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.
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!"