'I guess it's time that I started learning how to fly… I've been gifted with a pair of wings that could make me fly…and yet I've been walking like a normal human all this time…sigh.'
Walking off to some distance away from the ominous black river, he looked around, trying to sense for any kind of presence around him just to make sure that he was all alone…after not sensing any kind of presence he started taking off his black trench coat and his shirt, standing bare-chested in the open…
After the Nightmare body transformation, his body had become more muscular and chiseled than his previous skinny self, but after leveling up so many times and going through several life-and-death situations, his body now appeared even more chiseled and well-defined.
His shoulders and traps were broad and inclined like a mountain while his deltoids appeared like small boulders, his pecs well muscular and firm like two curved steel plates, and his abs were slightly bulging out in a perfectly rectangular shape like gold bricks, making him look like an aesthetic bodybuilder. Overall he had a perfectly lean athletic physique with a strong robust body.
But the most noticeable part of his body was undeniably his large dark wings originating from his shoulder blades and reaching all the way to his feet, while in the folded position.
His wings were now six meters long and a meter wide. His jet-black feathers now had a slight crystalline sheen to them, with the edges of each feather appearing sharp daggers, each of which ending in a shade of dark purple towards the edges…
After removing his upper clothing he started focusing on large wings…he closed his eyes and concentrated on them, trying to feel every inch of his wings, connected muscles, and bones…he then started moving them in a deliberate and synchronized motion…folding and then fulling opening them repeatedly, while getting used to that feeling.
Slowly but surely he started getting the hang of it, he then started flapping them more vigorously, creating strong gusts of winds that started blowing away the thick gray fog along with the dust and soil on the barren land…
While flapping his large wings for a while, he started feeling his back and wing muscles and bones getting more and more strained, but he did not stop and continued.
Initially, he was only able to flap his wings up to an angle of 80-90 degrees, going beyond that would make back muscles start hurting …but as he kept flapping them, his wing muscles started loosening up and his wing bones became more flexible. Soon the angle at which he could flap his wings started increasing… until they reached 180 degrees of angular freedom.
At this point, he started feeling a slight upward lift from his wings, but not enough to lift him. Aron was so focused at this moment that he did not notice the rapidly expanding shroud of nightmare aura that was rapidly expanding in every direction, hungrily absorbing all the Nargy in the surroundings including the gray fog…
The gray fog around him started getting devoured by the dense purple aura generated by the Shroud of Nightmares, making the surrounding gray fog around Aron get replaced by the dense purple aura.
After a while, he started slowing down and then completely stopped flapping his wings…
'Phew! That took some effort, but now I feel that I can now fully control my wings…'
'Now let's try flying for real…'
When he came back to his senses and looked around, he was slightly taken aback by the presence of the purple aura that enshrouded the entire area around him… to his surprise, he was able to clearly see and feel everything within the purple aura, as if it was an extension of his senses…
/So this is what the real Shroud Of Nightmares looks like… interesting…I can clearly sense everything within the range of the shroud of Nightmares, and I can feel the Nargy flooding through my body like raging waves…'
'It's really an amazing talent, I regret not using this earlier…'
'But anyways…now that my wings are fully grown, I can finally use my second talent, and most importantly I CAN NOW FLY!!!'
Feeling excited about taking his first flight, he quickly readied himself and started sprinting rapidly in a straight line to gain considerable momentum so that he could take a long jump, once he was ready, he jumped.
"BANG!"
With a loud bang, he launched himself off the ground and started flapping his wings rapidly and frantically which helped him stay in the air for a couple of seconds before he came crashing down the ground with a loud "THUD!"
While crashing down to the ground he kept running along the way to kill his falling momentum…
'This is gonna take a while for sure…sigh.'
He then continued practicing flying again and again…
After a while, 'This doesnt seem to work…what am I doing wrong? Is there a specific way of flapping wings?'
He then stood there and started flapping his wings to see which way of flapping wings created more thrust and upward lift…
He quickly noticed that compared to long and powerful flaps, short and rapid flapping movements created much less upward thrust and lift…
Taking a deep breath, he once again readied himself and started sprinting rapidly, after gaining suitable momentum he then bent his knees and launched himself in the air with a powerful jump…
Once in the air he unfolded his wings and flapped his wings with a powerful swing creating a strong gust of wind, with that single flap he found himself lifted a few meters in the air.
Feeling the cold wind blowing past his face, he once again flapped his wings and once again found himself lifted a few meters upwards…just like that he kept flapping his wings with powerful thrusts and soon found himself more than twenty meters above the ground…
At this moment his heart was beating like a war drum, feeling extremely exhilarated by the genuine feeling of flying in the sky, he then tilted his wings a few degrees forward and flapped his wings with a powerful thrust just to find himself starting to fly in the forward direction.
Flying in the forward direction he looked down below and saw everything covered in gray fog, due to this he was unable to tell just how vast was the river and how long it would take him to cross the river…
Taking a U-turn in the air, he looked back at the forest he had come from…At this moment dusk had arrived on the distant horizon of the white forest of giant white trees and the red sun was slightly visible. Looking back in the direction of the white forest and then at the river, he didn't know where to go anymore…
Feeling slightly lost he slowly descended to the ground and just stood there pondering over his choices…
'The entire white forest is filled with giant white trees with terrifying tentacle roots…if it was just a few trees, it wouldn't have been a problem….but there is an entire forest filled with those creepy trees…'
'But at the same time, this river feels even more terrifying than the forest…the foreboding feeling of death is still lingering in my mind…not to mention the ominous and mysterious grey fog…'
'SIGH….'
'It's like I'm currently stuck between a rock and a hard place…'
Taking a deep breath he closed his bright purple eyes…then he opened his eyes with a determined look.
'I guess there's not much of a choice…I can't go back now, so all I can do is keep moving forward…'
After making his choice he went back to his clothes and was about to put back his clothes on, but then he suddenly stopped and looked at his shirt and trench coat…
'I can no longer keep my wings folded under my clothes, that would be a massive waste of such a precious gift…'
Looking at his royal blue shirt he sighed…I can no longer wear this I guess…feeling slightly regretful, he decided to store the shirt in his inventory rather than discard it…
After that, he looked at the black trench coat.
'With its Smart-Fitting skill, I hope It can adjust itself to accommodate my wings…'
Hoping for the trench to adjust with his large wings, he directly puts it on and starts wearing it…as soon as he puts on the black trench coat, its backside suddenly expands covering the entirety of the large folded wings on his back, then two large holes appear over the wings directly passing through them, the black trench coat continues to shrink while directing the two holes towards his shoulder blades from where the wings were originating.
Finally, the black trench coat resizes to his body size, creating a perfect fit for his body…
Feeling the black trench coat adjusting to his wings, he sighed in relief.
'From now I can fully utilize my wings and talent that were dormant till now…'
Taking in a deep breath, he bends his knees, tightening his leg muscles, and directly jumps up, launching himself in the air with a loud "BANG!"
While in the air he flapped his wings with a powerful thrust and started flying in the direction of the deathly black river…