Gustav felt weirded out for sure, but he was right to do so. He was stressed out already, so it wasn't ideal to hear weird voices at the moment.
Computerized brain-cells were injected in his brain, according to those aliens. Now that wasn't easy to understand, but he decided to rely on that same information just to relax.
He relied on an impression, that these sudden voices which sunk deep within his brain, were only helpful. They were hyper-realistic which made it difficult to feel comfortable with them, methods of relaxation were necessary.
In the meantime, Gustav worriedly pondered the new information over, and slowly got a bit more motivation.
"Demon crystals, huh? Sounds like a pain in the ass, but maybe Tunada knows something about them." He thought.
At the same time, he thought about another type of material that he needed; Steel. According to some chunks of information which were poured into his brain, steel was easy to smelt across most sides of the universe, since iron was very common.
In this case, he needed a few thin and simple layers of steel, to cover each side of that pyramidal casing that was recently crafted. Why that was necessary, he didn't have a clue yet, but the demand seemed simple enough to fulfill.
He worried more about that crystal which this project required, and hoped that these big-clawed demons could fetch anything similar.
Speaking of which, he managed to catch up to them, about a hundred meters away from the village that hosted him.
"You little fuckers! Can't spare your father's pot belly, huh? I feel like a pregnant cow, but here you all are, living your best life ha?" He said, and heaved out some deep sighs.
He appreciated their hard work, without a doubt. That's why it sounded nice to play with these critters in the first place, it was wholesome.
Gustav caught up with them only two minutes late, yet this bunch had been quick enough. They cooperated well, and managed to open up a two-foot wide hole in the ground.
He could barely fit in there, and neither did he want to as stomach cramps became more and more common. They limited a lot of movements, and slowly paralyzed his legs too.
With that considered, he could only appreciate the loot that was already dug out, rather than lend a helping hand. "Okay so, seven, eight and nine. That's pretty good, though I'm gonna need a lot more to pay shit."
It wasn't necessary to specify that request, however, as the team had dug a wider entrance for a reason. With their claws, each of them pushed out up to three chunks of ores, which had various colours!
Five minutes was enough to pile up about forty of them, and half an hour helped meet a number beyond the actual goal. They didn't stop there either, as this small hill hid plenty of other iron within it!
Gustav didn't want to know how deep this hole inched below the ground, neither did he care for details. The team did their job, and pushed him a step ahead already as well.
There were many ores to work with, the pile rose four feet tall. "That's uh... gotta be about three-hundred, I think?"
"What are you counting?" A soft, feminine tone suddenly sounded out.
It was so low that he almost missed it, but the familiarity made his arm-hair jerk up.
"Arila?" He gulped, and started sweating more than usual.
"Hope you don't mind me snooping around here, but I... missed you a lot. Did you miss me?" She followed along, and lightly smiled.
"Can't lie, you're hard to forget. I thought you tried to kill me last night, with that little trunk of yours." Gustav teased.
The silence that stretched out afterwards was almost nerve-wracking. Both of them relied on each other's smile however, to find some comfortability; Their joy was authentic, and whole-hearted.
At last, she said. "Looks like I got you worked over too much, you didn't have that kind of belly last night. Aren't I the one who's supposed to get pregnant?"
"I don't have a clue, honestly. You were my first ride ever, and uh, my body is weird." He explained.
It wasn't necessary to explain that diseases and mutations rearranged his guts, that part would be too concerning for anyone to hear. He did make a point clear regardless, for the worst to be expected.
After a short giggle, Arila pushed her luscious blonde hair aside, and said. "I can't imagine getting someone like you, pregnant. You put all our men to shame, they're embarrassed to flirt with the girls now."
"Really? Can't imagine why..." He said, and was truly oblivious.
She decided to respond, by sitting on Gustav's lap and pushing him towards the grass too. It amplified his pain in exchange, since that particular area was tender, sensitive.
She didn't know about that pain, and flirted even. "Well, our rhino-men are pretty small. You were... fun to play with."
He got the message after that point, but wasn't given the opportunity to enjoy this moment. He shape-shifted all of a sudden, which was definitely against his will!
Arila was aroused for a second, because she thought that a certain pickle lifted her upwards by a foot, again. She only understood what went on, once several whole patches of hair ripped Gustav's clothes off!
"Oh," She only grunted, and didn't really think much of this.
"Ahh, that helped a lot." He sighed shortly after, and finally felt a sense of relief.
His mammoth-side naturally provided a couple more feet of height, and about two-hundred added kilos in weight. In other words, he now was big enough to work around and tolerate the pain across his belly!
"Did you get excited?" Arila teased, and was mostly oblivious.
In the meantime, the other could only smile. Those cramps and the overall soreness reduced within seconds, which helped him move around painlessly.
He was grateful, and therefore admitted. "I don't know what happened, but you just saved my ass from a lot of pain. But uh, do you play with a hairy, and stinky mammoth?"
"Well, I should punish you. Why didn't you shift last night?" Arila pouted.
"That's not a good idea, you could've died if we did it like that." He answered, half jokingly.
The situation had an opportunity to get heated after that point, as the lady was ready to transform in order to match up by size. She wasn't hesitant whatsoever, as the breeding season was far from ending.
As if to prevent advancements, that was when yet another similar tone called out for attention. "Arila! You were supposed to be on guard duty today, why are you lazing around with this outsider? Where's your pride!"
The woman in topic, jumped up immediately and latched off of Gustav. Bound by a code of honour, she respected each word of the same lady that interrupted.
"I am on guard duty, Valiza. Had to check this out, because I am on patrol after all." She explained.