'Four months lost forever just because of a single monsters stupidity.' alex growled angrily seeing this. It wasn't totally not worth it as he got some amazing upgrades as a result but Alex knew the suffering that came with these abilities and he would choose not to get them like this every time if he could. Contrary to what his training might imply Alex was not a masochist who enjoyed suffering but just that he was aware that growth requires it to some degree though he draws the line at pain and stays clear of mental torment.-
Alex did some small exercises to get re acquainted with his body before he walked out of his nest and was stunned at what he saw. Astera had clearly gone through massive changes as it was now nearly twice as large as before with far more people as well. Where the docks once were was now a place with large buildings and the ocean that was next to it was now much further in the distance where the new docks were. The whole of astera was now more spaced apart and less crowded looking. Alex barely even recognized the town since very little of the original remained the same.-
The canteen nearby was also much different than before as it had undergone a massive upgrade and was now much larger and more impressive with it's own fresh herb planters and smoking racks alongside the many more chefs including a wyverian girl who looked about sixteen. Everyone seemed to freeze when Alex walked into the sunlight and his scales glinted and shone eye-catchingly. No one seemed panicked but many of the new faces appeared nervous and anxious about what he was going to do.-
What he did came as no surprise to the original residents of astera as he simply ignored those people entirely. To be fair he was a bit distracted by something else entirely , the large wooden statue of himself smack dab in the middle of the town. The admiral walked up to Alex with an understanding expression "Hard to imagine so much has changed in such a short time right?" he said with a smirk. 'What happened?' Alex asked in confusion. "Well from what Zain's told us Xeno jiiva was on the ropes but did something stupid forcing you to save him and get caught up in the blast."-
"Well the residual heat of the blast and how tightly you were holding Zain has branded your scales shape to his face. He doesn't mind though since he survived when he wouldn't have otherwise , even treats it as a badge of pride. I'm not gonna lie Sid , you were in rough shape when he got to you. Most of your scales had melted and you had severe internal damage almost as bad as when Zorah got you according to the medics. We did what we could and then put you in your nest to try and wait it out."-
"After that the guild finally gave us a name for the stupid thing that did it to you and we completed the puzzle of the elder crossing. The guild told us we could head back if we wanted to but we all chose to stay instead since this place has sort of grown on us. The explosion had caused the earth to shift about for awhile there and raised the land under the water above it in quite a few places. We got some new folks in from the mainland and unbunched the town to give everyone some space while we adjusted to a more permanent mindset to live here."-
"Since then it's pretty much just been a waiting game to see if you'd ever wake up. We were starting to lose hope to be honest." The admiral explained everything calmly but Alex was left with a sour expression since he had missed a lot of stuff. 'And the statue?' he asked with a stern look. The admiral rubbed the back of his head with an embarrassed expression. "Zain suggested it and we all agreed on it , it's actually just a stand in until the stone one is done." he said honestly.
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