Astral would now always be wary of any new planets that he goes to. But he was working on a new technique. Using his pocket dimension to travel large distances in much less time. Just by doing math and distance theory he would slowly come up with an idea.
It would be too erratic to truly be accurate enough to trust over large distances. But he could make a web to look fancy and have fun. He would be looking at the next planet. Being a large gas giant with a sign of lifeforms on the planet themselves.
"That seems strange, life on a gas planet?" Astral would slowly descend using his paws to assist him into the atmosphere. Once he started to descend he saw the magic of the atmosphere. It was heavily nutrient. Even able to be the filler for a full diet. Too bad his lungs couldn't digest it.
He would see a surface to the planet as he would slowly collect canisters for testing purposes. Looking down he would see that the main shell of the planet was in reality as large as earth. With valleys and peaks all over the place. He would wonder what the creatures were that lived here.
He would land on the surface and see snakes slithering around on the ground. He would walk up to one and see it more resembles a worm over a snake. It had no features but seemed to be the creature which makes the atmosphere heavily nutrient.
But there had to be more life, Astral would jump up and land carefully on a mountain as he looked all around to see more of the landscape. Realizing that the taller mountains are where more life was. He would jump over to the next mountain and glide over seeing the planet's other creature.
"Does this ecosystem function off of two species?" He would look deep into the valley and see the worms crawling along as the creatures in front of him were scaly. Standing at around three to five feet tall he would walk up to them and see how sentient they were.
"Not one more step outsider." One of them would speak. Astral would stop dead in his tracks. Looking at the one who spoke to him. "You must be curious about us if you are willing to get so close." The creature would stand and point at Astral
"I feel like I am a curious creature, and with that comes me exploring." Astral would tense up as he spoke, something felt way off. Wondering what made the scaly figure act so aggressive.
"I have something to do so please go away and bother someone else." He would wave his arm as he jumps up into the sky. Astral would just sit down and watch this process. It seems like it was harvesting the air.
Its back would slowly grow. Inflating from the absorption from the nutrient air. Astral would just write down on a notepad what he was watching as the creature would land for the last time before gliding down the mountain. The air sac on his back was as large as him.
Astral would follow him and see the civilization before him. A small village that contained all of twenty of the creatures. Seeing them all around like this made him wonder why he was directed here lifeform wise.
The main scaly figure that Astral was following would enter a small little cave and release the air sac in there. Passing Astral as it went back up the mountain. Astral would realize that the air would slowly trickle out.
Using his pocket dimension, he would make it pressurized in the cave. So no air could leak out using a giant steel wall with a suctioned rubber door. A bunch of peons would come from behind him and clap. Startling Astral a little bit.
"Is he here to save our neighbors?" One of the younger creatures spoke. The creature standing next to it would just tell it to hush.
Astral would look over to the little one and kneel next to it. "What happened to your neighbors?" He would be curious and willing to help as much as possible.
The taller of the two would speak as the little one would just start to poke at Astral's various pieces of armor. "Well, they vanished without a trace. It won't be a problem with how fast we reproduce but it is scary to think the sky beasts now dive down for meals."
Wait, sky beasts? Astral would pause for a second and think. He didn't see anything when he was filling up the canisters. Maybe he was too far up. They would probably roam at the tops of mountains where the others harvest food. "So they just are gone. Do you know how many villages there are?"
A third peon would walk out. "Billions. We all are a part of the ecosystem. Sky Beasts eat us. We eat the atmosphere and the worms eat the dead sky beasts or us." Astral would turn his head over to the other.
"I have no guarantees that I can find them. If I find anything on my travels, I will gladly come back and explain. But the gravity is too strong down here. Sky beasts would simply collapse and be grounded and die." Astral wondered how he would even leave the planet.
"Ah, so you are a traveler. Not many of us get to see other places. We all stay put." The creature would speak as Astral stood back up slowly doing math calculations in his head wondering how strong the gravity was here.
"Yeah, I go around and find knowledge and look through the universe like a filter." Astral would then realize it sounded wrong. "I mean, a filter as in examining places and taking notes to save for a later date."
"Interesting. When you explore you take notes? With those notes you preserve ideas?" He would ask as Astral nodded in agreement.
"I do a lot of research when it comes to the stuff that I find. Like what plants do what, the genomes of certain creatures. What resources come from where." Astral would show a tablet to the creature of what he has noted so far on his travels.
"Someday you may be able to travel like me!" He would add on as the three huddled around the tablet and the many pictures all around the galaxy. Marveling that even though their planet is barren other places also have lucious amounts of life.
"This is so cool!" The smallest would comment on how the pictures were. It made Astral feel joyous, his explorations were able to give others hope. Hopefully their dreams will come true someday.
"What does it take to explore the galaxy like how you do?" The peon with the child would ask. Astral would begin to think about it and realize that he was just special.
"It takes an extreme amount of time to travel the galaxy. Requiring to travel at immense speeds as one can travel trillions of miles and not find anything." Astral would even wonder how he was doing it. "The hardest part is stopping however."
"Even if I find a planet I could be going too fast to stop. I have tricks for that so if I enter a planet I don't completely destroy it like an asteroid." Astral would draw up a diagram of what he does. It was quite interesting to explain to these people who listened so well.
"When it does come time to explore the planet. Even then I have to be prepared for everything. I bring my own food and supplies if need be. Most planets don't have anything interesting so I just keep going until I am interested." The eyes of the peons filled with amazement.
"You are such a cool person. One day I wish I could travel the stars like you!" The child would throw up their arms. Astral would throw up his arms to celebrate.
"Someday you may explore the stars. However, I must be on my way. It was a pleasure to meet you three." Astral would bow to them as they all waved as he climbed the mountain. He needed to clear the high gravity of the surface and get higher. Choosing a mountain that no one else could jump from.
"This won't be too low now will it?" Astral would jump upward and be able to enter the next layer of the atmosphere. He was able to then start to accelerate upwards using his paws. A sky beast thought Astral would be a tasty snack. Astral would see this and mount the creature. Pulling it upwards to get out of the atmosphere.
Using the momentum from the creature and Astral's ability to jump he would escape into space hovering in place above the planet. He would look downward to the planet. Their lifespans were a few years at best.
Yet he would not leave for a few minutes. Pondering his thoughts as the creatures down there have no way to advance themselves. No way to harvest the ore on the planet. He would be at a loss of words. Wanting to go home and sleep on it, he finally left.