Alia listened to every last thing August had to say.
He told her of the days he spent hiding in the bush– conveniently leaving out his feelings at the time. He even omitted parts like the hollow bush, it was an uneventful time for him, in fact he had done nothing at all in the time he spent within it.
Then he told her about how he wandered the dark forest, about the many creatures he had seen and the wonder they had instilled in his heart. Talking about how he believed that humans could potentially destroy this amazing new world.
She was quite apprehensive to the thought, yet understood fully what he meant. He could understand why she would be as well, if given the chance, every being in this forest would be simply drooling to take them apart and feast upon their parts.
"What makes you think that there are more humans here than us?"
He froze after that question, taking a moment to collect himself before putting together a somewhat cohesive response:
"What makes you think there aren't?" He asked.
"Not many people can survive what we can, and that's assuming we're on the high end of the spectrum. That's also assuming that the rip sent us all to one place, which, considering it was a hole in space, is very unlikely. I could keep going, but I think you're getting upset."
He stared back at her with a blank face, the occasional twitch breaking through.
"What is it?" She asked.
For a moment, he was speechless, she was right. There was no guarantee they would find civilization anywhere in this world– wherever it was. Be it natural inhabitants or settlers from earth, they weren't sure it even existed.
Yet still, he couldn't find the will to argue, instead, he responded in the only way that felt right.
"I need it to be there, somewhere."
He had no idea why he told her how he felt, but Alia simply nodded and remained silent. She looked down for a moment, then back at him.
"I understand."
—---
August continued, sparing no detail in describing the hunger that overtook him during that time. He described his desperate scavenge for anything that could be eaten.
At those she laughed heartily, commenting on the fact of how animalistic he'd become with the arrival of what she considered "merely starvation". August still thanked her profusely for finding the black tree however, even though she claimed to have only gotten lucky.
He told her about his return to the clearing, and about how he was quite against the idea at first, citing the multitude of monsters as his reason.
In a way, he had not lied, the monsters were just only one half of the equation.
He told her of his encounter with the silver bear, how he thought he would surely die there. At least until he gathered up the courage to fight back.
She applauded his newfound survival instinct, praising the killing of the bear.
He then told her about how he gathered berries, and his encounter with the white lion. Explaining how it had not attacked him when he was quite vulnerable to it.
He proceeded to talk to her about the death of the kind beast, and how he had acquired the [White Lion's Legacy].
He told her about the seething rage and disgust he felt toward the armored rhinoceros, conveniently leaving out the parts about the respect he had for the beast as he knew she would not take too kindly to that knowledge.
Then, he came to the part where he charged into the flames behind the beast, chasing after it. He told her about how glad he was to find her alive and how relieved he was to know she would make it.
She responded to his heartfelt kindness by telling him he needed to stop treating her like a terminally ill patient, brushing off his concern.
He then explained to her why exactly he decided to challenge the behemoth to a head on confrontation. How he had finally reached his breaking point and wanted nothing more than to see it dead.
She remained uneasily silent as he spoke of his clash with the behemoth. Though she had been making witty remarks at the beast, he could tell the creature was still a sore spot for her. As such he stayed upon the subject of the behemoth for no more than a few moments at a time, briskly gliding over it.
He finally gave a pause, signifying he had completed his information relay.
Alia remained silent then nodded before remarking.
"Ah, you must have been exhausted, it explains the length of your little nap back there."
August suddenly realized, he still did not know how long he was asleep for, in his rush to catch up with the redhead he had neglected to ask a simple question.
'Better late than never I suppose' he thought to himself before asking.
"How long exactly was I out?"
Alia smiled softly, closed her eyes and tilted her head before answering.
"Two whole days, what a regular sleeping beauty you are!"
Had she been a few feet closer, August may have cut his losses and simply punched her. Then succumbed to whatever consequences the redhead had in store for him.
Thankfully she was at the other side of the cave entrance.
"One of these days, it's going to be you that passes out, mark my words"
The redhead chuckled and responded with a single word "Maybe"
August couldn't help but find himself smiling at the turn of events.
As of right now, he was safe, reunited with Alia and was now a lot more adept with his power.
Now all they had to do was make it out of the dark forest, and maybe even meet other survivors of humanity.
"How are we going to get out of here?" He asked, hoping the redhead had some kind of plan in mind.
"How am i supposed to know?" She asked him.
August sighed, truth be told, he had no idea either. What he did know however, was that they no longer could go about this without being defended.
He had sustained what could potentially be long lasting injuries from the armored rhinoceros. Thinking back on it, he could have easily avoided this if he'd simply molded an armor.
At the time, he was rushing, injured and unsafe, simply not having enough time to stop and think about the situation in his haste. Now however, August had plenty of time to think about his plan for the armor he was going to create.
He had already acquired the [Armored Rhinoceros' Legacy], and he assumed that the others could also be used to form armor as well.
He summoned all three of his orbs, the unused [Aura Mold], [White Lion's Legacy] and [Armored Rhinoceros' Legacy]. Alia watched him do this then tilted her head, looking at him and expectantly waiting for an explanation.
"I'm going to turn these into armor and a new weapon." He stated rather bluntly.
The redhead nodded before turning her attention back to the clear blue sky above the cave's entrance.
He first picked up the [Armored Rhinoceros' Legacy], examining it quietly before closing his eyes.
At first he had intended to use the regular aura mold to judge the versatility of his armor creation, but immediately chose not to upon his shirt interaction with Alia
August had many suspicions that aroused, one of which was caused by how vague the organizer was when referring to anything. The incident of the white lion's name could be brushed off, but not when it carried over to the armored rhinoceros.
From what he assumed, the organizer was not a controlling force, simply an instructive one. The lavender screen seemed to be there as a guide.
August did not think much of it at first, but after the incident with the [Armored Rhinoceros Legacy] he found himself thinking back to the tutorial.
So he once again called out to the organizer, this time asking a question.
'What is an aura mold?'
The lavender screen once again swirled into existence.
"Aura mold: the embodiment of a being's Aura, can be used as material to create whatever weapon or armor the user wishes, within reason. "
'And what are the limits of this creation ability?'
The semi transparent screen swirled once more, changing to only three words.
"Potential Limits: Unknown"
August's eyes widened, it was then that he was struck with a realization, he was right. The organizer was vague with descriptions not because it was attempting to guide him, but because it simply did not know.
The organizer was just like an artificial intelligence, unable to understand what it had not been shown or told.
That would mean that the organizer had not been responsible for the creation of his skills, which led him to asking another question.
If the organizer wasn't responsible for it, then what was?
And he was starting to think of an answer.