There were of course a few other preparations alex had in mind for the future but the flying island was at the top of the list. at the end of this period of time alex noticed the admiral talking to freya about something seriously and knew the appearance of zeno jiiva was near. alex made no effort in hiding as he tailed the two to where the wanderer was waiting with a canoe. the dense aquamarine crystals meant alex needed to elementalize most of his body to fit in the small estuary of the everstream.
The wanderer was very nervous seeing alex following them since despite knowing about his existence the wanderer was never actually in astera to meet alex personally. in fact the man lived out in the wilds searching for answers relentlessly. such a dedication was worthy of respect but also made the man rather out of touch with others. being so out of touch meant that he was totally unaware until now that alex had went from a powerful monster to one of the most powerful monsters , a small sounding distinction but one with vastly different meanings. as a wyverian and a hunter no less the wanderer was very sensitive to the energies of monsters.
So the man could feel the fathomless depths of alex's various energies that made his instincts scream at him to run far away. most of the other hunters and wyverians had grown accustomed to the feel of alex's power but for the wanderer it was far more stressful. "did either of you invite obsidian along for this trip?" the man asked and both freya and the admiral shook their heads. "if he is interested in whatever you found though it must be important." the admiral said seriously.
"You trust this elder so much?" the wanderer asked surprised. the admiral nodded "he's been nothing but good to us for as long as i've known him." he paused to give the following alex a deep look. "give him the respect he deserves and you might just earn his own." he said looking the wanderer in the eyes seriously. the man sighed "i understand." he said seriously and the rest of the trip was spent with the admiral swapping tales with the wanderer and freya chipping in every now and then. about an hour of boat travel later the wanderer announced their arrival at a small crystal covered cavern entrance.
Alex casually created an ice dock so the admiral didn't need to jump in the water to tie up the canoe. "thanks for the assist sid." the man said with a grin at the wanderer. it was only after entering the crystal cavern that alex had enough room to switch back to his normal state letting the wanderer actually see his features up close for the first time. alex hadn't replaced his metal coating since he found it pointless after getting all the elements so he was in his true appearance.
"Real pretty aren't they?" the admiral asked with a grin startling the wanderer who was studying alex. "what?" the man asked in surprise. "sid's scales , real popular with the ladies because of how nice they look. hell your sister actually has a small collection of the things going on , not that you heard that from me." the admiral said with a huge grin. "can't much say that i fault her for that seeing them for myself , truly quite luxurious and smooth , almost unnaturally so." the wanderer said with slightly narrowed eyes. alex couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at this statement as the wanderer seemed to have noticed how all of his scales were uniform and identical somehow.
"Yeah smiths back home are waiting for him to shed again to put together a set of armor now that sid has all the elements. something about making the perfect armor but I couldn't get them to explain more." the admiral said with a shrug. the wanderer didn't say anything to that and turned his attention back towards crystal like silk cocoon at the end of the cavern. the cut scene from the game played out with a big difference as alex intercepted the beam of pure bioenergy that would have hit the wanderer originally.
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