My Audio Books Chapter 785 Gg

Pef flew into town on scaly wings and hot air. The town was very impressed.

People stared and bowed, like a minor divinity was crossing the sky.

Soon, he saw the stone quarters and loitered for a while, waiting for the air to cool.

As he descended, his Nascent soul marked the auras of note, another gold one, a dozen white.

At 40 meters altitude, the glove stored the airship, and Pef fell to a perfect landing.

A muscled man with a Spirit rank and a huge bone hammer looked down as Pef extracted his face from the ground.

"Are you a midget of sorts?" he asked in a booming voice.

"No sir. Pef Xi, age 13." Pef answered while spitting gravel and cursing the glove.

"New in town, are you?" the hammer guy asked rhetorically. A crowd was forming at some distance, hoping for a smackdown.

"Just landed. Got any advice what house can I buy? A stone one if possible..."

"Hmm. For now, you'll stay with me. There's a water mage with her core shattered, you can buy her house after she dies. That witch takes a long time to die" the man explained as he turned and walked away, his hammer folding to disappear into his palm.

'I think I'm under house arrest' Pef muttered with a sigh.

'Keeping you out of trouble, perhaps. Get him to hit you though'

'I don't think that's going to be a problem'

"Hurry up midget!" the man yelled while waving the crowd away.

Pef ran after his new guardian, observing him for clues. Brown hair, black eyes, looked about thirty, which meant some 300. Nascent rank breastplate, made of bone and leather. White aura, and a storage ring on his hand. Plus a Spirit rank himself.

Okay, guy was a powerhouse, for this continent. Likely the town sheriff too.

They walked for a few minutes until they reached a walled off garden, guarded by a dozen men with bows, and another man with a white aura, a Core rank and a bone spear.

'Hmm. This must be the deputy. And the flunkies'

"Hey Chief, is this the snake man?" the deputy asked with some confusion.

"Yeah, a Xi youngling. They always fly around, you know..." the man replied with a hand wave.

The flunkies bowed with awe. The deputy nodded a bit uncertain.

As they passed the gate, Pef noticed huge training grounds, where hundreds of men Practiced skills, from riding to archery and fighting.

'It's a mini Legion!' the glove exclaimed with glee.

'No. It is the local chapter house for the Legion now. They just don't know yet' Pef mused, checking the auras for potential recruits. Only another white.

It seemed high-powered auras were still rare, even in this untapped world.

"These are the Lacrimosa Guardians. But you're too strong to train with them, Nascent rank I believe?" the Chief spoke softly, as Pef has stopped to stare.

"Yes sir. About half to Spirit rank" Pef admitted at once, turning towards his new boss.

"Think you can take a hit from me?" the man asked jokingly.

"From the hammer, sure. Maybe one soul strike as well..." the hero spoke unthinking.

He soon regretted it, as the hammer caught him in the chest, and blew him a hundred meters in a tangle of limbs. Pef picked himself up, coughing a bit, and dusted the new gravel from his hair.

"Good, good. You're durable, I like that. Now let's test the..." the Chief boomed from behind him.

Pef blacked out, again. Almost there, but not yet.

He woke up later, his Core leathers missing and instead dressed in a brown tunic of some vegetable matter. A woman with a kind face was gently wiping his face with a cold sponge.

"Ah, you've recovered already! It takes a week for the best Nascent guardians..."

"How long it took me?" Pef wondered with a blink.

"Maybe 6 hours? You're very strong, young man"

"Name's Pef, Pef Xi" he answered as he patted his chest. There was still a bruise there, but almost healed.

"Mia. And I think half the town knows by now who you are. You made quite an entrance. Face first, as they say" she joked with a wry smile.

"So, you're staying here too?" Pef inquired while checking his new room.

Kinda spartan, only bare stone walls, and a tiny wooden dresser in a corner. Plus the bed he already knew.

"Well... I'm Mia Quing" the woman explained a bit confused.

"Family?" Pef asked in a flash of inspiration, after noting the white aura.

"Smart too. Come, dad will want to check on you" the woman replied with a faint smile, and left the room on graceful steps.

A minute later, they reached a dinning hall, where the chief and deputy were wolfing down half a pig. The other half remained yet untouched, possibly for him.

"You two eat, then we talk" the boss ordered pointing at the roasted pig.

Amazingly, between the two of them, a hundred kilograms of delicious meat was barely enough.

'How can I eat this much?' Pef wondered patting his stomach. There wasn't that much room

in there, as even a quarter of a pig massed as much as Pef at this age.

'Magic beast. Your Core absorbs most of it' the glove replied with an artificial shrug.

'Oh, that's why the manual says to eat everything I can'

The glove didn't answer. The Manual was sacred. Of course, it was right.

"So, young Pef. Where are your parents? Why are you here, instead of Blue Xi?" Boss Quing asked after a long silence.

"Mom's dead. Dad has left at least 12 years ago, I don't remember him. He only left me the glove" Pef explained while holding up his magic glove.

"Ah, the fabled orange Xi glove. The wearer grows a hundred times faster, then dies foolishly battling an Emperor or something" The man replied with a head shake.

"Yea, I killed an Earth ranked beast soon after I formed my Core" the boy explained with a shamed voice.

"Not with your strength you didn't" the deputy intervened and got smacked by his boss, getting knocked out.

Mia glanced at the fainted body with a pained look.

"A trap of some kind, eh?" the Chief mused thoughtful, as he examined Pef like merchandise.

"Exactly sir. A deadly trap. Muscles won't help against stronger foes"

"How long you plan to stay here, in Lacrimosa?" he asked Pef with a long stare.

"Till my Spirit rank, sir. About 2 years, I guess"

The woman beside him coughed in surprise, but the boss was not impressed.

"You have anything of value? And not the flying skin." the chief asked while looking over the young hero with discerning eyes. Like appraising a horse, or something.

"I have metal items, sir. Mirror, cup, dagger. And some smith skills" Pef answered, placing some copper artifacts on the table.

"Yes, I've heard of Lady Lin's new hobby. So this is the fabled metal..." the Chief said with a frown, while examining the dagger with his soul.

Mia had confiscated the mirror, and was busy grooming herself in delight.

"Anything else?" The man demanded after failing to cut himself with the feeble copper dagger.

"Yes, in fact. Copper can be used as currency. We just need to establish a bank, where people can exchange copper bars and plates with rice bags. The city will flourish as miners and farmers compete to produce more, then smiths can appear to smelt copper, and thus more artifacts like mirrors and cups and water pipes..."

"Ah, the normal people you mean. But traders will need armed escorts, to reach far cities.

I see. You want to enlarge the Guardians, to the whole continent?" the Chief wondered, tilting his head curious.

"If I can find some Nascent or Spirit snakes, I could build huge airships, able to cross the continent in a month. And carry people and goods. Storage rings would make trade easier..."Pef argued with a distant look.

He imagined the sky full of thousands of zeppelins, on a planet in the neolithic. Well, copper age now, if barely.

"Hmpf. Good luck with that. I have one ring, and Oracle Ching has the other. Unless you become a Sky smith, there won't be more on the continent" the man snorted, and tapped his ring proudly.

"If I may, sir? Perhaps it can be copied?" Pef asked in a flash.

"Why not? All smiths have tried..." Chief Quing said with an amused voice, flinging the ring at his chest.

Pef was thrown a few meters til he crashed into the wall behind him, the ring embedded in his skin.

'Glove? Any scans?'

'Opening pocket dimensions requires enough qi energy to bend gravity. Same as unaided flight. You would need a Sky rank, Aspirant'

Pef studied the ring for a minute before hanging his head.

"I need a Sky rank" he admitted in shame.

"At least you didn't burst a vein trying to force it. Oracle Ching told me that ring is heavier than a mountain. Just, not in this world" the Guardian's leader said with some wonder.

"Oracle Ching is correct. I should visit him" Pef said with a smile.

"She is waiting for you, next week. After you fight in the Clans Tournament and win"

the man said with a crocked smile.

"Under 15 of something?" Pef asked with a smile.

"Under 25. None of them have their Core anyway"

"Oh. Okay then. Beating people up is easy" Pef proclaimed heroically.

"I know" The Spirit ranked Chief agreed, as he extracted his hammer from the ring.

Pef gulped, as he prepared to get beaten.

Time flew by, as Pef slowly organized the bank, and got to meet the local clans. He won the tournament with ease, and gained some fame.

His soul grew even stronger, and soon he stopped fainting from one soul strike.

Oracle Ching was almost 600 years old, and her time was soon to end, despite her golden aura.

Then one day, as he was having tea with the old sage, she dropped her cup in shock.

"Firestorm and iceberg" she muttered while her hands flailed about. She fainted a few seconds later, under the strain of her vision.

'Our target has died. We need to extract the arrow' the glove demanded in a forceful tone.

'Oh. That's great!'

'Scanning for suitable targets in range. Sky ranked target located 1200 kilometers south-east, on top a floating ice island. Numerous Earth targets around as well'

Pef rushed out, guided by the glove, and sped towards his new house.

He had already bought the house with a precious copper cup, now he just needed to intercept the body before it was burned.

As he stormed in, a familiar scene was revealed. A group of locals were dragging the dead woman out, no doubt attempting a grave robbery.

"Drop the body now and leave my house!" he yelled with a qi infused voice.

"It's the Xi boy..." one of the men exclaimed and ran off.

"I'm not dying for some dead witch body!" another one cried and ran away.

However, the rest drew clubs and daggers, preparing to defend the precious loot.

'Incoming, wait for now, Aspirant' the glove whispered as Pef drew his elbow back.

A few seconds later, Chief Quing skidded to a stop next to Pef.

"Robbers? In my town?" the man boomed as his hammer spun out of the ring and into his hand.

The men dropped to their knees in defeat. They might have chanced something with a small boy, but the Guardian was known to have massacred thousands of bandits by himself.

"Mercy great sage!" a few of them cried, already trembling.

"Who paid you to steal the body?" Pef asked in a soft voice.

"Ah, some merchant, at the Agate Wine tavern..." a mousy fellow confessed as his urine dripped on the ground.

"Stay here boy. This is a death cult, not some regular thieves" the Chief demanded as he grabbed the traitor and sped away.

Pef looked after the afterimages left behind by the speeding Guardian.

A second later, a club hit the back of head with a bonky sound.

Pef turned around and smiled. "You will die last" he told the assailant who was staring at his broken club in amazement.

A minute later, the new sapphire was extracted, and Pef was piling up wood for a pyre, by emptying his glove compartment.

A dozen bodies were thrown on top, including the poor woman with a shattered core.

By the time the Chief returned, he could only wring the necks of his prisoners and throw them atop of the huge pyre.

"You move fast boy. I like that" The Guardian commented watching the flames.

"You're still much faster Chief. I have yet to reach you."

"And you still have a big mouth, Pef. Bah. I need to beat up someone!" Chief Quing exclaimed, with a certain target in mind.

"Not today Chief. I need to throw this far at sea, or the city will burn in a firestorm. That's what the old Oracle said" Pef exclaimed holding the bloody sapphire up to see.

"Gods. This death cult must have some... You go fly away then, my boy. Try not to die yet, my girl likes you." he muttered with a heavy sigh, then turned to leave.

Pef stared at his large back, carrying the city on his shoulders.

'A brave man, Guardian Quing. But only a leaf in the wind, against a god.' The glove mused with some wisdom.

'Let's go catch a fish, and then find our target, clock is ticking.' Pef answered, focused on his next rank.

'You haven't invented the clock yet, Aspirant.'

'We'll need zinc to make brass. Then I can build a clock' Pef said with a hand wave, while more Guardians arrived to watch the pyre.

"Make sure the fire doesn't spread." Pef asked the deputy.

"Yes sir. That's part of the job." the man replied with a bit more respect.

He got beat up a few times, but now the pecking order was clear.

Pef smiled sad and ran off, heading for the sea.

One fish later, and the airship rose in sky, braving the sea and all the monsters below.

Days flew by, and the weather got worse and colder.

The serpent ship creaked and groaned under the strong winds, while Pef had to stay awake and pilot manually, changing altitudes for favorable winds.

On the eighth day, a large ice shelf was visible on the horizon, and the temperature dropped below zero.

'Our target is that wounded Ice King Morse. Get ready to throw the fish bait!' the glove yelled in his mind.

'Okay, just say...'

'Now!'

Pef launched the big tuna like a dart, aiming for the enormous Morse below. Its tusks were 10 meters tall, and Pef wondered what had been brave enough to fight it in melee.

Then, he banked the airship, aiming for opposing winds a thousand meter higher.

'We have a problem...'

'What?'

'The Morse is too weak to eat the fish...'

'Oh, we can't escape the detonation radius now...' Pef realized with a start.

'Land and recover the fish. And the tusks.'

'But, the nuke?' Pef asked.

'Just throw it in the ocean. There's a dozen Earth ranks just under the ice'

And such, Pef got to kill his first Sky rank, in melee.

Wasn't much of a fight, as he simply dug himself through the eye of the immobile beast, and into the brain. It was a bit of hard work, since even the eye was very durable.

After that he stored the whole body too, as Sky ranked materials were unheard-of, on his continent.

Also, a hundred tons of ice, which was precious too, for different reasons.

The Legion method only pushed him into the Spirit rank, and half to Earth rank, as it wasn't much of a fight, simply ending a dying beast.

The next day, the iceberg blew up in a spectacular explosion, forming a pillar of water and ice kilometers high.

His rank grew again, almost to the peak of Spirit rank.

As the airship headed back to Lacrimosa, Pef realized he was probably the strongest man on the continent already, and he was only 14.

Pef chose to land into the sea this time, and avoid more embarrassing landings.

That cursed glove kept disrupting his timing, trying to 'kill' him 800 more times.

As he sunk to the bottom, he noticed water moved too easy around him.

'Could it be? I have water bending?'

'Very common ability on this continent. At high levels can be versatile. Healing and defense mostly'

'Or high pressure water jets?' Pef asked hopeful.

'Or that, if you reach Sky rank, and Practice compressing space for decades.' the glove allowed in a flat tone.

'I need to figure out how to breathe underwater'

'Just push your Spirit out, and form a barrier. There will be air inside'

Pef listened and obeyed, sitting down on sand and watching the sea flow around him like in an aquarium. The beautiful colored fish and the mesmerizing sun rays filtering through the waves were so captivating. Half an hour later, he fainted.

The glove sighed inward and waited for the Guardian to rescue them.

It was only 50 meters to the shore, and his user managed to drown. Almost.

The kid wasn't clever enough, ignoring monoxide accumulation in an enclosed space.

Did they teach that in the neolithic? The glove didn't know.

Pef woke up later, being slapped by a huge palm.

"Oi, don't die on me now, you hear me?" Chief yelled as he slapped him again.

"I'm awake boss."

"I said don't die on me!" the Guardian insisted and slapped him again.

Pef sighed and caught the next slap, resisting the man's force with equal force.

"Dear gods, Spirit rank already?"

"Yes boss. I killed a Sky rank" Pef said weakly.

"Get out of here!" the man exclaimed in disbelief.

"I brought back the body..."

"Oh. Well done then. You lucky bastard!" He exclaimed in genuine praise.

"I tried testing water bending, but I blacked out" Pef mumbled as he rose from the sand and coughed out his lungs.

"I know that. The Oracle told me where to find you"

"Okay then. I'll head home now..." Pef said tiredly and stumbled a little.

"There's a midget druid living in your house now..."

"That's fine. We're old friends" Pef muttered as he dragged himself in a shamble of a walk.

"Of course the midget has midget friends...why did Mia think she has a chance..."

"I like Mia too. But she is only a Core. Can't have a weak wife among my..." Pef explained as he fell asleep.

The Guardian stared at the reckless boy and cried inside. Who tries water magic out in the sea? Even a bucket of water was hard to move...

The man picked up the drowned pup and ran towards his house.

At least Mia was set. A Xi husband was worth more than all the town had and ever had.

Even half dead the boy was stronger than he was.

Soon he'll have to call him boss. He idly wondered what kind of Sky beast the boy had killed. A small one no doubt, but perhaps he could get a bone too.

Pef woke up in his bed, with a green haired woman staring at him from above.

"Hey there..." he said at a loss for words.

A slow punch came down on his face. He let it hit.

"Oww! Your face is even harder! What is wrong with you?" the druid cried nursing a bleeding fist.

"Don't punch a Spirit rank, green girl. You'll only hurt yourself." our hero said with a smirk.

"What? It hasn't been 3 years yet! Barely two years, at most..."

"In two years, I'll be Earth rank" Pef explained gently, while patting the wondrous green hair. It felt like corn silk, somehow.

'Scanning genome. Allele sigma/21104019 detected, Veridian Legion, tier 7, presumed extinct'

'Oh, another Legion?'

'Long ago, a group of eco-friendly gods made a gardening Legion. They got eaten soon after by a Tier 8 Abomination.'

'And that Tier 8?'

'Presumed pacified by our General. No records exist though.'

'What is a pacified target?'

'Depends on the user, generally include mind wipe, behavior control, amnesia, catatonia or personality rewrite'

'Got it. Not so dangerous or under our control'

'Exactly, sir. Also monoxide poisoning is a danger in closed spaces.'

'Right. Like an air bubble' Pef said with an inner sigh. Physics and magic shouldn't mix.

"Pef, I'm hungry. And how will you increase my rank?" the guest complained aloud.

"Okay. Food, sounds nice. I'll cook something. And for your rank, well you have to stop getting younger."

"What? I'll get old and die!" she exclaimed outraged.

"You can start again when you look around 20. But your soul needs a mature body for an anchor."

"Oh. I'll grow boobs and stuff. Gross" the girl said with a disgusted face.

"They'll be fine. Kids need them, so they can feed, you know?"

"Oh. Kids...you mean like...oh. Doesn't it hurt?" she wondered out loud.

Our hero sighed. How would he know?

Pef turned the meat on the other side, smelling the amazing scents. He will need to give her Legion maize though, she seemed to have plenty deficiencies.

"Not at all. It's sort of the best pleasure you can get on this world. Even better than food." Pef replied after flipping a mental coin. Making babies was supposed to be fun.

"Really?" The young woman mused as she nibbled on grilled tuna.

Pef sighed and wolfed his meal in silence. Neolithic women were strange.

As evening came, the green girl laid comfortably in Pef's bed and closed her eyes.

'How do I spike someone?'

'Point and shoot. It works by itself' the smug glove answered with a shrug.

Pef made a finger pistol and fired.

Twin spikes, white and silver shot and collided with the Nascent soul of his home invader. She didn't wake up.

Pef made a small pile of hay and laid the tiny woman on it.

No point wasting space on his bed. Not yet anyway. She still had years to grow.

The next day, Pef went to thank the Oracle for his life.

"Thanks, Aunt Ching. I almost drowned" Pef said with a small bow.

"Nonsense. That glove is a better Oracle than me. It's heavier than our planet and more powerful than a god." The old woman snorted as she poured tea for both of them.

"Really?" Pef wondered as he lifted his fist and stared at the old leather glove.

"Ask it what leather it is made of" the old Oracle demanded in a tired voice.

'Well? Say it?' Pef demanded of his glove.

'Scanning database. Information missing. Extrapolating. Tier 8 entity. Possibly our General's own skin'

'Huh. She would regenerate a patch of skin in milliseconds or such...' Pef mused with his eyes closed.

'Much faster. Even Tier 5s can regenerate completely in less than a second'

'And she makes a billion of gloves and guns every day'

'Veritas guns...possibly. No information is recorded'

'Yet they posses a Tier 8 attributes. Words of Power, like Power Word Kill or Let there be light!'

'As you say sir. I'd be nice if it was true. I would be a Hand of God' the glove agreed.

Pef drank his tea in silence, considering what the poor Goddess who lead the Legion must go through every day, flaying herself to save untold trillions.

A God Smith, using her own flesh to craft for her Legion. No wonder she deleted all the records. The knives were possibly her fingernails, ripped out and made into blades.

"It's most likely a god's flayed skin" Pef said after a long silence.

"Let's visit my garden, Quing wants to see the Sky beast" the Oracle spoke softly and walked slowly towards the back garden.

'This will be fun' Pef thought to himself.

As expected, the Chief and his daughter were already waiting in the garden.

Pef looked around for enough room, then unfolded the Ice King Morse over the flowers.

The icy smell of dead beast filled the garden.

"That's not a small beast!" Mia yelled in half panic trying to measure the Beast with her eyes, and failing.

"Haha! Amazing catch, my boy." the Guardian chief laughed in unrestrained glee.

Pef shrugged and stored the Morse into the glove again.

"I got lucky." he explained with a straight face.

"You'll get even luckier if you visit smith Lin now. She'll jump your bones for free." the Oracle said in a fake whisper.

Pef nodded absently. That was the plan anyway. He wanted Lady Lin to reach Earth rank as soon as possible.

"Well then. I am satisfied. You may kiss the bride!" The Chief proclaimed and gently pushing Mia towards him.

Pef looked at the young(ish) woman for confirmation. Mia was over 100 years old anyway, but seemed quite willing.

Soon they embraced and kissed, as the nearby Spirit ranks cheered.

"I'll move my things to your house then, husband" Mia whispered in his hair. She was still a head taller than Pef, for now.

"Okay. But I'll be away to smith Lin till I gain my own Earth rank. You should wait till I come back"

"Hmpf. At least give me a week to know you." Mia demanded with a petulant voice.

"We already know each other, for a year. We even lived in the same house." Pef said in a flat tone.

"But not like...you're too young, aren't you?" she realized after a minute.

"That too. Some things are still growing." Pef muttered in shame.

"I will try to reach my Nascent soul in two years. But..." Mia complained with her head hung.

"You're a Xi now. Come to the house for tonight, you'll receive my cultivation method."

"Really?"

"Yes. We are married, aren't we?" Pef asked rhetorically.

"Oh. That's great!"

"It will hurt you, quite badly." Pef explained with a sad voice.

"I don't care if it hurts. I want it!" Mia yelled out loud, making her father look strangely at them.

And so, the new couple made their way to Pef's house, and had a small ceremony involving dancing and kissing.

Then Pef took off his glove and wrapped it around the recruit's hand.

A minute later, the Legion had two comrades in this universe, although only recruits.

"That didn't hurt at all" Mia observed with surprise.

"Well, I don't want Aria to wake from your screams. Go home, prepare yourself for a month of pain, along with a maid to care for you. And keep in mind, I lasted a year and a half. A month should be bearable"

"Oh, your tiny green girlfriend?" Mia asked, pointing at the sleeping midget.

"She's 200 years old. Just pretends to be a kid, for free food"

"Oh, that's kinda clever" Mia acknowledged with a smile.

"She'll grow back in two years or so. Suppressing the age is not same thing as real childhood"

"I see. More wives..." She realized with some jealousy.

"Yes, many more. Although Aria is not certain yet. Her bloodline is peculiar" Pef admitted, with a hand wave.

"You don't get to call other bloodlines peculiar, mister Xi"

"Haha! That's also true. Now go. We'll meet again, dear wife" Pef replied with a poke to the airbags. No air leaked out, so she'll do fine.

Mia kissed him again, then turned around with her face red. She then took off at speed, a spring in her steps.

Pef stared after the recruit, with some pain in his heart. His wife will suffer horribly for a month, but he didn't have a choice. The Legion's manual demanded it.

Next day, Pef swiped everything in the house into the glove, except Aria, whom he picked under his arm.

Then he jogged to say goodbye to the Chief and then the Oracle. She looked frail and tired, and had a defeated look on her face.

"I will probably be dead when you return" Aunt Ching said in a calm voice.

"Hmm. In 6 months, if you don't change your ways" Pef replied with a pointed look at her eyes.

"Your god glove, can it give me more years?" the Oracle wondered in a smaller voice.

"The Xi method. It's painful and bloody. But you'd be an Emperor in a decade."

"I see. Working for a god who skins himself." the old woman mused with her eyes closed.

"The General crafts pieces of her flesh, into artifacts for her clan. So they can fight other evil gods, and free billions from Evil Gods that burn people and cities for souls!" the young man answered with bright eyes.

"That's your God's name? General? Not something like First Light above the Heavens ?" she wondered, a bit confused.

"Loose Divinity recruits barely qualify for her armies, Oracle. Most of her Soldiers are Perfect Divinities or higher. Billions of them" Pef explained, not even bothering to embellish.

"What use I am then? A mere Spirit rank?" the old lady asked rhetorically.

"I am also a mere Spirit, Aunt Ching. But you and Lady Lin, you could be Captains. Elder Gods with a golden aura. Able to travel between universes."

"And all I have to do, is what?" the Oracle asked a bit doubtful.

"Wear the glove, and fight evil." Pef replied in a flat tone.

"That's a fair deal...is it dangerous?"

"A billion times less than if don't take the glove" Pef said with a smile.

"Haha. Good answer, dear boy. I am dead anyway, so why not risk it, right?" the old Oracle asked with a pained voice.

"Come with me, Aunt Ching. You will need medication and special meals to resist the pain."

"I want a Sky sword too" the old woman demanded like her life depended on it.

"Sure, I have plenty bones and a good smith waiting" Pef answered with a kind smile.

"Okay, call your ship already, young man. Dear gods, you're going to make me fight snakes aren't you..." the woman grumbled as she picked some things into her storage ring.

Pef walked out into the garden, and munched on a piece of ice, with green haired Aria under his arm.

"Stop pretending or I'll pour ice on your back" Pef whispered in her hair.

"But spying is much more interesting like this..." the druid complained shamelessly.

"Well, I need my hands free, to fly the ship."

"Oh, that's a good reason, actually. You can put me down."

"Yes. And you can link me with your goddess. The Veridian Legion was our ally. The Veritas Legion''s ally." Pef demanded in a harsher tone.

"Oh, you know about that..." Aria realized with a surprised blink.

"This planet barely has copper. And you spoke of nukes, Miss Aria Verdi." he explained politely.

The girl closed her eyes, calling her boss. A minute later she replied with a grimace.

"She says, she needs to see a Monarch ranked Soldier with a Veritas sword. It's too risky otherwise." the girl explained with wide eyes.

"We shall see. Sovereign might be enough. Then I can kill the worm at a moments notice."

"You're crazy. The Rock worm is a Saint..."

"I've killed a Sky beast already. Without a God killer weapon."

"Y-you monster! More animals have to suffer for your crazy plans?"

"So that innocent kids can live? Yes. Always."

"Are you two done yet? An older voice asked from behind.

Pef summoned the airship and jumped on the raft with both women. Arguing would take too long.

A minute later, the stone stove got a copper tray upgrade, and the airship lifted high above the city.

"You ruined a precious metal tray, for a stove?" Aunt Ching wondered as Pef kept fueling the stove with more wood.

"Yes. Better heat emission, thus more lift. We're less likely to crash that way"

"Oh. Never mind then, my life is important too" the woman said with a wry smile.

A few hours later, they began descending towards the Lin airport.

Five more airships were parked and one was speeding away.

Pef dropped a rope, and some men below pulled them to a stop.

"Go down, I'll store my ship, who knows what parking tickets cost here" Pef urged the women.

"Do you understand him?" Aria asked the other woman, a bit confused.

"Just ignore the strange words, his mind communes with a god, and is slightly off center" the Oracle replied in a serious tone, as she jumped out the ship.

"B-but...that's... I'll jump as well" the tiny woman stuttered and jumped, landing face first.

'Eject!' Pef commanded, landing next to Aria and plucking her out of the ground. Her face was imprinted with green grass and made him laugh.

"Owww. My face hurts! The ground is too hard!" the young woman complained and stomped her foot.

"People slide down on the rope you know...it's safer" a local airport attendant advised the tiny menace.

"I knew that! I just wanted to jump, and see if I can fly..."

"Okay little lady, calm down. Still, you'll have to pay a copper piece for assisted landing..."

"That's robbery! I can buy a house, a wooden house with a piece of copper!" Aria yelled, causing a scene.

Pef sighed and paid the attendant. First class flying will always be expensive, no matter which planet.

"How much it costs to park here?" he asked pointing at a random airship.

"A copper piece, per day. If you can afford a ship, you afford to park"

Pef sighed and went to find the Spirit smith, the two ladies following him and looking around.

There was trade and commerce here, plus dozens of copper smiths and woodcutters and potters and stonemasons, all haggling and crafting, animals carrying heavy loads of ore.

In a year, the tiny town had become an industrial city, with an airport as well.

'You did good work, Aspirant. We might get off this planet in 5000 years' the glove said after scanning nearby technologies.

'Much sooner, my glove. I won't let wars and plagues ravage the land'

'Oh. Right. About 1000 years then. Just on schedule, I'd say'

'Anyway, let's see how fast I can reach Earth rank'

"Pef! You're back?" Lin exclaimed as she soul-searched him.

"I got some nice bones..."

"Earth rank bones? Yay, you can have my babies!" Lin erupted as she hugged and kissed his face.

"Ah, about that. I killed a Sky rank beast, and brought its body..." the young hero boasted grandly.

"W-what? Not joking, are you? Don't play with a delicate smith's heart!"

"No, dear lady. Let's go in the back garden...and voila! Ice King Morse!" Pef proclaimed unveiled the prize.

Lin did a tour around the mauled beast, examining it with competent eyes. "Poor, poor baby...why did you maul it so bad? Half the skin and tendons are ruined, the legs are broken..."

"Errr. The tusks are intact..." Pef offered as an apology. He couldn't say he found the Morse like this, could he?

"Hmpf. Okay. For your first Sky rank it's not so bad. At least you didn't incinerate it..."

"I can heal the skin back, if you want..." Aria offered with a small voice.

"Oh. Oracle Ching, and whatever you are...welcome to my town" Lin offered a bit late.

"... Druid Aria Verdi" the midget replied in a reserved voice.

"Yes...heal it already! While there some inner qi left, in the meat!" The smith exclaimed in desperation.

Pef promised to try a clean kill next time. He doubted it would be much cleaner though.

While Aria lazed around, mostly sleeping off soul attacks, the Oracle was screaming, in a deep cellar filled with ice.

Pef visited twice a day, feeding her Legion maize and aspirin and penicillin, trying to keep her feeble body alive, during the second Awakening.

Her fever remained manageable with the ice and the medicine, but her body was ravaged by old age. It was a harsh month, for both Pef and Aunt Ching.

'What do you think, my orange glove. Can she make it?'

'Yes. I'd advise you to continue two more months. Then she'd be able to fight a tier 1 too'

'Really? With only 3 months of pain?' he wondered a bit amazed.

'She has the golden aura, Aspirant. Their kind are always five times stronger.' the glove explained in a flat tone.

'Oh. Okay then. She won't like it though...' Pef said while considering some things.

'And your smith lady too. She can resist one year, I think. Her body is very sturdy already.'

'You're experimenting with my friends, glove.' Pef said with an inner growl.

'I am forging Soldiers, Aspirant. There will be no revivals if you fail.'

Pef sighed and fed another cup of tea to Aunt Ching. The woman was crying and sweating, struggling to endure the constant pain.

"I am dying, aren't I?" the old woman asked in defeat.

"Nah. I did this for a year and a half, and I was barely 7 years old. It's not so bad. Now I wish I continued it for 3 years. I'd have been a Sky rank by now." Pef whispered in her white hair.

"You're insane? I can barely speak from all the screaming." Ching muttered in a raspy voice, and sipped the tea.

"I never screamed though. I only cried, because my mom was crying. It broke my heart."

he said softly while patting her hair.

A strange golden light lit up in Aunt's Ching eyes, as she lifted her head. "Tell Lin to visit me from now onward. I want a year, but not with you."

Pef nodded and left. Golden Auras were scary indeed.

Time flew by, as Aria grew older in appearance, and Pef trained his qi by smithing Sky bones.

Each large Sky bone took a month to mold and shape, instead of hours.

As the year passed, Pef's qi channels expanded again, and he felt the earth. The Earth rank.

Molding the bones became a bit faster and easier.

Lady Lin was close to the peak Spirit too, and Pef decided to marry her and induct the smith in the Legion, as soon as Aunt Ching was done.

He was forging a pair of shin guards when a hand fell on his shoulder.

"I'm a bit busy..." he spoke in deep focus.

"Take a break, young man!" A strange voice spoke next to his ear.

Pef withdrew his qi essence and turned. An unknown woman stared at him with cold eyes.

Maybe 30 years old, and looking like a veteran. Otherwise, very pretty and well-built.

"Errr. Are you looking for someone, my lady?" he asked confused.

The woman flared her qi, and projected a powerful Earth ranked spike at his soul. A golden spike.

"Aunt Ching?" Pef asked in wonder, as he felt half his soul had depleted.

"You're still stronger, young man. About 50 percent. I knew you didn't lie, but I had to be sure."

"You got better!" Pef exclaimed and rushed to hug his dear Oracle.

"Moron, don't hug me! I suffered a hundred years of hell..." she muttered in his neck.

"Auntie. You crossed into Earth rank! You will never die now!" Pef replied with more joy, hugging her harder.

The woman was flabbergasted and just endured the unwelcome hug. The bad days had passed indeed.

'Now she's worthy of the Legion, Aspirant. Don't lose her!'

'I'm never letting her go.' Pef promised in with a sincere vow.

A few minutes passed in silence. The oracle was getting a bit uncomfortable, and yet strangely warm.

"Had enough? Maybe you want to say something?" Lady Ching asked rhetorically.

"Ah. Yes. Lady Lin will need a year too. You think you can help her?" Pef asked without letting go. He kinda liked the hug, anyway.

"I can break your scrawny arms, you know..." Ching warned him in a more relaxed voice.

"I'm not letting go. My dear Auntie...you're perfect!" Pef exclaimed, burying himself deeper into her chest.

The woman sighed and closed her eyes. You just couldn't fault the crazy boy.

"Okay. It works! Your painful, excruciatingly stupid painful method works. It also hurts too much!" she yelled in anger.

"I know! I told you. A year and a half. I died a million times inside. But having someone you care about cry, is even worse. So please, when Lin suffers, don't cry Auntie Ching."

"And you can't do it, because you love her. And you will cry..." the oracle said with a pained breath.

"Yeah. I do." Pef sobbed in her blouse.

"Come, let's take a walk. I want to see what Smithtown looks like, now." Aunt Ching demanded gently.

Pef rose his eyes, and wiped his tears. Then he took her hand and lead the woman into the town.

The airport had a dozen airships now, and stone houses had appeared. Hundreds of stone houses.

Smith Lin had used vertebrae and other useless bones to make picks and spikes and saws, and thus stone could be cut with ease, by Sky ranked tools.

Those bones were harder than titanium and barely abraded on stone.

A few carts with 6 big wooden wheels had also appeared, pulled by large pigs or cows.

A guard post of Guardians patrolled the town, commanded by deputy Xan and his aide, assistant deputy Shin.

The medical clinic, for injured workers and other sick people. Aria sometimes worked there a few hours, healing the worse wounds.

A couple of cantinas and worker barracks. And a hundred smiths. Working copper to fuel the new trade.

"You did all this, haven't you, Pef?" the Earth ranked oracle asked in a daze. The town had doubled in size and prosperity while she endured the Awakening.

"I had a few ideas. People liked them. They live better now." he answered with a shoulder shrug.

"And work much harder. Longer hours, to gain more copper bits."

"There are a hundred metals, dear Aunt. We have just started." Pef explained with a smile.

After a long walk around the town, they came back to find Aria begging for food.

"Hello, pretty girl!" Pef said with a smile.

"Hmpf. You're lucky I'm hungry, or you wouldn't be worth talking to" the teenage looking girl proclaimed out loud. She was over 200 years old and looked just 15 or maybe 16.

Pef drew his qi and measured her soul strength. Peak Nascent rank.

She just needed a fully grown body. Maybe another year, for her hormones to balance out?

"Give me a hug, and you can eat boiled lobster." he demanded, opening his arms wide.

"It's not fair! Boys are so yucky. But lobsters...owww. I want lobsters!"

Pef smiled gently and waited. Hunger always wins.

"I'll go talk to Lin" Aunt Ching said as the silence grew too long. She walked off, not looking back.

"Who was that? You got a new wife, scoundrel!" Aria chided our hero in a strangely climbing tone.

"That's Aunt Ching. We came here together, remember?" Pef replied with a wry smile.

"What? No way. She was old and dying. I could sense it!" Aria exclaimed outraged.

"And now she's not. I think she's fabulous."

"Must be someone else. People don't just get younger." Aria proclaimed, a bit hypocritically. She herself used a similar method.

"Whatever. I'm going to cook some lobsters. But it seems you're not hungry..." Pef said in a careless voice, and turned to leave.

"Y-you evil monster. There. A short hug!" Aria said with a disgusted tone, and offering a millisecond of hug.

"Great. Means I only need to give you a short lobster foot." Pef joked a bit.

"Ahhhh. How long?"

"How hungry are you?" Pef asked curious.

"Very!" the druid answered at once.

"Then a very long hug..." he explained with a smile.

In the end, Aria had to concede and offer a 10 minutes long hug. She was very hungry.