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.'
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.