There were a few oohs and awes from the people watching alex as he strutted around like a male peacock showing off his new appendages. he didn't take off into the air since his nest was next to the trading hub by the port and the wind from his wings might blow away some spices. as a result alex strutted all the way to the entrance of astera that led out into the ancient forest. he had gotten most of astera down here to watch the first flight of their mascot. alex flapped his wings twice as hard as he could to test them , hopping off the ground a few feet each time.
Seeing that he could in fact fly with the wings rather than glide which would have made the situation awkward , alex finally tried to take off. it was a rough take off as he was very wobbly but he did manage to rise higher and higher as the people of astera cheered. soon he was flying high above the town and quickly acclimating to flying as he grew more and more stable the longer he was up here. alex even began to try more and more risky aerial maneuvers like loops and even triple barrel rolls.
It was quite the show for the people of astera especially the scholars who noted down many of the previously unheard of aerial maneuvers that alex tested out. alex had a huge problem after he got tired when flying for an hour and a half as he had no clue how to land. rather than make himself look like a fool alex bit the bullet and dove at high speed into the sea headfirst. the impact was slightly disorienting but alex recovered and swam back to shore easily enough.
No one doubted that alex dove into the water after a fish of some sort since it was well known how he seemed to love seafood. there was yet another celebration in astera that the mascot could fly like a prodigy. it should be mentioned that at this point in this worlds history that it was the later half of the ninth year of ten year period that the fourth fleet had arrived in astera. this meant that in about six months or so the fifth fleet would arrive and the events of the game would occur.
This meant that alex had six months to bulk up to the size of a standard elder dragon as well as accumulate the same power as one of the games big enemies , nergigante. why that monster specifically you may be asking yourself , simple really alex planned to compete over food by eating elder dragons himself. this wasn't a hard thing to figure out as it was pretty clear that alex got more points the stronger his food was. the most powerful creatures alive were known as elder dragons , granted there were tiers with nergigante near the top as an elder that ate others.
If alex were to start hunting elder dragons he knew that he would eventually draw nergigante's attention which would likely cause them to clash. before alex could even consider tangoing with an elder dragon though he needed to increase his size greatly. this proved difficult as the larger he set his growth limit the more points it took which meant he needed higher quality food or more normal quality food. when alex grew to half the size of a great jagras he decided to hunt his food outside astera. it had taken alex a whole month to get the points needed to grow to his size and he modified his teeth and claws to be more powerful and sharp.
The people of astera were growing more and more concerned that they might have actually adopted an elder dragon of some sort as he grew larger and more powerful looking. it was actually the fleet admiral , a hulking blonde man that frankly terrified alex , convincing everyone how it would be a good thing if alex was an elder dragon since it would mean they finally had a powerful ally against the elders. standard practice for a rampaging elder was evacuation since most elders were considered living natural disasters.