow. her grip weakened by the attack aero was able to disarm her and slung the weapon onto the soil outside the arena. the moment before she could adjust to the loss of her weapon Aero stuck hard fast and repeatedly, it was almost a dozen blows before she recovered and hit him in the gut.

    coughing Aero ducked under the second blow before trying an uppercut that got cut, he cursed right before getting socked across the face. his head spun when he hit the ground but he still had enough awareness to put some space between we''ll be tired but Ax wasn''t having that. "I knew she was persistent."

    "AH!" aero smirked as his mule kick knocked her back giving him the chance to get his feet under him. on said feet, he made the choice that he should end things pretty soon.'' I''ve done enough damage to her pride already anyway,'' it had nothing to do with the fact he might lose if this kept up.

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    "oh no," a frequent arena watcher commented seeing how Aero changed his stance. saber who happen to be sitting near here asked what she meant," he about to go nuts." saber didn''t get a chance to ask what that meant when aero charged at ax staying low to the ground. when he reached her it happened too fast to track but ax''s face ended up slamming into the ground with a loud crack sounding out. but Aero didn''t stop there grabbing both of her arms and instead of breaking them like saber expected he used them to repeat drive her face into the ground.

    "vicious each time I see it, but dame you have to admit that''s impressive," the watcher said looking over to saber. "every time? how often does he do that?"

    "not as often as you would think or he would like from the way he just looks at some people but when he needs to put someone down and make sure they stay down." saber looked down at the arena to see aero walking away and ax not even twitching, "definitely does the job she commented. how many of his fights have you seen?"

    "all sixty of them," she responded as watched Ax get carried away to the medic center," sixty times someone thought they could win and take him on a date, sixty times he showed that he was no ordinary guy." in the area ax was being carried off.

    "you sound like you wish to cost him?" saber commented hearing the adoration filling her voice. the watcher laughed and asked who didn''t. "not only is he beautiful, but he''s also grateful he''s strong he''s determined to boot. but I''ve seen enough matches to know I have no chance," when saber asked why she answered," I can''t give him what he craves most."  she got and made to leave the arena knowing there wouldn''t be another one for a while saber following.

    "what is it he craves the most?" the watcher shrugged she didn''t know but she could feel it in her gut that she didn''t have it. saber didn''t argue with her she didn''t know what the girl was even talking about.

    inside his room aero had changed back to his usual loose-fitting clothing and was treating the bruises on his knuckles. his muscles ached from the fight but he was feeling great letting out his anger on that girl,'' my lord your pride has swelled from that fight.'' he wasn''t surprised the melody he developed himself worked, this was no small feat. "I could graduate right now couldn''t I?"

    getting into the school was hard leaving it was harder, to get in you have to prove a certain amount of skill. to leave you had to attain a definite amount of feats. most students did that by completing about a hundred or so missions, if you created a melody that was equal to about 25 missions more depending on what the melody could do.

    ''there''s no reason to leave this school except that people won''t stop looking down on me,'' he would stay at the school for now. "when should I head out for my next mission?"

    ''my lord I don''t you should for at least two weeks if you wish to train like usual,'' of course the helper wasn''t placing bets that their lord would listen to them

    "two weeks seems long seeing as I suffered no real injury," Of course there had been close calls. ''i''m reading damage in your body you can check in your stats.'' Aero opened them curious about what he would see cause he felt fine.

    Abiathar aero

    lord of pride

    mind 2.5

    body (2.9) 2.3

    energy 0.5

    lord level 1

    [minor full-body skeletal damage deteckted]

    "How did that happen?" how did he have that kind of damage everywhere. there was no way it was from the fight unless ax used some kind of melody on him to do that damage. ''i have a theory if you''re interested my lord,'' he was interested," going back on my observations of you I found when the damage started. it only appears or worsens when you use a melody, so I guessing that your entire body is some kind of instrument.''

    "huh?" he didn''t know if he was lost or just surprised.

    "your entire body goes into making the sounds needed for your melodies even if it feels or sounds like your just using your mouth. and your bones despite the incredible durability they have can''t take the force of the vibrations a-" Aero cut them off there and ask what he meant by vibrations, which the helper answer which a quick lecture on how sound was just vibrating air.

    ''i have more questions than before!" because if making sound meant making the air vibrate how did melodies work.'' know what curse the zaltess and move on. what were you saying about my bones?"

    ''they can''t handle the vibration, which is causing them to shake themselves apart.'' Aero felt his jaw drop, his bones were being damaged by something he couldn''t stop using. even if he went with the life most males of his race took they still used a few melodies a day. but it did totally shed so light on why everyone always complained about pain in their bones, it because their bond has apparently been taking small damage over the years and started showing its effects later in life.

    "I am not looking forward to getting older!" he complained before decided he''s had enough of today and took a nap. it was flower later that he woke up hungry, as he left his room he asked the helper if he had any idea how to prevent that bone damage.'' actually you''ve already done it, your staff/flute works very well to prevent damage to your body,'' "well would you look at that".

    when he retrieved his weapon he looked over it, he designed this thing to prevent stress he had no idea how it was protecting his health. "good thing I take such good care of my weapon," leaving the workshop he heads to get some food. there was no one was there when he ate and he encountered no one on his way back to his room, since he wasn''t tired he practiced with his staff making small melodies.

    when he went to a class in the morning the helper was able to tell him just how much damage the flute staff prevented. this had Aero wondering should he reinforce the weapon or just make more of it." neither of these options are cheap, I could probably cut down on the cost if I change the kind of material I make the staff out of."  this was something he would have to put a lot of thought into, his math skills was something to be a bit proud of but they could still be a lot better.

    in-class Aero half paid attention trying to figure out the numbers right, around the second meal he thought he had it right unless he made a mistake. ''i''ll do neither, continue the way I have before,'' reinforcing the weapon would be the best. it would be safe, it would be a crutch, doing your best to prevent injury was one thing but fearing injury was another and with his pride Aero would never do the latter.'' tell me more about staff-wielding," he commanded the helper who was more than pleased to do so.

    when the class came to an end for the day he started putting the information into practice, he did so until the sun had long set and his muscles hurt. after having third meal he returned to the training field to peace his pride melody. it didn''t do much on the tree he was practicing on but it was affecting the plant''s pride." I didn''t know plants had pride," Aero commented while taking a short break.

    ''all things that live have pride, you just have to look close enough.'' opening his eyes to the pride he could see the pride of the plant. there was quite a bit of it actually even if he had removed small chunks of it. the grass had a lot more pride, and so did the few people still training at this time, "they''ll make good people to knock down a peg or ten."

    continued with his practice for another flower before retiring to his, on the way aero encountered saber. who informed him about the stat of Ax before leaving, ''she wasted her time coming to tell me that.'' the helper said he was cold,'' hey I have excellent control of my strength and I read several scrolls about injuries I knew she would be fine!'' Aero said with an edge.

    ''of course my lord,'' the helper said in a placating tone.

 7

    "someone''s got it out for me," he didn''t know if it was a living or a legend but someone''s got him into this situation. getting closer to the ground he swung out his leg, the beast cried out as he struck true to its face. leaping away while it was a daze, aero rapidly swung his staff around in practiced movements that brought a melody to life.

    the weapon seemed to hummed from the melody power, which Aero used to stick the recover beast and cave in its skull. the feline-like beast dropped to the ground the same moment another of its kind jumped from the treetops, its agility prevented aero from getting a clean hit but it did tumble onto the earth. grunting with the effort he attempted to finish it off but another one got in the way, which allowed them both to return to the trees.

    "moondust, I hate these creatures!" panting Aero kept his guard up knowing the moment it went down they would stick and he wasn''t sure they would fall for his fake letting his hard down again. ''need a plan need a plan," he could see one of them between the leaves. but he might be hearing more, it was hard to tell because these creatures were fast a the wind.

    "can''t burn down the tree," even though he really wanted to. "I can get rid of the leaves!" the idea came to him as he ducked under a claw swipe from one of the moats. swing the staff above his head, a wind melody was played. shifting his hold he spun the staff faster and faster, a small twister was formed around the male ripping the leaves from the tree.

    before the twister died down aero struck, rushing through the wall of wind he attacked the first Monat, the blow was able to stun it long enough for aero to play a melody that allowing him to cave in the creature''s skull.  Its power kept up as he charged the second, which was charging at him. falling back he slid under the Monat where he used his staff like a spear. driving into through the creatures'' gut.

    ignoring the blood on his face aero swung the soon-to-be carcass into the last of the Monats, it growled when the body hit it. when it recovered Aero was on his feet and had wiped the blood from his face, "let''s finish this!" the Monat roared in agreement changing at Aero and charged right back, when he swung the creature it leaped over his and swiped at his head. but he dropped low and avoided the stick by a hair, spring to his feet aero aimed for the legs with another swing.

    he felt something give under his blow but it didn''t seem to impede the creature as it weaved between the trees but without the leaves, the Grinine had a much easier time keeping track of it.'' it not gonna come close to me with thinking it has a chance for the kill and as fast as I am I can''t keep up with that kind of speed.''

    watching it race around he tried to think, "I need it to stop moving that''s a fact. at least so down," so that meant attacking it limb or binding it. he knew a melody that would make the second happen, but he knew how to use it by humming or playing the flute. he couldn''t swing his staff to make it happen so he brought the staff to his lips and started playing it.

    before the melody was complete an effect could already be seen in the vegetation on the ground around aero. it grew rapidly forming launching its self at Monat, seeing the attacking vegetation the creature ran faster but aero knew that was futile. as fast as they were Monats weren''t know for their stamina, before long it would tire then the vegetation would catch up and smother it to death.

    ''took longer than I estimated it would,'' he thought rubbing his soar throat. losing his clothes Aero pulled out so medicine for his throat, sighing feeling it go to work he took a fang from each of the creatures as proof of his hunting. ''right the final things,'' from the food of his clothing he pulled out a small bag.

    ''how strange?'' the helper commented as Aero sprinkled the decomposing powder over the corpses. aero asked what was strange,'' this ritual. making sure the bodies return to the earth before leaving, for creatures that wish nothing more than to kill you don''t you think it''s strange to give them respect in this way?'' aero put the bag away and stood back watching the corpses rot before his eyes thinking over the question.

    ''I haven''t really questioned it, it how things have been done for a long while but thinking about it don''t see a problem."  making everything sure everything even the bones had rotted away aero headed to the edge of the forest where a cart was supposed to pick him up in about a flower or two.

    seeing the cart wasn''t here yet aero sat down checked himself over, "just scratches which is good." he felt out one of the scratches on his leg''s exoskeleton, the Monat''s didn''t have poison so he wasn''t worried about that. infection of the other hand, digging the bag he placed in the tree he sat down in front of Aero started treating the scratches.

    the cart arrived and the girl driving it looked him over with pitying eyes, she asked several times if he was alright saying that he didn''t have to act tough. if it wasn''t for the fact she was his ride he would have smacked her for thinking he could handle his injuries, they weren''t even that bad. ''it may have something to do with the number of bandages you used," he looked at the bandages on his arm maybe it was abit much but he wasn''t risking infection.

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    when they arrived at the village aero headed for the person to give the fangs to, so he could get the mission''s paper signed. he was quite pleased how shocked she was seeing the fangs and how little injured he was, "I told you it would be done by me and I would need no help." taking the signed papers he left the house, a cart would be able to take him back to the academy for a few flowers. so time to kill.

    he chooses to kill time by looking at peoples'' pride, it was strange how different yet so similar each person''s pride was. several petals fell before he was interrupted by a child toy hitting him, he tossed the toy back without looking only for it to hit him again. turning to the child he was a bit maybe in his 7th year.  tossing the toy back he started down the boy, after a moment the boy threw the toy and smiled when Aero caught it. "you wanna play?" aero tossed the toy.

    "yeah got nothing else to do!" he tossed the toy back not catching the rage that crossed aero''s face. he remembered when he had nothing better to do with his life than play because no one would let him do anything. they all thought it was the cutest thing that he wanted to work, that he wanted to do something worthwhile. but he was a guy, he was young, man it got on his nerves. it looked like it annoyed this kid as well, it was nice to meet a kindred spirit.

    "you know what did when people told me to play," the boy paused in his ball throwing," I learned something they disproved of."

    "you learned to fight?" the boy perked up before catching the ball aero laughed. "that one of the things they learned, they told me to play a lot!" he nodded in understanding before starting to think about what he should learn, fighting wasn''t all that interesting.

    "what do you know about acrobatic," aero knew very little but he liked the way this boy thought. he also knew how to help the boy learn, "ever been to the dancing tent?" it was a traveling show with lots of acrobats more than a few of them were mothers and they would totally show the boy a thing or two if he asked, just because he was cute!

    "that sounds manipulative?" the boy commented tossing the toy.

    "it is!" aero told him flatly," but do you think they''ll teach you if you don''t pull a few puppet strings." the boy''s expression didn''t change. catching the toy aero squatted to the boy''s height so he could look him in the eye, "look it''s unpleasant I''m not gonna disagree with you. but everyone you know is likely gonna try and make you stop, your gonna need every advantage your gonna get, and not all of them are gonna be pleasant ones." the boy was quiet looking towards the people walking by, Aero stayed quiet letting the boy think.

    they didn''t come back to the topic and continued tossing the toy back and forth in silence until it was time for aero to leave," by the way what''s your name? I wanna recognize it when you''re in the new scrolls!"

    "Demsky Zavad!" he said beaming wide.

    "Zavad take pride in your abilities and may it be stronger than those who wish to stop you!" Aero didn''t know what made him say that or what was lacing his voice but he felt it would be good for Zavad. on the cart the helper congratulated him,'' you have given your first blessing my lord!''

    ''blessing?'' the helper started explaining, all lords have the ability to grant blessing after their level rises to 1. as the lord of your pride, your blessing with always center around a being pride. when you raise your level you may gain other abilities it depends on yourself and nothing more.''

    aero looked back towards the village,'' I hope the blessing does him well. so why didn''t you tell me about the new ability?'' the helper told him they weren''t aware he had gained it until this moment, they weren''t any solid logic to the granting of lord abilities. just as the lords themself.'' okay that fair,'' aero stretched out in the cart looking at the others riding with him. they didn''t seem like fighters so he didn''t pay them much mind.

    "your Abiathar aero aren''t you," the mentioned male looked over to the voice of a woman carrying an instrument. one meant to play music with not fight with like Aero''s staff." who want to know?"

    "Roth Shira!" Aero almost squeaked. being word famous he paid attention to the news and if there was one person who was in the news more than him it was this woman tight here. looking closer at the rest of the passengers he realized they were the members of her crew,'' sweet Zalts and Zaltess!'' he inched away panicking slightly as he "what do you want?" he shifted to a defensive stance.

    "I''ve been looking for a new inspiration and I''m thinking I just found it!" Aero bristled,"  you think I''m your inspiration!" she didn''t seem bothered by his hostile tone in fact it made her smile. "you do things out of spite, I''ve read the news! that means strong emotion and those the best inspiration!"

    aero had to admit this was different she wanted him for his emotions, but if she wanted them she was gonna have to fight for them. "why should I help you!"

    "I can help you tell people just what you think of them with them realizing they''ve been insulted," okay that was tempting but not enough to make him spill his guts. " plus I can pay you lots!"

    "you think I need money? I''m very successful at my job, in a few years I''ll make you look poor!" he smiled at her she returned a similar smile," you a bit too young to be so arrogant!"

    his smile faded "it''s pride, not arrogance! but you still haven''t given me a reason to open up to you."

    "well, we have an entire carriage ride," at that moment Aero wished for a Zalt to stick him down. there was a brief moment he considers assaulting her but this woman had a large number of rabid fans. and while it was unlikely they would attack him they would sure be as annoying. groaning he took measured breathes trying to stay calm.

    "why can''t you find some other kind of inspiration ?!" he was about to say fuck it.

    "I like my song to have some kind of messages some kind of meaning, and I can just tell there is something you would like to tell the entire world?" aero sighed once more, "you right there''s something I would like to tell the world but not through you!"  she didn''t stop trying to convince him like she didn''t hear the word no. there was a very big chance this was because of his gender, but what else was new.

    "What makes you think you can convince me?" he asked after a few petals and opening his eyes to the pride." it simple really because it will lighten your heart!" and that made the connection for aero.

    "you think my heart is weighed down by how other people view me!"

    "is it not?" it was a bit but aero wasn''t telling her instead," by the zalts are you wrong!" standing he got close uncomfortably so, "listen it being me nothing but joy to prove people you what I''m caple of despite my gender!" he got even closer to whisper into her ear before returning to his seat.

    ''my lord that was a very good threat but do you think it will work,'' aero nodded,'' it will work to be disgraced before the Zalt or Zaltess you follow is a bad thing. I would be devised my self if a was disgraced before the Zaltess of combat or the Zalt of progression.''

    ''i know who the first one is but not the second?'' aero shrugged before explaining that man''s legend, it started pretty simple with him cooking. it had struck him one day how wasteful the way the food preparation was, so he invested away the made less waste. he found it but he saw a lot of waste everywhere now, waste that was from everyone growing stagnant not improving. progress was needed. so progress he would make.

    his action made waves that changed the entire world and Evbus Zalt of progress would be how he was known for history.

 8

    "I have regrets and it''s has been a half a flower yet,'' he had recently stepped off the cart in the town near his school and was getting ready to buy a few things before he headed back to school. but it seems that this was not his day as while he was getting some temporal flower seeds when he almost ran face-first into someone from school. they instantly asked him to second meal, if it hadn''t annoyed him so much Aero would have been impressed by her courage but he side-stepped her and continued shopping needing some hygiene products.

    "That was very rude! young man," aero turned to the older female who had maybe forty sixty years on aero''s mother. "if you''re not interested, you should let them down gently!" they started at each other for a moment before aero responded to her.

    "that was gentle, for me anyway," then he moved to leave but the lady was not having his tone and immensely calling it attitude, it was! "look I commended you for living so long but that doesn''t mean I have to atomically listen to a stranger!" he interrupted when she brought up the fact that she was his elder. she looks like someone slapped her, sucking in a breath she turned away, aero sighed relieved that it was over.

    only that five petals later she returned with her daughter, how did aero know that well their armor was very similar." so you went for reinforcements!" aero commented after paying for his soap," I have to respect tactile retreats."

    "I heard what you said to my mother, that was completely uncalled for!" aero was unfazed," what uncalled for is her butting in my personal affairs! also, do you two really wanna make a scene about this?" at this rate it was gonna be a very big scene.

    "yes we do wanna make a scene, I will not allow you to insult my mother!"

    "When did I insult her?" he just told her his opinion but if she took that as an insult that said more about her than it did him." you told her that she didn''t have your respect she''s your elder!"

    "and once more I congratulate you for living this long but that does mean I should listen to everything you have to say, nor should I immediately cower!" his tone was unwaveringly making it clear he had no intention of backing down. they were all mostly matching, the sense moved while aero did the rest of his shopping.

    "would you focus on the matter at hand!" the daughter screamed while aero tried to decide between what kind of lotion he wanted."I don''t need to give you two a drop of my attention and I''m sure as the zalts not gonna stop buying my things!" he didn''t turn away from the locations, after taking a smell he decides on the one that smelled like spice.

    "do you really think so little of this conversation?"

    "yes! You''re trying to argue about how I respond to advise from strangers! also you''ve following me around which is weird, to begin with!" then he went to pay for his lotion thankful they didn''t immediately follow him, but they did follow him from the cart clearly trying to find a way to argue with him.

    ''my lord if I may help, this is a matter of pride now,'' that actually helped a lot, he hurt their weak pride so he either had to soothe it or he could more damage until they retreated. he chooses violence! now he should figure out how he was gonna do this,'' I mean I could probably get away with just clocking them both but.'' he wasn''t dealing with local law enforcement again, these women had long grown tired of him.

    ''maybe I should strike them somewhere out of sight?'' aero considers while deciding which kind of mouth wash he should use. when the mother and daughter tried to start with him again, aero hummed. they stopped and backed away getting the message he was ready to beat their asses, he was unimpressed when they both got into fighting stances."fine if you wanna go," aero planted his feet just in time for a whistle to be blown.

    "Okay that''s enough of that!" a woman wearing a two-colored sash pure white for Batia the zaltess of justice and grey for the Dredara the zaltess of fairness. these two were said to be friends or mortal enemies because justice wasn''t always fair, but being fair wasn''t always just. but if they were together many people were pleased.

    "well, that''s the end of that," aero gather his thing paid for his mouth wash, and walked away. the law enforcement stopped the mother and daughter from following him while another followed him so he didn''t double back to get them. this was a smart choice. as aero headed back to school he held a conversation with his helper about more methods to attack people''s pride.

    "developing one melody was hard enough but now more of them," he groaned putting away his last purchase. he''s not even that familiar with the first one he made and now the helper suggested he make more of them, mostly to grow more familiar with his pride''s energy. that or he could use the melody for five thousand flowers, this was an insane amount of time.

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    "I can do five thousand flowers," aero said feeling up to the challenge. there were 13 flowers in a day, about 3-4 of them he lost to classes, and 4 definitely lost to sleep. that meant about five flowers to do whatever he wanted counting meals and bathroom. "a thousand days!" use the melody for a thousand days, since its effects faded when he lost focus he just had to maintain focus for about five hours a day.

    he started now readying his staff, he had to go slow it being his first time doing this. he went a bit faster the next time, by the time he was getting ready for slumber he had reached a decent pace. he continued the next day during his free time. activating the melody multiple times and holding it for as long as allowed aero to get a better feel for the energy. he could start to feel what gave birth to the pride, it was nice to know that he wasn''t that single-minded. his pride wasn''t just from his fighting skills, even though that was a large part.

    he took pride in his mother, he took pride in how he doesn''t bend to anyone''s will but his own and occasionally his mother. plus dozens of smaller things, it gave him a head feeling them but it lightened his heart but also made it heaver because his pride''s energy was dense as metal. he couldn''t tell you what kind of metal but it was metal all right.

    "guess that why I was a candidate for the succession," he was currently stretching who knew repeating motions several dozen times could make your muscles cramp. groaning he stretched out his legs before getting up and letting his blood flow to every inch of his body." there that''s better!" he could get back to work practice with his flute staff, he keeps that it to third meal and his trip to Onna''s realm.

    it was a nice trip and he was refreshed the next morning he made this his routine for several days before he took another mission, reluctantly a team one. '' I hate that the helper is right that I need practice working with people!'' Aero grumbled about this as he returned to the training ground after dealing with the teacher on mission counter duty.

    "can these people not learn!" he grounded out wailing on a training dummy. once again people thought they could get him to stop him from doing what he wanted. he was too strong and too stubborn for that to happen, "when will they learn!" it was seriously burning what remained of his little patience." at this rate I might as well head into the wild and spend my life there!" but he couldn''t do that his mother would cry.

    ''are you feeling better my lord?'' the helper asked when Aero pated hands on his knees, the lord just grunted trying to balance his breathing. ''i should find another way to live," while he was pretty sure he could fight his way to the top no matter who or what stood in his way it would surely be a test worthy of Zalt status.

    ''thoughts for another day,'' stretching out aero used the pride melody to coat his body and weapon in the energy once more. ''my lord I have a suggestion about changing your lifestyle!'' Aero didn''t stop them from talking,'' it will even help you as a lord. One of the biggest problems with how people treat you is because you''re a special case. this makes them think there''s something wrong with you.''

    "those amour less, child harmers!" there was nothing wrong with him.

    ''you''re an odd case so to them means something is wrong. The way to change that opinion, show the world you''re not the only male willing to work, those who are tired of the glass treatment. find them and then lead them!''

    "Zavad, he wanted to learn something people would disapprove of!" when he started this path aero didn''t care if he was alone so he never bothered to see if he was. the chance that multiple guys were willing to go against what was expected of them filled him with an emotion he was unfamiliar with.

    ''is this hope? excitement?'' he didn''t know but it would be the first time in a long while that spite or pride didn''t fuel his actions." where should I start looking?" he didn''t know many people his gender or were his age that would hang out." ah! by the blood of beast!" he knew exactly who he could talk to, but frankly, he would rather get knocked up.

    "three years and I was able to avoid asking that beast fuckers help but now I need it because I refused to interact with my fellow male." this was hindsight moment wasn''t it, sighing he returned to his training ignore how the thought of asking for that man''s help made him sick in the stomach. putting it out of his mind for the next few flower made him feel a lot better but he felt sick again when he had to write the letter to that man.

    thankful he could get away with a very short but barely polite letter, there was a good chance that his mother wouldn''t see this. but if she did he was in an ass load of trouble, his lord grumbling the helper asked his lord a question.'' my lord does your plant have much in the way of profanity?'' it was a simple curiosity because his lord didn''t curse. though he did say some very violent things under his breath if his rage didn''t stem from pride he would have been meeting the lord of wrath.

    "no, there use to be a lot more but social reform by this Zaltess who was not only really stuck up but prim and propper." he could never say much on her story as he smelled nothing but arrogance." even after several hundred lifetimes her influence is still strong!"

    ''would you like to learn universal swears?'' aero could feel them smirking

    "what do you want in return?" his helper wasn''t shy of manipulating him, ''think of it as a reward for leading people you will probably never like!'' aero took it and asked what universal swears were like?

    ''well, this one, moon heart. sounds nice but moons are generally cold lifeless rocks. just like some people''s hearts, they look pretty far away but get closer and they can be pretty ugly and that before you get to their darks sides!'' aero loved this and could really think of several people who he thought had a min heart! "I''m so using this from now on!"

    he went to sleep in a better mood than he usually did, but woke up in his usual mood of prepared for people''s shit! scrubbing down he did his weekly care of his exco skeleton, this was usually filing old growth, checking for cracks, applying medical cream, polishing, and completing painting it so it matched his skin better. as usual, as he finished polishing and decided not to paint his armor not wanting to change himself to become more compelling to others.

    ''why don''t you want to become more physically appealing to others,'' the helper asked curios as Aero left the cafeteria. "I refuse to bow!"  that actually made a lot of sense to the helper, by changing his appearance to fit the views of others aero felt he was bowing to them. giving them a kind of control over him, which he refused to give. plus the boy was probably proud of his appearance in a way.

    the way went by as usual, except for the fight aero almost started during second meal, then training which helped him calm down, and he no longer felt like starting a fight. unless that girl made a reappearance, then all bets were off by some zalts name!

    during a pause where he was stretching out to remain limber aero felt someone approaching, looking he groaned seeing one of the teachers." what can I help you with miss!" he asked curtly as he turned his back to her to continue wailing on the training dummy."I''m here to talk about your recent team mission and the one you plan to take soon."

    "and what of it?" he unleashes a combo to several points on the dummy with his staff." yes your teammate from last mission said you did a good job as a leader despite the amount of force you used." Aero didn''t speak know there was no way that was all," but we have concerns about the stress of leading." there it is grumbling aero turned to the teacher.

    "keep your concerns to yourself," he walked straight into her face," I know my limits you don''t and don''t act as you do! what I can do is far beyond what you think

 9

    ''you shouldn''t have slapped her,'' the helper commented as their lord rubbed his bound wrist. he didn''t respond, she got what was coming to her for saying what she did about his abilities.'' make better use of my time by getting knocked up and caring for the child! she likely I didn''t knock her guts out!'' he continued to fume until he was called into the principal office.

    this was his first time here, anytime he causes trouble before it was never big enough to gain the principal''s attention as the teachers were able to handle it.'' i thought she would be older,'' the teacher would be more the fifty earth years older than him. for a Grinine that was pretty young," so this is the first time you''ve been to my office and for slapping a teacher anything to say?" she didn''t look up from the work on her desk.

    "she insulted my capabilities!" he said nothing more because there was nothing more to say. "that shouldn''t warrant a physical response," aero scuffed and that got her attention. "this is a school of fighters when hasn''t someone giving a physical response?"

    "okay that pretty fair but you still attacked one of your teachers."

    "after she attacked me!" he pointed out the principal looked at him once more," that may be so but she is still a te-"

    "I don''t care! she attacked me!" aero didn''t back down as the principal tried to point out. the person who he struck was an authority figure and that was unacceptable. but aero refused to accept that farce, he told her just that." I don''t care what her position was, no one hits me and get off scot-free!" he would never suffer such a humiliation.

    they continued to argue for a full flower aero getting more and more riled up before deciding this wasn''t worth it. he broke the rope binding his wrist," where are you going?" aero had moved towards the door."I''m leaving!"

    "you walk out the door and you will be expelled!" aero scoffed he was planning to leave this school anyway." where would you go there is no other school that will accept you!"

    "I''ll make one!" the idea had just struck aero but it sounded better than any plan he already had for life. walking out the door he stopped at the ground of the school to get a carriage before starting to pack his things. he was making good progress when a teacher appeared to try and stop him, he had first planned to ignore them but then he realized if he wasn''t attending anymore.

    "I have no reason to hold back," grabbing his staff he turned toward the teacher. he didn''t know their name or their face and he would remember it after rearranging it. she dodged the unexpected attack and blocked the blow to her admin, aero took advantage of her guard to stick her leg. "Ah!" she cried out after his staff got her across the face, but he didn''t stop sticking until she was on the ground.

    "Okay, that really hurt!" that teacher clearly didn''t keep up with her training but she was still able to get more than a few good hits. but it felt oh so good to knock her down, after packing everything he started pushing it towards the front door ignoring the stars he got. as he was loading the cart another teacher appeared, he threw a book at her to start the fight. this one had an audience, but he didn''t care about them.

    halfway through the fight, he remembered he was the lord of pride and took the chance to damage the woman''s pride as they fought. he was aware the fact he won was because she was trying to subdue him without doing damage while he wasn''t holding back anything.

    his limbs shook as loaded the cart while some student took the teacher to the medic center. they didn''t try anything against him, stunned by his ability and the ferocity he showed. '' should have changed clothes earlier,'' his current outfit was wreaked from the two fights. he had wounds but they weren''t going to stop him, they didn''t compare to how good he felt.

    "start driving!" he told the cart driver who was trembling as he climbed aboard. she nodded and started driving determined to not look at him, "Stop that cart!" the authority in the voice almost made her stop but aero''s growling carried much more venom.

    "Abiathar aero! stop right there!" the principal had come out to put an end to this. but Aero didn''t stop the cart instead he looks her dead in the eye, "get devoured and be forgotten!" on Augustine this was officially the cruelest thing you could say to a person. she and everyone else was stunned he had to guts to say that, he did without a waver in his voice and ice in his eyes.

    "fine if you really wish to leave that much, then know you are banished from this place!" aero responded," give me a reason to wanna come back to this place!" the cart moved out of the area while the principal fumed as aero smiled calmly.

    as the cart moved towards his home village aero considered how he would go about starting a school or group. ''i have no clue what I''m doing!'' he was gonna figure it out that was sure but right now. he had nothing, groaning he stood up in the cart and stretched trying to get some blood flowing. ''you got any ideas?'' he asked the helper.

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    ''for one thing, you should probably increase your saving. long term projects such as this tend to cost a bit of a small fortune, it also needs connections with the right people.'' aero thought on these words, the money he could get from working and he was probably gonna find the right kind of people. ''I''m probably gonna be talking to more people than I have in years,'' when was the last time he had a conversation with someone willingly. who wasn''t his mother?

    ''so much trouble, I hope I find someone like-minded soon!'' deciding to rest for a bit he closed his eyes leaning into his bed the rocking of the helping doze off. he woke up to the sunning light of the sun and a buzz of an empty stomach, rolling over he grabbed the field food he had. not that he liked eating, no one did, but he knew the trick to get it down.

    "so umm you don''t have a lot of things?" the driver tried to make conversation, she was clearly trembling a bit. aero looked at her flatly," I wasn''t comfortable at the school even after two years. I never felt like I could truly make myself at home, I''ve been ready to leave since I got there!"

    "well that''s sad," she blurted out she tried to apologize but the helper stopped aero from crushing her, instead they suggested asking her why. they thought it would help him learn the difference between pity and sympathy." you should be able to let your guard down in your own room." there was silence for another minute before she asked another question.

    "they say it really bloody being a hunter, is it true?" aero looked at her." yeah it''s bloody," aero tried very hard just how bloody it could be. he didn''t like to admit to it but the blood made him a bit sick so he just ignored it. wich was very hard when the blood covered his weapon, his hands, his clothes, his stomach was twisting from these thoughts.

    "you don''t seem to like it," aero shrugged as his stomach calmed down." why would you do something you don''t like?"

    "I don''t like a small part but the thrill of combat overcomes anything else!" he loved it and that love gave birth to the pride that brought him to his day." okay, I''ve answered enough questions!" he could tell she was gonna ask another and stopped her. instead, he asked her "are there any guys In your family?"

    "I have an older brother and my father, why?"

    "Are they happy with the destined course of their life? are they happy with the only thing they can do in life is to birth and raise children?" the words stunned her causes she didn''t know the answer, it wasn''t a question she ever asked, she swore she would protect them and she didn''t know if they were happy." your silence tells me so much?" you could taste how smug Aero was even though he didn''t speak.

    "How would I make them happy with life?" she asked after two flowers of silence. aero scoffed, "the only thing you can do and let them find what makes them happy!" the silence continued the rest of the day with her thinking aero watching like a predator wanting to know exactly what kind of conclusion she comes to.

    "oh thank the zalts," after a day and a half of travel they had arrived at aero''s village. more specifically his house that his mother was returning to from work. "Aero? what are you doing here?" she immediately went into worrying mother mode.

    "I quit school," he said quietly looking at her sandals." dear Zaltess it finally happened." aero snapped up looking at her confused, "I''ve read your letter filled with complaints about the staff and student body. "you weren''t happy at that school but you wouldn''t have left if it hadn''t been your idea!" the cart watched as the proud boy was left speechless.

    "let''s get your stuff inside," she said when her child recovered. the cart driver needs up helping and telling about the drive over after a lot from pressing from his mother. she scolded aero and made him apologize to her, he did even though his eyes didn''t show a bit of remorse as he cared his bed to his room.

    "thank you for bringing him," aero''s mother said as he forcefully gifted the driver a sweet. they had just finished unloading the cart and she was getting ready to go home. after the driver had left she had turned to her child who was helping himself to her homemade food. "so what do you plan to do now that you''ve quit school?"

    swallowing aero told her he planned to find guys who thought like him, "I know a few people like that!" aero started looking at his mother, "oh don''t be surprised I raised you I know how to see if a boy isn''t happy with his destiny. of course, you were very loud with your distaste and these boys aren''t!" then to aero''s embarrassment, she started reminiscing about how loud aero was in his displeasure.

    "..and that''s when I realized that letting you wander with the stick was a bad idea." she finished another tale of Aero''s childhood when Adir beit stepped into the home. Aero turned a cols look at the older male who would have run at the moment if the mother hadn''t noticed him. "Adir just in time for our second meal!"

    "of course I promised to come, but I didn''t think aero would be joining us Neora?" she nervously looked at the boy who was holding back a growl. "yeah he quit school, but he has a course of action before him so I''m not that worried!" she didn''t seem to mind her son''s presences as Adir joined her in the kitchen so they could start preparing their meal.

    the older male calmed down when aero left the room, unable to stand the sense but not wanting to break them apart and upsetting his mother. so he went to his room and started cleaning up his room and talking with the helper on convincing people to follow his lead against the expectations of the world.

    ''23, 24, 25!'' putting his feet on the ground aero restore the blood flow to his arms. he could still his mother giggling downstairs, ''that man is not worthy of her." he continued to exercise working out the frustration he felt for Adir''s existence. the lunch date lasted four flowers and aero had made every muscle sore by the time Adir left, "I didn''t think that through!" he groaned after catching his breath.

    when he was feeling better he went downstairs to do some hydrating, he was surprised to find his mother dancing around the kitchen with a Goffy smile on her face. this was one of the only reasons he didn''t just scare Adir off with violence, he made Neora smile. getting his fluids he watched his mother in her happy daze before deciding it was time for a nap.

    "much better," he stretched out after his nap. hef found a note from his mother in the kitchen he went out for food supplies. "it been a few years," realizing how long he''s been away he decided to check out the town and see if anything changed. as he left the house he vaguely recalled some of his hatch mates, their faces and name had been lost to him. ''not like they were Important," if as some higher being with irony was ready his mind someone recognized aero and approved him.

    "been while fight boy!" a rather large female said toying with a small ball," who did you beat up to get sent back here?" Aero looked at her blankly," who are you?" he had an impression that they have met before. the ball hit the ground, "you''re not joking! by her broken blade!"

    aero bent out of the way of her fist completely unimpressed, "you don''t remember me!" he caught the next fist and in one motion bent it behind her back. "you haven''t changed one bit!" she cried before aero knocked her feet from under her before planting himself on her back." okay so who in the realms of the zalts are you?!"

    "I''m the girl you beat up!" she shouted wondering how

    "that doesn''t narrow it down at all, you''re probably one of a hundred!" she wasn''t special, she was barely an impression in his memory.

    " The first girl you beat up all those years ago!" okay no he was starting to remember her. but that wasn''t really meaning much, the number of people he fought before he left for school actually there probably few people still living in this town. "ugh hope they don''t show up!"

 10

    ''this is a rare time in my life that I regret!'' the past few days he encountered more than triple dozen. people he''s beaten up in the past and they were proving to be a small annoyance. okay, they were more than that but aero would never give them the satisfaction, plus it was easy to deal with them by showing them he hadn''t gotten any weaker.

    besides that and training he talked to the few males around his age and younger, a couple admitted they weren''t completely on board with the idea of spending their entire life raising children. but none of them were interested in joining aero, it was more causing the amount of trouble he has. which he would admit to himself alone was kinda fair the amount of trouble that he''s causes was unappealing but it was just needed to get through people''s thick heads!

    now he was stuck trying to figure out how he was gonna get people to work with him, he wasn''t asking for help with this. it was something he was gonna do on his own, he didn''t care if he had willing help from two different beings he was gonna do it on his own. so that leads to him spending a lot of time thinking, he was able to come to the conclusion he needs to lead people down of path of little conflict by avoiding it.

    but that was had aero stumped, aero didn''t avoid conflict with people. if people had a problem with him he wouldn''t hesitate to meet them in the ring.  it didn''t matter what form the battle took he marched without hesitation, even if he didn''t consider it worth the time of the day.

    ''well, I''m definitely not leading a group that puts their heads down,'' he decided after a day of practicing his forms. the image of what he wanted to lead were people who could pursue what they wanted without being looked down on. people who found something they could take pride in for the rest of their lives, "ugh!" he groaned and laid back into the small clearing a bit of a walk from his town.

    "Being a leader is going to be a pain," force guys to follow him was a short-term solution causes there was just a point where people stopped being letting fear hold them back. aero had long ago reached that point when he reached that point his anger and pride were so much bigger." oh that''s an idea!" he could lead using something stronger than fear like making them angry but anger faded.

    "I am the lord of pride, maybe I can lead them using their pride?!" he was liking that idea but wasn''t sure how he was gonna do it, ''definitely need some clever words.'' his mood was a lot better than when he came here he also noticed that it was kind of late and should start heading back. the only hostile creature came out in the dark in great numbers too.

    walking through the town he felt several looks, some holding a bit of hostility but he wasn''t the least bit worried in a place like this the person who jumped him would likely get jumped. assuming they survived past aero smashed his staff into their skull making them bleed out of their eyes.

    arriving at his house, he started helping his mother with last meal. well helping as much as she let him because he wants that skilled with food. his skill was that he could crush and boil things down for his mother to season and mold into the jell they ate. but for some reason anything he tried to make jell it came out wrong to soft or too hard, not to mention he was a little heavy-handed with the seasoning.

    "AH!" aero pulled his hand back from the cooling mush, "stop trying to pilfer the food will be ready in a few minutes in that time you can clean up!" she held her spoon ready to use it again if need be, aero knew that if he really wanted to he could take the food without harming his mother. but he didn''t really want it when it was a watery mush so he left the kitchen and got ready to wash all the first and sweat off.

    scrubbing his carapace was always the hardest part so many small nooks that dirt would get into and use infection if left there. ''you know I heard a theory that infections only really started becoming a problem when he started cleaning them so much, what do you think?''

    ''it could be true, evolution get read of things that are no longer needed if some the bodies of the past had a way to prevent infections, maybe they had a good type of bacteria on their armor!'' they talked as aero finished cleaning up and then dressing so he could join his mother for dinner where they talked about nothing of substance.

    the next day aero approach the male they were interested in doing more, they still were wary about working with him and causing trouble but he promised them on the Zalt he followed that he would do his best to not causes trouble. they all ask ed for time to consider it, aero took it as a win because they were seriously considering it.

    his mood had been good up till he ran into someone he didn''t consider important enough to remember, she tried to hit on him he almost hit her teeth out until he saw one of the guys that are considering joining him. if he hit her it would cause trouble and they wouldn''t join him. seeing no other option he walked away even though the girl followed and tried to keep hitting on him.

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    she left when aero''s mother caught sight of them, the girl then learned where aero inherited his scary side from. "so has she been bothering you too long?" she asked committing the face to memory. aero shook his head telling her that it hadn''t been more than a few petals. she relaxed a bit hearing that but she still was commenting on the girl''s face to memory in case she tried something else in the future.

    aero help his mother shop by carrying her things until they reached the house,  he helped her with dinner as much as she would allow. which was no more than yesterday. while the food solidifies aero looked through his story scrolls, they weren''t anything new but they were full of nice memories that made reading them once more always a good thing.

    while washing the dishes he considered if he should go to the library, as much as he liked stories he didn''t like going to this town''s library. because the old lady who ran it, may her heart stop, had a very clear opinion on what males should be doing. sitting pretty on in bed and letting a female take care of their every need. she had looked so surprised when he slapped her all those years ago, he wasn''t surprised she didn''t return the favor believe he was too valuable to hit.

    the next day he checked out the library to see if she was still working here, or breathing for that matter. she wasn''t at the front counter but he didn''t know about the second thing but didn''t care he was more worried about what kind of person the girl behind the counter was. walking into the library he watched her reaction to him, wide eye surprise expected but not a bad sign. she stayed behind the counter didn''t try to stop him a good sign.

    he went directly to the story section while his helper scanned the place for new information, they found a few bits that helped them get a better picture of this world. of course, it also gave them more questions about some things.'' the beast that attacks all grinines is a mystery, what kind of evolutionary path can cause such hostility. what history does this world hold?'' they were curious but didn''t put too much thought into the matter as it seemed to have little importance to their lord. who was currently debating between a story about a dancer who learned to fly or a tale of a single father finding a mother for his children.

    he decided on the latter, he liked happy tales judge him at your health. bring his choice to the counter he was slithy impressed how she kept her reaction to herself, it also confused him. then he saw the hidden fear in her eyes, "you''ve seen the trouble is I''ve caused around town?" the way she flinched was an answer.

    "you smarter than most people, they can''t accept how violent I can be!" he said taking his story scroll." you''ll live longer with that kind of brainpower," he threw this over his shoulder before leaving. once the door closed the girl collapsed to her knees, "so this is the new lord of pride!" she knew when she accepted this job from lord Abhimani that it wouldn''t be easy. but standing before him feeling the power leaking out of his body, this brought to a whole new level.

    "at least I made a good impression," yeah that was a thing to focus on not how he was clearly a violent person when set off." he''s pretty calm when you don''t see him off," another good thing to focus on. "I hope telling him doesn''t set him off," her people were fragile. it was why they were so good with words than they were first.

    she stelled herself to talk to him when he came to return the story scroll,'' that should take a week or so!'' she was so wrong! aero returned the next day tired having spent the entire night reading and was back to trade for another story scroll. internally panicking the girl tried to work up her feeble courage and talk to him calmly.

    "iwassentbylordAbhimani!!!" it all came out as one word that took a moment for aero to decrypt.

    "oh she sent you?" his tone was dark and calm but she could see his fist clenching.

    "yes, she thought that I could be of use to you. for what is up to you to decide!" she squeezed her trembling hands. "I will not play into her hand!" that''s all the young lord said before leaving with his new story. in her relief, the girl dropped to her rear, "I didn''t introduce myself!" she didn''t get the chance to introduce her as aero refused to speak to her,'' what else should I expect from the one who rules pride.''

    ''i will not take help from that,'' he grumbled in frustration he couldn''t believe his predecessor thought he needed help. the audacity she had,'' I don''t need help and ai definitely don''t want any help she''ll give!'' huffing he paced back and forth in his room, that wasn''t the only thing pushing him to a fit, his mother was out on a date with her boyfriend. aero had promised not to followed and he took pride in his word, he could leave the house causes he was self-aware enough to know that if her left he wouldn''t resite taking a peek.

    ''i will not break my word!'' making a frustrated noise aero dropped onto his floor and started training his flexibility. it worked and took his mind off the things he didn''t like, "Ah!" but it also leads to him pulling something in his back. cursing he rubbed the hurting part to soothe it while he slowly straightened his back," by the zalts that hurt! sucking black holes!" forcing his breath to be even he waited till the pain faded

    ''my lord no worry it''s just a minor pulled muscle, no strenuous movement for the next few hours and you''ll be fine,'' the helper chimed in after examining the wound.'' take it slower next time,'' the helper advice before suggesting aero get something cold to hold against the sprain. he did mostly because the pain wasn''t really going away, the cold thing ended up being a wet rag.

    ''so are you satisfied with your progress?'' aero knew what the helper was refusing to and the lord was satisfied because he was making progress with them. some of them were actually looking to something other than raising children. one guy had already found a love for writing, it was good writing but he was smiling like a fool the entire time.

    "I know it won''t be long before someone try to stop us!" but he welcomes them for they weren''t going to stop him but he wasn''t too sure about the other. ''i have to encourage people!" the realization was shocking because he''s never done this. in fact he usually did the opposite telling people they didn''t have what it took to stop him or make him do something he didn''t like.

    the closest he''s even been to encouraging is telling his mother how much he loved her and how cool he thought she was. but other than that, ''my social skills are weak! never say that out loud!'' his back was feeling better so he got up and started pacing trying to figure out how would he would encourage people.

    "you''re doing great, don''t let them tell you to stop. they don-AH!" he found his mother by the door watching him talking out loud to the helper. the pitch of his voice didn''t go any higher than usual when he noticed her, "how long have you been standing there?" she held up five fingers before going to change out of the extravagant clothing she was wearing.

    when she was up the stairs aero let his embarrassment overcome and pushed it back down when she came back downstairs to ask about what he had been doing."I don''t know how to encourage people," he told her without looking her in the eyes.

    "This was never in any parenting scroll, the best kind of compliment are the one that comes naturally." the advice of a mother, she walked closer to her only child." it like how you insulting people the words just come to you about what you see and what you know!" Aero was really good at dissing people.

 11

    "So how''s your writing going?" Aero asked Yigol as he encountered the man on his way to the clearing to train unbothered. he blinked at the question before adjusting his daughter who was dozing on him, "pretty good working on my vocabulary! last night I used the same word six times in a paragraph which didn''t sit right with me at all!" he kept blabbering on but aero didn''t mind he''s frankly never seen someone so happy about something kinda simple.

    ''i wonder?'' turning on his pride sight aero could see that his pride had grown recently. this got a mixed reaction from aero, he was glad, was taking pride in his work but he was worried that it might grow to the point the beast notice.'' how terrifying is this beast anyway?''

    ''the beast of sin aren''t creatures that can be explained, their approaches are what you can perceive!''

    ''okay what the zalts does that mean?'' but the helper didn''t answer so he turned back into Yigol''s writer talk.'' ... I didn''t realize how hard it is to describe an environment like I don''t know if I''m over-explaining or under!" he was kind of freaking out but was staying quiet enough that his child could sleep on. eventual Yigol called down, "talking to you has made me feel a lot better! now if you''ll excuse me I have to put here in here bed." the parted way and aero went about his daily practice.

    ''Are you feeling antsy my lord?'' the helper asked after two flowers passed.

    "my time here has been very relaxing and peaceful compared to school! I''m not used to this!" he admitted but he wasn''t gonna do anything about wanting to spend a bit more time with his mother before he started doing missions again. finishing his yoga aero started left the area but not towards the village,'' my lord is there something here?'' they asked mostly to break the silence.

    "Nothing really, the tracks are pretty clear what it is!" the signal set of tracks was a bit confusing because this animal didn''t travel alone. but it would be bad to leave it be, like several graves bad. he followed the tracks for several petals. before he found signs of a nest, it was a new nest ''have an I found a queen?'' the tracks he followed belonged to a creature similar to a bee but they were the size of golden retrieves and were called eebs.

    they could be defensive or aggressive, the only way to tell was their coloration. getting closer to the nest but still ready to strike, Aero kicked the tree the nest sat under and stepped back. the buzzing was heard as the eebs came closer to the surface," asteroid shower!" it was a dark yellow that meant aggressive, it didn''t notice aero so he struck first.

    Its screech hurt Aero''s ear as he crushed its exoskeleton pink blood gushing out coating the end of his weapon. but he didn''t slow steeping out of the way of it snapping mandibles,  kicking it in the face he took out an eye and got blood on his foot. it screeched louder this time but aero focused on using his staff to form a melody that created a candle size fire on the lower end of the staff.

    the eebs blood caught fire easily, it screeched and thrashed as the fire consumed its form. the blood boil and the body blackened. Aero watch impassively as the life slowly left it until nothing but a blackened husk remained which turned to asked as the fire died. "gotta take care of the nest," grabbing something still on fire he three it down the nest. it wasn''t long before thick smoke was leaving the nest, "how long should I let this burn?"

    having no plans of staying here all day Aero rushed back to the town and got someone else to watch the underground fire. after that, he went to wash the blood of him and his weapon." I forgot how sticky insect blood could be!" the blood was not coming off easily but it did eventually despite that frustrating incident Aero was feeling pretty good. he dealt with a threat kept his mother out of danger and probably shone people that he was skilled.

    ''i hope they won''t be too stubborn!'' there would definitely be people who doubt his ability well he would give them a clear vi-"oh right I can''t beat people up on whims anymore!" the number of curses that felt his mouth in the next petal his mother would have punished him for. taking a deep breath he rubbed his chin trying to think about this, showing people his skill was the best way but how did he do it without hitting them.

    "This is a testament to my personality," Aero sighed before rolling over in his bed two flowers after he got done bathing and he still didn''t know how to prove himself to people without violence. rolling over he cried out in frustration before climbing out of bed, he moved to have his second meal before his mother came home from work.

    she did return to aero reading in the kitchen, she returned tired but still didn''t let Areo make third meal. he still helped as much as she would allow, they talked a bit. his mother told him what she heard on the gossip vine about the beast he encountered."it wasn''t exactly a fight, a queen eebs doesn''t fight. they there had been a drone it would have been a workout!"

    she nodded even though she didn''t really understand what he meant, he was fine with this fact a lot of people didn''t get things people did. he didn''t get why she worked her dead-end job even though aero earned more than enough money for her to quit and look for a better job. something he''s suggested several dozen times.

    Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

    ''you''ll know when your older!'' she usually said he got the feeling she didn''t want to talk about it. so he just let the topic drop each time, he would still like for her to change job or just not work. but for now, she worked and they had dinner, that night in the realm of the zalt of slumber. the helper was doing a bit of work, they were coming up with a possibility for the next step of their lord. ''lord aero doing pretty well, he''s made good progress on the second pride melody!'' it was a bit slow going though.

    ''with the data, I''ve collected! can begin making possible melodies for my lord,'' the helper was completely sure they would work as they had found they were dozen of variables for the special ability of the grinine race. ''how should I suggest it to him?'' this would be their biggest obstacle, they ran through multiple simulations, but each one ended with lord aero stopping them cold. they were about ready to give up until they remembered another thing about their lord, he wasn''t cruel!

    flowers later when aero woke up the helper greeted him,'' good sunrise my lord.''

    "good sunrise...is something wrong!" the helper''s greeting lacked its usual cheer. the disembodied voice didn''t speak for a moment, Aero swore he felt it sigh before it spoke.'' my lord, I know you dislike receiving my help. but helping you is the reason I exist, so my lord can I help you?'' they sounded pitiful and weak, there wasn''t one lie in their words

    Aero felt to things, the usual anger that someone that was offering him the help he didn''t need. but also guilt an emotion he didn''t experience often he was dining this being their reason for existing. as strange a reason as it was. he knew the helper was lying, they didn''t straight out lie as that would be detrimental to their lord but they would use the truth to lead him somewhere.

    "How could you help?" aero asked warily. the helper waited a moment before explaining what they created. Aero was impressed and could see the incredible use this would be but he still didn''t wanna use it. but he remembered what the helper said it was a battle between his pride and his guilt, pride won hands down but compassion made an appearance and brought his pride down.

    "How does it work?" he asked walking out of his bedroom for first meal while he didn''t the helper launched into an easy-to-understand explanation. instead of using it to make a melody that could manipulate his pride''s energy, aero used the melody creator to make a melody that would coat his feet on fire. it was random but it would be pretty useful for aero whose hands were usually busy with his staff.

    ''it will only take 3 flowers, my lord!'' they were ecstatic to help their lord and got to work instantly. aero went on with his meal before leaving since his mother had already headed off to work so he didn''t stay behind long before going to train, the nest fire had been put out sometime last night. aero barely glanced at it before he started practicing, a good part of it was kicking while holding his staff.

    he absolutely didn''t fall on his ass several dozen times because he was out of practice with this. he definitely didn''t end up doing a slipt either and anyone who said otherwise would get smacked. after training around a good time for second meal aero checked in with the guys around the village, they were doing well? they were finding things they enjoyed but weren''t usual for males and were horribly scared of being found out aero reassured each one no one would physically stop them. he also told them that if it really came down to it they had several things they could hold over the girls'' heads.

    "ah man there so worried!" his reassurance only work partly, they could probably crumble the moment someone confronted them. "I won''t be holding their hands for the rest of my life," they needed to build up the will to stand for themselves. not knowing how to help with that aero asked the helper about the fire foot melody.

    ''it''s complete my lord!'' aero nodded before the note appeared on a screen before his eyes. he asked the helper to play it for him, "sounds right?" aero only kinda had an idea what a melody like this was supposed to sound like this but this was probably it.'' something to test,'' he decided as he neared the library. he did look at anyone as he entered grabbed the scrolls he wanted and left without some much as a word. the helper didn''t agree with how he was treating the girl, but they also knew his lord wasn''t gonna speak to her for a while.

    "hold it right there!" aero paused before turning to her, "I know you don''t like that I was sent by your precursor but that has nothing to do with me!" her voice wavered greatly but she stood strong," I came to this planet because I like teaching people. Your planet barrier is open and when the knowledge that you the lord of pride lives here people will come! to worship you, to fight you, for power fame, or just the trill!"

    "How dangerous can these people be?" aero asked still having his back towards her.

    "hundred at the level of your zaltess of combat at least," aero was silent before screaming in frustration. making a 180 he marched over to her, "what is your name?"

    "in your tongue, it would be Tova," she was trembling.

    "well talk tomorrow," then he turned around and walked away. stewing aero stomped home to drop off the scroll before he turned around and heading for the forest. there he screamed out his frustrations taking them out on a few trees he knocked over. "forced to work with someone! again!" he screaming and attacking the trees until his fist and leg bleed. huffing against the tree his mood hadn''t improved in the slightest but he could keep this up.

    he headed home with an aura that promised death to anyone that came towards him, people picked on it and stayed out of his. not wanting to face his mother at the moment aero climbed in through a second-floor window. he crawled under his cover and curled up forcing himself to sleep despite how his stomach was reflecting his emotions.

    he woke up before the sunrise, his stomach was calmer and so were his wounds. "she wrapped them while I was sleeping!" it was his mother there was no one else who could have done it, sighing he went other fill his stomach his mother didn''t say a thing about his wounds. he was more than thankful for this as he ate and then left feeling a bit too trapped in the house. he went places where there would be few if any people and that''s how he spent more than half the day before he went to the library.

    "okay time to talk!" she flinched back but grabbed some chairs for them, then she grabbed what looks like crystal-like nothing he saw before. mostly because crystals of any kind were the rarest thing. when she set the crystal on the table it glows before they were in a void. the void was filled with swirling dots of light. "this is our universe created the source," she tapped a spot on the light and it zoomed in until there was just a planet. "this is Augustine, small isn''t it!"

    "My planet isn''t small!" Aero growled to hide amazed he was about the size of everything. "so what is this about!"

    she zoomed out until about twelve star systems," these four systems contain species caple of space flight and they are the one you have to worry about right now. "the other eight aren''t caple of travel but they do host some rather interesting people." most of the star systems vanished leaving one behind that Augustine didn''t belong to.

    "This is the worst one of them, the races of this star system love war, it''s like a game to them. their principal says it is an honor to die in battle, no matter if you''re young or old of your gender or beliefs. they will be the first to your planet and they will be here to fight!" Aero wished he was old enough for beer jells.

 12

    ''my lord you should try and relax, try yoga once again!'' the helper commented after aero completed his 60 pacing laps around his room. aero stopped for a moment and tried to let the tension out of his body, but he could stop thinking about the girl whose name he still didn''t know. his planet was in danger. while he wasn''t too attached to the people of this world he quite liked this world.

    "your job is to help me right?" the helper gave an affirmative," so give me suggestions how could keep people from attacking my planet to get to me!"

    ''the best method would you leaving this planet but that would be good for your mental, physical, or emotional health. even if you manage a way to travel the stars. the next best thing would be to bring back your planet''s barrier, but require either permission or a star''s worth of power.'' aero stopped the helper there if he was gonna help his planet it was gonna be the best, but he wasn''t leaving.

    "whos permission do I need?" he was calming down a bit so he started stretching because honestly, yoga sounds real good right now. the helper told him as he was reaching for his toes, "so whos this sectors watcher?"

    ''i''m sorry my lord but I can''t tell you for their protection, but I can send a message to them!'' aero was satisfied with just sending a message though he did ask how they would send the message.'' I will simply lock onto the watcher''s mind and telegraph the message. I will also bring their reply to you!''

    "Okay then!" aero grunted as he arched his chest off the ground," send the barrier request!" he then asked if his back was supposed to hurt as much as it was. apparently, he was pushing too high simply fix and he was able to continue going on with his yoga as he waited for the watcher''s reply.

    he was trying to lift his foot above his head when the reply came, "what?!" the watcher said they couldn''t raise the barrier. ''someone on this planet in the past took down the barrier and will do it against if she rises.'' aero asked who took it down the helper pauses before answering the question." one of the zalt by the name of Gitia."

    "the high mother!" aero was frozen, the legend of the first zaltess was clear on what kind of person she was. she was incredibly prideful, she made aero look humble making a request of her was just looking for trouble. not mention she was probably the most sexist being on his planet, he''s heard the stories of her lovers and how they ended. pampered their full lives doing nothing more than birthing and raising children.

    "you know I''ve probably already made an enemy of her with my beliefs and refusal to be a typical guy!" okay make this request of her was probably gonna be easier than he thought, something just occurred to him. "wait isn''t she dead how am I gonna talk to her?"

    ''my lord I detected the spirits of your zalts and zaltess, I''ve also developed a line of communication!'' well apparently that issue was already solved now he just had to be mentally prepared for a conversation with the legends he worshiped. "should I fell this dizzy?" he asked the helper who didn''t answer cause he didn''t have the information to answer that question.

    after several flowers, he had started composing a letter because he decided he didn''t want to talk to the high mother. they would be in a fight the moment she said something that attacked his pride as dozens of other people have, did he think he could win the fight no. he was prideful, not arrogant. readying the letter over for the last time he sent it out before going through some stretches trying to release some tension.

    he got a reply a lot faster than he thought, it came after he finished his last meal for the day. "I am so glad I went with a letter!" his limbs shook with rage, not even the first sentence and he could see she wasn''t taking him seriously. the entire him she was talking down to him, "I shouldn''t fight her!" he reminded himself as he breathed heavily, it took way to long before he calmed down.

    "what should I do now?" he could already tell no matter what he sent the Zaltess she wasn''t gonna listen." maybe I should find someone she will listen to?" who would listen to him that the Zaltess might listen to? "mom!" the high mother was the Zaltess who watched over all mother and females. it would be against her nature to ignore the words of one of those groups, but it was also late and he needed to figure out how he was gonna explain why she needed to write a letter for him.

    so the next morning before his mother left for work," mom can you write a letter to the high mother Gitia! be-" she cut him off

    "okay I''ll write it!" she told him to tell her more about it when she got back from work.

    "Should I be concerned that she agrees without hesitation?" this wasn''t even the first time she had done something like this. it was like the time he told her that he wanted to attend the fight school," yeah that ended well." thinking about his current situation he almost laughed but either way he had about seven flowers until his mother returned from work.

    Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    first, he did his training and workout before he went to the library to learn more about the larger world. he also ended up learning about stars and nebulas which made him wonder if he could make a melody that could create stars when he asked the helper they told him. ''my lord a melody of that level would likely kill you!'' apparently the vibration needed to make even a small star would need would break all his bone. since that was off the table he instead he learned about space travel and was pretty lost on how to start with that.

    ''My suggestion is starting with what is needed to survive the void of space, plus maybe a way to use melody as sound doesn''t travel in the void.'' aero consisted these things very well, the second was a much bigger problem to him cause he wasn''t gonna go somewhere he couldn''t defend himself. but that was an interesting question, it was more than just making sounds that made medleys work.

    after his lessons were over and he had a new story scroll he checked the rebels and they were doing pretty well. they were a bit calmer at not being caught or being told to stop for so long, but there was still anxiety in their hearts. aero didn''t blame them for feeling the same emotion for the inevitable fallout, but he knew he could deal with it having done so before.

    he was home alone for a bit trying to deal with his stress when his mother came home, he greeted her like usual. he waited until l she ate before he started talking about the letter and what it needed to say, but that also brought up the topic of how he knew this. "an alien told me?" he actually wasn''t sure what that girl was but he did know she wasn''t from this planet.

    after listening to her son''s words she started writing mentally wondering what was happening to the world. there was life beyond their planet some of it violent, she was writing a letter to the high mother so a barrier could be raised around the planet. Neora finished the letter and watched her child send it off," now we just wait for the re-" a new letter was sitting in his hands, his face pinched like he wanted to say something his mother would approve of.

    Neora took the letter and opened it, ''oh he will flip if he reads this.'' finished the letter she tore it apart and sung a melody to turn it to ash." so the barrier going up!" but aero saw right through her attempted to avoid the topic.

    "what did she say?" they stared at each other for a moment before she stood up and walked up to her room." what did she say?" he called after her but neora didn''t answer. but she did know if that she wasn''t trained in combat she would be picking a fight with the high mother, she couldn''t believe the things she said about her son." man that will be a fight to see!" she knew one day Aero would probably reach the high mother and they would talk. the first insult out of her mouth and aero would strike.

    downstairs aero wondered what was on the letter but even the helper would speak of it, instead they old him.'' the barrier will be risen in about 13 flowers, give or take a few petals.'' sighing aero nodded before relaxing into his chair before opening his status, which hasn''t changed much. "how could I raise my energy stats?" that was his weak point according to this screen.

    ''the best way for you to raise that is for you to learn to retain the energy you generate.''  aero thought on this and then focus on his pride energy. it was leaking out, it was kind of embarrassing but he just had to fix that. now he should get started on making a melody to stop it from leaking, he knew the helper could get it done in a flower but he wanted to do it himself. he already knew the starting part, he thought of any melody he knew that blocked something for ideas.

    when the planet''s barrier had risen aero had looked at the sky to see if he could spot the difference. he could and he made sorta progress on the melody. he was missing a vital part to make it work but either way, it was good progress, he went to bed in a good mood. it didn''t carry on to the next morning as he found the alien girl in his house talking with his mother Adir was here as well. two out of three of them feared him, but his mother quickly showed them both they had nothing to fear of him while she was here.

    "I came to inform you that you''ll have to come by later for your lessons as I have some business for the library to take care of this day!" the alien girl said before making her retreat not wanting to aggravate the lord more than he already was. Adir didn''t retreat instead he made sure there was a bit of distance between him and Neora which smooth aero''s protective streak.

    they had a nice first meal together before they went on with their days, aero spent a bit more time working on his skills before he went to the library. he was surprised to find it host a bunch of children the alien girl reading them all a story. he hung back and listened to her talk gesturing and making voices to the enthralled children, when the story ended she seemed shocked at his appearance,"you''re early?" she was confused

    "I want this lesson over with, Tova!" he remembered her name finally," so what this today''s topic?" she grabbed the crystal before answering him. the did appear in a void of stars next to a cloud of some kind.

    "Today I''m going to tell you about space, this is a nebula, and its..." what followed made aero''s head spin even though he didn''t act like it. some many words he didn''t understand, some many terms that went over his head. he found it aggravating that he couldn''t keep up he was going to change that without a doubt. it didn''t have to do anything as she ends the lesson by explaining a lot of terms and words.

    ''she playing me!" he realized after committing each term to memory and making plans to write them down somewhere. she knew what she was doing using his pride to make him take all the information to heart,'' I''m a bit tired of people using my pride against me!'' the best way to stop that was getting rid of his overwhelming pride but he wasn''t inserted in that happening.

    the first thing he did was get home was write down and go over all the space terms he wasn''t going to get left behind in conversation again. the next thing he did was feed himself and then he dealt with his frustration by some yoga, he was getting the hang of it and enjoying that fact. along with the actions themselves, it was incredibly calming.'' I''m glad you enjoying yourself my lord'', the helper spoke as aero put both feet back on the ground.

    "yeah it''s nice, but we have to talk about something!"

    ''what my lord?''

    "the barrier one day it will fall again right?"

    '' it will fall when your people develop space travel.

    "Then how did it fall the first time?" who went to space.

    ''From what I gather, the zalts noticed the barrier, they took it down even though they lack the ability to travel the stars.'' the helper mentioned this was a very impressive feat, but also a dangerous thing.

    "Okay then, do you think they''ll take it down again?" the helper assured him that they informed all the zalt and zaltess the purpose of the barrier so they wouldn''t bring it down unless they wanted to fuck with the grinines. "there are several zaltess who want to fuck with us all!" he was now very worried. the helper immediately assured him that his barrier wouldn''t go down that easily, only extremely powerful full being like the high mother had the power to do so.

    "Okay, that''s good!" calming down he went to the bath. when he came out of it he did some more yoga and combat stances before. before he climbed into bed with a scroll to read before he fell asleep, he made it through a good portion of the story before he felt sleep creeping upon him." what how did you contact the zaltess and zalts! they''ve been dead for millions of years!"

 13

    "I can''t sleep!" aero stared at the ceiling his jumbled thought keeping him from Onna''s realm. he wanted to dream of dancing colors and sounds but the information that the zalts and zaltess were still alive even though their stories were hundreds of lifetimes old was just too shocking. there have been numerous times across his life that he cursed with their names and he was really hoping they did hear that. or at least didn''t bear a grudge of some kind. it also brought of the question of what did some of them thought of his quest," even if they all disapprove he didn''t think I''m was gonna stop."

    "how much did they intervene with a person''s life?" that wasn''t the only question he had there were so many. his very view of the world had been changed but deep down there was one question he wanted to know above all. which god would stand in his way?! because many did have husbands who were treated like precious but fragile gems. he wouldn''t stand for that, he''d fight beings of worship, of awe if it came down to it. he would rather not on some many levels he couldn''t even count but his pride had so much more weight.

    "Might as well make use of this time and try to finish that melody, sitting up in bed he wrapped his quiet around his shoulders before he started humming. he knew he was already close just missing this one part, he got the lock and action down. manipulation was giving him trouble, how did he manipulate his pride energy so the action of blocking worked.

    "Could I make the pride stop its'' self?" thinking about it that just might work. if he used the energy itself for a barrier it would work pretty well. the sounds to make that happen only to him a few petals to make him happen."okay let''s see this happen!" evening his breathing he started on the melody, when the last note left his lips he felt his pride energy change.

    ''my lord!'' the helper freaked out Aero suddenly fainted quickly they scanned the lord''s form ready to active emergency measures only for the scan to tell them that Aero simple fainted from a shock to his system. a few more scans relived nothing overwhelmingly negative, but the melodies effect was holding and they could predict the certain results this would have.

    ''it amazing how such a simple thing as stopping a leak can have such a large effect,'' counting to monitor their lord the helper wished they had hands so they fix Aero blanket. ''i should prepare a report for my lord.

    "ugh!" Aero sat up with a start confused, his entire body felt weird. no pain just some was different on a level he could feel every were," by the zaltes what happened?" his vision was spinning as he put his feet on the floor but he didn''t stand unsure if he would stay that way.

    ''you faint from the shock, the melody worked but your body was unprepared for the shock of it. currently, your body is still adapting to the change and it will at most 6 flowers for it to finish. my scans can''t give me definitive results on exactly what kind of change this will have on you but I will keep you informed!''

    Aero took a moment to digest that, then he sighed."I can work with this!" it isn''t gonna stop me!" then he stood, his knees shook but he didn''t fall. so he walked downstairs to join his mother for the first meal, it was a very sweet male but he enjoyed it. of course, afterward, some problems appeared, he was much too unsteady to anything incredible physical before he adapted so instead he head to the library to have his lesson and do his ready.

    Tova continued on yesterday''s lecture about astral bodies, she went into deep details on the life of stars." why are stars so important?" he asked at one point after she explained red giants

    "because stars are literally the light life of the universe, without them it is nothing but darkness everywhere. not to mention no life would naturally exist," she continued on explaining star types she made mention about something called the star record but didn''t go into it apparently she didn''t have that information.

    when the lesson end Aero didn''t go home instead stayed in the library and did some reading, okay a lot of reading. no matter what Tova said he didn''t cry over the death of a character and almost set the scroll on fire for how it hurt him. while he was feeling a lot better when he left the liberty he wasn''t at a hundred percent yet, but enough that he felt secure enough to train.

    instead of practicing his stances or combat, he chooses conditioning. his muscles ached nicely when he was done a flower later, "okay!" brushing off his hands he started heading back to the village when he felt dizzy for a moment.'' the six flowers are up!'' the helper informed him aero braced himself against a tree,'' oh this is definitely different.''

    he was starting to feel the energy of his pride, it was a faint feeling but it quickly grew stronger. something itched at the back of his brain something, listing to his instinct is always a good plan. so he did and felt the flow of energy change, it headed towards his hands. "okay I see!" he no longer needed a melody to manipulate the energy, it was like a part of him now instead of a byproduct.

    "Okay, I can something with this!" moved the energy to his feet he kicked at the tree lightly. he respected a few leaves to fall, not for him to take out half the trunk. " okay has the energy change because it didn''t do that before?" the helper''s scans were completed and they informed of a change in the energy, it became more physical. it could now deal physical damage along with damage to price. this made aero smile, probably a bit too wide.

    The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

    a dozen petals later he walked forcing his energy to settle down. the way he encounters a guy he knew of but not his name. he was one of the guys who wanted to do more, but he''s never talked to aero than before day too nervous to do so.

    they talked, Aero decide he was a nice guy maybe a bit too shy but nice. he said he wanted to try out dancing, now dancing on Augustine was actually kind of dangerous. causes through a reaction to melodies it got explosive, incredible to watch but it could maim you. Aero talked to him and said he could try it out but definitely warned him he should make sure to be incredibly careful, take preactions.

    ''that was kind,'' the helper said after they split away. '' telling him to be cautious.''

    ''of course, I told him to be cautious, I don''t want people dying for my belfies. just because they start earning a sense of pride doesn''t mean they should die doing it!'' the helper didn''t speak but he could pick up how pleased they were with aero. not that he really cared, have his second meal of the day. afterward, he played with his new power more, he easily coated his staff with it which was greatly useful for him.

    "helper what do you think I can do with this energy?" his understanding was kind of limited with it.

    ''i suggest that you learn to mold it, power like this is only limited by the mind of the wielder.'' aero nodded before the helper continued, '' would you like you to purchase a book from the store about energy molding?''

    "no, I can''t afford anything from that store, and wouldn''t that break the barrier!?" the helper informed him that the delivery could bypass the barrier because it''s not a sentient being along with the fact the store takes pure energy for trade.'' you are the only supplier of pride energy in creation! they will take it!'' aero decided to ignore the faint hostility in that tone.

    "prepare for the trade, also explain to me how this works!" aero had moved to his room as the helper talked. a cube would arrive in 3 days and 4 flowers he could fill it with his energy and then once the shop received it they would send down his item. if the energy sold for more then they thought he would get store credits.

    "okay that plenty of time to experience my energy, also open my stats."

    ''right away my lord!''

    Abiathar aero

    lord of pride

    mind 2.7

    body 3.0

    energy 2.5

    lord level 2

    "When did my level increase, actually what''s up with all the changes to my stats?" the help didn''t hesitate to give an explanation, his mind grew because he learns new things from Tova. his daily training has strengthened his body, and keeping the energy from leaking has caused it to build inside him. ''it should level out within the next few days!'' before he could ask what that meant he noticed a change in the stats.

    energy 1.5

    "it dropped!?" it changed just as he said it.

    energy 3.0

    "okay so it fluctuating, few days for it calm down...now can you tell which actions cause the change in the lord level."

    ''the revolution your starting, the men you''ve convinced to do more with their lives than birth and raise children. you''re leading them down a new path and you''re doing pretty well!'' aero paused to think about that, "I can lead people in a way that feels natural." this was a nice realization.

    closing his stats aero leaned against his bed before a moment before he started some yoga. it''s only halfway through the day, he didn''t really have any more plans. while he was pushing his flexibility to its limits he figured out he could check the mission counter for any in the area. he wasn''t looking to go far but it would be a great way to test out some things.

    straightening out he exited his room and headed to the mission center on the edge of town. it wasn''t really visited much, it was kind of falling apart because even the lady who ran it didn''t really care all that much. she was asleep when he walked in, rolling his eyes Aero walked over to the mission some of which were really old.

    how many of these are actually up to date," his annoyance for the manager was increasing. taking a deep breath he calmed down, but that didn''t stop him from slamming his foot into her desk. the dusty wood broke under the force, "WA!" she cried setting instantly awake." by the zaltess! what do you think you''re doing?" she demanded looking down at her ruined.

    "how up to date are these missions?" he gestured to the wall. the answer she got was shooing motion, a long moment passed as Area pushed down the impulse to drop kick her. he was proud of himself that he didn''t and instead asked again, its time with a shoe of force by tossing the halves of the desk through the front door.

    "I''ll ask again," he knew he had her full attention now," how up to date are these missions!?" his tone was very low and full of edge.

    "they might not gave been changed in a while," she said slowly backing away from aero, "but that can be easily fixed if I live." aero rolled his eyes before informing her ending her life would be 1000 times not worth the trouble it would cause him. she narrowed her eyes but didn''t speak instead heading into the back to grab some of the mission posters that were delivered recently.

    aero watched her take down the old posters and put up newer ones. when she moved out of the way Aero started looking over the missions. most of them were pretty near bye, but he narrowed down his choices to the ones that would take 2 days max. no surprising complications, he found one, some discover a hive of unspecified creatures. though from the clues included on the mission scroll it might be eebs or something similar.

    taking the to the women who were mourning the loss of her desk. he had her take care of the paperwork before he went home to prepare, since it wasn''t going to be a long trip he didn''t need much. decaying power, maybe a change of clothes, defiantly some money just I case. consider this list as he walked home Aero didn''t miss the approaching presence. stoping he turned on his heel to face the person.

    "oh it''s you!" the first girl that he beat up, whose name still escaped him even though she did say/yell it several times. but he didn''t care he asked what she wanted today, "I want to know what you''re talking to my brother recently about?" aero frowned trying to figure out who her brother was, face and caprice patterns flashed through his mind. but he stopped as something occurred to him.

    " why on Augustine would I tell you anything?!" he then walked away leaving her to gap before stomping after him." because it''s my job to make sure he safe until he marries!"

    "Maybe he doesn''t need that protection!" he shot back picking up his pace. oh, and she wasn''t exaggerating the parent literally paid her to make her brother was safe from the wrong kind of people courting him. even some missions were like this, Aero did have someone like that but after he started learning to fight. they became his training partner instead of a bodyguard, by the time he was 10 Aero didn''t need a guard anymore. they still traded letters every now and then, she was getting close to his guy who liked the water.

    the girl followed him all the way home, it might have impressed him if it hadn''t annoyed him so much. he straightened out the curtain door aero sighed in relief before he grabbed something to drink from the kitchens. gathering the things he needed aero wondered how he was gonna tell his mother.

 14

    ''she is great!'' Aero thought lugging his bag over his shoulder. his mother took the fact he was going on a mission pretty well. by that the teen meant she didn''t look overly worried, she was worried neither of them denied that. but she was confident in his fighting ability that he would come home.

    since it wasn''t too far and he wanted a bit of alone time aero walked to the mission location. it wasn''t too far, only taking more than a half-day of running and walking. of course, the first thing he did at the location was find a safe place to rest, his strength regained he began hunting for his prey.

    "well that would be hard to miss!" he peeked around the tree to see the incredible hill the eebs had turned into their nest. they were the aggressive kind, one saw him and it would send signals to the hive and they would swarm him. "okay time to sew a bit of chaos!" staying in the shadow of the tree he hummed out a melody causing the trees to catch fire. not a fire that would burn hot or long but the kind that would create an obscure amount of smoke. eebs were smart enough to know how to put out the fire, they would send out drones to do so.

    Aero slathered these drones, then waited for the invertible response of soldier ebbs. they would be a harder fight but aero didn''t plan to take them yet, as they were dealing with the fire he snuck into the hive. since the soldiers were dealing with the fire, the hive would only hold gather gathers and young and the queen. the latter was his target, without the queen the hive would fall into immediate chaos which he would increase.

    finding the queen''s chambers was difficult to find as this hive was a little labyrinth. he had more the once run into a stray ebbs. thankful they weren''t fighters and didn''t have a strong exco skeleton, that cave under a single punch. but the blood splatter was large," oh zalts will this be hard to clean up later." peeking out of his hiding shadow he looked at the queen she was much larger than the last one, partly because she was laying eggs.

    "makes you so slow and easy to skill!" finding no guards he stepped out of shadows swinging his staff to craft the strongest fire melody he knew. *SCREECH!* he ignored the queen''s distress call to focus on the Cyran flame on his staff. on his mistake and it would burn him as well, so he approved slowly as the queen cried for help and tried to run but was too heavy to move an inch.

    "may the zalts be with you!" with a swing the Cyran fire touched the insect, it races across its exoskeleton. it pained screeches hurt his ears but aero ignored it, the fire was already spreading the queen''s death throws weren''t helping. ''gotta leave before I get roasted alive!'' he ran out of the room pushing when he realized he didn''t know which way to go, ''pass three tunnels then turn right!" the helper instructed.

    with their help aero was able to put a good distance between him and the fire, "so how do you know your way around?"

    ''i scanned the nest as you traveled, turn up here!'' aero jumped grabbed the edge of the tunnel before pulling himself up to start the climb, he asked the helper if they could tell where the soldiers were entering from. that helped him avoid the larger groups and slather the smaller one. when he reached the outside of the nest aero started playing a new melody. it was a fire type but instead of burning hotly the sire wouldn''t go out easily and was a slithering flame.

    ''my lord is spreading a fire really the best solution to this problem?'' the helper asked as aero dragged the fire across several entrances to the nest. "maybe not but it''s cheaper than buying more decay powder for all the corpse, not to mention the time it would take to safely kill this number of ebbs!" he shivered remembering his encounter with the babbits, he could still clearly visualized the bite the singled his downfall.

    "Okay that should do it!" the pride lord said whipping soot off his forearm exco skeleton. he needs to wash well soon, but first, he had to make sure this first didn''t spread burn the entire forest down. a lot of food came out of this forest. ''actually did the ebbs put out the tree I put on fire,'' the answer to that was halfway and aero had to finish up.

    "Okay so how long before I start the wind melody to push the fire into the hive?" his stomach answered that question. he left the area to head where he left his supplies, such as medical and food. it would be stupid to bring it closer where it could get caught in the fight or the fire. after eating his full aero didn''t return to the burning nest, instead, he went around to the nearby river." this is a good enough distance for that melody when I need to put out the fire," but for now time to make sure he killed them all.

    standing before one of the burning entrances of the nest, "oh smart little things!" getting uncomfortable close to the flames aero could see several eebs hiding back. they were trying to wait out the fire, too bad the teen had a plan for this. all the tunnels in a hive-like this were connected to the central chamber where the queen previously laid eggs.

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    stepping back the young lord started going through the motions of a medley, he could feel the winds gathering around him growing stronger with each note he played. it was the wind storm melody"HAH!" he directed the wind into the tunnel, the fires being absorbed into the winds. he could hear more than a few dying screams as the fire was pushed into the tunnels, Aero could feel the strain of sustaining melody but he kept it.

    though he couldn''t see it aero knew the fire was escaping from the other entrances. he kept it up for no mother then 4 petals, "ugh!" he almost dropped to his knee when he stopped directing the winds. he was more than tired enough to drop to his knees, but he refused to for no other reason than his pride.

    ''my lord this is an impressive feat!'' the helper praised as their lord slowly but evenly walked to the river. taking a few even breaths, his arms shook a little as he swung his staff to the correct notes. the water first current from the river, gathering around his feet before he directed it towards the fire. "it''s gonna take a long while to put all his fire out," the ash cloud above would probably get worse before he got done.

    ''oh, this cold!'' aero sighed as he sunk into the water of the river. it felt great after a day of fire, it was kinda cold but it still felt cold, he didn''t waste a moment washing all the ash and soot off him. tomorrow he was going to check the nest, to make sure he killed everything and that all the fire had been put out. it didn''t matter that he badly flooded the nest, if a forest fire started he didn''t want it to be his fault.

    after he was clean as he was gonna get in a river aero left the water and started setting up for the night. as he put together his sleeping spot aero downed some jell, now that he was calming down for the day even though there was still a good amount of sunlight he could feel the aches and pains his body." how bad is it?" he asked the helper.

    ''no few minor cracks in your bones, they will heal in a few days.'' aero hummed in response as he laid back against the ground, he could feel the mention crakes. he closed his eyes and let himself be taken to the realm of Onna, it was a colorful night for him unit the light of the rising sun. "okay time to get work," he rose ignoring the deep ache of his bones. "okay, check and then head back tot he small village and catch my carriage home!" with his plans set aero cleaned up his campaign his spot, he spent 2 flowers thoroughly checking the nest. he found plenty of brunt exoskeletons and eggs that explode for the heat, but no trace that anything managed to escape the flames.

    "This will do!" he cheerfully ripped the remains of the queen''s eyes out. he was kind of amazed they survived the fire, "like stone?" the heat had boiled always all the moisture in the eyes. it would take a bit of force from him to break them, unlike when they were wet and it would be easy to drive his fingers into like one did jelly.

    taking the eyes back to camp he tossed them in his bag and started making his way back to the village. a four-flower walk wasn''t too bad, as the scenery was nice and he could talk to the helper about the transition. he would have to give his energy away in a few flowers, the box wasn''t that far away. "so what does this thing look like?"

    ''it about half you''re size, my lord,'' the helper stated aero nodded, ''it also recently entered your start system.''

    "Okay so not that much longer huh," aero started playing with his staff for a bit of stimulation. the helper applauded his skill repeatedly, clearly stroking his master''s ego. it was because they thought it would be good if their lord took pride in something other than his ability to beat the shit out of others.

    by the time aero arrived at the village the sun was nearing the horizon, at this point, it was kind of too late to get a carriage unless he did some kind of threatening. but he kind of wasn''t in the mood for that, too tired to make people pray to the zalts and zaltess. so instead he camped out in an inn, he almost got into a fight because the owner refused to let him buy a room.

    thankful he was able to convince her that he was alone and that there was no one to buy a room for him. of course he did pay or the tables he broke in half making his point that he could take care of himself. '' everyone see my gender and thinks I need someone to take care fo me! you think with me being in the news several times across the year they would know what I can do!'' frustrated aero messed with the empty bed the inn had given him.

    ''my lord?'' the helper gently started, ''how do you know you''re still in the news? I never seen you read it?'' aero stopped for a moment causes he had no proof of that, he just thought everything was new''s worthy on some level, maybe not front page every day. he just at this moment realized how arrogant this was.

    sighing he made a note to check the news in the morning, for now, he climbed into the bed weapon in hand. luckily nothing disturbed his slumber and in the morning he had first meal at the end before grabbing a new scroll on the way to the garage. the scroll was a bit longer thing his arm, he unrolled it as he set down in the carriage, ignoring the other riders.

    "huh I am in the news!" this was a pleasant surprise but he did want to know why they were still talking about him quitting the school and what that meant, "oh those are fighting words!" he was gonna find this person who said he quited because the pressure of training was too much for him.'' i quite because it got tired of people treating my like glass and people thinking it was okay to keep him form he path he chooses.''

    he rolled the scroll back up and decided to watch the sky go by as the carriage treaded down through the forest. it was a calm ride and aero let his mind wander, of course, he didn''t take his hand off his staff the entire time. long carriage rides like this stopped a couple of times to let people stretch their legs and answer the call of nature if need be. maybe even have a snack for two. when the carriage stopped for the first time aero didn''t get off, the second time he had to. the third time, when the sun was setting and they were nearing his stop.

    ''okay getting home soon turn in the eyes get my money and then check on the guys.,'' he really hoped people haven''t been tried to stop them from pursuing their desires, their pride. because that would definitely be a problem he would be dealing with, ''i can''t get physical with people. remember that aero!'' okay he was talking to himself in the third person.

    stretching out he headed back to the cart ''okay think how can I get people to leave us alone?'' thinking over it all he could really come to was intimidating. he didn''t really know another way to make people leave him be. ''is there such a thing as nonphysical intimidation?'' what would discourage people without getting physical.

    "number!" he took his seat on the carriage. a large number could be intimidating epically if they were coordinated. yeah that could work, he would just need to convince the others to support each, he wasn''t sure how hard that would be. it wasn''t strange for guys to help each other out raising children but standing against the norm was definitely going to be something different.

    but different was a good thing and he would be leading this group. ''my lord may I add something?'' aero gave the go-ahead. ''there are several rebellion techniques across creation, several of them don''t require any physical might. would you like me to describe a few of them?''

 15

    arriving in his home village, aero first headed home to see if his mother was home. she wasn''t but her boyfriend was. giving him a growl aero turned around right back out the door and went to the mission desk to turn in the proof of the hunt. he noticed she got a new desk and tried to cover it with her body." I would like to point out that would have done nothing to stop me!" he said carrying the reward under his arm.

    he dropped half of it off at the bank before he returned home where he hid half of the remaining part. the rest of it was for him to spend as he liked, so it was probably gonna sit for a long while. he didn''t really buy much outside the essentializes and maybe the occasional meal, money in its place aero still ignored Adir and took a nice long bath.

    "okay what should I do now?" it was pretty early in the day but he was tired but not enough that he wanted to nap also he was injured. the ache of his bones was simple for him to ignore,  he laid on his bed trying to nap but he kept snapping awake. thankful something came to his attention after about three flowers of that. ''my lord the cube has entered the atmosphere of your planet, it will near you home in exactly...now!'' aero shot up in bed.

    quickly he moved out of his home and raced to the edge of the town into the forest. the helper guided him from there to the exact location of the cube, "it here right?" aero denied flinching went he air shimmered and a tangerine cube appeared. leaning closer he saw the strange charters on it. ''an alien language huh!'' he would have to learn about that more when he talked to Tova tomorrow.

    taking a deep breath he drew up the energy of his pride, placing his hand on the brightly colored cube he pushed the energy into it. ''oh wow!'' now he wasn''t too familiar with his pride energy. but he could tell the cube could hold a lot more than he currently had. but he still poured everything he had into the box, the more he gave the more credit he would have afterward.

    ''oh dear, so that''s what the overuse systems are like!'' the helper made note of the changes in his lord after he had drained his energy supply. it was interesting to note how his lord''s stance had changed, more protective of himself less open.

    sealing the pride energy away the cube beeped before fading from sight again. there was no noticeable sound as he flew above the tree line and headed for the stars.

    "so..how long before the book arrives?" the hesitation in aero voice confused him and flabbergasted his helper. ''i really hope you recover soon,'' the helper commented.

    "what does that mean?" aero was looking around at the forest like he was worried something might come out. the helper said they would explain it later, the fact aero excepted this without compliant didn''t help how the helper was feeling. ''the energy molding book will be here in about three to five days. depending on availability.'' aero nodded before starting his speed walk back home, he avoided eye contact with everyone that looked at him. which caught them off guard.

    being alone at home didn''t seem to calm aero''s never but the helper''s suggestion of a quick nap was a very good idea. he went down far from easy but he did go to sleep, it was dark out when he did wake up and he felt over so tilt. "ugh what''s happening?"

    ''you drained your energy supplies and are currently experiencing the side effects.''

    "side effects?"

    ''yes, since pride is related to self-confidence your self-esteem is severely lowered. it is very weird." aero blinked and tried to think so he could check this.

    "by the might of the zalts!" he remembers socking his teacher and now he was questioning if he was crazy. ''so this is the power of self-esteem huh!" he was amazed by how different he was thinking about so many of his past action. he was actually ashamed about some of the things he did in the past, "oh can you tell me how long I''m gonna be like this?"

    '' from my calculation, it will take several months before you''re back at your usual self!''

    "is there a way to speed this up?" aero wanted his confidence back, he could live without it nor really his only income was combat and he needed to be self-assured that he could win? going into a battle believing you may lose was dangerous, second-guessing, hesitation could get you killed.

    ''well in there if you generate the energy yourself confidence should return, but generating that kind of energy requires an unknown method. a melody may work but finding the exact one would take some time, would you like me to do the calculation, my lord?''

    "...yes," what little pride he had at the moment stood no chance to his fear about his future.

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    ''then I will begin immediately, it should take no longer than a day.'' aero nodded with a sigh of relief. his stomach then informed him of its current state and he left his room to have his third meal. "hello mother," he politely hoping that he wouldn''t alert her to something wrong.

    "what happened!" it took only one look for her to know that something is wrong.

    "nothing physical!" he wanted to smack himself for that.

    "sit, tell me what''s wrong!" he didn''t argue with her, even if his pride was at his peak her tone meant no argument. silent he sat taking the plat she offered him, Aero took a few bites before he started talking. he gave a short explanation about how he attained pride energy to freely control and that he overused causing his current mental state. the entire time she didn''t say anything.

    "Okay, so we just have to wait for you to recover?" the mother calmly asked and her son nervously nodded. "then you should be careful until you get better." she finished her food before setting the dish to soak for now and went upstairs to wash. Aero stayed at the table until the new feeling in his gut settled, "what was that?" it felt like something was flying around in his stomach.

    ''that was anxiety, my lord,'' Aero only seemed more confused and the helper didn''t know how to really explain it. how could someone be so disconnected from an emotion? but moving on he explained it was badly next-level nervousness.

    "nervousness huh?" he was feeling a lot of that right now, it was making it hard to eat. what usual didn''t take a few petals took him almost ten, then he washed the dishes because of the fluttering in his gut. when he returned to his room he spent a flower staring at the ceiling plagued by bad thoughts.

    waking up aero dreaded the day and didn''t feel like getting out of bed, he was scared of what he might encounter, who he might encounter. but he knew on some level that he was being ridiculous but he was still scared, that last time he''s felt anything things close was the babbits.

    slowly Aero got the will to get out of bed, but it was late in the morning. walking downstairs he sighed to find that his mother was home,'' right today''s her required day off.'' taking his first meal off the table he nervously ate before joining his mother in the living room, she didn''t say anything about the way he was acting even though it made her wide-eyed. she doesn''t think he''s been like this for years, it made her remember the time he wouldn''t let go of her if he could help it.

    they were quiet for a long while before Neora started a conversation, something to get her son to relax some and it worked out. he still looked nervous but that was more from his lack of general confidence. "are you okay with my boyfriend coming over?" the teen''s face pinched at the thought. his lack of self-confidence didn''t change how he felt about her boyfriend.

    "Yeah I''m fine with it," it went out easier than he would have expected. his mother didn''t seem to buy it completely but still went off to send the message to Adir looking a bit guilty.  quickly returning to the room. they talked about food during the time it took for the man to arrive, aero didn''t look put to give the man his usual growl. but his silence didn''t mean a warm welcome from him.

    he didn''t ask about the situation but instead asked if aero wanted to go shopping for a different kind of clothing. now aero has never really bought clothing, Grinine believes that males should be protected from the sun as well so the fabric was soft but actually pretty thick. aero having the belief that he needed no protection and wore relatively thin clothing.

    right now he was regretting that because thin clotihng meant kind of see though, in the past if anyone started they got backhanded hard. also for anyone that said he should get thicker clothing, now he was kind of horrified that people could see through his clothing in certain light. so even though it was with a man he despised going shopping for new clothes sounded like a good idea.

    there were a few feet between the males as they walked to the market area. aero stayed close enough to keep the man in his eyesight but didn''t come any closer, they arrived at the market and quickly found a booth selling men''s clothes. they quickly ran into a problem. aero may lack pride but he still had his sense of fashion and none of the clothes at the first booth had anything he liked, nor the second or the third.

    "anything here catches your interest?" Adir asked as they stood before another booth. Aero looked over the clothing all of it was beautiful all of it would look great on him. look like a gem. he didn''t want that aero wanted to be seen like a caple person and he could do that while he looked like he should be on display.

    they moved to another booth, but at this point, aero had kind of given up and resigned himself to his thin clothing. that to going home and making his own clothing,'' it''s been a while since I''ve done any kind of sewing. I''m gonna mess up so badly!''

    they stopped at another booth and he barely have it a look over before walking away, only to pause as something actually caught his eyes. steeping back he got a closer look at the clothing, it was pretty simple. no lace, frills, or anything extra one simple color, it was thick and soft enough to be male clothing as well. though it was pretty big, an easy fix with a needle.

    "how much for this?" he asked. not looking the booth owner in the eyes, it was from shyness but thanks to the reputation that aero has she thought it was an act of defiance. she didn''t plan to respond to him, but Adir cut in, more than happy the aero found something he liked. it took a bit of barging before she was willing to hand over the clothing, "now I know what we are looking for I know where to go!" Adir dragged the teen past seval booth.

    "here you go pick something!" he pointed to a booth of clothing full of plain male clothing. "why have I never seen a booth like this before?"

    "because your young!" his cheery tone died when aero turned to glare at him. it lacked his usual fire but it still scared him. clearing his throat he explained," guys your age are usually trying to attract a wife so they want to look pretty to catch someone''s eyes. you don''t so what you want to wear is different! more similar to the clothing older guys wear when taking care of the children, clothes they know are going to get dirty one way or another. you know how sticky children can get!"

    aero calmed at that and brought more clothing that was more than a bit big on him. but he really could fix it, which he started on when they returned home. he was pleasantly surprised that he didn''t stab himself with the needle more than a few times, he was just basically taking out chunks of fabric to decrease the size of the clothing.

    ''my lord the calculations have been completed, would you like to hear?'' aero set down the needle and nodded. ''using a melody you could temporarily regain your full pride! next would be using a melody to steadily refill the energy. the best option is that you do things you take pride in doing, like the sewing you''re doing now.'' aero looked down at his work, the helper was right he was taking pride in this and he should because he did a good job too.

    but that gave him an idea the thing he took the most pride in was his fighting skills. of course, he didn''t feel like he could win a fight in this state. so instead he changed into his new clothing and started some simple motions, it reminded his of all the fight he''s won all the training he did. if he hadn''t been looking he would have noticed the energy start to grow, he went on feeling a bit more steady in his actions.

    "HA!" he hit the air with a high kick before switching to a low kick and ending with a straight kick. putting his feet don''t he ground he threw punching into the air, one after the other changing the type until his arms started to each. he slowed down, he wasn''t back at his top but enough that no one should notice,prolby. he cooled down with a bit of yoga.

    "I forgot about you!" he turned to face Adir, who had clearly watched him practice. he left a bit nervous about that but was able to push it away. "you practice a lot don''t you?" aero nodded before starting some cool-down yoga.

 16

    "so do you have any plans besides raising children?" aero asked after a flower of awkward silence. he couldn''t stand it and his pride wasn''t strong enough to withstand it, Adir blinked at the question and only shrugged after a moment of thought. "never really, never a need to dream more!" Aero scuffed before getting up for some water.

    "some many like you, have no pride in themselves more than their ability to bear and raise children! taking way too much in that fact!" it annoyed him greatly, it enraged him that he was expected to feel the same. dowing his water aero returned to the living room, even though he really wanted to return to his room instead.

    "what do you want to do besides fighting?"

    "make a place for guys to learn to what they desire!" aero said, originally it was a fighting school but so many guys had so many different things they would like to learn. so a school that taught many different things would have to do, that brought up a whole new question of teachers. at first, he thought he could do the teaching himself until other students reached the right level. but that plan went out the window quickly.

    "I see!" he didn''t see the appeal and tried to find something else they could have in common. even though he failed since they meet. they were very different people, very different. Neora''s return had killed the awkward air between them, aero was quickly at his mother''s side telling her that he was already feeling much peter. though not a hundred percent. she was just glad he was feeling better, he shared the sentiment.

    she and sir talked which lead to aero going up to his room before they got lovey Dovey. in his room he talked to the helper about his energy molding books. ''the book is already on its way as their analyses of pride energy show much potential. of course, they haven''t discovered any use for it just yet. but I will keep you posted!''

    "Is there any use for then energy?" he couldn''t help but ask.

    ''there are without a doubt uses for this energy, seeing as it affects the mind on such a level I think it would have great use for mental health. of course, it might become a drug as well for daredevils.''

    "what?" drug, daredevils. these were both new terms to him. he would ask Tove tomorrow. but for now aero stretched out on his bed before doing some thinking, since he could now buy things from the store that meant it had more use to him now. which brought up the question of what he should use the store for. the book on energy molding would definitely be of great use, but what else could he use.

    thinking hard he realized his weapon could use an upgrade, not that there was any wrong with his staff but it would hurt to make a better one. he asked the helper what he thought would be the best material to make it form. ''since it is both a wind instrument and a blunt weapon I belive a lightweight diamond would be your best choice. but even with the high price of the pride energy, it doesn''t have a certain price and you might for into debt with the store. something to avoid even in death!''

    "I''m sorry what that supposed to mean?!" the helper simply told him the store always got what it was owed. it helped that the lord of greed was the owner, ''you don''t cross her!'' they left it at that and aero didn''t ask more, instead inquired about his fellow lords. the helper didn''t answer for a moment before stating,'' I can''t tell you anything but not because I don''t wish to. the helpers are unable to retain information certain about the lords other than their own, a security measure but I believe Tova can tell you a few things.''

    Aero nodded actually kind of relieved the other lords who were without a doubt stronger than he was."what can you tell me about the other lords?"

    ''the lord of lust hasn''t been found yet, the lord of greed is willing to do business with all lords, the lord of wraith doesn''t kill the people who anger him, the lord of sloth has an army at his disposal, the lord of envy likes reading just as much as you do but loves exploring, the lord of gluttony is incredible in the kitchen don''t touch her husband!''

    "have they asked about me?" the tension faded from the teen, his fellow lords sounded like people.

    ''no, my lord is a rule of thumb that the other lords are left alone for a bit allowing them to grow on their own, you can reach out to them if you wish but I would recommend preparing a gift of some kind first.''

    "I''ll remember that when I want to talk to them," aero yawned pulling his quilt over him so he could take a nap. even though it wasn''t that late in the afternoon but he was drained, lacking his obedience was taking a bigger toll on him than he had thought. even longer when his nap laster almost five flowers, going downstairs he found though a note his mother left him that she and Adir were on a date.

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    he decides to ignore this and have the food she left for him before he got cleaned up and went back to bed. he didn''t sleep through the entire night but was thankful he had something to read until the sun came up. his mother was still asleep so he went out, he felt much more secure than he did last time.

    "oh welcome back!" Tova greeted aero as he walked into the library, he was curious what she was doing here this early. he had originally planned to drop off the scroll he narrowed then leave, but he meant he could check out some books. so he looked around finding some books to read, they were simple ones.

    "would you like a short lesson?" Tova checked out the scroll that aero picked.

    "tell a bit about my fellow lords," she paused before a moment before collecting her thoughts.

    "I don''t know much about the other but my star system is near the lord of envy. he actually visited it quite often liked the view of one of the mountains, when he was there it was clear to see why he ruled envy. it was always in his eyes, he wanted what others had experienced. it was nothing that he could physically have," she paused as something occurred to her, "though with the power a cosmic lord had he could probably take the experience."

    aero shivered at that thought, having the power to take people''s experiences, things like memories. would he have that kind of power, would he make an enemy out of this lord. he could feel a seed of fear forming in his heart.

    "But despite that what he did instead was offering his ear, he listened as we grieved what we envied. I remember telling him how I envied this girl who some really great hair, like really great it, long soft, never gets dirty or tangled!" Tova paused to see aero looking at her blankly, awkwardly he continued talking," anyway he did judge me or tell me I need to move on. instead, he related to me, it made me feel less like I was being crazy."

    "huh, yeah I probably won''t do something like that," aero admitted," but I will probably encourage people to find something they can take pride in. actually I''ve already done that!" it filled him with a sense of pride, Tova brighten at that it was good that he saw the path he wished to take. "can you tell me anything about the other lords?"

    "umm a few rumors are floating around but I can''t even begin to tell you which ones might be real or not, cosmic beings can do some crazy shit!"

    well don''t believe the future rumor about me!" aero then grabbed his scrolls and walked out of the library. more people were out as he walked home, no one paid him any attention. home he waled in one his mother preparing the first meal, he helped where she let him before they ate together and she went off to work. ''okay to do some work as the lord of pride!''

    with the helper''s help, aero used his pride energy to get a sense of the pride of everyone in his town. it took a considerable amount of energy to do so, but it did alert him to some pride he had to take down. ''okay just four people,'' he left his house and hunted their people down. ''i can''t just randomly sock them a lot of guys will stop listening to me if I do!''

    "so what does that make my course of action?" He no longer needed the melody to see the pride he kept an eye out for his prey. he kept thinking about his possible course of action, one of his ideas was to drag them somewhere out of the public eyes. the helper vetoed that one saying that people would talk, while aero was confident in his ability to keep people silent he decided it was too much trouble.

    "Okay but seriously what should I do? I don''t need a melody to control my pride energy I can use that I know this, can I use this fact?''

    ''this is one of the reasons that I suggest the energy molding book, with the proper method it''s possible to send out energy attacks.''

    "Really!" he thanked the helper for his suggestion and asked what they could do right now.

    ''i believe you should find them and mark them on your radar, then when the book arrives and you''ve studied enough you can deal with them.'' aero nodded this was a sound strategy and would be the first time he made a temporary retreat during a hunt. the babbit incident lacked a way for him to retreat, also he panicked more than a bit not that he would ever admit this fact.

    it took a flower and a half for the lord to mark all his targets, he decided he was gonna use this skill more because remembering unimportant people''s names and faces was a waste of his brainpower. was he looking down on them, maybe? but he truly did need that brainpower for more important things, like remembering what Tova told him about what sat beyond the stars.

    going to the forest aero stretched out before doing some light training, he did grab his staff before he left so he could practice with it. today he focused on keeping his imaginary opponent off balance, he kept going a lot of his attacks aiming high or low. maybe a random one to the middle as he practiced, he was panting when he decided it was time for a break but that didn''t he didn''t do anything.

    ''it still quite a bit of time before your bones are back in a peak state,'' aero nodded and asked if there was a way to make his bones heal faster. ''hiring a biologist would probably be the best bet.'' the helper understood that the time it took for aero to heal after using multiple melodies was an annoyance to there lord. they explained that for something like to happen a better understanding of the grines biology was needed, then medical theories could be made then applied.

    "would it help if a got some medical scrolls?"

    ''it would be a good starting place,'' aero nodded wondering where he should go to get these scrolls they certainly weren''t in the library as that was more recreational reading. more informative text for things like science belong to larger libraries, aero thinks the closet one was a few towns over. which was probably a week of travel, ''so a two-week trip at the least.'' yeah that wasn''t gonna happen soon.

    deciding to do a bit of asking around about the library and the town it resides in, for more reasons to go. maybe the town had some nice clothing he could buy for his mother, he didn''t know but he would fire it out. he like stores but he wasn''t going on a two-week trip just for some stories. he got back to training counting where he left off.

    it was after two flowers of training that he decided to go home, his mother wasn''t home but there was food so he dug in before he did some yoga in the living room. he did take in a good amount of water before he stopped, he did a "bit" of reading until his mother came home with Adir at her tail. he turned around after greeting his mother, she was in a good mood and he didn''t want to ruin it.

    up in his room, he continued reading at one point he got bored left the house, and sought out the guys who were finding their own pride. most of them were doing fine, moving at a pace they felt comfortable with. aero didn''t push, his mother told him that would be a bad idea. he also knows to push enough and someone would push back, aero did so violently.

    "well it seems you''re getting better," aero commented rocking the child as the writer showed him his latest work. it was good, his vocabulary has clearly expanded and the grammar was better making the reading smoother.

    "you''ve started working on the two-step?" aero asked as a child attempted to climb him which he was not having. her father nodded as he showed off the two-step he recently learned, aero honestly didn''t know if the man was doing it right or not but still he clapped for him.

    he enjoyed visiting them, but more he enjoyed how he could feel new pride blossoming, each time he could feel words on the tip of his tongue but he didn''t let them out. not now, he feels that it would be better if their pride was a little stronger. he wasn''t what that really meant but he was going with it trusting his instincts, little else he trusted more.

 17

    "how much longer until the book touches down," aero as stretching out, the helper had woken him up before sunrise to inform him his order was nearing the planet.

    '' it shouldn''t be more than a few minutes," the helper responded. they waited a few more minutes of silence as the delivery arrived, the transport box was nowhere near the size of the energy collector. it was only the size of the teen''s head, it opened after scanning aero to relive that it was just big enough to contain the energy molding book.

    "so this is a book?" he turned the unfamiliar object over in his hands feeling the hardcover. the words were in his native tongue, apparently, the helper sent a translated key with the order. "well let''s see what you have to offer," he cracked open the book sitting beneath a tree. ''molding energy given you limited limitless potential, the only thing that limits your power is the energy available and your imagination. step outside the box of common thought...''

    the book quickly got to the good stuff giving examples of how molding energy worked, it references different pages for deeper explanations. aero paid attention to the energy blast, the concept was more complex than he first thought but not enough that he felt he couldn''t get in the next few days.

    after reading the section several times plus a few other parts for context he put down the book and tried putting it into practice, from what he got the hardest part was going to be giving the energy direction. it wasn''t hard to make energy explode just had to bring it to a critical mass, but that didn''t account for special properties of the energy. heat energy burned more than it exploded, he wasn''t sure what that meant for pride energy.

    gather energy in his hand he observed it before trying to launch it with a thrust of his hand, it didn''t detach. barely moved, "okay let''s try this." he tried shaping the energy in a way that would make it easier to fly but it didn''t go. no matter what he tried the energy wouldn''t fly before he knew it it was mid-day.

    "well this isn''t going well," somehow he got the feeling the energy didn''t like parting. ''well it''s born from my pride so maybe that has something to do with it.'' he didn''t wanna spend to much time on this at this point. ''maybe I should consider a differ method'' Areo side before heading home with an uncomfortable empty stomach.

    his mother wasn''t home but there was food for him, making a mental note to thank her later aero dug into his food. his stomach was no longer uncomfortable he got back to work studying the energy molding book. more information was very useful and gave him a better idea of how energy worked in all the forms it took.

    it also explained how some energies did separate well, his energy might be one of those. but it did suggest stretching these kinds of energy instead, which sounded like a great idea to use. the book also mentions having a solid image in mind greatly helped when molding energy, so being the fighter that aero was he brought up the image of a weapon. his main weapon was a bo staff but that didn''t mean every sliver moon he didn''t practice with something else. one of those things was a sectioned staff, if it wasn''t for how complex making medlies with it would have been, the section flute staff would be his main weapon.

    he started by shaping his energy into the form of a simple bo staff. with was a lot harder than he thought. it had a vague shape, but aero considered a complete disappointment to stop all bo staffs. he couldn''t use this, he took too much pride in his skills with a bo staff to use subpar weaponry. he immensely reabsorbed the energy and tried again. then again and again. his mother wonders what he was doing when she walked into the house but didn''t ask as he had a look of absolute determination and focus.

    she only grabbed his attention when it was time for the third meal, "oh it that time?" aero stretched out his limbs before he sat down at the table. he ate have a pleasant conversation with his mother, doing the dishes before she had the chance. she rolled her eyes before heading upstairs so he could wash up from the day. when everything was clean he went up to his room and started practicing his molding again, hour of work did improve his skill but aero wasn''t satisfied with the results.

    he so was determined to improve that he started first thing the next morning barely bothering with the first meal as he worked. the helper had to remind him to stop so he could attend a lesson with Tova, she had an interesting lesson for him and it proved to be a good break from his energy molding practice. "light speed travel is so complicated, "his head was hurting after listing to her explain some of the specifics of the more common space travel methods.

    though a lot of it didn''t stick, the importance of how long space travel can take did. the distance between this planet and Tova''s homeworld is several trillion light-years. that would take years of travel if you couldn''t move as fast or faster than light, "how am I supposed to do that?"

    ''don''t worry my lord most cosmic lord figure out how to move faster than light one way or another!'' they tried to encourage their lord. but it only gave aero questions about his fellow lords and what they could do. because the way that was said made it sound like they didn''t need these spaceship things Tova mention.

    ''your right, most cosmic lords develop bodies caple of surviving the void with ease, all know away to protect themselves. you will likely discover you''re own method one day as well.'' aero rolled his eyes of course that was gonna happen when he didn''t know but it was gonna happen. he pushed the topic out of his mind and focused back on the energy molding, he was making great progress with making a staff. but he came across a new problem with that taking all his focus, the moment he tried to move the energy came apart.

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    multiple days passed before aero reached a level that he was satisfied with, the helper was very glad for this as their lord''s health was starting to be affected. they were also incredibly impressed, by sheer stubbornness and pride aero reached a level that took years to get. aero''s pride swelled hearing this fact, but he moved to turn the energy forged staff to a sectioned staff.

    the chains were basic but solid enough to work, he then spent three days practicing with his energy-molded weapon. the weapon lacked any mass which made handling it very strange, but it also lacks a real effect on physical things doing more damage to the pride energy of other beings. this was what aero wanted so he didn''t complain about it, he was very interested when the helper commented that it was possible to add mass to the energy constructs. but that was something for the future.

    right now he was following the signal of one of his markers, he found the person having a conversation. aero stayed back and turned his back to them, closing his eyes he collected the energy he needed and shaped it into the sectioned staff. holding onto it was unnecessary as he controls the entire thing with his thoughts, but holding it gave him a greater sense of control and it just felt more comfortable to him.

    he slowly breathed gather his focus focusing on his target''s pride, ''now!'' the sectioned staff moved in the space of a breath. crossing the distance between the Grinine, smashing right into the other''s pride taking out a good chuck but losing a bit of its own energy before returning to aero''s space.

    ''their pride is harder than I expected!'' something he learned since raising his energy stat was that pride energy could be very dense. his pride was, the helper said it near the hardness of something called a diamond. one of the reasons he was chosen as the lord of pride. using his energy at its densest would quickly drain his reserves making him meek once again.

    he decided the density of a stone would be a good place to start, but his target proved to be more prideful than he thought. it was sorta easy to raise the density of the energy to something like metal, then he struck again taking a larger chunk than another. aero stopped taking count of how much energy had left, he could already feel his confidence weaker than before. he could feel doubt rushing in his chest, ''i can do this!''

    his helper told him that two more hits would bring the energy down to a good level. taking a deep breath aero steeled himself before lashing out twice quickly, he could feel the toll that action took. his clothing no longer felt comfortable as before, he didn''t feel the overwhelming need to change but he did wish to get out of the public eye.

    ''very well done my lord,'' the helper praised as their master walked back home. ''you''ve done well!'' from their calculations praising should be a good way to help him recover his pride. of course, they also guessed aero was probably going to practice his fighting when he got home. it felt like it restored a good amount of his energy but the remainder would only come with rest and time, another nuance of pride energy.

    feeling a little more sure-footed aero expanded the recently developed energy sense to get a vague feel for the other two targets. he couldn''t get that much on them just a vague read on their locations, after pulling back the sense pulled out the energy molding book wanting to finish reading it.

    the next day he went to learn something from Tova before stocking his prey, he just wanted to be sure he could take them. overserving the energy they let off uncontrollably, there was both a lord and it looked pretty hard. this didn''t scare the mostly recovered aero who knew that he could deal with them easily, of course, he knew there was going to be a price for it.

    ''i still win!'' aero reminded himself as he retreated from the area. ''after I take these two down what should I do?'' he had to start taking his plans and duties abit more practically. ''if I''m going to build a school of any kind I need a place to put it,'' money would be that big of a problem to aero. it would only be a matter of time and work to get it, along with all the money that he''s saved up. no, the real problem would be getting someone to sell him land.

    ''too bad, I can''t just cut down so many trees.'' Augustine had strict laws about maintaining the wild. because a lot of things came from what they hunted and any attempt to domesticate usually ended really badly unless you got really lucky. it didn''t matter your gender you got punished harshly, so it would take a lot of money and probably lots of time before aero could get his land.

    ''being the lord of pride means that I should start traveling around to deal with overflowing pride,'' he should probably get personal transport. taking carven wasn''t that big of a problem but it would get really annoying with people recognizing him and committing on the fake he was traveling alone. especially once he started traveling farther and farther from home.

    ''yeah that gonna lead to a lot of fights, so many fights and while aero wasn''t against stretching his limbs that would just get bad rumors about him. and make no mistake aero didn''t give a Zaltess flying ass about what people thought of him but even he could recognize the trouble it would cause him. so he had to operate within in some lines, but that didn''t mean he would punch someone who insulted him.

    the next someday aero started looking around for gaining ownership of a cart, though some people tried to strongly suggest he stop aero plowed right though and learned to own a cart he would have to head for a big city. he started making his plans for that, it wouldn''t be the same as his short term hunting trips. for one thing, he would defiantly need to bring some hygiene supplies, a quick dip in the river would do.

    while he did that he counted just how much money he saved over the years. "oh, bless the zalts!" this was an absurd amount of money. has he really done this amount of work over the years, are knew his job paid a pretty coin but almost a billion coins. this was absurd, though it might have something to do with the many difficult missions that aero did."how many missions did I take?" they all kind of blurred together, the only thing he could clearly remember was the burning desire to prove everything wrong.

    sighing he counted out a little more than the average price for a cart and money for the trip. "should do some laundry," he would need fresh clothes for the trip. gathering up his clothes he grabbed a cube of clothes soap before going downstairs to wash his clothing. it was several flowers of scrubbing before he was gone and could hang his clothes to dry.

    "Welcome home!" he greeted his mother as she walked in the front door. they talked about her day a work a bit before aero broke the topic of him buying a cart, "I plan to travel farther and longer for my missions. so it seems like the most convenient and cost-efficient mode of transportation."

    "Okay," Neora said opening a jar of preserves for dinner. "make sure you don''t buy one of those unseemly decorated models and make sure the beasts you get are in good health! have your thought where you''re going to put it when not in use?" Aero started taking mental notes of what she was saying but he was curious why she knew so much about cart and beast owning. as far as he knew she''s never driven anything.

    ''i mean she is pretty old and probably experience a lot of things without me knowing, ''but still, it was weird. after helping where he was allowed aero did some light, for him, reading as Neora washed up. he took his turn afterward then pulled down his laundry, things went bump in the night and he didn''t want to lose something.

    the next day he looked at maps and cart trips to figure out how long this was really gonna take. "it''s clearly a 6-day one-way trip if things go well, so say I take a few days to pick out my thing I shouldn''t be gone more then 2 and a half weeks." he hoped he didn''t get homesick during that time, he wasn''t pleasant to be around when he was homesick. when he first when to the school and got homesick he did so many things the Zalts and Zaltess would be ashamed to see.

 18

    ''i''m not amused,'' aero thought looking at his target who was now looking at him with something he''s seen many times before. ''this chick is stupid!'' anyone with working ears knew he wasn''t looking for a date. but this chick still walked up to him and started flirting with him. every cell in his body wanted to punch that smile off her face, but he held back and instead turned his focus to forging the section staff.

    she kept her attempts to woo him while he chipped away at her pride. he could actually see the effect it was having on her, her flirting because less forward, her body language show a more nervousness. when he was done the girl walked away without him having to say a word, ''okay that will be something I repeat.'' a way to resolve unwanted fliting without anyone seeing throwing a punch or sharp words. it filled him with glee that overshadowed his new uncertainties, he rode that glee all the way home. his pride wasn''t as hard as the last one but there was so much more.

    curling up on his bed and hiding from the world wasn''t something he''s done before but it felt great right now. even though he was a little ashamed of his actions, he tried hard to ignore that part of him. for the moment instead, mentally going over his accomplishments to recover some of his pride. it wasn''t much but soon enough he was able to get out of bed and went to some stances with his physical staff.

    he went through a lot before he was feeling close to a hundred, which allowed him to go downstairs and continue his plans for his trip. he got his things ready to go but the cart schedule was kind of complex needing a least 12 transfers, and he still had to figure out which ones he wanted to take. all of them lead to the big city but are differentiated in cost, comfort, and travel time.

    he didn''t mind comfort nor did he care about the cost but time made a difference he didn''t want to be gone more than necessary. "when I buy my cart I won''t have to worry about this anymore," that made him want the cart more but the amount of trouble necessary to get one. he did find some scrolls in the library about cart types, there wasn''t much difference in civilian carts. but aero quickly ruled those out as he wasn''t going to use it for civilian purposes, it was likely it was going to get attacked by something so something sturdy was a must.

    while there was the option to get one custom made out of special materials, that cost more money than aero was willing to part with at the moment. the standard ones were still pretty good, ''i don''t like going on team missions but as a cosmic lord, I need practice doing it.'' he knew it was going to be suffering but he needs a cart caple of carrying a few people.

    he looks through more information finding a better idea of what kind of cart he wants before moving onto the scroll that held information on a beast good for pulling a cart. it held how to pick them along with caring for what you picked, straight off he noticed it only spoke of herbivores. which meant you didn''t have to worry about something trying to eat him in his sleep.

    he didn''t show much interest in the more docile one, as docile as you could get with a creature, he needed something that would survive during a hunt. so something that could fight off other creatures would be a good idea or maybe something with strong self-preservation instincts so his cart and things didn''t get wreaked.

    there were few options for that, one in his price range anyway. getting a creature to listen to anything they said took a lot of time and money, not to mention a planet ton of patience. the hatred ran deep.

    ''seems my lord I think buying something from the store would be a better use of your time!'' the helper said as their lord took a break. while this solution didn''t occur to the teen he did have a response to it, "how would I explain whatever I buy?" he wasn''t required to answer anyone''s questions other than his mom''s but people would surely cause up a commotion.

    ''my lord what you buy simply has to blend in with your planet''s level of technology, they are more than a few items that match the group thanks to aesthetic.'' Aero nodded that did sound helpful but his planet kept track of who owned the cart in case their beast went wild or they died in the wilds. since creatures might eat everything including the bones the cart could be used for identification. something used a lot more than people liked.

    when he told his helper they were quiet for a moment, "simple have it mimic the form of whatever you buy!" they sounded quite proud of themselves. aero didn''t disagree but he still had to buy a cart one he would only use for a cover story, that was quite the price to pay for a lie.

    Aero had to think about this long and hard, on one hand, something from the lord of greed''s business would defiantly have more benefits. but was it really worth the amount of money he was going to spend for a cart plus whatever he brought from the store? he still didn''t know the worth of his pride energy.

    of course, they had learned more about the energy even started trying to make things with it, but it was all untested and hasn''t met the market either. the helper had explained that to him, it mostly went over his head all that demand and supplies none sense. a month or two, the trial for the products would be done the market analyses.

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    "I don''t know if there''s anything I can sell anyway," sighing aero knew he just had to hope the best right now. making his choice he bordered the third cart for his trip to the big city. thankful he wasn''t the only guy on this one like the first two, that wasn''t a pleasant experience. ''they need to learn to mind their own business, "thankfully the cart had suffered form his rage instead of the other passengers.

    "so are you traveling to see family too?" a rather old male said. aero looked at the crack in his exoskeleton that only came with old age, this man was truly old, this might be the last trip he makes. which explains the four able bodies women surrounding him. they were likely there to make sure he survived the trip.

    "no, I have some business to attend to."

    "and you came alone?" one of the female guards asked eyeing his weapon. "brave boy!" she sounded impressed but aero ignored her, instead of pulling out a scroll to read during the ride. they got the message he wasn''t interested in conversation which seemed fine with the old man as he dozed off.

    ''This is interesting data,'' the helper commented surprising aero. he asked about the data and apparently, they had scanned the old man. ''it''s vital that I learn about my lord''s aging process, so I can monitor your health.'' aero nodded to this and asked him to continue on, ''it seems even at that age your still be perfectly able to bear children.''

    that gave the teen pause, people always said that he should have children as early as possible. aero refused to do that, he wanted to use his time to learn how to fight. that didn''t mean he didn''t like children nor did it mean he didn''t want to have his own one day. of course, their mother was gonna have to meet some standards first.

    the fact he could have children while his exoskeleton was starting to crack was reassuring in a way. it lifted a small weight off his thoughts, "I have plenty of time to choose the person I wanna raise children with." that was a nice thought, he didn''t have to rush or worry he would find them.

    the rest of the day was peaceful until the carriage stopped for the night, he stared out of the stars. he was gonna travel there one day wasn''t he, as soon as he figured out how to survive the void of space. reaching it ould be a simple just a melody that nullified gravity long enough for him to reach space, my bones won''t be looking great when that happens.

    they continued to travel the next day, the weather looked a bit bad but nothing that could slow them down. the old man tried to strike up a conversation with aero again, he wasn''t rude about it but he didn''t have much to say to the man''s stories. for the average guy, this guy clearly had a fun life, enjoyed every moment of it.

    ''i can''t have a life like that,'' his heart didn''t ack at the thought. it was a simple fact, he couldn''t have a life like that man, it may have satisfied him but it would drive aero to murder. he was confident in his ability to hide the body so he was gonna just avoid that path, he couldn''t see the star the second night but he didn''t mind. it was still a beautiful sky that night, the air was fresh and he relaxed pretty easily.

    his slumber was peaceful until it was time for the cart to set out, this time the old man talked about his family. aero felt a sinking sensation when everyone he mentions was spoken about in the past tense. ''oh zalts let it just be a long while since he''s seen anyone and not him being the last member alive.'' it was likely for both, traveling wasn''t easy with the creatures they were also responsible for several hundred deaths every year.

    "I''m gonna join them before the year is over," oh that set it for aero this man was the last living member of his family. that met he was probably going to visit their markers, the Grinine didn''t let creature eat their body. some would dig up crosses to eat even the bones, so to prevent that they. they just liquefied everything then put it into a mold before resolidifying it. this was a marker, they could last as little as four hundred years. a family usually got their markers tied together, they were called markers because they marked that you lived.

    some would say it''s rather morbid that every year you had to submit a design of your marker. but others said it was a good reminder of how life is a fleeting thing, aero''s marker wasn''t anything grand despite his massive pride. because before death all was equal, no matter your gender or what you''ve done. death looked at everyone the same as death was everyone, as your life was coming to an end you became death. so there was no reason to fear it.

    aero didn''t think of death often despite his dangerous job, but for every job, he knew if it became possible that he would die. he would at least do his best to make it back to a town so his mother didn''t worry longer than she had to. was it said he didn''t think he would live longer than his mother, no he considered it realistic his job had a high mortality rate but he chooses it.

    ''the day that I die, I can only hope that it is far from this day, ''even though the helper could hear these thoughts they decided not to comment. aero''s no fear of death was a good thing, because as a cosmic lord he would one day face things worse than death. but that hopefully wouldn''t be for a very long time. they should probably find out how good their lord was admitting what scared him, to even just himself.

    ''My lord, are you really to check your skill record?'' it was first things in the morning as they climbed into the carriage after having their first meal and relieving themselves.

    ''i don''t need someone telling me how good I do something!'' it was one of the bigger reasons that he hadn''t paid much attention to this ability.

    ''then how will you know what needs to be improved?''

    ''i will always strive to improve,'' because staying stagnant was a recipe for failure.

    ''and how will you know the best way to improve beyond the ways to that of your current mortal understanding?'' it was at that moment aero caught onto the fact they were planning something, trying to play him. he wasn''t threatened, more annoyed as the helper would do whatever was needed to help him along as it didn''t harm him. even if he hated them.

    ''what are you saying?'' he was curious what ploy they could have.

    ''simple my lord, would you rather stay still thanks to your pride or learn skills beyond anything on this planet. which I''m sure would be a challenge worthy of your skills and show others who they are truly messing with." they had played there hand and aero stayed silent.

    ''i''m very glad you on my side,'' his weak points had been stuck and now he was curious,'' show me the record.''

    skill record

    sound based energy manipulation

    sound-based atomic manipulation

    hand to hand combat

    polearm combat

    pride energy manipulation

    flute playing

    ....

    ''i''m proud of all my combat-based skills,'' aero smirked as the helper started planning to get their lord more life skills. at least enough he could take care of himself in the future.

    polearm combat

    mortal rank

    common

    near mastery

    '' the amount of effort and time that you''ve put into hat skill has brought it to near mastery,'' the helper then explained it would reach mastery when he fixed the holes caused by himself thaught knowledge. ''then it can be upgraded!''

    ''and I guess you know the holes,'' aero scuffed looking towards the retreating horizon.

    ''it''s just some simple bad habit that you''ve formed.'' was the cheery reply, aero huffed once more annoyed but interested so he brought up the details of another skill.

 19

    "Alright here''s everybody''s stop!" the driver said as they came within sight of the city. aero''s eye twitched at the size, it was a lot bigger than he was expecting, at least six times. but he wasn''t imitated or at least refused to admit it, "gotta find a place to stay for the night." it wasn''t late, a little after midday. but he would like to secure that first before he got started on the registration for his future cart.

    the cart stopped and he bid goodbye to the old man, he had mixed feelings knowing this was the last time he would see the man. ''should I morn someone I''ve known no more than 10 days?'' this man was dying, joining his family. was this something sad or something happy. "I don''t even know his name!"

    he kept going back and forth with himself as he found his way to the right building through a sheer prideful will. "this looks good," he read the sign by the door for the prices. lower than he thought they might be, so that meant his budget was different than he imagined. the numbers started going through his head as he walked in, heading right up to the counter and requesting a room.

    "one bed? are you here alone?" the female at the desk. aero bit back something hostile and asked if that was a problem, she probably picked up on his suppressed venom. but she didn''t say anything beyond handing him the key to his room. hefting up his bag he climbed the stair to his room, "is this door reinforced?" he lightly kicked the door, cringing in pain. yeah, that door was pure metal under that wood decoration.

    "Surprisingly light," after unlocking the door he pulled the door open with much less force than he expected. "no wonder she didn''t say anything," whatever the door was made of would be hard to get through, at the very least anyone or thing trying to get through would wake him. it helped that the walls were made of something similar. "the perfect room for a man traveling alone, huh."

    as he unpacked aero wondered how long they had this room and why, he knew guys rarely traveled alone. unless they were like despite or cocky. he wasn''t sure why this was frowned upon as he traveled alone many times and nothing bad has happened, of course, he could put up more of a fight.

    locking him room aero headed back out to the city, he needed to get started on the cart registration. it took a bit for him to find the right building, "well the zalts were not looking my way today." the place had already closed for the day, so that left aero with no other real choice but to come back tomorrow. sighing he headed back to the hotel, this time paying a bit more attention to the stores that he passed.

    the next morning aero had his first meal on the go heading straight to the office, the worker there didn''t seem pleased to see him. aero wondered what upset her more the fact it was the crack of dawn or the fact he was a guy getting a cart. he also didn''t care making that clear along with the fact he was willing to throw hands with her if she didn''t cooperate.

    ''my lord this process seems incredibly insouciant,'' the helper commented as their lord filled out the 12th thing of paperwork.

    ''yeah I won''t argue with that, but most of this I can see the need for. the rest I don''t,'' aero continued to work take an entire flower to complete all the starting paperwork. "don''t worry he you actually buy the cart you don''t have to fill out this amount of paperwork. aero just looked at her suspiciously, before he took the slip and left to go shopping for a cart. from what he knew three places around the city sold them.

    Aero wanted to check them all out before thinking about buying, one to see their option another to see how they treated him. the helper was starting to get a little worried about his lord...well it wasn''t paranoia since he was usually right about people treating him strangely because of his gender. but this might become a serious problem, the worst part is it would be years before it changed on this planet.

    ''this is a problem,'' the helper thought as aero held himself back from making the seller who offered a cart great for carrying children. it annoyed him that she assumed that he wanted a cart because if he was with a child he would have bought that cart it was a very good recommendation well within his price range probably last until he was in his thirties.

    but he didn''t want that kind, the kind he did want was in plenty of what he could buy. there were a lot more choices than he expected, not even considering what he wanted the cart to look like. this led to him visiting the markets over several days, he did make a choice. a medium-size cart made from purple-silver wood and a lather canopy.

    after that, he went to look for a creature to pull that cart, there were fewer choices this time and they all kind of looked the same to him. ''what an interesting specimen?'' the helper spoke deep scanning the creature. they haven''t had the chance to do scan a creature before, a deep scan could take days with their limited abilities at the moment. they couldn''t wait for the lord could grow, which might allow them to see why the other life forms on this planet the grinine so much, the kind of hatred on a genetic level.

    aero stilled had a few things to do before he could leave the city with his new cart. he had to take a class about driving the said cart. he wasn''t looking forward to the class partly because he was completely expecting for it to be taught by a girl who got unnecessary soft with him.

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    ''well I was right about the first thing!'' he was wrong about the soft things as the women didn''t speak in anything lower than a shout. "why though?" he couldn''t help but wonder as he pulled out a scroll to take notes with. he could argue with the law but he had to know it first, the last lasted five flowers. there was a lot of information that day, but aero decided he got what was important. mostly what he needed to know about being a hunter with a cart.

    "I didn''t know that leaving your cart somewhere could be a sign of how dangerous the mission is!" that would explain why it was recommended when we graduate that they were recommended to get a cart or when they heard a hinters cart had been sitting somewhere for a certain amount of time it was time to start a search party.

    "another day then I can head home!" he then realized he probably needed maps. many roads were leading to small towns mostly but if you weren''t careful you could get lost. it is why carriage drivers would always be able to make some money anywhere they went, if he ever got badly injured he could take up a job like this. back at the inn aero went over his notes before the third meal, the meal was sweet jell, it was good there was no doubt but aero still preferred his mothers.

    the next day he was one of the first to class wanting to get this over with so he could go home, but stretching in preparation for long sitting and writing hours. it was as he expected, though the new student had his attention for a few seconds before he decided they weren''t worth more attention. so he turned back to the teacher who lonely spent a few petals reviews yesterday before leading the classes outside.

    "today is a practical lesson!" these words excited aero but he kept himself contained. they had to show off their understanding of their ability to drive a cart. ''yeah no way it''s that easy!'' aero stood back and watch the first girl climb into the driver''s spot. he knew skills that people took pride in took a lot of effort to acquire, he did know this from gaining his own skill. as the lord of pride he knew the drivers took quite a bit of pride in their skill, nothing he had to worry about so far but that could change.

    "I expected a disaster, kind of disappointed!" he had just watched the woman almost drive the cart into the side of the building the creature pulling it wasn''t so lucky and now very upset with her. he wondered if it was going to try and eat her if it did he wouldn''t hesitate to put it down. but the teacher calmed it down before pointing out everything she need to improve on.

    this quickly became the pattern, they tried driving they messed up some way and then the teacher told them what they need to work on. aero was not looking forward to his turn, ''i should take it slow make less of a fool of myself this way.'' he didn''t let his worries show keeping his face carefully blank as he climbed into the driver''s seat.

    he have the reins a gentle crack and the creature moved forward slowly, its large hoves making the earth tremble slightly. he took it slowly just going for a simple lap of the test area. he had nothing to prove so he didn''t do anything extreme or unnecessary.

    "very good," the teacher praised since it was honest aero allowed his pride to swell at it. he didn''t look at his fellow classmates, "it seems that at least one of you have the patience to properly drive. remember that you have to take things slowly at first or you will be losing a lot of money in repairs medical costs, and fines." it would be no cracks in her carapace as long as no one got seriously hurt.

    a few more test drives and a final lecture she let them go to drive their carts as they pleased. ''i should wait so none of these people are on the road,'' aero decided this as he returned to his inn room to collect his things. he had a few words with his helper as he picked up his cart, he first went and brought several sacks of feed for it. he also put in an order for a few months down for more feed.

    ''is buying in bulk cheaper?'' aero asked himself as he went over numbers in his head. "yeah it''s cheaper the deliver fees would stack," so bulk delivers would cost him more. that choice made him finish loading the cart," still got a bit of money." he found better deals than he was expecting so spent less than he planned. ''let''s see if there are any souvenirs of interest.'' he spent most of him in his room or cart and creature shopping. he didn''t know what else this store sold.

    ''foods off the list first,'' that could go bad on the way back so instead, he looked at accessories. he didn''t do much in the way of them, got in the way during a fight, and had people hitting on him. but his mother licked accessories just didn''t have many of them, she rarely wore them. she did on some date with Adir or when she just wanted to look pretty.

    he also considered bringing some scrolls back with him, his mother liked reading almost as much as he did. he went debated on the two gifts decided to get her a simple necklace, his mother didn''t like him spending so much money on her so this would be good. then he brought a book which according to the worker was, " rather popular with people around your age!" what he was allowed to skim off the first paragraph definitely intrigued him, he just hopped the writing quilty didn''t drop later in the story. or he was going to be very upset.

    putting his new things on the cart checked the time by a bundle at a storefront, "yeah most of them have probably gotten off the roads at this point." really it was a matter of luck but hopefully he Zaltess of luck was smiling at him. getting into the driver''s seat he cracked the reins and set off, the steps of the creature were going to take some getting used to. he could feel each one from the cart.

    "man this is dry," aero stretched out two flowers out of the city. but driving needed most of his attention so he had no other choice, ''would you like to consider your choices to buy a vehicle from the store?''

    "oh yeah we talked about that, do we know the price of pride energy?"

    "no, but it''s let the study phase and they''re now figuring out a way to sell it. the sciences who''ve studied it are willing to pay to study it more, for no other reason than their curiosity, of course, they will report all their finding. none of them could have made it to where they are if they weren''t smart or aware.''

    "someones threatening them?" that what it sounded like to him.

    ''the companion has put together a group designed to make sure the people survived the lord''s wrath.'' the companion was a very smart being aero decided at that moment. a force to protect people from the lords when they got angry, aero had a short temper but he wondered what the lord of wraith was like. is his temper worse than mine?"

    ''no, while you''re temper resembles a fire. the lord of wraith is either fire or ice, to this day people are still debating which is worse either way you will be destroyed!'' aero wasn''t scared one day he would be at that lords level and he didn''t have a plan to get on the bad side of his fellow lords. that would be kind of pointless, the only reason he would fight them is for some training.

    "how many of them are fighters?"

    ''of the current lords of sin, they all have ways of defining themselves. but fighters most of them are not.'' aero asked how many were fighters, they responded with the lord of wrath. they were the only lord of sin that could be called a fighter, though he didn''t practically enjoy combat. but he would fight the moment, then you die if he had mercy for you.

    "do you think he would be willing to spar with me?" the helper responded with a maybe. aero changed the topic but continued to talk with the helper. mostly about what the scientist might do with his energy, it was kind of all he could do at the moment driving. when he stopped the cart for the night he spent a good 10 petals stretching out before he stating training with his weapon. working with his energy afterward mostly just coating his body as he moved as fast as he could.

    ''i need to work on the sync more.'' His poor control made it so that his energy couldn''t get up with his physical movements. which causes the energy blow to weaken but had no effect on his physical strike, he would have to fix that one!"

 20

    "It looks nice," Neora said as her son hooked up the creature to a post she had installed next to the house. "thank you!" he beamed as he placed some feed before the animal, once that was done he raced over to the cart and pulled out a small box which he handed her, "gift." then he moved off before she could accept or reject the gift.

    Neora rolled her eyes as she opened the box, she took a moment to admire the necklace. it was simple but beautiful all the same. smiling she put it on the necklace, she would check out her reflection later on but right now she was going to enjoy how her child smiled when he saw her wearing the gift. she asked about his trip to the city, aero didn''t sound too interested in it.

    "Sure it''s kind all kinds of store and restaurant, the hunting station was bigger had a lot more missions I could take on but wasn''t much that met his interest." she didn''t ask why he felt this way, she raised and while she wouldn''t dare say she knew everything about him. making an educated was possible, he didn''t like the city because he probably didn''t feel safe there. she knew her son didn''t trust a lot of people, it wasn''t that he thought they would hurt him he thought they would smother him.

    he found his freedom, his joy, his pride, he feared most that someone would take that from him one day. so he refused to let people close enough to even try, Neora respected her child''s choice but she couldn''t help but worry that one day he might end up alone no one willing to get close to him at all. his decision to open a school of his own and the way he decided to interact with someone of the guys around town settled her worries for the moment.

    As they settled inside she asked aero about his next move, "I need money to start my school. probably should loan out some for other guys to take steps toward their own pride. yeah, that would be a good idea, most of them don''t want to draw attention, even those who found things they enjoyed doing something not expected of their gender.  buying things that would help they would draw attention though most guys managed the finance of their household especially if they were married, it didn''t mean others didn''t pay attention and would notice.

    when had had his third meal and finished speaking with his mother aero headed upstairs to clean up, when that was done he started having a conversation with the helper about selling his energy. they agreed he had to be cautious about it for several reasons, bring up some aero didn''t think about but couldn''t forget about afterward.

    "so the store set up by the lord of greed is my best bet for selling"

    ''yes, it''s her greed that you can bet on. she will make sure the action go well, so you sell through her exclusively, which brings her more customers!'' aero nodded that was something you would expect from the lord of greed, of course, he didn''t base all his expectations on her title. he was the lord of pride but those words didn''t capture his entire being.

    "so it probably would be best to sell a big batch maybe smaller batches, he could probably buy from the same place as well.'' since he knew nothing about space auctions and currency methods yet, he asked the helper to figure out how many batches of energy he needed to sell before he got ready for bed pulling out the story scroll he was going to read. "okay this is better then I expected, but I gotta stop here or I''m gonna be reading the entire night." huffing he put done the story before closing his eyes sense form the story dancing under his eyelids.

    the next morning he stretched out and headed to the library, he still had many things to learn from Tova, even though it kind of hurt to admit. today''s lesson was about the creatures that lived in the void of space. because that was possible only thank to the source''s power, scientists didn''t believe that something could have naturally evolved this way. but the source just admitted that he turned manipulated existing single-cell life in space, now no one would accuse the powerful creator of everything a lair but there was still disbelief.

    "I mean it'' can''t be that surprising that no one found some cells ins space, not only was no one really looking but cells are small and space is the biggest thing there is!" aero looked up from the notes he started taking after Tova started listing the things the lived-in space. like this thing called a shark or the creatures that ate dead planet. big enough that it could do so whole.

    "What counts as a dead planet?" aero asked rolling up his notes. Tova blinked before thinking hard, "I guess there are three good indications of a dead planet," the first is the no chance of revival of its ecosystem. the second if the atmosphere is just straight gone, and finally the third more than 60% of the planet has been destroyed." aero blinked as these all kind of seemed extreme. but on the other hand, it meant planets and the life on them was resilient.

    after dropping his notes at home he moved to the forest for his flower of training, mostly trying to control the speed of his pride energy. it was harder than it should have since he could already make the energy into a decent-looking sectioned staff. though the helper had a theory that because the staff was an image he related to his pride, his speed wasn''t which. this there had some merit, aero had a decent amount of speed for a hunter but he didn''t focus on it. which his staff he hit hard, quick, and probably much time than you understood. not to mention it made a good flute.

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    he didn''t get any noticeable faster but no training ever went to waste, of course, he knew this on a logical level but emotional he was frustrated. '' i should be doing better even though I''ve only had access to the energy less than four weeks!'' grumbling he instead turned his frustration into motivation as he checked up on the guys and see who need financial help.

    "ugh turned to be more than I expected, not a high amount of money though." he could work with this, it didn''t even take to the end of the day to dish out the money. he informed them he didn''t bother if they paid him back or not, it was kind of pocket change depending on how much he worked. he could make it up in a week if he really wanted to. "probably should so I can buy some land," tomorrow he would check out the available mission right now he was gonna head home for the third meal.

    after that, he talked with his helper about the auction more, ''i sent a message to the lord of greed but she hasn''t responded yet, might have some to do with day cycle differences. night on her plant last about 11 flowers.'' aero choked that was a large amount of time to remain asleep, then something occurred to him.

    "she still lives on her home planet?"

    ''yes, it''s actually pretty common with cosmic lords, since they will live long they tend to stay where they are most familiar with.''

    "so I don''t have to leave?" that was a simple worry he pushed off confident that he could handle the possibility.

    ''of course not, most lords are too strong for them to be forced off the planet and this strength helps defend the planet so only the crazy try to get rid of them.'' that was reassuring, though he did like being strong enough that an entire planet couldn''t tell him to do. could he make his mother as long living as he did? asking the helper revealed that it was possible and quite simple.

    ''bring your level up to the right level and you will be able to bless people, using your energy to increase their life span. but make no mistake this is far from easy, done wring the best thing that can happen is your power burns them from the inside out.'' they didn''t say what the worst situation would be, not because they didn''t wish to tell their lord but because there simply weren''t the words on Augustine to describe it.

    "so I guess that means I have to be more of a leader," aero was informed that supplying the other with financial help and just checking on them was a good step in the right direction. "but there is more I can do, so I guess taking a team mission ould be a bad idea." hopefully it went better than the last which Aero would never admit to being the tiniest bit discouraged by how it leads to a fight he won. the other listened better, but he wasn''t looking for them to all end in fights that would get beyond aggravating.

    the next morning after the first meal he headed over to the collection of missions to see if any of them were team missions, he made sure to check they were all up to date before wasting his time. she was still plenty scared of him, though she tried to shield her new desk with her body. "do you think I can''t lift you or something?" she didn''t have a response to say to that but didn''t move from the desk while aero looked through the missions. not that he paid her much attention after that.

    "this one should do!" it wasn''t an important mission or had a big reward but it would be quick and required him to work together with others. if he took charge it would be a great chance to earn some experience. it would be taking place in four days, two of these days he would have to take to get three. "guess I should get training and lesson done." leaving the station he went to the library to listen to Tova until it was time for the second meal.

    after that, he spent time training until the third meal when he told his mother his plans. she didn''t have anything to say against it instead insisted that she make some food for him to take. "that unes-," the words died as she gave him a stern look. a part of him said he should cower so easily, but he didn''t fear his mother she didn''t have the physical strength for him to be scared. but he did respect her and know he got his stubbornness from her, she also usually one more of their disagreements never having to raise her voice.

    the next day repeated the same pattern but also prepared his carriage loading it up with spare clothes, food, feed, some basic tools the usual things he brought on his missions. then he went to the library where Tova explained about currency conversion since there were millions across the universe. when on the larger scale no one really agreed what they could use to represent monetary value. some people just didn''t really give fuck.

    After the second meal, he did some light training so that he could rest, ''what stat is my bones at?'' he wasn''t sure if they had healed since the last mission. it would be a big problem but he didn''t want to worsen his condition if he could help it. he asked the helper who pointed out for the most part his bones were good, but they were likely to break again when he next used a medley. "I''ve got a way to prevent or heal?" thinking about it he asked the helper which would be easier to calculate?

    ''bassed on my understanding if you could reinforce your bones, you wouldn''t reinforce damage, but are there no melodies to heal or reinforce?'' aero held back a scoff, if there was a medley to reinforce your body it would have been forced on him when most people notice that he wasn''t going to quit being a hunter. healing medlies were actually plentiful but they required several years of medical studies for them to be of any good.

    '' I will get started on calculations right away,'' the helper then shut down as aero finished up his training. heading home he had the third meal with his mother before going to bed early, he wanted to get an early start tomorrow. after a blessed sleep he got up while the sky was still plenty dark, "ah so that was her plan!" he was checking over his luggage when he found some food his mother had snuck into the carriage at some point. "well done well done," if he wasn''t thorough he wouldn''t have noticed until he was miles from town.

    "Okay that''s everything let''s get moving shall we!" climbing on board he steered the cart into the main road leading east. not ten petals out of town he was growing bored, ''yeah I''m not the best at driving but this is cheaper than buying tickets everywhere.'' he wished for a moment that he could let go of the reins and red but the creature already proved that it wasn''t interested in going where he wanted to go.

    "This kind is gluttonous so it would probably go looking for food," like he didn''t feed it every day. the hours passed slowly with the helper trying to entertain their lord, but that was proved to be a problem as aero was a bit tired of learning about the larger universe. oh don''t get him wrong it was interesting and important but it''s been mostly facts for months now. instead, he requested the helper to tell him about the people of the universe.

    '' the largest portion are the first ones, they have the job of watching the universe since the source went down to rest. they head many organizations, they''ve loved past the concept of war. but they spend a great amount of time discussing things, doesn''t mean they still don''t do stupid things, you''ll see that when you get access to the extranet."

 21

    "oh thank the zalts I''m here," two long days of travel, lonely and boring travel. he arrived at the location, the bottom of a small mountain. the tops were white and barely visible from where he was standing. "looks like it''s will a challenge to climb," thankful he only needed to climb about five hundred feet for the mission. "maybe I should come back some other time," show a few people just what he could do. the helper commented that he should want to climb the mountain for his enjoyment.

    "you''re right, but I meant myself mostly." taking on a challenge like that was impressive, he wanted to be able to do it. he wanted to be proud of himself for being able to do it, the sweet satisfaction of showing people they were wrong about what he could do was extra.

    he stayed at the mountain base for another flower before deciding to go looking for anyone else, not more than a few miles away found a small camp that held several other hunters. one he knew, she went to the academy, he beat her up once. he remembered her because she almost won and used a whip along with a short blade, it made close combat a bad idea. that all aero knew at that time so he struggled to get close to land a hit, plus unlike everyone else, she wasn''t too against giving him a scratch or two.

    but her aversion to injuring him proved to be her downfall when aero started tanking the blows instead of dodging. the whip marks burned for days afterward. he didn''t learn her name, claiming it would only be worth knowing after she won. her face he couldn''t forget, it was a nice face and she made her impression.

    "I didn''t think I would be seeing you again aero!" she got up a greeted him with a smile, he gave her a blank look. he ignore her and addressed everyone," who going on the mission? whose leading?"

    "we''re still trying to figure that, so how about you sit down and let us finish talking it through." the girl with six swords said, aero eyed her weapons trying to figure out how she fought with them. were they spare or was it a style that required six blades? "not on the name of the first mother, here what''s going to happen." he pointed his staff at each of them, "I''m going to lead this mission after taking each of you down. I will pick the other two based on their abilities."

    "you expect users to just roll over?" six swords asked acquiring aero''s interest. there wasn''t a trace of gentleness in her voice, she would be willing to fight.

    "of course not, that''s why I plan to knock you into the ground!" he stated this directing his energy towards his eyes to view their pride. oh, they all had high pride, particularly in the fighting ability, but that didn''t mean they were as good or better than him it just meant they took pride in it.

    "oh okay your pretty cocky for-wow!" she suddenly tilted out of the path of aero''s fist.

    "don''t call me cocky, I don''t like that word." pulling his fist back snapping back at a 90-degree angle using his staff to keep his balance. "why not you''re cocky!" six swords said pulling back her fist, "now ab-AH!" she didn''t get to finish not seeing the kick catching her in the stomach. aero he the weight spin him around pulling his staff up into a ready stance, six swords straightened her self and looked aero in the eye. this fight was happening, "all right then." unsheathing two of her swords, she held them in a reverse grip.

    when she attacked aero moved on the defensive, ''zalts she''s fast!'' but not too fast that he couldn''t cope with the speed, blocked one of the blades aero jumped off the ground driving both his hell into her chest, she didn''t get to catch her breath this time. aero metal-like staff hit her face first before he swung it around to knock her feet from under her.

    "AH!" aero stomped on her wrist with enough force to make her unleash one of her blades, the same moment he pressed the end of his staff against her throat. "surrender?" his answer was an attempt to slash his hells. cursing aero spun out of the way, six swords jumped to her feet and unsheathed another blade. "so it spares," aero mumbled to himself.

    ''okay, this is the most dangerous guy I''ve ever met," panting she steeled herself before shooting forward, when she attacked he blocked and dodged with the ease of a lot of practice. but that didn''t save him from shock when he noticed she let go of her blade wid a swing to grab another and come from another angle. aero had to drop low to avoid the blade, jumping up to counter the following slash.

    ''she juggling swords!'' he never fought someone juggled sword like this, he''s never had to dodge like this before. but no matter how quickly she changed her sword or angle her arms a hand gave him something to watch and avoid the blades, of course, it wasn''t easy and he got several scratches from close calls. but don''t think she was getting away unscratched, while he used his staff to fend off the blades he used his legs to deal out hits at the same time.

    ''she''s got a high pain tolerance,'' unless he caught her off guard she kept going. this would be a lot easier if he used a melody but they had a mission after this and no healer as far as he knew so powerful melodies were a bad idea and all combat melodies were powerful.

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    ''okay, I have to either pin her or her rid of the swords,'' deciding to risk he tossed up his staff catching her off guard before lunging. before he choose a weapon he was taught by his guard all about trapping and wrestling, today he brought up those old instincts. wrapping his arms around her waist he threw her to the ground.

    "AH!" it rattled her to her bone,  before she could shake off the aero dropped his elbow into the gut, putting his full weight behind it. "gAH!" she struggled as he switched to a chokehold, pinning his arms to her side with his legs. "le-AH go!" she struggled and bucked like a dying creature but aero silently held tight until her body went still but he could still feel her pulse. "okay who next," standing up he stretched out and dusted off his clothing.

    "well, I think this is the craziest guy I''ve ever met," rapier said, unseating her thin blade, aero picked up his staff and considered what the material the blade was made out of and if it would cut his staff, should avoid direct hits.

    4 flowers later aero was still recovering from the fights, he still couldn''t feel his shoulder after popping it back in. "guess that''s what I get from trying to divert a hit from war hammer", especially with all the momentum behind it. '' probably would have broken an arm if he tried to block it, but compare experience made a difference. ''hey what have you figure out about healing methods?''

    ''not much yet by lord but I have found some routes of promise, what are your plans now? who do you plan to take with you?'' after showing his skill, power, and crazy the other hunters agreed to let him lead. which was good because he was tired like the dead, he could use a nap.

    "we''re hunting Betors, the motions are were the nested for the season. but by the weather, I bet you all can tell they''ll be leaving the caves soon. when they do that they will be hungry and in large numbers. our job is mostly to divert them from the nearby village kill some and harvest their leather/fur if we have the chance."

    "So who''s on the mission?"

    "everyone! the mission but only three of us can climb up the mountain," aero raises an eyebrow at her many look surprised at that. "did none of you see the second mission related to this?" the respect he recently gained for them was dropping right now. "okay so three of us are going up the mountain, I care less how able you are to climb it and more about your ability to fight the Betors. which I would remind you all are ambush predators. with though leather, strong jaws, and paws."

    so with that said he had to choose people caple of voided those claws and jaws allowing the power to pierce the leather/fur. his staff would be good for this, thankful he encountered a creature with weaker but still durable leather and developed a response to this, by that he scored scroll for a certain melody. ''i hope you find a healing method for me soon.'' aero thought this as he picked the two who would go up the mountain with him before organizing the rest of them. while he didn''t know where all that much was working with others he placed them where he thought the Betors might scatter.

    "I hope that I see you all again when this mission is over, he turned to the two other climbers, "well start in the morning unless you would like to climb a mountain in the night."

    "you''re crazy if you think that''s going to happen, the Betors aren''t the only things living on the mountain more than a few of them are nocturnal!" aero smiled before telling them they should get ready for bed then, they were leaving early. then he sat up and headed for his cart to have some of the dry gel his mother made for him. there he took a flower before he was able to calm down enough to fall asleep he didn''t trust anyone here so he slept holding his weapon.

    "not pleasant! ugh!" are spent the night half-waking as the slightest sound always ready to fight someone but most of the time he didn''t find anything to attack and fell back asleep right away. but when he woke up didn''t feel completely rested ut he still got out of his cart, there was a small stream nearby. he could fill up his water bags before starting to climb a mountain. when he stepped out of his cart he spotted several girls laying guard around his cart. "unneeded!" he grumbled before he stomped away from the camp.

    at the river, he filled up his water before washing up a bit before heading back. he found a few of the self-appointed guards had woken but not one of them said anything to him, instead of heading off to the rivers themselves for water. Aero had his first meal as camp started waking up before being some yoga to stretch out and get his blood flowing. he was gonna be active all day it would be killer to get a cramp, ''i''m happy with how my flexibility has been increasing over time!''

    he was long down with his yoga when everyone was up and ready, he made sure everyone knew their places before he grabs the two other climbers and headed for the mountain. "so how do you think we should do this?" rapier asks when the ground starts elevating. six swords had a similar question, "did you bring any climbing gear?"

    he turns back to her, "where would I be holding that gear?" she only shrugged her shoulders and aero shook his head, " we don''t even need climbing gear this mountain isn''t steep enough for climbing gear. the cave the creature is an isn''t even that high on the mounting!" he said that but the sun was setting before they were halfway to the cave. "wow just wow!" rapier panted as he crawled to the ground, aero only rolled his eyes before scooting over to the smaller waterfall. it was the reason he decided this was where they were stopping for the night.

    "you need to work on your stamina pretty girl," six swords said in no worse shape than aero. said pretty girl, made a crude gesture to her before rolling onto her back and trying to calm down. "we should have to worry about attacks tonight," the spot they were on was a small cliff the second reason aero chose it," but that doesn''t mean he shouldn''t put up watcher, I bet you know how stubborn creatures can be when they want to kill?!" both females shivered remembering the stubbornness of creatures they''ve fought.

    they set up for the night take shifts of who kept watch, but nothing came at them, "he doesn''t trust us one bit does he?" rapier asked six swords as the changed shift spotting aero pressed up the mountainside with his staff at the ready to take something or someones head off. they''ve taken some heavy blows from the weapon yesterday. he had a lot more power than his frame suggested something you didn''t realize until he was breaking your bones or making big bruises.

    In the morning they started climbing again today was harder as the path was getting steeper but they were still making good time, "it''s colder than I expected." his breath was starting to fog a bit, they hadn''t gotten that high yet, only maybe a few hundred feet in the air. but they were starting to see old tracks of their prey, the tracks got denser by the time they stopped for the night. "okay so were getting close to the nest I think, be on the lookout for large caves!" they nodded and stared at it the next day, going a bit slower so the didn''t get sick by the air thinking on them.

    "oh, this is bigger than he could have expected!" after mid-day the found the tracks started splitting up which lead to the discovery that the Betors were inhabiting several caves. like 20 caves of different sizes were in use, but a baby Betor was about two feet fresh hatched. a pair of Betors could lay about 10 eggs in good health, about three at least fit in one of the caves. "my the zalts bless up!"

    "We need more than a blessing," six swords whispered to rapier looking in one of the larger caves aero shushed them both before going back to planning. they needed a better one than what he came up with before.

 22

    "We can''t destroy the caves!" Aero reasoned to six swords suggestion, "without the cave the Betors will go somewhere else when the weather turns cold again and that makes it hard to keep track of them as all hunters do." six swords conceded to this reason, "besides the reason, there are so many is the lack of demand.

    "lack of demand?" rapier asked confused as he put together a message to send with the flying creature she owned.

    "hunters kill as needed," Aero responded loosening his clothing, his skin was starting to get irritated, "either for material or safety, betors aren''t dangerous during the winter and the leather/fur is only useful for making a few none necessary things."

    "since no one needs these things there are many missions for betors which causes their numbers to go like this!" six swords nod in understanding, "how do you know that?" Aero refused to be outdone by people so he studied a lot of things about hunters and came to a few conclusions, but he wasn''t going to say that. "I like knowing things and I tend to have many questions?" true ask Tova always had questions about her lessons.

    "Okay, so what can we do?"

    "We still have to kill a lot of them but we probably won''t get paid for it." Aero pointed out thinking about what little he knew about betors behavior. "they''ll start hunting nearby to regain their strength, during that time well be weaker than usual." they could lower their numbers by a good amount turn the odds in their favor a bit more.

    "Okay so we have a plan but how do we do this?" the leather/fur of betors was pretty thick if it wasn''t how bad it reacted to their skin it would be armor. but that didn''t mean that couldn''t bypass it, just meant they were in for a good fight. "okay, I don''t think they''ll be waking up today so that gives us a bit of time to start making some traps!" which aero wasn''t looking forward to, he''s never like doing things in a roundabout way. oh, he would prefer facing the issue right away and putting an end to it.

    ''my lord this would be a chance to practice a different mindset!'' always trying to be helpful the helper pipped up knowing many ways to set up traps. ''also I''ve calculated a basic healing melody, it will accelerate the natural healing of your body.''''

    ''oh that''s good, definitely be useful.'' but he focuses on setting up all kinds of traps. all with lethal intentions, they made sure to make use of the natural terrain while the motion wasn''t that steep tripping would still lead to some very bad injuries.

    "So when do you think they''ll leave their caves?" six swords asked as they used the last of what little they brought climbing the motion the second time, they also used the chance to inform everyone of the situation. Yes they were very sore but they couldn''t stop working or a small town was going to disappear. "that depends on how much they eat before going into hibernation and the weather." aero didn''t know more than that, they could be here a few days or a few months, he wasn''t going to let the latter happen.

    "if they don''t start coming out in a few days we''re going into the caves," he promised his mother he wouldn''t be gone more than two weeks and he was keeping that promise. but for now, they had to set up camp, "so any hobbies?" rapier asked as they dug out a fire pit.

    "I will not be courted anyone who hasn''t beaten me in a fight!" aero cut off that line of conversation.

    "noted any hobbies besides violence." aero paused and blinked most of the chicks he met got a little peeved if he cut them off like this, he had yet to meet someone who brushed it off like that. "like for example me and my lover like dance when we''re together but alone he prefers his drums. which I''m not sure about when we get to point of living together because these things are loud."

    "th-there methods of soundproofing a room," he brief studdered a more than caught off guard. then realizing this woman was older than him more than he expected because everyone his age was single, "using some sap along with the right kind of wood you can dampen the sound coming into and out of the room." he learned this at the academy it''s what they use to give the students more privacy as most rooms were a wall away from each other, unlike Aero''s room.

    "huh, I should look into that, because he loves his drums and I have yet to resist his pouting. which I have to do if we move in together or he''s walking all over me." she then proceeded to use seven petals to tell them so much about this guy she was dating, Aero wasn''t sure if he was feeling more annoyed or jealous listening to this. but at least six swords were doing her work for camp this night.

    "well that''s not good!" first thing in the morning after reliving himself he spotted something creating towards their camp. "definitely not good!" it was a betor, 7 feet long 4 feet tall, with four claws crawling towards the camp. it made little noise as he crawled closer the thick fur peaking between the scales flowing in the slight mountain breeze.

    This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

    taking in the situation and the path it was going on aero deiced he probably wouldn''t need to interfere. it was on the path of a trap they laid out, one of the more dangerous ones. "good chance to see if these are effective," that didn''t stop him from getting ready to jump down and kill that thing if it came down to it.

    as it slowly neared the trap aero whistled a small melody, feeling its power flow into his legs as he prepared to pounce. *AGGSSH!* the Betor cried out as the rope wrapped around its tail at the same moment the large rock the other end of the rope was tied to was knocked over the ledge. both went over the edge pretty quickly he heard them falling much longer than he saw them falling.

    "well that worked," with empowered leaps Aero bound over the camp where six swords and Raiper were ready for a fight. the trap was supposed to be loud so they knew if it caught something. "well I guess it starting!" aero stood guard as they quickly got dressed for the day, they then set out instantly finding several more betor roaming the area.

    "let''s push them down the mounting side," both females snapped towards Areo. "sound efficient and maybe a little cruel." turned to look at her, "what point is there not to push them off the cliffside!" they didn''t need to keep the creatures in good condition, they were all going to get his with decay powder. as for respecting the lives of the creatures aero did respect them as lives, he would have to take! this is something all hunters had to accept. they were taking lives with each mission.

    "by the Zaltess your right but it just didn''t feel right!" six swords loudly complained while rapier agreed with her. but with less volume "as hunters we have a certain rule to abide by but protecting people is worth more than a rule." they weren''t happy about it but the females agreed to the battle plan to knock creatures off the mountainside.

    it wasn''t two flowers before they were aching, more in the bones than their muscles. the betors proved to be smart each one noticed they were being driven towards the edge and this led to them having to use more than one melody. ''this could be so much easier if I could blow up the side of the mountain!'' he was tired and in pain, it''s aggravating him on a level he''s rarely reached before. trying to calm down he stuck his hairless head under a small stream of freezing mountain water

    ''why not?'' the helper softly asked. aero quickly explained a major rule for hunters. nature conservation they were forbidden to causes massive damage to nature and their environment. at best a large fine is what you''re getting, at worst jail for years until you die of old age. you don''t get to die another way. ''i see, I will add this to consideration when calculating melodies!'' aero nodded stretching to keep his blood flowing while his team rested up.

    "AH!" rapier cried out in pain as a Betor bit into her leg, aero and six swords disengaged from the Betor they were fighting to assist her. with two slashed of her blades six swords cut the muscles keeping the beast mouth close allowing aero to help pull her free. right before grunting with effort threw the beast into the other two. after that he and six swords had no other choice but to make quick work of them to defend rapier.

    "yeah, it''s not that bad," aero said after the helper examined the wound. he knew the basics of keeping a wound from killing him until he reached a town of something. he hated his lack of knowledge on the matter and tried to learn more to improve himself. but the complexity and number of terms proved to be his undoing when it came to medicine and medicine alone. it was eternally frustrating, but aero has accepted that he will never be a perfect being.

    "time to stop for the day," the hunters at the bottom of the mounting could deal with a few betors that got that far. they carried rapier back to camp where they looked over her injury again, " she not going to be able to complete the mission." aero sighed agreeing with six swords, then took some time to think. at best it would take four days for them to walk her down the mounting and then come back up. in those four days, the number of awake Betors was going to increase greatly.

    ''my lord I may have a solution!'' aero perked up because he needed her moved to a safer location, her fighting style required lots of mobility. her injured leg put her in a lot of danger. '' you could teach her the new medley.'' that was a great idea since he didn''t have it memorized he had to have the helper walk him through it. something that made his pride ache but he pushed through it and instructed rapier to whistle the surprisedly harsh tone.

    "AH!" the moment the melodies were completed she grabbed her leg in painful suspire. "wow!" aero was ashamed that he jumped back as he noticed her vein bulging towards her wounds. she gasped in pain as said wound started to quickly heal. when she pulled the bandages away they used, they could see the wound slowly closing.

    "how do you feel?" aero asked keeping an eye on the wound.

    "starving!" her stomach made a noise that aero could have mistaken for a beast. a very large beast at that. rapier on the other hand wished to be melted down into a pile of goo as aero reached into his food and handed her two things of dried gell. which she ate with embarrassing speed. aero was impressed.

    it was two 20 petals and four jells for the wound to fully heal, they didn''t have her standing for a bit to let her leg recover. while they did that six swords brought up an interesting topic. "are you going to register that melody?" aero paused where he was wiping the blood from his staff.

    "I probably should! it would be a good idea." also a great way to make people Knowlege his skill. he knew some people still doubted what he could do, but he didn''t care that much instead it would be a great way to let other guys know what they were all capable of. they rested the rest of the day before getting back to work, it was dark but betor were still hunting. a simple melody gave them light at the end of their weapons, six swords were very bright as you would expect.

    They hunted down several more creatures before stopping for the night and resting more, they had no rude awaking that morning and were able to try and hunt more betors but they had wised up to their presents and were making themselves scarce. "we only took twenty down, how could they notice this soon." aero grumbled to himself, he knew that betors were cleaver creatures but not this clever.

    finding nothing they decided to have second meal now, only then did they get their rude interruption in the form of a stampede. "by the zalts! I''m out!" they reached grabbed their things as they scrambled to their feet before booking to down the mountain. ''really smarter then I anticipated,'' this stamped was staying far enough back that they could take the moment to shot back a melody. "I''m not dying like this!" aero wasn''t as loud as six swords but was agreeing with her.

    "we! can''t! keep! this! up!" raiper shouted through her tired and aching lungs, her legs were even more so tired. if not for stubborn will and years of training she would have collapsed 10 petals ago. she couldn''t believe she''s been chassed for almost two flowers, she felt far too tired to keep going much longer.

    "what can we do?" six swords shouted at they contained to race down the mountain, her legs were so heavy that she couldn''t fully lift them anymore. she was stumbling she knew it wouldn''t be long before she tripped. if she tripped she would die, she would go home to her family to her boyfriend. she wanted to see his smile when he heard about the soundproofing technique. she wasn''t going to cry, she was going to keep going she was going to see him smile again.

    "need a plan!" aero would love to say he was outlasting the girls but that would be a weak lie. he would not take pride in a lie, that would not be something worth taking pride in. instead he tried to figure out some kind of big plane.

 23

    "How did none one of us come up with some kind of plan?!" aero shouted once again feeling his lungs. the stampede ended when the betors decide they chased them far enough away. which allowed them to face plant into the ground so tired they might have just drifted off right there. too bad the moment aero started breathing right again he started throwing a fit.

    "I refuse to be bested by a bunch of furry reptiles!" he was going back up that mountain and slathering them all! as soon as his feet stopped pulsing with pain! the helper took the chance to walk their lord through some breathing excises to calm him down before he did something rash. while also coming up with something that would be the balms on his damaged pride.

    ''my lord they only chased you down here because they saw you as a threat.''

    "don''t think I don''t know what you trying!" aero grumbled under his breath rolling onto his back so his face was in the hurt. he wasn''t happy that the blam on his pride worked, he would still love to go back up that mountain but as the helper said they now saw him as a threat. "what that smell?" he knew it was a weak distraction but he needed to ignore his pride for the moment.

    it took a few petals before the strength to stand found him, with the help of stubbornness. on his shaky feet he followed his nose to the source of the smell, "well that''s to be expected.'' the bleeding rotting bodies of the betors they pushed off the motion. it all smelled so nauseating it made him light-headed, if he stayed here too long aero was sure his stomach was going to revolt before he fainted.

    ''my lord I need you to evacuate the area at this moment!'' the urgency in their voice promoted aero to leave the area without much of a fight, not that he was feeling up to one. when the air was clearer he could think again and the helper was able to reveal what they learned. "the rotting bodies were producing a compound that is intractable toxic to your biology. prolonged exposure is likely to kill you without a doubt, there need to be some to neutralize the compound.''

    "decay powder!" he has been told he couldn''t wait for more than a flower before he applied the powder or there would be consequences. "all was curious but that also explains the story about the dead revenge!" groaning he reached for his decay powder six swords and raiper decided to get up concern fro the stat that he was in. he explained as the followed him back to the spot, their reaction to the smell made him feel better about his own. working quickly they sprinkled the powder and the air quickly cleared up allowing them to greedy swallow air.

    "Okay that''s something to keep in mind, lets go see if we can find the ground team!" six swords was tired and would like to be able to sleep deeply without the worry that something wasn''t going to wake her up with its teeth. they found the ground team rather quickly and then explained why they were there.

    "wow you got them to chase you out after a few days, don''t know whether I should be impressed or worried!" bat said as she looked over raiper''s healed injury turns out this woman had the most medical training out of all of them. "also by the zalts what did you do to this wound looks a few weeks old!" she was both impressed and worried. after several petals of looking over the wounds she couldn''t find anything wrong with it, " but you should still see a professional when this is over with." rapier nodded before getting up and moving over to the fire where they were discussing what they should do now.

    "We killed a great number but is it enough that the village won''t be in any major danger?"

    "Not likely, you have seen how dangerous betors are, just one is dangerous, and if they''re desperate or confident enough they will attack the village. but can''t kill them all maybe leaving like four left is a good amount."

    "okay but now the problem is how we kill enough for that!" that discussion kept them busy for flowers. a few of which aero just spent listening because he was tired but refused to show it to them until the sunset and it was a good time to turn in for the night. he didn''t even remember laying down before he was off to the realm of the slumber.

    he might have woken up in the middle of the night to relieve himself and tripped over one of his self-appointed guards but his eyes were closed the entire time so that might have been a dream.

    the morning came and the light entered his cart rudely waking him up. "ugh!" rolling to his hands he stepped out of the cart and feed the creature that was tied to his cart before doing morning stretches and yoga in the light of the rising star. the campsite started waking up around him when he was done.

    aero had finished his first meal when he started thinking about what he could do about the mission," I think are number are a good match for them, but should we go for a full-up fight?" it seemed like a foolish idea to him, this was survival fair fights were foolish. "but I can''t make people give up their principles not to mention my own." he''s met many hunters who didn''t wish to be cruel when they killed. he was one of them, he killed because they needed to.

    Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

    the helper agreed with this minds set, said ''it''s a good way to prevent yourself from turning into a monster.'' which was probably something he should keep in mind as he was turning into a powerful being. it wouldn''t do to be a crazy and moralless powerful bing, "has that happened before a lord without moral causing trouble, besides the original sin?"

    '' there are a few times that people have approached the level of power they were quickly put down or contained by the law enforcement or the companion. but now it might fall to you if something like happened in the sections of the universe that you choose to occupy.''

    ''i''m supposed to occupy some part of space?''

    ''the other lords of seen has taken up the space the parts of the companion has taken to managing it was mostly to manage the flower of sin energy through the universe, making sure there wasn''t too much or too little. this led to aero asking what would happen if they failed to do that, ''desire runs unchecked! that is the original sin, all sins are born of desire. when unchecked people do bad things dangerous things, all in the name of their desires!''

    aero paused to think, has he seen desire unchecked? thinking long and hard he decided no not unchecked but a whole lot of it that made people do bad and dangerous things. "don''t want to see that but right now I gotta make sure their creatures don''t go unchecked. jumping out of his cart he started moving towards the fires where they began to plan their next move.

    "We have to get this over with unless the majority of you would like to stay here for the next few weeks?!" he hopped not, he was getting homesick.

    thankfully no one wanted to spend weeks where when the weather was starting to get warmer, they would do well in the hot weather. the carapace absorbed heat very easily which leads to heat stock easily, even with the stream coming from the mountain it was a bad idea to stay here when they were fighting.

    after half a day of playing they decide to chase a number of the beast down the motion side, are rapier and six swords were staying on ground level. while a few other hunters were going rock climbing to go around the back of the creature to chase them down the motion. if things went well they could pincer the creatures and bring down their numbers hopefully with no wounds or deaths on their side.

    "don''t get your hopes up on the site of a battle," something older hunters would tell the younger. aero wasn''t looking for the day he truly knew what that meant, instead he prepared for the coming fight. he considered using his pride energy. ''why not still got a lot to learn about hat power, also...'' looking around the camp he saw the pride of the surrounding hunters. a few took the most pride in this but others took more pride in something else. picking out those with the highest level he closed his eyes and focused on forging his energy.

    soon unseen to anyone but aero and the helper as sectioned staff floated around, no one else noticed when the staff went wild around the campground sticking at the pride of every person here. taking out chunks and chunks until aero drained his reserves, there he retreated to his cart to rest and mental go over past achievements. it took him a day to recover enough that he was willing to step out of the cart to practice his hand-to-hand combat. the tree he practiced on didn''t deserve the blow he gave to it, his fist and ankles were just as bad.

    but his pride had swelled enough that no one was going to comment on how he acted, which might also be because they could make out the second team chasing the betors. they could only hear the sounds, which was a testament to how loud they were being as they couldn''t even see them yet. ''they climbed fast, guess they really wanna go home.'' aero spent two more days waiting for them to enter the visual range.

    "by the zalts!" more than twenty adults betor were being chased by a group of flaming wheels. the effect of some sort of melody. a likey advanced that aero kind of wanted to learn but that was something for later, right now that had to get ready for a small slaughter. when the stampede reached the end of the mountain all the hunters pounced, they might have been outnumbered but the betors were outgunned.

    this area was much more table than the mountainside, which meant they didn''t have to hold back too much. aero stayed back once he realized this was a rare chance to see just what some of his fellow hunters were caple of. it might get him to respect them more than basic people, aero could take pride in the fact that he treated all people, except his mother, the same. with neutral suspension, before he got to know them.

    ''i don''t think that a healthy way to look at people but it might serve you well!" the helper commented as aero picked up a few rocks that aero started lobbing into the battlegrounds, distracting the betors as his fellow hunters needed. the betors were ferous so his distracted saved more than a few limbs and lives. for reference, the betor had the bite strange necessary to tear steel. their claws could carve stone, fast on the ground, and were mild pursuit preditors. you either won or died when faced with these creatures, fights that could last a flower if you weren''t careful.

    he watched as six swords used her juggling blades to drive several red hot blades through the joints of a furry lizard just in time for another hunter to decapitate it. the head went flying as six swords got her rapidly cooling weapons back, he wasn''t close enough to hear but he saw her jam moving and the blades glow with heat once more.

    ''i can''t use that technique he,'' aero thought as he spotted a hunter fall to her back, the stone had already left his hand as the betor pounded on her. it struck it in the eye allowing the woman to give it a swift and deadly kick to its ribs allowing her to stand her ground and get back in the fight.

    several more similar incidences happened as the number of the betors went down turning the battle in the hunters'' favor when the last one went down aero took care of decaying the bodies while the other took the time to regain their strange and care for their wounds. a few people tried out the melody that aero gave raiper, they all described how strange it felt for other wounds to heal, and all promised to see a real doctor when this was over.

    the night descends and the party arouses as they pulled out little treats from their luggage, which includes things aero''s never had. they seemed reluctant to let him have any unhealthy treats which was something he expected. but they didn''t stop him from trying any of them, he liked a few things but remembered not to go overboard if he wanted to keep his muscles. of course, the helper told him how good it was to indulge himself, he mention something about balance but aero didn''t listen to tonight maybe in the morning when he was heading back home.

    thous plans went out the window when popped another snake into his mouth in the light of the rising sun. "by the Zalts!" he''s been up all night! "may a black hole swallow mE!" he''s never stayed up this late, he was much too tired dealing with people to do so. "time for bed!" making choice he got up from the rock he was using a chair before going off to relieve himself and wash up.

    "if I had known I was going to be gone this long I would have brought my bed with me, he wasn''t happy sleeping don''t the floor of his cart. despite its surprising level of comfort. "okay quick plan nap then start heading home after that!" closing his eyes he hoped to stay down a 3 floor before starting to move the cart. the sun had long passed its peak when he woke up.

    "ugh! whatever!" he was too tired to think more about it, moving around the cart he checked his supplies and collected some water before grabbing the reins and heading out for the road. ''my lord I''ve collected a few stories would you like to hear them?'' aero nodded he knew how long he was going to be on the road.

 24

    Aero had long-term plans, vague they were he had them. he knew he must come up with the details to make them possible but he didn''t know what details he needed or how to find them. he knew to make it to that point he must ask for help. something that stung for him, the intensity of that sting deepened on who he was asking. his mother was in first place with the least intense sting, the helper was approaching the second place, and Adir was in last place. even lower than people he hasn''t met yet.

    was he being a little unfair to the man, probably did aero care. not at all!

    "what are things I need as a lord, like skill, items, financially?" aero asked the helper as he feed the creature that pulled his cart three days after he returned to his home.

    ''beside your growing skill leading, you will need people that follow you, people you can trust with certain duties! all the lord before you have built groups of there own design, like the lord of greed, she built a company to help her!'' aero nodded you couldn''t be everywhere at once as far as he knew. a cool trick but might not be the most useful one.

    heading back into the house Aero thought on the helper''s advice,'' i guess making a group of my own wouldn''t be that bad. fewer people questioning me!'' he smiled at the thought, it would be great people to work with. ''i can''t put out a team request flyer,'' it wasn''t unusual for hunters to work together. so it wasn''t strange that people wished to put together formal teams.

    this usually happened two ways! one they put out a flyer and people answer to it allowing them to pick from those who responded. the other method was calling people out by name and asking them.

    aero didn''t want to deal with the flood of people sure to answer, not worth his time. but the other option was also as impossible as he didn''t remember many people''s names, didn''t feel like most people were worth the effort of remembering! maybe this was borderline arrogant or straight-up mean, but it was aero.

    if you showed him that you were worth the effort of remembering he wouldn''t forget you ever! if that was a good thing or not was completely up to you! few people have ever made it into his memory, currently, a few of them were hunters he wanted to work with.

    "Ugh!" he groaned as he realized he should probably still think if he wanted them on his team or something. ''do they all need to be combatants?''

    ''if that is what you so wish every person who follows you can fight!'' aero tough on the matter before deciding that it wouldn''t be required but would be appreciated. pulling out a scroll aero started putting his though on paper. it was pretty basic, mostly focused on combat things but it was a beginning.

    "well I guess I should start writing though letters," he really wasn''t looking forward to this. ''but it must be done,'' that thought he repeated anytime his pride caused his hands to still as he wrote the letters and sent them off a few days later. he wasn''t expecting any kind of response any time soon, ''if they respond at all!'' he made an upset noise before pushing his breath out and changing course to someone''s house.

    he wanted to check on the village''s newest writer before heading to the library for a lesson. the guy was currently studying the writing style of other authors popular and not. so he was going through quite a few scrolls, impressive that he had time to do that while watching his child. "you doing oh so well!" aero praised the man adjusting his hold on the child. they were absolutely fascinated with his face, he wasn''t sure why his face was good but not that interesting.

    "I''m gonna ask you to stop," the child''s actions were both annoying and cute, "I am very serious," he stated when they continued pulling at his face. "okay I''m going to stop that here," the man was quick to retrieve his child giving them a jell to swallow.

    "I don''t hit children," aero informed the man. he wasn''t the first person to make that mistake, what was the point in attacking something like children. he prided his skill too much to use them against a child. "okay!" that made it clear the man didn''t comply believe him, which honestly stung aero a bit. was his reputation that bad.

    ''well that''s just another reason to calm down my public violence,'' aero thought to himself as he headed over to the library. he found Tova was reading to some children, he hung back for the moment. going to find some scroll to read for himself while she read to the entirety of the kids. for 8 petals. "quite the story you gave them," he heard her approach but didn''t look up from the story he was reading, he was definitely taking it home with him. along with the sequel!

    "yeah it was nice," she made a nervous and strange movement before calming down," today''s lesson I think will be about disguises methods. the one I use i-"

    "that''s not what you really look like?!" he remembered she was from a different planet but it hadn''t occurred to him that would affect the way she looked. she blinked at him for a moment, "did you think this is what I really look like?"

    A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    "no!" not anymore at least he wasn''t going to say any more than that and Tova knew enough about Aero that his pride had been struck by his own nativity.

    "anyway the disguises method is something pretty common, mostly used by those who don''t want to stand out on a planet. because no matter how open the planet becomes, the original race will likely still be the most dominant, and some places can be very weird about people standing out. it''s something also used by famous people when they got out in public."

    "so other lord have'' used it?" Tova nodded, "but every disguise methods have its flaws, one of the most common is that you can''t completely change your energy signature. it''s simply how things are, so those sensitive enough can''t be fooled." aero hummed determined to become more sensitive to people energy signatures. he would not be fooled.

    Aero listen for a flower as Tova went over hundred and hundred of disguise methods, all using different types of technical, energy manipulation, and straight-up clothing. his head was spinning a bit when he stepped out of the library, with a few scrolls under his arms he took a moment to rest and get his thought in order. ''i don''t have to worry about that until I leave the planet.''

    going how he thought about how he was supposed to get off the planet, a previous session explained how dangerous it was to achieve space travel, even the more advanced planets had problems with it to this day. ''need to manipulate the atmosphere,'' this was one thing that he''s been focusing on. not only would that be useful with combat as well as space.

    for what the helper was able to calculate the ability to manipulate the atmosphere started with 35 note melody. aero knew melodies up to 15, the most completed were usually around twenty. these people got taken to a healer from using.

    ''either need to improve my body or find a way to lower the note count...no wait I can just do both...aren''t melodies just a way to manipulate energy?'' he remembered the helper stating this, he directs the question towards the helper who quickly responded that is the truth, aero ask if it''s possible to mix it with other energy manipulation methods.

    ''as long as you plan to mix the same type of energy, mixing energies is risky business. explosive mostly,'' they didn''t vocalize it was a matter of skill knowing that would likely start a fire under the young lord. maybe in a few hundred years, but for now they ran the energy equation to find out the best method to use along with the music, ''don''t they dance as well.'' they had no data on that so they disregarded the matter, except for a note to ask for data collection.

    the next day the helper makes that request, aero paused where he''s working out his feeling toward what he thinks is the helper''s presence in his mind. "that''s not an easy request but I know how to complete it," there wasn''t a real reason to deny helping them learn this knowledge. thinking he knew of two situations that dance would happen, incredible natural disaster. or big shows, like the eclipse festive something that won''t happen until aero is twenty-six.

    "Ugh!" he groaned as he realized the option that was open to him, " I have to fill out so much paperwork," becoming a hunter caple of dancing in tune with a melody. ''well I should be a good challenge to learn and what could people say to that'' more that he thought about the question the more excited he got about the matter. learning to dance would be something truly to be proud of.

    "now how do I tell my mother?" as far as he knew the classes were at least four weeks long, and definitely weren''t held anywhere near his hometown. might need to rent a room, definitely going to earn more money before that happens. ''i''m going to burn through a bit of my savings,'' he struck the tree extra hard in agitation he just finished recovering from buying the cart. ''could I sleep in the cart?'' Nah that wouldn''t work long term, too many people would get in his business and he would lose control and drop them.

    ''to prevent such a certainty I need to rent a room,'' finishing his training Aero headed for the main station, he need to request something. "hello!" he smiled at the woman behind the desk. he probably should have felt something when she jumped besides being slightly amused. he doesn''t recall fighting her in the slightest but probably got violent in front of her before. at least she wouldn''t try something with him." I need to request some form!" she worked fast as she could to get him out of the building.

    After filling out the necessary forms to request the information and form that he wanted aero left the building heading straight to the hunter building to look at some missions with good rewards. there were a few that he could quickly complete, so he took all four. ''lot of traveling in my future.'' he should go over his supplies and make sure he wouldn''t be in trouble with all that traveling. counting onward after that he had his lesson with Tova before talking to his mother about his plans.

    during the entire short conversation, he didn''t take his eyes off Neora but didn''t do any more than that while his mother was in the room. he did start cleaning his clothes for the trip. the water was cold but he didn''t bother as he scrubbed at the new and old stains in his clothing. not that they were very notable, the dark shades he wore hide the blood stains very well.

    several days of work passed before aro was ready to head off, "okay!" he dropped the final bag of food into the back of the cart, mentally checking everything he patted himself on the back. got everything he need and had orders in to replace the supplies he using, they would arrive before he returned. "all that''s left is saying goodbye, then you can continue that story about pirates." the helper hummed in agreement before.

    aero has never heard of pirates, or anything close. they had the rare bandit but only in large groups or they wouldn''t survive the wilderness. they were usually some really desperate people, not that there was anything notable about these groups as they never lasted long.

    "see you in about four weeks, if things go well at least, but shouldn''t be more than six weeks." there was a little reason he should be that late anyway, the mission didn''t have anything that would cause him much trouble and he was definitely going to scout before engaging the mission. ''i will not repeat that mistake.'' holding his mother close until he saw her again aero climbed on his carriage and started directing it south.

    when he cleared the town the helper started on the story, ''-it its okay men women others! as we head into the storm-" it was a calm first day as he drove south. it was pretty far south, it would be four days of traveling through the entire day and party at night. which was risky as more creatures were active during the night, but tended to ignore sleeping people. some people said they were smart enough to notice what would invite trouble.

    the second day was as uneventful as the first, ''the weather''s changing!'' Aero noticed past half-day at the change in the clouds, how they glowed with energy and lighting darkening with the weight of their loads. ''that a storm and I beat some had put the zaltes of storms in a bad mood. her story was an interesting one, I mean who doesn''t like someone who caught a bolt of lighting to throw it at their rival. just to prove a point, Aero saw some similarities between them but wouldn''t speak on them.

    ''my cart''s storm ready so I should be fine,'' but he was still going to grab his storm cloak. lighting rain and stones weren''t something he wanted to face on the road unprepared, bad weather on Augustine came in lighting form, flooding rains, or stones falling from the sky. the last was actually not the worse, the floods were. you could easily prepare for falling stones by reinforcing roofs and hoods but the water that so much harder to defend against it, it was impossible to predict it or how much force will be behind it.

    Aero was relieved to find the weather was mostly lighting, something pretty easy to deal with. it made a nice backdrop, and aero could appreciate the beautiful danger of nature.

 25

    aero blinked, then he blinked against to make sure he wasn''t still high from the fungus. but nope there was really pink creature, a mooskey to be exact. he still couldn''t believe it, ''am I really not high?" it would make a lot more sense for the funges that Ferrat used to poison its fangs than for there to really be a pink creature wandering around.

    ''okay whatever I''m getting paid to check if it''s real and bring back a sample,'' stretched and pushed the weirdness aside. because it wasn''t worth his time in the slightest, so he wasn''t giving it more than the minimum time. taking a running position he zeroed in on the mooskey, listing for anything that might get in his way.

    ''not yet,'' he focus on being invisible, it would be horrible if it started moving before he did. the most dangerous thing about these creatures was their charge, their antlers could tear down trees when they reached their top speed. something they needed five seconds to reach, could maintain for five minutes. even afterward they only needed five minutes of rest before they could charge again.

    ''if it gets the chance I won''t survive, ''aero had a lot of pride in his physical state but he wasn''t blinded by that pride. he refused to let his pride become his weakness like before.

    the moment the Mooskey was facing the wrong direction he charged, right through a bush and over the roots of a tree. the Mooskey heard the leaves and twigs breaking turning towards the source, its eyes locked on Aero as he raced closer. locking eyes with the creature, he forced himself forward, ''hesitating will kill me!'' he pushed back whatever fear before it could take root.

    by the time he reached it had mostly turned to face him, its muscles tension in preparation charge. folding his legs, his carapace scratched across the ground as he slide under the animal snagging a handful of its short fur before rolling to his feet so he could continue running for his life. ''alright time for the second part!'' he didn''t plan to outrun the creature.

    pushing off the ground he used the first tree as a springboard to a beach of a second. he climbed onto the branch fully not a second too early before the entire tree shook as the mooskey mashed against it. the tree threatened to tip over, but before it could decide aero had already jumped to a third tree then a fourth. he stopped his cart along while away with the full intention of jumping around the forest until the mooskey got tired and he could escape without harm.

    ''This will be fine as long as it''s doesn''t knock down a tree,'' the mooskey rammed into another tree shacking leaving loose branches from it. ''let do this for a few flowers probably.''

    he was right to be cautious as the mooskey chased him for three flowers straight, it aggravated and impressed Aero. the older tree didn''t shack too much when the mooskey rammed them, he was able to catch his breath on them. but by the time he reached the cart, he was still tired and went to sleep the moment he climbed in the back.

    it was really dark when he woke up, ''that was tiring.'' he retrieved the pink fur from where he hid it in his clothing, preparing it to be mailed to someone for something. he didn''t know what they would want to do besides studying it or brag about it. ''if it the second...,'' he didn''t let the thought finish. he didn''t have the energy to care about that, if he did he wasn''t sure if he should spend the energy on that.

    "Okay, that taken care of!" digging for the mission''s scrolls he crossed this one-off before looking at the next mission. then following up with the map, "okay let''s see I have to take this road to get there and that should be more than a day and a half of travel."

    ''my lord is that in the path of the storm?''

    "you''re right but unless it''s changed there is no reason to take a deter. besides this one, I''m going t need a few days for!" having food and water he set out for a nearby river to clean up along with refilling his water before heading off. it was smooth travel even as he headed into the storm clouds, the lighting and thrung flashed and rang as he moved deeper into the territory.

    "wait this storm might actually be a bad thing!" it was bad he forgot that fact but at this point, "move one I have to figure something out!" he was still a good day out so it wouldn''t be too big of a problem,  ''okay so my target is lighting fishes." they were a type of aquatic fish that lived in the clouds and rivers, they were caple of eating lighting. it gave them their distinct glow, it was also how they defended themselves.

    their ability to glow and hold lasted long after they died. even longer if taken care of the right way. their bone could be made into lighting rodes, but maintenance costs made them very costly. "but still someone needs twenty of them." he still had to figure out how to take them down.

    there were three main problems, first, he had to damage thresholds he couldn''t cross or they would be worthless. second, they had lighting flowing through them, comply caple of discharging it to attack. which connected to the third problem they feed during storms which were when they were at their most dangerous.

    This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    the same energy they ate off they used to attack, If they didn''t have energy lighting stored away they would starve before the next storm. during a lightning storm, this wasn''t a worry to them and a problem for him. it was definitely a challenge for him, ''i shouldn''t smile!'' he tried to force his lips down but they wouldn''t budge, ''i should smile at this challenge, it could kill me!" but if he survived he would know the level of his skill.

    "still need a plan," so he thought hard about this upcoming challenge. affirmed his goals and how he could take them, it kept him occupied with the location of the lighting fish. easy to spot as lighting struck the area very was minutes something shotting back to the clouds. parking his cart a few leagues away aero snuck over to the clearing holding tight to his weapon. as he got closer, "ugh!" he wasn''t fully prepared for how bright the tricks of lighting would be.

    ''oh that''s a new problem to the plan, but I can work with this.'' not wanting to waste his chance he started moving around the area quickly playing out four quick notes. this is something a bit more different than he usually used, he didn''t personally like this way of combat but still learned so no one could say that he couldn''t.

    using a medley to turn the environment in your favor was a pretty common tactic, aero didn''t like it as he preferred to solve things with a pure show of skill. ''but this is a part of my skill,'' it calmed him down a bit but he was still unhappy with this plan. the final note played and he slammed his weapon into the ground, aero felt the shimmer of energy down to his bones as an unseen barrier covered the area.

    the next bolt of lightning hit the barrier, which dispersed it towards the ground. ''okay there cut off from their food,'' he could already feel that strain from using a medley so intense. but he still had some work to be done, thankful this wasn''t as intense. five simple short notes to manipulate the wind around him, and lower his air resistance which increased his speed as a result.

    setting his flute staff against his back he raced out into the clearing, purposely stomping drawing the attention of the school of lightning fish. then he forgot everything but doughing and staying alive. the blot of lighting couldn''t be dodged if he didn''t move before they were launched. which wasn''t easy, if they caught him mid-air he used his staff to at least ground himself. or just change his trajectory which he aimed for.

    the flower was one of the most tiring he''s ever had, ''i''m sure there be more.'' he thought panting on the ground, he didn''t have to worry about being struck as the past hour had drained the lighting fish greatly. the barrier flashed as lighting hit it once more. ''who knows how much longer that going to last,'' so he forced his tired body to his feet and stagger over to the fish school. so low on energy, they weren''t floating too high above the sky, at the edge of the barrier trying to break through it and feast.

    "I know you''ll struggle but I''ll still make this quick!" digging deep he charged into the school, they let off quick bursts of energy to try and fend him off but he forced his way through the pain sticking the fish on the head, rattling there small brains putting them down before grabbing them up.

    ''that''s it!'' once he reached the number of required bodies he raced through the barrier, breaking it, he didn''t look back at the fish-devoured bolts of lighting. they would be much more interested in feeding than chasing him, but the moment they were filled.

    he made it back to his cart in good time, looking back as he woke up the creature and directed it in the opposite direction the storm was going. ''good thing I feed it before I left,'' he needed to get far before the lighting fish decide to chase after them. ''since it''s just a straight line, I should take care of that.'' moving to the back of the cart he grabbed a small blade to prep the fish for storage and transport. since they want everything he collects the blood in a jar, separates the meat from the bone. everything had its own little jars that he sealed tight with two notes.

    "Ugh!" he climbs into the front of the cart feeling a bit sick, not because he was squeamish but because he could still smell the decaying blood on his skin and the floor of his cart. "oh that''s going to be a struggle to clean up," even with the decay powder he would have to remove the resulting sludge. ''hope it doesn''t dry before I reach a river.''

    grabbing the reins he gentler stirred the creature to the center of the road and to move a faster before looking back, no lighting strict we close. ''they aren''t chasing yet,'' but he wasn''t letting his guard down until they cleared the storm where they would be probably safe.

    even at stop spread the storm was too big for them to leave in a single day, which left them no choice to stop for the night. ''can''t sleep on the floor tonight,'' if he wasn''t to avoid dying in his sleep he had to be some with a little cover. which by default meant his cart even though it currently smelled like blood, thankful he was able to find a small stream. so after a flower of work he was able to clean up the blood to the point, it didn''t bother him.

    ''i''ll pay someone to get rid of that stain,'' he knew he didn''t have to skill to clean it out. he wouldn''t let a stain remain on his belonging, it is why he washed his clothes so thoroughly. might not care what other people thought but he did like to hold himself to standards.

    that night he did his best to sleep with one eye open but recent activity had him too tired and he slept deep forgetting any danger that could come his way. of course, when he woke up it was in a battle mode ready for something to happen, ''i guess I got lucky!'' he shivered he would be dead if he hadn''t been lucky. he choose not to dwell on the fact and instead did something like eat and bath. after feeding the creature he decided to head to the nearest town, ''well that''s not too far I can drop off the mission proof before heading to the next. he was making a pretty good time,'' hope this continues to go well.''

    he couldn''t do more than adapt, others would pray to the zalts. but he was aero the upcoming lord of pride. he ran into a small problem on his travel to the town. ''well that''s annoying!'' he stared down the herd of creatures, four-legged and heavy creatures. probably a pain to fight, not including their numbers. ''they don''t seem aggressive so maybe I don''t have to fight them, but I need them to move. they were blocking the only recorded road to the town,'' he consider turning around and maybe looking for a smaller road. but thought against it who knows what he would run into.

    "Since I don''t recognize them, they probably weren''t in the hunters'' creature book." a boo that contained the creatures that hunters most commonly dealt with, this meant they weren''t out of their away aggressive creatures. maybe wild creatures that could on some level be trained, either way, aero watched them trying to figure out how he should get through this problem.

    ''if they''re not aggressive it would be a waste of my time to provoke them,'' but they don''t seem to be moving any time soon. ''what do they even want on this path, they didn''t seem to want food. don''t seem afraid either?'' he thought on this matter for half a flower

    ''would you like my help,'' the helper asked as aero frustration started to turn towards anger. huffing aero allowed them to help, using their methods they observed the death taking note of an agent in all the blood of the creatures. then observed that agents'' effects before they came to a single conclusion, ''my lord these animals are high? ''

    "what?" aero didn''t know what they meant, the helper quickly explained it to him, "what! there floating!" he looked at the creatures baffled, so much that he started laughing that was official absurd. calming down he got off the cart getting to the closer, ''they don''t see me at all do they?'' he waved his hand in front of their eyes and they barely reacted. ''how long do you think they''re going to float for?''

    ''from the way their bodies are reacting 4-7 flowers?'' spinning that around in his head aero decide he could wait. ''would you like me to conite the story?''

    "of course!"

 26

    aero wasn''t crying, he wasn''t crying over the death of a story charter. "why did he have to die in his daughter''s arms! that''s going to scar her for life!" he wasn''t crying but by the zalts was he upset. taking some deep breaths he calmed down before drinking some water. "okay I''m ready to continue."

    ''that was the end of the book.''

    "what! no!"

    ''there''s a sequel!

    "Read it!"

    ''of course but would you like to know the creatures have moved on,'' aero blinked before looking out the cart. the helper was right, but didn''t mention the sun had set. "okay so I''ve been listening to you longer than I thought," moving to the front he woke up the creature and started driving once more. for the first ten petals, the helper was silent while they acquired the sequel to the finished story.

    aero did start crying when they started the book, which began by telling how the effect of her father''s death affect the girl for the following month. before her best friend and main love, interest pulled her up, and out of the house to show her that life was still beautiful despite how dark it was at the moment.

    ''they took it one step at a time towards the light once more...'' the helper read to their lord as they moved down the road towards the town, where they arrived aero had just finished eating his second meal of the day. he stopped someone and asked a few questions like the location of the inn and the hunter building.

    "umm the first is down to the left, the other is further then turn right and go a little further," she stated looking as if there was something she wanted to ask, but the intense glare that aero gave her made it hard to form the words. he gave his thanks before heading out before she could offer her help.

    ''this is a familiar aggravating feeling,'' the entire trip to the inn people were looking at him in worry, but he worked on ignoring that before renting a room and turning towards the hunter building to turn in his mission completions. that took a while because the female behind the counter refused to believe that he was the one that did it. "listen I did these missions, and if it will prove it to you''ll rip your carapace off!" her jaw dropped, that was something beyond bloody.

    "Look kid," aero violently twitched, "but I barely know your name for you to be making such a threat." aero proceed to blink as his anger was knocked out by the fact she did know him. it was arrogance that made him think everyone knew him, no it was the fact for a good while he was in global news at least once a week. he still was once in a while.

    "I am Abiathar Aero!" the spark of recognition was easy to see in her eyes, but she scoffed and accused him of fake identity. ''My lord!'' the shout of the helper stopped aero from jumping over the table to strike her. taking a deep breath and pushing down some very unpleasant thoughts before he tried again.

    it took ten times longer than it should have to convince this woman he was who he said he was. ''that is five petals of my life that I''m never getting back.'' he was so holding it against the women if they ever meet again and remembered her. as a bad mood as that encounter put him in she didn''t make much of an impact on him. doing some yoga to release his rage back at the inn she already began to fade from his mind, which the helper was relived by.

    the next morning he made sure his mission reports were sent off before going about refilling his supplies. ''there no reason to stay here for long, but I wouldn''t mind staying in that bed for a little while longer.'' it wasn''t his bed, which he left home. he didn''t feel like it would be secure with him on his mission, besides if something happened to him out here it was something his mother could have.

    he wasn''t special in this action as many hunters did it, they didn''t know when they would die or if their bodies would be retrievable. taking your bed with you was a sign of strength or arrogance, the latter aero refused to be the first he was going to reach. all that was needed was time and training, he would reach great levels and this belief existed long before he became a lord and would exist long after.

    he did treat himself to a few things during his short stay before heading off back into the wilds, it was a long journey towards the next point in his travel. it wasn''t a big challenge, but it was going to take time to complete. mostly because it requires him to scale the upside of a tree, largely where he was light to be fighting off some flying creatures.

    ''where did it put that eye gear,'' he didn''t want to go blind at this age, not to mention how hard it would be to retrain himself for that limited sightline. while he was searching for the story as the cart traveled under the light of the sun towards a section of the wilds pretty far north from here.

    ''oh, we shall dance more, my love, after we win this war! this is my promise to you! she leaned down to kiss him- my lord I have a message for you!'' aero jerked out of his daydream of the story. grumbling at whoever sent the message, but asked for it anyway. ''it from the lord of greed, a scientist is willing to pay a good amount to study the pride energy.''

    You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

    listening to the details aero would admit his interest was piqued, the scientist was one of mental health and believed the energy would make a good energy medication for people with low self-esteem. there were many details the helper explained to him. a good chunk of them were things the lord of greed negotiated on his behalf, about money and security to make sure the power didn''t get abused.

    having never met her, aero didn''t trust her in the slightest. but he could say that she knew how to stick a deal. ''also to become the lord of greed she must have control of enormous greed, he doubted they could keep their titles If they lost control of their sins. well, too much control as aero was self-aware to know that his control slipped sometimes.

    aero went over the message twice before he stopped to think about it, ''all I really need to do is supply the energy for study. but,'' there was a risk that it could hurt people. aero didn''t want to hurt innocent people, cross him he''ll hit you right then and there. but there were people out there who weren''t aware of his existence and his actions could hurt them.

    what a heavy choice lay before him, he chose to not let the helper continue reading to him, he didn''t want any distractions while he spent time thinking. he spent a lot of time thinking over the matter, the money would be great for laying the groundwork for his future on the galactic scale. but he couldn''t deny how it irritated him that she spoke on his behalf, not only have they never met but she spoke on his behalf without consulting him. she brushed off his opinion on the matter, she was asking now was a different maters.

    "lord of greed when we meet," he growled at the thought but forced his violent thoughts down. he had to think if he would accept this deal, frankly, there wasn''t a loss for him, he could easily regain any energy he gave up. it took days or hours if he tried hard enough. but the problem would be how it benefited and troubled others.

    something else that bothered him was that he had to relief on people to take care of things because forget understanding things he didn''t have the ability to deal with them. he clenched his fist before forcing them to relax and turn forward. ''i have a plan and it''s in motion. rushing will lead to mistakes on my part.''

    when the sun et and he was making camp for the day, aero decide he need to make a choice and to do that he needed a final piece of information. "if something were to go wrong because of this deal, would you know what goes wrong would you know and remember for a long time."

    ''My lord I have many abilities and one of them is never to forget any bit of information if something goes wrong I will do my best to figure it out and remember until you are able to deal with it yourself.'' aero sighed taking a deep breath, "in that case I would you to inform the lord of greed that I''m in."

    ''i will do so without hesitation,'' aero let out a breath before thing back to his next mission. the tree was very tall and he had to physically prepare himself for that encounter, partly his hands and feet. ''i got the dagger I need right?'' things were going to be a lot harder if he didn''t have the dagger. he could climb the tree, he''s done it before when he was a bit younger. thought it would be a great way to test his skills, it was a good hard challenge, he fell out of the tree though. more than once, got back on his feet when he could, and tried again. he was bleeding and aching as he reached the top.

    but he would climb another tree, this would show him how his ability has improved since the last time. he tried to hold back his smile but he just couldn''t the chance against his excitement. the chance to prove to himself what he could do once more was something the prideful boy couldn''t resist. the morning they continued on towards the goal, aero ready and hungry for the challenge.

    Balewood, a tree that grew upriver over rocks. there were three things special about these trees, one, they grow to great heights. second, they grew a strong medical fungus. third, a rather aggressive and territorial type of creature lived on them. they make retrieving the moss that grows near the top of these trees, aero needs a bag worth for his mission.

    "well isn''t that a big one?" he looked up at the tree impressed by its height, that was a two-hour climb at best. "the branches look thick enough to rest on," but he could see the creature nest already. ''who that was a lot!'' what a good challenge this will be securing his tools to his waist aero started climbing. he gave it a running start grabbing hold of one of the lowest branches before jumping to the next.

    his hands and knife were used when the branches were too far to jump at, the bark of the Balewood was as soft as he remembered. but he knew this tree wasn''t easy to cut down, he''s tested his might against a tree once. got a bunch of angry flying creatures after him for two days, incredible annoying two days.

    "ugh," Aero groaned as he pulled himself on a good-sized branch. ''this is my last chance to rest before they start attacking,'' he eyed the winged creature who eyed him back. he hasn''t entered their territory yet, but he was going to. then there were going to try and claw his eyes out. some deep breaths, a drink of water a look over his weapon he climbed.

    once he crossed over the invisible line the creatures attacked, their claws aimed at his face. he closed his eyes, but that didn''t stop his skin from breaking, and blood start to drip down his exposed skin. aero wasn''t passive she climbed, he listed listened hard. hand sticking grabbing at his guess of the creatures'' positions.

    ''this would be so much easier if I brought eye armor,'' but that wouldn''t make a great challenge. so he went without, the helper protested a bit to see if they couldn''t change their lord''s mind. but aero remained stubborn, so here they were climbing. the helper watched their lord climb trying to figure out a way they could assist without angering their lord. then something struck it, an energy manipulation technique.

    ''My lord, are you aware that you can use your pride energy like a sensory organ?'' the question was said the right way that it would intrigue the lord. who paused pulling his blade from a creature''s wing, it wouldn''t kill it and would take weeks to heal. ''no I don''t know that, how does that work?'' he left the birds to fall, to the ground or a branch he didn''t know too many other violent things to focus on for the moment.

    ''it''s simple in there but very difficult to do. the simplest explanation is coating your body in a layer of energy and reading the ripples when something touches that layer.'' of course applying it wasn''t near that easy to pull off not to mention recognizing the threats. it was like learning to see all over again, it was a difficult task.

    aero''s ear twitched as he struck out catching another creature across the face. before scrambling a few feet higher up the tree.  this was a point where they haven''t claimed so he could take a small break," thank the zalts for the breaks in their territory." or it would be much more blood on both sides, cause he would kill a few to ease up on the pressure.

    leaning against a branch he took a deep breath, the pride energy flowed throughout his body. he channeled it above his skin. '' a simple layer,'' he tried to calm the energy and measure how much it would take to cover his form.

    ''well that''s too little, he noticed the rather large holes in the energy layer. he called out more to fill the hole, but it left the energy levels uneven but he continued to work on it. ''you''re right this is hard, I might not be able to maintain this while I climb.''

    ''my lord would you relish the control of your body to me, something is within my capabilities with your permission.''

    ''that''s a dead no!'' aero wasn''t doing that unless his life was in real danger, ''but'' you''ve taught me an interesting trick I''ll have to practice it more after I''m done with this mission.'' aero wasn''t arrogant to think he could learn something while completing this mission, nor was there any reason to do as he could make it to the top of this tree.

 27

    when he rested enough aero started climbing once more entering the creature''s territory, they clawed and bit at him but aero gave just as good even with his eyes closed swiping at anything that got close, he climbed as fast as he safely could until he felt the moss under his fingers. smiling aero flipped his blade around before scarping off a strip of moss and snapping his teeth at a creature that got too close.

    aero circled the tree collecting the moss while fending off the creature and ignoring the blood that was flowing down his body. it hurt, not a part of him didn''t ache but he pushed on. "hA!" aero cheered as he felt the bag reach its limit, he opened his eyes immediately stabbing several creatures in the head forcing the rest of them to back down.

    "finally that''s over with!" he wiped the blood out of his eyes before looking down and letting go of the tree. his free fall was refreshing as he rested his limbs until he came to one of the lower branches, grabbing it with both hands his shoulders screaming as his momentum sent him spinning. until he landed on the ground.

    ''now then l should clean up,'' aero walked back to his cart and directed towards a stream he spotted on his map. on the way he wiped off the blood as best he could and checked the bag to make sure he had enough. ''i little close but should do,'' he asked the helper to give him more in-depth knowledge of the energy technique.

    ''of course my lord,'' while aero cleaned up at the stream, and took the chance to refill his water while the helper lecture him on the technique. one he started practice while he set up for the night. the technique was difficult but more by the amount of focus he currently had to give it. with time, that amount would go down. right now he aimed to be able to walk and do the technique with ease. so he paced the area of his camp while getting the layer of energy flowing.

    since he reabsorbed most of the energy, it didn''t have too much of an effect on his self-esteem. which was great but he still restored the lost energy not liking how the loss made him feel. he stayed at camp for the following day, to practice and heal the wounds. thankful none of there were too deep or so a day of rest was enough for the blood to stop and started to solidify.

    "okay with this I''ve done all four requests and stayed on schedule," he smiled at the accomplishment. it was worth getting bit by fungus poised fangs, charged at by a pink creature, collecting lighting fist after getting struck with lighting, and attacked by birds. "it just occurred to me I should probably be in a lot more pain," cause none of those wounds aren''t fully healed.

    he still had a bite mark on the carapace of his left leg, his eyes were still twitching from the lighting, the flying creatures left to make all over his body and face. ''if healers charged I would have quite the bill when I return to civilization.'' until then he would mess you of the small healing kit his helper convinced himself to buy. they played dirty and brought up how much his mother might cry if he died.

    he spent the day after camping moving toward a town with a healing center while doing something to his current wounds. getting a closer look made them look worse but he was pushing through it without any problem. ''should I buy a herb mixture?'' he didn''t mind the scares they were a sign of survival but of course, his mother didn''t see it that way.

    the scars he already had, though majorly faded, bothered her a bit. he tried not to show them, the injuries might not even scare. ''i guess I''ll just see... I should practice that sensing technique,'' it wasn''t like he was moving much any time soon. closing his eyes he brought out the layer of energy. keeping it up for a good flower and half before his throbbing head could be felt in his toes.

    ''my lord I believe you''ve given yourself quite the migraine,'' the helper stated as aero pulled him out of the stinging light of the sun. ''sadly I don''t know enough about your planet''s medical techniques for you to treat it. so you will have to rest for the rest of the day and probably, the next day as well. don''t perform any strenuous activity and try to keep sensory input to a minimal.''

    ''How did I even get a migraine, whats a migraine?'' he didn''t know the term and even though the helper explained it to him he didn''t know if such a thing existed on this planet. ''i guess I can ask a healer when I arrive,'' he hoped it was soon and something would work on this migraine. the trip was difficult as the migraine persisted flaring up when he camp for the night between his travels.

    "by the zalts did you get caught in a stampede." the moment he entered the building he didn''t get a chance to speak before several healers swarmed him. pulling him off to a room to be examined. "okay he''s not that injured and we have other patients!" thankfully one of them had a big sense and was able to clear the room, she was now checking over his injuries.

    aero huffed at the question, "a stamped wouldn''t but me in this bad of a shape." she opened her mouth wanting to know how he was so certain about that. but deiced that she didn''t want that heart attack and sent for some anti-venom for his bite. probably, his system has already flushed the foreign element. ''doesn''t hurt to be safe,'' she decided as she cleaned the wounds going over his right arm.

    Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

    while she was cleaning the wounds on his neck, some dangerously close to something important. but at the same time, there weren''t, ''is it luck or something else?'' if it was the latter she was rather impressed and relieved, as luck could run out. skill on the other hand.

    "so I suggest you stay here a few days to rest up and heal," the healer said after banding the last of the wounds. she also took the time to check if any venom was affecting him before giving the anti-venom. yeah, there was a little but only enough to make him a bit calmer.

    aero didn''t speak just walked straight out of the room, "okay then. before you leave we''ll do your forms." aero nodded as they stopped at the entrance to gather said forms before filling them out. the moment he was done aero handed them to the woman, and he stepped out of the building. "by the zalts that was Abiathar Aero!" maybe he was more out of it than she thought.

    climbing into his cart directed towards the edge of town, ''it''s southeast from here right.'' aero wasn''t sure his head was a little fuzzy but he was going home. the helper seeing their lord''s state of mind helped steer the cart in the right direction as aero fell back for a nap.

    they got a connection request, ''oh the filing has been completed already have it.'' they accepted the connection. ''this is the assistant to the lord of pride, may I know who I''m speaking to?''

    ''ah yes, this is Xoqax. I''m a scientist of energy and minds.'' both of these were rather vague and broad topics. there were so many kinds of energy out there and just as many minds. frankly, there might not be a limit to them, ''thank you so much for agreeing to let me study the lord''s power.''

    the helper got the impression that if this meeting was physical he might be bowing or kneeling, ''of course anything you discover about the power will be of great help to the lord.'' the helper thought it might be a good way for him to branch out. or drive him to study science in a great stubbornness. their lord wasn''t good at accepting their people could do things he couldn''t do. great pride in his ability, either his greatest strength or great weakness.

    ''so what would your test include? the lord of greed had basic tests done to determine a monetary value.'' the scientist cleared his throat before starting his first tests would be to determine the effect of carbon organics, as they were the most common across the source''s creations before moving to other types. once he determines the results he would then study the effects long and short term.

    the helpers questions later an entire flower, during the entire time Xoqax didn''t dare ask to speak directly to the lord. either the lord was listening in or the helper would report to the lord, but at the very less he knew the Lord would hear what he had to say. and if things went well he would be able to mark his name in scientific history, hopefully for something good and not war-related.

    "mmm," Aero groaned as he sat up migraine pulsing, he didn''t want to sit up but he was parched and needed to know where he was. he pulled his cart to the side of the road, the creature immediately dropped and closed it''s four eyes. drinking his fill of water aero shuffled out of the cart to stretch out, though it didn''t help the pain in his head. but was getting used to it and was pushing through.

    ''my lord allow me to update you on the exchange that happened while you were resting!'' they stated after their lord finished some yoga. "oh what happened?" the helper quickly explained the information they were able to get from the scientist Xoqax, allowing with analysis of his behavior. ''seems nervous, but that could be contributed to the fact he was working for a comics lord. there was no hostile intent detected.''

    "that''s good," aero wasn''t entirely sure how he would react to betrayal at that level. "so what is needed on my side?"

    ''he''s asking that you supply three times the energy then you gave to the lord of green," aero twitched. that was a lot of energy, he wasn''t sure he could put that much out in a day.

    ''it is no problem how long it takes you to supply the man, he stated that it would take a few months to complete his lab setup. so there is more than plenty of time." a bit of tension faded from his body and he closed his eyes taking gage his current energy levels. the amount was good, but it still wasn''t enough to meet the man''s requirement.

    ''can I even increase the amount of energy I hold?'' it was a side effect of his pride, ''getting more prideful doesn''t seem like a bright idea.'' maybe there was another way for him to store energy. ''well they seem to have it down pretty well,'' bitting down his pride aero asked the helper if he knew a good way for him to store energy on this planet.

    ''my lord based on your current resources I think the best to find a material that stores energy well. as a common material is crystals.''

    "those are much too rare for me to get my hands on?" crystals could be found 1 in twenty years, and that was when they were small. the bigger they were the more luck you need to find them before you grew old and died.

    ''that''s why it would be best to make one!'' aero blinked several times before deciding that they were going to come back to this and instead got back into the cart to grab some feed for the creature if they were moving he should take the chance to feed them and check his map. ''well it doesn''t look like I''m in a bad spot for the night.'' tomorrow he would try and get closer to a nearby stream.

    setting up for camp he swallowed some jell having missed the second meal, something his stomach was very displeased with as he worked to secure his spot for the night. ''well that takes care of thought,'' aero stretched out trying to keep his tiredness at bay. ''why am I so tired besides the migraine. there hasn''t been much today.''

    a little while longer he decides to just get it over with and head to sleep sooner than usual. he had a strange dream that night, instead of the usual dance of colors granted to him by the Zalt of slumber. he dreamed of a beast, massive and details hard to make out. not even the sound of its voice though he was sure it spoke. whispering words of poison pride, not one word was a lie but nothing but trouble. when he refused to listen it got mad and lunch with a mouth that with too many teeth and tongues.

    "AAH! what in the zalts and zaltess! no, what in the apostle stars and nebulas was that!" aro wasn''t even sure when he grabbed his weapon. but there was nothing in this star system that was going to make him let go of it at this moment! ''i''m sorry ...my lord.'' the helper spoke weakly and that only put aero more on guard. ''the sin beast attacked ...broke through my defenses. infiltrated your mind.''

    Aero thought back to the massive creature unable to recall any details about its form or voice, but he could remember its words and its attack. "so this is the monster I''m supposed to keep caged?!"

    ''yes?''

    "by the zalts why didn''t you tell me what challenge that was going to be!" it scared him to his core, that monster. it wasn''t even physical there and his life flashed before his eyes. currently, he couldn''t annoy the monster with his attackers, the power he would need to keep it imprisoned. at that point, there was nothing that anyone could say, about his abilities. ''it might not be the noblest resolves but who cares,'' from the begging aero has down what he desired.

    "so tell me what do I need to go to to keep that monster imprisoned!"

 28

    "move slowly feel the melody flow through your body, move in the way that will make it grow stronger then let it burst with dynamic movement." the instructor spoke slowly watching her news pair of students. okay, she would admit she was watching one more than the other, but it was the first time she had a male student in her combat dancing class. it was very new and strange, not strange how he threatened to break bones if she went easy.

    ''i''m still not sure if I want him to meet my son or not?'' Amira thought of the boy''s strong will, and a boy he was to her, not to mention his confidence. she wanted her son to be happy and that was a bit hard with how stifling some people''s intentions to protect could be. her parents were on the worst side, so intent to protect her brother he was unable to truly take care of himself for years after he ran away.

    men and boys running away from their families weren''t as rare as people would think, partly because they didn''t run far, just to a friend''s house in the same village and people didn''t gossip about the fact. they probably should and people would notice more of the pattern like she was pretty sure it would help.

    ''but who going to listen to me!'' sighing she turned back to her class and instructed them how to move, directing the power of the melody through their bodies. it would make combos easier to do using the power of a melody, an example would be a fire melody moving it from one hand to the other.

    ''i''ll probably get a lot of use of this technique,'' aero thought lifting his leg above his head." that''s impressive, but not practical in combat, let''s stick to things that will likely happen in combat for now." he glared at the teacher but couldn''t find a leg to argue with, lowing his leg to his average kick height he switched to the other leg. before springing to land on his hands, the class was a lot easier than he expected, mostly because a lot of fighting motions could be applied.

    the rest of the class went nicely well and aero was able to head home to the room he was renting at a nearby inn with little problem. though many people stared at him on the way, apparently a male traveling alone was a rare sight in this small city. aero ignored it and closed himself in his room to practice the dance movement and speak to the helper. who was running the data they gather.

    ''yes dancing with definitely cut down on the number of notes you need to play,'' they had only gotten through the first third of the lesson and the helper had very high expectations. of course, their simulations were mostly speculation based on previously gathered data. but still, things looked good, a good part of the dancing seemed to let the power of the melody move through their bodies or stall it so it can reverb and grow.

    the second part had plenty of use for their lord, ''oh my lord the transport will be arriving in the  17-24 flowers''

    ''so it will be here in as little as two days,'' aero paused and pressed his lips into a line. though he has tried he made little progress in making creating a message to store his pride energy. it was kind of annoying how complex the process was. he was going to get it, just might take longer than he originally expected.

    ''i guess I should prepare," which meant clothing the covered more. ''good things I packed it,'' when his self-esteem was weakened he couldn''t wear his usual clothes. it was kind of annoying but he understood it, he dressed as he did for freedom of movement and to say ''I''m not afraid! nor ashamed!'' to all that looked.

    the next class was in three days, ''i have a day to recover the best I can before going to go back to class.'' he didn''t want to see how lowered self-esteem would affect the classes how he did in class. it didn''t seem like fun to him at all, nor did it seem safe. he did some daring movies today, ''hesitation might break my bones, or at the very least hurt a lot.''

    ending his after-class practice he cooled down with some yoga before deciding it was time to eat before the sun finished setting. it wasn''t hard to find a good place to eat, the only place he''s been going for the last few days. the food was decently priced though he wasn''t sure how he felt about the slightly spicy and sweet taste of the food. he knew that people liked it but he wasn''t sure if he did.

    the next day they did a lot of spinning in class, he would admit that was harder than he expected. it also left him very dizzy and with a sore core, ''i didn''t know they were so many methods to spinning around.'' but I''ll make sure to lead with my hands and feet from now on,'' he liked increasing his chances of landing safety.

    the following day was getting rhythm in their movements as it a very important when you wanted to increase the power of a melody. they practiced to the drums beating out a melody that made the air dance with them. ''this is fun,'' aero realized as he moved his limbs to the rhythm, ''i''m having fun!'' he felt the melody flow through him and bounce though his bones until he guided it out through his feet. a small gust was born from his actions but aero barely minded he was having fun.

    Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    aero continued to dance throughout the rest of the class, letting the melody guide him and him guiding it through his body causing gusts of air the puff out. he might have been putting too much power into the movements as the gust were growing pretty strong. ''that''s something I should keep in mind,'' he didn''t want to lose control of a medley and raze a part of the forest. '' I don''t know the fine rate for that,'' yes he could get fined for it.

    the next morning the helper was able to assure him that the storage device would be arriving today, sometime after sunset. ''so I guess I won''t have much time to recharge afterward,'' he sighed before getting ready for class and continued onwards. he pushed the matter out of his mind before he arrived at class.

    this lesson was intense though the teacher was definitely going easy on them, both students had to adjust to the changing melodies. they were pretty weak in effect but she pulled out some many that he couldn''t keep track and it kind of became a blur as he focused on matching the rhythm of the changing melodies.

    ''i''m sore alright,'' he rolled his limbs before heading for the forest. the storage devices would be arriving soon and he had to get there for that, man I hope I can get home without a problem.'' the biggest problem he could imagine was someone spotting him and his changed body langue, they would probably offer their help to him. he wasn''t sure how much luckier he was to accept another help when his self-esteem was weakened and he wasn''t looking forward to finding out.

    arriving in the forest he set his staff against a tree and prepared to wait, feeling the prideful power that flowed through him. it reached his toes and his head came from every pore of his being, he was already begging to collect the energy he had to give to the device, he wouldn''t be able to give it all now. but the sooner he did it the sooner he recovered and the sooner Xoqax got to work studying it.

    he centered the energy in his right arm as the helper sensed the transport entering the planet''s atmosphere only petals later arriving before Aero. sitting up he tilted his head as the small size of transport was only the size of his head, maybe a little more. "why is that helper?"

    ''this one is more specialized, without any form of knowledge on the lord of greed sent a transport capable of holding maybe a dozen forms of energy. now with more data, a smaller and more special container can be used.''

    "well at a lot less licky to draw someone''s attention," still replaced his right arm on the device directing the energy into it. he could feel it begin taken into the device, it took less than a petal before he parted with all the energy he was willing to at this time. of course, in the following moment, he could feel his self-esteem and pride drop. which affected his courage. "my desire to stay out here has dropped greatly," grabbing the container he lead it back to his room.

    he spotted several people on the way back, but thankful for his currently frail heart they didn''t try and approach him. so he made it back to his room without trouble, he locked the heavy door behind himself before dropping into his bed, pulling his quilt over him. ''i should try and recover my energy,'' but would it be enough for class tomorrow he didn''t know and thought about how he could mess up in the class.

    ''would they laugh at me?'' he''s rarely been laughed at and in the past, they didn''t get to laugh long before he attacked. he wasn''t sure he could follow that pattern, not only was his trying to change his reputation, he was also lacking the pride that gave birth to his anger. but clinging to the quilt he stood up and practiced going over his dance lessons. taking pride in what he learned and how well he has learned, was soothing and he could feel the confidence returning.

    sadly he could practice long as he had class in the morning so he went through his nightly routine before heading to the Zalt of slumber''s embrace. that night was colorful and much better than his dream of the beast as it tried to manipulate him.

    the next morning he tried to recover as much of his pride as he could, but it still felt like it wasn''t enough as he got dressed in the clothing that cover a good amount of skin. ''at this level I should be fine,'' it was only a small seed of doubt in his heart and it was buried under layers of pride. it wouldn''t be easy to make it grow.

    "well welcome, today''s lessons were going to practice maintaining a melodies power inside yourself. now this technique is much harder than expected as it can be very draining..." the first flower of the class was filled with a lecture about what they were learning. the women when into great detail about it, then 15 petals were spent with demonstration. which was followed up by her slowly building them through it herself one at a time. then the remaining two flowers were for them to practice.

    the first two-part went well for the young lord but when it came to being guided through the technique, the helper unhelpful informed him that this technique could do a lot of damage to his bones. it scared him, ''which is pathic! I have much more painful things than this why can''t break my bone.'' even if he lacked pride he still had a stubborn streak.

    so he did it, he was scared and unsure but even with that hesitation, he did it again and again. the teacher applauded him as he held the notes inside his bones for 3 petals, ''it aches! something might be cracked! but I still did it!'' he could feel his pride swelling from this. he wasn''t 100% percent but he was definitely feeling better, ''too bad I plan to put more energy in the storage device tonight.'' he could almost cry. but for now, he was going to enjoy the current state of his mind for the time being.

    later a few flowers before he usually went to sleep he poured a great deal of power into the device. which had him huddling in his bed for a bit before enough memories gave him the strength to leave his bed. but that was followed by a few hours of working out, not too hard he had class in the morning so it could be too much.

    the next day at class he was hesitating again but that was okay, it didn''t interfere with his learning as far as he was aware. though unfortunately, his teacher noticed his nervousness. "I''m alright and I don''t wish to talk to you!" she hummed for a moment before making a new move," would you like to speak with my husband instead. he''s very good at listening and keeping secrets!" then she started talking about more of his traits.

    ''she bragging about her lover,'' he was stuck between rolling his eyes and blushing. so he did both but not in the order. he was listening to her brag for five petals before she realized what she was doing and shy apologized before offering the chance to talk to her husband. "I don''t drop my problems on people I haven''t neve met yet." he plainly told her acting like he was looking her in the eyes.

    ''my lord you don''t dump your problems on people you do know!'' this comment was completely off guard.

    "then why don''t you come over and meet him?" aero blinked toward the women, putting the helper''s words in the back for the moment. "I have no desire to impose on you or your family." nor was he going over to a stranger''s house, she may have been teaching him for the past couple of days but that didn''t mean he knew her nor trusted her.

    "it''s no problem, having guests is great and you won''t impose on anyone. At your age, you don''t eat much." aero twitched, she was right he was still young and didn''t eat much because of it. a single gell was more than enough to fill him.

    In the end, he couldn''t come up with an excuse or argument that pushed the woman off. ''i''ve been outmatched!'' that annoyed him more than anything, of course, it didn''t stop him from rushing to a store and buying some kind of treat. ''but I haven''t given in!''

 29

    "well, aren''t you cute!" Toam Amira''s husband''s first impression of Aero was rather positive, "call me cute again and I will hurt you." sadly aero wasn''t a fan of the way the man framed it. "well that adds to your charm," Aero blinked at how unbothered the man was by his threat.

    ''is it because I''m not at a hundred I can''t fully put myself behind the threat or is he just weird.''

    ''my lord it''s weird you think someone is weird when they aren''t affected by your threat.''

    ''you have been chatty recently! why is that?''

    ''in your current state you are more likely to listen to me and not shut me out,'' aero bit his tongue knowing that was, in fact, true. a little less sure of his actions and more likely to take someone''s suggestions. the helper saw a chance and took it if their help makes a good impression before their lord fully recovered. he might be more willing to take their help in the future, which would open doors to him accepting other people''s help. from their production, their lord would need it.

    "so what do you do for a living?" Toam asked after calling down his son. "a hunter," aero responded watching the man''s reaction, this was one of the best ways to learn home someone would act around him. "mm, that amazing you must have worked very hard!"

    "you''re weird!" nothing could change his opinion at this point. "how''s father weird?" the youngest person in this house asked aero, "cause he''s weird that''s why!" the boy glared at him before defending his father. of course, aero wasn''t going to lose to a kid younger than 10 years. though the child remained stubborn trying to argue that his father wasn''t weird.

    Toam and Amira found this interaction the best as their son got riled up to the point he tried to use force only for aero dance out of the way. amira blinked watching the older boy move, "well I''ll be how much work has he been putting into his lessons." he moved with such grace and fluidly, with his might behind each movement. she watched closely as her son''s interest in fighting Areo faded and was replaced with the desire to dance with the graceful man.

    ''This kid dances better than me!'' he was impressed, "do you like to dance?"

    "yes! lots!"

    "do you take pride in it?" aero felt his energy react curiously to his words. like that time he blessed Demsky Zavad. he could pay more attention to how this affected him, even before the words left his mouth. the energy reacted to the boy taking hold of his leaking pride energy. "yes...?" the boy answered confused.

    "would you stop if someone tells you to?" this time boy shook his head growing. "why would someone tell me to stop?"

    "because they believed it would protect you."

    "I can take care of myself!" aero informed him there were quite a few people who wouldn''t believe that which only upset him more. "what should I do?" the boy looked like he wanted to stop his feet but was holding back. "simple hold on to your pride." the energy formed a shell around him," but don''t let it control you," vent opened in the shell." use it to push forward when other tell you to stop. " the shell thickened and stelled as the boy took in the young lord''s words.

    "time for dinner!" having no idea of the magnitude of the events he just witnessed, toam served dinner, and the family and guests started eating. the younger in the room finished their food quickly but stayed at the table as that was considered polite in Augustine. but it wasn''t considered rude for them to start a small conversation.

    well, the boy started a conversation, "you don''t know my name do you?" Aero blinked surprised the boy was sharp enough to pick that up. but he smiled all the same, "yeah not the slightest clue, but it might not make a difference. see I have this habit of forgetting people''s names if I don''t find them worth remembering. Your mother is sticking around being my teacher but I''ll probably remember you as her son."

    "well my mother is amazing!" he bragged and aero almost laughed at how unbothered he was about the other part. "my name is Ezrah! remember it cause I will be amazing!"

    "oh well see about that little Ezrah!" aero only laughed as the boy huffed and they contained talking Ezrah trying to point out how he would do great things and aero telling him the great things the 17 has already done. like quite literally fighting several people to the ground with his bare hands and fighting creatures alone more than was safe.

    "what does that mean?" Amira asked as she started clearing the table. aero shrugged before informing them that some creatures were recommended to be taken on by more than one person. he usually didn''t do that and went after himself, "never up and front. I know to fight smarter with ambush tactics and changing the playing field to my advantage."

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    "well, you''ve certainly found your way," Toam stated. aero heard a note of the worry in his tone and that was by far the most normal reaction the man has had concerning him. so he let it slide for the moment. instead still determined to not a be burden he helped with the dishes while Toam worked to get Ezrah bathed.

    "I have things to say to this boy!" Ezrah tried to squirm free glaring back to aero who only. ignored him.

    "well, you can tell him afterward," Aero decide not to mention he was leaving the moment the dishes were done. he didn''t think he could keep this up much longer, he wasn''t acting like it but these interactions were draining him. keeping up the act that he was at a hundred percent and forcing himself not to double think everything he said and keeping his eyes locked the entire time.

    ''i wanna sleep for a week,'' aero dropped his mask for only a moment before pulling it back up before amira could look back at him. he keep things for a little longer as the women talked but he wasn''t really hearing her. until she had enough," you don''t have to act around my family. we can keep secrets."

    "what are you talking about?"

    "one part of my job is to watch people and determine what they plan to use what I teach. if they plan to harm people I report them and teach them nothing, if they plan to help people I teach them everything they need to know. for the past few days, you''ve been less sure in your steps, though it is almost unnoticeable unless you''ve watched people for a living." she didn''t move a limb but each word out of her mouth made it feel like she was stepping past his guard.

    it scared him, he wasn''t sure his mother could read him this well. so he fell onto his most reliable defense letting his pride overflow and getting mad. "you don''t have the right to speak about this!" he would not lie, he acknowledge her abilities she could see through him. but that didn''t mean she should speak about it.

    "you''re probably right I don''t have the right, but it''s my job to make sure my students are taking care f themselves and you don''t look like that at all. you look tired from acting so much. you aren''t used to acting because you show everyone how you are without the slightest bit of shame," aero clenched and unclenched his fist. this woman was digging way too deep into him.

    "so what you want me to drop my mask and take a nap?!" she nodded like that was the best idea," yes let''s do that you can have the room if it makes you better" aero fists were twitching, she was reading him like a book he disliked it so very much. but he also knew it was a bad idea to fight her. not only could she kick him out of her class, but she also probably had a few moves in combat.

    curses sat on the tip of his tongue and aero wanted to let them all free in the hope they would hurt this one woman. ''i haven''t been missed of like this in a while! I''ll give her credit for that.'' biting down his rage he turned away from her, ignored her, and thought of something that would calm him down.

    when he was less lightly to jump her and rip out something important he turned back to her, face carefully blank though he wasn''t sure it fooled her. "I''ll need at most five petals," Amira smiled before walking upstairs to join her child and lover. the moment she was out of sight aero bent over and hide his face.

    ''by the zalts that tiring, also am I that bad at hiding my emotions?''

    ''of course not my lord she is just very skilled at reading people,'' the five petals passed like that. aero''s insecurity pops up and the helper shoots them down and reminded aero of what he''s done allowing the pride energy to rise a bit. which improved as he felt and made it easier to act when Ezrah came down the stairs. the moment the petals had fallen conversation back up as if nothing happened, which aero didn''t mind talking with the boy.

    it got very late before he left the house, partly because Ezrah talked until his bedtime, secondly because aero spent a good bit of time arguing that he didn''t need an escort home. but he headed home all the same, ''i''ll work on the storage tomorrow, it''s too late for work on it if I want to be ready in time for class.'' falling asleep was pretty easy as he was worn out. he slept soundlessly that night dreaming of bright red and greys. he didn''t know why the Zalt gave him such a dream but he went with it all the same.

    the following day he got dressed and ate before he stepped out of the door feeling a small portion of energy to the storage device for the time being. ''should I thank her for not saying anything?'' the woman was completely professional as she reinforced what they learned so far. she also handed out a few tips at the fault she noticed that had, "cutting off a bad habit now might just save your life!"

    aero didn''t argue with the truth, he still gave her a less than nice look after she corrected him three times in a row. that dirty look lasted until the end of classes, he grabbed dinner before returning home where he quickly pumped some pride energy into the storage device. as it was the third time he was able to fill the device to his limits, ''my lord the container is ready to be sent off.''

    "that''s good, I can''t believe I was able to do it." the logical part of him had an argument for that but he didn''t really listen to it as he ate his food before climbing into bed. he went to sleep early that night, sleeping peacefully if lightly in fear something might happen and If he would be able to handle it.

    "my lord do you remember how you dealt with a girl who fought with a dagger and supported herself with a short bow as well!'' the helper woke their lord like this causing memory to pop up in the front of his mind.  that fight wasn''t a simple one, she was pretty skilled at both close and long-range. he won before he was more skilled at close range and took advantage of it, preventing her from using her long-range advantage at much as he could.

    ''Yeah that wasn''t an easy fight to win, she didn''t go down easy and I respect her for that.'' the helper smiled seeing his energy levels rise, and immediately brought up another won fight. took several more recalled fights before aero was able to get dressed, he ate breakfast with the helper listing off his previous feats. ''helper I think this is worse than before,'' he was feeling better, but maybe around 50-60% unlike before where he found himself at 70-80%.

    ''i believe the part of you that produces the energy has been overtaxed, the only current solution is to rest and let it recover.'' aero nodded finishing up his breakfast and heading to his classes. he still tried to raise himself and get ready for class.

    thankfully class amira went easy on them lecturing them about techniques and rules they had to abide by since they knew how to dance along with melodies. he gave a silently thank you before he retreated to his inn room, recalling their conversation from this morning aero asked the helper if they knew the part of him that produced the energy.

    ''it largely from the part of your mind that generates the emotion of pride, it appears to have swollen a bit from overuse.'' the helper assured him that the swelling wasn''t too bad and would go down within 2 and 4 days so he would be fine. ''i believe that your energy levels will return fully before then but you should try to refrain from using energy for the next week.''

    ''can do that,'' it wouldn''t be that hard as he usually didn''t use the energy much. ''what should be done to prevent it from swelling again?''

    ''well the brain is like a muscle, exercise it and it will grow stronger. I think this might be how you can increase your energy value.'' aero nodded and started they would see. but for now, he was going to take a nap, he napped longer than he was planning but that was the sign it was a good nap. he was feeling much better when he woke up.

    "let''s go out," grabbing the storage device he walked out in the middle of the night into the forest, he could hear the distant sounds of creatures roaming the night. ''they won''t get too close, probably.'' with the helper guidance he was able to send the drive on its way. ''hopefully this will provide a good amount of information.

 30

    "how absolute intriguing!" the scientist Xoqax thought, bouncing in the air, his wings fluttering around as he watched the data that was sent to him by the lord of pride''s helper. and in a few hours, he was going to receive an energy sample, which he would be able to test more than a few things on. the helper had recently sent him data about where the energy was being generated from. comparing it to other races he could figure that anything with an evolved enough brain had this part.

    "so this applies to so many races! are their differences from biological reasons?" he was so excited, this could help so many people if done right. "ah, calm yourself you have to prepare for the test and studies!" his wings fluttered as he moved around the lab and prepared the machines when the delivery arrived he barely stopped to thank the service worker before rushing to start his test.

    it was a day cycle on his home planet before he got through the test, "how interesting. it shows signs of being a mental type of energy. but there are elements of more than emotional energy. "so is pride more than an emotion! but what is pride then?" he fluttered backed between some interfaces trying to find some answers or a clue.

    study and research could take months maybe years, he was prepared to give that time to this project. why wouldn''t he this was the most exciting thing he''s done in years. "let''s dive into the mystery of pride shall we!"

    back on Augustine, aero was a moment from starting a fight with the creature that stood before him. it was around several feet, a bear-like thing covered in thorns. it was actually kind of ignoring him but it was also sleeping against his cart. "where did you come from!" he left the cart alone to bathe and this creature decide to rest against it.

    he glared at it more before going around to grab his staff,'' a good wack should get it moving. he circled it for a moment before deciding the right place to hit it from the back. he put half his all behind the strike! "Wow!" only to have to dive back as the spike shot off skewering the trees behind him.

    straightening out he watched as the spines quickly regrew, much to his annoyance. but he didn''t hit it again, instead, he tested out the reflex of the spines. "no wonder it would sleep in such a way, it doesn''t need to be awake to defend itself. he would be more impressed if this creature wasn''t half knocking over his cart. grumbling he decided to think this through. how could he get this creature to move without risking his cart, "if hitting could solve this problem!"

    thinking over it, while observing the creature sleep he decided to drown the creature. it took two melodies to summon water from the grass and to encase the creature''s head. three seconds it was on its feet in a panic. Aero''s cart fell back to this wheel and aero hoped that nothing had been too big of a mess, but he didn''t have time to think about it as the creature charged at him.

    spinning out of the aero let the water drop so the creature could breathe. thankfully it wasn''t interested in fighting him, so it took off running into the trees and aero climbed into his cart. "why didn''t you some something about that." the creature tied to his cart only blinked at him as it got to its feet and started walking out of the clearing while aero climbed on board. but paused as something reached his ears, "of course, it wouldn''t be that easy!"

    looking out he saw the since-covered creature charging back at him, ''you don''t give up do you!'' he could see it was planning to ram them. ''won''t be that easy though,'' at the last moment he encourage his creature to move faster. it pulled the cart out of the way just in time.

    as the spined creature passed by the back out the cart, aero swung out. held tight to the upper frame of the cart as he swung his foot into the creature''s face, "tch!" when the blow connected he knew there wasn''t enough weight behind it. cursing he switched his hands and pulled himself back into the cart, just like he expected the creature quickly shoot the hit off and started chasing after him.

    ''well how should I deal with this?'' he didn''t have any plans to stop and fight it, nor did he want to test its stamina. "okay how about this!" it wasn''t a bit matter to quick put other an ice medley and freeze the ground behind his cart. the creature''s feet slipped right from under it, it went sliding right into a tree.

    "that should at least buy time if not straight out knock it out," he watched ready to create a melody if need. but it seemed that this action was done, so aero climbed to the front of the cart and steered the cart northwards. he had a stop to make before he returned home." an annoying stop at that," the teen grumbled as the cart trodded on north.

    the reason he was heading north was simple, his mother asked him. but as much as he loved his mother he would never enjoy heading north to meet his foremother. the mother of his mother, an 80 years old and completely against aero''s path in life. Nora didn''t like this either but despite that, she still got along with her mother as long as this topic wasn''t brought up.

    she asked at least once a year that her son and mother meet. she didn''t think they could stand each more than once a year, both of them were stubborn people. it ran in the blood, along with as the topic of his life choices didn''t come up aero and his foremother could be at peace.

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    ''i''m not making any bets,'' he didn''t have too high of an opinion of this woman. honestly, it was lower than his usual opinion of women, as she knew him long enough to know that he wasn''t going to change his mind. Bringing up the topic was pointless unless she wanted a fight, but somehow someway she brings it up. something without even saying anything.

    Aero dreaded the entire way to his foremother''s place, her community was full of a mix of aging men and women, and younger workers. the place wasn''t all that exciting though it was probably for the best as the aging people couldn''t handle that much. it was another reason that aero wasn''t looking forward to this.

    but the time passed with the helper reading him a tragedy book, if he cried there were no witnesses to say anything.

    "you''ve arrived!" his foremother happily greeted him, and aero responded with a strained expression. parking the cart and pouring out some food for the creature he turned to her, it was an awkward moment of them staring at each other. before they went inside, "you should come to me visit more often!"

    "that never going to happen," he stated without mercy," so what do you want?"

    "to spend time with his child''s child." aero remained unblinking as he looked at her, "oh come now I''m being serious." he didn''t believe her in the slightest and took a seat at the table covered in some frilly fabric. it was a pretty design and color, one thing aero couldn''t deny about his foremother was he could sew like no one business.

    the tense air between the two didn''t waver as the day went on, aero was too on guard and his foremother knew this. it was after aero washed that his foremother said something that put him even on more guard," oh tomorrow a friend of mine is coming over. she just wanted to the boy I was always talking about." the look aero gave her at this information was scorching.

    the next morning aero woke up to a conversation downstairs,'' that gossip isn''t it!" people spent a bit too much time gossiping about him, which left the action in general with a bad taste in his mouth. he complemented jumping out the window, he knew there was a way down. ''i don''t run from such simple things!'' though running was a simple way to deal with this problem it was likely just pushing it back.

    His staff was coming with him as he descended the stairs, and walking into the living room aero blinked at the large man that was sitting across from his foremother. "hello?" he greeted them deciding he should test if he would like this person or need to avoid him.

    "oh my zalts you here!" the absolute look of amazement that man had when he looked towards Aero caught him off guard. he wasn''t expecting this, but it wouldn''t be the first time. aero just smiled at him. letting the man gush before changing the topic about something else. he also took the chance to eat, before heading out after half a flower of a conversation he barely participated in. they talked about him a lot.

    ''my lord Xoqax has sent a report, he has a there he''s requesting that you test it if possible.'' aero pushed in his stretches, lowing his leg to the ground.'' what kind of theory?" the Lord asked. the helper easily explained to their lord.

    ''he''s been working for what 7 days!'' aero was impressed and focused on his energy. the theory was about the dissipation of energy, he heroized it had a range. the further from its source or container it got, the more it dissolved before fading away completely. That kind of made sense when aero opened his eyes to people''s pride, looking closer it got thinner the further away it got from the person.

    what interested aero was the implications or the ones explained to him by his helper. he could possbily make bubbles of pride, if they were far enough his body might mistake the energy for loss and then generate more. since they were close enough that they wouldn''t fad then he would have extra energy to use. since there was a limit to how much energy he could produce in a time frame before it hurt him.

    "a workaround has been found," the question is how hard it was going to be. he was still working on the sensing trick the helper taught him, it was useful and he was going to keep it. lots of smaller creatures went for the eyes if they were given the chance, so closing his eyes to fight wasn''t strange. but a chance to improve was before him and he was going to take it.

    ''can you keep this idea on record for later? I wish to improve my skill with the other technique more.'' the helper gladly did so and aero closed his eyes, wrapping a layer of energy around his form. he returned to his stretches, then moved on to practicing with his eyes closed. he used to lose his depth perception, but the energy layer added a new sensation.

    His practice went on for a while, the slightest things that came in context the with layer, even a leaf. sent him into an attack mode, ''i should learn to tell the difference.'' while he was taking a break for water he wondered how he would do such a thing. maybe he should find a practice partner, "ugh!" that idea was pleasant.

    "didn''t I send out a team flyer?!" what had happened to that, then again he hasn''t been home to see if he got any replies. "ugh," aero wasn''t looking forward to sorting through all of that when he got back so instead he focused on his training. practicing high tricks and jump attacks for a flower before heading back into town.

    "your back, the first thing you should do is take a shower I''m having some guests over in a moment. wouldn''t want to meet them like this would you."

    ''i don''t want to meet them at all!'' aero thought but he still went to the bathroom as he did want to clean up a bit. afterwords as he got dressed he came down to find a group of older women around the living room. ''this better not be a gossip hour!'' and the zalts willing they didn''t plan for him to join them.

    thankful beyond some introductions and questions about his personal life he refused to answer they left him alone and he was able to eat his second meal before returning to his temporary room, where he took the chance to listen to more stories from the helper. a tragedy short story had his years a little wet. but he didn''t let that stop him from listening, or asking for more from that writer.

    "What happened to you? his foremother asked when he came down later that night for more water. "a story," he shortly responded grabbing his water before turning back towards the stairs. but his foremother stopped him before he could assened them. "tomorrow I''m visiting someone and this one you have to talk to!"

    "you don''t have the force to make me!" he continued up the stairs but before he could make two steps she made a statement

    "it''s my late husband." aero didn''t have much memory of his forefather, but what he did was warm. just this general sense of safety. but what meant more to aero was the practice staff, his first weapon brought by his forefather. also, the man he learned the basics of the flute from." I''m not spreading the whole day at his grave," not by her side.

    "That alright, he wouldn''t want us to wallow at the loss of him anyway." they didn''t speak much on the matter when aero came downstairs for dinner. they were both avoiding the topic of the deceased. of course, they did so by talking about anything else. the foremother brought all kinds of gossip she''s heard in the last few months, but not much of it was registering with aero. he acted like he was paying attention up till the point it was good for him to slip out to his room dropping onto his bed.

    the next morning was sober as they prepared to head to a man''s grave.

 31

    the sight of the grave marker was simple, surrounded by a few others. the shape of the marker was the man''s favorite instrument, a flute with his actual flute tied to it. aero felt incredibly uncomfortable while his foremother spoke to her past lover, telling him all kinds of things that he missed.  of course when the woman was finished talking it was his turn. and he took a moment to mule over his thoughts.

    "I don''t know what you would think I''ve who I am right now," he lowered himself to the ground and started dead at the marker. "I''ve little patience, I react quite violently when people upset me. I''m prideful to a level most people won''t reach. I''ll never like swallowing my pride, but I know it''s not worth making my mother upset. but," he huffed," I''m pleased with where I am. I''m happy with where I''m going in life."

    Aero had one final thing to say to him," if you were still alive. I don''t know if you would try and stop me, but you would fail!" he stood up and stepped back from the marker his foremother looked at him strangely, but decide to keep her mouth closed while they stayed around the marker. they left sometime later, he wasn''t sure if a flower had passed or not. but he didn''t mind, they parted ways back to the house aero headed to do his training.

    he did it with his eyes closed again, striking a tree and figuring out the feel of the leaves that touched his energy. then he stopped jumping by the time his head started to ache, he took a brack to practice dancing with his staff. the helper was applauding him and offering him knowledge about something called pole dancing. he didn''t know what it was, but he was having fun.

    ''thinking about it used small elements similar to pole dancing before,'' bracing himself in a strangle balance position off the ground. he looked out across the forest, trying to remain in his stance. it wasn''t much of a fighting thing, or at least not a way he knew of. ''maybe it will have so use, but for right now I''ll use it to train my balance!''

    he later 5 petals in the stance before his muscles ached too much and he had to stop, he got right back to work after a short recovery period. he only stopped training when his stomach made its needs known, of course after eating and partly avoiding his foremother. he slipped up to his bed after that, yoga was nice and calming. he spent two flowers trying to get the energy bubbles at the right distance. they all popped on him, he didn''t use much energy so he wasn''t too emotionally affected.

    "ah, I should get to figuring that out!" should he test the distance? it would hurt to familiarize himself with his range. when he had cleaned up and was laying in bed, he created a simple staff and let it grow in length until its shape started to come apart. which was about the length of this room, "hold up!"

    he remembered when he created a sectioned staff to attack someone''s pride from a distance. it was further away than the room. was there another factor than that, he focused hard doesn''t he staff? he forced it to take shape again and keep the shape as he made it grow more.

    "ugh," he rubbed his head. ''okay I can make the range of my energy grow. but it takes a lot of focus.'' that made sense, so the question was what was his casual range. he kept playing with it until he could determine that with too much focus his range was the length of the room. with that in mind, he let a ball the size of his finger slip away from him. he kept hold of it until it reach the edge of the room.

    it faded pretty quickly so he sent another a little closer. he kept going until he found a distance where they were sorta stable. he made a wrong them, "good!"  this could work for him, he made more to the ring before he went to bed. putting the helper in charge of monitoring the ring.

    ''it remained at the same distance from you even as you moved in your sleep. they might have also been the reason that you didn''t get a restful sleep.''

    "so it can be improved," that wasn''t a surprise, instead he stretched out and started getting ready for the day. he somehow forced himself to have a brief conversation with his foremother before he headed out into the forest. he spun into training, ''so my actions don''t affect the ring of energy.'' he thought as his staff harmlessly passed through the ring. ''have they gotten bigger?'' he could be seeing things.

    his training continued, when he stopped for a second meal he was certain the spheres had grown in size. about the with of a finger if he wasn''t wrong." strange but not unwelcomed," he decided. the purpose was to make a way for him to store more energy. if they were doing it by themselves he wasn''t going to complain, though he did have questions.

    the ring contained to grow throughout the day, ''this is going to be a problem.'' at this rate they were going to obstruct his vision, he would have to figure out a way to mangue their side. reaching out to one of them he tried compressing the energy, but that caused it to leak out or he absorbed it back into his main aura. ''well this is going to take some work, thankfully he had a ring with work with.

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    he kept working with it even during the next day, making it the focus of his training. the helper was quiet knowing their lord would like to solve this by himself. but that didn''t stop them from analyzing the data in preparation to help.

    a short-term solution aero found was moving the spheres to his blindspot, but again a temporary solution. he had to figure something better out, something that he could keep working on without problems. but for now, he listened to the story from the helper, drinking in the words of action and drama.

    the story entertained him until he went to bed and a bit when he woke up the next day, "I''m not going out today?" he informed his foremother washing the dishes he used. "resting is part of my training!" he said before she could get any ideas.

    "well in that case would you be up to help with sewing some clothing," to keep herself busy she made some clothes now and again. most of it she sent to her daughter, whatever was left she sold out. Aero stated he wasn''t good at sewing, having not done it in the past few years beyond repairing his clothing. going with Adir was the first time he''s been shopping for clothes in years.

    "that''s okay I can instruct you on what to do!"

    "fine, but I have other things to do today!" she was perfectly fine with that. she didn''t mind walking aero through sewing. it brought back some old memories for the aging female. she didn''t say much as they worked for long flower, little words passing between them at all. they didn''t have much they want to say to each other in the first place.

    aero was glade for his thick skin, or his finger would be a lot more from the number of mistakes he made relearning how to sew. ''either way I got it done,'' he was annoyed by it but also proud of how well he did regarding it. returning to his room he assured yoga to meditate and observe the energy of his bubbles.

    "There still getting bigger," completed the matter as he bent his back further, stretching his legs out. they still sat in his blind spot but they were still growing. faster as the moment as he was doing something he took pride in. which stop when the realization came upon him." by the zalts, this is proving to be a problem." he took a calming breath," okay I just have to solve it.'' this is a problem of energy building up." the simplest thing would be to get rid of it. using it or letting it disperse.

    he would not waste his effort, so he directed his pride into his eyes and went don''t he hunt, walking around the village taking chunks of people''s pride until he used a good chunk of his own. ''well I guess until I figure something better solution I can use this as a reason to do my job as the lord of pride more.''

    he did this a few more times over the next few days, ''lord at this rate you''ll put someone into a state of low self-esteem.'' the warning stopped his actions cold and aero considered what he should do now. besides returning a lot of effort to a permanent solution.

    ''my lord there are several theories Xoqax would like to test, you may be able to assist him in this endeavor.'' aero stopped before letting this idea go around his head for a day. ''yeah I can do this. what''s the first test?'' the helper explained the theory to him and how he could test it out. it was a bit simpler than the lord of pride was expecting. but he could completely work with it.

    "It''s a good thing I''m here a bit longer," he would need to stay in one place for this test. he quickly looked at people''s pride and found the person who had the lowest level. wasn''t that hard to get close to him, so that he could inject his pride into the man. it was a small part, but the change was visible. his back became a little straighter, his stride a little more sure.

    ''that worked fast!'' aero was a little surprised. but he was keeping this in mind, this would be of great use in his future. he wasn''t great with words, but he could manipulate energy pretty well.'' my lord you shouldn''t let this become a crutch for your ability to inspire others.'' the helper knew that wasn''t a path they shouldn''t let lord walk down.

    "I don''t plan to," aero replied. before looking for more people, the helper explain d they needed a wide range of data to learn from. aero wasn''t to bother by experimenting on people without their knowledge because it didn''t seem to have any negative effects if it did he would resolve it and then apologize.

    ''ten people are enough for a start on data collection, now comes the part of monitoring them.'' the helper explained archiving the data on how they reacted to their lord''s pride boosting their own. so far there weren''t any negative reactions, though one girl did punch someone. but that appeared to be because she lacked the confidence to start a fistfight. aero knowing it was his fault broke up the fight, by punching them both." what is the recommended time that we watch them?" he was approaching his minimal time spent with his foremother.

    ''by your planet''s time standard, 15 days'' aero thought about and figure he could work with it. but he was going to have his mail sent up here, he could get some work done while he was here. he went to the mail building right after that and was able to return to his foremother''s house before the second meal.

    after that he made a direct path to the library, the stories his helper read to him were great. some were just straight-up tear jerking masterpieces. but he still likes what came from his planet. maybe because they were from his planet. maybe it was because it was familiar to him who knew.

    "oh Zalts!" he quickly found a scroll that caught his interest but man was it a dark story. it took place in a different period, in the era before this one. when the Grinine were much more nomadic people, traveling around to avoid creatures. this was also generally around the time that melodies became a much more practice skill. and when dancing was starting using in sync with it. the power allowed people the chance to settle down.

    the story he read was around that time, it described the pains of constant moving. the people lost and scars gained. the starvation, the thirst, the aches and pains that came at them. how some people wanted it to stop so much, the constant growing fatigue in their bones. ''i wonder if this has an end,'' aero thought rubbing the shiver out of his marble skin. ''though I''ll give the author credit, she is great at details, I feel like I''m there.''

    renting the book he resisted the desires that would have had him reading it all in one night, not only did he want to sleep tonight, but he already spent an hour standing up and reading so he did enough for today. but it was a close thing.

    the next day he did a bit of his training over the story, so he could multitask.  of course, that didn''t stop him from reading a couple of thousand words in less than an hour. he wasn''t sure if it was an impressive feat but he took pride in his reading ability. which was probably why the orbs of pride were growing in his blind spot.

    "so after this, I need to go check on the people I boosted!" he asked the helper about the projections they had. knowing there were likely getting things ready in case he asked. ''it''s likely your boost is already starting to fade or has caused them to be at the boosted level on their own'' aero thought about both possibilities and decided he would like the latter more. people being more confident in themselves wasn''t something he saw as a bad thing.

    ''Unfortunately, that doesn''t seem to be the case,'' the helper was right the boost was wearing off and they were calming down a bit. he stayed around them long enough for the helper to get the data they needed to send to Xoqax. ''it''s in transit my lord!'' aero sighed and watched the last person walk away finally able to stop staling them.

    ''done for the day, tomorrow we start again''

 32

    ''so what are the results?'' aero asks the helper. for a moment he did get a response, '' they are limited by my current capabilities. but with them, I can assure you there are no long-term effects. I also assumed they noticed the change, but none of them suspect you have anything to do with it.''

    "That''s good," aero continued with his packing. since nothing went wrong he could continue with his plans to head off, he wanted to visit his mother before going to meet with the small list of applicants he accepted with the possibility of joining his team. ''which is sure to go well,'' he had to remind himself he couldn''t punch people while he looked through the letters that were sent his way.

    ''so many people with the wrong idea,'' of course they probably haven''t met anyone with desires like my own have they? ''hopefully the school can change that,'' or worse it would help people see more of what they could do. from what the helper told him, changes like this could take lifetimes. of course, a lord was supposed to live lifetimes so that may not be a problem, for him. ''i''ll have to see,'' is what he thought about it.

    he was on the road somewhere around mid-day, traveling under the light of the sun was nice but he didn''t focus on it. ''im building a team, and with that means access to some more mission type.'' it just accused to him the distance that would be needed to be traveled for them. it would definitely take him out of that part of the continent.

    Hopoth was located above the planet''s equator, it was a mid-sized continent with plenty of trading worldwide. aero''s never gone further than the central part of it where he lived and went to training school.

    "Now that I think about it, I could go to another school couldn''t I!" he could pass their entrance exam, which was usually showing what skills you had. ''probably won''t need as much violence as last time.'' However, he was going to be ready for otherwise. ''i''m fine doing training missions on my own, not to mention I''m building a team I don''t think that will be necessary.''  aero pushed the idea aside unaware the helper made a note of this idea.

    traveling through the thick forest wasn''t anything but silent but aero drowned out the distance noise with ease of practice while he thought about the team. mostly deciding the bottom line of what he wanted to build. he wasn''t sure what the best result would be, he wasn''t getting his hopes up. ''oh Zalts, please grant me grace when my choices for my team are to be made,'' he prayed before he didn''t know what else he could do at the moment.

    ''my lord?!'' the helper asked as the cart came to a stop for the night, "yes?"

    ''what do you think is the purpose of your team," that wasn''t a hard question for aero, to help him learn leadership skills. ''then your team won''t be that successful. I encourage you my lord to reevaluate what the goals of forming a team are. as they will affect how you react with them.''

    "I see your point," motivation was a powerful thing," what other reason would have? I mean I guess I could try and improve my people skills. but what else could there be.''

    ''how about finding people you like outside your mother,'' if the helper had a face it would have dropped the way their lord started laughing. he laughed for several petals. before sitting up, "I doubt my future wife would reach that level of affection with me!"

    ''i miss spoke my lord," the helper backtracked, they were aware that their lord was planning to get married. though they realized his standard for the wife would probably be incredibly high. or very specific. which wouldn''t be a bad thing as long as he remained flexible, ''if your goals don''t change it might be harder for you to tolerate your teammates.''

    "well see when we meet them," aero ended the conversation there and prepared to turn in for the night. the next morning had a bit of excitement as a creature the size of his hand tried to eat his right hand. he sent it flying into the trees before he had his first meal of the day. the rest of the day was a bit dry with travel though he did his best to distract himself. with enough attention on the road and danger, not much appeared, and any that did he dealt with quickly.

    he was more than glad to arrive in his hometown, right to hug his mother. "how were your travels?" aero made a face and his laughed a little before asking for the details. her child was a little dramatic at times but he was honest with his opinion. ''from the sound of it he didn''t start any fights,'' she was happy with that change. he already had a dangerous lifestyle he didn''t need to make any enemies.

    Adir backstepped when he noticed aero who gave him a scorching look. ''is this boy ever going to warm up to me?'' he wanted to cry, he wanted to get along with Neora''s child. Adir met her mother, aero was the only person unhappy with their relationship. one which was on haunt because of him, they couldn''t get further because they feared how violently he would react. though he''s been calming down in terms of violence, they didn''t want to set him back. so for now they were going to count as they have.

    The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    ''though neither of us really mind how things are at the moment,'' he thought before softly greeting the younger male. who under the eyes of his mother he begrudgingly returned. he stuck close to his mother for a reasonable amount of time, before splitting off to clean out his cart and check over the wheels. the forest roads were rough and he would go through wheels pretty fast from what he heard, quicker if he treated his vehicle roughly. ''i think there still good,'' his wheels were by no once as pristine as they once more but still solid.

    pouring out some feed for the creature aero grabbed his things, dropping his bed in his room before dropping himself onto it. it has been so long since he''s been in his own room and he might just take a nap. but instead, he sat up and headed out into the town, more especially towards the library as he had to talk to his sorta teacher.

    "It''s good to see you back," Tova stated pulling a child off her back. only for another to climb on her. she let out a noise of defeat and turned to the lord of pride. "so is this a short visit or do you have time for a lesson?" aero thought over it for a moment, it was still pretty early in the day so he had time to stick around. he stuck around for a lesson on star charts, and how to read them at the lowest level.

    as usual, it was a lot of things he didn''t understand, but he was going to learn them. he asked a few questions with Tova, and more with the helper as the day went on. navigating the stars was a skill he was going to need, ''my lord would you like me to create some practice exercises for this star chats reading?''

    "you can do that?" he got an affirmative," then yes I would like some practice exercises." the help informed him he would have them ready in 3 petals. during those, few moments aero returned home and helped his mother in the kitchen. before going to wash the clothes that came on his trip, and also doing repairs. one outside had a large start from a close call that left a thin cut on his side, so he had to fix that up.

    after setting his clothes to dry in the setting sun, aero looked at the sky thinking about the hours he''s spent stargazing. he could recall what stars he could see from his house. ''how would a map that?'' he didn''t know what was stars or planets. nor how far they were from him. the helper had the ability to find out and in part, it though the practice that aero did before bed.

    the next morning while he trained his body, after a nice first meal with his mother, he trained his mind by going over the star shart exercises. ''These kinds of gravitational abnormalities are signs of a black hole, which should be avoided by more than a few thousand leagues. following that are the gravitational abnormalities of a white hole which are similarly dangerous.''

    the maps weren''t just learning directions, but seeing dangers from far away. it also had the benefit of teaching how to navigate by stars planetside, which aero was going to be doing from now on. today was more of a soft training regimen so that he didn''t get weaker while he rested.

    after the second meal aero went off to the library to ask some questions about star charts," when traveling there are section spaces that belong to different factions. while I doubt they would forbid a cosmic lord from traveling through their space, they might try and make it more of a hassle for you."

    "I can work with hassles," aero replied it wouldn''t be pleasant but he could deal with them. probably figure out some kind of solution along the way. he wasn''t above force in the slightest, Tova knew this and nervously laughed praying for those in the future. they talked about some common factors and the complicated stuff that came with factions'' alliances and enemies. aero was unimpressed the entire time, only taking notes of the ones relating to his fellow lords of sin.

    "they''ve made lots of connections over their lives haven''t they?" aero commented to the helper as he returned home.'' it is the best thing to do, when one lives a long time they either fear making connections or keep making them. you''re the health of your mind, I hope that my lord continues to make connections in the future.''

    "I don''t make connections now," aero responded but he wondered how badly that would affect his mind in the future. the thought of interacting with people wasn''t too pleasant for him. even with potential teammates coming his way aero wasn''t looking forward to it on a personal level.  but he knew it was necessary and he was looking forward to the new level of missions.

    "so how are you planning to greet your potential teammates?" Neora asked her son when he came home. "with the end of my staff," her mother''s face was very flat. but aero was serious he planned to greet them with the end of his staff and see what kind of skills they had. he didn''t care if it was a rude greeting, he wasn''t the softest person, and if his teammates couldn''t take that they weren''t going to last long.

    "look even if your right," his logic was sound if not a little messed up, " that doesn''t mean you should do that. I know you don''t like to waste time, but this is something you should use much last time need it. first impressions rarely show you everything that you want to know about someone." aero was silent, he stared at his mother for a moment.

    "I disagree, I''m not looking to make friends." he was aware she was hoping for this. despite his age aero has had no friends. it didn''t bother him like it bother his mother. she never pushed about it, but she''s held hope for years that one day he might make a single friend. he would acknowledge his lack of friends is probably a good contributor to his poor social skills.

    when it was clear she couldn''t change her child''s mind Neora sighed but prepared herself for the chaos that was sure to arrive. she made a decision to inform the local healers about the arrival date of the potential teammates. which wasn''t that far away, he sent out a deadline. you weren''t there by that day he wasn''t going to consider you, it was a pretty generous one.

    aero didn''t want anyone moving across the country for him, so he limited the area his recurrent effort reached. it reached towns that were generally about a week to two away from his own. this way they would generally get the same mission news and find group ones together. aero was giving them a choice, they would die on these missions, and ''everyone had the right to decide to risk their life.'' something he heard at lectures at his previous place of education.

    "I still agree with that thought," aero mumbled. as he watched the star map the helper projected before him. it was a small section of space pretty simple, with few planets. the ship he was plotting a course for was in need of fluid for its inhabitants. they require three didn''t type of fluids, which could be found on the planet in the sector.

    "plot a course to reach all three planets," this would be simple if he didn''t have to reach all planets under a deadline. The planets were moving as well so that had to be taken into account, along with the time needed to collect the liquid. his time limit was 30 days

    "Okay, so according to this I need two days for each stop to collect the objective," aero finished some quick calculations. "that means 24 days to travel," with that in mind he started testing out a course for the ship to take. this proved to be a bit hard considering a bunch of other factors. several failed attempts passed, with him not meeting the deadline before he reached the third planet.

    "their solar rotations are making this a bit harder than I thought, they would." but he kept trying he was figuring it out and getting closer. just a few more nitches to work out, the stars charts were making more sense with each completed exercise.

    aero would say he was having fun learning something new and useful, hopefully, in the future, he would be able to put his training to use.

 33

    "This will be a great day! that Zaltes were smiling at me!!" Moses Tzilla was trying to hype herself up. but it was kind of hard, the task before she was daunting and she was well aware of them. but that didn''t stop her but cheering herself on, she changed it to mental cheer as she pulled into the town. finding a place to store her cart, she asked around for directions until she found the place she was looking for.

    "Hello, I''m looking for Abiathar Aero! I''m looking to join her team!" the room she barged into had three occupants, two males, and one female. she was probably the mother of the younger male, who was giving the older male a hell of a glare. but the moment Tzilla spoke the younger male moved, ''by the zalts and zaltes!'' she ducked under the kick. back out of the doorway to get more room and the teen pursued her!

    "I guess your Aero!" punched and kicks kept coming her way. it was graceful, but every movement was strong. he fully intended to hurt her, she felt it when she blocked his attacks.

    "yes, that''s my name! now show me if your worth having on my team fight me!" even though the thought of hurting him didn''t sit entirely right, she caught one of his punches around the wrist. immediately throwing him over her shoulder. he was smiling as she did,'' and seem to be making a good impression.

    aero landed on his hands flipping with his momentum, "let''s take his up a notch," aero stretched before charging. Tzilla met him half and they were quickly trading blows in the middle of the street. ''this isn''t a free show!'' aero thought as his legs were knocked from under him. he rolled as he hit the ground, gaining some space. "let take this into the forest!"

    "fine by me," she didn''t feel like getting in trouble with the local law enforcement. they raced full speed on the path out of town. ''he''s fast! he doesn''t look too tired either,'' she found it hard not to be amazed by aero. not only was he good-looking with his marble skin. his carapace showed a few marks, no doubt from battle but it only added to his appearance, "WOW!"

    she had gotten so caught up in admiring him that his sudden stop and kick almost caught her in the face. luckily she bent back in time for it to sail over her face, but that didn''t stop him from following it up with other attacks forcing her on the defensive.

    "chance!" Aero made the mistake of putting too much weight behind an attack on tzilla. which got him flipped again, he knew he could recover from such a movement. sadly so did tzilla, she didn''t let go of his arm as his feet left the ground. instead jumped herself.

    "AH!" aero couldn''t hold back the shout as tzilla landed on top of him, that was an unexpected move and immediately she moved into a hold. aero recovered and tensed his limbs preventing her from completing the hold, "you doing well so far," he complimented through gritted teeth as aero moved his limbs slowly breaking his hold. "wow!" that was above average strength," how much have you trained?!"

    "every day I can!" aero said digging his feet into the ground and pushing himself up as tzilla clung to him attempting to complete the hold." AH!" he body-slammed her, the shock was enough to loosen her hold and he slipped free. he gained a bit of space looking at her as she pulled herself up," so how much more do you wanna see?" she still took a ready stance as she spoke.

    "however much you have to give!" the battle started up once more. it lasted a long time as well, aero was stubborn and he wouldn''t admit it for a while but he was having fun. he had decided by the time they reached the forest that he was okay with her joining his team. as long as she was still willing when the day came to an end.

    [ah she was the first wasn''t she, the first person your age you considered interesting.]

    [shut up and read the story]

    "so did I pass your test," tzilla asked from the ground as she forced her organs to move. she was so tired, she has never been this tired in her life. seriously what the hell was this boy''s stamina? the thought for half a day, "oh zalts I''m thirsty."

    "come back to my mother''s house, we need to talk about your employment."

    "so I passed?" instead of directly answering her aero proceed to walk faster. not slowing down until they reached his home. "seriously could you just say if I passed your test!" aero didn''t speak just walking through the entranceway." can she stay the night?" tzilla was flabbergasted at the way his posture and tone changed when he spoke to his mother.

    Neora turned away from the dishes she was cleaning, she looked at the mess that the teens were. "sure she can stay the night so why don''t the two of you get cleaned up." the teens nodded and aero lead the way to the bathroom, usually the unmarried didn''t bath together but aero point out on missions they wouldn''t have other choices.

    tzilla came downstairs first, not having most of her supplies through some did bring her things over so she had some clothes to change into. "so how did the test go?" tzilla shrugged stating aero didn''t tell her, Neora laughed before stating that probably meant she passed. "but aero doesn''t like to admit to certain things, very closed off. but spend enough time around him and you''ll learn to read him."

    "Alright, any other advice for dealing with your son."

    "Just be careful and watch his hands, they say more than his face," tzilla raised an eyebrow but kept it in mind as aero came downstairs with loose clothes and a few scrolls in his arms. "we have things to talk about," he spoke to tzilla.

    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

    "After you eat," his mother cut in. the teens sat down and ate the food she prepared for them. thanking her and cleaning their dishes before aero set the scrolls across the table. the first one aero made tzilla read over was a set of rules that he had put together for the team. if she didn''t like them she was free to leave in the morning.

    "ah none of these are that bad," it probably had something to do with the helper filtering aero''s rule creation. they had a proverb about it, which aero saw the reason in. also he didn''t fully care what his team did as long as they got the job done, but that could also cause some problems that he didn''t want in his name.

    the next thing they went over was the kinds of missions that tzilla was okay going on. aero didn''t have anything else after that, tzilla did. she hadn''t let off of getting aero to admit if she passed his test or not. ''she will get the truth from my corpse,'' on the outside aero remained as quiet as a stone. he was quiet even as they went to bed, tzilla let the matter go in the morning, for now, but that was because someone else arrived for his test. aero put them through the same motions as tzilla.

    while she didn''t fight back, which enraged aero to the point that he had to stop the test before he did something bloody. what infuriated him more, was that while she didn''t attack she made great attempts to subdue him along with the great defensive and evasion abilities she portrayed. ''she''s too skilled to kick out!'' he wanted the best for his team and she showed she had the best.

    serval days went by like this until aero had tested every person he invited to try out for his team.

    "why did I make such a good choice!" aero wanted to scream. he invited five people, good or bad they all passed. even though only two of them fight back when he tested them, one girl spent four flowers just straight dodging him. he threw dirt in her eyes and she still managed to evade him.

    ''my lord the group you''ve put together has a large amount of potential. it only remains to see if you can use the potential.'' aero pressed his face deeper into his bed before sitting up," I know what you''re trying to do!" he was being a challenge that would stock his pride. a test to see what he could do, one day this wouldn''t work but unfortunately, that day was not today.

    "Alright, I guess that I have to get to work." grumbling unpleasant things about his manipulative helper aero started working on a plan with his team. he needed to know who was on his team before he could do this. guided by the helper, he put together a simple training plan.

    "you work fast," aero took it as a compliment as they spoke about the training. the plan he didn''t want any mission taken yet. until they could work at a level he was satisfied with, he wouldn''t let this team stain his record. he only failed a few missions and he would like to keep it that way. he said this much to them," dear zaltes your a lot."

    aero didn''t respond to this, instead waited until the first meal was finished and pushed them all to his usual training spot." okay time to show each other what you can do!" they already proved to him their skills even if they infuriated him on some level, now it was time to show each other. they did this through small sparring matches that aero joined in on.

    they were skilled, strong, and fast. aero would only admit that they were more so than him because they were older than him. they all had graduated from their respective schools. why they joined his team aero could think of a few unpleasant reasons but he couldn''t let him think about it or his emotions would fluctuate.

    ''i wonder if I can convince them to teach at my school?'' he would keep it in mind but he wasn''t going to offer such a thing at the moment. his trust in them was minimal, he was going to sleep with his weapon in hand.

    the training wasn''t much, aero only need to see how they worked together. so the entire week was constantly seeing how well they did against and alongside each other. he saw what melodies they could wield, how many notes they could push out, and how they dealt with the blowback of the melodies. retreating through the forest among more things that had them all tired when they came in for the night. for some reason, his mother agreed to host them all for the moment.

    "you know your face is going to get stuck that way!" Golan Lior commented as they came back from the forest edge of a busy day of training "my face is already stuck this way!"

    "I can''t tell if he messing with us or not," Grois Galia responded adjusting the straps for her bladed polearm. he didn''t look at her, instead, he looked at the final two members of his team, Okin Idit, and Graezt Inna. they did the best at today''s training, they could fight the best while singing out their melodious. though none of them used their weapons to create the phenomena.

    ''i just can''t see this going well,'' so how did he change that? the helper would probably know something but he wasn''t going to them just yet. instead, he thought about his knowledge of instruments and weapons.

    "ah what would go together?" he couldn''t find any matches, didn''t help that he had to account for the individual styles of his teammates. "ugh," he realized he probably had to bring them into this conversation. that if he wanted to get the best results. so that was a no-brainer for him, the big problem by the grace of the zalts how did he bring it up. he grumbled over it for the rest of the night.

    the next morning he insulted their weapons and use of melodies," you would be better of modified your weapons to double as instruments so you can play as you fight." behind Aero Neora prayed to the high mother zaltess that her son would learn to talk to people better.

    "that was unnecessarily rude, but at the same time your right," that didn''t make Inna any happier with his words. the soft-spoken girl mentally fumed before turning her thought to an instrument. he did play one when she was learning to do melodies, but the woodwind instrument wasn''t compatible with the knives she used.

    "That''s the only instrument I know how to play," Inna said the first to leave her thoughts. aero blinked going over something in his head," can you play something that your skills will transfer over to? or you could just learn another instrument." Inna blinked looking at his weirdly right statement. "that isn''t how most people would solve that problem."

    "but, it works right?" Inna nodded and wondered what would work instead. the rest had problems with how they would mash the two but believed their weapons and instrument of choice would work. Aero points out he let the instrument crafter and the blacksmith of that time figure it out, it was almost a fight. "I''m glad a push them to work together!" there was something hidden behind his smile and Neora sighed remembering that time.

    this led to a discussion about who they would go to get their new weapons redone, they all knew the weapons smith they personally went to. everyone knew how to make and repair their own weapons, but the time it took to do so. plus these people made weapons for a living, not to mention they could do it faster. so they didn''t find it too strange that aero didn''t have a suggestion and just let them work it out between themselves.

    at some it turned to plan this road trip for all of them, aero still wasn''t paying attention and instead holding a conversation with the helper about when he sure burn more of the energy he was storing up, it was becoming a problem again.

 34

    ''my lord you said not to submit to violence just yet,'' aero groaned and just tried to plug his ears harder. within an hour of the trip to his teammates'' preferred weaponsmiths, they all learned that Galia passed a harsh singing voice. couldn''t call it bad, but the traveling songs she''s been letting out leaked any form of tone or rhythm.'' why has she been singing for 4 flowers straight!''

    traveling songs usually did play by the rules of a melody but usually with small effects, like moving or creating small colorful sparks. entertaining things. but this was just noise coming out of Galia''s mouth and it was driving it up a wall. ''how can the rest of them stand this!''

    ''my lord I encourage you to take another look,'' their calm was very soothing right now. so aero did as suggested and looked around surprised to see the rest of his team was covering their ears or trying to drown out Galia''s singing. which was more than enough for him to grab a random stone off the ground and launched it by Galia''s head.

    "ah! hey!"

    "stop singing you''re the only one who''s enjoying it." she huffed stating she had a great voice only to get rejected by some poor ears. aero threw another rock, "okay! okay!" she stated seeing aero pick up another rock. sighing he set the rock on his seat prepared to use it if it came down to it. the rest of the day was quiet except for the bit of conversation that came up, aero didn''t join in though he listed well.

    "do you guess think their life among the stars?" Idit asked looking at the stars above their heads. the rest of the team was doing the same from their own carts after they finished setting up camp.  aero almost choked on his water, ''why is she asking that?''

    ''to live means to wonder, to dream. what greater then is there to wonder about than the stars that shine above the heads of all.'' the helper stated a quote from some big thinker four-star systems away. aero took that as the answer it was and instead focused on his team discussing if aliens are real. for a moment he considered if he should just ignore them all and go to sleep. ''but if they stick around long enough, they''re going to get involved in my business as a lord.''

    ''i believe there is life out there, being alone in the universe. that doesn''t sound very possible to me." he didn''t tell them what he knew, he didn''t know if they would be around long enough for that. but if they were he could slowly get them ready for them. ''maybe they would be of help later on, like with those troublesome nearby planets.''

    ''actually,'' aero''s eyes narrowed in thought,'' that''s more of a worldwide problem, right? I should tell people in charge of the world.'' the helper made a comment in agreement and suggested that his best action should tell the people in charge. ''now until I can say they believe me, I will not be mocked!''

    ''then let us prepare for that my lord,'' the helper was glade for a goal. they believed it would do much for aero''s growth, especially in his social skills department.

    the next day travel started up again, the conversation was still sparse but it grew stronger each day they were on the road. the girls finding topics in common. aero was still mostly just listening to them, though he put most of his attention to the helper who went back and forth with him. so he could form a plan for telling the world about aliens.

    the biggest problem would be making them believe him, are figured the best way would be solid proof. he thought of the several ways he could prove it, for a moment he thought of just asking Tova to show them. but the helper asked what was the worst and best reaction. ''can''t throw her under the stamped like that. so something unloving will have to work.'' something that couldn''t be brushed off as a far object, it literally had to come from the stars.

    it wasn''t until they were settling down for the third night did aero remember something, ''you said I could buy people gifts right?''

    yes my lord, who would you like to buy a gift for?''

    ''all the high-ranking people of my planet, the delivery will show them something out of this world.'' the idea was excellent and their helper was proud of their lord for thinking so such a thing. ''what would you like to send and how would you like to take care of the payment. want until the research pans out?''

    aero was silent for a moment, ''if necessary I can wait for that. the other idea is to make them customers of the lord of greed, I think that might draw her attention.'' the helper sent a message with the ideas, but the greedy lord didn''t reply for a full day as she had a busy day.

    ''she interested!'' aero nodded and asked what did the female lord want, ''simple a trade your energy for the items. she says she has her own ideas she wants to try out. she is willing to work with Xoqax.'' aero thought over the matter and then tried to get some details but the helper stated that the greedy lord wasn''t saying anything until he agreed.

    "how''s Xoqax doing anyway?" the helper told him of the experiment the scientist was going through a few understandings he figured. ''one thing I think will catch your attention is that pride flows through organic material best and is blocked by metals within a certain density range.''

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    "definitely something to keep in mind," he just hoped that it didn''t become too much of a problem for him. though as he thought of how that could be a  problem another one came to him. one he couldn''t really solve. "the high mother! the barrier," they completely forgot about these two very big factors." he knew the delivery system wouldn''t trigger the barriers to collapse but the high mother might. he was planning something to stop here where the biggest problem was.

    she would brush him off, something he could change at this point in time. it made his emotions bubble up inside him. aero made several noises of frustration that drew some attention from his teammates but he brushed them off. instead of focusing on settling his heart before he kicked a tree. he would have gone hunting if the sky wasn''t so dark, also based on how far they''d traveled there was something really venous around here.

    ''The challenge isn''t worth my life,'' he wasn''t going to risk the venom without more knowledge even if his pride called for him to face this challenge and improve his skills.'' there is a bigger challenge before me, the zaltess. the high mother!

    the helper stayed quiet forming a few suggestions but left their lord to think over the problem himself. they understood the solution to the problem was something that their lord needed to come on his own for his growth.

    aero came to the same solution that the helper did pretty quickly, but the thought of asking strangers for help didn''t sit well with him in the slightest. so he spent several flowers trying to think of something else, but nothing feasible came to him. so the flute player was left without a choice but to admit to the plan. ''how should we inform the planet''s leaders about the barrier? and the danger that would come our way?''

    ''we could send a message along with the delivers, or would you like to speak with them in person?'' aero would actually like to avoid the face-to-face conversation for the moment, but he was informing them that the gift was from them. there were a few more things decided that day, including what he was going to send.

    ''i hope they like it!'' aero thought as the teams'' carriages came up to the first city. "okay there this way!" tzilla called his high energy despite the setting sun and the journey here. not that it was another more than peaceful. aero let her lead until they arrived at the door of a small shop, with smoke flowing out.

    ''there still open?'' it was kind of late places like a weapons hop would usually start closing down at this point. tzilla jumped from the cart, going to knock on the door!" what!" a loud shout reached them. it rang in their ears, it was less than a moment before the door was kicked over. "wow!" Aero blinked at one of the tallest and most muscular women he has seen in a while.

    she was 2 feet taller than him and he didn''t like that, she was going to look down at him physically. probably in other ways, he didn''t listen to tzilla and the women talk instead wondering how hard it would be to knock this woman off her feet. he judged the weight of all the muscles she had. if she fought back with that hammer, it would need to be lifted as well.

    "boy show me your weapon!"

    "Who are you calling boy!" aero snapped out of his thoughts and to his feet leveling the weaponsmith with a glare. "if you want to see it I''d be glad to smash your face in with iT!" the weapon smith laughed before reached for his weapon, by Aero''s standards she shouldn''t have been that surprised when he did what he said. he shouldn''t have been surprised that it did make her stumbled the large woman didn''t get knocked off the ground.

    "well tell me how much force I need to kick your ass!"

    "That good quality wood kid, seen a lot recently hasn''t it." the woman straightened herself out before asking some questions about the weapons assembly. aero wanted to hit her again for shrugged his attack off so easily but pushed it back and instead stated what reason he should tell her anything.

    "well, your weapon is the only example I know of a weapon and instrument fusion so I needed to study it." that was a great reason it ticked off aero. partially because he was already forming a dislike for her. but still, he answered her questions to the best of his ability.

    the woman took in the knowledge he gave before spinning around to speak with tzilla, aero didn''t peep into that conversation. instead dragged the location of an inn from someone who passed by, he told tzilla the rest of the team was heading to the inn and that she was to join them later, "I''m not paying for anyone''s room."

    "Well, it''s a good thing we all brought our own money,"  Golan Lior replied. pulling out her money to see if she had enough for a few nights. she wasn''t actually that confident when she came for aero''s test. Still, she wasn''t one to live with regret and decide to at least try. she also wasn''t sure why aero let her stay, or anyone he didn''t seem all that happy with their presence.

    ''well maybe I''ll figure it out,'' she thought as they arrived at the inn. aero entered first and argued with the innkeeper that he was getting a room to himself. she believed that he was sharing with one of his bodyguards. which made the male hunter jerk like he wanted to jump the woman, but he led himself back, the innkeeper''s desk creaking under his fingers

    "They are not my bodyguards, they are my hunting teammates. I don''t need them to share a room for my safety at night!!" it seemed she believed him this time. probably to dave her creaking desk and gave them the room keys while they paid for themselves. "do things like that happen often?" Inna asked. the look on his face said it all.

    they dropped their beds in their rooms along with their supplies before looking for a place to get their third meal of the day before it became too late. tzilla returned looking very pleased and joined them for food and a bit of conversation. which aero didn''t partake in much before getting ready for bed that night.

    the next morning he only got up for his own training, he knew that they were stuck for a few days while tzilla got her weapons worked on. he dragged Galia into training with him that day, and they spent an hour sparing against each other. though it was mostly aero trying to get the girl to hit back. "there''s no point in training if you don''t hit back!"

    "yes there is!" she backflipped under a swing and over the second," some creatures are very slippery, if you can''t hit me what about!" aero mumbled several oaths as he thrust his staff at her, she responded by weaving around it batting the end away when he got to close.

    aero came to the conclusion the only way he was going to get her to fight back, was to corner her and force her self-survival instinct to take over. she could probably see the idea in the eyes as she suddenly backed away quickly but aero matched her steps staying close to her, swinging from the left and right, high and low.

    ''i shouldn''t use a medley,'' that was overkill. but that didn''t stop him from throwing dirt in her eyes, she realled from the particles inviting her sight. crying out as aero''s staff hit her in the side of the face, followed by hits all the way down her body. a hit brought her kegs from under her, followed by a foot sticking her across the chin.

    her feet left the ground for only a moment before the wood of the lord''s staff came down on her. it''s force bouncing her on the ground. she felt bone crack and organs move, the air was being replaced another attack was coming. ''he''s not going to stop, he''s going to hurt me badly if that keeps up.''

    the hit stuck right in her stomach, taking her breath from her. she finally blinked the first from her eyes and saw aero swing the staff around his neck bringing it towards her face. she lashed out, "UGH!" the blow caught aero in his lungs. he stagger back and quickly forced himself to regain the air that was forced out.

    "so wasn''t that hard was it?" aero asked as Galia stood up. "hitting me didn''t bring me down, your strong, that''s true. but so am I so stop wasting my time! fight back!" he lunged at her, bringing his arms back to thrust his spear at her throat.

    "wow!" she moved and his world was suddenly flipped around, acting quickly he planted his hands on the ground so he could spin back to his feet. kicking at Galia, who blocked wrapping her arm around his leg. " you want me to fight, fine! I''ll fight you but don''t blame me!" with a small roar she swung him into the air, with his hands free aero punched her wrist before using his other foot to kick her.

    she leaned out of the way, "why would I blame you.?" aero asked taking several steps back," when this is exactly what I want?!"

 35

    "what the zaltess and zalts every loving story is this!!" Hadar blinked at the thing floating before her. all her guards were pointing their weapons at it. but it didn''t move, she wondered if it was a beast of some kind. she silently signaled for one of her guards to get closer and investigate, reaching for her own weapon.

    "no reaction," the guard reported tapping the object with her blade. it showed no reaction and didn''t mean a good thing, if it was a loving thing it didn''t consider the sword a threat. when she swung with force her sword broke causing them all to step back. whatever it was, it was durably. stronger their weapons, when she tried to step back, the object moved with her ''it''s here for me, but why?''

    knowing only one way to get answers she stepped forward, hand never leaving her weapon. when she was in reach, the thing opened revealing a large pile of cloth. slowly ready to retract her arms she grabbed one of the bundles pulling out and examining it.

    "clothing?" this left the ruler more than confused, who on Augustine would send her clothes? who could send her clothes like this? was it some kind of threat, a political move? she considered it as she pulled out the rest of the strange clothing. it was genuinely nothing she has seen before, but she didn''t think it was in bad taste.

    "still bring the question of who sent you?" the object didn''t respond, she doubt it would and believed it was some kind of delivery thing. all it did was float out of her office and into the sky, into the stars. "space? it came from outer space?" was their life in the stars?

    "guards have some wine and other drinks brought up to my room, I believe I''ll need it." she could already feel her mind going into overdrive. she was going to find out who was the cause of this.

    "Why did I just get a bad feeling?" several hundred thousand miles away aero blinked some a sensation flooded his body. he considered it more annoying as it wasn''t the feeling of a creature about to attack. ''my lord, it may have something to do with the deliver happening today.'' aero blinked before deciding that they were probably right, it wasn''t guaranteed the leaders of Augustine would react possibly to his gift. some of them would react negatively.

    "I don''t believe I can take an army at this point, so I guess that leaves evasion right?" he thought to himself, wondering how he could gain the ability to take an army. the helper suggested area-of-effect melodies, aero knew a few of those but didn''t use them as he didn''t usually go on missions that need such a wide area of damage.

    the mission with the babbits was a different matter, he used all of them that day and still lost. if the mission hadn''t been taken care of when he left the hospital he would have gone for round two. which probably would have included a forest fire.'' probably a good thing, so what kind of melodies should I look into?''

    he turned the thought over in his head as tzilla practiced her swings trying to get her axes to move faster. progress wasn''t visible, but from the way, her pride fluctuated she was happy with how it was going. so it wasn''t a problem for him, he counted to silently watch. not saying anything as the day passed, idit arrived at one point and he spared with her.

    she was getting better at keeping a beat, but much work was to be done. he himself needed some work, teaching has helped him spot a few flaws in his ability. which he could figure out how to cover so he could get better at fighting.'' i could also add some versatility to the melodies I use!'', going over past battles he preferred through that moved fluidly with him. which was also implied in how he danced, "so I guess something of the earth would be good practice."

    taking some space from the rest of his team, closing his eyes he went over the notes in his head making sure he knew them before he started moving. with each note played in a matter of movements, he felt the power building around his hands. mid-motion inspiration struck, and he used his recent dancing lessons to transfer the melody from his hands to his feet. with a stomp, the stone broke and rearranged.

    a stone wall rose before him, but he didn''t stop there, another melody was quickly crafted. the power moved with him as he struck the way, each hit shooting off a chunk of the wall. they feel a few feet before breaking against the ground. he was able to get off 6 shots before the backlash of the melody became noticeable, he stopped there. no point in hurting myself while training.

    after confirming he hadn''t cracked his bone he worked on another melody. this one attached rocks to the end of his staff turning it into a hammer. a medley he learned in case he needed to crack open some thick shell. the change in weight almost knocked him over. but years of training kept his feet flat while he adjusted his hold. ''okay this is something is should practice with more.''

    thankfully this medley didn''t need to be kept up, the makeshift hammer would fall apart when the damage reached a certain point. then he would have to do it again, "the change in weight changes my center of balance when I swing. I can''t change directions easily with a hammer." mumbling to himself he practice swinging until his arms were tired.

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    swinging his staff at the ground he shattered the makeshift hammer, "okay that''s good," he stretched out his limbs trying to register something other than a pain in his arms. "might have been a bit overboard."

    "oh certainly overboard," he commented the next morning when his arms were sore and tender. grumbling he knew he should take it easy on them today or they would be tender for while. it didn''t stop him from practicing his footwork or kicking Galia during a spar. though she blocked hard and his feet ached, along with the carapace in the area. he looked it over after the spar and saw that it was fine. though it stung.

    ''ah this is just bad isn''t it,'' either way he rested the next day, taking the time to maintain his gear looking over his cart and a few other small tasks. "everything seems to be in good order."

    "That''s good," aero didn''t jump but he did almost knock out idit." you know personally I forget to do that sometimes or pay someone else to take a real good look." aero rolled his eyes and told her he didn''t need anyone to look over his things. "your really sell reliant, I''m kind of jealous. but also worried," she paused notching the way aero tensed. she rolled the next words over her tongue for a moment.

    "for anyone to be so untrusting in the smallest of things, it''s kind of scary."

    "well I don''t like it either, but you''ve seen how people treat Me despite the fact I''ve been in the news. despite my years of training, and the mission I''ve completed. people still think I need protection! I am strong why won''t they acknowledge that!" his pulse was racing, his fist clenched, and his pride energy was fluctuating ready to act. but he didn''t let it show, forcing himself to look as calm as he could. while doing to best to reign in his emotions.

    ''i refuse to let the actions of people whose names I can''t care to remember! make me lose control!'' idit watched aero, her leader himself said he was prideful. she couldn''t imagine how much it frustrated him when the skill and power he healed at such a high value was doubted by everyone he meet.

    ''no wonder he doesn''t want to spend time around people, I wonder how close he''s been to seriously hurting someone?'' she already saw aero was willing to use violence, but if he was patient or short-tempered she couldn''t tell. he definitely had self-control, but one day it would be enough. he''s been expelled for violence, which made her wonder if people were too interested in his life for it to end up in the papers. "proving yourself be getting old."

    "it''s been old for years! but as long as they keep doubting me I''ll keep fighting!"

    "would you mind if I helped as well?" aero didn''t hold back his suspicion. he reminded idit of a creature that''s scented a threat. ready to jump into fight or flight at the moment. idit didn''t back down from the suspicion. instead," I don''t feel too safe if our team leader tires himself out proving himself to people. we need that energy for our missions right?"

    right," he huffed before standing up and away from his cart. "alright you can help. leading a team is difficult, but I do know my limits!" then he headed up to the room leaving idit to roll her eyes but with thoughts. ''this is going a lot different than I thought it would,'' but she did choose this in a fit of boredom.

    the next morning idit was watching her leader a bit more, especially how people acted around him.  ''i don''t know if they''re cautious because he''s shown violence or because he is different from the average guy. maybe it''s both?'' it was something she thought a bit more than necessary. but it was fun to think about even as the conclusion she came to was that it was both.

    "so how do I help?" idit asked herself," do I tell people to respect his skills? or give them a warning when they come close to something that might cause him to blow?" both were possible options. but field testing them would be the big matter, "thankful were traveling so plenty of people to test with."

    as if the Zaltess were listening to them.    that afternoon, someone came around while half the team went into town to grab some hygiene products. of course, while getting these products the seller in an attempt to make small talk asked why aero had his bodyguards at this moment. "wrong," idit quickly injected while Aero grabbed his staff." he''s our team leader, does he look like someone who needs protecting?"

    "well I guess not," the seller said, her eyes locked on the staff aero was ready to pull out. "sorry for the assumptions." now aero was stopped, trying to decide what move to make next. idit assumed that he decided to not cause trouble, in truth, the helper talked him down.

    But this event up idit on guard about this matter, though something seemed to bother aero when she corrected people. she didn''t ask while in public, though she did keep an eye on him. ''can''t have him blowing up about,'' she was unaware of the young lord venting to the helper.

    "no matter how many times they''ve tried to talk to them, people rarely believed me! but this woman says it once and people are ears!'' while he was mostly frustrated to the point he couldn''t unclench his fist. but a part of his was relieved, now he didn''t have to explain himself so many times.

    aero eventually decides to give in to the part he rarely did, the part of his was that tired. it was nice to not have to deal with people, and it a nice to not have to correct people several times. they were able to get their shopping done in a relatively good time frame.

    "Okay that''s everything and in a few days the new weapons should be done," Idit''s mixed expression returned. aero paid more attention to it this time, but he didn''t say anything. he didn''t know what to say. ''only experience can tell you what to say in these situations and even then your words might not always be right!'' the helper''s words cut into his thoughts.

    ''but most at least appreciate an attempt to comfort them, a reminder that they are not alone.'' their words rang true and aero would appreciate the attempt though most did it wrong. but his mother always knew what to do. she had plenty of practice with him.

    ''well, it''s time to improve myself!'' aero''s determination faltered silty when he came face to face with idit. "something is bothering you!" it was blunt and sounded very forced but he got his point across," can I do anything about it?"

    "wow you sound incredibly awkward," aero huffed but didn''t say anything," and not really I''m just thinking about today and a lot of it is bothering me." aero blinked, then he asked what part trying to get a better idea to bring the conversation. "when you said people doubted you, I didn''t know the scale until today. based on your experience how bad was today?"

    "mild in terms of doubt, but only because people believed you and didn''t push." aero took a deep breath to push away the emotion that rose at the words," I don''t know if it will make you feel better, but people ask out of concern. not that it needed."

    "you are strong," idit has fought him. his strength was clear. "I think they''re just going with what they know when they deal with you."

    "then it''s time for them to learn something new! still interested in helping me?" idit huffed, "you don''t make it far as a hunter without strong determination!" aero felt his expression twitch out of control for a moment. but he quickly pushed it down. "let''s talk about something else, your new weapons how are you doing so far?"

    "yes, it was a bit more complex than I thought but I''m getting better."

    "then you can join the rest of us in training, let''s hope you don''t look too as bad as before." idit made a face at the comment, she clearly wasn''t looking forward to it, and internally she was considering how she could train continue in secret until she reached a decent level. "tzilla''s still working on her swing?"

    "she''s getting better, less time for you to dodge!"

 36

    "what the zaltess and zalts every loving story is this!!" Hadar blinked at the thing floating before her. all her guards were pointing their weapons at it. but it didn''t move, she wondered if it was a beast of some kind. she silently signaled for one of her guards to get closer and investigate, reaching for her own weapon.

    "no reaction," the guard reported tapping the object with her blade. it showed no reaction and didn''t mean a good thing, if it was a loving thing it didn''t consider the sword a threat. when she swung with force her sword broke causing them all to step back. whatever it was, it was durably. stronger their weapons, when she tried to step back, the object moved with her ''it''s here for me, but why?''

    knowing only one way to get answers she stepped forward, hand never leaving her weapon. when she was in reach, the thing opened revealing a large pile of cloth. slowly ready to retract her arms she grabbed one of the bundles pulling out and examining it.

    "clothing?" this left the ruler more than confused, who on Augustine would send her clothes? who could send her clothes like this? was it some kind of threat, a political move? she considered it as she pulled out the rest of the strange clothing. it was genuinely nothing she has seen before, but she didn''t think it was in bad taste.

    "still bring the question of who sent you?" the object didn''t respond, she doubt it would and believed it was some kind of delivery thing. all it did was float out of her office and into the sky, into the stars. "space? it came from outer space?" was their life in the stars?

    "guards have some wine and other drinks brought up to my room, I believe I''ll need it." she could already feel her mind going into overdrive. she was going to find out who was the cause of this.

    "Why did I just get a bad feeling?" several hundred thousand miles away aero blinked some a sensation flooded his body. he considered it more annoying as it wasn''t the feeling of a creature about to attack. ''my lord, it may have something to do with the deliver happening today.'' aero blinked before deciding that they were probably right, it wasn''t guaranteed the leaders of Augustine would react possibly to his gift. some of them would react negatively.

    "I don''t believe I can take an army at this point, so I guess that leaves evasion right?" he thought to himself, wondering how he could gain the ability to take an army. the helper suggested area-of-effect melodies, aero knew a few of those but didn''t use them as he didn''t usually go on missions that need such a wide area of damage.

    the mission with the babbits was a different matter, he used all of them that day and still lost. if the mission hadn''t been taken care of when he left the hospital he would have gone for round two. which probably would have included a forest fire.'' probably a good thing, so what kind of melodies should I look into?''

    he turned the thought over in his head as tzilla practiced her swings trying to get her axes to move faster. progress wasn''t visible, but from the way, her pride fluctuated she was happy with how it was going. so it wasn''t a problem for him, he counted to silently watch. not saying anything as the day passed, idit arrived at one point and he spared with her.

    she was getting better at keeping a beat, but much work was to be done. he himself needed some work, teaching has helped him spot a few flaws in his ability. which he could figure out how to cover so he could get better at fighting.'' i could also add some versatility to the melodies I use!'', going over past battles he preferred through that moved fluidly with him. which was also implied in how he danced, "so I guess something of the earth would be good practice."

    taking some space from the rest of his team, closing his eyes he went over the notes in his head making sure he knew them before he started moving. with each note played in a matter of movements, he felt the power building around his hands. mid-motion inspiration struck, and he used his recent dancing lessons to transfer the melody from his hands to his feet. with a stomp, the stone broke and rearranged.

    a stone wall rose before him, but he didn''t stop there, another melody was quickly crafted. the power moved with him as he struck the way, each hit shooting off a chunk of the wall. they feel a few feet before breaking against the ground. he was able to get off 6 shots before the backlash of the melody became noticeable, he stopped there. no point in hurting myself while training.

    after confirming he hadn''t cracked his bone he worked on another melody. this one attached rocks to the end of his staff turning it into a hammer. a medley he learned in case he needed to crack open some thick shell. the change in weight almost knocked him over. but years of training kept his feet flat while he adjusted his hold. ''okay this is something is should practice with more.''

    thankfully this medley didn''t need to be kept up, the makeshift hammer would fall apart when the damage reached a certain point. then he would have to do it again, "the change in weight changes my center of balance when I swing. I can''t change directions easily with a hammer." mumbling to himself he practice swinging until his arms were tired.

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    swinging his staff at the ground he shattered the makeshift hammer, "okay that''s good," he stretched out his limbs trying to register something other than a pain in his arms. "might have been a bit overboard."

    "oh certainly overboard," he commented the next morning when his arms were sore and tender. grumbling he knew he should take it easy on them today or they would be tender for while. it didn''t stop him from practicing his footwork or kicking Galia during a spar. though she blocked hard and his feet ached, along with the carapace in the area. he looked it over after the spar and saw that it was fine. though it stung.

    ''ah this is just bad isn''t it,'' either way he rested the next day, taking the time to maintain his gear looking over his cart and a few other small tasks. "everything seems to be in good order."

    "That''s good," aero didn''t jump but he did almost knock out idit." you know personally I forget to do that sometimes or pay someone else to take a real good look." aero rolled his eyes and told her he didn''t need anyone to look over his things. "your really sell reliant, I''m kind of jealous. but also worried," she paused notching the way aero tensed. she rolled the next words over her tongue for a moment.

    "for anyone to be so untrusting in the smallest of things, it''s kind of scary."

    "well I don''t like it either, but you''ve seen how people treat Me despite the fact I''ve been in the news. despite my years of training, and the mission I''ve completed. people still think I need protection! I am strong why won''t they acknowledge that!" his pulse was racing, his fist clenched, and his pride energy was fluctuating ready to act. but he didn''t let it show, forcing himself to look as calm as he could. while doing to best to reign in his emotions.

    ''i refuse to let the actions of people whose names I can''t care to remember! make me lose control!'' idit watched aero, her leader himself said he was prideful. she couldn''t imagine how much it frustrated him when the skill and power he healed at such a high value was doubted by everyone he meet.

    ''no wonder he doesn''t want to spend time around people, I wonder how close he''s been to seriously hurting someone?'' she already saw aero was willing to use violence, but if he was patient or short-tempered she couldn''t tell. he definitely had self-control, but one day it would be enough. he''s been expelled for violence, which made her wonder if people were too interested in his life for it to end up in the papers. "proving yourself be getting old."

    "it''s been old for years! but as long as they keep doubting me I''ll keep fighting!"

    "would you mind if I helped as well?" aero didn''t hold back his suspicion. he reminded idit of a creature that''s scented a threat. ready to jump into fight or flight at the moment. idit didn''t back down from the suspicion. instead," I don''t feel too safe if our team leader tires himself out proving himself to people. we need that energy for our missions right?"

    right," he huffed before standing up and away from his cart. "alright you can help. leading a team is difficult, but I do know my limits!" then he headed up to the room leaving idit to roll her eyes but with thoughts. ''this is going a lot different than I thought it would,'' but she did choose this in a fit of boredom.

    the next morning idit was watching her leader a bit more, especially how people acted around him.  ''i don''t know if they''re cautious because he''s shown violence or because he is different from the average guy. maybe it''s both?'' it was something she thought a bit more than necessary. but it was fun to think about even as the conclusion she came to was that it was both.

    "so how do I help?" idit asked herself," do I tell people to respect his skills? or give them a warning when they come close to something that might cause him to blow?" both were possible options. but field testing them would be the big matter, "thankful were traveling so plenty of people to test with."

    as if the Zaltess were listening to them.    that afternoon, someone came around while half the team went into town to grab some hygiene products. of course, while getting these products the seller in an attempt to make small talk asked why aero had his bodyguards at this moment. "wrong," idit quickly injected while Aero grabbed his staff." he''s our team leader, does he look like someone who needs protecting?"

    "well I guess not," the seller said, her eyes locked on the staff aero was ready to pull out. "sorry for the assumptions." now aero was stopped, trying to decide what move to make next. idit assumed that he decided to not cause trouble, in truth, the helper talked him down.

    But this event up idit on guard about this matter, though something seemed to bother aero when she corrected people. she didn''t ask while in public, though she did keep an eye on him. ''can''t have him blowing up about,'' she was unaware of the young lord venting to the helper.

    "no matter how many times they''ve tried to talk to them, people rarely believed me! but this woman says it once and people are ears!'' while he was mostly frustrated to the point he couldn''t unclench his fist. but a part of his was relieved, now he didn''t have to explain himself so many times.

    aero eventually decides to give in to the part he rarely did, the part of his was that tired. it was nice to not have to deal with people, and it a nice to not have to correct people several times. they were able to get their shopping done in a relatively good time frame.

    "Okay that''s everything and in a few days the new weapons should be done," Idit''s mixed expression returned. aero paid more attention to it this time, but he didn''t say anything. he didn''t know what to say. ''only experience can tell you what to say in these situations and even then your words might not always be right!'' the helper''s words cut into his thoughts.

    ''but most at least appreciate an attempt to comfort them, a reminder that they are not alone.'' their words rang true and aero would appreciate the attempt though most did it wrong. but his mother always knew what to do. she had plenty of practice with him.

    ''well, it''s time to improve myself!'' aero''s determination faltered silty when he came face to face with idit. "something is bothering you!" it was blunt and sounded very forced but he got his point across," can I do anything about it?"

    "wow you sound incredibly awkward," aero huffed but didn''t say anything," and not really I''m just thinking about today and a lot of it is bothering me." aero blinked, then he asked what part trying to get a better idea to bring the conversation. "when you said people doubted you, I didn''t know the scale until today. based on your experience how bad was today?"

    "mild in terms of doubt, but only because people believed you and didn''t push." aero took a deep breath to push away the emotion that rose at the words," I don''t know if it will make you feel better, but people ask out of concern. not that it needed."

    "you are strong," idit has fought him. his strength was clear. "I think they''re just going with what they know when they deal with you."

    "then it''s time for them to learn something new! still interested in helping me?" idit huffed, "you don''t make it far as a hunter without strong determination!" aero felt his expression twitch out of control for a moment. but he quickly pushed it down. "let''s talk about something else, your new weapons how are you doing so far?"

    "yes, it was a bit more complex than I thought but I''m getting better."

    "then you can join the rest of us in training, let''s hope you don''t look too as bad as before." idit made a face at the comment, she clearly wasn''t looking forward to it, and internally she was considering how she could train continue in secret until she reached a decent level. "tzilla''s still working on her swing?"

    "she''s getting better, less time for you to dodge!"

 37

    "so how do they feel?" idit asked Inna, the most recent of them to receive their hybrid weapon." kind of light," she replied flipping one of the curved blades, part of a set to replace her previous triple dagger. this version replaced the handles with flutes. "they feel pretty good, not looking forward to working out how to use the."

    when she spoke to the weapons smith, she would admit to taking aero''s idea. but instead of turning her entire weapon into a flute. she turned part of it. now she could swing the daggers to make noise or she could use them like a flute.

    "That''s going to be the fun part thought," aero commented from where he was resting. having just cut off from a spar with idit. "for the record I would start with finger strengthening exercises," holding the notes while fighting led to some bad cramps. aero''s had to break away from fights because of these cramps. he still did finger pushups to prevent that.

    "What kind of finger exercises," Inna remembered the cramps she got trying to learn how to play the flute. aero gave a short lecture on what he found worked and the exercises that he remembered. so how did everyone decide that wanted to try them out, aero showing them how all of them were done? he may have preened a bit seeing them all struggle to strengthen their fingers. which of course left them with cramps and sores.

    "I think we did very well," Galia commented as they returned to their hotel. asking one of the workers for something cold for her hands. "it was our first time, I doubt you''re gone that well." neither say anything leaving the comment to float in the air. "so how did you learn something like that in the first place?"

    "I read about it."

    "Such knowledge is in the scrolls," Lior commented before making a point," but it''s not the kind of thing you just casually find, why were you looking for such a thing." are turned to her and while part of him wanted to shit down the conversation. ''i''m trying to be more vulnerable with people.''

    "I couldn''t ask the school teachers how to strengthen my body, they would have told me to stop or take it easy. honestly, when I think about it, they only gave up when I didn''t even try to go to them instead, just went around or through them." in the end it didn''t change his lack of trust in them deciding they were weak in terms of wills. ''or did they decide that it wasn''t a battle worth fighting?''

    he pushed the path of thought aside, it was the past and he didn''t plan on speaking to any of his older teachers any time soon.  though the universe might have different plans for him, ''i pray to the zalts that doesn''t happen. anyway, I''ve got a few hours before bed,'' closing his eyes he took control of the pride energy that floated being him.

    it has been several weeks of practice that allowed him to form the energy into threads that weaved into thick ropes. he made a thick coil of rope before he ran out of stored energy. "that part is done!" he panted the strain of the focus, catching up to him. he took a moment to catch his breath before drawing his focus up again.

    it took a full two petals until he had the lock on and was able to send the newly crafted rope into the sealed realm where the beast of pride was trapped. to assist on the beast seal, while it was something like a bandaid on a dam. it annoyed the beast, which allowed aero to show it that he wasn''t taking its attempts to break into his mind without a fight.

    ''Hopefully, that means it''ll be quiet for a while,'' he was growing warier and warier of the beast''s attempts to poison his pride. but he got the feeling they weren''t going to step back. which he understood, it was pride itself. but aero was too prideful to cower before the creature, even though he knew he was no match for it now.

    ''you''ve woven stronger ropes this time my lord,'' the helper praised, ''i believe if your progress continues at this rate you''ll be able to affect the beast.'' which was something aero wanted to hear. he was going to take this creature on head first, he was going to build up to it.

    "ah, so what is your suggestion for the next step?"

    ''well you''ve shown the ability to attack and bind, so something to defend would be the next step, it might slow the beast''s attempts to infect you.'' aero decided that was the best idea as he left his room for his third meal. washing up afterward where he kind of ran into Lior who was returning from her dinner. "hello aero? heading to bed?"

    "yes," aero answered shortly unsure what he was supposed to do at this point but remained ready to figh- talk. but that was unnecessary as lion continued to her bath leaving aero to return to his room. '' inner to get better at conversation,'' sighing he closed his room door and dropped onto his bed, grabbing a story scroll to read before he went to sleep.

    the next morning they were getting ready to head out to the next town, aero took the chance to figure out the form of his defense. ''i know the best is attacking my mind so I need some kind of head defense.'' the best image he could conjure was a head carapace or antlers like he''s seen on creatures but that probably wouldn''t work.

    The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    ''any image would work, as long as the intention behind it. is solid,'' aero nodded in understanding before spreading out his senses trying to determine if there was anyone that he should worry about in terms of pride level.

    "well she''s young," aero opened his eyes and crossed a few streets until he found her. what was probably a 9-year-old who was glaring down at another girl her age. "a lot of pride for someone so young," she wasn''t even trying to reign it in. '' the arrogance of youth people call it?'' he wondered if that phrase was right for the situation, a lot of people call his pride the arrogant of the youth.

    of course, he didn''t take well to that. going as far as never to act arrogant, which causes him to do some self-reflecting on how he did things. ''i wasn''t arrogant, at least not by my standards.'' his reminiscing came to an end, and aero molded his energy into the sectioned staff.  it floated around his slowly reaching for her pride.

    a simple tap told him the pride wasn''t that solid, he has it one good stick at about medium strength and watched it fall apart like glass. "by the zalts that''s bad isn''t it!" it wasn''t a question and the helper immediately switched into an emergency mode.

    ''my lord you''ve managed to completely wreck her pride, the effects-'' they didn''t get to continue as the girl fell to her knees dead silent. aero immediately shifted the form of his sectioned staff turning into a wall of marble-sized bubbles. ''very slow and very steady,'' the helper instructed as aero closed his eyes summoning the best of his focus.

    in a thin stream, he poured the bubbles into the girl''s shattered pride letting the bubbles build up her pride. it had to be slow with it so that he could make sure it was at a level that won''t draw the beast''s attention.

    ''that good my lord,'' the helper informed him, drawing the teen from his focus. opening his eyes and ignoring the sweat around them to check on the girl. she was already getting to her feet, with the help of the other girl. ''the pride of a child is more fragile than I thought, that will not happen again.'' he kept his distance but made sure the girl made it to her father before heading off.

    ''i need more control in my striking force, I also misjudged the strength of her pride. but it felt pretty solid,'' that baffled him. it felt so solid but fell so easily,'' it''s possible.'' the helper started a theory coming together,'' that''s it! a false sense of pride. it might have looked big and solid but inf act it was pretty hollow!''

    "That kind of makes sense for someone her age," the words false sense of pride rolled around his head. he spent a flower later on, wondering if that applied to him was his sense of pride false. ''no, they would have chosen me to be the lord of it was. though he did decide that he had to figure out a new section of methods that wouldn''t be filled by false pride.

    ''for now, let''s just check everyone''s pride!" aero thought as the sectioned staff formed around his waist. orbiting him for a moment before it stuck out. testing each pride when in his immediate area. he hugged them all as varying levels of solid and none of them seemed false to him. "well that wasn''t much help," he reached out and didn''t strike, digging into their auras.

    ''working a bit better, feeling the resistance to my invasion.'' but it was proving better testing method. for the moment, so aero continued to test it, setting how well he could gauses the strength. at most he got a vague sense of this person''s pride is stronger than this person''s. which told him he needed a wider selection to draw from.

    "you look busy," aero snapped to face Lior. "but I just wanted to let you know the rest of us are ready to head out," she asked if they should wait and aero told her that he wasn''t doing anything urgent. the team seat out within the flower, and they grabbed the paper before they did.

    "man I can''t believe that there''s life in the stars," the front page of the news that the leaders of their planet had been visited and left strange gifts. there wasn''t much about who sent it or why but, there was something out there in the stars. "man I wonder if will meet the mastermind behind this." Inna joked.

    "you''ve already met them," aero commented measuring the angle of the sun to figure out how far they could make it before sunset.

    "what do you mean?"

    "I sent the clothing to them," he responded starting at his team to watch their reactions.

    "How?" tzilla asked, she knew enough about aero to know that he wouldn''t lie about his accomplishments. he didn''t even hide the fact that he committed several small crimes. "why?"

    "I got a job a couple of months back, as a side effect of this job other plants are likely to pay attention to our planet. not all of them are nice, so I figure people should know there is life out there."

    "so sending clothes is your way of telling that there is life out there?" aero nodded to Galia''s question, clothing hasn''t changed much in the last few hundred years. "I designed my clothing to meet my needs in combat, the materials alone of what I sent them can''t be made here."

    "So what''s the next step of your plan?" aero reasoned, for the moment was to wait and see people''s relations before introducing himself. he wasn''t going to invite trouble without a plan. "then I guess it''s time to introduce myself, we''ll see how things for from there."

    "part of me wants to keep away, while another wants to see this possible disaster with snacks." lion quickly shushed tzilla, though she agreed with the comment. she wondered how the world leaders would deal with the prideful male. he would be quite the sight, they could collectively aero holding himself back from attacking someone.

    "well, as long as you don''t plan on fighting an army you can count on me?" Galia was concerned about how aero didn''t answer her. it got more concerning when they stopped to stretch their legs and aero did so by training out how one would fight an army.

    "if he starts the fight I''m out," but she couldn''t stop herself from preparing all the same. or praying to the Zatls and Zatless in hopes they could prevent the possible battle.

    the group headed south for almost a week before turning east-ish for a few days before they arrived at the large town Galia frequently enough that she knew a good weapon smith and an inn to stay in. "now I must warn you, my choice is a bit interesting?"

    "why is that a question?" aero could feel his hackles rise.

    "I was trying to find the best word to describe her, but prepare yourself." she lead the way to a rather big building that looked like someone made several attempts to paint it different colors but gave up or lost interest each time.

    "hey come out!" a crash followed her words. more noise came from the building each growing louder as they came to the door. it only served to put aero on guard, they sounded dangerous to be near. "Galia!" this cross and what couldn''t be described as more than a mess almost fell as she burst through the front door. aero stepped back at the manic look in the girl''s eyes." I got your letter and already have a prototype ready!"

    "she sent letters, why didn''t we do that?" Lior asked pulling her gaze from the disheveled weapon smith. "because some people need to see the idea before they can do something with it." Inna responded looking at aero and wondering if they would have to get between them. "oh hello everyone! I''m Yona! I''m a weapons smith, people say my thoughts aren''t in order, and they''re right!"

    "I give her points for confidence," idit added to the conversation, as Yona moved closer to shack their hands and instead of their weapons. she didn''t take notice of the glare aero gave her when she grabbed his staff, he didn''t release it for a moment though he did determine while she was in decent shape she wouldn''t match him in power.

    ''That''s good, her threat assessment isn''t high.'' the helper commented on their lord''s path thought asking why she needed a threat assessment.'' causes she gives me a weird feeling like it''s a warning.''

 38

    ''i was right!'' aero pointed out to the helper as Yona showed aero''s team one of her new weapons designs. it misses fired and took out a chunk of her wall. ''she herself isn''t dangerous but these inventions of hers could kill someone,'' seeing as more than half of them were weapons that were probably the point.

    ''you''re feeling was right, but my lord I must suggest that you recruit that girl.'' aero didn''t want to but listened to the helper''s reasoning. ''that''s a great reason,'' he thought as Galia convinced the girl to show the hybrid weapon prototypes. which the girl did bring out and showed how Galia''s chosen weapon.

    "well that''s one way to make a pudao sing," Galia gave the prototype a swing, making note of the weight." the heads light," Yona quickly explained that when she tested the metal the lighter ones vibrated best. "this is currently the best I could do without the risk of it breaking easily during combat."

    "it''ll work but your bright it might break," swing the pole over her shoulders. she heard the blade make a small note and repeated the action to get the note again," but it making noise so it''ll do for practice weapon at least."

    "ooh! that''s a good idea," Yona moved around grabbing some spare paper," but what do you think we should use for the final product?" aero decide to interject at a moment," does it matter. along as she can reasonably swing it and it makes noise." his words caused Yona''s entire deminer to change, she stalked over to him eyes hard and focused.

    "Absolutely not! I will not give out something that is not the best quality I can make." aero felt the pride in her words and felt her energy flare, "I understand." aero understand he insulted her pride with such a suggestion, but at the same time he couldn''t help but smile. such pride in her work, refusal to make but the best. ''your right I should get her on my side,'' the big question was how social in-depth aero was going to make that happen.

    they stuck around the show for half a flower before heading out towards the inn. Aero observed Galia as she tested her new weapons shaking the Tamborine and Pudao. she occasionally made it ring out, "yeah I''ll deftly need speed for this." maybe a new fighting style, but she was hoping that a few adjustments would work. if she could feel the work her teammates were going through she would.

    asking around the inn after they got their rooms and dropped off their beds, found them a spot on the edge of town to train. aero immediately dropped into some forms to practice melodies, one that you would use against a large number. "we all agree that a little concerning with the conversation we had about fighting the army right?" Inna points out, the rest of the girls nodded in agreement before they split to their training.

    Galia found a tree to practice on, slowly scarring its bark with the edge of her blade. it was easier than she thought for it to make repeated noise, but it was a random note with each swing. ''i can''t make a medley out of this,'' any she did make would be unstable and risk blowing up in her face as her bones cracked. huffing she tried to see if she could make the notes that she wanted or if she had to talk to Yona about it.

    ''My lord I believe the best first step is to ask Gallia, she seems to know Yona the best!'' aero paused in his training to catch his breath and let his thoughts flow, he knew the helper was stating a good idea. but the thought of asking her left a bad taste in his mouth. the prideful teen remained realistic and knew he had to talk to Galia or stumble through conversation with the excitable girl.

    "It is the lesser of two struggles," he didn''t like either was a struggle but a problem for later. right now he had to figure out how to speak to Galia, they haven''t had much one-on-one conversation. as in none, even if aero found himself dropping his guard around his team he was still very socially inexperienced. which left him not knowing what to say or how to start conversations.

    ''Why is he staring so much?'' Galia wondered as the team headed back into the city after 1.5 flowers of training. halfway through she felt the team caption eyes on her, they barely waved. she didn''t think she''s done anything to get on his bad side. but it was kind of hard to tell, ''but if he was mad,'' he doesn''t act like the person that would himself back. that has been seen.

    eventually, she grew tired of the staring and, "can I help you?" she confronted aero. the teen hid his relief," I wish to recruit Yona! I request your help in the matter?" his awkward sentence relieved Galia it wasn''t trouble. but she did ask why he wanted to recruit her, yona was skilled but so was the past blacksmith she meet.

    ''why do we want her?'' aero asked the helper, who quickly explained why they were at the female''s shop he scanned her inventions. they possessed a certain outlook, "she has the most potential of those I meet so far to create something to help in the future. with the whole space aliens."

    "oh, that going to catch her attention," she would be very excited by the offer. when she warned aero about how much, he put on a reluctant expression. before taking a deep breath and stating that he would like Gaillia to break the news to Yona, he knew his strengths, and Yona''s excitement put him on guard. "smacking someone I''m trying to recruit isn''t a good idea"

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    "I''ll give you that I''ll tell her in a few days after she finished my weapons," otherwise the charcoal girl would drop everything. Galia was more sure of that the more she heard what aero wanted Yona to do. some it just sounded like full-on make-belief creature dung. ''but he seems certain that it''s possible, but not how it should be done.''

    ''it''s off-planet information," aero explained reading the disbelief in her expression. "but as it''s off-planet it might not apply to our planet so it needs tweaking." and he wanted Yona to do that tweaking, she probably would for free. but Yona was her friend so she had to argue some things in her favor.

    so the next few days passed silently for the team, except for the point aero tried to fight this woman who insisted on trying to walk him around town. she honestly believed that he would be safe walking by himself in this town, or she was trying to hit on him. either way, he would have hit her if tzilla hadn''t spotted them and aero reaching for his always-present weapon.

    "so this is the second version of the weapon!" Yona happy said gesturing to the weapon sitting on the table, they didn''t look too different from the training weapon she passed. picking it up she tested it out though it was a little heavier. she was more than pleased with it, Yona giggled feeling the gust as Galia swung the blade around.

    the matter of payment was quickly settled, then the fem"ale hunter brought up aeros offer. halfway through it where she didn''t even get to the real details Yona was practically vibrating with excitement. "he wants me to work with alien tech! much more advanced than what we work with?" Galia nodded to previous experience telling her to step away.

    "OF COURSE I''M DOING IT!"

    "you getting paid for it," she added in. which Yona only thought was ever better. she quickly scrambled around her home collecting scrolls and tools before racing out the door. knocking several people over," never change Yona." Gallia said before following after her.

    she quickly found Yona looking up at a tree, aero was looking down the tree at her. when Gallia came close enough she saw his expression, it was one someone wore when they stared down a feral creature. not a hyper girl. it was kind of funny, but if she laughed aero might punch her. she got close enough to defuse the situation before aero punched Yona.

    "all right now that everyone''s calm and on the ground, let''s start talking." Yona didn''t waste a moment before launching into a stream of questions that the helper carefully logged and found the answers to. allowing aero to respond to each of them with only a pronunciation problem here and there. each answer caused the stars in Yona''s eyes to grow.

    ''is it too late to turn back?'' the helper informed him that it was several steps too late. sighing he waited for Yona to step frantically writing out notes so they could continue to talk. said talk went on for a flower as he gave her basic information from the helper. it was a simple task but this girl just seemed to sap his energy from him.

    ''she an existence you so unprepared for that it takes a lot from you,'' the helper told him. aero didn''t like that someone''s personality could do this to him. he resolved to fix this issue somehow. but for the moment he made the final decisions about how the weaponsmith was to keep in contact with him. mostly by sending letters through his mother. who he sent simple, I''m alive letters whenever he reached a new town.

    ''i should send an introductory letter,'' Aero thought as Yona rushed back to her workshop to understand the concerts that had been gifted to her. ''helper are you sure she''ll be able to understand all that?''

    ''not anytime soon, but it will act as a goal and guiding light for her. meanwhile, it will also have the effect of spreading the information once she applies it to your planet.'' the helper said in their usual calm and polite voice. but that only served to send more shivers down his spine, while it did benefit the girl they were using her as a pawn.

    ''you''re very dangerous,'' but he liked the idea of someone dangerous working for him. so he didn''t complain, but he had it clear he wouldn''t participate in any schemes that would cause harm to anyone that hasn''t made themselves his enemy. this only seemed to excite the helper, ''what a statement befitting of a cosmic lord! whose words can decide the lives of star systems. you must keep such a state of mind!" aero detected a slight threat but he didn''t comment on it.

    unchecked power was truly a horrible thing.

    "Alright, then I guess we should go talk to the team. figure out where we''re headed next." the talk didn''t take more than a couple of petals with the remained member of the team who hadn''t changed her weapons. "are you looking forward to it, Lior?"

    "I let you know later," she replied before they split up to prepare for the several weeks of travel before them. after this point the town Lior wanted to head to was far away. none of them didn''t see a problem with the journey, aero privately realized that this would be the furthest he''s gone from home.

    '' I''ll be traveling even further in the future,'' he looked towards the stars knowing one day he would be among them. an exciting and nervous thought, ''doesn''t matter at the moment.'' it would be a very long while before he came close to the stars. sooner than he thought thanks to Yona. that night aero spent some time forming four ropes of his energy to send toward the beast.

    "Okay, that takes care of that," aero stretched out his limbs laying back on his bed. was there anything else he needed to do before he went to bed? after a moment of thinking about what he did today, aero decides, nothing important. but he did call Xoqax to see how the test was going, so far green lights. a few problems that required terms is didn''t know to solve but were good all around.

    ''should we introduce him to Yona?'' aero asked the helper who responded that was a good idea, but believed that they should wait for the moment. "alright, that''s on hold." nothing else came to mind the teen went to sleep, asking up early to someone knocking on his door if he flopped in surprise that was between him and the helper.

    "tzilla what do you want at the edge of dawn," the sun was just halfway through the horizon. instead of saying anything she handed him the news. slowly he read through it until he found the problem," well the zalts have turned their backs on me."

    ''world leaders have agreed on their response to the revelation of alien life. they are preparing for battle," not good1! not good at all!" he didn''t want to start a battle, Tova explained universal level power levels. according to the last lord of pride, his planet was weak, ''but what''s her standard of weak." from what he understood his predecessor was strong and ancient. the power she left behind to keep the beast in check while he grew.

    ''either way, I don''t think it''s good for them to go to battle,'' how many people would fall to the more advanced planets?'' he could see the images of battle before his eyes quickly he got tzilla to help him wake the rest of the team. who when informed of the situation quickly started getting ready, their plans completely changed. instead of planning for the next village they were heading for the capital.

    they were just out of town when Lior brought up a suggestion. stopping in a larger town and getting a flying creature to the capital. "it would save us an incredible amount of the and we want to arrive as soon as possible!"

    "your right aero agreed and they highly changed their route continuing at a brisk pace, privately aero kept quiet about one part of Lior''s idea, he''s never been on a flying beast before. at least when he wasn''t in the middle of battle. ''time to improve myself, then!'' determination swelling in his chest.

 39

    ''okay, you can do this!'' aero thought to himself staring at the bus-sized grey bird-like creature. it looked right back at him with its four eyes. he didn''t know the name of it, but he could tell it was a prideful creature. not just because of the thick layer of energy around it.

    but because of the staring contest they''ve been having for the last five petals, he might be winning he couldn''t be sure. but he sure by the zalts he wasn''t losing. "aero stop glaring at the bird it''s time for us to go," lnna drew aero of his contest. but he didn''t break contact until he had to climb on the saddle on the bird''s back. along with all their supplies, their cart, and the creatures that pulled they were staying behind for the moment. they paid for some people to take care of them during that time.

    Take-off required a few moments but soon they were flying just below the colors clouds. "so do we actually have a plan of action here?" that brought a tense silence upon them before aero plainly said, "I''m going to tell them I sent the gifts and why."

    "you know that can get you arrested?"

    "I do not run from the effects of my choice!" there was no room for argument. so they didn''t," alright but you should probably think of how you''re going to say it or you''ll start a fight."

    "I can deal with a fight," aero stated," but you are correct." they discussed it pointing out several flaws in how aero would approach this situation naturally. it got to the point that he shut down on them staring out at the clouds that passed by them. they left him being knowing he was about to bite. that didn''t stop them from talking amount themselves.

    "so we agree that this is probably going to be stressful right," lior stated and the rest nodded in agreement. "then we agree there''s something we have to figure out before this bird touches the ground?"

    "I''m sticking around," lior stated after a moment of silence," I don''t know about the rest of you but I''m invested in this. front-row seat to the world-changing." gaillia spoke next," he''s made a deal with Yona and I wanna make sure she doesn''t set him off. mostly to protect the girl."

    tzilla hummed thinking about it herself, aero was going far that was true no matter how you looked at it. she didn''t join this team with grand implications, and after the short time they''ve traveled together, she''s deduced that none of them were bad people. aero had a short and easily lit fuse but he wasn''t a bad person. she''s decided that she liked them all, even though aero was kind of prickly.

    so the question was did she like them enough to stand with them?

    in the end, her answer was yes, but not just because she liked her team. or because aero helped them grow by devising new weapons and fighting styles. no, the leaders of the world didn''t scare her enough to back down. they might have influenced the choices of many but tailla has chosen to spend her life fighting and killing creatures to protect lives and help people.

    "if the leaders want me to back down they''re going to need a bit more teeth." aero locked his jaw to hold back his laughter, he couldn''t make a sound at the moment. he had to let them make this choice uninterrupted. though he couldn''t deny that his chest was doing something funny hearing them all in their own time agree to stay by his side.

    it made him soft enough that he let them help plan out the conversation or at least how they wanted it to go. mostly somehow stop them from what was likely to be one-sided bloodshed. the helper was mostly silent during the matter, clearly observing this trial of their lord.

    several flowers of the flight passed before the bird-like creature landed in the slight of the late sun. aero jumped off first stretching out. "ah that wasn''t that bad," though he still liked having his feet on the ground. the prideful teen figured that probably had to do with the fact he couldn''t fight while in the air.

    ''i could fix that could I?!'' aero smiled a bit but then frowned as he realized the complications of this goal. ''even if I manage to attain flight or something similar I would have to learn how to fight like that.'' he attempted to put the thoughts aside or the moment, but the stuck around. in annoyance, aero began to pick at the carapace on his left arm.

    they had made it out of the area and found a cart to take them to the next town tomorrow before aero come to an understanding about his thoughts.'' i haven''t considered how I would fight in space,'' from how Tova explained to him space was a completely different environment. he wouldn''t see anything like it on Augustine.

    the cold, the dark, the silence, the lack of general direction. it could drive him mad if he was unprepared. aero had initially put it in the back of his mind because he didn''t plan to go anywhere anytime soon. but if his planet went to war, he might have to. he remembered that Tova said that he would have to train on it before he could leave the atmosphere.

    "Races born on land don''t adjust to space well, it could drive even the strong of them mad!" she did mention some way aero could practice for it. but none of them aero had put any effort into them, but since the planet leaders desired to fight he might have to start that training.

    "I guess I have to find a pound that a creature isn''t living in." he looked where his team having a bit of fun watching a small show a street performer was putting on. it was silent, like most arts thanks to their peculiar ability with sound. but when they did add sound it was a sight like no other.

    which is why the performer started humming Aero joined the crowd in time to see, a colorful beginning to weave through the air. each moved with the show the performer put on, it was entrapping and aero almost didn''t hear the helper.'' my lord I think you should take a look at his pride,'' curious enough aero opened his eyes and zeroed in on the performer.

    "oh!" almost as if it was dancing with the crowd the performer''s pride was bursting to the woo and was of a crowd. ''as a performer what brings your more pride than people enjoying your work.'' the lord agreed with the helper''s words. he watched the show until he performer packed up, ''lets'' turn in for the night.'' his mood was a bit lighter.

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    the next day, his light mood clung around as they set off. the conversation was light as well, they tried to stay like that even with the task before them. but even their best attempts couldn''t stop the thoughts.

    "Okay, serious question. how likely is it that we can change their minds?"

    "I don''t know," aero didn''t pay attention to who asked the question he knew his entire team was curious about the answer." but I am confident in my ability to remain stubborn. I won''t give in easily to their choice. I make every effort to change their minds, and I''ll ask for nothing more than ideas from you. I know the limits of my mind. "

    "oh is that all, I plan to help out much more than that Inna commented with a small slightly offended huff. though she was glad he wasn''t asking them to fight, she didn''t like their chances of a fight anyway.

    "well if that''s it, I already have a few ideas in mind." the trip to the capital of Hopoth. it wasn''t the largest town, nor was it the most advanced. plenty of trade came through it and fighters, and plenty of people live here, it was a busy place. but still arriving at it amazed aero, he''s never been here, never had a reason to come to the capital.

    ''i remember promising myself that I should visit that new center if a did?'' aero looked passed the guards and up the massive wall that protected the capital. Its height was taller than the trees, which was probably needed to make sure creatures didn''t break in. not that many were dumb enough to try.

    the intelligence that some creatures showed caught the helper''s attention, but that potential of the matter is out of their lord''s scoop for the time so they remained quiet. aero himself has long made his peace with the minds of the creatures he slew.

    passing through the gates of the city was a slight problem due to the fee and registration, but besides that, they got in without a problem. there might have been a problem if idit had been talking to aero when a guard suggested they were protecting aero.  but luckily he didn''t notice.

    inside the city, they all took in sight. it was impressive, ''my lord would you like the center of operations to look something like this?'' aero blinked before understanding what he meant. as a cosmic lord, from what he understood his business would carry him all over the universe. he would also have people working for him.

    he would need a base of operations of some sort, ''in town doesn''t sound like a bad idea. but only after I''ve built my school.''

    ''of course, my lord,'' the helper replied as the team started asking around. they were looking for two things, a peaceful way to meet the leader and a nice inn to stay at. they found the inn pretty easily, a place called Gal. which was run by the daughter of Gal, who meet them at the counter took their rooms, and gave them a menu for the inn dinner.

    she didn''t seem like the kind to speak unnecessarily, but she was very polite. Aero didn''t have a problem talking to her. they didn''t turn in immediately but left their things to claim their rooms including their bed. which weren''t light even though all of them were more than fit.

    "Okay," Tzilla stretched out," continue trying to find a way to talk to the leader right?" aero noded pausing for a moment," does anyone know their name?" there was a resonating silence from his team. which surprised him, aero didn''t know their name. because it wasn''t personally important enough to him that the name mattered. just their decisions regarding the country.

    "wow," for some reason he wasn''t upset by this realization. though the rest of them looked at varying stages of embarrassment. "well," Gallia cleared her throat," I guess that''s just one more then we have to find out!" they set out after that to gather their information.

    a few flowers later aero found out a few things about their country leader, but nothing that allow him to peacefully meet her. he found out a few things about her security detail though so combat was a growing option. "at this rate, it would be easier if I could grab her attention then she would come to me." which the teen''s pride would love.

    the helper was silent watching as the lord''s prideful desires flared, curious about his next action. silently they were pleased when he let go of the idea of making the leader come to him. "let''s save that fun for another time," he didn''t think it would make the negotiation go well. not that he knew much about them, but he has been thinking about them.

    he would need to negotiate with other space fairing organizations as the lord, he was already having to negotiate with his fellow lord. the fact he owned her money showed that he sucked, he knew how to get what he wanted on a certain level. but he didn''t know how to strike a long-term deal.

    "would this count as a long-term deal?" the Lord asked himself looking at the cloudy sky." come aero think, how can I meet this woman!" he thought as he continued to ask around, mildly unaware his team was drawing a bit of attention. they were asking around how they could meet someone very important. so drawing attention was probably, but still, the guards coming out to meet them the next morning was a surprise.

    "by the zalts what do you want?" aero groaned rubbing dreams from his eyes. looked at the armed guards before them, he observed them, the edge of the e weapons. the definition of their muscles, the look in their eyes. everything he saw about them told him they were strong. probably more robust than him. ''i guess my training needs to take it up a notch,'' his fist tightened around the body of his staff.

    "We''re here to advise you to end your attempts to meet Sacher Baila, this is a very tense time!" her tone was attempted intimidation but aero refused to let it show if it affected him, leaning on his staff as he stared the warrior dead.

    "so her name is baila that''s nice to know, but now I sadly must tell you I''m meeting her one way or another!" the warrior stepped closer, and Aero matched her steps. "why are you not listening?"

    aero put a smile," because I have a goal and I''m a bit too stubborn to stop just because someone tells me two." epically not people he didn''t like, "but if you can help me get a meeting I''m sure we can save each so much time?" aero stepped back, for at this point she either said yes or no. then from their aero would act, but the warrior didn''t share his opinion.

    she reached for him, which was a mistake. Aero quickly shifted to combat mode, but before he could bring shit staff aero. Inna and Gaillia were there, Gallia''s pudoa up and stopped aero''s strike. she quickly pushed aero back, while Inna took over the conversation.

    "I am aware that you don''t know this, but we know the being that sent the gifts to all the world leaders, the guards were taken back by the declaration. her immediate thought was they were lying, but she observed their body langue. the complete lack of nervousness around the statement caused a bit of doubt.

    "then what was the goal of the being?" Inna felt her shoulders drop a bit, her team letting out a small bit of relief. it encouraged Aero to put his staff down. but he didn''t put it away." why did they send the clothes."

    "so that our planet could know about alien life."

    "why tell us now?"

    "a situation has occurred that will bring attention to our planet, but not all of it will be good attention." the guard was silent, while mentally cursing that wasn''t good. "why do you want to meet Baili? to tell her all this?"

    "no, to stop her from starting pointless fights. the being stated, that on the grand scale of things. we aren''t that strong, we aren''t that technically advanced. we don''t even have a method to safely enter space and she wasn''t to start battles?"

    "So what''s your option then?" Inna felt mixed,'' at least she listening to me at least,'' she peeked back at aero was had lowered his weapon but not put it away. which they could work with," as far as I know no one going to look at our planet as long as the high mother doesn''t bring down the planet''s innate barrier." so many things that she just said left the guard a little off guard.

    Inna was willing to explain but knowing this conversation was going on for a while she decided that should take a seat first. the inn was able to provide them with a private location to continue their important conversation. aero went with them, staring at the guard the entire time. he didn''t say anything nor showed hostility. but he didn''t look away from her once.

    "do you have a problem with me?" she asked when the conversation was done, she knew she had a long report to give to Baili. aero hummed for a moment," I''m unsure if we''ll have a problem." that was all he said before he walked away. the guard huffed before heading out with her squad, making a direct path for Balia''s office.

    after explaining everything that she had heard, the guard looked up to her leader who looked like she wanted to tear off her carapace and beat someone with it. instead of giving in to that desire, she took a deep breath and made sure that she would have time to meet with aero''s team within the week. while also having something strong brought to her room later. the rest of her day was spent trying to figure out the logistics of this situation.

    a meeting was designated for three days after the team meet the guards. the time frame wasn''t a problem for aero''s team. because all of them wanted to at least look around the capital. they all found something to send to their friends and/or family. aero had several things for his mother shipped out along with a letter for her.

    the rest of the time they found a training hall, they weren''t uncommon due to the number and skills of hunters needed. aero''s just refused to use them until this point, he knew he was going to get a few stares, but now he had a team who might be a buffer from the stares. aero was about to test it out.

    "are all training halls this big?" aero wondered looking at the building that took up the entire block. it was in use as he could hear several clashes going on through the walls.

 40

    stepping into the building aero held back the desire to take in every inch of the building. it was kind of incredible the mounted trophies and pictures of people who trained here. he knew of some of them, people who''d discovered useful melodies or hunting methods.  all of which were incredibly interesting or useful for his team''s line of work.

    ''i''m gonna end up this wall!'' aero decides this as they arrive at the point to register a training space for the team. "we should get a space until the meeting, then if he needs to stay longer come back and get more."

    "that''s a good idea," loir commented as she looked at the menu of what was available. "we get a discount for being in a team, so what should we get?" they took some time on this as they had spent a good amount of the funds they carried getting gifts and survivors.

    "Maybe we should have saved the shopping for later," Idit commented. which Lior agreed with," on that note we should probably have more funds sent over if we going to stay here that long." no one had a complaint about their suggestions and some of them started mentally writing out letters for that while they all counted out all the money they needed piling their coins together. with the payment taken care of someone read them to the room, they were renting out.

    "This should be enough space," Lior commented. as aero started his long list of stretches, then followed up with excises he wanted to start building up his muscle volume. his teammate went through their own warm-up before they started working on adjusting their fighting styles, he watched out of the corner of his eye as he worked on his core muscles.

    ''there doing so well!'' his chest felt funny with the pride as seeing how well they did. he even felt his energy reacting as well, and he paused in his workout to think about his reaction. ''i do take pride in how they''re doing, I helped so and I want to see how far they go with this.'' he wondered how they worked with people who went aware of the energy.

    how did it work with other people, ''i don''t believe for a second that craftswomen and men don''t take pride in what they make. would it have any effect?'' he would have to look into this, if it could have some kind of effect he could. well, he wasn''t sure what it would do, but even if it did nothing he would learn something. he was optimistic that he could figure out some kind of use.

    done with his muscle-focused workout, aero started moving through some weaponless stances, hitting a log set up in the room with his fist, it was vaguely shaped like some kind of bear-sized creature. it lacked enough details for aero to give it a specific name, but he did know where to guess the location of its organs as he attacked the wood.

    he stepped back when his hands began to ache too much, instead taking a water break. which Inni joined him on. there wasn''t much said between them but aero was aware his guard rose for a moment before he pushed it down. she wasn''t a threat, not at the moment anyway.

    when he felt rested enough aero picked up his staff and started practicing his swings. over under, thrust, mix. his footwork changed with each movement. soon he started mixing kicks and punches, using his staff as a client or distraction. this wasn''t something for lower intelligence. no, it was for the fight in his future,'' probably going to use it before I get off the planet!'' turning around he let the staff scrap against the ground before he brought it into the air with renewed force.

    he turned his body with the force of the swing, adding more as he brought the end of the staff around. driving right into the fake creature, causing it to shake which brought Aero up short for a moment. he''s pulled that move before, cracking rocks and breaking bones. ''oh that is some durable wood,'' he wondered if he could get his staff made of it. but for now, he pulled out more strong moves. putting more and more momentum behind the swings.

    a part of him just wanted to see if he could break it, but his logic told him that was a bad idea. so he listened to it over his pride this moment. ''i need the money to replace it before I break it,'' that is what he deice on. he would think about how he would break such solid material without the use of a melody. that would be useful in the future.

    they returned to the inn for the night, tired from spending hours training. while they had their third meal aero deiced it was time to start talking battle tactics. which was largely what kind of melody they chose to use when fighting. aero by default used whatever he had so he didn''t have to rely on anyone else. which is something that wasn''t needed with his team now.

    "your rather adaptable in combat," Tzillia commented after hearing a few of Aero''s hunt stories. "but man do you take some big risk and start a lot of fire." she wonder if that was a concern.  aero rolled his eyes," I don''t have the time or energy to fight such large numbers by myself." he defended the fires he started as necessary to complete his hunts.

    "we''re not saying that it wasn''t a bad idea or unneeded," idit brought u[," but did you need to take so many missions that ended in flames?" aero plainly stated he was proving points with each mission completed," so if I ended covered in ash I don''t see the problem." idit didn''t say anything for a moment.

    Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    "When your pride is on the line you don''t see the problem with many things," idit stated to which aero asked what was wrong with that. "a few things... like why fire. you could start a forest fire." on the heavily forested planet they lived on forest fires quickly became big problems.

    "I take precautions, cutting off possible growth paths, and know the nearest locations of water. I also make sure I have a water melody on my mind so that I can start putting out the fire once it has done what is needed."

    "and if it goes out of your expectations?"

    "put it out, what else would I do?" aero looked at her weirdly. " you know he''s got a point," Inna commented to which idit sighed." yes you should put out the fire you start." she didn''t want to continue this topic and instead asked what he would do if a fire wasn''t a viable option.

    "I guess it depends, if the area is too wet I''ll probably use water melody to drown out the numbers. or a wind melody to suffocate them."

    "you are so brutal, you know that right," aero only shrugged. was the first time someone time told him that, he just used his all in every situation. as his pride demanded. he wondered if his team understood it, but he also wondered how he would explain this. his team knew how much he valued his pride, but did they know how much it affected his actions? would they stay around long enough to find out?

    aero didn''t dwell on these thoughts as they moved on with the tactics conversation. before going to bed, aero made his letter for his mother. sending it out the next morning before his team headed to train.

    today he crossed weapons with tzilla and loir, taking them both separately." your'' doing great!" he couldn''t keep back the swell of pride at how skilled they''d become. both of them have come close to sticking him with a low-powered medley. the fact they''ve made it this far said incredibly about them.

    ''i picked great people to be on my team,'' aero beamed as he tended to his bruises. while they hadn''t managed to land a melody they''ve still managed a few hits. though there was clear concern in their eyes when they spare. aero considered the fact they willingly hit him a great improvement. he made good choices and he couldn''t wait to see more of the results.

    the training helped fill their time until the meeting. which they didn''t talk about much as they were truly unsure of what to expect. Aero mentally prepared himself for confrontation. physical or verbal he was sure it would be either of these. when the daybreak of the meeting came aero readied himself by stretching and reading. relaxing himself the best he could before the meeting.

    a squadron of guards came to retrieve them," you''ll have to leave your weapons here." the lead guard stated, which unnerved all of his team. they lived with their weapons, and each of them felt off balance without them. aero''s skin itched as they were led out of the inn and down the streets until they came to the center building. he looked around the building, seeing many pictures of people who were probably important.

    ''but I doubt they''ll have any weight about this conversation.'' that was just by judging the age of some of these pictures. ''who would have guessed my foremother''s attempts to turn me away from fighting would have used.'' that women tried to introduce him to many things, some he did find a bit interested but rejected them on the principle of the one introducing them.

    they arrived in a large meeting room, Baili was already seated silently waiting for them. aero moved toward a seat, his teammates had paused to take in the leader''s appearance. which aero didn''t pay the attention to until he had taken his own seat and seated his posture for the meeting?

    ''wow!" taking a good look at Baili aero had to admit, she was beautiful. shades of silver made her skin while her carapace was white like clouds. its patterns were a mix of hexagons and triangles. her were was bright that they just drew you in, but aero took in her beauty and pushed it aside at the same moment.

    it''s something that he has done plenty of time with practice, plenty of attractive people he''s met while he''s been a hunter. many of them were some way good-looking, but aero didn''t care nor did he wish to be distracted by them. so he found the best way to deal with it, accept it.

    they were good-looking but it was nothing more than their appliance, aero was prideful and that affect his thoughts on romance. someone worthy and someone who respected him, what that meant he was unsure but that was what he desired.

    Baili waited until everyone had taken their seats. "the item to me and all the leaders of this world, you know about that?" she remained vague in an attempt for information. this wouldn''t be any different from her usual job, subtle and roundabout like all politics and deals were.

    politics is a matter that aero would never consider worth his time or patience.

    "I sent the clothes to let you on the fact that their life is beyond our planet, I didn''t think you''d be so foolish to fight that life." Baili was taken aback by how easily he gave up the information, then she realized she had been insulted." and what so foolish about taking the initiative about a threat?"

    "Nothing, but you don''t have the slightest clue about the threat! we haven''t even left our own planet yet and you want to fight the people out there," aero scuffed. "what else would I call you then foolish, hell we still struggle with creatures!" Baili hid her hands under the table as they clenched, keeping her face blank.

    "alright you have a point," she notice how some tension left the male teammates. like they were expecting it to get worse, this boy might be a bit arrogant but how far did they think he would go? "but what do you suggest we do then?"

    "Nothing I''m already taking care of it, if you are willing to help me that''s another matter."

    "What!" Baili couldn''t hold back her voice, that was absurd." how dare you! are you prepared to face the Zatless with that arrogance!" aero''s face contorted in rage, "did you call me arrogant." despite the weeks of travel they''ve never heard aero with such cold venom in his voice. but at that moment it sounded like venom was the only thing in his voice.

    his entire team tensed, and the guards did the same feeling the atmosphere. "I am prideful! never refer to me as arrogant." his fingers dug into the wood of the table," arrogance is unfounded! I know what I''ve done and a clear idea of what I can do! I know I can make it to space," he stood up from the table. emotions refusing to stay still.

    he slowly walked around the table, digging lines in the table as he figgers remained seated in it." in fact I''ve already started on that, meet a little inventor and told her about tech from other worlds. but since you''re so sure I''m arrogant how about you try! how about you make it to space," he made it around the table until he was a breath away from her face.

    "little tidbit of information, space is cold and without air, sound doesn''t travel. gravity and pressure are so different from land that people will die from them. accomplishing space travel takes a long time, our planet''s been so busy with the creatures we haven''t advanced in technology fast enough."

    aero leaned in even closer so that Bailia could stare nowhere else than his eyes, she looked into them. she absently noticed they were such a beautiful sight, even with the bubbling rage behind them. but more than the rage, she saw a pride so firm that she wasn''t sure that the zaltess and zalts couldn''t shake it.

    "If you think you can make it to space in your lifetime your sourly mistaken, but try." he smiled," I encourage you to I know you won''t be around when it''s done. I might though." the last part was a whisper that only Baili heard.

 41

    ''i might have said too much,'' aero thought as he pulled back. walking round the table to retake his seat. he chooses not to look at his slightly panicking teammates, ''dear zalts let her not have aero arrested!'' Lior silently prayed to the legendary beings. she didn''t think that the meeting would spiral so badly so fast.

    of course, none of them could have predicted how quickly Baili would insult aero''s pride which set him off, of course, his team was glad he didn''t outright strike her. but from the gouges he left on the table it took great restraint from him. ''if she wasn''t anyone else he probably would have just smacked her,'' Tzillia commented to herself. she also wondered if they would make aero pay for the damages.

    ''what did he mean?" Baili asked herself, how could he possibly be around? he might be younger than her, but hunters tend to have their lives cut short by missions. that said for what he thought of his skills, to her it reeked of arrogance. but she didn''t say that eyeing the damage to her table. something to deal with later, for now, she needed to talk about reaching space.

    ''he holds information that we''ll need to get anywhere in a timely manner,'' but she remained silent staring him down. he meet her gaze with a face of stone, a few petals passed in silence as she waited for him to react. but aero remained silent, completing if she was worth reacting to. she already insulted him greatly, and he didn''t want to give her more than he needed.

    "If you''re waiting for aero to break," Inni spoke breaking the silence. Lior followed up," we could be here for an entire moon cycle." he didn''t even know if she was exaggerating, Baili frowned before signings. "alright, child," aero gave a full face twitch but remained silent, " what do you suggest we do?"

    for a moment aero pondered giving into his spite and launching at her, but they needed his help. not to mention he needed her resources. "there are many challenges transversing space, and a number of them are just reaching it. then surviving the void, navigating it." he noticed one of the guards pulled out some scrolls.

    "the last problem is simple enough, we can trade for star maps and work from there. " Baili asked how much of a struggle it would be to reach space." we have to make sure we survive it first," Baili quickly countered. "what the point of surviving it if we can''t even reach it, not to mention even with outside it will probably take a long while to reach the point where either matter. " aero didn''t have an actual argument, not to mention he didn''t want to waste energy on her by being petty.

    however, a part of him that badly wants to be so petty and infuriate her.

    they spent the rest of the meeting talking about the technological advance meant for their planet to reach space, creating a flight craft. they relied on creatures to transverse the clouds, but that wasn''t going to work in the stars. as far as they knew they weren''t a creature on their planet caple of leaving the atmosphere. but even there was they doubted it was something they could tame easily.

    plus on a general scale, they needed to raise their planet''s technical level or they would be easy pickings for the more violent people. like space bandits, a concept many of them didn''t get. creatures were too much of a problem for things like bandits didn''t exist. creatures once they found a bit of weakness you would attack. easily the more aggressive species could take out any kind of budding bandits before they could build any kind of specific defense.

    "I see what you''re saying if the sound doesn''t travel well in space who knows how well our melodies will work," Baili commented after aero explained why they should increase their technological level.

    "no, I think the melodies will still work, it''s our vibrating bones that cause the effect anyway." That meant at least some medlies would probably still work. he believes mostly short-range ones, "our bones vibrate?!" Tzillia shouted looking at her hands in amazement or disgust. aero was not sure.

    "let me guess the space people told you?" aero nodded, " I don''t remember the details of the matter." he talked to the helper about it once and that was months ago. he didn''t party see the information about his own biology as that useful, true it was interesting to know how his body allowed for the mystical effects. but beyond a better idea of managing it in combat, he didn''t find much use for the information.

    "we''ll I guess that''s the reason melodies harm us," Baili''s main guard commented to themself. " something to keep in mind I guess,'' she didn''t know if there was a way around that problem other than holding back on their melody use. she thought about it while aero spoke about how melodies would definitely help them reach space.

    "I know a melody with more than a dozen notes would allow users to survive the void but that wouldn''t be helpful in large-scale travel," not to mention he didn''t actually know how long it would last. from what he knew from school, the longest melody lasted little more than a flower. that wasn''t enough time to do anything in space.

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    forget traveling, unless they achieved light-speed travel as well. but that might not be enough time to reach some of the closer planets. forget the one in another star system. besides even if they managed to create a melody to achieve at the speed of light that didn''t mean they should. anything that moves as fast or faster than light needed a certain level of durability so the speed didn''t pull them apart.

    another topic that came up was the trade, aero mentioned being in contact with the lord of greed. though he didn''t mean the title. "I can''t help you there much for the moment as I don''t have a lot to trade with and I might owe her a bit." he wasn''t sure how much money he''s made her, but for the moment he would like to be able to just straight buy something instead of making a trade for his energy.

    without the full knowledge of the energy, he wielded he rather not rely on it, but he would use it. he should talk to Xoqax, maybe he''s learned something new. but that was for later at the moment he focused back on the meeting that lasted two flowers and passed mid-day.

    "yeah I don''t like that!" aero stretched out as they stepped out of the building feeling the light of the sun fully again. he hasn''t spent that much time indoors sitting in a long time, even when he went to hunter school he was pretty active during class. causes there weren''t things you could only learn in theory. but sadly for the young lord, he was aware it was something he was going to have to get used to.

    even if he didn''t start an organization like the lord of greed has done, he would still have to talk with so many people. which would take many flowers, he wasn''t looking forward to this in the slightest.'' but that probably won''t be for a while.'' which he was happy about

    ''well done my lord!'' the helper spoke up for the first time in a while. aero asked what they''d been doing during that time," observing you my lord. seeing how you cope without my assistance," aero thought over it for a moment. a question formed in his mind.

    "just to see how I do or are you preparing for something?" he wouldn''t be mad at either answer, aero liked testing his own limits, seeing just how far he could go. how would his pride grow if his abilities didn''t? the helper answer the question pretty simply." a bit of both honestly my lord," they were testing how the lord''s education would progress. through this point, their lord has gained a better hold on his emotions.

    which is something valuable during negotiations. the meeting with Baili, not to mention what came before showed the helper how they could better guild their lord." so how do you suggest I grow?" aero asked the helper, a bit of irritation in his tone. the helper was phased by it, lightly expecting such a thing to happen. their lord didn''t take commands well.

    thankfully the help didn''t have any only suggestions, like betting games with his team. they would allow him to bond with them while letting him improve his poker face. the helper suggests many things that their lord could do on the road, seeing as he spent a good amount of time traveling.

    ''by the way, my lord you should take a look at your stats, you''ve racked up a good amount of experience as a leader.'' wondering what the bodiless being was thinking aero pulled up the menu he hasn''t checked in months. actually as far as he remembered he hasn''t checked it when he sealed the leaking energy.

    Abiathar Aero

    Mind 2.9

    Body 3.2

    Energy 4.6

    Lord Level 4

    "so I''ve reached level four," that was good. though he didn''t need a screen to tell him of his improvements, it was nice to see them displayed before him. "I never asked but how does my there stats increase?" he wanted to bring up the level of his mind and body.

    ''These numbers are overviews of your attributes, mind is things like intelligence and wisdom, memory, emotions, empathy. experience extra. the body is everything part of your body down to your individual cells'' aero asked what a cell was and the helper told him to ask Tova.

    ''i''ll send her a letter,'' aero stated.'' anyway energy is what energy I can store and use right? the number has gone up because I''ve stored the energy. My body has gone up because I excise daily but I''ve been pushing harder. mind went up because I''m learning to control myself better and have better experiences while learning new things from Tova. is that correct?''

    ''Exactly my lord,'' the praise went right to the young lord''s pride, '' but with the information I''ve gained about your race, I''m not sure how much more you can continue to raise your stats before you reach your limit?'' aero hummed for a moment. reaching his limits wasn''t that much of a problem to him, he would simply work with that.

    his limit wouldn''t stop him, if he couldn''t get stronger he would improve his technique. if he couldn''t get smarter, he would learn other things. just because he reached his limit didn''t mean he would stop.

    ''so it''s likely that you will have to break through those limits by transforming your body!'' aero stopped walking before the inn, and his teammates "what?" the helper didn''t say much about what it meant to transform his body. but they did tell him, it likely would be a stiff mountain to cross. ''as far as my knowledge of your race, no one has transformed their body.''

    taking a deep breath aero tried to calm his heart, the chance to walk an unknown path. if he could make it to the end how much would that say about his skills, how many would be forced to acknowledge my ability when it came to an end? better yet, once he transformed what would he be able to accomplish? he was excited, that was clear to his team but he didn''t say what.

    "so what are your suggestions? how do you think I should reach my limits?" the helper started putting out a list of things that aero could do to strengthen his mind and body, even something for his team. aero wrote this down on a scroll, which he would so them later. for the moment he turned around to head back to the inn''s cafe for something to eat.

    "we''ve accomplished our goal right?" Inna asked as aero joined them at the table. "yes if they need something they can send a later." Galia choked on her water, she understood aero valued his own time over there. but even the leader of their country, "is there going to be a day when I''m not surprised by how you act?"

    "you better hope so," aero told her because it sounded like it would be a real problem in the long run. for her anyway unless it got on aero''s nerves and he hit her. which he didn''t want to, he would currently tentatively call her a friend.

    "I''m sure you''ll figure something out," tzilla comforted her fellow teammate before turning to their leader." so where are we headed next? a mission or more training?" that caused aero to pause, he took a moment to think. " small mission practical experience is needed for all of us right now."

    "then in that case," idit spoke up," I suggest he hunt some babbits those fucker aren''t too large of a threat if you aren''t surrounded." aero school his face the best he could and tried to not rush his agreement. though the ones that attacked him were probably dead and one with the soil. he would love a rematch with the race, "we should check if there are any missions for babbit first."

    there wouldn''t be any problem if they just randomly hunted, they would need to make a report. which was kind of a several-flower process, so finding a mission would be a simpler option. also, it would secure their payment which they would need.

    they''ve spent a good amount of coin on their travel together, not just because of their new weapons and flight. the supplies, mostly food. then other things like traveling soap so he could clean in rivers. this over the course of several weeks took a lot from their savings. they probably wouldn''t be this low on funds if they had done a bit of hunting while they traveled.

    ''well, we had made it a priority to get our new weapons, something to keep in mind later.'' since it was still pretty early in the day, the team decided to use it.

 42

    "well none of them are babbitt hunting, "aero huffed dropping the stack of hunting missions. he and idit decide to check out the missions while the rest of the team did their own thing. some training, some shopping some seeing the sights. aero wanted to get some paperwork done before he went to the training hall again. idit wanted to make sure aero didn''t get in a fight, plus going to the training hall. she had a track she wanted to polish.

    seeing that there weren''t any missions available in a traveled area for the team, the two started on the paperwork for their hunt. it wasn''t much at least, but they knew this was the paperwork to get more paperwork sent to aero''s home when their hunt came to an end.

    when that was done they moved to the training hall, taking up their rented room. not much was said between them before they started their training. aero trying out what the helper suggested to train his body, which partly touched on some muscles he didn''t use in his fighting style.

    which was a surprise to him, he fought to win. he''d headbutt someone if it came to it, he''s used every part of him if he could. but apparently, there were muscles he didn''t pay much attention to. so these exercises were fine with him, ''i''m only turning my body into even more of a weapon!'' that was something aero was aiming for.

    aero worked his body several ways, while idit worked on the trick. if the melodies were the effects of sound vibrating through their bodies. that meant in a way they were living instruments. while it was probably safer to just use her drum gantlets, she wasn''t going to ignore the use of such information.

    but the scope of her trick was hard, the trick of using two melodies at once. one with her gauntlets, the other with her body. she knew it would be hard, learning a single medley was a challenge. but preparing two at once was a new level of challenge.

    after more than a dozen attempts and failing with no injury. though it came close, idit decide that she needed to try something simpler. so she decided that using one melody double was the simpler step, but still took almost a dozen tries before she could synce the melodies.

    aero jumped as the loud and far-reaching sound shook the entire room. he was on his feet fist at the ready, but when he looked at the source of the sound, he found idit standing there just shocked with a bleeding arm. confused about what just happened aero focusing on the pressing injury. the room didn''t have any medical supplies so aero grabbed his teammate and raced out of the room.

    thankfully training accidents were uncommon so there were medically trained people in the building. they had already been on the way as the noise idit made traveled through hot the entire building, many people came out to investigate what the source of the noise was. some saw aero drag idit through the halls. other followed the trail of blood.

    either way, a small crowd gathered before the room they were in and they saw the destruction idit had wrought. the training dummy was a little one then shards of wood embedded into the cracked stone walls. it littered the cracked stone floor as well, the room was a good stick away from caving in. "what kind of melody was that?" one person asked, this kind of destruction wasn''t easy to bring forth.

    the dummies were made with treated wood, the wood was naturally hard like rocks, then made even harder with a foul-smelling brew made from creature body fluids and then a melody. at that point, the density and durability were approaching that of a diamond. not that the people of the planet do due to the minimal mining they performed to preserve nature.

    "I wonder if I can learn that," someone commented as the worker came around to clean up the room. they were shooing away the crowd, who returned to their own training. some of them wanted to see if they could reach that level of destruction, and others followed the trail of blood. which lead them to a room aero was guarding.

    "what do you want?" he glared at the women standing before him. he wasn''t sure what they wanted, but idit was getting treated right now and he wasn''t about to let anyone interrupt that. at the same time, they had just interrupted his thinking, for some reason when he saw idit leading his heart and stomach curled in on themselves.

    a feeling he only got when he thought about his mother having to receive a letter about his health going bad. like when a beast got too close to actually hurting him. he vaguely understood that he was worried about what he might call a new friend. he didn''t think he was at the point he worried about anyone other than himself and his mother.

    ''i''m not sure if I like this feeling,'' he had more people to worry about and that was kind of nice. because it meant he cared. but it kind of felt natural. he''s been trying to work with this new feeling, his thoughts going around in circles and knots when the people came. he rarely likes interacting with strangers, when he was in a neutral mood.

    he was in a bad mood, so he really wasn''t listening to everything they were saying. but he caught enough to understand what they wanted, they saw the power that idit unleashed and wanted to know more. "she''s injured! come back later!" now some of them had the sense to walk away. others did not.

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    "come on, we just want a word you''re a girl." now the woman who said this had a foot in an area and probably a dozen years, she had scars and a necklace made from a number of teeth. none of that stopped aero from lunging at her," wow!" she pushed away his attack and the following spinning kick. "I don''t have a girl!" he couldn''t remember the number of times people asked about that

    "oh have you found a girl?!"

    "Is there a girl you are interested in?"

    "oh how cute, I think she likes you."

    so many times people talked about girls and who he should date, it drove up trees and mountains. look found some people physically attractive, and yes a part of him wanted to date. but both of those were overthrown by the pride as a hunter, as a fighter. something most women thought he shouldn''t do, they weren''t even thinking about how he wanted to focus this part of his life on his skills.

    realistically he''d probably been a hunter for half his life before age and wounds made him stop, as was the avenge for all hunters. less if he suffered a wound that didn''t heal right. he knew he would have time, he wasn''t going to die that easily.

    aero spent a few petals trying to hit the woman before pulling his temper back," don''t make assumptions about my relationships" still steaming aero once again leaned up against the door, glaring at anyone who eyed it too long.

    thankfully it wasn''t too long before the doctor cleared idit to leave, there were bindings all over her arm and it smelled thick of medical herbs. idit didn''t say anything clearly picking up the tension and deciding that they should leave for the moment. she did learn why all these people were around, getting a better idea of the scale of what she did.

    "by the Zalts and Zaltess that impressive," she wasn''t trying to play up her ability. she was generosity impressed by what she had done, it was incredible and she could help but feel a sense of growing pride, ''if that what it can do now. I can wait to see what happened when I perfect it.'' aero watched her excited expression grow as they walked out of the training hall.

    he couldn''t help but that a curious peak at her pride,'' Is it changing? no growing in a way?'' it wasn''t hard to connect the change to what idit figured out. the problem was aero''s lack of people understanding of people and the rules the energy was bound by. ''is her pride growing because of her accomplishments?'' either way the energy was leaking out, and seeing it made aero wonder if he should teach his team to seal the leaks.

    "maybe for another day," for now he would focus on watching Idit''s pride. it was an interesting thing to watch the change, he asked the helper to share the data with Xoqax. he figured the scientist could use the data, maybe he would be able to figure something out.

    another reason for keeping an eye on his teammate''s pride was if it grew too big, he wouldn''t let the beast notice her and...'' what happened when someone draws the beast''s attention?'' he might not have heard this, or he has and just forgot. the helper was quick to answer their lord.

    ''they will push their influence on them, at best they will have dreams as you have. at worst the best will completely crush their minds and use their bodies like puppets.'' there was a horrifying moment when aero didn''t say anything, idit was quick to notice his expression. "is something wrong aero?"

    "nothing for the moment," though he said this he quickly asked the helper if there was anyone in the puppet state. the answer was far from happy news,'' only your planet less than a dozen, in your star system, a bit more than thirty. the number grows the further out.''

    ''so I''ve got loads of work before me, how do I help these people?'' the helper said that aero would be better off learning how to identify them first, ''after that, you must cut the connection between them and the beast. would you like for me to give the general location of the nearest?''

    ''wouldn''t it be better for you to tell me their exact location,'' the helper made a disappointed sound.'' I''m ashamed to say this but the beast of pride is caple of preventing me from seeing too much about its location and doings.'' the helper also admitted that they could only tell it was using people as puppets because of the way it had to break through it cell to maintain these connections.

    aero and idit had arrived back at the inn, idit returning to her room so she didn''t aggravate her wounds. while aero hung around the lobby staring at the pride of the people going around. trying to imagine how he would notice the connection to the beast, it really wasn''t going all that well.

    ''how many people on Agustine have any kind of connection to the beast?'' the helper was silent and at that moment aero figured he wasn''t going to like this answer.'' about 83%.'' if aero had been drinking anything he would have to spit it across the room, '' you were a candidate for the lordship because despite you massive pride you managed to block a connection.'' the helper added before leaving aero to digest the information.

    it took aero a while to wrap his mind around the scale of the beast''s power, just how much trouble was coming his way. ''it''s not like I can''t deal with it,'' he was sure he could handle it somehow. problem was how long it would take and how should he deal with it. "so much work for me to do?"

    he thought about how he would have to take care of for a while before turning in for the day. he was stressed, he also used two orbs of his stored energy to forge chains and rope for the beast. just so he felt like he was doing something, just for today.

    he slept with a vivid nightmare about the beast, who was clearly less than pleased by the extra bindings despite them being little more than an annoyance. "DOn''t DIsreSPect me CHilD!" aero responded with some of the galactic swears he learned from Tova and the helper. along with many insulting gestures, "you won''t have my respect anytime soon!"

    he woke up with a mild aching in his head, but that wasn''t too bad thanks to how smug in the fact he managed to annoy the beast. "now how to give it even more trouble to the beast?" that was the simple matter learning to see the connection then breaking. the helper informed him of the nearest puppet, the person with the strongest connection.

    ''thank the zalts,'' the location was actually near a babbits nest. which meant aero didn''t have to change his team''s plan, of course, he still had to talk to them about why he was looking for a specific person. ''how much should I tell them?'' aero wondered as he ate his first meal with them.

    ''they''ve shone to be pretty open-minded, so it probably not worth it to lie. so aero started completing his explanation, though he didn''t spend too much time on it as he didn''t need to say anything until the team got closer. so he spent his day doing other things, a bit of training before he got called by Baili''s guards.

    "she wants to speak with you more," aero grumbled but followed them, he honestly would have preferred spending the day doing anything else. he knew it was needed, on the walk up to the Baili''s office aero tried to mentally prepare himself for some very dull conversation.

    when he arrived it was just as dull, no more than he thought. the woman only wanted to clarify some information and also talk to him about the political implications of the change that was coming. aero wasn''t ashamed to admit to saying a lot of what she said when over his head and past his ears, thankfully the helper was able to keep him up. they didn''t provide aero with any response for aero.

    the young lord was more than happy to give his own opinion on the matter, maybe it was a bad opinion in terms of politics. but aero didn''t give a single thought or inclination.

 43

    the team parted from the capital no more than a week after their first meeting with Baili, during those days the team trained and prepared. aero had several more meetings with her and scientists, who were very interested in the other world knowledge aero possessed. aero was mildly impressed by the pride they all possess, he didn''t hesitate to chip at the ones who were close to or already drawing the beast''s attention.

    despite his best attempts throughout the week aero still hasn''t figured out the way to determine if someone has a connection to the beast, the helper informed him there was a good number of that kind in the city. and he tried many things, such as empowering his senses to the point his eye''s almost bleed. along with trying to configure the energy in different ways, while this made him see things. he saw nothing he wanted.

    ''i still don''t get the wings or the faces,'' he saw so many things but most of them didn''t make sense to him. well, he had a suspicion about them, everything he saw was in some way related to pride. something might be a representation of what they took pride in, maybe even how pride made them feel. seeing how the energy was emotion-based.

    ''how much do emotions affect the state of pride?'' this sounded philosophical to him. but seeing as he was the lord of pride, he probably would have to get philosophical sometimes. ''would I even be good at it,'' that kind of thing required a lot of thought. which wasn''t something aero did a lot of, ''well not in that direction.''

    aero put a lot of thought into his combat, training, and his plans when they came to him. but most of the time he didn''t his thoughts wander, determined, and focused on a goal that he was chasing. ''i guess I have to let them wander more... I don''t this is something I can make happen.'' aero grumbled turning back to his cart as he loaded the final object. a bag of medicine, he wasn''t going down against babbits again.

    it didn''t take long for all of them to pack up their carts, settle the payment and start heading out of the town. their destination was pretty far so they wanted to get as much time on the road as they could. on the way, they discussed a general battle plan.

    it was mostly keeping an eye on each other so the winged creatures didn''t drain them of blood. or chew on their bones. they also talked about aero''s universe-level job, but he didn''t explain any details. but told them he meet certain requirements which got him the jobs months back, "it''s largely a work in progress. lots to learn and I need to get stronger to do it right." he didn''t mention how dangerous the job was.

    "at some point, I''m going to leave the planet and explore the universe, if you want you all might be able to come with me." that was probably the closest he would get to admitting he enjoyed their company in this time frame. aero would probably improve on this at someone, but he wasn''t going to push it.

    "I can''t tell if I''m afraid or excited to see what aliens look like," loir spoke, bouncing in her spot. "do you know?" aero shrugged," according to my tutor there are as many species as they are planets and stars." the team looked up, the sun had recently set so they couldn''t see the stars.

    they all spent enough nights camping to know how they littered the dark sky. aero explained not all of them were stars, and what stars were." giants balls of fire, that mildly comforting." aero wasn''t sure if Gailia was being serious or not but he deiced not to ask and instead spoke more about stars.

    "yeah, real comforting knowing that one day that sun will grow to the point our planet will be devoted." okay now he knew Gailia was being sarcastic and it wasn''t Idit''s snickering that clued him in. so aero rolled his eyes," we''ll all either be dead or moved from this planet by then. besides space travel will problem advance enough long before that point." the team took in the information before realized something he said.

    "we might be dead in billions of lower in the future? how would we not be?" aero paused before deciding he wasn''t going to answer that right now. " I don''t know, but the universe is really big and what you believe are the universe''s limits probably aren''t close to its actual limits.

    "alright time for bed," Tilia said going over to her cart because she learned a lot of mind-boggling knowledge tonight and she wanted time to digest that. even with how early in the night it was, the rest of the team decide to take after her example with aero taking the first watch.

    ''fine by me I''ve got some training to do,'' aero thought as he stretched out before going through the recommended workouts. he saw finishing his physical stats would be the thing he finished first. also short term it would be the thing that helped him the most.

    that didn''t say he didn''t do mental work, arithmetics was a thing he could do. though he''s never needed anything above what was needed for purchases. there was something called geometry and physics that the helper said would help with his medleys. he got the physics after the helper spent some time explaining what physics was.

    geometry, on the other hand, points, and lines didn''t seem that helpful to him. but he trusted the help and still made the explain himself, which kind of took a while but he understood, the helper belive spacial warping was possible from the medley. From how they described it, it was hazardous, and even an attempt required solid groundwork.

    ''it''s will help either way,'' excising his mind at the least. his turn for the watch came to a peaceful end as he traded with idit to lay down in the pack of the cart in his bed. he removed the restraints of the beast before going to sleep himself, he dreamed of red with the beast invading once again.

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    ''it''s not winning,'' aero grumbled as he jerked awake. a quick check showed the begging of sunrise, which was a fine time for the lord to get up. Tzllia was still on watch but she waved at aero as he climb out and started stretching followed by going to the river, it was like 8 petals away from camp. a workable distance, he returned to camp where everyone who wasn''t already up was still dreaming.

    "you take a nap," he told Tzllia throwing some twigs in their dying came fire," for what the next petal. I''ll wait until we start moving to rest!" aero shrugged but let her have her way. things were quiet between them while the sun rose in the sky and the rest of the team woke up.

    the sun was 3/4 above the horizon before everyone was up a getting ready for the day, some moving slower than others. but they moved out encouraging their creatures to pull the carts down the forest road. aero spent a good portion listing to his helper and his team, the helper had a report from Xoqax.

    the scientist has been running tests for a while and was sharing more information with him, while there wasn''t anything big or combat-useful it was still information the young lord would need, in turn, aero showed what he''s learned about the sight of individual pride.

    he wasn''t sure how much that information would help, but the information was information. after the transition of information was complete aero tuned into his team sharing stories about their weirder hunts, "-so somehow this 9-foot creature thought it would be able to hide behind a 2-foot rock. so I spent several moments staring baffled while I truly believed that it had escaped my vision."

    "by the zalts! what did you do?" idit asked Lior, who struggled." what else would I do but take it done and move on with the hunt. I did feel kind of bad, it looked so confused how I saw it." the girls giggled while aero wonders how that must have looked.

    so he asked and Lior did her best to describe the creature''s face, her attempts getting giggles and slaughter from her teammates. Tzilla took her turn after telling the story of how she competed with another hunter over a mix-up they had been hunting two different creatures that look remarkably alike. this led to a small argument and a short fight, mostly cause of the pride they gains.

    but they were able to sort it out and hunt their respective goals, turning them in in the same town. "you know we still exchange letters sometimes, though she lost an arm last year had had to retire." that brought on a slight sober mood, which Tzillia immediately tried to bring up" but I think it was more of her first child being born then the arm, she can still fight pretty well!" the axe thrower paused for a moment." hey aero is there a way that she could gain an arm back."

    when aero directed the question to the helper received several answers, "yes in terms of the universe. but with our current scientific level not really." that dropped the mood," but melodies offer a different solution.'' not that aero knew the specifics about this, he could send several lengths of paper to the capital to get them to study and craft the right kind of medical melodies.

    of course, his statement leads to just the potential that their melodies had, while it was commonly known that melodies had a great amount of power and potential this was rarely brought out. partly health concerns and experimental concerns plus the lack of need for that kind of power. as the helper once put it.

    all living things on Augustine were mortal!

    this he now understood as them not transcending past the limits, which he was working towards. aero talked to his team about what kind of melodies he would use if he didn''t have to worry about after effects," and of course, they all sound like something that will show people you''re not to be messed with a show of skills."

    "Is there a problem with that?" Aero turned his gaze towards Inna. who nervously laugh, she could tell aero was getting defensive. not something she wanted to deal with as that could result in him getting violent if pushed enough. when he saw that she wasn''t going to push aero dropped the conversation as well, instead turning to a conversation that advancing their scientific level would greatly help their planet.

    "according to what I''ve been told, our technological level isn''t bad. but we could improve in several places. I would love a metal quarterstaff or more variation in our diet," that second part caught their attention and suddenly there were talking about food. while jells came in an array of flavors.

    they only had one texture, soft and melt in your mouth. not bad never been a problem, but the chance to feel other kinds of food sparked interest throughout them all. aero also brought out mundane things like clothing, music that didn''t cause near magical effects, and dances that wouldn''t reshape the earth more something that fascinated them.

    "All this sounds both like complete creatures shit, but at the same time I can''t wait to see it." aero reminded them they would need a spaceship." can we get one, like buy one from a different planet."

    "We don''t have the money for that," thought he vaguely remembered a plan to buy a vehicle in the form of a cart. which he could still do, he had a better idea of the value of his energy to sell. but that gave him an idea of the amount of energy that he would need to purchase,  decent size space ship would require him to store a planet-sized sphere of energy.

    ''well, what the helper calls decent,'' according to what they explained to him. it was a spaceship caple of housing thousands of small to large lifeforms for generations. it could take the force of an exploding star, and escape the gravity of a micro-black hole. a particle cannon, "what the hell is a particle? What''s a cannon?"

    from what he understood the ship that the helper believed would be best for his needs, was one of the cheaper options as well. not there were ships with less to them, smaller simply transport vehicles. but the helper has expressed that he would need for them to survive, a cosmic lord attracted attention.''

    there was also the influence of his pride, aero understood that the couple probably gets something small. it would arrive sooner and wouldn''t take as much work. but aero was far from afraid of work, he also wasn''t that willing to settle for something too below his standards.

    ''i''ve never seen a space ship and yet I have standards for them,'' he could almost laugh as the team moved over a river where something with fins and eyes glared at them. they glared right back, but neither side attacked as the creatures moved on. it children following after them.

    "so how could we help make the money?" aero snapped round to look at Inna," what?"

    "I just didn''t think about others helping me," which opened some options that were largely avoiding aero. he didn''t notice that his team rolled their eyes behind him, before tzilla spoke up, " okay so are there any options that come to right now?" aero shook his head.

    "What I''m seeing right now doesn''t have a definite worth and I can only produce it, I haven''t looked into much of what our planet produces but on a galactic scale it''s probably worth less than what we pay for it."

    "What are the supply and demand like on that kind of scale?" aero blinked looking at the pu doa user for a moment. he took a moment to answer her," thanks to faster-than-light travel methods location make a smaller difference but the effort to acquire said item to sell makes a bigger one. some planets are straight out dangerous to live on."

    "so not all planets are habitable?" Gailia asked, aero knew this answer as it was a question he asked Tova," plants are rated by how easy it is for life to bloom and thrive on these planets." he thought back more to that lesson and considered what else they might want to hear." on a scale of 1- 10 Augustine is currently rated at an 8. that will probably change up or down considered what they dig up about our planet."

    "so how bad or bad is that?"

    "a ten is best for life, while 1 means anything that comes from this planet is dangerous on the level beyond mortal." while there was some mixing context he got an idea of how much power that was, "like the zaltess and zalts," aero stopped turning to face idit.

    "exactly like that," when he gave it more thought he realized the zalts probably couldn''t take something from a 1-rated planet. not many of them were known for their combat ability. of course those stories were ancient and living as long as they have probably left time to pick up skills. ''i should probably ask them what they can do.''

    ''i don''t want to.''

 44

    aero managed to not think that at some point he had to communicate with the zalts. worship them he might he didn''t like a conversation with strangers. and no matter how many times he''s read over their stories, and asked for their guidance or blessing. he''s never met them, so he was understandably cautious about meeting strangers.

    ''my lord it would be best if you admit that you are nervous and scared about meeting your plant''s divine beings.'' the helper commented seeing their lord in denial, aero paused when he was washing his hands. blood slipping down the stream, "I''m not in denial about my emotions," he replied turning back to camp.

    it was quite the walk, but they didn''t want to move closer to the river as they were in the territory of the babbits''. they didn''t want to risk their camp being discovered when the small creatures went for a drink. something already had slipped into Aero''s cart when he was slipping, it tried to bite out his eyes.

    aero killed it with his bare hands the moment it touched him. being a light sleeper in the face of danger was required for any hunter or you would pass in your sleep. Aero''s never come close to dying but some things have crawled into his cart when he slept, even with shifts at night you couldn''t catch the smaller things.

    thankfully aero''s response time was fast so anything that got close to his sleeping form was stopped before any real damage could be done. that didn''t mean he hasn''t been bitten, he''s bitten back though.

    at camp he checked on everyone else, he hadn''t been the only one to be snuck up on. just the only one who had to wash his hands. tzilla was whipping blood off his axes while she watched the pile of corpses decays under the effects of the decay powder.

    Inna and idit were watching the surrounding, making sure more of the small creatures were going to try something, they could see the numbers in the trees around them. you could feel their desire to attack and take revenge. the tension was strokable, aero glared at the creatures in the tree himself before moving to the cart. the sooner they left the sooner they could avoid a possible fight, to commence a slather.

    in the end, they avoid the fight by moving their carts to a clearing where a bunch of tree rodents don''t live. then they planned their attack on another group of creatures, "the number is a lot larger than I thought it would be. but that just means more of them to go around!" Lior said after a quick scouting mission.

    "five hundred rounding down is a large number, but few people live close to this area so if the number does grow, they don''t get noticed." Inna added, "So that means there won''t be much of a problem if we take out most of them right?" aero asked as leader he was required to fill out some scrolls after this.

    "yeah less paperwork probably," Galia commented," but at least you work out some frustrations beforehand. "so who wants to go first?" a quick argument assured before Aero put a stop to it and had them crack rock to determine who meant first.

    "largest shard so I go first?" idit clanged her gauntlets together as she stepped into the direction of the Babbits'' nest. the rest of the team follows, at a distance to interfere if things got rouge. but enough space so she could fight on her own, despite the early hour, several Babbtis were going around their nest. but the moment idit stepped into the range of their sharp ears. they all turned towards their leathery wings spreading wide.

    the intimidation tactic barely halted her step, instead, she only smiled and charged. when she came closer, the Babbits jumped at her taking flight fangs at the ready. when the two sides meet, IdIt pivoted. slamming her fist into the side of the first creature, followed by an uppercut to the second, and a backhand to the third.

    the force sent them flying bones breaking, but they still drew breath. idit didn''t have time to pay attention to them, before the first even hit the ground, the fourth through sixth came at her. She fended them off with blows to the body.

    "HA!" she struck the seventh on the head before the eighth dived at her feet. with a swear, she punched down, and the creature curved out of the way missing her legs. but it quickly turned around f for another strike while 9 came in from the front.

    off to the side, 1 was starting to stand on its feet. something idit noted out of the concerns of her eyes as she raised her arms, grabbing the two charming babbits around the head." AH!" with a spin she slammed them into other babbits several times before tossing side their limp forms. at this point, she would start losing herself to the rhythm of blood and violence. but she came here to practice not falling into old habits.

    as the next babbits closed in she sighed flicking her wrist. this unlatched rope, the next punch letting out a booming sound of a drum, she quickly swung around following up with several more quick and loud tricks. She could feel it in her bones of the melody forming, ''That''s literal isn''t it?'' she realized in the beat between notes.

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    several more notes were played out before she roared!" time to go! You zaltess cursed creatures!" the melodies forced flowed into her body, and the babbits didn''t get a chance to blink before her fist went through several of their bodies. blood coating the leather and metal of her gauntlets. bit of bones and organs flew, but the gore was something she barely paid attention to as she moved.

    13 bodies were dropped before the burst of speed and strength came to an end. but there were still many more coming at her, she meets them recovering from the strain of the melody. but that didn''t slow her fist or her steps, not at first at least.

    ''This is too much pain,'' she thought feeling a slight spasm in her arm. her punch was off by an inch missing the chest of a baby coming at her from above. She corrected quickly before the teeth could reach her flesh. ''I messed up the melody,'' it was a pretty difficult melody, but from the way, she was feeling it was probably the second part. the part of the melody that dealt with the melody effect on her body.

    petals fell as she fought dropping more bodies as her muscles ached and bones stung. she didn''t try for another melody knowing that it would probably aggravate the issue. she could only work through the pain for a while before it became clear that the pain and spasm were getting too bad.

    "switch!" Idit called out as she back peddles towards the tree line, at the same moment Inna jumped from her hiding spot in the trees. the Babbtis didn''t see daggers until the skin was cut and blood was flying, the metal of her blades shining in the daylight as she moved. hacking at faces and wings, Babbits cried in the ear aching way reeling back from her, she only slowed her movement when they had forgotten about her teammate.

    flipping her left dagger into a reverse grip she rushed into the pack of winged creatures," Bring it you ankle-bitting rodents!" they meet her with a hiss and tried to tear out her leg muscles. thankfully she had a pretty solid kicking ability as she spins around and over the creatures. more than five creatures fell to her blades before she started on a melody.

    4 quick breezy notes, the vibrating of her bones, and then an aura covered her blades. then next slash into the side of Babbit''s number she lost count, and a blade of air flew cutting the rest of the way through and into the body of another Babbit. The effect of the melody only lasted a couple of petals but she made use of that time to cut into the number of Babbits.

    "she going very well," Aero leaned against a tree watching Inna move. She was deadly graceful, and she knew how to dance well.'' I should have asked if any of them knew how to dance,'' he knew that melody she used and it didn''t last as long as she made it through the dance. "doesn''t seem like she messed up recoil either," she was doing good.

    her rhythm was sustained until she tried for a second melody, it was one moment of hesitation when two Babbits high and low. a moment where she tried to attack and continued the melody, but it was a moment too long, and the incomplete melody dispersed through her entire skeleton. "ah!" she gasped from the horrible sensation.

    she didn''t have time to call out for a change, she didn''t have to. as the Babbits attempted to capitalize on her moment of weakness. a pu-dao came flying into the battleground, its owner just behind it, the blade end of the weapon clipped one babbitt. the moment her feet touched the ground and a hand wrapped around the shaft of the weapon.

    Gailia sliced through another Babbit, where Inna was as graceful as a breeze. Gailia was as fierce as a storm, her relentless drew in the gazes of her team. Inna almost forgot to retreat, but when a Babbit got too close she quickly retreated to the tree line." failed to complete a melody, what an amateur mistake." Inna grumbled as she dropped to the ground.

    "When it''s not second nature completing a melody is hard," Aero commented," I can tell you that it would be the last time that happens while you get familiar with your new weapon." he could remember the number of times he messed up and pushed onward. some time without another choice as he messed up amid battle.

    ''okay another plus of having a team,'' Aero thought watching Gaillia pull out a melody that coated her blade in a searing crimson flame. ''people to cover your back when you mess up.'' This made him think about some of the more dangerous ideas he had but put them away just as quickly. ''just because I have a little backup doesn''t mean I''m I can be reckless.'' nor was he interested in relying on that backup.

    just because he had it, didn''t mean he wanted to need it.

    Gallia lasted more than 10 petals as she took things slow, but she still made a mistake, a simple overreach on her strict. but for the babbit that was enough to dig their double fangs into her arm. they were quickly struck on the head but the damage was done and she retreated to the trees letting Tzillia have her turn.

    "she''s dividing most of them with her axes," if aero had to describe how Tzillia fought with her axes it would be precise to a mildly terrifying level. anything she cut was clean, and her throws were short arcs to the place she would be next. She was good, and Aero wondered if she held back in their spars more than she thought.'' this at least tells me why it''s so hard to hit her sometimes,'' if she could plot such trajectories in the middle of a mass fight she could read the trajectories of his attacks.

    her first attempt at a melody went pretty well, the base in the bottom of her axes rang out when she slammed them together. she managed 3 even beats before a chilling aura formed around the heads of her axes. "she''s going with ice?"

    ice was in treating choice to use in battle, it could be devasting. but usually took a great amount of effort to summon depending on the environment, but Tzillia used it with efficiency. each time her blade sliced into the flesh of a Babbit, ice formed on the inside of the wound. at some, this was lethal while others hurt and hindered the beast.

    frozen droplets of blood landed on the ground beneath her as her arms moved with little pause, slashing through flesh that froze before blood could spill. having the most practice with the newest form of her weapons. She didn''t make a mistake for a long while, her mistake wasn''t concerning her melody. it was overconfidence, or underestimating her opponent too much.

    "huh, that''s happened like twice before?" she said watching the Babbit fly higher with one of her throwing axes. having caught the weapon midair, " sighing, she spun around another furry winged creature and sent her other axe on a path for the thief''s head.

    "by the zaltess!" another babbit snatched her flying weapon. for a moment she considered how she would spill their blood and retrieve her weapons. She noted a few sizable rocks on the ground and still melting shards of ice she could do some damage with. She could also retreat and come back later, as she considered some small options... "I have teammates!" that kind of slipped her mind at the moment.

    looking at the bodies she put on the ground," I think I did good enough for today," grabbing a babbit that tried to ambush her. She kneed it in the face before rushing back to the tree, " Aero I hope you can get my weapons back!"

    "you''ll get them back when the numbers are low," that was Aero''s only promise as he walked towards the battlefield. the babbits had wised up to switch out and slightly waited for him to arrive. but Aero wasn''t in a rush, he was going to take this slow.

    this wasn''t the same group that put him in the care of healers, but they would have to do it. so he was going to slowly take out the rage of his wounded pride on them, he let the stored pride energy flare violently. he wanted this to hurt them physically and mentally.

    the helper wondered if this rage would be a problem but for the moment made notes that it was something their lord would have to work on. but for the moment they observed an interesting reaction from their lord''s energy.

 45

    the energy swirled around aero, even the spheres of stored energy. which currently were the size of medium boulders. the spun behind Aero as he let his energy spill into his weapon. By the time he reached the pack of Babbits and they charged at him, his prideful energy was barely retrained wanting to lash out at the world and all that treated it.

    A Babbit launched straight, its instincts were screaming that this creature before it was dangerous. in the way others around it weren''t. which meant eliminating and devouring their flesh.

    aero barely blinked, many thoughts drowned out by his pride energy. nothing at this moment seemed that big of a deal, he knew what he could do and thing furry annoyance would understand that just as it died. a simple straight jab with his staff was his only response.

    "by the zalts!" was the only thing idit could say as Aero''s single strike killed the babbit in a gorry fashion. Gittins of bone and fur flying off. the explosion was nearly silent but it still drew all eyes, absently she noted not a drop touched Aero.

    "that was new," Aero commented before walking forward." what was that?" he asked the helper looking at the now more hesitant babbitts. ''a hostile energy infusion,'' the helper commented. this opened doors. but they didn''t say anything letting their lord maintain their level of focus and harmony with the energy as he walked towards the creatures he currently identified as annoyances.

    annoyances that sensed a change in the danger before them, something that could spell the end of them if they didn''t fight back. but still might wipe them out even if they fought back, but as the threat walked forward. calm that true self-confidence could cause, he didn''t expect any true loss to happen in this fight.

    "May the Zatls and Zatless have your souls and may they show you kindness and mercy." that was the last words Aero spoke before his staff moved. it wasn''t fast but lacked the smallest waver as he tapped each babbit he passed. each dying in a gory fashion. though not a drop touched Aero. they were not worthy of touching him.

    after 5 deaths the Babbits moved, no longer letting themself die like helpless creatures. so they took to the air and dived at the teen, who only paused to shift his hold on his staff. before he swung high, the weapon briefly touched several Babbtis, before he swung low touching more. but that was more than enough to .et the energy injection take place.

    "how," tzilla wondered as the babbit swelled and burst, their remains raining down on the area but not a drop touched Aero as he continued to march towards the hoard. it was strange to watch this...it couldn''t be called a fight. it couldn''t be called a massacre either as Aero intentionally left a small number of male and female Babbits living. but not conscious, he wasn''t giving them that mercy to try and attack once more.

    slowly the number of Babbits neared the red line, hunters shouldn''t cross. though Aero didn''t seem to be thinking about it, as he stared down the remaining Babbits. the ones that have managed to avoid being killed or knocked out. aero looked at each of them wondering what he should do with the annoyances.

    ''my lord are they not worth your attention anymore,'' the helper spoke for the first time in several petals. aero blinked, he looked closely at the trembling creatures. too afraid to attack him. but also two afraid to run from him. ''your right there not worth my time,'' he stared at each of them. his energy briefly flaring as he looked them in the eye.

    "know your place!" he didn''t raise his voice, but his tone and the energy behind made up for it. infused with the creatures, scaring themself into the minds of the creatures as Aero walked back into the forest.

    "What in the story of the zalts was that?!" aero wasn''t sure which of his teammates said his ears were buzzing a bit too much. nor was he sure who was right in front of him, they might have been the person who spoke. but at the moment he couldn''t care, though the fog in his eyes and buzz in his ears he found a tree to lean against and take a seat on the ground.

    he didn''t faint, stubborn will. but he went into and out of awareness for a bit. the sun had set and moonlight shined down on the world when the buzzing died down and his vision started clearing up.

    ''helper what was that?'' the helper responded quickly, ''energy overload after a period of high-level energy use. you synced with the pride elements of the energy and resulted in a temporary enlightened state.'' aero was silent before admitting he needed a bit more time to put that together.

    "what you saying is," he said after a few moments," I synced with my energy in a way that brought me to a higher level of understanding. This led to instinctual usage of the power... probably not something I can replicate easily," the helper informed him people could spend there lives searching for entitlement and less than 10% will ever truly find it.

    ''as a comic lord, your chances are increased by 3/4. not mention how long you will possibly live.'' aero asked about his chances beforehand,'' to which the helper was unsure. they didn''t have enough information about his mental state before they meet. At the time they meet aero was already going through a mental change thanks to trauma from his battle with an unexpecting large battle of Babbits. ''know what kind of change it would have been, but my lord I didn''t think your chances would have been that low.''

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    "some times I think you''re kissing up, what makes you think I had a good chance of reaching enlightenment?" the helper didn''t say anything to the kiss-up comment, instead.'' my lord at your core you question things and don''t accept the simple truth that people hand to you, but you don''t deny the facts of things. adaptable as well, this is a good mindset for searching for enlightenment.''

    "Okay," Aero stated as that was annoyingly true. instead of asking more questions, he tried to recall what enlightenment felt like. the memory was foggy, but he could tell at that time he was calm. calmer than he''s ever felt even in his mother''s arms. calmer than he had any right to be.

    like even with all the world''s creatures before him, he didn''t have a reason to worry. he couldn''t figure out anything other than how calm he felt, the thought and memory were too foggy. ''I guess I''ll have to work from that one bit,'' so he shifted and started using meditative breaths.

    half a flower went by as he tried to reach that calm, but it wasn''t even within reaching distance. "Man this going to be a long-term thing." sitting up he stretched out taking stock of his body and his pride energy. sore but movable and combat-usable while the store of energy had been burned through.

    ''they were about the size of my fist,'' it would take some time for them to return to their previous size which was good to aero. "if I hadn''t had those I would have dropped into a weakened state from all the energy burned." what a great feeling to do something great and not have to drop into a weakened state.

    climbing out of the cart, he found idit sitting before a small fire where she was boiling a pot of water. she was either going to use it to wash or put in her waterskin, he wasn''t sure and didn''t care all that much, what he did care about was how late it was.

    the sky had gone dark when the sun had left the sky, which gave him an idea of how long he had been out from the enlightenment. he didn''t like something like that had knocked him out for so long," helper I would appreciate a way to prevent that from happening again."

    ''it''s simply a matter of energy resistance,'' Aero paused remembering when he stopped his energy leak. he blacked out from," How would I raise my resistance?" the answer to that was simple but a little harder to put into practice. it required him to circulate energy through his body in amounts that pushed his limits.

    ''but not too much as you risk damaging yourself or risking death,'' Aero nodded climbing out of the cart and putting his feet on the ground so he could feel a feel for the state of his body. besides all over sore from the overload, but he didn''t feel too bad. opening his stats revealed no hidden injuries, but also his energy and mental stats gained a small boost.

    Abiathar Aero

    Mind 3.3

    Body 3.2

    Energy 4.8

    Lord Level 4

    ''gaining an increased understanding of the energy I wield would affect those,'' something he could keep in mind. he didn''t feel a change in either of them, but he would take it at face value for the moment.

    after making sure that he was injured and in good health he drank some water and nibbled some food before climbing back into the cart for more sleep. he slept straight till morning, at which point Inna work him up as idit set a filled water skin in his cart. " come on we have to leave," he blinked at her some more, '' I''m too tired for fighting them.'' so he climbed into the front of the cart and started taking hold of the reins.

    they were on the road for half a flower before Aero decide he wanted to talk, " so have you figured out a destination?" he figured they were leaving the area due to the massacre they committed. at best the remaining Babbits might try something, at worse other creatures would feel threatened and come after them.

    moving was a good idea, decreasing the chance of them getting attacked. but having a new destination would be good, probably something for more training. " nope haven''t figured one out, plan to visit the nearest town and top off supplies first before figuring that out."

    aero nodded knowing that was a good choice of action, they move for another 3 flowers with light conversation before someone brought up the topic of what the zalts happened with Aero. "I don''t fully understand it... don''t remember it. I know that happened as a matter of fact."

    "well it was cool looking," tzilla said getting agreement from the rest of them. aero preened before pushing down the reaction," I would be cooler if I could control it." that got another round of agreement.

    "zaltess willing I''d like to learn something like that," Gaillia commented. mostly to herself, so she was caught off guard when Aero said that she could. " I don''t know if you can get enlightenment, but you can learn to use energy and attack with it."

    "how do you think that?" aero explained they were already manipulating energy thanks to their melodies so it was not a jump for the rest of them to learn some form of energy manipulation.'' besides if they know now they''ll probably be able to keep up with me in the future.''

    his statement of course affected the path of their conversation for the next few hours, as they talked about how they would reach that ability. aero explained that they would have to craft a melody. the one the helper crafted was specially designed for his body and to access the power of his pride.

    they probably didn''t need the power of their pride, which wasn''t a 1/4 as strong as his own. maybe a little more or less individually, ''that''s probably why I was chosen.'' four times the amount of that was probably unusual, even the people he had to track down treated less energy than he did. plus showing humility even though he would have truly been fine to die with his pride.

    ''what would be the best energy for them to unlock?'' the helper was only quiet for the moment it took for them to process and collect the answer.'' it depends on what kind of energy resistance potential they have. if it''s low I would recommend a low-grade energy like physic. for something higher maybe mana or aether.'' they were stronger energy forms but the helper frankly doubted they were someone on this planet that could take them.

    ''what happens if they use too strong of an energy?'' the help gave a rather gory description of how the power would burn them from the inside out. if this didn''t kill them they would be hurting for months. ''how do I test their tolerance," he rather not hurt his team. he was reluctantly getting attached and sort of did want to spend more time with them.

    ''There are seven most commonly used methods,'' Aero listened to each method weighing the pros and cons of them. a few of them were pretty risky but gave a wide range of answers. he deiced on something less risky for the moment. after they stopped for the night he would ask them for their opinion on the options.

    the most risk-free method was to take his energy and essentially poke them with it. the helper gave a more detailed 5 petal lecture, but Aero was going with poke. As the road straightened and looked it would remain that way for a while. aero closed his eyes in focus, he reserved flaring as he gathered and molded the energy.

    "This might sting," he spoke loud enough to be heard over the absence before his energy lashed out." wha-?" Inna managed to get out before something invaded her mind body and soul. she bit her lip bending over in the strange and uncomfortable sensation. vaguely registering the swears that tzilla was unleashing.

    as suddenly as the feeling appeared it retreated, leaving her shuddering as she lifted her head. turning to her male teammate whose eyes were closed with his head tilted as if listening to something they could not hear." that''s an exciting result!"

 46

    "I''ll ask again! What was that!" aero blinked as he turned to his recovering team. " I was testing your energy tolerance, I didn''t think it would hurt that much. I was told it would pinch but our species isn''t that used to invasive energy so we react worse than most," he said in a what can you do tone that kind of annoyed his team.

    "I wouldn''t say it hurt but if you can not do that again." tzilla stated to which Aero responded that depend on the situation." well let''s pray shall we," anyway, what are our results then."

    "not good," from what he understood they held some resistance towards energy due to their people''s use of melody for generations. but only in the form of bursts, longer, and larger energy use risked hurting him. This was an educated guess Aero figured from the results he got from the test.

    "anything big or powerful is out of the question for the time being, but there is still plenty you could probably learn." but the risk of using that was bad, at best severe energy burns. at worse energy explosions, which lead to being stuck in a bed for the rest of their lives or just death.

    "Okay, I might prefer the second so how do we increase our resistance?" Inna stated. aero explained there was only really one method and they risked a lot using it at their current level. "well is there something that he can use and build up our resistance?"

    "There is the mortal and immortal energy, as you build it up your body is reinforced if utilized correctly. but it one of the most complicated energies to use," from what he understood of the short explanation the helper was giving him. the mortal and immoral energy, as it turned required long turn active cultivation. one of the longest, but it paid off with the power to turn the heavens and earth.

    "What''s a haven and earth?" aero shrugged he was curious but didn''t feel it was important enough for the moment. "I think you need a form of formula to wield this energy, I''d have to trade for it though."

    "how much do I think we can cover part of the price," Gallia asked wondering who he was trading with. if it was aliens did she want to meet them? it hit her how strange her life was being where meeting aliens was an option.'' nope that can be dealt with later,'' she pushed the impactions of the realization off for the moment.

    "uh, about thirteen of these carts," all of his team''s jaws dropped while two of them started chocking." by the zalts and zaltess your jocking right!" aero shook his head," That''s an incredible amount of money!"

    "I could buy two to five houses with that!" of carrying sizes but still the amount of money was kind of heart-stopping. " where are we gonna get that money?" the team considered what kind of savings they had and how much they could put towards the formulas.

    "I should say now that our money isn''t required on a star system scale, much less the universal one. so we have to trade for those formulas." another more came out of someone but Aero didn''t pay attention to that, instead. he asked if they could purchase thirteen carts. cause they could totally trade that.

    ''my lord do you intend to sell the creatures with the cart," that made the teen pause. selling carts and creatures yourself wasn''t illegal as long as you went through the proper channels. but what were the challenges you used when you were selling off the planet." I believe we have to contact Baili," in response to this Lior asked if this meant they were heading back to the capital.

    "oh no I''m sending a letter, we have other things to do including training for the space and others." that caught interest but Aero smiled and said they should continue don''t the road. if they were recovered enough," yeah we''re fine. but next time don''t do something in the open like that."

    "I could have taken anything that had tried," it would be a smear on the road when he was done. "anyway one of the things we have to prepare for is space''s lack of gravity. the force that pulls up to the ground," he explained seeing the unasked question in Tzillia''s eyes.

    "to do that we need to practice underwater combat," he saw several of them wince. which made him pause," what''s wrong it''s just more training."

    "I forgot but you dropped out of school, you didn''t get a chance to due underwear live combat training."

    "correct what''s the problem?!" he wasn''t going to show it but they were slightly worrying them. "well that means you never fought water creatures before and don''t know how vicious they can be." aero nodded before asking when he said there were going to infected waters.

    "That''s just reckless, pointlessly so!"

    "your right," Lior was the first to recover from their surprise, aero has shone to be very reckless and disregards consequences so it would surprise him when he showed cation. something he picked up from the glare he was giving them but he didn''t say anything knowing he earned that reputation.

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    instead, they moved to the topic of what empty body of water they could practice. rivers were out there were usually populated not to mention their current would throw off their training. plus aero doubted there were any deep enough. so they moved on to uninhibited lakes, they didn''t know the location or size of any.

    when they change the topic the entire team was in agreement that they need to gather information and that the upcoming town was a good spot to start. it took four days for them to arrive at e leisurely pace, aero headed right to send off his letter to Baili. while half his team took care of their supplies and the other half got a map of bodies of water.

    "I knew it wasn''t going to be easy but really!" idit glared at the map before her as if her gaze might change what was written on it. " "This is going to take months!" Tzillia shared her irritation, they found a suitable body of water. in the country north, one that unfortunately had ''tense relations with Hopoth.

    they would be at war if there wasn''t several hostile creatures in and between the land wasn''t such a threat to them both. one of the main reasons that most people knew, was how they viewed the best way to deal with males.

    by worldwide standers, the people of Hopoth were very loose with their standards," "oh man I don''t see Aero taking that well." Inna commended thinking of what she knew about males being supposed to act by the other country''s beliefs. she honestly couldn''t imagine him holding his tongue or fist, but she could see how he would stick first.

    "oh yeah that''s not going well, but it''s the closet... so how should we move to the next one. this one was further but the country had a more formal reaction with there now, mostly trade and little else. As far as they knew but its belief around the male gender was better than the north. less likely of Aero starting something.

    They found a couple more options before heading back to where the team parked their carts, there they got dropped into helping the rest of the team load the purchases into their carts. they finished up just as Aero returned from sending off the letter, he looked a little peeved but his clothes were still in their loose configuration so chances were he didn''t get into a big fight.

    " they doubted I need to send a letter to the capital," he was very glad he didn''t address the letter to the leader directly, but instead to the head of the guard. it would have taken longer to get her to send the letter to the leader, but thankfully he managed to convince the women at the desk he was on a job for the head of the guard.

    "so anything problems getting supplies?"

    "no, but we are definitely low on funds had to haggle more than I should have." aero nodded and they spoke about the stops they would need to do for that before they spoke about places that meet their training requirements, the first and closet option that would take them north put a particular expression on aero''s face.

    "in my first year I meet someone from there, one of the worse fights I got into around that age." though could he really call it a fight as they refused to even lift their hands to defend themself? it let Aero get in several hits before people had to pull him off. it wasn''t the last fight between them, as she refused to keep quiet about her beliefs and Aero didn''t hold back from violence.

    ''wow I was a problem when I was younger... is she dead?'' he wondered about the girl from the north. he hasn''t seen her since the teachers had her removed from the school. as technically she was the one starting fights with by seeking the male hunter in train out.

    far north under a snow-covered tree and between two white bird-like creatures, a girl with snow-like skin and carapace blinked her silver-tinted eyes. ''someone is talking about me,'' she didn''t get to think about it more when she noticed her prey coming closer.

    "Anyway, I''ve also met other people, and generally I''m good going just about anywhere else. if nothing else I don''t expect anyone to see punches coming." aero said with too big of a smile." I don''t think we can let you just punch people," Lior commented. aero asked why not, he''s punched plenty of people.

    "I mean I''ll try and hold back. I''ve been working on that so my reputation improves. but I don''t want people to think I''ll bend for them," he wasn''t sure how he was supposed to reach such a balance with his reputation. but he likes to believe he''s made some progress, ''I haven''t just knocked people out in a while.'' that was the progress he considered.

    the teams spent the rest of the day discussing their goal and a general idea of how they would get there, driving their carts was out as they would take half a year if they were lucky. catching a ride on a giant winged creature would take less time, so they went with that and followed by planning out some kind of route and getting some kind of time frame.

    even with cutting out weeks of travel time with winged creatures it still looked like this was going to be a long time since they were planning to put in about two weeks of training, plus travel time was about six weeks. more if something went wrong. the longest part of the journey would be over the ocean forest.

    the number of trees and plant life that covered the planet was incredible, even there ocean had an immense amount of plants. staining the water with algae. you could barely see the water beneath them at the time. due to the number of study plants, there were bridges over the ocean.

    not that many people used it in this day in age. not only did they take weeks to cross, but creatures also lived in the ocean trees. aero''s been a scroll about them, cures that swam as well as they swung through three trees. with long limbs nimble fingers and scales as green as the trees, apparently, they were really pretty as well. scales used for decorations.

    he might see them when the flying creatures had to rest for the night, as it wouldn''t be a one-day trip even on the back of a giant winged creature. they would at best have to stop three times for the creature to rest and for them to stretch their legs. and other things.

    "so the best place to get a ride over the ocean would be here and then well arrive around here where he can buy some more accurate maps and learn about the area more." they continued working on the travel plans the next day, followed by some training as aero refused to spend an entire day over a table staring at papers.

    they worked out before going into rounds of sparring, in the breaks between the matches, idit brought up the matter of their money problems on the galactic level. "we''re aware that we''re going to have to work hard to get those formulas for heave and earth energy. but do we have some kind of plan for that?"

    "not really I only have one thing to trade with them and its worth is partly unknown. " Xoqax had found little bits of information about the energy. but nothing that Aero could use in a fight or attract market attention. but still useful, like certain types of pride affected a person''s will to live. something the young lord had his helper place a reminder on.

    "I can''t wait for Xoqax to figure out the exact kinds of pride." aero thought. but he put that thought off later and discussed their team working to get the money for thirteen carts. they might be able to sell those, depending on what Baili said. they would probably get a response in the next few days.

    or really that was how long Aero was willing to wait. his team had a similar thought they cared a bit more about offending the leader. so if they left before a letter came they would leave instructions for the people who managed the town''s mail and send a letter to Baili informing her of their immediate plans.

    they spent those days training against each other, working up a sweat, and refining their skills. but no letter came for them, instead, a squad of knights on the back of a small-sized ain''t creature did. "well that was subtle." aero mumbled as he felt all the stars on his marble skin. forcing on a more neutral expression and walking over to greet the knights.

    Long story short there were here because the matter of exporting to the galaxy was the kind of thing that tipped the political balance. "I really don''t like politics," Aero stated as the situation was explained.

 47

    the political problem of one country getting hold of an energy method was very delicate and had many repercussions that Baili explained. the meeting this explanation happened, started just the moment they stepped foot into her building. it two 46 flowers for her to get across all the details.

    ''she put a lot of thought into this,'' Aero thought as he digested what she said. the first problem would be if their country became stronger the others would see them as a threat and might band together. the obvious solution to this was to spread the knowledge around. everyone would grow stronger and creatures would be less of a threat.

    good until people realized they could focus on lesser things, like the countries they didn''t like possibly starting wars. wars that could weaken through enough the creatures were a problem. true they could just pass knowledge to their allies or neutrals. but that was probably something of a stopgap than a real solution.

    "do they know about life in space? I think space conquers would be a good threat" Aero stated after a moment to think of a problem. there were little issues in their world that would stop the wars, but something from the stars might.

    "What a conquer?" Baili slowly asked, aero blinking for a moment." right I''ve been getting lessons about space and such. Some of them expanded my vocabulary," he spent a few minutes explaining what a conquer was. giving some details of the context of their situation. "if our planet shows too much weakness we''ll lose it."

    "why didn''t you mention that there were people who would steal our planet from us," aero pointed out he had mentioned that there were threats." yeah but this is a different level of danger." aero blinked.

    "the solution is still the same, get stronger and beat them when they try," he told her. besides what Aero understood about their section of the universe they were peaceful primarily, of course, he had been told that would change when people found a comic lord lived here.

    he would be famous whether he wanted to or not, and the power he would wield would draw attention, zalts it probably already was. he didn''t know, he hadn''t asked about the auctions.

    "That might be true, I like to know possible problems so that I can prepare for them." the young lord looked at the older ruler and decide that wasn''t a bad way of thinking. he had faith in his adaptability, but he did plan when he could.

    "that fair," he told her," but my lessons are far from complete. besides knowing what''s out there if no one can get there!" she relented on the matter but had stated the scientist had made little progress proving the information or using it in the time he''s been gone." well it''s hasn''t been long, but that wasn''t why you called me here." you called me about my desire to sell local items to the universe."

    "honestly how much are you going to get?" she asked, caused if it was a reasonable amount of money she might have to get in on this. alien technology would help advance the planet. Of course, she would start with things that would help the people. aero his expression shiting as if he was listing to something that the rest of them couldn''t hear.

    "Our specialties aren''t very advanced, but that doesn''t mean there are without value, the wood we harvest can match the durability of metals. it''s quite a usable resource and doesn''t require as much work as mining. even if it does rot. so selling that would earn us a decent amount, how do you plan to get it off the planet though."

    "How did you get what you sold off the planet?" Baili brought up this question after a few moments. "you had to send something off for that clothing you sent," at this point, she gestured to the robe she wore. it was four shades of green that flowed like water.  honestly, he was amazed by the quality.

    "Oh, the job I got me some privileges, one of which was when they would pick up and deliver for a small extra cost," aero didn''t point out he didn''t know the exact number. but it was probably a number higher or lower than he expected, but he was deftly about to learn the amount as Baili tried to enter the universal market.

    "though the bigger problem might be getting in contact with the lord''s business representative. "her work was about two star systems away. " your right that is a problem, but thankfully was talking long term plans. " aero nodded and wondered how much longer before he could leave. he wanted to get back to training and traveling.

    ''I think we''ll split way so we can spend some time with our family, well those who are in contact with them.'' he thought as Baili shuffled some scrolls before sharing some progress on the scientist. more details than she went before, aero let the helper hear it and tell if they were going in the right direction.

    ''they doing mildly well, I think you''ll reach your planet''s revolutionary age pretty soon, hopefully reaching your communication and distal age sometime after that.'' when Aero asked for a more exact number. which meant some around several hundred years, ''it also might be sooner as your planet had a higher than average solar rotation.''

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    ''I remember that lesson,'' Tova had explained that most people referred to days and years by the nearest planet. as a home planet could have different orations around days, like weeks and flowers. some plants didn''t spin or revolve around a star. they tended to bring out some very interesting life forms.

    turning his attention back to the country leader asked if there was anything else she wanted to talk about," not particula-" That was all Aero needed to hear before he stood up and made a beeline for the room entrance. he managed to be on the other side of the curtain before Baili could think of a reason for him to stay.

    aero walked fast to the room he knew his team was continuing to plan their actions,'' arrived at the curtain he took a moment to even out his breathing before he pushed it aside and entered the room. "the meeting over," Aero nodded at Lior''s question as he looked over the map that had markers at all of there home villages.

    "so what''s the plan?"

    Goir spoke first, "We looked it over and decide that splitting up is the best way for all of us to spend time at home before meeting back up at the village so we can cross the forest ocean." aero looked at the map and after a moment of running the routes himself he had to agree that was much less work for them all.

    "that''s a good idea, when should we split up and then meet again?" that was what they had been discussing before he walked in. so he joined the discussion, they would all need different travel times to get to their homes and then getting to the meeting place afterward.

    this discussion took a few hours followed by supplies they would all pick up on the way to the meeting spot. that took less time and son the conversation turned more casual as they packed up their things and headed out onto the streets.

    "oh I want to try that!" tzilla stated after idit explained a specialty of her hometown. it was kind of a small thing. while it was good idit didn''t think that it was worth the effort it took to make. as every day only ten were made and more than twenty people would line up every day. She has seen people camping out in the line," I''ll try but if you want it, it best you come and get in line yourself."

    "how bad are the lines?" tzilla immediately asked and got a quick answer," I''ve lived this long without it I can continue without it." someone snorted at that, but when she looked her entire team was a straight face. most of them had a bit of amusement dancing in their eyes. expect aero, his blank expression was just that good.

    "I think that was aero!" Galia stated lips twitching. tzilla moved closer to the closer to there leader. giving his face a good look over though it betrayed nothing to his emotions, which she found kind of funny considering how quickly he was to lose his temper. ''or does he not try?''

    she wondered that before turning back to the rest of her team," your right I think it was him. I can''t let him get away with laughing at him. what you you think I should do?"

    "I think," Aero spoke up," you should do won''t get you punched." aero''s response remind them he wasn''t afraid of violence," but at the same time tzilla noticed that there was a bit of lightness in his voice. "your right we should go easy on our esteemed leader."

    they spent 4 flowers talking about as they grabbed their carts and started heading out onto the road, there was a town about 3 days away that would be a good point for them to split up until they meet up again on the edge of the country.

    They spent the time just talking and relaxing, not thinking about the many struggles they were going to face. how their world was changing around them? how the world was changing because of Aero, and how it might change in the future?" this an eventful period to live in!" aero stated at one point.

    ''my lord that''s not always a good thing, plages make a period eventful.'' the helper commented, to which Aero asked what a plague was, that wasn''t a word he''s heard yet. when the helper described it, aero knew the words his planet used that meant the same.'' we call them great sickness, some people think their curses. cast by the zalts to punish or test.'' Sero wasn''t sure as he hadn''t heard of any Zalt or Zaltes with that kind of story.

    the group set up camp for the night when the sun started dropping beneath the horizon, it didn''t help they started hearing a good amount of activity. deciding that find a spot to defend before the darkness of night came. their carts made a simple barrier around the came as they set up for the night.

    despite the activity, they could hear nothing coming within range of the light of their campfire. so they didn''t have more than one person on guard duty during the night. when the day came around again, which had a bit of excitement when Inna encountered a serpentine feathered creature when she went to take care of his body needs.

    it had been easily driven off, but her surprising shout had fully woken up the came, "What a great way to start the morning!" idit commented stretching out, checking the straps for her weapons. "I''ve heard worse," tzilla stated as she checked the state of her cart, there was a small problem she had to get checked when she got home. but currently, it was nothing more than an annoyance.

    they set out within two flowers, heading down the road with mild chatter going off. nothing serious that Aero was sure what they were talking about wasn''t going to be remembered. but it was still interesting to hear all the same as they traveled. at one point he drowned them out for a bit to form ropes of energy to send at the beast.

    it was mostly to manage his energy bank, as the orbs had grown more than usual since last night, it might have had something to do with his team. he wasn''t going to pick at that, not at the moment at least. there was time to look at his emotions later. for the time he just spent time around his teammates. enjoying their company before he went home for the next few weeks.

    as they pulled into town around midday, Tzillia spoke up with an idea. "since this is the last time we''re going to see each other for a while. let''s make some memories." idit followed after her," While you make it sound like it''s going to be a long while before we regroup... making some memories doesn''t sound like a bad idea!"

    the two turned to the group, "Any ideas?" that sparked a new wave of conversation one aero didn''t participate in. his idea of spending time together was meals and sparring. from what first few ideas they went out, he knew it wasn''t going to go with the others. but listening to the ideas that were going around, he was hit by how little he knew about spending time with people who weren''t his mother.

    ''I don''t regret it,'' he thought. he didn''t think he could regret the good memories that came from him spending time with his mother.

    "Aero! What kind of drink do you prefer? what you kind of dew?" aero tuned back into to answer he didn''t know. " I''ve never touched a drop of due." that got an interesting reaction, by that he meant wide eyes questioning gaze," what really?" Gailia couldn''t believe it, everyone her age at least had a taste if nothing else, especially hunters.

    "did trust the people around me too much, and downing Dew alone in my room didn''t sound fun." from what he knew dew only got fun when their people around to share it with. "alright that''s fair," Gallia consider." but that means tonight you''re going to taste the flavors of dew." then the girls shared a look before leaving their cart to ask around town.

    less than 11 petals later they returned with a location of an inn that had the largest variation of dew. also the best tasting according to the townspeople, they even had a few recommendations. aero was watching everyone as they entered the inn. which looked a little crowded and many people watching them enter.

    "calm down, they''re not going to dry anything if they want this building to continue standing" idit stated and there was a story of how her face twitched at a memory that danced across her mind. but before he could ask about it Inna appeared with a tray of cups, each containing a sweet or spicy-smelling thick liquid.

    "Time for the dew!" aero put on his best neutral face before grabbing the cup.'' here goes something!'' he thought before bringing the cup to his mouth.

 48

    the sun was bright when Aero woke up, it gave him a fucking ache through his bones. his thoughts felt like they were going through something solid and sap. With his eyes closed he tried to make sense of his surroundings...'' I''m in a tree.''

    "high!" sighing he opened his eyes turning his face from the sun. "at least I''m still dressed." he''s heard some people stripped when they got drunk, but he was glad to find that he wasn''t that kind of drinker. his knuckles were sore a bit so he might have gotten into a fight. ''hope it wasn''t too bad,'' with that he tried to determine the location he came from.

    thankful he could see some buildings peeking out from the trees. so he headed to the location stretching his body and trying to figure out what he did last night. he knew it got fuzzy after tasting three full cups. ''did I dance on a table? did I really take her axes to do it?''

    ''it was quite the sight, my lord,'' Aero paused when he heard the helper''s voice the impactions of what they said hitting him a moment afterward. taking a deep breath he turned his attention towards them,'' Alright what happened last night, how bad was it.'' for a moment the helper did say anything which only made him feel worse before the helper started speaking. telling him it was much worse than he could have imagined.

    ''After drinking enough due you began to switch between being high clingy while wanting your mother and extremely aggressive changing anyone to show them your skill you got into several small competitions before shortly passing out then waking up and walking out of the village.'' aero tried hard to not try and hide, ''i believe you intend to see your mother but got tired climbed a  tree then slept till morning.''

    "That''s what I''m doing out here!" aero took a deep breath as he walked over to a tree. gathering the swirling emotions in his chest, with another breath they flowed through his shoulder his arm, and right into his fist. he pulled that fist back before slamming it into the grey bark of the tree. knocking leaves loose as he continues to stick and punch at the tree. it took a few minutes for the lord to calm down.

    "alright let''s head back to the village and wash up for that day," he ignored the stinging in his hand and the slight blood. he felt better after striking out his emotions, for the moment he walked into the village and sought out his teammates who were still dozing at the inn. not neatly either.

    two of them were at the same, one on the floor. another was at the table across the room, clinching a cup and drooling the fourth was held dressed in someone''s lap, and then finally he found the last member on the inn rooftop.

    "I''m throwing water on all of them," aero didn''t waste much time doing just that. smiling how they each jumped to their feet. with swears, some of them jumping into a battle stance. he got a drink thrown in his face, but it didn''t dilute his amusement as they moved into getting ready for the day feeling there might of half-remembered memories with the pounding in their heads.

    "ah yes, last night was fun!" Inna commented. looking dead at Aero who glared. he vaguely recalled clinging to her for some time. but she was smart enough to try and not test his limits, but she was also fast enough to dodge a causal hit. the look he gave her as the team got ready only had the lady smirking.

    when they were ready, carts ready, creatures in their reins, and alert. The group exchanged their last words, it wasn''t a heartfelt goodbye. they knew they would be seeing each other before the seasons turned. aero was pretty stone-faced the entire time, he did say that he would try to keep in contact with them.

    "I think he''s going to miss u-!" the rest of what idit was going to say was cut off by the pebbles Aero tossed at her before urging his creature forward. " is her embarrass-" Aero threw a bigger stone this time, the girls cackled right up until the rocks came there way.

    soon they were quiet and exiting the town, throwing around final goodbyes before they split across the road. the group transforming into smaller groups of people going in the same direction. aero was silent even with the cart following his own. he was kind of busy talking to the helper. getting an update from his scientist, and checking in the funds he made. how much he had to pay the lord of greed.

    aero thought and planning kept his thinking for a while thankfully, tzilla was quiet. as she played with her axe, a small melody coming off it. ones that didn''t do little more than make colorful light or fun sounds. it would keep her busy and at the same time let her practice, it wasn''t until they stopped for the night that Aero spoke.

    "do you have any plans for when you get home?" he knew tzilla lived in the same town as her weaponsmith but not much more than that. She shrugged, her eyes focusing on the lighting dancing among the trees. "I don''t have any plans, might send mail to my sister, to see how is she doing?"

    aero latched on to the sister as it would be a topic they could talk about, Tzilla didn''t say much about her sister. beyond their reaction ship was a little awkward, but they talked. the sister worked with fabric. tzilla didn''t get any more specific than that.

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    aero didn''t push.

    "so any sibling?" aero shrugged for a moment." there might be more because of my dad but I don''t know, plus my mother might get her new partner pregnant." he frowned at the idea. but there wasn''t much he could do about that. despite how much he tried the man hadn''t been scared off, which Aero guessed he should be impressed by. "so I might get a younger sibling," which was a nest Aero wasn''t picking right now.

    tzilla offered some advice as a young sibling, which Aero appreciated and would try and keep in mind in the future. at some point they changed the topic, talking about the stars and what was among them, "there aren''t any black holes near our planet right?"

    "how would you define near?" he then explained that near could mean the next planet to a couple of hundred lightyears depending on how powerful of a Transporation you had. because it genuinely made a fucking difference," what a light year?"

    "how much space light travels in a year, it is quite the incredible distance." Aero smiled getting to show off the effort of his studying under Tova. he had a bit more to show off to her before they turned in for the night, which was peaceful. it was the morning that was a pain.

    "zalts damn you!" tzilla swore as she three four armored primate-like creatures from her food supplies. they tried to claw and bite back at her, but one lost their head and another on their hands. drove them off. the one without hands got caught by aero for a mercy kill. "it won''t survive long and I don''t think this species had much regeneration."

    "I''m not complaining, tzilla said tossing him her decay powder. before trying to get the blood out of the cart, maybe when she got to her town she would get it professionally cleaned. for the moment she did the best with water that had been sitting in her water pouch all day and some cloth she had for this specific reason.

    soon there had eaten and were on the road again, talking more about family." okay I can understand your hesitation with your foremother. My forefather doesn''t like my fashion sense," she pointed to the grey tight-fitting outfit. in terms of her limbs, it only coved one arm and leg. "like what''s wrong with this," aero shrugged he knew more about making friends.

    but that seemed to have set her off, or tzilla had been pushing this stuff down for a while. she kept talking for several flowers, aero had to admit he was impressed by how little she needed to breathe. he heard a lot about different forms of fashion and how some were viewed as inapposite, most of it was news to him, he spent way too much time ignoring what people said to him to notice what they said about his clothes.

    "how do most people think about the way I dress?" his question got her off the topic so fast that it gave the boy some whiplash. "what the zalts does that mean?" she didn''t answer for serval moments," I have to think how to put this to you gently."

    after a moment aero gave her a blank look," No matter what you say I''m not going to take it well nor am I going to change how I dress or how little I care!" she nodded before taking a deep breath,'' at least is he get mad it will take a while before he can get his hands on someone. then she started.  for almost a flower and a half, she directed his entire wardrobe and told him how each part of it could be negatively viewed.

    "that is so much nonsense!" how could just about everything he wore be viewed in a bad way. "forget it!" he wasn''t going to waste his time or thoughts on such useless beliefs. especially not the belief of people who couldn''t say anything to his face. "have you ever smacked someone about what they said about your clothes?" aero asked trying to change the subject.

    "not really," because she didn''t have a bad temper. well, compared to her team''s leader anyway. if you asked someone else she snapped pretty badly, her sister certainly thought so. they traveled for the next few days straight to avoid topics that would upset each other. instead of trying to find more common ground between them.

    there wasn''t much, being hunters have taken up much of their time and they didn''t have much in the way of hobbies. they were both interested in the larger universe, for different reasons. aero needed the information for his job as a lord and tzilla was just curious.

    but he didn''t mind talking about what he learned with her, not to mention he bounced some ideas off her. while she wasn''t a scientist she wasn''t slow, so she did manage to follow along while Aero kind of ranted about some of the problems he knew were waiting for him. not to mention the ones off the planet.

    the helper wasn''t much to rant to, they accepted everything he threw at them while offering solutions. which was nice, very nice, and also logical. but sometimes he wanted a more emotional reaction like the one that Tzillia was currently giving him. even though he detected a hint of pity that he despised. but he didn''t react to that.

    "oh god I''ve signed on for quite the ride haven''t I," she stated. looking at the sky mind wiring bout what Aero told her. mostly about the political headache, they were going to face, from what Aero asked he knew that introducing plenty to the larger galaxy was a big and complete mess. there was an incredible amount of paperwork need to be done.

    then there was the faction that you had to join, there were neutral factions, well as neutral as you could get in the universe.  there were also the people who would definitely try and take the planet from its people. the weak survived, but they didn''t prosper. this was the reality.

    the days might have passed a bit too quickly because soo they arrived at the point they had to split up,  aero wouldn''t admit it to her face but he was going to miss her and dread the loneliness that was to come until he reached his home village. yes, he had the helper, but they didn''t have a physical presence. he didn''t want her to leave, but he didn''t want to admit it more. so he stayed quiet and gave her a subdued goodbye before guiding his cart down the road.

    ''my lord would you like to hear a story or practice mapping star routes?'' the helper came in offering distraction for their lord''s loneliness. something they figured Aero wasn''t used to, the only people he cared for before his team was his mother. but he was used to being separated from her, which was usually in what Aero considered a hostile environment.

    "yeah, I''ll do the maps maybe a story later." the helper projected the information into his mind and Aero worked on navigating through the stars, around black holes, and asteroid fields. pirate territories and into neutral ones before. avoiding hostile ones as well, as planning out maintenance and supply stops.

    so far it was the longest route he''s had to make. something that would take months even with faster-than-light travel, of course, that wasn''t a trip he would be taking any time soon, instead, he focused on the net route. which went through more peaceful territories but had tight security and checkpoint that he had to account for in his travel time.

    between that and some book he listed to, time passed nicely soon he was back in his home village and arriving. first, he checked for any mail before building his cart to his house when he stopped he unhooked the creatures so they could laze and eat while he headed inside.

    the house was quiet, mostly taking a moment to listen he identified the steps as Adir and proceed to ignore him as he brought his stuff back into his room. setting his bed down and running a finger through the cloth. "this needs a good wash, maybe some touch-up as well." he noticed a few loose threads. as he sorted out his room, whipping what little dust there was. he considered what he should do, he didn''t know where his mother was.

    "let''s wash up I''ve been on the road all day," there was dust clinging to him.

 49

    after a nice bath, feeling fresher than he had in several weeks. aero went to confront his mother''s boyfriend, he found Adir sweeping his mother''s bedroom, which now possed a second bed. That meant their reaction ship had progressed when he was away. huffing aero wilted slightly before stringing his back, '' I hope my mother doesn''t have to regret taking this step,'' singing as he entered the room to ask where his mother was.

    only for Adir to try and pull him into a conversation first, with much more will than usual. he didn''t flinch under Aero''s burning glare. which both impressed and annoyed him, ''he''s got to be ridding the high of moving in.'' must be overriding his survival instincts.'' grumbling aero backed down enough to hold a conversation with the man. during which he learned it had only been a week since he moved in, and his mother was out shopping.

    since the women probably didn''t know about his arrival, unless the gossip reached her, which let''s be honest it might. but still aero wanted to see his mother. plus he could help her with her purchases. so he headed out of the house and towards the town market. from there it wasn''t hard to find his mother, knowing the stalls that she frequented.

    he found her talking to the lady she bought the house utensils from. since adir was moving in that made sense. he waited a distance away until she finished her conversation and purchase. then he walked over to his mother." aero your back?!" she greeted him with a hug that he early returned under his stone-faced. "when did you get back?"

    "less than a flower ago," he told her savoring the warmth of her skin. when they pulled back he missed it quickly but pushed down the feeling and followed her as she finished up her shopping changing a few things so they could celebrate his return, as they talked about what the mother and son did while they were separated.

    aero tried to not mention several things but his mother saw right through his attempts and heard about space, his job in space, how he meet the country leader how he acted toward said leader. there more things but at that point, she stated she wanted to go home before they heard any more. "fewer eavesdroppers that way," this aero glared at everyone around them. but moved on quickly to where fewer people were staring and listening.

    Their conversation lost its sensitive nature until they got home, where Adir joined them. To Aero''s displeasure, he didn''t kick the man out, whether he could was a different question. but the fact the man while looking overwhelmed didn''t look ready to run. gave Aero a little respect for him.

    [from the way you treated this man it''s a wonder how your relationship turned out the way it.]

    [I don''t need more grief about this, the zalts and divine across the universe have said something!]

    so in the end, as they put the final touches on their celebration they decided to let things continue their current path. though Neora was going to have a few words with Baili. aero asked the helper who they were going to win that fight,'' seeing as she was able to raise you. I do believe your mother has a good chance against the women running an entire country.''

    ''I''m sure you just called me a difficult child, but I''m going to let it go. because your right.'' aero ignored the presence of the helper for a few moments as he thought about how the conversation between his mother and the leader would go. despite how little time he spent around the latter, he honestly couldn''t see either of them back down.'' there both pretty diplomatic at times'' the lord thought to himself.

    moving something around on the table, and making sure Neora''s and Adir''s chairs were a reasonable distance apart. when he was done with that he had to sit at the table while Adir helped his mother finish up the food and drinks.

    no, he wasn''t bitter about how the man could cook he was happy. someone else could take the burden from his mother. he could probably help around with much more chores around the house, he knew his mother wanted her house to be a certain level of clean as often as possible. while aero didn''t see the full point he helped when he was home.

    when he wasn''t home, Adir could help her. ''Actually,'' looking around he noticed how clean the house was. ''I think he might already be helping her.'' great that was another good mark for Adir. but it would be a very long time before Aero approved him dating his mother.

    the celebration was tame but it was good, along with the food and drinks, aero had more of the latter due to his age. it was a tasty collection that he was probably going to regret in a few hours but for the time he was savoring the sweet savory taste. it went down smoothly," I''ll have to see about the recipe." Neora commented after Aero had a fourth full cup.

    aero wasn''t what you called a picky child, nor more than a usual child. but he was kind of closed off about his food. though what he liked and didn''t like showed in how much and how fast he ate and drank.

    The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

    ''he''s relaxed a bit,'' it wasn''t very obvious but honestly when Aero returned from the trip he expected him to be heated. annoyed or mad about the people he was working with. but to her surprise, he almost seemed calm about it, which told her things were going well. better than she had hoped, her son might have a friend soon. the lack of them never seemed to bother him.

    it didn''t bother her much, but the implications of what it meant bothered her. what would he do when she was gone, who would be by his side? who would stand buying by his side, the fact he seemed to be making friends along with calming down brought her relief. She would openly celebrate if she wasn''t sure Aero would deny it on some level.

    when the drinks were gone and the group washed the dishes, Neora couldn''t call them a family. not yet at least. maybe someday, she could hope. if the zalts allowed, but she wasn''t going to spend the night worrying about it. instead, she enjoyed the company of her two favorite boys.

    a small and old memory reached her as she laid down for the night, but she violently kicked it out. there wasn''t a point about him after all this time. she didn''t even know if he breathed still. much less if he would return, not that there was a place for him.

    aero''s blood father.

    when aero woke up in the morning he had to deal with the results of the amount of juice he had. once that was done he stretched into his room," I know I agreed to return home. but I don''t know what to do besides spend time with my mother." which wasn''t a problem. but what did he do with the rest of the time training? his duties as a lord? read? ''my lord this is a good chance for your o develop other hobbies.''

    "I don''t think it''s that'' important," he told the helper as he grabbed his laundry moving to the clothesline and bucket. Fill it with water and a bit of soap. The water was cold as he worked to scrub out dirt and blood, little of it was his. ''Actually, my lord, long live species have shown the importance of hobbies. not to mention something to do when traveling between star systems.''

    aero paused, his mapping had familiarized him with that. ''okay I''ll work on the hobby thing...maybe I can do some wood carving,'' he''s carved wood for his flute staff. maybe doing things a bit more artsy was an option. he was going to do that.

    when he had hung his clothes to dry he walked to the forest and snapped a branch off a tree before walking back into the house. grabbing a knife he just had, "Alright let''s try this out!"

    he spent the next twenty minutes hacking at the wood. slowly removing chunks and carving off pieces. before he died that he couldn''t salvage this project that was supposed to look like the creature that pulled his cart. setting it down he headed out to the forest and grabbed a branch and six more before turning around.

    "ugh, great!" he came back into his room noticing the mess he left on the floor. woodshaving and chips settled on the floor, he got to work to clean up. which took longer than it really should have. "alright let''s try again. outside." grabbing the branches he headed outside to start working.

    several hours as he worked through the branches, making a few crude carvings and getting more familiar with how he was supposed to wield the knife against the wood.  making him several crude carvings. but he was making viable progress, he figured out how to make the details a bit more clear.

    "I haven''t cut myself either," he shook his legs knocking off the wood shavings. setting carving next to the others he turned to the sun, measuring the time." I''ve got time for one more I think." so he turned and headed for the forest. ''my lord I have a suggestion?''

    ''yes?'' he let the helper speak as he judged the thickness of some fallen branches. ''my lord I''ve detected faint amounts of your pride energy seeping into the carving. if possible I think you should do so on purpose.''

    "well that''s a good experiment, based on what he knows and Xoqax knows. the energy will likely be stored or be fused with it right?" the helper agreed with that possibility and now would give them a chance to see. aero nodded and grabbed a good beach. seating himself back at the house he directed a thread of energy into the blade.

    it gave a little resistance but not enough that he considered it a problem and started carving. putting the energy at the blade when noticed it wasn''t reaching the wood. that changed some things. the helper carefully examined the effects. how the energy was sticking to the wood.

    it was giving it a faint aura of some kind, probably pride related as it was the energy he was using. but it was also changed. he wondered how well one could tell the energy belonged to him. how long it would stick?

    "I guess I''ll learn soon enough." aero set down the finished carving. it was still pretty bad but you didn''t have to squint to tell if it was a feline-based creature." how interesting?" his mother stated when she saw the collection of carvings he made. there was viable progress between the first and last statute.

    "you''ve picked up a new hobby?" she asked as Aero dest with the wood chip he left outside. which he decided was put in a bucket to be used for kindling. he set the bucket where they kept the rest of the fire supplies. before throwing the carving inside them. Neora wasn''t surprised, Adir was.

    "Why did he do that?" he quickly asked Neora." he doesn''t like to dwell on badly done things. especially not as he improves." he nodded before asking how she was sure that he would improve. woodcarving was a thing that took years to perfect. he might stop given how demanding being a hunter was.

    "the look in his eyes, a change that caught his interest. also he kind of smiled a bit when he presented them to us." Adir thought back to that moment. he could see it. but trusted her to know her son.

    after dinner, Neroa brought the group into a conversation about what they would do tomorrow. since aero was only here for a while she wanted to spend some meaningly time together. aero''s first question was if they could leave Adir behind, his mother didn''t dignify that with a verbal answer. so his second question was if they were willing to travel.

    "I think i day trip would be good, do you remember the flower meadow a short distance north?" aero paused trying to think about it. he remembered going to the meadow a few times. "yeah, I remember it." it was a nice play but the memories were a bit old.

    but Adir was interested. having moved to this town he hasn''t known all the sights. so the chance to explore caught his attention. with all three of them in favor, they decide that they were going. early the next morning they made the short few preparations they needed.

    the following trip took about ten petals of walking, through the forest. there was a path, but Aero saw no need to walk it. the creatures the path curved around to avoid he could take. they weren''t strong but still deadly in the way that all creatures were, with teeth and claws.

    a few did try to attack the group, they were soundly beaten and driven away. adir felt a bit of nerve seeing the strength of the teen who didn''t like him. ''if I make Neora upset, he''s likely to do something if our relationship doesn''t improve.'' but he didn''t think about that.

    arriving at the meadow Adir had his breath taken from him. cause this place was beautiful. the flowers were numerous in every color they came in bright petals dan ing in the gentle winds. the sweet scents mingling together, strangely it felt like the world was at peace in one little corner.

    aero was quickly to find a place among the flower he could lie down and bathe in the light. surrounded by the flowers and the gentle scents he relaxed.  all his fight instincts turned off for the first time in a long while. he didn''t even have the hostility to glare at Adir when the man took a seat at his side. along with Neora, who set the basket they brought to the side.

    ''This is interesting," the helper took note of something they would show their lord later.

 50

    "well would you look at that," She couldn''t help but be impressed by what was sitting before them? through the lenses of a device, they crafted over the last few weeks. they could get a closer look at the makeup on a rock. in truth, it was only an X13 view it was much more than what they could get from the use of a melody.

    it would be even better after they improved on their application of the microscope, it was a new way to see the world around them. all because they found out about their life outside their planet. It was thrilling to her, she wanted to see this life. maybe they had answers to why the creatures were so hostile towards them.

    of course, any of that was going to take time. maybe longer than she would be alive. maybe she would be dust by the time those answers arrived. it saddened her for a moment. ''I may not get the answers but at least I can help someone else achieve them." that thought encouraged her, what kind of answers would her discoveries lead to later down her life?

    she considers writing a scroll. it would probably be needed in the future. now that was an interesting idea, writing a scroll. She wasn''t sure if it would be of use but she would write it. who knows maybe someone will share her excitement and read it.

    who knows but she was going back to studying the world through a microscope. who knows what she would learn and who would be more excited than she? She couldn''t help but wonder about it, the world had gotten so much bigger.

    *******

    "you know I have many words to describe you at the moment," Aero glared at Adir looking at the older male who smiled shyly as he placed down a card. a bit of bark with details carved into it. winning another round of the game they were playing.

    the family was still in the meadow having decided to pull out the games and food they brought. currently aero was losing a simple game, and Adir was cheating. the man admitted it and challenged Aero to see how he was cheating.

    ''it''s his fingers I know that much, but he moved only when he knows I''m distracted'' The man was moving fast he would give him that much. he still wanted to beat the man even if he didn''t figure out the trick. throwing down a piece of bark he tried to watch the man''s finger, but it happened fast.

    At the same moment, the man threw down his park he shuffled his cards. ''where did that piece come from?'' it hadn''t been there before. it could haven''t come from his sleeves as they were a bit too short. so it had to come from somewhere else.

    aero ran his gaze over the man''s form. Adir chucked when he noticed, which got him glared at for a brief moment. before Aero continued with his deduction. losing the current round but having a better idea of how to defeat Adir.

    "you know he''s not going to stop playing until he wins at least once," Neora stated from where she was watching the boys play. "oh that was clear after the third round," Aero pretended to not hear them. instead shifting through the pieces he currently had in his hand trying to determine how he could win.

    '' it would help to have a better card, but with these, I can get a score of 7.'' the goal of the game they were playing was to get a score between two numbers that were decided at the beginning of the round and keep it when you were out of cards. the current around was a score between 4 and 9.

    aero could get a score of 7 but he wasn''t sure if he would be able to keep it. not when there were cards that could alter your opponent''s score. Adir is continuously pulling from somewhere to unleash on Aero. He was pretty sure Adir had half the cards.

    ''I''ll still beat him,'' Aero thought as he set down a card to bring his score to 2. Adir responded by raising his score to 5, aero raised his score by 4, and Adir raised him by 3. The game progressed slowly the two going back and forth with their scores trying to maintain in the green zone.

    Adir made liberal use of the cards he had hidden away. at the same time, he pulled many good cards from the deck. he might be cheating with that as well, but Aero cared less when his score somehow reached 20 points.

    gritting his teeth he looked at the cards he had in hand, ones that would increase his score instead of lowering it. which was bad for his score. but he was going to win.

    ******

    looking frustrated at the latest results of his experiment Xoqax almost groaned. instead, he turned around and walked out of the building. he couldn''t believe some of the results he was getting. after a thought, he understood a bit more of pride energy.

    he focused too much on the energy side of it and not the pride of it. energy could be understood in numbers wasn''t something new. but measuring pride the emotion was a thing, the lord''s helper was helpful in understanding that. ''pride is founded, arrogance is not!'' a stance the cosmic lord believed and one of the reasons that he was frustrated.

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    a machine could tell the difference between pride and arrogance, so not only did he have to build a scanner, something he did well if you ask him. but he also had to create a new program, while not impossible. but ask any programmer and they''ll tell you how crazy it can drive you.

    the scientist''s wings fluttered in annoyance as he walked out of his lab. mostly to eat and wash, right after he dealt with this annoyance. stretching he pulled out his curved blade of silver ver jade. pointing it at a spot down the hall. for a moment nothing happened, then the spot shimmed then a six-legged alien appeared.

    "been a while since I''ve encountered your kind, as stealthy as you all are." xoqax smiled gently, but it didn''t do anything to hide the blood lust that was being to leak from him. "you know I''ve hit a stall in my research and I think your brains going to be of great help to me!" xoqax began his approach his wings flaring and his target started backing away.

    " you mad scientist I''ve come to check on you by the sectors courts, you''ve failed to arrive at your check-in. " xoqax stopped remembering just how much time he''s spent in his labs. "I''ve been working a bit too hard haven''t I," sighing he put the blade away his wings dropping as well.

    "I got a really interesting study project, I was hired by the lorddess of greed." he didn''t have a reason to lie to the courts. one it would cause him more trouble later on, two the influence of the lordess should help him make up for his mishaps.'' honestly I thought it was something trying to steal my research again.''

    while the cost was mostly the lesser of two annoyances, a less bloody one as well. xoqax continued towards his shower and food. "ugh!" he gagged a bit tasting the storage dew elixir. it was stored using the best technology and magic available. he brought it specifically because if it wasn''t fresh it tasted weird.  this was as fresh as it was going to get so far from his home, so it was a bit more bitter than it should have been.

    as he ate, Xoqaz  checked the state of the asteroid base he was living in. "well I''m surrounded," there were about twenty war class ships." I''m not that big of a threat. nor could I build something that dangerous."

    "could I?" he wondered after a moment. well, he accidentally made something that dangerous, then someone stole that for a weapon. which is how he got started with the courts. but it was a lot more complaints than that. it had been years of his life. but he didn''t care about that past.

    The future and more discoveries were to be made." so who cares about these annoyances."

    ******

    "How are you cheating more than I am?" Neora only laughed at Adir''s question. her only response was to lay down another piece of bark. bring her score up by a few points. while adir carefully considered to what piece to play, she looked to where Aero was stretching. She was mildly jealous of how limber the boy could be, cause at his moment one foot was on the ground while the other stretched above his head.

    after winning one game against Adir, which might have been a pity win or surrender after Aero had noticed that Adir was hiding cards in the breast of his clothing. after that, the younger male moved to stretch just because he wanted to move his body. it''s even more relaxing with the flowers around them. there scent and color.

    ''so is anything interesting happening with Xoqax? I know he''s tried some test on the new information.'' the helper responded quickly as Aero switched feet. ''nothing beyond a visit from the courts.'' aero blinked, he knew that title.

    law across the universe as a difficult matter. forget start systems. the laws between neighboring planets could be complicated. so when you counted the sheer number of plants with sentient life. yeah, it was a mess, but the first. the race the source first lived with. worked to make some form of universal law.

    the best result was an organization whose name roughly translated to the courts in his tongue. he knew their full original name, but most people didn''t call them by that unless they were in trouble. which is a lot of suspicion.

    any aero asked for the detail, which brought up Xoqax''s history. "I should have asked about his past." aero decide after a moment of thought. ''from what I know about the lord of greed, she cares more about your ability and you''re greed. then most other things.'' greed was the source of her power and she knew how to watch it greatly.

    xoqax''s greed for knowledge was something she recognized and determined was worth the risk of his rage. ''from that story I can tell he had great pride in what he learned. which makes him a great choice to work for me.'' but he still had questions about the man''s past.

    for no other reason to ask if the man could teach him to do what he did. cause that was impressive, lowering himself to splits aero wondered what he should do about the court. he wasn''t arrogant enough to think he could do anything about them at the time. Probably not for the next few years either.

    ''but due to Xoqax''s history with them, any job I send the man on would draw their attention.'' for the moment he could see being at least a nuisance of some kind, it probably bothers xoqax more than it did Aero. The only way he could think about dealing with them was by asking the lordess of greed. ''I already own her quite a bit,'' financially and morally.

    so, for now, he wasn''t having more contact than paying his debts or talking to her, ''I don''t know if she is interested in talking yet.'' but something to change later, now he finished up his stretches as his mother and adir finished up their game.

    following it a game between the three of them Neora and Aero teamed up on Adir before turning against each other. this patterned repeat for the next two rounds with the wins going to either Aero or his mother. before Adir turned the tables on them by upping his cheating.

    "What!" even Neora was taken aback by how Adir was managing to cheat. she knew her boyfriend was pulling out cards but she couldn''t predict what kind of cards. by the zalts how many did this man have hidden." I didn''t think we brought a second set."

    "I did," Adir stated smiling brightly as he set down a card to give Aero five points bringing him out of the range. the teen frowned considered his card and set down one that brought his score down by ten.

    while it was still too low it brought him a bit of workroom. honestly, most of the deck was cards that raised your score by small to medium amounts. or lowered it by big amounts.

    "oh don''t think your winning that easy!" Neora threw down a card that lowered her son''s score by seven points. too which he hissed but calmed as that was still workable. Aidr used his turn to increase his score. closes to winning. he still palmed a few hidden cards just in case.

    they were quickly proved to be needed when Aero drew a card that brought down Adir''s points and Neora did the same." what!?" they shouted when he threw down his card that ruined their work. but that didn''t put down their drive to win. the games continued for another flower before they stopped to eat. due to their age, Neora and Adir ate more than Aero.

    as they ate aero checked into the scientist''s situation. learning that it had been improved, but there were a few complications. for one the courts would be checking in on everyone in a while. which would get in Xoqax''s way. an annoyance, also they learned the work was for aero. or rather the newly named lord of pride.

    which got the scientist some leeway, but put the entire court on guard. cosmic lords were never a small matter, even the newly crowned ones. They always made big splashes with lots of chaos. the worse so far was what the lord of wraith did when someone. ''what did he do?'' aero asked when the helper tried to explain why his involvement was setting the court off.

    ''moved a moon,'' the calm answer was completely bonkers. ''a medium class moon to be specific. around 2,000 to 4,000 miles. he didn''t know much force it took to move something that large, but he wondered if he would find out. ''yeah that''ll be fun.''

    you could choke on the sarcasm in his voice.

 51

    the next after a very relaxing camping trip, Aero spent the following day reading and carving while helping his mother as she asked. but for the most part, he was left alone, nothing exciting happen right up till before he went to bed, where he formed more restraint for the beast.

    he knew it had been getting more annoyed with him, but he wasn''t going to stop. instead, he started putting spikes on the restraints, from what the helper reported the beast roared for days about that one, and of course, it retaliated.

    "wh-at?!" aero choked as he tried to make more room. a somewhat slimy and sharp tentacle had launched out of the gate, aero had only managed to bring an arm up. preventing it from wrapping completely around his next and probably crushing his neck. he could feel his carapace and bones starting to give as the tentacle tightened.

    it was too strong to push off, ''well plan b then!'' reaching around on the ground he grabbed the blade he set by his bed. and drove it straight into the tentacle before dragging the blade down the length. opening the large gash rancid blood started spurting forth.

    mentally he noted that was a pain he was going to have to clean up, even more so when he noticed it started to burn through his floor and the blade he used. ''well at least it''s not on my bed,'' that thing had too many memories attached and sew on to it.

    the cut made the tentacle loosen up for just a moment, but that was enough for Aero to slip through and plant his feet don''t he ground. the tentacle tried to grab him again, and it was fast, almost too much for the teen to follow with his eyes. he didn''t need that. he was instead, focusing on the portal that it came through.

    now at some point in his future aero was aware as a cosmic lord he would learn a bunch of skills, maybe closing portals. but that time wasn''t now. he didn''t consider that it would be a possibility.

    he did know the portal was small so that left a limited amount of space it could move in that area. which meant it was early to stab his melting blade into it, so deep the handle sunk it before reaching down with every bit of force he could muster.

    it almost cut the tentacle in half, blood spurted out but expecting that Aero jerked back. avoiding any on his face, bits landed a bit on his hand. but mostly over his floor and wall. which was melting to his annoyance. it was going to be a pain to repair.

    he pushed his future problems aside and instead threw away his mostly melted blade so he could wrap his arms around the damaged tentacle and pull. it instinctively pulled back from him, but that only widened the bleeding cut by half. aero grinned as he braced his feet and pulled harder.

    the tentacle changed tactics and tried to throw him off. but the teen only dug his feet in harder shifting his upper body when necessary and never stopped pulling. until the flesh gave up. with a wet noise that would upset the squeamish.

    the sudden lack of opposing force would have put Aero on his back if he hadn''t moved his leg fast enough. he managed to see the rest of the tentacle retreat into the portal. for a few petals, he remained tense in case another attack came. but nothing happened so he relaxed a bit. "alright what was that?!"

    ''A semi-direct attack from the beast of pride, a rather clever way of going about it.'' the helper''s voice deviated from its usual completely neutral to something upset. which kind of freaked Aero out, but he forced himself to calm down." how did it attack and what the chances of it happening again?"

    ''it infused a bit of its power with a rather arrogant,'' the next few words weren''t in a langue that he understood,'' a species that is currently untranslatable to your tongue. but on the basis, they were a member of a race known for their ability to cross great lengths of space through portal creation. they also aren''t the smartest bring-in creation. nor the most dangerous. something that wouldn''t set off an alarm slipping past the planetary barrier.''

    "noted," Aero rubbed at his arms trying to ignore the stinging sensation." will it happen again?" the helper was quiet for a moment as they ran the numbers.'' will the beast of pride try again, without a doubt, will it be a member of that race unknown. too many unknown variables.''

    aero grumbled before opening the door to the hallway he needed to wash up, "Alright then what should I do?" it didn''t matter that the beast changed tactics, he wasn''t giving in nor giving up his vacation time.

    ''one use pure water and a base to clean the acid off before it does real damage.'' aero got right on that. the base had to come from some herbs, he ground up before throwing into some warm water, which was followed by his whipping down and then bandaging his skin before cleaning up his room.

    ''now my lord, eat the tentacle!''

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    "What?" aero blinked after a moment. wondering if he misses heard. ''you heard me, my lord,'' he was stunned again they wanted him to eat." what?... Why?" wasn''t this another intelligent creature?

    ''if you are worried about eating it because it is part of another intelligent creature. then won''t worry they don''t mind being eaten.'' aero was lost once more.'' universal law on the matter, is mostly consent. As for why one would eat this, their flesh possed a certain type of nutrition that good for the body and mind. enough that they sell it.''

    "okay," that was interesting. "is it safe for them to sell their flesh like that?" the helper then informed him of how powerful their regeneration was. By the end of a flower, the limb would be good as new. because of that, they have little problem selling body parts for profit.''

    "I can''t believe they''re selling their own body parts for profit." the helper stated that wasn''t the strangest thing they had on record of people doing for profit. aero decided he didn''t want to know more about that, no right now he was going to figure out how he felt about eating another being flesh. his people as a whole didn''t eat a lot of meat, mostly for digestive reasons. but that didn''t mean they were incapable.

    just prepare for a bad stomach, which aero might get in short order.

    "Will this be worth it?" the helper took that as an actual question telling him how it would feed into his body. effecting even his nervous system and bones. so yea it sounded like it would be very worth it. which was followed by the question of how would he eat it.

    "it would be best that you grilled it, I hear the test and texture is the best. plus that heat will deal with the acid." that last part seemed the most important, "Well where do I find a grill." he knew people used them in a vague sense. but didn''t know anyone that owned one.

    aero ended up searching his family''s kitchen finding out. that his mother at some point brought a grill for their stove." why has she never used this?" he asked himself as he set up the grill.

    which took much longer than it should have before he got it right and lit the fires. waiting a bit for the metal to heat up before he dropped the dripping tentacle onto the grate. " it was interesting to watch how it cooked. watching as it grilled, the blood quickly boiling off. losing its melting qualities as the skin caramelized looking very crunchy.

    by the time the helper told Aero it was done the tentacle had lost half its size, "well I guess this is it," moving it onto a plate. he uses a knife to cut it into small pieces on the helper''s advice. looking at it, he wondered if this was really worth it." he knew this would do things to his digestive tract.

    "let''s hope this doesn''t cause too much regret."  he brought the first to his mouth. his first thought when he bit in, was it was surprisingly juicy, the skin was crunchy while the inside melted over his tongue. a thick meaty taste, aero hadn''t had much in his mouth other than gels. but this wasn''t bad.

    ''chewing is a painful thought,'' he thought as he worked his jaw and then moved on to the next piece working his way through them in the middle of the night. it gave him some time to think. his thoughts drifting the beast and its attack. it''s going to try again, I need to figure out something to protect myself.''

    he wondered if it was too much to hope that the attacks would only come after him, he asked the helper who knew more about the beast''s behavior. ''my apologizes my lord I don''t know, it''s never made a move like this. a new number of possibilities have to be observed. I can''t say your mother your team or Adir is safe.''

    aero bit rather hard into another piece of meat. ''okay, plan to defend possible victims of the beast.'' that was going to be a real problem. aero was confident in his ability to defend himself, but defending someone from across the country was a different problem. he continued to think about it as he finished up the meal and rented to his room.

    "I''ll patch that up in the morning," he was too tired to care about the holes in his floor for the moment. hopefully, that didn''t become a problem between now and then. he went down to bed as best as he could. unable to put his guard down enough to fully fall asleep. but he got to rest so he could deal with that.

    he couldn''t deal with the insectoid creature that he work up to. having crawled in through the small hole in his wall. he would figure that out in a few moments after he rapidly grabbed it and threw it outside. before whipping his face, and checking his room for more." alright first thing after breakfast get my room pathed up!"

    aero had it through his doorway, pushing the curtain aside, right before his digestion system made noises he''s never heard before." and there is the regret." growing he changed course to the washroom.

    after dealing with that, aero actually made it to the kitchen where he saw his mother cooking. with more pep in her step than usual. why didn''t get a chance to think about it when his nose was hit with the smell of the first meal and his stomach immensity made unhappy and distressing noise?

    he returned to the kitten a dozen petals later. his stomach calmer as he entered the kitchen," are you okay?" his mother asked having seen the speed he used." no," Aero stated as he took a seat at the table. "but I''ll be better soon." maybe by the zalts he hoped so it has only been a flower and he already had many regrets.

    "but I need to go buy some wood for my room," she asked why and Aero softly explained that he had been attacked last night." okay maybe I should have used that melody to soundproof my room," she mumbled to herself before asking if he was in danger of getting again.

    "I have no idea when or how, but it going to happen." his mother nodded silently shutting worry aside. aero has taken care of himself, he would be fine." honesty I''m more worried about the chances of you being attacked?" now Neora was worried about that.

    look she could defend herself, "do you have an idea of how they might attack us?" there was a slight trembled as she stirred the pot over the fire. aero was silent for a moment," they won''t land on the planet, or even enter the atmosphere. so the attacks with all be some kind of long-range." he frowned as he tried to figure out a way that his mother didn''t have to change her lifestyle.

    honestly, the best idea he had was some kind of melody amplified by dance, but who knows how long that would last if it was even possible. maybe some kind of item, no his planet didn''t have anything for that effect, also he would like to save up for the books for his team.

    "well this is a big problem," he groaned as he rested his head on the table he spent there''s of the morning thinking. even going to the library to speak with Tova. who wasn''t thrilled to hear the beast of pride had found a way around its imprisonment. She was definitely making a call about this. but today she thought aero about heaven and earth energy.

    her lesson gave him a better idea of its potential, like how it would benefit his mother to learn it as well. but cbeause heaven and earth energy wasn''t just for combat, no you could use it in cooking, setting, or any kind of craft. hell, there were methods for people who used it for nothing more than everyday civic life.

    "Why did you say anything?" he pointed the question at the helper as he walked home. ''I''m sorry my lord, the possibility slipped my mind. I was looking for too big of a solution. leaving an energy method like this will solve not only the potential attacks but deal with many future possibilities.'' aero nodded and started asking what kind of methods for H&E energy.

    the helper had vague information about his mother, which they told their lord. most of it was from their lord''s memory and causal observations. '' I would need to perform a deep scan on your mother to get a better idea.''

    ''I''ll talk to her but why haven''t you done a scan?" he stepped through a small crowd waving at the guy who he convinced to start writing more seriously. who was trying to get his child to walk more? it was peaceful in town despite what happened last night. aero liked that!

 52

    "how? just how? aero wondered. somehow in the last few days, the beast of pride had managed to attack. nothing big. no that was a lie, it almost killed his twice not including the first attack. but he served and won. so he didn''t consider it too bad, they had mostly been some form of ambush or snipping. except one of them had been in the middle of the street.

    now people knew he was under attack, he decide that was a problem as people were being so Zalt damn noisy. everyone one worrying about his health. he could take of himself. more than once someone offered to guard him, he didn''t need a guard. but he did consider the offer to guard his mother and Adir.

    what he found the most frustrating about this was that he knew it wasn''t going to calm down anytime soon. the beast wouldn''t give up and people wouldn''t stop being concerned. at least no one was asking too many questions about the repairs he kept having to make to his room.

    "at this point, I might have to hire someone to do the repairs." pulled out a floorboard to replace it with one that didn''t have six holes in it. it was simply to do and he was done under a few petals. but it wasn''t the first time he''s had to do with it because of the beast.

    thankfully the damage has only been limited to the walls and floor of his and none of his items. which he would be pissed about if he had to repair, none of it was really replaceable stuff. sighing he stood up and stretched trying to remove the tension from his body." Man, this was supposed to be a break."

    taking the ruined wood outside to be disposed of later. next to the other wood that could ruined in the last few days. he was kind of running out of patience, but his current capabilities didn''t have much room for action beyond adding more chains to the beast prison. which at this point was petty retaliation.

    while he wasn''t above being petty. it wasn''t something he wasn''t liked to do long term, he much preferred decisive action, with no room for question or retaliation. ''how does it do that ain''t the embodiment of a sin?'' he completed this as he worked on some carving taking his frustration out on some wood.

    he was much calmer when lunch came around. enough that he could enjoy a simple time with his mother. right before something came flying at his head. only by hearing the air being split did he know to push back from the table.

    letting the black object fly past him and strict the wall.his mother and Adir jumped at the sound of impact. but as they turned to look at the source of the noise aero was turning towards where it came from.

    ''a venom wing Ussil. careful each shot will be faster than the last. an average of ten shots for their kind." aero didn''t respond to the information as he grabbed the closest weapons, his plate, and a knife. as the second shot came, he tilted his head out of the way as he charge closer. it wasn''t a far distance on the other side of the room.

    but doughed the shots that came every few steps took his focus. the fourth shot was twice as fast as the first, he had to use the ceramic plate to deflect. cracking it. but as close, enough that he threw his knife at the Ussil. while it didn''t pierce, it did distract long enough for Aero to close in.

    he wrapped his hands around its body. instantly he could tell it was as hard as a rock. he couldn''t kill it that easily, so he brought it down as he brought up his leg. smashing its mid-section into his leg''s carapace. it cracked and tore. it was still alive so he did it again. then again.

    the noise of breaking growing louder with each hit. until the Ussil snapped in half. blood and guts flying out. "AH!!" aero cried when it hit his face. mostly in disgust in nothing more, it was always the most disgusting part of hunting or combat. getting blood on his face, specifically near his mouth.

    "Plah!" he spit out the blood that had gotten in his mouth. it was bitter sour and sweet, definitely not edible. aero dropped the half and was mid-way turning, he wanted to wash up. when the helper shouted a warning.

    "MM!" aero jumped out of the way from another attack from the venom wing Ussil.'' the venom wings have a vengeance-type evolutionary future. allowing them to sneak in a few attacks even after death.'' aero dodged another vengeance attack. he couldn''t help but wonder how did something develop such a trait.

    Tova''s explanation of evolution was pretty concise and a vengeance evolutionary didn''t ensure the survival of the singular.'' but it might help with the survival of the species, so how did this one get on agustine?''

    ''evolutionary diminished presence enough that the planet''s barrier wouldn''t react too violently. but they aren''t capable of space travel on their own so there is something else at play.'' aero groaned knowing that was going to bite him, and it had to make the helper do more cautions. if the beast managed to ensnare something that could transport not space-faring species then they had more problems.

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    ''my lord I know you aren''t going to like it," the helper spoke after Aero and Adir had gotten the blood off the floor. his mother was making sure the bodies were probably disposed of, along with all the stingers they had to pull out of the wall. ''but I believe you''ll have to request help from Baili.''

    aero face creased in aggression. he really wanted to not do that. but between his pride and his mother. his mother usually one out, but she did this time. ''I''ll write her a letter.'' he wasn''t going all the way to talk to her.'' probably should send something to my teammates as well.'' he took a moment to consider if the letter would arrive before he did.

    it shouldn''t plus it also had a better chance for him to put his thoughts on the matter together. mostly explaining the shit there were probably going to get into, the letter he sent would have to give them a good idea of the danger. ''I''ll need to know if they''re going to back out over this.''

    he wasn''t going to keep his hopes too high. these daily attacks from new sources were testing limits he wasn''t aware he had before. it was much different from being out in the wilderness, he was supposed to be in danger out there. not at home, not in his bedroom, or by his mother''s side.

    ''she should be in this much danger either,'' the thoughts made him grid his jaw. his limbs ached from how long he remained tense. he was growing tired a bit more easily as a result of the stress. it was all a pain he had to adjust to.

    when cleaning up was done he took some time to head over to the library. to find a scroll to unwind with. he was supposed to be on vacation, should at least try to relax despite what was happening. when he walked into the library Tova was busy helping a child with a checkout.

    she give him a look over the child''s head, she wanted to talk. aero gave her a nod before he headed deeper into the library. he didn''t heed over to his usual self. as he''s already read a good portion of those and instead, he looked for something new.

    something he could immerse himself in and stop paying attention to the world around him, not that was safe for him to do at the moment. ''by the zalts does that mean I can''t read in peace.'' the thought made his skin crawl in aggravation. if he got attacked while he tried to read ye was sent a blade of pride at the beast.

    that probably wouldn''t do much, but it would at least tell the beast he was not to be toyed with. he was doing his best to think about the most painful form the energy could take when he was thinking about something with lots of small hooked spikes that would be a pain to pull out when Tova came around.

    "I''ve heard about your situation?" aero pounded if she heard thought gossip chain or another method. ''the gossip chain was probably faster.'' he sighed," look unless you have a recommendation for a way to increase my defenses, or a new genre to read I''m not in the mood to talk."

    "you''re rarely in the mood to talk," Tova smiled as she moved to a different shelf running her finger over the scroll." and for your questions, I have an answer to both." now aero turned away from the scrolls he was looking over.

    "From what you''ve explained you only use your pride energy to attack or sense. it may have defense capabilities. As for a new genre I think you''ll like interested in horror novels." there was a glint in her eyes, Augustine didn''t have the concert of horror stories. well, not ones that were focused on scaring you, "I suggest the ones from Crov b56 they''re great!" her smile was bright.

    "I know you planning something, but at the same time I''m curious!" he turned his attention to the helper ask asked about the horror stories of crovb56.'' the horror stories of that planet are a 7 out of 5.'' okay he was impressed. maybe he should read those. but first, he was going to look into defense capabilities.

    the energy has little to no physical presence. so a barrier or armor wasn''t a real solution for the problem he was currently facing. just he could detect the pride of other things so he could use it to increase his awareness of his surroundings.

    furthermore, could he use that to tell when someone was attacking him, even if he couldn''t it was something he should probably experiment with. it would tell me I''m more about the limits of his power. ''it might just grant me more awareness of another person''s pride than what I see.'' he remembered the little girl he accidentally hurt.

    he did not like repeating mistakes.

    when he headed home from the library he tried spreading his awareness with the use of his pride energy. it was vaguely working, getting a very vague feeling of people''s pride despite them not being in the line of his sight.'' a lot of work needed,'' he thought as he returned home. getting the helper to bring out a story from Crov b56!

    a flower later he was staring at the ceiling of his room, trying to come up with swears and curses to describe how he felt at this moment. the story from Crov b56 had been a simple and short one. about a creature going for a walk, but as the story went on you noticed things were wrong with the environment.

    for the first half, you thought the environment was the worst thing. but in the latter half, you learned the creature was the cause. how they distorted the land around them how they enjoyed doing so, knowing the consequences of the people who lived there before.

    In the last sentence, you learned the creature was walking towards you, the last word was your death. one without peace.

    it was an incredible story, aero was amazed by what he read. having gotten very immersed. it was creepy and disturbing, but it didn''t scare him too much. that wasn''t him just being too prideful to admit to it, the story got more of his fight response than his flight response.

    thankfully the story didn''t follow him to his dreams but it was something that he thought about when he woke up in the morning." alright what am I doing today?" he thought over this as he went over his morning routine and had a vague plan for the day.

    it would be pretty simple barring any interruptions from the beast," I''m not making any prays for that?" instead he worked his pride awareness getting a gauge presence of his mother and Adir as he ate. before heading out to do some shopping, he wanted to start getting ready for his return to hunting.

    which meant collecting dried food and other tools, before settling down to listen to a story or carve more wood. the beast didn''t try anything when the sun was out, but he had to avoid an attack. another tentacle from a hole in space. it was kind of annoying. but it was simple to deal with than leave in the kitchen for the morning.

    thankfully he knew better than last time and managed to keep his room from melting. which meant he could go right back to sleep, he didn''t anticipate how loud his mother would be when she found a tentacle on her table its fluids having melted a hole in the floor. ''I''m glad I didn''t fully lay it on the table.''

    she probably would have been more upset if they had to replace the table. they had wood for the floor, aero was able to fix the hole while his mother cooked. She grilled the tentacle with a certain look in her eye.

    adir helped Aero by getting the new wood for the floor. which they were able to place down just as his mother set the table. they dove into the meal Adir tried to bring up the mood. but Neroa was still upset about her floors while Aero was just tired of being attacked.

    the mood didn''t improve throughout the day as Aero carved wood outside, partly because people kept trying to give him their sympathy. then he got attacked again. by another tentacle," Really! By the zalts calm down." he rushed off to the wood to let some aggression out on a tree. it needs up being three trees.

    before he sat down and meditated," you want to play then let''s zalts damn play!"

 53

    the barrier that made up the beast of pride''s prison was strange. very much complicated. but he could feel a large portion of it was made of pride energy. and more than what he knew, but he would learn.

    aero didn''t focus don''t the barrier instead pushing through it so he could mentally and spritely enter the cage. the eveirment of it hadn''t changed one bit since he last looked into it. Originally the place was was of a wasteland, but the beast of pride had nothing if not high standards. just because it was trapped didn''t mean that it had to let its surroundings below those standards.

    which led to the hand-made temple Aero faced today. everything near perfection, the giant beast standing on top of it. bathing and posing in the light of the dimension. " So my jailor comes for what?" he could hear and taste the smugness and smirk from the beast.

    aero didn''t answer just formed his pride energy into the largest sectioned staff he could make at his current stores. this led to it being the thickness of a tree and the length of several, but it was still kind of small compared to the beast. which spoke of the massive size it kept itself at.

    "how pathetic." the beast said before Aero moved, directing the weapon it didn''t move fast but the pride of the beast prevented it from moving. until the staff struck it in the face, "AAAH!" the beast roared.

    "That hurt!" shot up rearing back its gleaming and deadly claws. this mortal harmed it, that wasn''t not early. the part of the companion that watched over them rarely found reason to enter the prison much less attack. but the beast even for such bing it wouldn''t be easy to injure them.

    but this small mortal who hadn''t even reached the stars yet managed to injure them, impossible. and unforgivable." Swearing Aero moved, but the claws moved faster than he could follow than he could comprehend.

    he only knew the beast struck before his protection started bleeding, well he understood he was bleeding. in a way. this form didn''t have blood, but he''d been cut deep and something was dripping. gritting his teeth as he screamed, he regained attention to his fading weapon.

    ''It''s not going to last much longer thanks to the attack, but I came to teach them a lesson.'' The staff twitched before it shot forward with all the speed aero could muster at this moment. the beast knew the attack was coming and simply moved its head back.

    "AH!" it didn''t expect the other ten of the staff to come around slamming onto the back of its head. it moved to cut aero again but the moment he sent the staff into action he moved to leave the prison. As he faded from this space he gave the beast a rude guestor tova showed him.

    returning to his body took a few petals. then he screamed through his clenched jaw. there was nothing physical wrong with him, but he could still feel the cut the beast gave him. In fact, he felt it stronger than he did before.

    "Okay what happened I''ve had much worse wounds so why does this hurt like the time I got briefly set on fire." he pushed himself to his feet, unsteady walking towards the village.'' My lord this is a wound on your spirit. it much different from a physical wound and much more complicated.''

    "It''s not going to heal easily is it." If the helper had a body their head would be shaking Yes, ''No my lord, a wound of this size could take a couple of hundred years to heal'' Aero nearly tripped over that.

    "By the zalts and the black holes of creation,!" he mumbled under his breath mixing swears from his world and beyond." Is there a way to speed that up?" The helper gave an affirmative," But it''s not that easy so that." Again another affirmative.

    the helper then went on to explain there were many ways to attack the spirit as they could stop you from reaching the afterlife, Attacking one''s spirit was a horrible crime. as many regions viewed it as a sacred thing. not to how hard it was for someone to recover.

    a small genocide was a lesser crime than harming a single person''s spirit. "by the zalts and their stories! how is it that bad!" he ran his fingers over where he felt the wound. his skin was unharmed, but it hurt a lot. Maybe that was why one crime was heavier than the other." So what about healing them?"

    ''A spirit is a form of energy, damage to it is a loss of energy. restoring that energy is how you heal your spirit. '' Aero nodded in understanding, so the helper continued explaining,'' by living eating sleeping, expressing emotions, and more. you give energy to your spirit. By living you will repair your spirit slowly.

    "But that could take too long. What does having a damaged spirit lead to?" The helper was quiet, for just a moment. '' A healthy spirit dwells within a healthy mind and body. a sick spirit dwells in a sick mind and body. Your spirit will harm your mind and body if precautions are not taken.''

    "This is just looking better and better, Aero stated as he walked inside his mother''s house. "Do I need money for their precautions?" The helper informed him that it was negative.'' but it would require at least weekly medication, and it would be better to do daily and certation herbs. but the herbs are definitely expensive due to their rarity and I don''t know if there are any that meet the requirement on Augustine."

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    "Okay, mediation I work with that, plus over the forest ocean are some of the best herb farmers." That little fact he read up on recently. "Back to the topic of healing what should I do to speed that up."

    ''Again it is the matter of herbs or minerals that naturally affect the energy of the spirit. I don''t have the information to know if they grow here....there is the third option of using a melody.''

    "There''s a reason that you hesitated to state," Aero picked up on something he probably wasn''t going to like to hear.'' The spirit is as fragile as it is strong.'' was the answer which Aero took a moment to think about.

    ''As strong as it was fragile how horrible contradictory.'' It was a thought provoker if nothing else, but Aero could kind of grasp what it meant. more so it reminded him of a kind of creature he read about, a slow creature with incredible defense ability. especially in their large shells, stronger than metal, unless you hit the right place then they crumble like a wet scroll.

    "Melodies risk being a weak spot for the melodies," which made sense. melodies turned out to be more complicated than he first thought. so it was possible they could affect a spirit, but it was unknown how. if they damaged a spirit he risked being convicted of a crime.

    "Can we call xoqax?" the scientist might be interested. the helper shot that idea down, they didn''t state why giving their lord a chance to decipher it himself," It''s because of the courts, they wouldn''t take well to him studying spirit would they?"

    ''Not in the slightest, it would actually violate the parol he''s on and that would be bad for several reasons. it''s also likely you would be brought to court over the matter.'' Aero hummed as he laid himself on his bed. he probably wasn''t going to be moving much for a while, this spirit wound hurt. he was going to get used to it, seeing as it was going to be a chronic problem for the foreseeable future.

    "Any way around that?"

    ''Not within your current ability, if you could transverse space in reasonable time, you could petition to the court in person. which is the only way they will listen on such matter." aero huffed. before closing his eyes, he was going to try and mediate.

    it wasn''t that hard to get in the right mind state, but staying there with the constant ache of the wound was a different matter. he kept going back and forth, trying to push down the pain. but that wasn''t showing any signs of progress so he tried something else.

    he tried accepting the pain he was feeling, like in the middle of combat. he was hurt but he couldn''t afford to stop. just needed a way to manged how the pain affected him, After who knows how long he got a feeling for the damage.

    despite it being around his chest he could feel the wound to the tips of his tone and finger. also, he could feel the wound bleeding his energy, which was another. ''If the problem is energy can I use my own to fix it?''

    ''Possibly, it''s like trying to fix a tub with the water leaking from it,'' Well that was an image but maybe he could just see the bleeding if nothing else. the helper said he would see better results with that. but there were still risks if the energy level was too high.

    there was a twinge of doubt before he acted, which reminded Aero how much aero he spent sticking the pride beast. yeah it was likely to retaliate, but it didn''t ruin Aero''s satisfaction. ''Oh, that''s probably why the energy level isn''t as low as it should be. he did some he would be proud of for a very long while.

    he even thought back on more of his recent achievements, feeling his pride engery so he could focus it towards his wound. trying to deal with it. giving the energy the form of bandages didn''t help as the energy just seemed to bleed through, ''This is only steaming the flow.''

    but he didn''t know where to start, only left with trial and error. in the end, he stuck with the image of bandages as it seemed to work in time for the third meal of the day. it made him feel better for a while, but he knew more was going to be needed. so after mediating some more, he started going through combat stances in his room.

    the pain was there but he forced himself to work through it as time went on before lying down to listen to more of the horror stories. they were progressively getting worse, longer impacting and immersing him deeper into their horrors.

    ''I didn''t know the forest could install such a feeling,'' a different feeling from the chance of a creature attacking you. aero didn''t feel that much as his chances were good at winning any ambush. if that wasn''t possible he would run or call for help. but only after a certain amount of his blood had been spilled. he refused anything less.

    the next day Areo started changing his plans for his trip, The new injuries changed a few requirements, and on the road, he preferred to take the bare minimum with lots of coin. now he had to bring a few more things to make himself livelier on the road," Wow I don''t have mu do I?" he was surprised when he took a step back and looked at it he didn''t have the many world possessions.

    "You know I''m fine with that and the zalts can quote me on it." Aero said as he increased the bags of coin he hid on the cart," That should be enough for me to live with." he wasn''t sure, years of proving the truth had left its effect.

    "I guess I could poke the topic to my teammates, I hope I don''t end up drinking again." No more wondering for him thank you very much. was kind of fun but he could definitely get hurt or mauled, ''How good am I at drunk fighting?'' That was probably something he would have to keep in mind if he did drunk wonder again.

    ''My lord, would you like me to look into drunken fighting styles?'' That sentence alone reminded Aero how big the universe was, ''no not for the moment but keep it in mind just in case.'' Then he turned back to his preparations. again he considered sending out letters but again kind of pointless, so instead he thought about how was he was supposed to explain this stuff to people.

    organizing the information the helper had even him, he tried to make it simple for him to explain to people.'' Are they worth this effort?'' he paused to think for a moment before deciding that it wasn''t them he was spending the effort for.

    no, he was spending it for himself, he wouldn''t let anyone assume the source of his possible weaknesses. plus, unfortunately, he would need the team to cover him if the wound affected his abilities too much. he wasn''t looking forward to that possibly so he was going to medicate and bind the wound with as much energy as needed.

    because who knew when the next time he came home would be he spent the rest of the time near his mother. and inevitably Adit, who was starting to work up some courage concerning aero. Neaora was very pleased to see this, Aero was unsure if it made the man more or less bearable.

    ''Either way, I''m putting up with him for Mother'', aero thought looking over the game before him. it was his mother''s favorite game. entangled, as it was mostly referred to to aero''s knowledge. the game was played with a set of colored full ropes, his mother owned the same set since she was a child, worn from the many games she played in her and her child''s youth.

    aero could see the part that had to be fixed after a tantrum when he was between six and seven. he members being so upset that his mother had been taking it easy on him. but at the same time, soundlessly beat him in every game they played.

    his tantrum had been pretty big, it was the first time Aero had hit someone. Unfortunately, it ended up being his mother. like a switch flipped he was no longer upset about the game. much more tears over the fact that he hit his mother, she managed to calm him down by pressing his strength and how well he hit. it gave him the first bit of pride in his physical abilities once he was calmed down.

    ''You know that probably affection how I turned out a lot,'' he thought as the memories washed over him right before he lost the round.

 54

    Less than two days on the road as he headed to meet his teammates. Aero ran into a problem, literally; while his beast trotted down a road, it ran face-first into another creature. Aero was going to move to fight it. If the creature hadn''t raised its front hooves/claws, kicking the creature. ''oh, that''s right,'' he picked something that could fight. Knowing he wasn''t at his best, Aero unhooked the creature from the cart and let it fight.

    As he watched the bloody battle with teeth and claws, he wondered if letting the creature fight more would be a good idea. ''I mean, I doubt it would be a problem,'' besides taking a closer look at it, they looked like they''d put on some weight,'' unless they got pregnant when I wasn''t looking.''

    The battle only lasted a few petals before Aero''s creature managed to land a big blow that forced the wild one to retreat into the woods. Aero''s creature watched it retreat before turning to face Aero, who started them down." if you''re going to run you. I warn you that I won''t be kind when I catch you,"

    The creature huffed as if insulted before starting back over. "smarter than I originally believed," he could work with that." in fact, he opened his gaze to the creature''s pride; there wasn''t much a little more than the average creature, which he looked at in curiosity a few times. The level varied a lot. Enough for him to know that there was room for improvement.

    ''I wonder how much of a good idea that is?'' he wondered before reattaching the line before the creature started walking again. Travel was dull, as nothing else tried to attack him. so that left his listing to some stories the helper found for him.

    Which was fully entertaining, but he couldn''t help but grow restless. His daily exercising and stretching weren''t helping as much. ''I don''t even remember being this restless,'' it baffled him until he remembered that his injured spirit could affect his mind.

    ''Man, I hope it''s something else,'' because he could really do much about the injured spirits or the systems. The worry stayed with him as he continued moving forward. Soon, he arrived at the point where he would have to take a bird to the edge of the continent.

    "These prices," Aero groaned, seeing the amount it would take to bring his cart and creature. He knew about them beforehand and brought enough coin, but it still hurt to see. ''let''s see, the bird won''t be leaving for the next few days. The trip would take about 12 days.'' it sounded long, but it was months on a cart and maybe a year walking.

    ''All alright, let''s pay for my seat and then go look around town.'' he wanted to know if any of his team was already here. He started with the inn in the town, where there were four of them. None of his teammates were inside, and the workers wouldn''t answer his question about who was staying there.

    So he headed throughout the town, seeing the market and the houses and the mail building and the hunter building as well. There was even a small training center that he looked through. It wasn''t as impressive as the one in the capital. But he liked it and was definitely visiting again in the next few days.

    The person who ran the training halls was a bit more helpful in locating his teams, telling him that one person who matched the descriptions of his teammates had been through there. This gave him some hope, but she couldn''t tell him who it had been. Also, her memory seemed pretty spotty.

    "Ugh, let''s hope that she didn''t get something mixed up."

    Walking through the rest of the town, he didn''t find them, followed by checking out the space around the town, where thankfully he found Golan Lior sparring with Graezt Inna. ''oh, thank the zalts, people I can talk to without getting mad.'' yes he was aware that was a problem of a kind. But he didn''t see the need to solve it right now.

    Instead, he settled down to watch them fight; it was clear that both had put in practice for their weapons. They were both skilled, so Aero couldn''t declare a clear winner; they didn''t reveal one either as, at some unseen signal, they both stopped putting their weapons in their sheaths.

    "are you going to keep watching?" Inna asked, looking at the tree that Aero was leaning against." I think I will?" the male responded before lowering himself to sit on the ground. The girls looked at each other and shrugged before going back to their sparing.

    About a flower later, they headed back into town, talking about the fun they had over their breaks. then the danger Aero had been in, "We''re going to get attacked, aren''t we." Loir stated. Aero nodded in response, and she sighed. " great, I thought this was going to be boring on the trip." you could have hit someone with that sarcasm.

    Inna was more intrigued by the spiritual injury he incurred." does it hurt?" Aero paused; it hurt constantly, but he wasn''t telling her that. There wasn''t a point in making her worried; he was fine. He was dealing with the pain.

    When they arrived at the inn the girls were staying at, Aero got himself a room. When the innkeeper asked if he wanted to be near the girls for his safety, he gave them an angry and tired look, which was enough to convince them to change their question.

    A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    "would you like a room near your teammates so you can split the bill?" at the question, Aero turned to the girls. Lior gave a thumbs up, not looking up from the drink she was chugging. "all right, we''re slipping the bill. Also, we have three more teammates arriving. Can we reserve rooms for them in advance?"

    "oh, that is more than doable," she smiled and started writing something down before giving him the keys to the room they just rented out. Aero left the other keys with the girls before getting his stuff from his cart and dragging it up to his room for the next few days, where he meditated.

    Wrapping more bandages of pride energy around the still leaking wound. Honestly, he thinks it was getting worse, like the bleeding out was getting worse. He was noticing small changes in his physical state, like the fact he was more tired than usual. Sleep didn''t help him recover as much. And mentally, his thoughts might be getting slower.

    A small bud of fear was in his chest; it probably would grow more than it already was.

    "helper, have you detected anything from the beast?" he asked, stretching out, trying to stay active despite the growing effects of the wound. ''no, it''s been more than a week since you fought it, but it''s possible it''s acting in a way I can''t detect.''

    Aero ran a hand over his face before moving into a new stretch. ''well, I guess the only real option is to be on guard; Aero sure as hell would let an attack slide, so he doubted that the beat would. There was no way it was any less prideful than he was; another thing he was sure he needed a new way to contain this beast.

    The chains were a nuisance, and he wasn''t stopping that. The petty and annoying actions were the best he could do at the moment. But if the beast stepped up its game, he could only return the favor and step up his own game.

    He had been thinking about what he should do, and as much as he didn''t like it. He couldn''t do anything that would anger the beast too much. But he fixed those thoughts by seeing it as a challenge.

    It would be a careful balancing act on how he treated his prisoner before they increased their attempts to kill him. "I wonder how manipulative this will turn out to be?" because he was aware he was playing with the beast''s emotions and feelings; he knew it was going to hate him. But he didn''t care, and he wasn''t sure the creature felt anything not related to pride.

    Second of all, it wouldn''t care right back, nor did he think it would take any of his actions lying down. Never mind what it would do when it realized what he was doing. Why did he think it was going to realize what he planned? Because right next to it''s old age, it was still going to live for a very long time.

    If Aero lived long enough, the beast would have been stupid not to realize what he was doing. which he doubted the most about the beast, as it clearly showed planning by the creatures it sent after him.

    Not of them were doing anything that would draw attention to the battle but also scalable of somehow bypassing the barrier around Augustine. But all cable of killing a being of Aero''s power levels, it also might be underestimating him.

    "I''m thinking about this too hard," he would have to come back to this. After some rest and coming up with something more completive, he trained his energy manipulation. Because he was going to need that for his plans, whatever they ended up being.

    He started by trying to form weapons, something he could imagine hitting the beast through the gate without risking his own health. The chain worked without his having to cross to the other dimension, so it would be strange for him to attack the same way. Hell, the beast found a way to do it.

    "I think I like this one best," he looked at the weapons before him. It was simply a small spear/torch. He wasn''t sure how he got to fire or why he felt the heat. But he was going with it; his imagination might have run away from him for a few ideas, but he liked the flaming weapon.

    It tests it, Aero through it into the beast''s prison. Not even a moment later, the gate itself shook, which was rapidly closed as the beast lunged at him. Giving the teen a clear view of its many sharp teeth. "that seemed to hurt it a lot," he was pleased by that, but he was also now on guard of the retaliation.

    The retaliation didn''t come for a few days; in that time, he warned Lior, and Inna got ready. But even they were prepared for the swarm that came at them." by the zalts!" swearing right next to her, Inna swung her daggers, trying to kill the head-sized incest flying around them.

    "This was a lot worse than you''ve said," Lior shouted as she kicked off the wall to gain the air needed to smack down three of the insects. inna immediately swooping around to finish them off. "this many hadn''t come before!" Aero shouted as they danced like a leaf in the storm winds, trying to avoid all the stingers and fangs aiming for him. Especially his face.

    As one came too close, lior whipped out with her weapon, sending a tremor through the earth before spikes of stone rose from the earth. And the walls. As the insects scattered from the attack, Aero moved to the center of the room, where his teammate met him. As they did, Aero took a look at Lior''s weapon.

    ''it''s nice to see that she took the time to replace her sword, compared to her last one. Which had definitely seen a lot over the years; this one had indents on the metal edge. So that when swung, air would pass through the holes.

    ''she worked hard over the break,'' Aero acknowledged; they had missed the chance to go with her due to the rush to the capitol. But Aero was glad she took the time herself, ''how do we kill all these insects!'' he loosened his grip on the staff. He started willing it like a rapier stabbing through the exoskeleton of the insects that came close to him.

    It didn''t even slow the swarm. Of what he wasn''t sure. They had wings that reminded him of stained glass, their bodies were long, and their heads normal-sized with a dozen eyes. Numerous legs down their form that ended in a long stinger. It was dark, and he knew there was poison in it; from a close call, they left something dripping out of the wall.

    ''damn it what can we do without destroying the inn, because breaking someone''s lively hood was bad.'' there was also the following matter about the fine they would have to pay, but Aero could care less about that he had money.

    Dancing under another insect, Inna swung hard with her axes, cutting the wings off of one insect and the tail of the other before placing both blades down on the first. A buzzing behind her told her to jump, and luckily, she did, or there would be a stinger in her back.

    As she flipped over the attackers, she swung her blade through its wings, landing softly, she threw out both axes. one forward into the head of the insect that tried to sneak up on Lior and the other to the side into the side of the bug that Aero had kicked in the face.

    The loss of her weapons didn''t slow her momentum as she still had her fists and feet, which was more than enough to last the moments it took for her teammates to throw her weapons back at her. for her to continue to return to cutting and slicing.

    ''we need something better than this," Aero thought as he slid his staff under the body of a bug before sending it flying into the ceiling, twisting the heel of his foot. He struck the insect that tried to sneak up on him. Blocking the stinger from the right.

    As the first one came caught, he spun again, catching it with his staff so he could violently slam it into the other and then the wall. The three dining screams attracted attention, and several more insects started rushing at him.

    Scoffing, Aero jumped back, using the wall as a springboard so he could air; flipping forward, he thrust his staff through the body. Then, the floor boards, using it as a fulcrum, spun and kicked out the insects that came.

    ''we'' still had a plan,'' he thought. Under the buzzing, fighting, and melodies, his teammates heard a new sound joining them, but Aero didn''t hear it. It was just another part of the noise that surrounded him until he felt his instincts tell him to stop just as a lot of air was parted.

    Snapped towards the source of it, as a fourth of the insects went down. ''she works...!

 55

    "so I guess I missed something!" Grois Galia shouted, lowering her pu doa, blood dripping from the blade. The sudden drop in numbers stunned the bugs long enough for the group to gather and then rush out of the door. which shocked the bugs back into action," can I get some details!" Galia shouted at the insects and followed them through the street of the town. Numbers of people taking covers or attacking with a melody.

    "I pissed off something, not from this world!" Aero shouted, using his staff to vault over a cart. Landing in a tool, he quickly got back to his feet and continued running. At the same Aero started playing up a melody. It was noted, something Lior swore when she received it.

    "It''s the deck!" she shouted, trusting her Inna and Galia dropped to the ground. Seeing they were out of the way, Aero unleashed the melody in a wave of fire. Lior felt its heat throughout her entire body as it washed over the insects. It might not have been enough to kill them all, as the melody was more range than power.

    But it still possessed enough power to ignite their wings; the speed they beat only fielded the members, and soon, half of the swarms were falling to the ground with fire on their backs. Gailia was back on her feet and burst at them, swinging right, left, and up and down, slashing and stabbing through the downed bodies.

    Lior and Inna were following and moved through the motions to craft melodies that burst out in stone and blades of wind. Staining the dirt ground with blood and shards of exoskeleton. Seeing the girls had it handed for the moment, Aero turned to the helper.'' what are these things, and where did they come from?''

    ''I don''t know,'' the helper stated,'' there not in my pools of knowledge or range of sense.'' Aero swore before he rushed forward, ''Great they were going to have to figure this out!'' he looked to the sky where another swarm could be seen arriving. ''they came from the north, so let''s start there.''

    The notes and Aero slammed his staff into the ground, the recoil launching him into the air, right into the swarm, "HA!" he threw his entire weight, spinning with his staff braced against his shoulders.

    He crashed through several insects before the swarm slipped, but that wasn''t the end. As he was falling through the air, he played another melody, four notes, before he threw out another wave of fire. It was more condensed and burned brighter.

    It burned right through a number of the insect wings, scoring their bodies as well. As he was preparing to land, Aero realized that Galia was moved right at his landing spot." ready for another go!!" she shouted, holding her pu dou ready to swing.

    Aero understood what she was planning in a moment. First, he realized she was a little crazy like all hunters were, but it was the good kind!" do it!" he shouted back, showing his own crazy. He quickly changed his position so that he handed on the pole of her weapons.

    Galia spun and, with an impressive display of upper body strength, threw Aero back at the swarm; at the same moment, Lior went flying. Surpassing Aero in speed due to Inna using a melody to send her teammates flying.

    As she arrived in the swarm, the bug rushed her stingers at the ready. She had to deflect a few before she could go on the attack. At least with the density, she could use their bodies as plate forms.

    The moment Aero arrived, he followed her example in using the bodies as stepping stones. Moving across them quickly as his staff smashed into their heads and sides. He just ripped the wings off one of them after it tried to stab him in the face. It fell to its death.

    "so this is a problem!" lior said, back pressed to Aero as they tried to remain on the bug, trying to buck them off! The rest of the swarm they hadn''t killed yet were too far from them to reach. Only driving close enough to try and harm them. "so, ideas?"

    "jump and fill the sky with fire," Aero said, stomping on the insect, trying to force it to stay still, but it only moved with a new fire that almost knocked him as it aimed its stingers at his legs." not happening!"

    Putting his stuff in his mouth, he grabbed the stinger, making sure its venom wouldn''t breach his skin, and pulled at the tail. Disturbing the insect''s balance. Something Lior took advantage of to slash the tail. Aero took a moment to look at the severed tail and realized that it was much better than the one he had in mind.

    Though it still left him with a severed tail, he wasn''t sure what to do with it,'' there was too far to hit at his moment. So, throwing it would be a waste of a weapon. He also realized they were kind of on a time limit now, thanks to the bleeding insect.

    "We should probably jump," he said after a few moments of thought." it''s better than uncontrollable falling when the bug loses its strength. "yeah, I''m with that," Lior said right before she started playing a melody on her sword. It took after the first note for Aero to understand what she was planning.

    The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

    There wasn''t room for him to do a melody on the back of a dying insect, so instead, he let her finish hers, which coated the blade in a wave of freezing water. When she jumped into the air, she thrust and slashed at every insect in sight, sending out the freezing if it hit.

    It definitely forced the insect to give her space to fall to the ground, Aero jumping a moment after her attack came to an end. As he fell, he danced, his staff playing notes until lighting gathered around him, but he didn''t fire it. No, this melody caused the arcs to grow, forming a barrier around him and Lior. Stopped the insect from getting closer than a meter.

    it protected them until they landed on the ground; with a bit of help from their teammates, they did it without energy." after this, do you think you can teach me that lighting melody." Illia asked as Aero put his feet on the ground and dismissed the lighting." sure," he said, keeping his eyes locked On the insects.

    After several movements, neither side moved. Galia asked the question." so what should de do? How do we kill all of these?"

    "We could corral them and then blast them all," Inna suggested," I don''t know how to do that, though."

    "I do," Aero said with a smile, "I can handle corraling them, but the three of you are going to have to work together on killing them." the three girls nodded as Aero started dancing slow and fluid movements with his staff. Unlike the one he just did mid-air, this dance required him to repeat the melody, causing the power to build.

    His bone was vibrating so strongly that someone next to him could feel it. He couldn''t let that power sit too long. So he kept it moving steadily, directing it into the world where it took effect on the air and the earth.

    "Oh, by all the stores," Galia gasped as she watched her leader create a vortex of wind and stone shards. It surrounded the insects and forced them to stay in some spot if they didn''t want the stone to tar right through them." girls, I think this is our chance!" Lior stated, noticing the sweat gathering on Aero''s brow, the quivering in his limbs.

    He couldn''t hold this forever, so they needed to do something!

    As they shared a look, they all knew exactly what to do. The first few notes of their melody were the same, but the ending were different. But it didn''t matter as one there sent the attacks, from lior a slash of fire. From Inna, she threw one of her axes as it coated itself in a fire that only grew the further it flew. At the same time, Galia used her polearm weapon as a brush to write her people''s phrases for burning.

    The phrase flew the slowest, and the slash hit first. Burning through a good number of cornered bugs, the fire coating Inna''s exploded fiercely, blinding the people on the ground, catching every insect, and doing varying levels of damage.

    But the real finisher was Galia''s attack, which made Inna''s attack look safe. When it reached the swarm, Galia snapped her fingers. Then it imploded, sucking in incredible amounts of air, all the insects, even Aero''s own attack. Before exploding with enough likes to be seen from miles away.

    "Why!" Aero shouted as the shock wave hit them, drowning his words out. He vaguely could hear Galia gloating as they braced themselves against the wind. Weapons digging into the ground.

    It took more than a minute for the winds to die down enough for them to relax. "still breathing," Lior commended from where she decided to sit down," Galia, where did you even learn that?" that was a very powerful melody for the few notes it had, instead of answering Galia only hummed.

    they got the unsaid message," Okay, just warn us next time you''re going to use something like that." Lior said," Question for Inna, though?"

    "yes?"

    "What happened to the axe you threw?" you could see the moment it took for her to realize the implications of what just happened. She snapped towards Galia impatiently, asking if the melody was strong enough to destroy her ax. "Ugh, no, it should only work up to the stone, but you''ll definitely have to get it repaired."

    "I can work with that," she then realized that meant her ax had been flung somewhere, and she was going to have to look for it." I''ll go looking in a few minutes." he really wasn''t looking forward to it. But she was tired.

    It was only a few flowers before someone came around to where they were resting," the sound of their footsteps was heard first, and Aero was on his feet in a moment. Ready to fight if they tried to arrest them or run for the hills. The woman who arrived was clearly wearing the uniform of the town''s guards.

    "Hey, why haven''t you evacuated yet," that explained why they didn''t get any reinforcement; they were focused on getting people out of town. "we didn''t leave because those insects were after us. We prioritized defeating them."

    "I see," but what she was really focusing on was the dirt and blood that covered Aero and his clothes. "well, let''s get everyone to the evacuation point. The guard needs to account for everyone and look over the town." Aero hummed before placing his weapon on his back. "one of my teammates lost her axe. If you can find it, that will be a great help."

    "zatless, I thought he would curse her out!" Lior started getting to her feet, followed by her two teams, and then followed the guardsmen out of the tow to where all the people had been gathered. It was quite a crowd, and it was talking.

    "so what should we do now?" lior asked. Aero didn''t say anything, instead placing himself under the shade of a tree." whatever we do, we have time to rest; I hope this doesn''t delay our ride."

    "it probably won''t, but man, I knew you were being attacked, but that was big."

    "wait, you''re under attack!" gaillia, who had been informed of what had been happening to him over the past few days. "it''s not that big of a thing, dangerous, but we can deal with it."

    "That''s good, but I would still like some answers." So Aero gave her a few details, not going into the long explanation, wanting to save that for when the whole team had gathered. Even telling her to hold her questions until that. "I''m only going to have more than that," Aero told her he could live with that.

    Instead, he focused on recovering his strength. Who knows when the next attack will be? He even managed to get some food and water for his teams. Lior and Inna were talking about some kind of plan. But Aero didn''t pay attention, instead of talking with the helper about the attack.

    ''After much analysis, the only way I think the beast could have pulled off the attack was those insects were from this planet or so close it doesn''t matter.'' Aero wanted to say they weren''t from Augustine. But honestly, he wouldn''t know to put why in perspective. There were upwards of 50 species of creatures in Hopth! Of course, there were more kinds out there.

    Another fact was the Grinine race hasn''t polluted the entire planet. Some creatures already made the land there two, and they honestly couldn''t see a reason to expand in a hurry. So, lots of land was left unclaimed by the Grinine.

    This meant unknown things, unknown herbs, and unknown creatures. Unknown, so if the insect were from this planet, Aero wouldn''t know. ''great,'' he sarcastically thought as he realized a possible problem. ''if they were from uncharted land, what is the chance the beast would send more like them.''

    ''the lowest possibility is 98%.'' In response, Aero started audibly swearing. Thankfully, it was the kind Tova taught him. So truthfully, only the helper could fully understand what he was saying but don''t undercount the intelligence of the people Aero chose to surround himself with. as they knew that their leader sounded likely angry.

    ''There have got to be some alien words,'' Inna definitely felt the mixing content, but she was guessing a lot of what he was saying wasn''t nice. She didn''t say anything to it, instead waiting for Aero to calm down before asking what might have set him off.

    " there a chance those bugs are from Augustine. Uncharted land. More unknown creatures might come for us." the ground now understood why he was cursing." are you still willing to be with me after learning this?"

    Aero stayed silent, waiting for their answer, whatever they might be. He didn''t expect Galia to start laughing," You know I want to explore more than I wanted to hunt."

 56

    While being a hunter was the most known thing for those who went to hunting schools, it wasn''t the only kind. There were smaller professions. Researchers who study explore who went into the uncharted to make sure things were fine, mostly in the places near settlements and civilizations. There were a few more But they were people Aero had such a low chance of running into. So he didn''t try to memorize it.

    Hearing Galia say she wanted to be an explorer was a surprise. But it wasn''t something that he felt was a problem. Honestly, it might be a good thing. As a stereotype, people who wanted to be explorers were kind of nuts and wanderlust freaks. Aero wouldn''t and couldn''t say anything about the nuts thing.

    He al most got killed because of his pride, the same thing that got a cosmic being attention.

    "is that why you''re sticking around," Aero said after a moment," wanting to explore space?" Galia smiled a bit; her leader was sharp." but another everything," she spoke, taking a seat a reasonable distance from him." I like you guys, and if I get to see incredible sights and untold wonders, then I would like it to be by your sides."

    "you know, that''s kind of beautiful." Inna said, "I wouldn''t mind that either. but what does that have to do with the creatures that just attacked us?" Galia smiled," One of the most common jobs an explores gets is if a new type of creature makes an appearance. "

    "you might be able to figure out where these bugs came from?" Lior said, putting the rest together." at that, Galia nodded," The first question is to figure out the direction they came from. Which cardinal direction? From there, we send out letters with a description, see if anyone has seen anything like that."

    "that a good place to start, but we''re likely to be attacked by more than that?"

    "Then we should ask around about that as well, get scrolls about uncommon or even rare creatures that people have encountered. It probably helped to contact Ballia," at that, Aero asked just how much work it would take to get the information that she was talking about. because he didn''t want to do more favors than he needed to. Galia pointed out this information would help her defend the country she was in charge of.

    "still don''t like the idea of owning someone," he grumbled but didn''t protest anymore. So they talked about the possible letters to send or scrolls to look into.

    Eventually, the town guard determined it was safe enough for people to go back into town, which was good because it meant Aero could get back into the bed he rented. Also, get something to eat because they missed a meal fighting.

    The town guard wanted to have a few words with them, but it didn''t take too long, only asking a few questions, which they answered as believably as possible. Why some news had been put out about confirmation about life outside their planet. which has sparked debate Aero wasn''t listening to, his mother did and brought it up once or twice.

    "the guards are gossip," Lior stated less than ten petals later as people stared at them. Whispering, looking between wary and amazed. Aero had already headed into the forest to avoid the people. Lior was considering doing it herself. But she needed some oil for his blade.

    Completing that purchase, she headed back to the inner to do some maintenance. The carapace of the bugs had been partially hard. dulling the edge of her sword a bit, so she was going to shape it while she had the chance. Thanks to years of practice, it didn''t take more than half a flower before she headed out to the forest.

    She arrived just in time to see Aero knock over a tree." what? Why?" getting closer, lior watched as Aero observed the tree before using a short melody in turn with a dance. She could tell the power focused on his feet from the way the grass quivered before he brought his foot down in an axe kick.

    It broke right through the bark and halfway through the inner wood. Pulling his legs out, Aero flexed them before stepping back and repeating the melody and dance. There were a few chances; this time, Aero''s axe kicked the fallen tree, only breaking the bark.

    ''what is he doing?" she wondered as he seemed to be pleased with the results, spurring she decided to focus on her own training. Image training, really, relies on her imagination and memory of her enemies to practice against.

    Recently, she has been trying to get more flexible with her attacks. Her imagination might have run a bit wild, and she definitely has some strange thoughts, but who cares? They were for a good laugh sometimes. She tried to come up with several methods of attack. Her blade sang a bit as he sliced the air around her, moving fluidly, then sharp or strong.

    Lior got absorbed in her training so much that she almost missed the person approaching her. But the moment she noticed, she shot around, pointing her blade right at them when it was smacked towards the ground by Aero''s staff. "I came to ask if you are willing to spar." lior didn''t need to think about it too much.

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    *******

    "found you!" Inna jumped at the sound of a familiar voice, and turning around, she found Tzila." hey!" she greeted her teammate, a quick trade of words, and she learned tzilla had just arrived in town. She had seen Inna walk down the road and arced to catch up with her.

    "Seriously, that happened," on her way towards the village, she had run into a few people. Mostly merchants who were leaving and carrying a story with them. She half believed it, because despite how rare mass creature attacks happened. a good hunter prevented them, sometimes you just got unlucky. She knew she had a few times.

    "zaltess, we''re sure they were after Aero?" Inna nodded, and tzilla groaned, an entire swarm after him. That was crazy. Did she need more armor? She usually wasn''t one for it beyond what her body naturally provided and maybe some cloth armor. But she also didn''t like the idea of getting poisoned. Plus, whatever else might happen to them?

    ''it''s not a bad idea to get some to just have on hand,'' it felt like a solid course of action. Of course, she might just be low-key panicking. But she wasn''t going to think about that. Instead, she was going to think about what she could snack on because that was a much better train of thought.

    Seeing the expressions her teammate went through in the last few moments, Inna decided to lead Tzillia to the inn the rest of them were staying at. "remind me to think aero for renting us rooms."

    They talked about some less-than-serious topics until the rest of their team returned to the inn and saw them, allowing Tzillia to let out a breath of relief. It was one thing to hear they were safe, but it was even better to see it with her own eyes. "been a while, right?" she greeted them with a smile, pushing down more of her heavy emotions.

    If they picked up anything, they didn''t say anything to her face," hello." Aero gave her a frankly awkward greeting before sitting down. Followed it with a stiff question about how her break was. It was clear to see the teen was trying, but he was, without doubt, unused to it.

    ''I wonder how safe it would be to try and give him advice?'' it probably was, and she was being a bit too cautious, but she decided to keep her words to herself for the time being. Instead of returning Aero''s question about his break, he didn''t have much to say, unlike tzilla, who had spent a lot of time with people she knew.

    She told them all a few stories about her new team, and it was definitely interesting for them. Her team was interested as she explained the reactions that she got, except Aero, who was unimpressed with how many people were surprised by how a male did what he did.

    A reaction he got too much for his taste. But he kept it down for the moment to let Tzillia continue her stories. They kept coming until it was late and they put in their orders for the third meal of the day, which was quick. But at that point, aero had to turn in for the day, mostly because he had some business as the lord of pride to take care of the privacy he got with the helper in his head.

    Checking on the scientist, checking on the debt he owed to the lord of greed. How well his things had sold. Followed by forming chains and blades to send at the beast of pride. ''I need to send something out for sale," the female lord hadn''t made any attempt to push him.

    But Tova mentioned something about the lord of greed and those who tried to cheat her; yeah, that wasn''t something he was even going to let her believe he was doing. so he had to find something to sell. Thankfully, he had a bit of thing saved. Going back and forth with the helper, he settled on raw materials to sell.

    Which meant that he needed to make a few letters to get those things, "I''ll do that in the morning?"

    *********

    "Okay, so that''s a problem," the past few days, the team did a bit of training and made sure everyone was on the same page. After Idit''s arrival, of course, she was very surprised to hear the news but decided to stick around.

    The problem was, " I''m sorry, but there is nothing I can do about it." the manager commented, trying to soothe the injured giant bird-like creature. It sprained its wing in the panic of the insect attacks. The rest of them were fine, but it left the team with two choices.

    One, stay and wait for the creature to heal. Two, they split into and take two trips to bring everyone over. There were good and bad to both choices, so they talked. "honestly," Inna stated," it would be best if someone went ahead. To start on whatever we need to get our work done."

    She hesitated for a moment before continuing," Also, I think Aero should stay behind." she stepped back, knowing that Aero wouldn''t take that well. She was right as his eyes narrowed and fist clinched, "give me a moment!" he spoke through his locked jaw.

    Aero walked a few meters away from them to take some deep breaths, calming down. Reminding himself his teammates have shown intelligence and wisdom, not a lot in the relatively short time he''s known them. But enough that he knew he should at least try hearing them out. Try having faith.

    "why... do you think I should take the second trip?"

    "We know the people across the ocean are probably going to react the worst people do here; with your temper, that doesn''t seem like a good mix," Aero''s face twitched because she was right. By the zalts, Aero knew how likely an outburst from himself was and chose instead to prepare medicine and funds for jail.

    "you think that we should try and count out the area first, maybe smooth things over?" tzilla asked. Idit'' nodded, and the rest of the girls made sounds of agreement. While Aero glared, read pouted, he didn''t have an argue against what she was saying. It wasn''t like he wanted to get arrested; he just accepted that it would be a consequence of his own actions.

    Something unavoidable," So we''re going on two trips?" everyone nodded in agreement," Okay, who is going with idit on the first trip?"

    "What?"

    "I think I''ll go," Lior said, ignoring Idit''s exclamation. " I''m really curious about the forest ocean I''ve never been this close to it." Gallia nodded in agreement," though I think that''s true for all of us."

    "Seriously, wait!"

    They talked it out, jokingly ignoring Idit''s weak protest. idit, Lior, and Tzillia were going for the first trip, and the group headed back to the inn to pack up their things. The bird would be leaving the next day, so it wouldn''t hurt to start getting ready now.

    "so what should we do while waiting for the bird to come around?" Aero looked up from the letter he was writing." I don''t see any reason that we should do anything different than we already have."

    "yeah, but we should take the chance to get to know each other better," Inna said, not wanting to speak about two weeks with just training. Because from what she understood, that was Aero''s largest comfort zone.

    Though he looked like he''d rather not, Aero asked what she had in mind for the time. She gave him a bright smile before listing off some of the things she saw around the town. Most of which didn''t sound that bad. But Aero hadn''t really tried anything like them. There were simply too many people who stared at his weapon.

    ''yeah, I need to get out more;'' sadly, he needed better social skills. or find someone to take care of him; sadly, the helper had to interrupt that train of thought.'' Unforintly, my lord, when you enter the galactic stage, there will be a number of matters that you can only attend to in person. But beyond that, you can interact with people however you like.''

    The helper also reminded him of the lord of sloth, who could sleep through months or years if left unchecked, but they still worked. Just as effectively as possible. So Aero felt better about his social ability.

    Right up to the day after the next, he stood in front of Palor that Inna had picked out. It could smell the scents coming from the building, but it didn''t smell bad. But it was edging on overpowering. "All alright, let''s see what this place has."

    Aero didn''t have high hopes, and they didn''t get higher when they pushed aside the door curtain and were hit by a wall of scent and colors, lots of bright and attractive colors. A worker looked from where they were painting a picture. That probably wasn''t related to their job. "oh, welcome."

 57

    Bright colors and scents were a good way to gain attention. The best way to feel pretty when you want to draw attention, Aero knew this; over the years, he''s received several bright and flowing clothing and just as many scents as the powders alone could have filled a cart.

    More than half the time, Aero just threw it away or gave it to his mother. She liked feeling pretty. Not that Aero didn''t like being good-looking and smelling, but it was more a matter of practicality and pride. First, most of the clothing wasn''t that appropriate for his lifestyle on the road and fighting. So he wouldn''t really wear it within any reasonable time frame.

    As for pride, Aero didn''t believe he needed any artificial change to make himself look better. He looked plenty good. Nor was he lacking in confidence he needed to boost.

    This also meant the only time he''d been in a store like this was when his mother had to take him everywhere with her. he didn''t even remember that last time. Not that he was concerned about this. ''though this might be more people if start courting,'' a thought that was quickly pushed aside as he joined his teammate in observing the goods; there were many options.

    "so have any perfurances?" Inna asked, only for Aero to plainly tell her that he''s never looked into perfumes. "I''ve never felt I need to change how I smell, plus the soap I use is strong enough." she hummed before stating she''s never smelt the soap. Then Aero explained that he didn''t let a lot of people close enough to smell it.

    "you know what fair, so what scent is your soap? That''s a good place to start."

    "ah, just some flower scent." he didn''t know what kind, but he usually stuck with some nature-like. Personly, he liked the scent of flowers, but it also helped hide him when he was hunting. "I can work with that!" Inna said before moving to the more floral scents.

    The cosmic lord has mixed feelings about the scent; they weren''t too bad, but they felt too strong for him. People would be able to smell him from a distance. Inna argued it could be for a special occasion, to which Aero asked what would you call a special occasion.

    To him, this was a way to impress someone, but Inna viewed it as something a bit more personal. Their views didn''t lead to an argument, but it did lead to a discussion of how different scents might fit better in situations. Aero had to admit Inna knew what she was talking about, ''I wonder how much she studied.''

    The amount of knowledge she had couldn''t be the causal knowledge. She knew a few things about the production of the scents, especially how some were designed to go with the clothes handing in the sore. Which was really something that Aero didn''t know, " you know you might want to consider getting an oil. If you dab it in a few locations, you don''t get a strong scent, but it''s clearer than what your soap gives off." she suggested.

    "Maybe, but would it be too strong for when I need to hunt?"

    "You''ve got a point. Oils tend to be the last longing, so maybe a water-based one would be better as you could wash them off when needed."

    "Assuming I''m near water," Inna had to give him that, but she also asked if he was going to find a flaw in every suggestion she gave. "there is no suggestion that is perfect; I''m trying to find what has the least drawbacks in my opinion...I thank you for trying to help."

    "you''re welcome. Now let''s see what we can find?" after a bit of back and forth, Inna figured the best thing would be something of mild strength, able to wash off quickly. which was a surprisingly hard combination to find; there were plenty of things with a mild scent.

    And plenty of things that wash off easily, but not many things that meet both. Then, it was a matter of finding a scent Aero would like to wear. This resulted in him trying them on. It also meant she got to smell them to give her opinion.

    ''how?'' she privately wondered,'' how did he do that?'' somehow, each scent was good on Aero. It had to be this calm, unboasting confidence he had. She knew confidence said a lot about how much you could pull something off, and he was solid as a zaltess blessed metal.

    "so which one do you want?" she asked after Aero tried on 13 scents. Aero tilted his head in thought before deciding," I think I''ll go with this fruit and flower mixture. It''s not too bad."

    Aero nodded before heading over to the counter, paying for his purchase before putting it away in the folds of his robe. If a little was put on before, that was Aero''s business. "So, is there anything you''d like to pick out?" he asked as he returned to Inna''s side.

    "I''m thinking of refilling my usual or trying something new." Aero nodded, wondering what she usually wore. ''I don''t think I''ve gotten close enough to smell it,'' even if he had, he didn''t make it a habit of sniffing people.

    Aero watched, trying to make light conversation; he didn''t know many topics to talk about. so he turned to what Tova had been teaching him, the lessons now taking place over letters as Aero was going to be traveling more. She said she could just go back and forth, "I have access to some technology and mysticism."

    While Aero declined her putting herself through trouble, Aero did ask questions about technology and mysticism. There was a lot to go over. Currently, it is a foundation topic. Building up his understanding of the topic was tedious; the text could be quite thick.

    Inna was more interested in different topics. Aero only showed his patchwork knowledge about the universe they lived in; he did know some sights that were within a few dozen lightyears of their planet. "Man, that''s so far," Inna started after Aero explained what a light year was.

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    "it would probably make you feel worse to learn with advanced enough tech that would little be a day trip." we have a long way to go, don''t we," he nodded before talking more about what he knew, at some point, they reached their next destination.

    This one was less colorful, but Aero didn''t mind. Despite being so far away from his home, a library still had the hint of familiarity. "so what do you prefer to read," Inna asked as they moved down the shelves.

    "Honestly, a bit of everything; it really just started as something to do while avoiding people."

    "huh?" well, that was something she wasn''t prepared to hear," so, do you still like reading now that you''re not avoiding people." Aero turned to her, giving her a rather blank look," I never said I stopped avoiding people! Honestly, I interact with most people because I have to live...my teammates aren''t most people!

    As Aero speed walked away, Inna processed what he said and what that meant."wait," she rushed after him," you''re not walking away after that!" in response, Aero started running. Which only encouraged her to move faster. "you can''t outrun me!"

    "by the zalts, I can," making a sharp turn, Aero upset a stand as a springboard to jump high enough that he could grab the edge of a building; with a kick against the wall, he flipped onto the roof, he turned to Inna was had paused in the street. "coming? He asked with a smile before walking down the rooftop, the wood and stone clanking under his feet.

    He didn''t expect her to make it too fast; climbing buildings was different from climbing in the forest. Honestly, he only knew it because he did it to avoid people... wow, how many skills did he have just to avoid people?

    ''if I cared more, I''d be worried by the number that just came to mind,'' his thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Inna hitting the side of the building. Just managed to grab onto the ledge before gravity pulled her to the ground.

    "Well, it''s clear you need more training," Inna only silently pulled herself up. By the time she did that. Aero had jumped to the next building. "okay, I guess this is happening." Inna got to her feet and ran, jumping at the ledge; she noticed that one. she overestimated the distance, and two, Aero was already on the move.

    Landing in a tool, he got back to her feet quickly to continue to chase Aero, who was moving around across the rooftops with barely a look. When Inna got close enough to catch him. he dropped to the street, sliding down a wall.

    Crossing the street, he climbed back up, making use of a decorative tree. "of course, it wouldn''t be that easy!" taking a deep breath, she followed; Aero brought up a level of a chase, at one point, he jumped onto the back of a cart and watched as she tried to catch up.

    "Where did you learn to do this?" she shouted when Aero stopped to buy a snack, buying one for her as well, but still stayed out of reach. " I didn''t have many friends when I was young, and the people who were watching me didn''t want me to stay inside so much."

    "so you went running and climbing?"

    "yeah, the guard my mom hired was so annoyed by it," he remembered all the time he left the women panting and tired. Sometimes, she would just straight up drag him home, which only amused the young Aero; in fact, it amused him now. he couldn''t resist the memory of dodging Inna''s attempt at a sneak attack.

    ''no time for memories, she almost caught me!'' jumping on top of the stand, he ran across it and a few more to build up the momentum to jump onto the side of a building, running across it for a few moments until he was int he range of a third story window.

    He could hear Inna coming behind him as he climbed through the window into a room where a couple was getting very close. "AH! sorrY!" looking away, he raced for the door, but he didn''t leave through, instead running up it.

    Just as Inna entered the room and was stunned by the naked couple, a distraction Aero took to flip over her head and bound out of the room. He landed on the roof of the next and shorter building. Only then did he let himself feel the full embarrassment of what just happened.

    Some very interesting words were said, and a part of him wanted to apologize once more. But that was a whole new level of awkwardness he couldn''t do. He vaguely realized Inna had jumped down towards him, and he took a few steps to prevent her from touching him. But she didn''t do that, taking the time to recover from her own embarrassment. With fewer words and a kind of wordless scream as he bent over.

    By the time she recovered, Aero had regained enough composure that he could fake it. "we don''t talk about what just happened?"

    "yeah, let''s keep that between us," letting out a sigh, she stood up. " are you done running around and showing off?"

    "I don''t show off," Aero said, walking towards the edge of the roof before turning to face her," too much." then he leaned right off the roof, putting Inna''s heart in her throat.

    She quickly raced over to find her team caption was perfectly fine; why she expected otherwise was something she asked herself before climbing down. They walked slowly, grabbing a drink from a stall and something else to eat before returning to the inn.

    "What happened to you two?" Galia asked, looking over the scroll she was reading; it was a letter from her weapon smith, telling her about some potential improvements to her weapon of choice and maybe some armor options. "we went running around, loosening his clothing as he took a seat.

    "What a jog around the town?"

    "more like through it," Inna said before explaining the chase Aero led her on. Gailia looked over the teen who was hydrating, "I can climb as well as everyone else, but where did you, and why did you learn that."

    "It was a great way to avoid people; when I was attending the first school, the teacher scolded me for being rambunctious. So, in petty revenge, I climbed on top of the school builds." Aero smiled at the fond memories, remembering how proud of himself he was for climbing up there.

    "I got faster as they caught on and tried to stop me, or learned to see new routes when they tried to block," though it wasn''t just the teachers. There was also the one time he was throwing a tantrum and just climbed on a building to get away from his mother. Who attempted to climb after him.

    He didn''t even remember what had gotten him so upset, and it became meaningless when his mother fell trying to climb up to him. Thankfully, she only got scratches, but Aero was clingy for a while.

    "Man, that is a story," Gallia said; part of her was wondering what Aero defined as clingy. She couldn''t imagine it, but she had a clearer image of what Aero probably looked like at that age. She saw a few sketches that were in his mouth. He was definitely cute, but ''if I said that, his response would probably be violent or to leave.''

    Instead, she asked more stories about Aero going out of his way to avoid people, then when he became too prideful to do that. Ignoring them or tearing them apart with his words or fist. "how many people have you hit?"

    Aero didn''t even bother trying to answer that question, especially as he didn''t bother to remember all the people he''d struck.

    "Really?" Inna said, giving him a certain look." you don''t remember the people that you''ve unleashed your emotions on, the people you''ve made bleed or scared." Aero looked at her, but he didn''t smile. His expression was blank," If they bleed, I''d be in jail. Besides, remembering them means I decided they were worth the memory. I won''t let them win in any way."

    "by the zalts, the messed up!"

 58

    gaillia was aware her captin wasn''t what you could call normal; what''s said and done was strange and violent things. But to think he refused to remember people because he received that as a way they could win. "Seriously, where did you get this kind of idea."

    "My mother," Aero''s eyes narrowed, daring them to say something about her. Inna didn''t see that, looking towards the sky, wondering if the zaltess were watching them. Maybe they were laughing a bit, too, "How did she give you that idea?"

    "the other half of my bloodline," that caused the two girls to pause. It wasn''t his tone that told them they had treaded into the fragile ground; no, it was their common sense. "so what are you thinking for dinner," Gallia said, not so subtly trying to change the topic. Inna immediately jumped on board," I''m not sure, but I''m currently thinking of something bitter."

    At that, both Aero and Gallia made a face," You want medicine for dinner?" cause that was the only time Aero ate something bitter." well, now, but I''ve been on a sweet streak lately, so I''m thinking something bitter would be good for me."

    "How does that work?" aero asked; if there was logic here, he could see it. Inna smiled and started walking aero, and Gallia argued against her. It took a full flower for them to figure out she was messing with them. Aero was as annoyed as he was impressed.

    "Okay, so putting that behind us," Gallia said, taking charge of the conversation," if you couldn''t be a hunter, what would you have done? Personally, I would have been some kind of artist. I even brought a scroll for sketching with me."

    "ah," Inna said," really, I haven''t thought about it. I guess I might have followed after my family or that woman who offered me an apprenticeship as a seamstress."

    "I''d be dead?"

    "WHAT!" Inna and Gallia snapped towards Aero at his bizarre answer." the only way I wouldn''t be what I want to be is if I''m dead!" aero simply explained, but the girls were taken back.

    "You''re mad!" Inna stated before slapping a hand over her mouth; while this thought wasn''t known, she had hoped it would stay a thought. It was rude if possible true. Instead of getting made like she expected him to, aero started laughing.

    He laughed for a good two petals," I was wondering when someone would say thought.. the look on your face says you''re surprised I''m not mad! wanna know why." Gallia silently nodded, though she had an idea of why. "so many people have said this. Maybe they were gentle, maybe they weren''t, but so many people think I''m strange and weird that I can''t possibly be right in the head."

    "so you know I''m glad I don''t care, cause no matter what anyone will say, cruel or kind, I''ll be me!"

    "I''m sorry." the gentle words knocked the steam out of Aero as he turned to look at her.  "what?! Why are you apologizing?" she did her best to keep the pity off her face, burying deep in her heart, "People''s words have hurt you. You don''t care because to care means to be hurt, right? I''m sorry that people''s words have been so hurtful."

    Aero gaped and tried to come up with the words, but nothing came out. Her words were touching something deep, causing more emotions than Aero was comfortable with. So he did the most reasonable thing he could think of.

    He stood up from the table and walked upstairs, closing himself in his room, pulling his quilt over his head so he could see what emotions he was expressing. ''my lord, this is not a recommended way of dealing with your emotions," grumbling something that back. The helper decides to leave their lord to calm down.

    Instead, they expanded their reach and senses; currently, the limit wasn''t too far. Since their power was limited by their lord''s ability, still, it was far enough to look around the town themselves. They didn''t expect anything of interest or use.

    They knew when their lord was calmer by the hormones and blood rate. ''that really isn''t a good way to deal with your emotions,'' the helper repeated. Which annoyed Aero, but he swallowed the helper had done nothing but help him. ''I wonder if they even know how to do something else.''

    "You''re right, but the zalts and zalts, from the stars and black holes! How did her words hit so hard? I have taken softer bites and hits!" for a moment, the helper was quiet as they debated how best to break this to their lord, ''because it''s a truth that no one has ever said to you. I know you take pride in how you turned out.''

    ''but your growth is also affected by your environment and the people. You avoid people on habit because people have made you uncomfortable and unsafe. You distrust because people have shown they weren''t worth the trust. You are just as responsible for how long your environment affects you. It is up to you to change, break these habits, or just them.''

    Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.The helper''s short speech went around Aero''s head a few times as he disgusted the words and meanings. "I don''t think I want to break most of these habits, so you''re going to have to settle for adjusting them."

    ''Very well, my lord, what habits would you like assistance in adjusting?'' they spent half as flowering going about setting personal goals for the young lord; the helper didn''t push how to come to these goals, instead letting their lord think on these goals for a while.

    He went to bed with them in mind after adding spiked chains to the breast cage. He dreamed of gray that night, so he wasn''t in a good mood when he woke up. His first thought was the talk he had with the helper, ''I walk out on them." he should probably apologize to the two of them. With a groan, he stood up and started stretching.

    Someone knocked on his room door while he had his foot above his head," who is it?" he asked as he lowered the foot, moving to a more ready stance." Galia, are you coming down for the first meal?"

    Aero relaxed his ready stance and started teaching his other leg, "Yes, I''ll be out after my morning exercises."

    "Alright," she responded. Aero could faintly hear her footsteps through the door. After bringing his foot above his head, he moves to other body parts. A few petals later, he was dressed for the day and heading downstairs.

    The dining room was busy as the inn workers took orders and served people drinks and food. Aero moved through the morning rush, avoiding physical contact with anyone. Taking his seat, he joined the girls at the table, where Inna was sipping a bitter and strong-smelling drink. gaillia had something much sweeter smelling.

    Aero decided to start with water and some bits of fruit; since he felt like doing intensive training in the forest, he was going to wait for a gell. He found it settled better after a workout, especially his usual routine. "are either of you willing to train with him this morning?"

    "ah, looking for someone to spar against," Aero shook his head." I wonder if you want to accompany me for training. You don''t have to train...I''m wondering if you want to hang out while I''m training if that what you would like to do?" for a moment neither of them said anything.

    "Does this have anything to do with last night?" Inna gave Gaillia a look; Aero ignored that and answered." sort of; I have to apologize for my abrupt departure. I got emotional."

    "Why?" Inna asked. Aero immediately shut the path of conversation down, returning attention to his question," After a bit of back and forth between the girls, they both decide to come, not like it would for them to get in a little training, and the forest was nice.

    After finishing what they ordered and paying for it, they headed out; it wasn''t a long trip into the forest. So, the moment Aero found a suitable spot, he started training. First, he did a little muscle work, and then he started practicing with his staff on a street branch.

    "Is he showing off, or is this just some high-level training?"

    "It''s both," Aero replied from the tree branch that he could hear them on," there are too many creatures capable of claiming trees. To now know how to fight on a tree branch. A bit behind him, a kind of creature leaped from one branch to another. It ignored them.

    "Plus, this is a great way to work on my balance," he demonstrated by performing a roll. That opened to a series of climbing kicks. This action overstepped his balance, causing him to titter off to the side.

    Inna and Gaillia were on their feet in a moment. Their help was proved needed as Aero caught the branch and swung himself back up. Taking a moment to steady himself. "I''m good," he still took a few steps back to the thicker part of the branch, which wobbled less as he practiced his attacks.

    Slowly over the flower, he moved back and forth on the branch, unleashing a few melodies to practice with their recoil. Sometimes, he fell off the branch, but most of the time, he managed to catch himself. Other times, he landed in a roll. One time, Gallia and Inna had to catch him. He thanked them while looking anywhere other than their faces.

    After the flower, they returned to the inn, and Aero immediately ordered a gel to eat along with water. The girls headed up to their rooms, for what he didn''t know. Aero was taking a moment to relax after training. He was pleasantly sore, "now, what do I do for the day?" frankly, he might go up to his room and meditate, practicing some energy manipulation. The spheres were getting decent-sized again.

    ''They''ll probably be used for more chains for the beast or for the staff I use to knock down some overblown pride.'' Thinking about that thing he hadn''t done in a while, he headed up to his room and started meditating, letting his pride reach out and feel the pride of others. Even used the spheres to reach across the entire town.

    ''no one I should be overly concerned about,'' he thought, retracting his pride. Frankly, he was amazed he didn''t see anyone at the level of danger; oh, there were people close. Who he was going to knock down, but now one beyond that. ''good, these people aren''t arrogant.''

    Stretching out for a moment, he returned to his mediation, sensing people to confirm his targets. Well, as much as he could at this distance. Then, he worked on his energy manipulation, shaping the power born from his pride.

    Around midday, he left the inn, doing his best to draw no attention. With the help of the energy, he tracked down a guy wearing some bodily high-quality clothing, obviously from all the decorations sewn into it. "ugh," Aero thought when he laid eyes on it. It just seemed too much to wear, plus how much was that?

    Shaking the thought away, he focused on the energy, prodding it deep, getting a feel for how great and large it was. The guy seemed to notice something as his guard went up a bit, but that didn''t change his lack of ability to prevent the attack. Aero launched until it hit his pride.

    The spine he put on the staff caused it to drill into the stone hard pride, drilling into it. Softening it up for the sound strike. As the staff came out the other side, aero directed it upward, then down with ferocity. The guy definitely notices something, and Aero thinks the guy briefly blacked out from the attack.

    ''Is he in tune with his pride, or did I hit him too hard?'' Either way, the guy was back on his feet easily, so Aero moved on to his next target, a female businesswoman. Peering through the window, he watched her argue something for her. ''let''s give her a moment.'' sticking her would interfere with her personal life.

    Taking a seat under the window, aero listened in; his target was running some kind of food company. A series of merchants were working together to supply food to several places, and she was currently arguing about the use of transport in the town. She was arguing to keep the price it''s been for the last six years, ''oh wow!''

    Aero wasn''t impressed by the woman who was trying to increase the prices, even less when he didn''t have any great reason. If Aero was understanding her right, she was doing it because the other women had the money to pay the up prices. ''sounds like greed and nothing more.''

    ''my lord, would you like me to contact the lord of greed?'' aero felt this was a more serious question than he thought, ''What exactly would she do?'' the helper calmly said; the lord would scan the planets and deal with an over the top greed. ''as was her job,'' aero bit his lip. he wasn''t against the idea of her doing her job, but the level of the action.

    ''something I''m going to have to replicate in their future,'' but he gave the helper the go-ahead. Three breaths later, he felt it. Power and presence wash over him. It wasn''t oppressive or strong, but it felt like it was gazing at every part of him. he could tell it was reaching far, further than he could reach, probably even covering the entire planet.

    Then, it was retracted, and Aero could hear the girls asking for a decreased price raise. His target wasn''t looking to surrender to that either, but Aero changed that quite quickly. ''okay, that''s done, let''s go get something to drink.''

    He quickly found a place to get a drink where he downed a glass of juice, ''by the Zatls and zaltess, I knew I''d feel the power, but that was something else,'' the strangest part was while he felt you, he couldn''t tell you much other then it wasn''t pride.

    ''Man, I wonder if that'' how I''ll feel when I reach that level,'' cause he would or die.

 59

    Aero hunted the rest of them quickly before returning to the inn. It only took him two and a half flowers, so plenty of daylight was left in the day. With not much else to do, he did some path charter exercises. At the same time, he did stretches to keep the blood flowing and temper his annoyance when he failed an exercise.

    "is that even a real route? What place has there blackholes and whole in a dark nebula?" the helper stated it was real,'' the white hole and nebula led to the creation of a rare element that was worth a planet. Aero blinked, "so who owned the rights to that?"

    ''it is a collation. The rare element helps produce power for several star systems and has high medical value.'' well, no wonder it was worth a planet. He wondered if the lord of greed had any finger or appendages in it.

    Another few excuses passed before there was a knock on his door, ''it might be Inna.'' but that thought didn''t stop him from preparing to enter fight mode. When he answered the door, he wasn''t that surprised to see Galia, and the two exchanged words before it reached the point that she admitted to just checking if he was back in the in.

    "I want to make sure my teammates are safe; don''t take it personally." then she walked away.'' that sounded rehearsed,'' which brought back some annoying memories that he didn''t let relate to her. She rehearsed for a different reason, and Aero was fine with that.

    ''it''s okay, it''s okay,'' he tried to distract himself with the exercise. This one required him to plot a course for a really specific ship type, one with great faster-than-light travel, but it was a really delicate system. The situation was not helped as the ship was being chased by parties without systems to defend themselves.

    ''so the biggest problem is getting to allied space for reinforcements.'' looking on the map, he saw three types of terrors his ship could go through. The worst option was space, which was at war with its allies. The second option was complete neutral territory, which wouldn''t help him nor stop the pursers.

    The third option was a mixed bag; it belonged to mercenaries, a concept that didn''t exist on his planet; he could hire someone to defend his ship or buy time. But his pursuers had allies in the area. Plus, they could also hire someone to stall his ship. "well, this is a puzzle; the first option was already out. " going through enemy territory with the resources the ship had was a death promise.

    The third option was kind of good, but the middle option was the best. But he needs a way to improve his odds, looking over his resources and options he had. ''there is not really a simple way to do this; still, going through the neutral territory is the best option. But I would like a way to stall my pursuers or maybe boost my own speed.''

    After several moments of thinking on the issue, he realized a mistake he had made. ''I assumed I could only hire mercenaries if I went through their territory.'' but that wasn''t true. In fact, he could hire some and sick them on his enemies. This brought him more time to get supplies and repairs.

    ''I don''t even need the mercenaries to take them out; just stall and harass them as long as possible.'' Smiling, Aero input his choices, then sat back and watched them play out. It went well; the mercenaries failed to stall for long enough, and the firepower was a bit too much for them to match.

    "Well, I got enough fuel for full speed for a period of time. He also manged to require some argement for his ships so that could help. Which quickly came in mand in a certain stretch of space, fending off the attackers long enough for him to dive around a moon. Which provided enough cover for him to shoot out an engine.

    From there, he managed to reach a safe space before getting caught, "good." aero sighed looking over the plot. "where are you getting these, by the way?" cause of the number he''s done, the helper had a higher imagination than he thought, or they were getting these from somewhere.

    ''some I craft myself, but others are reports,'' they didn''t specify on which. But it made Aero think about it. A lot of them had two kinds of danger. The greedy, or the natural forces of the universe. The latter was the simpler option.

    Checking the time aero to decide he had time to meditate and practice some energy manipulation before bed. He sent more chains at the beast tonight. He knew the beast was going to retaliate soon. But with no real way to expect what was going to be sent his way, he was stuck just to continue his normal training. so at least if he died he would do so fighting, for some reason the helper shower concern about this idea igogly.

    Aero didn''t have a nice sleep that night. He vaguely recalled the beast trying to bash in his mind. It left him with a pounding head; why it attacked like that, aero wasn''t sure. But he did spend some time collecting himself and practicing some mental fortification techniques the helper pulled up.

    ''Well, let''s hope that works,'' he wondered for about a flower before he could feel the beast start trying to hook on his pride. Which only aggravated his head, but Aero pushed the attempts off., which is how he spent the day, the beast''s petty attempt to get into his head only for Aero''s hard headness to show its face, pushing through it and going through the day like normal despite all the attacks.

    If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    "Aero, you''re not looking well." Galia stated aero gave a flat look despite his wobbling. "just let it go. It''s not something you can help me with." she didn''t seem to believe this, so she remained ready to try and listen if he said anything.

    He didn''t mention anything about it until the pain in his head became so great that he had to sit down, ''by the zalts, this can''t go on!'' everything was spinning. He felt nauseous and feverous; if this kept up, he was going to faint. ''can''t let that happen, can''t let people see him faint.''

    With measured breaths, he forced himself to his feet, making a quick stop to grab a drink that helped a bit. He forced his feet to move towards the inn. He was very aware that someone was following him. It might have been his teammate. But he was more focused, keeping his feet in front of him.

    It felt like days before he walked into the door of the inn, ripping it open. He belined for the stairs, and he bumped into several things. Maybe people, maybe furniture. But he made it to the stars, and then his focus was on making sure he didn''t fall on them. He felt more eyes on him, but few, only two, followed him up the stairs.

    It still took too long for him to reach the familiar scent of feeling of his bed. Flopping down in it, he tried to banish his nausea, but it persisted along with the pulsing in his head. When someone touched him, he made an attempt to hit them, but he knew he missed.

    No one tried to touch him for some time after that. He wasn''t sure how long, but then someone was touching him again. he couldn''t hit them because they were also holding out his hands and feet. He thought because they couldn''t have that many hands brought, ''unless they were an alien.''

    After a lot of touching around his face and head, they tried to feed him something. They tried to feed him something. He tried to bite them for that. Then, someone had to hold his jaw open while he repeatedly bit someone. He was too sick to put up the fight he wanted. So he was forced to swallow something so bitter.

    Not a moment later, the pounding in his head started easing. Enough that he could focus on the people in his sight, which was first the healer he was trying to bite. Then, looking at the people holding him down, he would have given them a harder glare if he hadn''t just tried to bite off a healer.

    ''when was the last time a healer had to have me held down?'' instead of thinking on the probably worrying thought. Aero focused on the healer, who noticed her medicine was working. "are you with us?" aero nodded, which made her smile. "good, I don''t know what''s causing your migraines. But if it got worse, your mind would have shut down."

    "how bad is that?" aero rubbed his throat, unsure why it was so sore. he didn''t recall screaming or anything. Maybe it was the medication that was forced down. "you would have fainted for days, which is the best-case scenario, as it can lead to a deep and long slumber that can last months. If you don''t waste away before that happens."

    "Alright, that''s bad," sitting up, he felt a spike of nausea but pushed it down so he could face the healer. Speaking to her about what he should do about the migraine to prevent it from getting this bad. Unfortunately, most of her advice was about stress, which Aero managed just fine. But she did have other bits of advice that would work when the beast attacked him once more.

    He was thankful when it was just him in the room again. Unfortunately, he had to keep the door open in case he blacked out again. So, for the moment, he was lying on his bed, trying to fortify his mind from the beast. Who was already at it again, ''Alright, let''s do this carefully!''

    He closed his eyes and tried to sense the beast''s attacks. He could feel his mind each time the beast struck. But not how and when ''there are always warnings before an attack.'' the splitting of the air, a slight remble in the ground. A breath, so there had to be some kind of warning. Just because he couldn''t sense it yet didn''t mean it wasn''t there.

    For the next flower and a half, he resisted the stabbing and burning pain of the beast''s attacks. Using every method, he had to try and feel the incoming attacks. Finally, he seemed to feel the parting in energy the beast was causing. Expanding his own energy he felt it again, but no time to react.

    But that didn''t continue to be a problem as slowly he got the change of it with time to react, then a new problem. Moving his head didn''t dodge the attacks, so he had to block them. First, he tried creating a shield around his mind, which sorta worked. His head still hurt, but it weakened the attack''s strength; increasing the shield''s power didn''t help. But adding a layer helped a bit more.

    ''too bad I can''t maintain it for too low,'' his head ached for multi-tasking over his limit. ''even if I could, it''s a temporary solution until he could stop the beast''s assault. Taking a breath, he solidified the two barriers around his mind. Giving his space to think, maybe come up with a counterattack.

    His first thought was to send a sharp energy into the beast''s cage and see how they liked that. But he put it on hold as he was sure the beast would counterattack. The question would be whether it would be physical or mental; he has to cover both bases.

    "uh," he knew the best way to do that was to get his two teammates to help him. Have them cover him physically while he was defending his own mind. "putting it off isn''t going to help." grumbling, he got to his feet and walked out of his room, swaying a bit, but pushed forward until he found Inna.

    "you should not be walking," she stated, looking at him and getting to her feet quickly. "what are you doing up?"

    "the pounding in my head is the result of an attack. I''m going to counterattack but might get counterattacked. I need you and Gaillia on guard in case anything happens." Inna had many questions, but from the pain Aero was showing on his face, she decided they could wait and moved next door to get her teammates.

    "never boring," Galia mumbled after she was given the cliff notes. "All alright, let''s do this." aero rolled his eyes before focusing, unleashing the full force of his stored power. "wow!" Galia took a step back. The air in the room had changed. Charged with something that didn''t feel hostile to them.

    ''I definitely don''t want to get hit with whatever this is.'' Inna thought, backing a step back. Aero focused the energy on many sharp implements, most of which were knives. Kitchen, hunting skinning, which was sent into the beast cage.

    He only sent a few at first to test the water. When nothing immensity tried to kill him, he sent a few more. Two more bathes went before the beast acted. Or it was a completely natural earth quack," by the zalts!" Inna swore before sharing a look with Galia before she raced outside to see what in the stories was happening.

    When he joined the crowd outside, she saw something very large digg itself out of the ground. "oh zalts...wait!" she paused when she realized she recognized this massive creature. "the stories didn''t do it justice." she turned back around racing back inside, aero was still meditating while Galia looked ready to grab him and run.

    "what''s going on?" Inna could not believe what she was about to say." remember the last trials from the zaltess of combat. Galia blinked, confused." you mean how she faced 14 massive creatur-no please, no!"

    "It''s just one," that didn''t stop her teammate/friend from swearing. Honesty, she wished she had that large of a vocabulary, but at the same time, she didn''t think there were enough words to describe how she was feeling. Taking a deep breath, Galia asked what they should do.

    "I''ll be honest, I don''t know. Wasn''t taught for this situation."

    "so thinking on our feet?"

    "yeah."

 60

    The shacking of the earth told Aero the beast had made its move. He would have opened his eyes and raced out to see for himself if he hadn''t felt several spikes of pain in his skull. Swearing, he brought up a shield and sent several attacks of his own. he could hear Inna and Gaillia talking but couldn''t focus on what they were saying as he had to fend off the beast.

    ''you know, for something imprisoned, this thing can put up a fight.'' the helper then added some bad news, one that the barrier depended a large part on the lord, though the companion had left a large amount of energy to give him time. Second, the beast could only display less than five percent of its full power.

    The earth shooked again, and Aero suddenly had a lot more respect for the lord and the creator. ''that explains why it''s been sending things to kill me.'' to make up for the lack of power, it could display its manipulating things and why it constantly attacked his head. it couldn''t kill me at once so it went for a drawn-out kill or incapacitation method.

    The beast was smart; Aero was going to have to be just as smart. Even if things were at a stall mate for him. I have to trust my teammates.'' that thought had his stomach twisted like a vortex, but he forced himself to ignore it and focused on defending and attacking.

    ''Okay, so I need a way to make it submit; I can''t keep this up too long.'' As if to remind him, the spiritual wound he received from the beast flared up. ''I ignored that too much.'' Taking a measured breath, he focused on wrapping around it before forcing his energy into a bo staff.

    ''oh, this was and will be a bad idea,'' but frankly, he didn''t have another choice. If he didn''t put the beast in place, they would find a way to kill them. He really couldn''t see them backing down because he said so. Focusing hard, he sent the newly forged weapon into the beast cage. Immediately, it was stopped by the beast on defense power.

    He pushed the weapon forward, but it was like trying to push a needle through a mountain. He pushed forward, adding more energy to the weapon, fortifying it, and pushing it forward. It was hard, but he got closer and closer to the physical manifestation of pride.

    "you insignificant mortal, you dare!" the beast hissed, putting out more pressure. "YES!" aero hissed back, cutting down on the size and shape of his weapon, focusing all power towards momentum. Just for a moment, the change was enough to split through the beast''s defense. A moment before, it changed its defense to match.

    That one moment was enough time for the small energy weapon to reach and pierce into the beat''s skin. "as I said, insignificant! Little more-AHH!" aero cut off the beast''s insult but shifted the form of the weapon that was inside its body. Breaching out the weapon-like roots, oddly enough, through that root, he got a feel for the beast''s body.

    "weirdest biology by far," he stated, trying to calm himself. It was hard when he felt sweat on every inch of his body and his energy bandage degrading. The beast''s body essentially felt like a single mass, with no veins, bone, or muscles, ''probably no organs for me to target,'' so he had to come up with another idea.

    With the beast trying to eject his weapons, aero dug it in deeper, causing the beast to howl despite its attempts to be quiet and save its pride. It confused Aero how it couldn''t take this. But that didn''t stop him from causing the beast more pain.'' I might not be able to kill them, but I can make it hurt!''

    As the root spread throughout the beast into the limbs, hooking into the ground of the beast cage, aero realized something. "they can''t take the pain?!" a dark smile spread over his lips. "you''ve been trapped in your prison for the almost entirely of your existence. You''ven''t bled or fought much!"

    Aero''s smile turned lighter as he realized one thing: he outclassed the beast in pain tolerance. He could cause so much pain the beast would submit. ''if my energy doesn''t run out first." but that didn''t dim his smile; at the very least, he was going to carve his name into the beast''s mind and skin.

    After a moment, he converged the roots to open a wound that spells out his name! "you darE! Mare my fleaesH!" there voices reaching hysterical levels of rage and pain. "i dare!" aero repsoned," and I''ll do even more then that unless you submit!"

    "fuck! You!" the beast responded heatedly, pushing all its power towards the limb to crush Aero''s power. When the attack hit, aero knew he wouldn''t win the clash, thinking with his battle plan and then his pride. Aero pulled away from the spot.

    Driving his weapon into a new spot closer to the beast''s face, the beast cursed him again as it yanked its head out of the way. Immeadlty it changed direction shooting down, stating the beast it in foot. spreading out the spikes. The beast roared ripping it foot off, tearing open a larger wound.

    "die!" a wave up energy rushed towards Aero, slamming up a barrier. it was the rush of a river and threatened to drown him if it wasn''t hurting so much. he clenched his jaw so hard it was making a sound similar to that of Grindnig stone.

    This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

    pushing through the pain he forced his weapon to grow, no longer stick to the small size as changed the imaged to spiked vines, with grew on and inside the beast, putting all the power he wasn''t using for defense and his banages to this.

    While it wasn''t much compared to the massive size of the beast, it caused pain and aggravation in the beast. This was enough to encourage Aero to go on, "If it bleeds, it dies; if it hurt, it cried. Either way, it can be hunted!"

    Pushing more of his presence into the prison aero continued his attack; it might have put him more at risk, but it meant less effort on aero. He could ingoer his body a bit more. ''i can''t take to long on this, i don''t know what Inna and Galia are dealing with! the earth had been shaking a lot.

    "now," Inna shouted, moving with several other hunters, unleashing a melody that fortified the earth, making it harder for this giant creature to dig through the earth. At the same time, it would stop the town from shacking. Looking up, she could see a number of hunters on the back of winged-created landing attacks at the creature''s head; one of them was her teammate.

    "This isn''t doing anything!" Gailia shouted at someone. Maybe she was just venting because not one thing seemed to be working. Everything she sent at the creature didn''t seem to even get its attention. It just kept looking at the town, taking hesitant steps towards it. Like it didn''t wish to be here, ''like it wants to turn back.''

    If that was true, she didn''t know what Aero was fighting that made it come here, but that didn''t matter to her. What mattered was defending this town, Galia continued to fight. If you could call it a fight, they spent the better part of a half-flower trying to hurt this thing. Unleashing increasingly longer and more powerful melodies.

    But the creature straight up ignored it, reaching the edge of the town. Which was still being vacated as they spoke, but there were still many people in it. It was taking so long because, in the event of an evacuation, people were supposed to take their shit; if these were really bad, they would have to spread to the nearby towns.

    Towns that wouldn''t have the resources to help them start their lives again, ''we can''t let it get any further!'' Galia thought, slightly panicking. She knew Aero was still in the inn, fighting to also stop this thing. She was sure he couldn''t fight if he was dead.

    Just as she was considering some very risky, a bad feeling hunting in her heart. Followed by someone dropping to the ground right before the creatures, slamming their weapon into the ground. She could feel the force of the unleashed melody from here. But what could one melody do, she watched ready to assist. The ground split open, winding and rising. But what would that do?

    Only it kept rising. On the ground, Galia noticed the color spreading out from the hunter. They were bleeding to keep the melody up. as the wall kept rising. Up to the creature''s knees and further. The blood growing larger. "she''s not going to serve after this."

    As the wall started to slow, she directed the beast downward. Behind the wall, it probably wasn''t going to last long. But as if to contradict her thought, a group of hunters dropped on the even top of the wall. Striking it with their weapons, causing it to condense on itself.

    Leaving them to that, Galia grabbed the injured hunter to take her into the village for a healer, there were bleeding along. Thankfully, Galia grabbed her supplies when he left the inn, which included some bandages and herbs to stop the bleeding. Though she wasn''t sure if it would be enough, she was bleeding from every hole in her body, even a few opening up as Galia took her to a healer.

    "by the zaltess!" the healer took one look at the downed hunter before calling everyone to help her, before they carted the women off, Galia told them of the herbs she gave her. "that was smart it brought her time, but were going to have to work on her now if she is to survive the night."

    "she might be the first tonight," galia saidcausing the ehaler to pause." things can;t be that bad?"

    Galia''s face contorted, "What she did might slow this creature down, but it won''t last long." then she turned around and took off; as she flew back to the battlefield, she passed several flying creatures that carried injured and bleeding hunters. her jaw locked, this were only getting worse.

    arriving at the battlefield, she could see the wall was holding for now. but who knows how long it would last. they needed a plan to actually stop this thing. by the Zalts, they needed a plan to even injure it. ''whatever you''re doing, Aero, it needs to finish up soon. Or there won''t be a town.''

    "she is bleeding too much!" Inna cried as she felt the life essence soak through the back of her clothes. But she didn''t pay attention, carting her to the beast where a few other women were being treated." it''s been two petals since they put up the wall, and things only seemed to be getting worse. More hunters risking their health to stall or stop this beast.

    The massive wall has been reinforced several times, a gaping maw of a pit opened before it. Spikes and flames spread across the wall. They didn''t know if it was working as the creatures seemed to be distracted. Paying less attention to them and the town as things went on.

    ''what are the chances that have something to do with Aero''s fight.'' as she thought of things, Inna wondered if it was a good idea for him to have the fight in the town. On one hand, it meant they had reinforcements, but they''ve put so many people in danger, so many people hurt because of his actions.

    ''When I return to the end, I''ll be having words with him, very loud words.'' Maybe after a nap, she has been moving for several flowers near, not stopping. It was starting to wear on her, but she couldn''t stop. They needed all the hands they could at this moment.

    She thought a lot about the words she would have with Aero over the next few petals, during which something definitely changed as the creature actually turned around. Heading back for the massive tunnel that dug its way up here. Part of her was happy about that, but she knew it meant something had happened with Aero. Galia had a similar thought as she dropped down on the find creatures. She was narrowing enough to grab Inna.

    "you''ve got a bad feeling, too?" Inna nodded, remembering the faces the aero was making when they left. Somewhere between very focused and in a lot of pain. They landed on the roof of the inn and rushing through the curtain front entrace through the loby and upstairs, aero was still in meditating. but he looked much worse, "ah!" Inna gagged.

    There were many things she could stand, and nature was gross yet amazing. But she could never stand vomit, so when she realized that there was a good amount on the ground before aero, she felt like adding her own to the mix. Galia was better with body fluids even though she recoiled at the smell.

    She moved to get a closer look at Aero, finding him professedly sweating and honestly like he would hurl again. "aero, are you doing good?" he made a gagging noise in response. She wasn''t sure if he was speaking, but she got the feeling it was a no.

    ''What can I even do? He didn''t explain what was even happening that well.'' noting how much he was sweating, she figured that he was probably dehydrated. She sent Inna for the water so the girl could gather herself and not hurl.

    "I kind of want to go back to the battlefield," at least she would be more help. Should she get a healer and start praying to the Zaltess and Zalts? Do some superstition, banish some bad luck?! Even as Inna came back with a picture of water, aero barely noticed them beyond his first reaction to protect himself. But once he realized it was they and they had water, he greedily drank it.

    "aero, what can we do?" he groaned, feeling the water settle, pulling back from the battle. Despite the beast clearly not having much experience with pain, there was incredible pride prevented them from giving in easily. Aero knew that even their pride had a limit.

 61

    "co- on, a-ro! Can you he-r me?!" the lord faintly started hearing her. But he wasn''t in any state to respond. One he''s drifted a bit too far from his body, it was a good and bad thing how far he distanced himself from his physical form. Cause right now, he was feeling very shitty. Trying to recycle all his energy to defend, torture, and keep his wound closed.

    It was putting a lot of string on him that he actually hurled; his thoughts still burned slightly from the stomach acid. Even worse he was sweating his head was pounding from the effort and the beas town attacks against him. he barely had time to prcosse what galia and inna were trying to say to him.

    But he still heard them; he had almost just pushed them away. But he stopped for a moment and considered two things. Could they help him? Should he let them help him? for the latter he decided that he wouldn''t let them help him. First this was his battle and his pride demanded he continue on his own for the time being.

    Plus... he didn''t want them hurt. He had a first-seat view of what the beast could do. He wanted them far away from it. But how well he could do that was left to be determined.

    What aero could think about in the brief moments was whether could they help, they didn''t know how to manipulate energy without melodies. Even then would the energy do anything? this was a question could other people help him, even people he didn''t care about, mostly aero would say no.

    But they had pride, which the beastcould effect. And one thing aero learned form tova, there is rarely a case of a true one way road. There was a small chance that there pride could hurt the beast, and with that thought aero opened his eyes. His gaze zeroed into the pride of the two girls before him.

    Reaching out pyhcal he tried to ignore that his body felt worse than he thought it would. He underestimated the smell of vomit; it''s been a long time since he hurled his guts. Instead of thinking about that, he focused on the pride of the girls before him. Reaching out weakly and touching it.

    Beyond sensing and breaking it, aero hadn''t touched other people''s pride. He hadn''t considered another option beyond them. But at this moment as he reached their pride he didn''t try to hurt it, he just felt it seeing if it was usable.

    He found resnation, something he''s felt before the simularity in the thing they took pride it. folllwoing a hunch he felt out the resonation. Bringing it up to the point, Inna and Galia felt it. It was a strange feeling, but they didn''t feel in danger, so they let it continue.

    ''yeah i can use this?'' aero thought feeling the pride resonate and grow in response to each other. No just in volume up, but also in decity. Leaving a part of his pride to resonte with they he turned his focus back to the beast who was removing the many throns he left in the beast skin.

    He couldn''t tell you how many he shovered it, he just made one after the other. "come back for another thrashing?!" putting on a wider smile then he really felt," no i came to continue making you scream!" again the beast cursed him out as more hooked throns appeared. The beast paused; something was different about these thorns.

    He figured it out as they pirced there skin, they weren''t just the lord''s power anymore. Tainted by anything being pride. There first thought was this was some petty trick, then they reized a mistake. ''it resiting my control!'' that wasn''t possible. They were pride, pride, didn''t resist them. The mind the pride belong to some times. But not pride itself.

    The beast panicked slightly as they heavily tried to push the hooked thorns out of him. Not only being resited but hurting him. Seeing his new action was effective. Aero altered the shape of the resonating pride. hooked thorns connected to chains.'' This will have to be my last move.'' even if it only held for a while, it was time for Aero to recover mentally. And energy-wise, he lost a good amount of pride.

    The beast quickly realized his plan and tried to move. The hooks in their body, tied to the hooks that dug deep into the ground. Tying them in place, the energy behind them wasn''t enough to keep them here for long. No matter how painful it was they would get free and this battle would go on.

    But that didn''t mean much to Aero, who immediately returned to his body and fell asleep. of course, it looked more like he fainted. "ah!" Galia quickly grabbed him, throwing her over his back and racing out of the building. Inna following after, them quickly over taking her teammates to reach the healres first.

    They after a short exmation define the mager problem with aero was alrgey eashation, dyhdration and minor starvation." we saw him eat this morning, we saw him drink!" inna stated but the healer was only reading the signs that they found. Mostly, it is the prescribed rest, food, and water.

    So the two were sitting there and waiting, "Alright, I guess today is coming to an end. The sun was still high in the sky despite how drained they were. Inna must have doze off at some point because the next thing she knew aero was away. He slowly drank water between drops like he was going to fall back asleep.

    "The chains are holding, but I''m going to need to reinforce them so the beast doesn''t break free. I don''t know if there stopping their power but I''m not holding my breath on it. The resonating pride seems effective, I''ll have to deliver some to xqoax. And need to acquire more of it to explore it." he might have been talking to himself, but she couldn''t help but wonder what he was talking about.

    Still after some food and water aero was out again. over them next few days he was very in and out while inna and galia were helping around. They heard from the healer at several point s he tried to instsite he wasn''t that bad that he needed help with almost everything. But seeing as his words slurred from the exhaustion, he convinced no one.

    Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

    At least once a day aero had inna and galia stay by his side so he could reinforce the chains. What that meant they weren''t sure but it only too 10-20 petals so they weren''t worried. He usually drifted off quickly after that.

    "you know this might be why he''s not recovering fast enough," Inna commented after aero fell asleep a bit of jell on his lips. "i mean he passes out right after doing everytime." gailia had to give it too her that seemed to be a rather good idea. But they had no way of confusing it beyond asking a healer.

    "you have to stop doing whatever the chains are; they sapping your strength you need to recover." aero blinked huffing. "yeah I figured, but I can''t really stop, there the only thing that keeping the beast busy for the moment." he could turn his attention tot hem and seeing the beast roared and swearing as they bucked and lashed out at the chains

    each time he went into introduce the chains the beast hit him with incredible hostility He knew if or when they got free aero was going to feel it, not to mention the people around him. he wasn''t sure if it meant physically or emotionally. ''does the beast even know of my reaction ship?'' he hopped not, he wasn''t really sure what he would do if his mother got hurt.

    "there had to be something we can do so that we can do to help?" galia asked and aero paused. He knew honestly he couldn''t keep this up long term, but he wasn''t really sure if anyone could help anyone. But he should try, probably should try at least, at least he would have information. Another option was finding a way to store resonated pride. Another reason is to get a sample for xoqax.

    "I''m not sure if there is a way."

    "then how do we make sure there is?" aero blinked at the questions seriously considering it, the most simple solution would be some make it so there pried and other energy apparently feed the chains. But how did he do that? First he asked the helper is in general something like that was possible.

    ''Yes, across the spectrum of energies and people. Most have found that unity produces great power. That have more then one person''s power important things like seal have great effect. But." which aero expected," the method were carved out from decade maybe centires of research and manipulation method refinement."

    "so something like the energy of pride is too unknown; even xoqax would need time to figure something out." the helper nodded," Unless you''re willing to lower your morals and resort to dangerous methods that would harm them..." The helper waited for his answer. Aero shock his head, they were offering him help. He respected them to much to tramble over them, plus where was the pride in taking such shortcuts.

    ''so I need some kind of work around, a way to feed the chains while keeping my own energy up.'' the moment he was silent make inna and galia more tense until. Galia shouted something that inspired him, "Can''t we give you the energy or something?" the helper informed him that was a much simpler but still not easily done thing. ''At the very least not on a contiuls stance.'' but the helper didn''t say anymore.

    This was for their lord to figure out.

    "galia that is a great idea, i don''t know if we''lll get it done soon. It might put us all at risk. But are you willing to try?" neither of the girls said anything for the moment and aero took the moment to adjust the energy bandages. "the beast! Is it the thing that sent that massive creature towards the town, endangering all those people?"

    Aero nodded, "Then I''ll enjoy helping keep it chained down. Aero smiled before telling them to sit down and close their eyes. he wanted them to focus on their minds and bodies. Ready to tell him if anything went wrong. Closing his eyes, aero reached out, quickly feeling their pride. Letting the resonance between the energy happen. The pride as fighter ringing together before he slowly tried to draw the power towards him.

    At first, aero wasn''t sure it was working. He was just feeling resigned. Then he felt something shift in their pride. It might have been Galia first. But that didn''t matter; what did was how the pride started to separate from the main body. But not fading. Clinging to aero''s own energy. It felt like it was partly his, but not.

    ''i feel like i can still use it, but i don''t think i can further asorb it... yeah i can work with this.'' he checked in with his teammates. "it''s strange i feel fine but i know something happened." inna said rolled her shoulder trying to relax. "okay so now what?"

    "if you willing i''d like to store up more of the power I''m using for the chains." from there they would see. The girls aggre and Aero gather enough resoantiing power for the next time. From what he''s observed, the beast was starting to tire. If things kept up like this, he would be able to focus on other things.

    The next few days were peaceful, and Aero was able to recover as he should have, with his team helping him bear the burden. "it''s tiring the two of you out, isn''t it?" it wasn''t really a question they didn''t deny it. "but not as badly as it was draining you."

    "your right, do you think the rest of the team will be willing to lend a hand." inna didn''t think they would, "but I can''t wait to see there faces as we explain what happened." that brought a smile to all of there faces. They talked for a while trying to imagine what expressions the rest of there team would make. Before they went to the topic of Baili. Who was definitely going to have a very interesting reaction to the news of the massive beast. "image what she''s going to she fins out we were involved."

    At the time the very stressed leader of the country found out, she immediately ordered something strong and sent people out within the next few hours. One group for to speak with aero while the other was to go after that massive creatures and determine if it needed to be killed.

    ''oh, zaltess, why are you dropping these trials on me? Have I done something? Am I being tested?'' she quietly asked. She was unable to hear several beings state they had nothing to do with this. But they definitely started to make some moves of their own. The world might be changing, but they were not just going to stand by and let things suffer.

    The question was what, they had power. Quite a bit of it but they knew if they weren''t careful they could do more then a bit damage to the contents. So they discussed for days, going back and forth with ideas until they came up with a few things they could put into work in the coming years.

    "What!" xoqax shouted at the repost. Scarring the guards who were trying to watch him, he ignored them, looking over the report the helper had sent him about the information they and their lord found on resonating pride. It was an interesting topic, they''ve only had real research on the lord''s energy measures so this was new information. Interesting information.

    It also opened some possibilities. Many the first thing he noticed an interesting increase in power, cause all his reading showed vague increases and decreases in power. But the resinated pride was at least doable, which would definitely be good for the young lord to combat the beast, which would help the universe!

 62

    While the people sent arrived in the town in good time, they were tad too slow to reach Aero and his teammate before they boarded their ride the day before. a bit of investigation and asking around gave them bits of information that gave them a direction to work in. not that they had the right to conduct a search in another country.

    At least not before dealing with a good amount of bureaucracy, but doing so would require them to talk about some topic. Usually, this kind of matter was about criminals, as rare as they were they happened. and more of the time they didn''t have the strenth to run, cause the only place to run was into the massive forest that covered the planet and inhabit many hostile creatures.

    To run meant confidence in your survivability to just plain stupidity if they weren''t the kind who rant into the forest to commit suicide. Which then left them at the hands of the Zalts and zaltes of the dead. Beings whose stories were bound with death so tightly it almost defined them. Their group wasn''t that big, nor were they strong, but they were respected. In the end, everyone ends up in their hands.

    "you know this isn''t a bad sight, Inna commented from her spot on the back of the flying creature, its large four wings beating steadily to keep them aloft. Under them, the endless-looking forest ocean passed by. Under the sounds of the wind, if you listened, you could hear the sounds of life coming from it.

    Part of Aero was curious about what life grew there untouched by his people. Of course, he knew there was a reason no one was willing to touch it. In the distance, he saw something house-sized briefly move over the treetops.

    Looking up, he watched the could pass by; well, it looked like he was. In truth, he was observing a projection the helper was showing him. It was a list of galactic laws. Honestly, Aero wasn''t that interested in it. Still, he knew he needed the knowledge before he went out into the stars. So, at a time like this, when nothing was really going on yet, he wanted to be productive.

    That isn''t to say he wasn''t entertaining himself; in his hands was a half-read scroll containing a rather good comedy. His sides were currently too sore from the laughter he had tried to impress. The story was good. The comedy didn''t feel forced, which was the downfall of so many comedy stories.

    After several flowers of dry laws and incredibly strange ones. he lacked context, like why it was illegal to fuck a specific animal during a certain day. Why were people fucking it? Why, especially on that day, was it illegal? Why not be illegal on all days?

    In another sector of space, it was illegal to mine this one kind of rock. This was classified as a cultural law. That made more sense to Aero; his planet would probably set up its own cultural laws. Every other species did this, even artificial ones and more animalistic but still sentient races.

    Speaking of bestial life forms, they had several laws about other races taking their lives. From his understanding of the law, people probably tried to argue legal definition, but the court created several laws with different wording that just meant the same thing. Kill and get arrested.

    Aero personly wasn''t worried about this, he was likly to get arrested for fighting people. Which meant he was going to need a law speaker or people to speak in his defense. It would probably be one of the first things he would have to do when he entered space. If there was one thing Aero knew, he would get into a fight.

    He wasn''t sure how or why, but it was too likely for him to think otherwise. ''then again, I might not get arrested for fighting cause there were many exceptions to fight. essentially if the two parties agreed and signed from virtual paper. Which was definitely interesting; legally fighting people that made him mad was good.

    now he just have to remember to summon when things happened, as a precasution he explained these laws to his two teammates. "why are you making preparation for possible fights?" galia asked," wouldn''t it be better to think of ways to avoid fights?"

    "your right, but i preferred to be real to myself, and I''m aware i have a short temper and slowly improving. i have no interested in developing any delustions about himself." that would lead to him devoping arrogance which Aero didn''t want, beside he took pride in how he fought. downside he struggled to feel about the fights he got into, despite being aware what it did to his reputation.

    another flower passed before they came to a stop to let the creature rest. resting in a very large tree that stood very above it faimly, setting in the branches aero washed his hands after answering nature''s call.

    "so how much further are we going today?" he asked nibbling onhis food. the driver, a women about Aero''s mother age. paused." well with the weather is good, but not pushes us forward so i guess well make it pretty far. unlike the rip i brought your friend on which enoucted a storm. we still made goos imte, but being wet was not fun."

    Aero hummed in response and asked about the trip the other half of his team went on and if anything seemed bad when they got off. She answered without people deciding not to comment on his worry. While she was traveling with the other half, they had a few stories about the boy''s anger. She was kind of thankful her children were much calmer.

    ''though they might just be pushing it down,'' she would ask. She didn''t want her children to bottle up their emotions; at the very least, they could trust her. She was going to make sure of that.

    Within two flowers, the group took off again, high in the clouds, as Aero returned to his story. Inna and Galia are talking. The next few days contained this peaceful pattern, with only a brief interruption when this furry thing tried to steal aero food. He fought it and won, "I can''t even say anything."

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    When they arrived on the next land mass, Aero drew no attention to his relief. Right up until they found the rest of their team, well, lior, who was trying to barter with this stubborn woman over a piece of fabric. It looked soft, but Aero didn''t see anything too special about it. It was a rather dull color.

    "Hey, Loir!" Inna called out, drawing her teammate''s attention. "oh, you guys made it!" she snapped away from her negotiation, but not with a look that declared they were far from finished." so, did anything interesting happen on the way here?" she asked.

    "Well, I fought this furry thing over food, but most of the action was before that." lior asked how, and Aero pointed out that wasn''t a public conversation. After she got her stuff, she led them to the inn where they were staying. "Just a warning: We could not get Aero his own room, so someone will have to room with him."

    "Why?" he got the feeling he wasn''t going to like the answer, "Well, part of it is because apparently, this is a busy season due to a nearby festival... the other part is because you are a guy. apparently that has a policy for that."

    "I see," Aero said through some grited his teeth, he tried to talk some calming breath though it really seemed to be helping, he felt that anger boiling very strongly. But letting it boil over at the moment was a bad idea, a very bad idea.

    "Let''s figure out who is going to room with me so I can get down for the night. his bed was heavy. he could carry it for another few hours but he didn''t want to. "alright I don''t know where the other two are but if possible I would not like to room with you."

    "Alright," he could think of reasons she didn''t want to share a room. he couldn''t be offended because he didn''t want to share his room either. so that left a few options, which they went over, inna and galia arguing about who would stay with Aero. ''so there arguing about my training.'' Aero wasn''t aware that it was a problem.

    Of course, they all spoke about other things, like how one of his first instinct when being disturbed was attacked. There was a none zero chance he would hit you in his sleep. There was also a non-zero chance that you''d be very close to one of the beast attacks as well. Which was good because you could help him but bad cause you were now in the line of fire.

    This quickly turned into a much more complicated argument than Aero expected, and when the rest of them returned, it turned into a very long debate. Aero watched them for a moment before going into the room he would have to share.

    Whatever choice they made would be theirs; Aero didn''t really have a preference. Beyond wanting to scream, Aero hadn''t shared a room with anyone since the night scared him, and he wanted to stay where he was safe. By her side, he wasn''t sure how safe he felt with his teammates staying in his room.

    they only were good people. but good people would do bad things for good reasons. Of course, at that point, they were no longer good, just wearing the mask of good. he knew that from experience, too many people thought they were helping him when they were nothing more than a nuisance. some occasions they actively put him in danger.

    just the hint of these memories caused his head to pound, but he calmed down. it was in the passed and he was in a different country, there was no way he could run into them. if he did he knew the zalts and zaltess were either testing or messing with him.

    reaching the large room he set his bed in a concern so he could have the wall to his back before sitting down, there were a few things he could think of to distract himself. but he didn''t instead silently waited for his roommate to arrive.

    it took a while, but evently the door opened to tzillia which surprised Aero. he treated the axe user,"lost the debate?"

    "Nah, I''ve shared rooms with boys before, so it wouldn''t be any different from them." Aero nodded and watched as she set up her side of the room. She didn''t pay too much attention to Aero besides making sure she wasn''t intruding on his space. "you not," she released a bit of tension, but he could tell that she was a bit stressed about this situation.

    aero was the same but his stone face and control of his body language were better, it helped that he was just sitting and watching. he kept watching before dcied to cehack on the beast, he found the chains damageged and worked to repair them.

    ''well have that conversation after the third meal,'' for now he was more then reocevered to not bother anyone else until then. the change still took a decent amount of energy to repair and his extra stores weren''t a full compactly yet. honelty that was a matter of time, he was more interested in trying to find a way to store the resonating pride.

    ''its resonation faded each time I tried to store it, becoming like my own energy. There were traces of something that made it different, but that wasn''t resonating anymore. So he had to use the power or lose it, at least he was going to be sticking with his team to the nest few weeks. So the supply wasn''t a concern.

    A few flowers passed before they gathered for dinner, and a few drinks lined the table. But nobody touched them yet as they all knew an important topic was going up; things were silent at first as they savored the taste of their meal.

    "Alright, I believe we''re getting a story," idit asked, grabbing a drink but not bringing it to her mouth. "it an... interesting tale?" Inna said, unsure if intreating is the right word you would use to describe what happened to them.

    "Well, to start with, remember these stories about the massive creature the zalts and zaltess took on?"

    "yeah, why?" tzillia asked. she quickly learned as the other half of the steams started talking; her face quickly went through several emotions as she listened to the words they said. a part of her wanted to deny what they were saying. It was observed and terrifying. Massive creatures that might be living underground. that sounds like a nightmare. Would they burst up now, their massive teeth devouring her and the town?

    But she remained herself the world was so much larger then she could observe. The universe was even larger, an amazing and terrifying thought. Of course, that wasn''t the only kind she had. "Still it''s amazing that something that large was live let alone."

    Aero made a sound of dis agreement, "according to my tutor there are planet or even star sized organisms." as he expected that sentace got many stunned looks," I''m terrified and really interested."

    "I know, right? I really want to see them; I know they like to show off. So it probably won''t be that hard to see them." idit asked what he meant," Despite the size, these organisms have developed gentle giant attuites towards most small lifeforms if you try and harm them, though." he''d continue, but Toza hadn''t given him any details about the Horry stories."

    "we''re getting off topic," inna said, tzilla pouted wanting to hear more. But she quickly collected herself. There was nothing stopping her from hearing more later." so you were talking about the beast, the one Aero fought."

    "yeah, it''s strong, and I really didn''t have a real way to restrain or really beat them. they were two strong, but I wasn''t going to stop fighting despite how my body and spirit were doing. it wasn''t until they came back that I came up with an idea that might have some results, resonating pride."

    "Now, I would like to see if the entire team can assist with this."

 63

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 64

    Aero had a rather simple understanding of what it meant to be the lord of pride; his main job was to keep the beast of pride contained in its prison. To do that, he needed a few things. Pride of his own was one of the most important things.

    The thing he was focused on at the moment was his heart. A heart the beast couldn''t influence. A vague statement, but most of the time, it just meant not letting his pride turn into arrogance. Pretty simple, stay grounded to the truth of his ability and the ability of others.

    As long as he didn''t lose himself to delusions about his ability, he would be fine. This is why he understood the helper''s worry after a moment. This power could weaken people around him, causing him to be disillusioned with his strength or inability to convince others. ''dangerous, though I doubt it would have used it too much even without warning.''

    At the end of the day, Aero was the lord of pride; he wasn''t going to go down without a fight. While he was capable of picking his battles, even then, he wasn''t sure he would be interested in resorting to such a power.

    On the other hand, an interesting aspect of resonating pride, his own pride, felt like thoughts of what he could do. Resonating pride felt like thoughts of what we could do. ''Something I ought to cultivate,'' he thought, floating on the top of the lake before turning and diving back into the water.

    Under the water, he was mostly alone with his thoughts. Which wasn''t a bad thing; he had to think about this. ''resonating pride is a powerful tool, but it requires me to work with others on an incredibly intimate level. The first problem is I must ask for their help.''

    Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.He was self-aware enough to know that, at least for him, this was a big hurdle to overcome.'' but is it such a big one I''ll let the beast go free and wreak havoc over the world.'' he didn''t even think about it before deciding that was a certain no!

    ''So I''ll have to work on asking them,'' they would understand how important keeping the beast under lock and key was. so they were unlikely to turn him away. Touching the bottom of the lake, he spun around and swam to the top. Breaking the surface and taking a deep breath of air, turning to look at his team.'' by the zalts, only a few of them know about the beast,'' dropping back under, he took a few more laps to the bottom of the lake.

    ''need to have that conversation with them.'' The beast was unlikely to stop coming after him, so he needed to tell them so they could make that choice. Sighing, wiping some water from his eyes, he leaned back and floated.

    "I hope I can get both conversations at once," cause honestly, it would just be more work. Closing his eyes, he turned his thoughts away from the unavoidable conversation. Towards resonating pride one more. If, when they said yes, he wanted to plan out how he did it. Do some experiments to help him understand how it worked better.

    ''if I had to guess, my lord, more people would, in fact, generate more power. But the volatility of that power is another concern.'' mouthing volatility. He looked towards the sky,'' you think it could explode. How would that look like as an emotion-based energy?''

    ''unknown,'' the disembodied voice stated.'' there are records of emotional energy-based explosions, but the effects vary. But none of the cosmic lord of pride energy. Calculations are near impossible, precise prediction impossible..'' Aero said the only thing he could think of was," All right then."

    [ "How bad was the explosion?" the sound of bone hitting wood filled the large room. "I almost got charged with crimes against an entire plant, if you must know."

    "I think I heard about that."]

    Going back toward laps through the water, Aero strengthed his swimming ability. Learning how water moved his body and how his body moved the water. ''by the Zalt and Zaltess, I hope this training really helps.'' he was already cold from spending so long in the water.''

 65

    "we''re doing pretty well," Inna commented as the group let their clothes dry out by a fire. After staying by the lake, they had just done their laundry. "how much longer are we going to keep this up?" she liked training as much as the next person. But sweat zalts, she was reaching her limit; it wasn''t helped by the occult creatures tumbling upon their camp.

    Though the creatures were usually outnumbered and dealt with without too much fuss. What was causing fuss were the continued people coming to frankly gawk and stare at Aero as he trained. She was really starting to understand his short temper for this. If it was infuriating, they treated him like he was some kind of strange septical or freak.

    She was beyond over it, though Aero was doing an excellent job of holding himself back. She felt like she would knock someone out; it would be incredibly satisfying, she knew it would be.

    "Anyone wanting to smack the people who think we are some kind of show?!" Galia asked, stunning everyone before they all agreed. "I''ve moved way past smack," Aero stated, trying to calm his emotions. It wasn''t really working, so he tried to distract himself, which worked less.

    "Honestly, they might be the reason we have to head home," Tzilla stated, looking at the stars. " cause I don''t think people are going to stop before we do something violent." the rest of the group agreed at that, it wasn''t a feeling that Galia was familiar with pointing toward other people, it usually when toward creatures trying to kill her.

    "I really think leaving would be less trouble cause the law will be on our si-. Have we even considered getting them arrested or at least charged with harassment? There kind of interfering with our work."

    "oh yeah, I forgot about those laws, "Lior commented, due to how much work hunters were doing, hunting down the violent creature that shared the planet with them. Especially when they became a great danger to settlement. There are more than a few laws in each country to protect them.

    Some laws protected people from them as well, with very strict and violent punishments. Aero could deal with a lot of things, but not those punishments.

    After a bit more talking, they decide to send some people to the nearby village to get someone. They came back pretty soon, and immediately, a large group of law enforcement got to work cordoning off the area." what did you say to them?" Aero asked when he popped out of the water and saw the sight.

    "The truth is, we''re training for space, and the watchers are getting on our nerves to the point we''re considering leaving. despite needing to train." Aero nodded, then thanked Tzilla for her work. Inna commented about how they believed that. "Well, everyone knows to an extent aliens are real, and we''re looking for a method to reach the stars, so when we get them, then what?"

    "we''ll be our planet''s first space explorers," and such is stated before kicking off and diving back into the water. For a moment, he just floated in the water, letting his momentum carry him a bit before turning so he was staring at the bottom of the lake. Watching the plants and rocks before diving down.

    His foot briefly touched the muddly bottoms as he pushed himself up, not enough that he broke to the surface, but close as he started going through weapon stances. He''s practiced with his staff quite a bit, so he decided to do without it. With said standing, he slowly moved toward the other side of the lake.

    Reaching it, he pushed back with a punch before diving back to attack it until his lungs screamed for oxygen. Breaking the surface, he took a simple breath before diving back under and continued until he was near his limits.

    Climbing onto the land, he walked around back to the camp, noting the whole body ache and light pounding in his head. He spent a bit too much time underwater, but he could bear with it and knew it would be gone by tomorrow.

    So the young lord wasn''t too concerned. Honestly, he was in a good mood. Almost all of the watchers were gone, giving the group peace they hadn''t had in a while. He was definitely enjoying the lowered noise.

    "so, any suggestion about our next moves?" despite the training they were putting in, he knew his people were nowhere close to reaching space. It was likely such a long time that he was better off continuing training. Which was close to what the helper suggested.

    ''my lord, I am happy to inform you that the energy and earth energy books have arrived in your star system." Aero perked up those books were every hard to get a hold of. He also knew they would give benefits to his team. People he cautiously called friends.'' I don''t know if at this point it caution or cowardness,'' he was hoping it was the former.

    Arriving at camp, he quickly changed into dry clothing and let the wet ones hang on the line that was strung between his and Inna''s cart. Then he had something to eat and drink, other than accidentally swallowing lake water.

    It was still lake water, but it had been boiled, and he knew drinking raw wild water was sometimes bad. Tova explained microbiology to him. It wasn''t the most interesting topic to him, but it had a lot of practical knowledge that he didn''t think he could unlearn even if he wanted to.

    Cause learning the world was more alive than you thought, the microbiology of his own people was unknown. For now, the fact their things were too small for him to see living in the water he drank was interesting and mostly gross.

    He will always be careful about what he drinks from the moment onward cause no. just no!

    Needs meet, he relaxed by pulling a scroll out of his cart and reading it under the light of the setting sun; that night, not much happened. Nor anything the next few days, the group was perfectly fine with this development. Then the delivery arrived," All right, this was not what I was expecting!" idit said, checking her food to see if it had gone off. But no, right there, a large thing was floating in the air.

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    Aero took a moment to absorb their shocked expressions. Laughing a bit, he received the books. The lattice paper was very different from the parchment his world used. he didn''t know if he liked it or not.

    "Alright," he carried the books over, handing them over to each girl." I hope you prepared yourself for this."

    "I don''t think you can prepare for this kind of stuff mentally,'' Inna commented, cracking open the book and skimming it. The concept of heaven and earth energy seemed pretty simple, but the later part of the book was about the stages that you would go through when absorbing the energy. "I think we should start with this test, which is mentioned at the front."

    "Test, yeah, let''s start with that." it was a pretty simple test with terms that they didn''t recognize despite their translation. It took a bit to understand their meaning with the help of context and the helper supplying hints.

    "Okay, with that, I can start." sitting down, Inna slipped into meditation, steadily working until she could pick up on the energy in the air. Then, pick out the heavy and earth energy. It took a few hours for her to get these parts down, her team switching between watching her and going about their routine for the day.

    From there, Inna grabbed a lot of energy; it felt like a like, yet not much at all, before he brought it inside her body. After that was the hardest part, testing her body''s reaction to heaven and earth energy. This was done by dragging the energy throughout her body. This would, in part, test for potential allergic reactions.

    Yes, you could be allergic to some energy kinds; the helper said this was something to talk about later while it was a very important topic.

    This test would also tell her several other things of note; for one thing, the energy came in different flavors. Knowing which kind would help her grow stronger faster or prevent adverse effects. After half a flower into the test, she felt her own body liked the lungs the best. Which meant energy affiliated with air or something. Aero was kind of curious about how that worked; you breathe with your lungs, but did you breathe in energy?

    Anyway, Inna was affiliated with air type, heaven, and earth energy. The book stated the best places were places high in air energy. "it says places with lots of wind, so mountains and storms, right?" they agreed that was a good place to start." I never knew that knowing the weather would be so important." lior commented before entering meditation for your own test.

    She took about the same amount of time as Inna. While the end result was her bones, the earth. "I''m not going underground." cause that''s what the book said, underground worked best. It suggested digging holes word for word when she wanted to cultivate.

    "zalts, we probably should have thought this through a bit more, Tzillia commented, reading further." this one suggested getting hit by lightning." grabbing a book, Aero read that part, and it did say that. even mentioned how dangerous it would be, "let''s hope no one it attained to lighting."

    Tzilia had tempted fate, and it answered by giving her a rather stronger aliment to lighting." why?! zaltess and zalts, I''ve served you faithfully. Why have you forsaken me?!"

    "Should we stop her or...?" Galia asked, looking at where the girl was dramatically weeping, though she might not have been shedding actual tears. Galia couldn''t see from this angle, but she still tried to comfort her friend.

    It kind of worked," I understand your distress. But I''m sure we can figure something out. Maybe you don''t have to get hit by lightning."

    "Man, I really hope so cause it sucks. Not only do I have to try and find lighting, I have to get hit with it to increase my cultivation speed." Aero blinked. He hadn''t realized that finding the lighting would also be a problem; from the look of a few other spaces, it looked like they were having similar thoughts.

    "It is possible to track and predict storms," he stated, citing words from the helper who was going into a lecture about storm tracking and predicting. He was listening with half an ear, and he quickly found the science behind weather did not interest him.

    He focused enough so that he could give general ideas to those around him. Maybe one of the scientists would be interested; maybe someone out in his home world would take an interest in it. Take pride in this knowledge and skill.

    "so I have to study a field of science or get someone to study it for me so I can find storms to get hit with lighting. No thanks. I''ll stick to the slow and steady method, and I''ll live longer."

    "I don''t have an argument against that." what could he say? Tell her to put in the effort and risk her life. Besides, he doubted she was going to laze around and complain; Tzilia was a hard worker. They all were. more flowers passed as the rest of them went to the test, "so everyone is just stupidly varied; is that strange or not?" Galia asked after discovering her water affinity, and idit discovered her fire affinity.

    "Honestly, at this point, strange is being a new normal?"

    "Should we accept that or try and fight it?"

    "How wise," Idit rolled her eyes before looking at Aero. He was looking at the sky with a frown; he did it pretty often, looking at the stars. What sat between them, beyond them. ''I wonder what he is thinking at this moment.

    ["Oh, my love, I know the stars are watching. but what does it matter, as it doesn''t change how I feel for you. even as the heavens fall around us. I love you; never doubt that again." he leaned closer to is a lover who looked at him, nervously playing with her hair. What she saw in his eyes caused her to relax and accept his affection. It was a little at the moment, but as the night grew long., she found it in herself to accept the love and affection the man had plenty to give.]

    [It was like a never-ending river. ''I wouldn''t mind drowning in this,'' she thought, leaning against him and watching as the sky fell around them. They both knew this might be the end of them. But neither could find it in themself to care.'']

    ''yeas,'' Aero cheered to himself,'' after more than 3 dozen chapters, they finally fucking kissed.'' too bad it was the end of the story, and Aero bemoaned this a bit. The author was very good, and he found himself emotionally attached to the characters." what a nice intro to the story."

    ''my lord, would you like the sequel?''

    "yes," he instantly responded before fully processing the answer. While the helper was getting the sequel, Aero decided to look into his stats.

    "I''ve improved by a bit in my physical ability, I need to figure something out...it''s not like I can pick up an energy method like my team is doing?" downside of being a lord. After looking at the stars for a while, the helper had gathered the book,'' Would you like to begin reading, my lord?''

    "in a moment, first answer me. Could I use pride energy to help me break the limits of my flesh?" The helper did not immediately reply, but Aero waited. ''Each lord finds their own way to use their power to increase their abilities.''

    "very well," Aero replied before he started reading. In the back of his mind, he wondered just how he was going to use what he understood was an emotion/feeling-based emotion to affect him physically. He might, in some way, be able to affect his mind. ''Well, energy is energy, at least.'' that he understood was a law of the universe.

    "attuly...

 66

    "huh," AeroAero thought as he watched his teammates train their energy. He could see it revolving around them and being absorbed into their bodies. It wasn''t a sight he''d seen before. It was kind of beautiful. He watched them a while longer before turning back to his own training; he forced on the extra orbs of power he had floating behind him.

    The first thing he did was add additional bandages for his spiritual wound, which he felt had healed a slight bit.'' it infuriating how little progress with it has been made,'' but I''m doing fine.'' he wasn''t staying up at night some times because of the pain it caused him.

    His body could move, so he was going to keep going.

    Focusing, he slowly separated the orbs until their number increased to a fist-sized ball around him. From there, he changed them one but one until they became small staff. "up!" he whispered, commanding their staff to rise until they floated above him. Dragging his toes against the ground, he drew a line before calling down the staff.

    Bring them closer until they were hugging his body, "Relax, reshape." the staff relaxed their forms, merging together until he hugged his skin. Then he moved, throwing out a punch at his top speed," great," resetting his stance, he tried again. Getting the same result, the energy lagged behind.

    His body moved faster than his energy. Currently, this wasn''t probable if you didn''t count his battles with the beast. But those were more with his physical form; even if he only used the energy in the form of some kind of weapon, it lagged behind his other movements. It was kind of annoying; the most direct solution was slowing his body to match the energy. ''but I''d rather my energy can keep up with my body.'' so training.

    Combating against and unimaged energy, he tried to get his relaxed to work with both the energy and his body. It was slow going, but so was the collection of heaven and earth energy. Which meant he had time to practice this or just rest.

    "ah, finally!" the inna called out, aero jumping like a started beast from his nap." as sorry," she quickly apologized, seeing the grumble and sleepy look on his face. "it one," Aero replied, turning over so his face wasn''t pressed against his arm caprice and tried to get back to sleep was Inna got up and stretched.

    ''I can already feel a change,'' it was small, like a drop, but it sat in her body. Her heavenly and rath energy leaked into her body,'' I don''t know what it''s doing, but its mind, it going to help me. With that, I can help my world.'' she looked over to where Areo was sleeping, dozing in the shade.

    ''going to need more than this little drop, man. I hope there is more use for this than combat. Cause that would be so lame.'' She finished stretching, sat back down, and returned to her meditation.

    The other came out of their mediation at varying rates after achieving success by stepping through the door into energy growth. Aero eventually came out of his nap and vied into the water for more training. He was joined by Galia, who simply wanted to get her blood flowing again.

    They ended up sparing Aero being pushed on the defending for a good part of the fight. Their carapaces clicked against each other as they fought. Trading blows until Gailia surprised him, warping her foot around his ankle and pulling it from him.

    Rocking, he prevented himself from falling completely over, looking up he saw her fist hoving inches from his face." you''ve changed," Aero stated with a smile." you wouldn''t have pulled that trick when we first met, nor would you have come that close to striking me!"

    "ah, sorry," she reflectively answered." Aero''s smiled amped a bit." why would I be upset?" Aero said, and again she apologized cause Aero would not be upset that he treated him like the warrior he was. Even better, it was something she no longer had to consciously do.

    Frankly, it was kind of funny how different her life has become and how different the world has become. In fact, after more flower spraying, a letter was brought to the camp, saying," Oh, we got to tip her well."

    After tipping the delivery girl well, Aero opened the letter. The parchment was filled with flowery and delicate script, which he had come to associate with the leader of his home country. Reading through it, he felt it was a report about the movements of science and what they''ve done with the knowledge he left them.

    "so I guess they doing well?" he pointed the question to the helper, who answered in a rather non-committal way. "still trying to stay hands off as you can, aren''t you?" the answer was silent, but Aero didn''t say anything, instead reading over the details.

    They had figured out they had made a telescope to view the stars, the moon, and closet planets. But more importantly, there were notes about chemistry, biology, and physics.

    Things that would get him into space, things that would put them on more even ground with the wider universe. Details weren''t too sparse in the three-page letter.

    "well, at least things are moving on that front; at the same time, it''s good; the scientist isn''t only interested in weapons." rolling up the parchment, he put it away before going about the day. Later, during the second meal, he asked about the team finances. "we''re not doing bad, but the conversion rate is kind of annoying." Tzilia commented," Why did you ask?"

    "I was wondering how necessary it would be to earn some money from a hunt," Aero replied, turning over his drink. Draining the rest of it, "Why would we need to hunt?"

    "I''m bored," Aero plainly stated." I''m going to look into a hunt. Mostly to take a break from training and help my savings; this training trip is looking to be pretty pricey."

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    "Oh, that''s definitely not a bad idea." earning more money wasn''t a bad idea; it would allow them to stretch their legs. " I think we could add another reason to this trip," she reminded them how a shift in elementals would help their cultivation. "oh, that is definitely something to consider." this continent had more wetlands than their home. So it would be great for their water-aligned teammate; there were also a few decent underground locations, such as mine. They talked about it, and the next day, the team went into town to check out their options. After a flower of looking, they found something to do. "All right, what a purple spine... leochimp? Am I reading this right?" tzilla looked over her teammate''s shoulder." yeah, it''s Leochimp." she replied." lior thanked her before looking at the sketch below it.

    "This thing looks fierce." lior commented, passing the paper to her team so they could look over it as well. Most of them agreed, but no one of them was partially scared. Confident in their own combat ability, that didn''t stop them from asking around about the beast after they finished their drinks.

    "so it''s poisonous as well as fierce!" lior commented, only worried about how much the anti-venom would cost or how long it would put them out of combat. Personally, she was going to do her best and more to avoid the poison; she didn''t like getting poisoned. More so than normal, very bad experiences, and too many on top of that.

    She has been poised, on average, at least twice a year since becoming a hunter. It wasn''t from a lack of evasion ability; she just ran into so many poisonous & venomous creatures that some of them had to land a hit. The only good part of this event was a growing resistance to poisons.

    "Well, according to this information, the thing is about two days away, but when I asked around the roads, I got very few answers."

    "like they couldn''t agree on the best route or something wrong?"

    "Both, actually," the group winced. "Alright, what''s wrong with the road?" The answer to that was simple, it was a flooding session. Heavy caused the many wetlands of the country to spill over, turning a lot of the soul into very wet mud. It was astroid damned difficulty to get a cart though that if they weren''t specialized, and even then!

    The flooding left a lot of good things on the topsoil for the crops, so not many people were traveling more, focusing on cultivating plants and such. The roads around the town were more maintained. But the further out, the worse they would get.

    It took a while to work out a good route and secure transport. "I should not have been there for those conversations," Aero grumbled before the bar, very tempted to order something strong. But that would probably be counterproductive.

    "I knew they would have a problem with you going on a hunt, but that." Inna paused, trying to collect the correct words, but none seemed right." that wasn''t protective," she finally said," that was like trying to keep them in a cage!" her fist banged against the wood bar.

    "Honestly, it''s kind of the same to me, just worse than usual. They think they''re doing the right and good thing. While only succeeding in being...well, let go of the cage things." Aero replied before stepping away from the bar. Before his temptation to drink got too much. He would go running instead.

    A lap and an almost near fight later, that lady did not need to call out to him, concerned about why he was running. The only reason he would run was because he was in danger or something. The fact it took him 5 petals to get it through her head!

    Aero''s mood did not improve until he left to head back to camp; the fact he spent most of the time walking was probably a bad sign that each of his legs was not matching the boiling emotions.

    The pain in his spiritual wound, however," mm. what''s going on?" he tried to focus on making energy bandages or energy threads. But the pain was a bit too much at the moment; all he could do was breathe. Making sure he kept breathing in measured motions until the wound calmed down and the young lord was able to treat it.

    "Seriously, what was that," he moved to the lake to duck his head under the cool water. It took a moment before the helper answered him,'' Your emotions reached the threshold that caused your spirit to shake. Which aggravated the wound.'' ducking his head back under the water, Aero unleashed a storm of swear and cruses the lake could have boiled.

    "feeling better," Galia warily asked. "if I said yes, the zalts and zaltess would strike me down as a liar." Aero had to admit that answer was a bit dramatic, but he didn''t care right now. he was tired, bone early, tired of people thinking they knew what was better for him without even letting him speak.

    It looked at the calming water of the lake; he wondered if it was dramatic or worrying that he was considering sticking his head under it and not resurfacing. But after a moment, his pride and his spite rose. ''they will not break me down!'' with new energy, he stood up and returned to his training. His energy would move as fast as his body.

    "I don''t know if he''s feeling better," Gailia had to admit, watching Aero perform an increasing amount of kicks. His feet barely landed on the ground before he was moving to the next one. The height was impressive, but the fact he got back up each time he fell. But at the same time, it was worrying; he was in pain, but he was choosing to ignore it.

    Aero didn''t stop until he was lying on the ground panting, lungs hurting, muscles pulsing from exertion. But Aero had felt some improvement. His energy was keeping up a bit better. "I just have to keep it up until I get it done," and then he''d be swinging the energy just as fast as he''s swinging his hands.

    Sam didn''t know what benefits this would directly have beyond satisfying the demands of his pride. zalts, there might not be any, but he wants this. His skill in energy control is high.

    resting, he joined his team for the final meal of the day, followed by them preparing for their trip and going to sleep. "wait, did we get here before it started raining?" Aero looked over, then paused as he also considered this. There hadn''t been rain since they''d arrived, "but I did notice that the lake had risen in the past few weeks, so the storms probably didn''t come too close to the area. "

    "Not to mention how soft the ground has been, but it is also wet. But we''re on a lake edge, and I thought it was just that." to make her point, Tzilia pocked the soil with her foot. It was rather wet; mud more or less constantly caked their feet and shoes. Which meant washing them before bed or not bringing them into their cart where they slept.

    Aero had followed Idit''s example and set out a wet towel by his cart at the start of the night so that when he climbed into it, he could whip his feet clean and not drag mud into it.

    "Well, it''s something to pay more attention to; just a few more days before our trip can commence. Everyone make sure to rest up so we''re at our best." she gave Aero a look, who was unfazed, already understanding he had pushed it. It''s not like he''d be all that sore in the mourning.

    The group talked for a few more petals before they started preparing for bed; Aero meditated, forming more energy changes for the best and a fresh set of energy bandages for himself. "by the bloody zalts," Aero groaned rolling over, his wound was still throbbing pretty badly, but there wasn''t much he could do about it right now. His only choice was to bear with it and try and sleep.

    Still, it took some time and didn''t feel like a very deep sleep, but he drifted off the same.

 67

    The muddy road was unpleasant to travel over, even when you were probably prepared. First of all, it got everywhere, ''I wouldn''t call myself a partially tidy person, but this is too much.'' he spent too much time trying to ignore or clean the mud drying to his skin and carapace. With the time and resources, he usually had his carapace shining, but the mud ruined that. His pride in his appearance was taking a hit.

    "if you glare that hard, you''ll turn the ground to stone or your face." Aero looked up from where he was sitting. Leaving on the edge of the carriage that was watching the road go by. While listening to the helper, give him some exercises. He had started on some more resource management this morning; it was worse than the mud. at least he could wipe away the mud.

    These sheets are about budgets and resource reports. It was something else; it made Aero want to tear out his carapace and hang his head against it. It would be so much easier, but Aero was prideful and stubborn, so he kept working at it. His experience with the ship simulations and his time as a hunter formed a good foundation. But what the helper gave him was on a completely different scale.

    It kept Aero busy for most of the day, and his only real problem was the mud. And the person driving the cart for them, Aero, was putting in a lot of effort to ignore the looks they constantly gave him. If he pays attention, he is going to knock them out.

    Hopefully, it won''t go that far or go beyond that. Aero didn''t want to deal with what had followed; he tried to be positive. Though he wasn''t experienced with it. "Damn this mud!" his teammate furiously scrubbed in the stream. Not wanting the mud to dry in her clothing. Honestly, he got it. The stains would be a pain to remove if they let them sit too long.

    But his current loose outfit was already stained and pretty torn and patched." I really should do something about this." He looked down at the clothing before struggling; he wore it into fights. How it looked wasn''t too important; how it smelled was a bigger problem. some old stains he couldn''t wash out left unpleasant scents.

    ''I''ll deep clean it later; maybe that will get the stains out.'' he knew a few ways to get them out of the way. ''but I didn''t bri-'' stopping mid-thought, he looked up and saw a four-legged creature with silver fur and spiraling horns on its head. "By the zalts." Aero silently swore before jumping to his feet and springing out into a kick. the creature quickly retreated. Baring its fangs at him, circling around him, its footsteps barely making a sound in the mud. ''no wonder, it snuck up on me.''

    What alerted Aero to its presence was its massive pride.'' this amount is rather dangerous; if I don''t kill it, I have to deal with the energy.'' Taking a breath, he summoned out energy to coat his body before taking an orb and wrapping it around his staff.

    ''I''ll stain myself like this, but what better time to improve than the middle of battle?'' Locking eyes with the creature, both of them moved. The creature was trying to retreat, and Aero was trying to beat it. For a medium-large creature, it was agile. even hopping among the tree branches.

    ''with this kind of speed, it''s going to be hard to land a clean hit with my physical ability; forget my energy.'' at least if the lord did things straight out, instead of trying to chase the creature down, he chased it into a trap. making use of the terrain and the fact he wasn''t alone!

    "ha!" his teammate shouted, lior coming out to stick the creature directly in the legs. Got a bit of blood on her despite returning from washing. ''can we go a day without this,'' she swore to herself several times, pulling back, bashing aside the horns of the creature, and trying to stab it again, only for it to pull back, reaching for another three.

    "not so fast," staff spinning over his head notes in the air, he swung hard. The creature just lowered its body to avoid a complete hit from the weapon, a shock wave sending it flying. Directly into a tree, its thick bark cracking. Aero landed, shaking for a moment before ruching at the stretching staff, moving in his hand more notes playing.

    but unseen only to his eyes was the energy he had gathered around his weapon, the creature hiss barked at him. Hair standing on end as it lunged at him, teeth bared to tear out flesh; Aero first did side-step the wide approach, throwing his leg up into the bottom jaw.

    Forcing the mouth shut with a snap, he quickly brought his staff down on its upper body. He would have aimed for the neck if not for the horns; he felt both impacts against its body and its energy. ''that was some solid, then I expected.''

    twirling, he pulled his leg away from the teeth that would have taken a chunk out of his body. "ha," he threw his momentum behind the next swing, and the creature jumped out of the way and right into the weapon of Galia." blood darkened their fur and the ground. Aero didn''t wait, following up with his out quick strikes.

    but not too quickly so his energy could keep up with his body. he could feel the creature''s pride cracking and chipping away. but the bigger problem was it was regenerating. right before his eyes. ''I doubt that''s normal,'' Aero had checked on the people he whittled.

    They did not regenerate, not this fast. As far as he observed, it was a case by the bass thing. some did it faster than others, and Aero generated a good amount by the day. since he didn''t use much beyond chains and practice. His stockpile helped.

    Galia''s pu-doa cut through the creature''s skin once more, spilling more blood and leaving it open to several heavy strikes from Aero. each laced with his own pride energy damages its energy. It was regenerating once more, but Aero watched closely, focusing as much power into his eyes as he dared.

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    ''damn this beast!'' now he could see it, the faint otherness in the creature''s pride. Fueling its regeneration, it looked like it was about the size of a grain. but it was definitely powerful,'' can I break it?'' he''d never done something like that,'' can only try and improve!'' which he knew he could do.

    Focusing his energy, he collected it as the tip of his staff, shaping it like the blade of Galia''s pudao. turning his staff in hand, Aero looked at the bleeding creatures, ''Honestly, they were trying to chase it off.'' No reason to kill it, so why is it staying? Could it be the beast''s influence?'' one way to find out is the next time he clashed with it, he directed the energy blade directly into the tiny grain of otherly nonmortal pride.

    "hard!" Aero was taken aback by how the small grain cracked his construct." well, I guess I''ll have to do better." preparing the constrict, he forced on Harding the contraction, condensing even more energy into it.

    the next time he slashed at the grain, he felt the recoil, and the construct cracked again, ''seriously?!'' the cracks were smaller, '' How hard is this thing.'' it was so small but so hard. "what''s going on?" Galia asked; somehow, she could tell Aero was getting frustrated about something she couldn''t see.

    "the beast of pride had caused this creature to attack us; if I can break the thing that is being used to control the creature, I''m pretty sure it will leave us alone..."

    "but it is not breaking, and this thing is getting closer." Galia pointedly looked at the cut on his left. aero only nodded before Galia took a deep breath; the air around her chance shimmered as he realized the bit of heaven and earth energy she had managed to gather. As they traveled, days of meditation have helped her form a drop of energy inside of her. While it wasn''t much, it was plenty enough for her to move faster.

    the creature couldn''t completely follow her subsequent movements, but it felt the late side of her blade crashing into its face. Aero heard the bone crack at the blow; he was mostly filled with the emotion of envy. He let it go the next moment instead of focusing on his construct swinging again when it was ready.

    It cracked, and he reforged it harder. it cracked her remade it, sharper. It cracked. He tried again, pouring more energy into it. Again and again, he focused on control and energy. ''I will do this!'' he had to, who knows how many times the creature would try this trick. who knows if it would always be a creature he could kill.

    Plus, he saw a challenge that cracked his contracts. he had to make something strong enough to break that grain, so why not while he had the chance. Neither he nor Galia were in some serious danger.

    ''I''ll do it! I''ll overcome this!'' he just had to swing harder, swing faster. His blade was solid and sharp, his strike fast, strong, and accurate. He would break it even if it took a thousand swings; it would shatter under his power.

    While it wasn''t a thousand swings, his arms and shoulders ached. His eyes were bloodshot from the stress of controlling his energy of such an amount of energy. He was a moment away from a nosebleed, but with everything, he swung, throwing the entire weight of his exhausted body into it, along with most of the remaining energy. He swung, but the blade did not crack.

    ''Come on!'' Though it didn''t crack, neither did the grain. Digging his feet into the ground, he pushed. Galia was holding down the creature, so that wasn''t a problem for the moment, ''come on, break!'' he and Gailia had put in too much effort to fail.

    Gritting his teeth further, digging in deeper. pulling out every bit of physical strength he had. pulling on every bit of energy he had, even what his body held on its own. flowing through his body, muscles, bones, and skin. towards the blade, the weapon that would win.

    he didn''t doubt he would win! He didn''t believe this creature had the power to kill him; his skills were much too high to die from such a simple thing. ''even if its sneak attack had gone off, I would fight! I will fight until I win; I will win the way I desire!''

    He wasn''t sure what had happened or how to describe it. the energy flowing through his body changed, or was it his body that changed around the energy? either way, something changed; it was slow, but his construct started cutting through the grain of energy.

    "wow!" he was almost physically pushed back as the energy burst out from the grain, "ahh!" Galia screamed as the energy brushed against her, burning her skin and carapace." by the zalts and zaltess!" he pulled back as same continued pushing into the grain, his blade moving at a torturous slow pace. The energy brushed against his own and reached through his skin.

    Stressing his mind, further Aero worked to wrap his energy around himself to protect himself. ''come on then, break Zalts, damn it! I''ll even ask the mother at this point!'' he had to be realistic. He couldn''t keep this up forever. The power was burning away the construct. If he wasn''t feeding it, would have long since broken.

    But it still seemed like his construct slowly moved in at a pace slower than the change of the seasons. But like the seasons, they moved, unable to be stopped.

    "HA!" Aero cheered as he finally cut through the construct, the energy finally dispersing in a wave that almost threw them on their ass and left fresh burns over their bodies. Aero was pretty sure that a pettiness or an attempt to deal a final blow. Still, Aero didn''t fall over, partly because he''s gone partly numb to the burns that appeared under his energy armor. The other reason was the strange reaction that going on with his body.

    observing, he got a better idea of what was happening,'' Oh, I definitely going to talk to Xoqax. Can you handle giving him the data?'' he asked the helper, watching as the creature recovered from the removal of the grain. leaving it a rather tatter pride. it didn''t hesitate to retreat.

    The entire time, its eyes focused on Aero and Gailia. Both of them were a bit unsteady but more than ready to fight if necessary. "Let''s get back to camp. Do you think the medicine we have will work on these burns?" He gestured to one of her arms where she had been in contact with the creature.

    "I really don''t know," he was hoping, but he wasn''t betting high. They made it back to camp without any complications and focused on treating their injuries. Inni was helpful to see the burns and lunges for the medicine bag and grab bandages as well. The driver was not; she screamed and insisted they turn around for the nearest healer hunt.

    Aero ignored her and focused on getting his wound treated. When she kept persisting," Listen here you -" the words he said were not written down. They were considered too foul by the lord of stories.

    [HAHAHAHHA!]

    [shut it you!]

    "oh wow," Inni said after serval petals of him just cussing women out with words that might not have been from their world. gently she pulled the panting hunter back and set him on the edge of the cart so they could start banning his burns; the burn cream at least soothered the pain of what looked like a burn that scorched the upper layers of skin.

    Through their combined medical knowledge, they figured the burns didn''t get too deep; they were painful but wouldn''t hinder their movement too much, "definitely going to need a healer when we get back."

    After making sure the wounds were as treated as they were going to get in this situation, Aero went to bed; he was tired, and something else was necessary for the rest of the day.

 68

    "oh, this data is starting to come together!" xoqax happily fluttered from one end of his lab to the next. he was trying to stay positive; his research was going well. Getting new data each time the young lord used his power. but the beast, that was a problem.

    Aero wasn''t stupid enough to think something that big getting free wouldn''t affect him. he took way too much pride in his work, and he wasn''t going to change, but Aero was very cautious about the creature trying to affect him. "the best thing now is to help the young lord grow strong enough he can push back the create. now the test on healing his spirit."

    *******

    "thank you," Aero let out a breath, stepping away from his meditation mindset. He was feeling better, not a hundred percent, but it was better than he felt this mourning. Inna and Gailia helped him restore his own pride, but he felt a bit bad about how it affected them. but it was dangerous for his self confined to be lowered during a mission.'' I''ll treat them to something when we get back into town.''

    But for now, they had to focus on their mission; they had entered the hunting ground less than a flower ago, and who knew when they might run into their target. Which could be anywhere, and they needed to remain alert for the creature.

    "so, how hard do you think it''s going to be to find this thing?" Inna asked what they stopped to stretch and try to find some tracks. the forest was covered in tracks. But nothing that pointed out their specific prey. Aero hummed as he observed the ground, trying to determine the number and direction of a small creature.

    "Well, I found tracts of some of its known prey," galia thought that was an excellent place to start, and they followed it until they arrived at where the tracks stopped. "I don''t remember reading these things can fly."

    "no, but they can dig." Inna pointed out to a tunnel under a tree. big enough for Areo to stick his head in. if he wanted to lose said head to what lived inside it. Instead, I found a decent tree hiding spot and climbed into it. His teammates did the same so they could stay out of sight; they relaxed in their spots and watched the tunnel for some time.

    silently thinks around the same thing: bait!

    bait that took them four flowers to catch. It bit and scratched until they brained it a few times, "All right, that''s four, enough for a few traps."

    "What kind of traps should we make?" Aero decided he should contribute to this conversation. as his preferred trap was noise matter to attract his attention. so he could fight them with his bare hands. Was it more of a matter of pride to him? It was. to show people he didn''t need to rely on traps, a nondirect combat.

    they knew more practical traps and asked why Aero didn''t know more about trap making as they put together a snare trap." the person who tried to teach me came off super condescending. I only attended the class enough to pass. If I get the chance, I''m going to hit her."

    "Is there anyone in your school you don''t want to hit?"

    "one, maybe I don''t know if she listened to me or not." he wasn''t interested in checking," speaking of school, Aero was reminded of his plan to make his own hunting school, which was currently at the scroll with a list of things he wanted in the school or taught, like a deep lake for underwater training and zero gravity training.

    "well, pay attention as we explain how you can take the early advantage in fights." he rolled his eyes but at least tried. It sounded very meticulous to him, but he found it simpler to hit the creatures until they stopped moving. The traps were partially reliant on physics.

    aero had a bit of an understanding of fields of science. Not the biggest; he put a lot of time into his physical training. but after becoming a lord, he slowly learned more bits. Tova spoke plenty of science, pulse Xoqax, who Aero was sure wasn''t using simple words, not from the helper''s tone. At the same time, they seemed to be completely neutral spoken. Aero was very well practiced in picking up microtones.

    He didn''t like feeling intellectually inadequate. The people of Augustine looked down on his physical ability. but the much wider galaxy would pay attention to every part of a cosmic lord. his brains, his brawns, his beauty!

    Not to mention, he would probably be working with all kinds of people; it wouldn''t surprise him if, when his financial power improved, Xoqax asked for some subordinates. if he didn''t turn Aero down, he would be his head of science.

    ''what positions should I give my team," they were already working hard to grow in strength. he should give them appropriate titles. but what? making them leaders of their own squads under him. That sounds like a good start, but would they want to be squad leaders? "maybe they''d want to do something else." sighing, he adjusted his spot in the trees and waited.

    later, they got something; during that time, Aero practiced resource and force management. Which, for some reason, includes simulating paperwork. it was different from the occult paperwork he had to do as a hunter, and it was so much worse. so many things he had to look over.

    he was glad when the first trap went off, jumping from the tree to take a closer look. "ah, wrong thing." sighing, he knocked the creature out with a heavy blow to the head before moving to free it and putting it a reasonable distance from the trap.

    It set out the trap several more times; Aero had a brief thought of killing it before just tying it up and going back to waiting. Then he had to wait a while longer.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

    "Oh, what bad luck." Inna thought, stepping around the creature. The Leochimp, its claws cracking at the ground, the rope from her trap hanging in the air. "flexing her fingers, she considered her next step; the best solution would be to draw her teammate''s attention so they could outnumber it.

    but years of hunting told her that she''d be in danger if she took her eyes off it. flipping one of her daggers, a slight tone started. The moment it did, the Leochimp launched, its long arms reaching for her neck. Quickly, she slashed her right dagger, throwing a limb to the side, giving her room to thrust her dagger directly at its neck.

    "ahh!" Inna groaned as he chimp bit on her weapon, saving it one life and putting drool on the weapon. ''I''m glad I wipe this thing after every fight.'' she swung her other dragger, forcing the Leochimp to let go. She was able to take one step back before the creatures suddenly spun.

    "GAH!" with both arms, she blocked the strike. Her daggers keep the claws from tearing into her skin. pushing back, she dropped to her knees, under its arms, and spun into a kicking. Wrapping her ankle around its foot and whipping it out from under it.

    the large fore of the Leochimp fell back as he rose to her feet. As she did, notes began to play a short melody on both daggers, causing them to glow. The air smelled like a storm was coming. Then, with a pained grunt, she slashed both of them down as the Leochimp righted itself.

    The energy jumped off the blade; the energy slashes tore through the air with a thunder crack and into the creature''s arms. it roared as blood spewed out from the two sudden wounds. Smoke and the smell of burnt flesh filled the air. Inna pushed it out, racing into close range.

    The Leochimp weakly tried to defend itself, but it meant nothing as Inna danced around its attempt, her blade flashing through mulches and ligaments. Until it was just bleeding and lying on the ground, her legs wrapped around its throat, and her dagger pointed at its eyes, a clear threat.

    "I''m suddenly glad she''s on our side." Galia commented that she and Aero had arrived at the scene." You captured it." Galia walked over and pointed her weapon at it in case it moved. "yeah, I figure we''d have less worry about its body parts going bad on the return trip."

    The way the trio discussed how they were going to prepare its body and what they would do with the parts didn''t sit well with the Leochipm, so gathering what strength it possessed, it roared. A desperate noise raced throughout the forest. Only then did it fall unconscious.

    "it called for backup," Aero said; that wasn''t a death cry; they all knew that well enough." our information didn''t say if there was more than one in the area." Galia nodded in agreement. Before, Inna commented," It''s probably on use for not scouting the area better."

    "Should we stay or leave?"

    "There no reason to kill more than necessary," Inna stated. if they got attacked, they would defend themself, but for now, they threw the Leochimp over their shoulders and started making their way toward their camp. "if it''s another Leochimp, they''re probably capable of tracking our scent, right?"

    "yep!" Galia said, popped the p.

    "good just cheacking," Aero stated as they moved around the trees. Keeping his ears open for anything that might try and attack them, the trees were nearly genuinely silent. Rustling leaves and insects, he tried to focus on bigger noise.

    "camps are in sight, I''d say more, but I''m worried about tempting the zaltess of fate." Galia stated, and Inna snorted," Oh, me too!" Aero had a thought about how he could fight the zaltess of fate. But even though he knew that it was just a bad idea, she is known as a very petty lady.

    Half of her stories are based around this pettiness; Aero didn''t want any of that directed at him or his people!

    arriving at camp, they threw the creature in the back of a cart and rushed to clean up, not for nothing, as soon a pair of Leochimps jumped from the trees. "AAH!" tacking Inna to the ground as she smelt most of the blood." by the zaltess!" she swore before a Leochimp roared in her face.

    She wasn''t sure what was worse at the moment, the many razor teeth ready to tear off her face or the horrid breath. She could see bits of rotting meat between the teeth.'' I have to push it off.'' But her position was terrible; the Leochimp was on her center of gravity. she didn''t have the strength to push both off of her.

    "oh, this is going to scar!" a stone mace smashed into the face of one of them, shocking both the girl and the creature. The girl recovered quicker, sticking the creature in the face with her dagger in one of its four eyes!

    It roared in pain, cut off by Inna driving her knee into its chin before Galia shoulder tackled it off her. rolling to her feet, she jumped into Aero''s fights, his mace breaking apart as the Leochimp doughed and macked it away.

    He couldn''t make complete use of his usual agility like this. The creature turned its attention away from him when he heard the notes inna played. She pulled her right dagger back, a faint sheen of water covering both, and the right she thrust forward sent off the razor-sharp water.

    The Leochimp footly jumped to evade the attack, leaving it open to the send water blade. opening a gash in the inside." with a howl, it turned its fangs and claws towards her. "don''t ignore me!" putting his back and waist into it, Aero swung the mace directly at the creature''s face.

    The agile creature had more than plenty of time to dodge it if Inna wasn''t in the fights. grabbing the whiskers on its face, she yanked it directly into the path of the mace. It landed with a crunch and gush of blood from the opening on its face. Some of it got on Inna, but she barely noticed as she quickly struck in the back of the neck.

    Before rushing over to help Galia, who had been playing keep away, Between the three of them, it was a bit of overkill to take down the last one. "oh, by the Zaltess, that wasn''t so bad."

    "you didn''t get bitten!" Galia stated as Inna wrapped her arm. They and the driver are upwind from where Areo is dismantling the creatures. There was a lot of blood from their bodies and a lot they could take; Aero had to work for more than a full flower before he was done.

    ''oh Zalts, why did I hit a vein? There was blood spatter on my clothing.'' not that such a thing was new, just still a pain to clean. After leaving the harvested bits to be packed away, sprinkling powers over the other remains so they could decay. He rushed over to the nearest source of water to try to wash out the blood.

    "ugh, it''s staining. I''ll have to really wash it out when I get back to the village, but at least I won''t attract creatures like this." He sighed, wrung out the clothing, and slipped it back on. There was still some dirty work to be done, so there was no point in putting on clean clothing.

    He arrived on time to help with loading and commented on the girls'' debate about the money they could make with this. aero didn''t try to get his hopes up. Honestly, he probably wouldn''t be able to go into the store when they sold it.

    He wasn''t sure he wanted to because he could see someone saying something that got them hit. then they had to deal with law enforcement. He just hoped it was enough to recover at least some of what they''d spent over their stay.

    he did not like the idea of running out of money and being stuck in this country. it''s a hard no! he''d walk through the forest ocean if he had to!

 69

    "here''s your money; the parts you brought were of good quality. Immaculate cuts. Who did it? I''d like to shake their hands. Not only is the flesh of a Leochimp superbly dense to first-timers, they usually mess up, but the butcher did so well." she was so caught up in her excitement that she didn''t notice the awkward expression on the two hunters'' faces.

    ''There is no way he''s coming inside to meet you.'' It''s not just because Aero was already returning to camp. He just generally wasn''t in the mood to deal with anyone when they last saw him.

    "Uh, he''s tired and has already returned to our group''s camp," which was true. "Aw, that''s too bad. I would love to have asked about his carving skills...wait, his?"

    "Well, we have supplies to buy, so have a good day, and may the zalts and zaltess bless you!" with that, the two of them rushed out of the building and towards the town''s market as they indeed had supplies to buy. That didn''t take more than two flowers, and they headed towards the camp.

    "oh, did you wait for us?" Inna teased, seeing Aero resting in the shade of the forest by the road." yes," Sam replied with a moment of hesitation. Refusing to acknowledge the fact he was blushing. Instead, "There is the fact you two are carrying our group''s supplies and money. That makes some people rather daring even if you openly carry weapons."

    "So you were worried." she replied, and Aero paused." I supposed I was." There was no reason to be too embarrassed about his feelings. It was unpleasant yet pleasant when he realized what it meant. He was worried because he cared, and it showed how attached he had gotten to his group.

    Aero grumbled, taking some of the bags, and they started moving, claiming onto the cart and riding out to the camp. Where they found everyone meditating and cultivating their energy in the light of the midday sun." You''re all back!" Tzilia cheerfully shouted, rushing over visible, checking them over as she took some of the bags. pulling a fruit from one of them to snack on.

    the next few moments were filled with small chatter and the putting away of supplies. "here, you disgusting vegetable." he handed the small blue roots over to the only person who ate them. So they would only go into her jells; Aero thought they made anything too bitter.

    Oh, they could have quickly brought the jells, but the thing was, they didn''t last too long.; a week or two, the raw material could last longer, and you could make the batches as you wanted them. most of what they brought was dried, and they could pull water from streams and other places. There were melodies you could use in a pinch.

    Aero finished packing away and joined the other in some quiet training over the next few flowers. The next day, everyone was more or less back to their routine, Aero dealing with the beast and his spiritual injury. While training his body and mind, the girls meditate on gathered heaven and earth energy and training their bodies.

    ''I should probably have them train their mind,'' the question was how and when was a good point to intricate that. ''Probably not for a while,'' Aero switched arms for his planks. Even though it looked simple, he could see the stress on their faces. How did they fall asleep so quickly on the day they mediated!

    It was different from the strain of using his pride energy, but it had such different uses. Aero knew this, but the ability to use his more varied power would be great.

    the only thing he could do was train, so he trained. with his staff, with the energy he was building back up. It was slow going, but Aero knew he was making progress. Working his way through the exercises, the helper formed for the lord''s future work.

    "you''ve made way to project budgeting form," Aero ground his palms over his eyes, trying to remove the numbers dancing in his vision and head. but they were still there; he might see them in his dreams at this rate.

    ''I don''t want to see numbers in my dreams,'' Budgeting so so completed on a universal scale. party because there wasn''t a completely accepted universal currency. Well, they didn''t accept any universal currency that had the same value everywhere. it was a petty power play. the words of the helper.

    "Okay, focus. I just need to convert this from the locate currency and then work from there." he worked the numbers over; it was a 4.7 increase in value. going about 4 trillion..." he mumbled as he tried to work out the number drawn out. The noise brings one of the girls from their meditation.

    "I hope that isn''t our food budget or something," Aero blinked, looking away from the numbers. "oh, did I distract you idit?" she rolled her shoulder, stretching, loosening up the tension. "nah. Needed to move anyway. though seriously, is that our food budget?" Aero shook his head.

    "no, it''s a budgeting exercise. a very complicated one." Aero looked over the equations. then adding another line. converting the money and then working to split it up, getting the conversions in mind. which was a little hard; he had to go back and forth between two currencies.

    "oh, that is definitely complicated," she said. standing and working on getting her blood flowing." do you really think you''ll use that kind of money?" Aero looked up and then back at the numbers." not on Augustine." Idit understood what he was implying." yeah, do people really make use of such big funds?" Aero shrugged, "This is the amount it would take to run an organization."

    "what big dreams, but what else would I expect? I mean, whose response to getting kicked out of a hunter school is to start his own?!" Aero only smiled; he wasn''t ashamed of his thought process. "hey, I''ve already started on lesson plans."

    "Besides, you might end up one of the teachers."If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    "Me! Teach! ha! I''ve never taught anyone anything." Aero asked if she thought that he had more experience. "Like, I''ve given out advice to a few guys younger than me to help them go for their own goals, and people consider too dangerous. But acutely staying and teaching anyone, I don''t think I''ve done that."

    Aero wasn''t sure he had the patience for full-blown teaching; it was a different kind of task than holding back when he felt people were insulting him. insulting his biggest pride. He wasn''t happy about the, unfortunately, real possibility of him smacking a kid.

    "What worried about hitting a kid? She tried to jock, but Aero''s face could have been carved from stone." seriously, you''d hit a kid?"

    "I don''t trust my temper." he just said before turning back to the numbers. "It always gotten me in trouble, and I don''t know how far I''ll go under it." idit didn''t say anything for a moment. She understood. "yes, emotion is a strong thing." when he looked at her out of the corner of his eyes, he saw a longing and hurt in her eyes." but fearing your emotions and reaction won''t help you with them."

    "That sounds like an experience." she didn''t say anything, and Aero didn''t push her." well, sounds like it sucked." idit laughed humorously," oh you have no idea." sighing, he laid back in the soft soil looking at the sky above them. the slight clouds, the creature diving at them." by the zalts!" she threw herself to the side.

    rolling to her feet, she covered her eyes as the creature threw out its six wings, creating a gust of wind that woke the other, sending them straight into a battle mood. "someone riding that thing!" Inna shouted. eyes snapping toward where her weapons sat. Aero was the only one armed.

    "Who are you?"

    "I could ask you all the same thing!" the rider returned, landing their mount and looking at the gathering. her skin was a dull brown, and her carapace was slightly brighter. "you''re the one who landed in our camp!" aero shot at her staff pointed at her head." only for her to ignore him and turn to Tzillia." girl keep your lover under control, you shouldn''t stress them out too much."

    "Ugh."

    "oh no," idit sighed when Aero tossed her his staff. Followed by him rushing the lady on the creature''s back. Now, none of them made an attempt to stop him as he tackled her. The surprised scream didn''t surprise them; before they hit the ground, Aero was already throwing blows.

    "so when should stop him?" idit asked as Aero put her in a sleep hold. Slamming her face into the first several times." "When we believe he won''t bite us." Inna stated, which the girls agreed as he was already banishing his against her. "oh, he drawing blood!"

    "I think we''re a bit too calm about this," Galia commented, watching Aero spit out a bit of skin and blood. right before the strange lady slammed her head into Aero!" Oh, she''s fighting back!"

    "what monster has possessed this boy!?" again, they collectively wince as they knew it would only make things worse." are you implying I''d only fight if I was possessed!" rolling, he threw her towards the lake.

    She managed to get to her feet, stopping at the lack edge. "Hope you can swim, lady!" he drove his knee into the face, sending them both spiraling into the water. Thanks to weeks of underwater training, Aero has already recovered and moved into holds. "okay, he''s planning to drown her. We should interfere."

    "I don''t want to get bitten." even as Inna stated this, she jumped into the water. the group dived and worked to pull Aero off the lady and drag her away from Aero. This was hard as she couldn''t keep her mouth shut, and her aero temper flared each time.

    It took reminding him of his progress in controlling his temper and the threat of knocking him out. "All right, I''ll rein it in, but I remain willing to knock another out if she keeps insulting me."

    "that''s fair, but we don''t know why she''s here yet. wait until then!"

    "I''m here on vacation, and you''re in my spot!" she shouted, glaring at Aero, who matched and surpassed the intensity. After years of practice warning people off., she flinched before continuing to go on about how she came here thrice a year on break from her very demanding job. Aero didn''t think it was that impressive or combat-focused if someone ten years his senior lost to him so easily.

    "I''m the head of this country''s finances." well, now it might be a political problem. "by the Valts and Zaltess, I want to deal with this never. or at least tomorrow mourning." but unless he did something they would be dealing with this so much longer.

    ''What a great chance to test your political skills!'' someone was way too happy about this. Aero was considering if more violence was worth the latter problems. ''oh, who am I kidding? Violence won''t help me here.'' he needed his worst against someone who was insulting him multiple times and didn''t look like she regretted it once.

    ''honestly, she seems like the plain arrogant type.'' the entire time he had been going through these emotions and thoughts, she was bragging about her job and what she''d done. ; looking at her pride, he was surprised to find it at a manageable size. ''so mostly talk,'' Aero let out a sigh before looking at his team, all of them wearing a simple pained expression, knowing her position was causing them a problem.

    "what not impressed?" she stated." Aero held back a scuff." not really, seeing as I''ve met and know people in higher positions." he stated, causing her to pause." of course they''re not from this country and going to be very upset that I knocked you on your ass several times."

    "you didn''t knock me on my ass!" she declared, Aero only smiling knowingly. "alright, I''m staying out of this," Gailia walked away, hands in the air. tzillia and idit followed behind her; Aero watched them go before turning back to the lady who still hadn''t introduced herself. They got into a small argument about whether he knocked her down or not.

    It was needed when Aero asked if she was willing to spar and settle the matter. Only for her to not only turn him down but also make an excuse for it. "I wouldn''t want to hurt you in front of the dates." instead of socking her like he very much wanted to. Aero very sternly informed her he wasn''t dating anyone, nor did he intend to start anything this year.

    "why not? Relationships are great, most of the time."

    "oh, I''m sure, but it''s not something I want in my life at the moment." he had actual out-of-the-world problems. Like paying off what he owned, the lord of greed. Or continuing to prepare to venture into space. "You lost," she stated before turning to unpack her ride; seeing that things were done for the moment, Aero turned back to his work, staring at the numbers that determined if people ate or not.

    He got through them and another few problems before sunset, and then he switched to a different kind of management problem. Each exercise had been about purchasing supplies in some way, which connected to the next one about managing those purchased supplies. trade and other things, it was still numbers, just in a different way.

    At some point, the helper randomly threw in a problem to take him off guard. Aero wasn''t dumb enough to admit this was a possibility in real life, that this kind of problem made the difference if someone ate or not because of him.

    According to his report, at least five people had to skip meals in order to make their supplies last. Aero didn''t like this; he knew what it was like to have to starve yourself for long-term survival. some hunting trips went longer than he expected.

    Also, these people rely on him, and he couldn''t call himself a good leader if he failed to take care of them. If he failed, the loyalty they gave him, his loyalty in turn.

 70

    "I''m amazed she''s still here," Ttilia stated, handing over the soap to her teammates and catching it without looking. She worked to scrub the blood stains from her clothing, "I''m amazed Aero hasn''t punched her again." Inna commented, throwing back the soap. Dunking the clothing in order to wash out the suds. She frowned as the stain was still pretty visible. She liked this one; it was a two-color outfit. It covered one leg more than the other.

    "at this point, I think she trying to win some unannounced competitions, she commented, ringing out a towel and setting it to dry on the rake where the rest of her clothing was drying.

    "ha," Inna laughed," I don''t think she''s going to win with how Aero is just ignoring her." she went another go at the stain, rubbing hard enough that Tzila was worried she scrubbed a hole in it. The team members had varying levels of sewing skills.

    Aero sewed himself up the best; he stated this with a hint of pride, uncaring for the slightly disturbed look some of his team gave him. Basic hunter training includes sewing up wounds until you can get a real healer to look at them. But it was usually your teammates that did this.

    They had to state several times they would sew up any wound Aero ended up with. While he physically nodded in response to this, they agreed that when it came down to it, he probably needed a reminder. Even the lord himself saw this as a possibility.

    It was a years-old habit," a very bad one." Inna felt the need to point it out. Aero, this was a half-truth as it was a necessary habit and skill. "what do you do when your hands are covered in blood?" Tzila asked, unsure if she wanted the answer:" Lick the blood off."

    When they were done with their laundry, the girls left their things to dry and focused on training. Currently having some melody focus sparring matches, rather tame ones. They weren''t doing any special damage to the ground and trees. A part of the lake was ice, but that was easily fixable, and it could be harvested for their drinks.

    Some great after a long day of working out and striking each other, sparring with Aero usually left you with one welt. He hit hard even when he wasn''t trying to harm you. "can not believe you''re all being so rough with him?" of course, they were hitting back just as hard." they all shared a look." she''s joking, right?"

    "Have you not seen what he has been turning our way?" Galia took over," ignoring how foolish that is why sparring, it rude when he''s taking us so seriously." the women only looked at her confused, and Gailia ran a hand over her face in a sign of expression." look, I understand where your coming from, but it''s not going to fly here!" there was no room for argument in her tone, and she didn''t receive any.

    The day came to a mildly uneventful end, but the next day was not. Largely because someone else showed up." how many people treat this place like a vacation spot?" he looked at the small family that was setting up a tent/cart at the edge of the lake. The parents are trying to keep their children from running into the lake.

    "I know a dozen who come here yearly," Aero grumbled before turning to his team, discussing their course of action. These people were different from the people who came specifically to harass them. They were on vacation, and they still might harass them. Plus, they couldn''t take the whole lake to themselves.

    "Well, we could move, but other bodies of water are probably populated. I wasn''t aware this was their vacation season." Tzillia stared off their planning session as the team gathered in a circle with sweet drinks for them all." yeah, that was a planning error, not knowing about any event over the cross of the timeline." Gallia stated.

    "no," Inna cut in," we checked holidays and such. but focused more on the things that would get us arrested or set off our short-tempered captain." she looked at Aero, who was only silent for a moment." so next time we expand our search perimeter. For now, we stop doing anything big enough to catch up with the other lakegoers. I''m not risking the drowning of someone''s child."

    "Well, so we''re stopping melodies or at a big effect one. Cause I still need some practice with how sounds move down there and remembering which melodies to not use!" she shivered, remembering the light mistake of using an ice melody. It froze her arms; if she had been alone, she would have likely drowned.

    "yeah, and I''m doing great at gathering my heaven and earth energy." the water-aligned girl commented. "Lucky you, it''s hard too. I''m not getting much from the campfires. Too much water in the air."

    "so we should go somewhere hotter next time, maybe more windy. Where would we go?" they discussed something between them until they were interrupted," There is this beautiful valley, always a breeze going there and just overflowing with flowers. Always a pleasant smell going through it."

    "you''re a noisy person, aren''t you," Aero accused." just a bit," she responded. But for hot spots, in the more literal sense, I don''t know many."

    "We''re looking for training spots, not vacation spots." in response to Idit''s statement. she asked why you couldn''t do both. "...you know I don''t have an argument for that, but we''re prioritizing training more than pleasure."

    "noted, but if that''s all I do know, a moderately active volcano inhabited by some creatures. They are mostly not a problem as they stay close to the molten rock, but there is a great amount of fertilizing ash. So missions there are more stealth than combat."

    "We can work with that; in the end, we''re trying to grow stronger, and combat is not the only sign of strength." idit wisely said, "lead to sneak attacks." Aero pointed out, "Very useful when you''re outnumbered."

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    "That sounds like a tactic. Don''t you usually change them out in the open?" tzilla teased Galia, joining her. Aero gave them both a look before huffing and turning to look at the sky. Before heading to the cart to pull out the map they had of the continent. "what kind of path are we supposed to be charting?"

    "so we''re ignoring the question?"

    "I''m prideful, not stupid." Aero replied, not looking up from the map, "So where are these locations you mentioned?" they pointed at the map and started working out average crosschecking the settlements between the locations. " if this map is to be trusted there, it would be better if we went through the valley before climbing the volcano, but it''s going to be a pain of return trip to get on a creature back home.

    "of course, we could go the other way, taking the tough way as training before we climb the volcano. But that path had more sheer cliffs. easier going down them than going up them." Aero continued talking to himself. Considered the options and paths they had to get where they wanted to go."

    "you know you could rent a creature for that trip," Aero paused and turned to his team. They did agree it would save them time and would be simpler than trying to climb a mounting by hand." but we couldn''t afford to rent it and the carts; we''d have to leave them behind."

    "which meant tracking with bags over my shoulders; I haven''t done that in a while," Galia commented," my tents are in good shape, how about yours?" there was a round of agreement,"-need to wash it soon," tzilla added on.

    "so we''re agreeing to rent a creature for the trip up and down the motion, following that were valley. The question is how much time we spent at each location." Aero would rather have it far between the two.

    "We could split up; this could get a more even time between us." Aero nodded, "So rent to take up and rent one to pick us all up... but what to do in an emergency? Also, have to plan out supplies."

    The group talked about it over the next few flows, drafting out a plan. The day was coming to an end, and Aero went through his usual routine of spending his energy to forge chains and bind down the beast.

    The next morning, they put dates on their plan, partly when they were heading off. "it''s going to take us four days to get to the town. Longer in the mud is too much of a problem." it was looking cause it rained again last night; it rained the next days. These heavy but short showers were long on Aero''s nerves.

    ''if I didn''t think it would stain them, I would top washing by boots every night.'' but he didn''t bring many spares, and he took pride in his appearance. ''mud on everything I own, my tents going to be a mess when we leave. Should I go to Vally or the volcano?''

    Personly Aero thought he could work with either, but being comfortable was a different matter. ''neave climbed a volcano before, but I''m curious about the flower scents.'' would he try and take the heat or the wind,'' In terms of training it''s probably better to head for the volcano. Increasing my ability to withstand heat.''

    The helper and Tova had explained how life could find a way even in the strangest of places. Like a planet that was nothing but a constant thunderstorm, yeah, it was heavily populated by several native species and a few tourists and immigrants.

    "though it''s not a tourist location I would go to, while there are portions for people like I heard there moving none stop, and I don''t like getting motion sickness." was her opinion of that planet. "I heard it pretty, pictures are nice."

    "a storm, pretty?"

    "yeah, a storm, it''s part of nature, isn''t it. a fierce part of nature." Aero had to agree with that, nature was very fierce and brutal. But that didn''t change its beauty. As a lord, he''d travel a lot, which meant some of their fierce and brutal places, and he needed a way to survive them.

    ''long it would really be better to go to the volcano, plus I could always visit the valley on the way back.'' yeah, that could work for him; he was just a little curious about it. But it was nothing vital if it came down to it. ''okay, raise heat resistance; let''s hope the zalts and zaltess smile my way and protect me a little.''

    He''s rather not burned to death...who did you pray to protection from fire again? ''I''ll have to ask?'' I don''t remember the story for them either. Which made it a very bad idea to try and invoke the being; they were known for their stories and didn''t take well to being forgotten after the labors they completed.

    Aero knew that double as he sent the queen a letter, "actually, I probably could send a letter directly to the one whose labor dealt with protection from fire." Aero mumbled to himself. "best to do it after I get their name; he could start drafting their letter, though.

    "Mmm, that is a great point. There isn''t an active volcano near where I live, so I know who to invoke for forest fires and house fires. But something on the scale of a volcano?" tzilla tapped her chin, "I think calling on her is a good place to start. When we reach the village near the volcano, I''m sure they''ll know."

    "oh, they will definitely know," Inna stated. It''s going to be a long while for the story. Are you both aware of that?" the question was answered with a grimace from both of them. Zoltess and Zolts'' stories were not short stories, and you couldn''t skip over the details. The less you knew, the less effective it would be.

    "Hope it''s no more than a day long," Aero would have to take a break if it was longer than that. Putting that part of their plan out of mind for the time being, they decided to leave at the end of the week for a bit more training while they packed up cleaning with the lack of water.

    ''so much star damned mud,'' glade this isn''t my personal cart... man, I hope nothing went wrong with that.'' sighing, he put away his laundry and, after that, took a seat to watch the cloud roll by.

    finshied watching them, the young lord stood up and walked into the forest. He made little noise as he moved through the bushes and trees. Closing his eyes, he started to focus, letting his pride energy spread out like a wave.

    It bounced back against a few things, but nothing that was really worth attention besides a few people. One person drew his attention, pride over what he was supposed to let by. It also felt particularly dense, ''My lord, I don''t think you should guess about such a matter.''

    ''it''s an educated guess; I plan to test it.'' he refused to be arrogant and assumed he was correct on the first try. ''okay, time to test this out.'' focusing on his usual sectioned staff. Rearing his body back, he turned to focus on the direction of the target, sending out another wave and making sure they hadn''t moved too far.

    Once he was sure, he swung the chain around to build up momentum; once he had what he believed to be a sufficient amount, he separated the chain that connected the end section of the sectioned staff. Casting it to fly off in the general direction of his target.

    "need to practice that." sending out a wave and spread his awareness as far as it would go. he could tell he managed some kind of hit. Not a heavy one; from the faint feedback, he could feel down his construct.

    It only took a moment to reform the section and another to wind up again. "and the second!" he muttered to himself, seeing the section fly off with a little better aim. Striking true and harder than the first, "mmm. Well, that might be a problem; they were coming at him.