"Now all I have to do is meditate and wait," Aeron said.
The initial core formation was already finished. There was a big difference between human and beast cores, humans and their cores were a separate entity, thus, humans would still disappear after death, leaving nothing behind. The other races in Gaia were just like beasts and had cores in connection with their lives.
"Hmm Gerard should've already received my message days ago, did something happen?" Aeron murmured.
Gerard should've received the message 2 days after Aeron's release of the notification bird, it would probably take 2-3 days for Gerard to reply, but a week had already come and gone, yet no reply has been sent, none that Aeron knew. Aeron didn't have any information regarding the happenings outside of the Endless Forest so he didn't want to go out before he broke through level 6.
"Speaking of breaking through, I wonder how Ursa is doing." Aeron suddenly remembered.
The big bear was currently undergoing its evolution inside the pet space. Aeron closed his eyes to look inside, the white fireball was now a swirling ball of fire constantly absorbing mana. He went and found the pet space before peeking inside, Aeron was surprised when he saw the current Ursa, he had shrunk to at most 4 meters tall, he was curled up in a fetal position but his changes were drastic.
"Is Ursa speeding up its evolution?" Aeron asked himself.
He hadn't sent Ursa any instruction on whether it should speed up his evolution since Aeron didn't want him to experience the pain Arthur experienced, which almost tore Arthur's soul up. Aeron was actually right, that Ursa was speeding up his evolution, although he was currently evolving into a High-Grade Beast, he could still feel the changes of his master through their soul connection, and from what Ursa gathered, his master seemed to be stressed. As Ursa developed more into his desired form, his intelligence also enhanced further, which made Ursa understand that the best way for him to help was to get stronger, faster.
Aeron didn't stay for long as he didn't want to disturb Ursa, he had already placed him on the far side of the pet space, so he wouldn't get disturbed when Aeron unsummoned his other pets. It seemed like his timing was just right, when he truly levels up to 6, then he would have a pet evolving to a High-Grade Beast, which would sublimate his soul again and put him on the level of a High-Grade Beast's soul.
"Master, the woman seems to be waking up," Arthur suddenly said.
Arthur had been training his control over his metal blades when he noticed movement from the woman's hands. He observed her for a bit before notifying Aeron.
"I'm almost level 6 and now she wakes up," Aeron said in frustration.
Although he wanted the woman to wake up and recover, it would have been more convenient if she did so after he leveled up, that way he didn't need to do anything drastic, like sending Arthur and the monkeys away.
"She is waking up master, but she is still very weak, it might take a bit longer before she fully recovers," Arthur added.
He had checked before he reported to Aeron, it was solely the woman's will power that she was able to wake up with such severe injuries.
"It'll probably take me 2 more days before I fully level up, Arthur, bring the other monkeys and have them patrol the territory, but keep close," said Aeron.
He didn't know who the woman was, although there was only a small chance for her to be an enemy, she was still undoubtedly stronger than Aeron, and was probably stronger than Arthur. Worst came to worst, Aeron could just summon Arthur back to help him escape.
"Let Richie, Akila, and Claude stay," added Aeron.
He was, after all, a Tamer, even if his suspicion were answered, and the woman was not hostile towards him, or if she were the person the Governor had tasked him about, he would still not reveal Arthur to her, maybe he could reveal Agila if needed, but until then, the three should suffice.
"Yes master," Arthur nodded.
Only Richie, Claude, and Akila remained, Agila was unsummoned by Aeron as she was not as free to roam in the Endless Forest. Terra and the turtles were also placed inside a basket, Aeron couldn't have them roam around the base without the monkeys observing them. Aeron moved towards the unconscious woman, throughout his time of making the pseudo-core, he was left unaware
+of the woman's current situation.
"…." Aeron was left speechless.
The woman who was supposed to be disfigured had regrown her hair, her face was devoid of scars which showed her fair countenance, although this world had a higher beauty standard, as most woman Aeron had seen were beautiful, the woman in front of him was a level higher, her closed eyes started to move, Aeron could feel their struggle to open as her lips quivered. Her hands which were now devoid of wounds shivered.
Her eyes opened up as she stared to the sky which was obstructed by tree's branches with the leaves screening the sun's rays dispersing into a green hue, still, the small amount of light made her squint. She was unconscious for a long amount of time, so her reaction to the lights was expected. She blinked her eyes to readjust herself, still, she looked confused, she looked around and saw Aeron looking at her.
"Uhm hello?" Aeron greeted awkwardly.
True, he was surprised after seeing her uninjured face, especially now that her head wasn't devoid of any hair, it was only when she looked at him that he woke up from his stupor.
"What happened? Where am I?" The woman asked guardedly.
She cupped her body after she sat up, trying to find something, her actions weren't quick and seemed sluggish.
"Uhm.. how about you wear those clothes first," Aeron said.
When Aeron saw her sit up, he quickly looked away as he pointed at the clothes folded beside her. It took her a moment before she realized she was only covered by a beast's hide, even worse the hide slipped down as she sat up. She quickly wore her clothes, before looking around for something else. When Aeron saw this, he remembered the grey cloak and the piece of fruit, still, he needed to explain first before that.
"My name is Aeron, I don't know what happened to you, but I found you inside a Vine Snake's belly," Aeron explained.
This was the best he could say right now, the woman still looked confused so he waited for the idea to sink into her. She looked stunned after she heard Aeron explain, seemingly remembering what happened to her.
"Sorry, no, thanks for saving me," the woman replied.
Feeling embarrassed, the woman lowered her head. That was what Aeron thought as he waited for the woman to calm herself.
"It's fine, I know you're still confused, Richie, bring me some fruits," Aeron replied while calling Richie.
He replied after judging that the woman had recovered from being embarrassed, it was almost noon, so Aeron thought it'd be better to talk after the woman ate and adjusted herself more, this way, he wouldn't be speaking with a confused person. Truth be told, Aeron wasn't comfortable speaking with her, not because she was beautiful, but judging by her face, she looked as old as his mother, of course, Aeron couldn't judge with just that as his mother looked like she was still in her mid-twenties, but Aeron at this point in time was still 17.
Being raised in a world where it was expected to respect those older than him, made Aeron feel uncomfortable, of course, mentally, Aeron was much older, but he didn't want to seem disrespectful or full of himself by acting like there was no seniority between them. Still, this was the best he could do as of the moment. Lost in his own thoughts, Aeron didn't notice the woman staring at him in contemplation. After the meal, the woman stood up and introduced herself first.
"Sorry about earlier, my name is Lina Azrhail, I was searching for something inside the Endless Forest and was pursued by both beasts and a woman, the last thing I remembered was being eaten by something when I was almost unconscious from all my injuries," Lina explained.
"Azrhail? If you don't mind me asking, are you the daughter of Governor Arius?" Aeron asked.
Azrhail was the family name of Governor Arius, the Governor of Isa, if she confirmed her identity, then he was really lucky to have met her, and even saved her. Lina looked at Aeron in surprise when she heard his question, it was very unlikely for her to meet someone like him in the Endless Forest.
"Yes I am, may I ask how you guessed who I was?" Lina replied.
She seemed a bit too shocked when he asked her if she was the Governor's daughter, but since she admitted she was, then Aeron had to explain why he knew of her.
"Well, first off, my name is Aeron Ironbull, I've been training near the Endless Forest for a year and decided to enter the Endless Forest for further training." Aeron introduced himself again. He was expecting her to realize something, but it was probably because she just woke up that she didn't.
"The Governor asked me to escort you out of the Endless Forest before I left the City of Isa," Aeron added.
Aeron was actually still wondering why it was him that was chosen to do the task, after all, he was but a level 1 Tamer at the time, even if he had geniuses as his parents, it was still not a reason to be confident about him, especially after he chose the Tamer Profession. He even entertained the notion that other more competent people were also tasked with her escort, which was very likely, or maybe the Governor was just making friends with his parents.
"Father asked you to escort me?" Lina replied.
Aeron felt something was off with her reaction, but it might just be because she just woke up. As if confirming his suspicions, Lina's legs suddenly buckled as she started to fall down. Aeron quickly caught her before he sat her down.
"Are you fine?" Aeron asked.
It really was as Arthur said, her body was still unwell, it was only her willpower that made her wake up from her coma earlier.
"I'm fine, maybe I should rest for a bit, let's talk later," Lina said.
Aeron noticed that she was breathing raggedly, all her actions seemed to have taken a toll on her which was a testament to her current condition.
"Alright, Richie, go bring me 2 wolf hides," Aeron ordered.
Aeron had luckily acquired 5 wolf hides from hunting the Mid-Grade Wolves. Aeron carefully arranged a new bed, when he was done doing so, he turned around and saw that her eyes were already closed and she was breathing evenly, this time she should recover even faster. Aeron carried her to the makeshift bed and laid her down to a comfortable position.
"Sigh, I really have to level up faster." Aeron murmured to himself.
The situation was getting more complicated, Lina mentioned something about another woman chasing her. Which meant that it wasn't just beasts that were her enemies, and there was no way he would abandon Lina as it was very easy for a Transcendent to know whether someone was lying or not, of course, it would be another matter if he himself was a Transcendent, but he was still too weak to even think of that.
Aeron quickly went back and meditated to quicken up the circulation of mana inside his body, although it did help in the production of aura, it wasn't a lot, the production of aura would actually increase once the core was completed, but that was only after the core was completed.
Aeron woke up and noticed that the surrounding was already dark, time really flew quickly when he was in meditation. He looked at Lina and saw that she was still sleeping, Aeron walked towards the basket where the turtles were placed, since the turtles were small, the basket didn't seem cramped, the other turtles were already hiding in their shells, probably asleep, with the exception of one turtle.
"Hey there bud, sorry I forgot about you again," Aeron said as he picked Terra from the basket.
Aeron even imagined the little turtle being angry at being forgotten, but no anger was displayed from its small little head. Aeron chuckled at the thought as he started mana bathing the little turtle. The little turtle had already crept into Aeron's heart so much that he wanted to tame it, but it would be too much of a waste to do that, especially now that he was almost level 6.
"Maybe after this many mana baths, you'll evolve," Aeron said towards Terra who was oblivious to its surrounding as it was enjoying its mana bath. Aeron chuckled again at the little turtle's face, it was unlikely to happen, but there was still a chance it would do so.
"There's another problem with you evolving," Aeron murmured.
The problem was his skill [Bestowal], even though he left the Golden Eyed Snake alone, for now, Aeron still reserved one slot for it. His problem with the skill was that it was a Unique skill, he didn't know if it would increase slots when he leveled up to level 6 or not, or maybe it'll increase slots when he advanced a stage. The worst-case scenario was that, even after he leveled up or advanced a stage, the skill wouldn't budge, in that case, only the first five of his pets would get the slot, four of which were taken already.
"If I really do get an increase on the slots, maybe then I could tame you," Aeron said as he rubbed Terra's little head.
The mana bath was over so Aeron went towards Agila's nest. Aeron quickly fell asleep, it wasn't that he wasn't guarded with Lina, he did have some suspicions but she had just woken up and was still unwell, so her actions of not recognizing why he introduced himself as an Ironbull might just be the result of that. Even so, Arthur was still nearby to guard him while he slept, not sleeping for days was not a problem for High-Grade Beasts, but they still needed to sleep at some point. It did not take long for sleep to conquer Aeron as he sunk into his dreams.
The forest was ripe with different beast calls as night came, Lina lied on her makeshift bed, her eyes slowly opened but closed shortly. Arthur sat on a branch watching from afar. Unfortunately, Lina's back was facing Arthur so he couldn't see her wake up briefly.