16

"so do you have any plans besides raising children?" aero asked after a flower of awkward silence. he couldn't stand it and his pride wasn't strong enough to withstand it, Adir blinked at the question and only shrugged after a moment of thought. "never really, never a need to dream more!" Aero scuffed before getting up for some water.

"some many like you, have no pride in themselves more than their ability to bear and raise children! taking way too much in that fact!" it annoyed him greatly, it enraged him that he was expected to feel the same. dowing his water aero returned to the living room, even though he really wanted to return to his room instead.

"what do you want to do besides fighting?"

"make a place for guys to learn to what they desire!" aero said, originally it was a fighting school but so many guys had so many different things they would like to learn. so a school that taught many different things would have to do, that brought up a whole new question of teachers. at first, he thought he could do the teaching himself until other students reached the right level. but that plan went out the window quickly.

"I see!" he didn't see the appeal and tried to find something else they could have in common. even though he failed since they meet. they were very different people, very different. Neora's return had killed the awkward air between them, aero was quickly at his mother's side telling her that he was already feeling much peter. though not a hundred percent. she was just glad he was feeling better, he shared the sentiment.

she and sir talked which lead to aero going up to his room before they got lovey Dovey. in his room he talked to the helper about his energy molding books. 'the book is already on its way as their analyses of pride energy show much potential. of course, they haven't discovered any use for it just yet. but I will keep you posted!'

"Is there any use for then energy?" he couldn't help but ask.

'there are without a doubt uses for this energy, seeing as it affects the mind on such a level I think it would have great use for mental health. of course, it might become a drug as well for daredevils.'

"what?" drug, daredevils. these were both new terms to him. he would ask Tove tomorrow. but for now aero stretched out on his bed before doing some thinking, since he could now buy things from the store that meant it had more use to him now. which brought up the question of what he should use the store for. the book on energy molding would definitely be of great use, but what else could he use.

thinking hard he realized his weapon could use an upgrade, not that there was any wrong with his staff but it would hurt to make a better one. he asked the helper what he thought would be the best material to make it form. 'since it is both a wind instrument and a blunt weapon I belive a lightweight diamond would be your best choice. but even with the high price of the pride energy, it doesn't have a certain price and you might for into debt with the store. something to avoid even in death!'

"I'm sorry what that supposed to mean?!" the helper simply told him the store always got what it was owed. it helped that the lord of greed was the owner, 'you don't cross her!' they left it at that and aero didn't ask more, instead inquired about his fellow lords. the helper didn't answer for a moment before stating,' I can't tell you anything but not because I don't wish to. the helpers are unable to retain information certain about the lords other than their own, a security measure but I believe Tova can tell you a few things.'

Aero nodded actually kind of relieved the other lords who were without a doubt stronger than he was."what can you tell me about the other lords?"

'the lord of lust hasn't been found yet, the lord of greed is willing to do business with all lords, the lord of wraith doesn't kill the people who anger him, the lord of sloth has an army at his disposal, the lord of envy likes reading just as much as you do but loves exploring, the lord of gluttony is incredible in the kitchen don't touch her husband!'

"have they asked about me?" the tension faded from the teen, his fellow lords sounded like people.

'no, my lord is a rule of thumb that the other lords are left alone for a bit allowing them to grow on their own, you can reach out to them if you wish but I would recommend preparing a gift of some kind first.'

"I'll remember that when I want to talk to them," aero yawned pulling his quilt over him so he could take a nap. even though it wasn't that late in the afternoon but he was drained, lacking his obedience was taking a bigger toll on him than he had thought. even longer when his nap laster almost five flowers, going downstairs he found though a note his mother left him that she and Adir were on a date.

he decides to ignore this and have the food she left for him before he got cleaned up and went back to bed. he didn't sleep through the entire night but was thankful he had something to read until the sun came up. his mother was still asleep so he went out, he felt much more secure than he did last time.

"oh welcome back!" Tova greeted aero as he walked into the library, he was curious what she was doing here this early. he had originally planned to drop off the scroll he narrowed then leave, but he meant he could check out some books. so he looked around finding some books to read, they were simple ones.

"would you like a short lesson?" Tova checked out the scroll that aero picked.

"tell a bit about my fellow lords," she paused before a moment before collecting her thoughts.

"I don't know much about the other but my star system is near the lord of envy. he actually visited it quite often liked the view of one of the mountains, when he was there it was clear to see why he ruled envy. it was always in his eyes, he wanted what others had experienced. it was nothing that he could physically have," she paused as something occurred to her, "though with the power a cosmic lord had he could probably take the experience."

aero shivered at that thought, having the power to take people's experiences, things like memories. would he have that kind of power, would he make an enemy out of this lord. he could feel a seed of fear forming in his heart.

"But despite that what he did instead was offering his ear, he listened as we grieved what we envied. I remember telling him how I envied this girl who some really great hair, like really great it, long soft, never gets dirty or tangled!" Tova paused to see aero looking at her blankly, awkwardly he continued talking," anyway he did judge me or tell me I need to move on. instead, he related to me, it made me feel less like I was being crazy."

"huh, yeah I probably won't do something like that," aero admitted," but I will probably encourage people to find something they can take pride in. actually I've already done that!" it filled him with a sense of pride, Tova brighten at that it was good that he saw the path he wished to take. "can you tell me anything about the other lords?"

"umm a few rumors are floating around but I can't even begin to tell you which ones might be real or not, cosmic beings can do some crazy shit!"

well don't believe the future rumor about me!" aero then grabbed his scrolls and walked out of the library. more people were out as he walked home, no one paid him any attention. home he waled in one his mother preparing the first meal, he helped where she let him before they ate together and she went off to work. 'okay to do some work as the lord of pride!'

with the helper's help, aero used his pride energy to get a sense of the pride of everyone in his town. it took a considerable amount of energy to do so, but it did alert him to some pride he had to take down. 'okay just four people,' he left his house and hunted their people down. 'i can't just randomly sock them a lot of guys will stop listening to me if I do!'

"so what does that make my course of action?" He no longer needed the melody to see the pride he kept an eye out for his prey. he kept thinking about his possible course of action, one of his ideas was to drag them somewhere out of the public eyes. the helper vetoed that one saying that people would talk, while aero was confident in his ability to keep people silent he decided it was too much trouble.

"Okay but seriously what should I do? I don't need a melody to control my pride energy I can use that I know this, can I use this fact?'

'this is one of the reasons that I suggest the energy molding book, with the proper method it's possible to send out energy attacks.'

"Really!" he thanked the helper for his suggestion and asked what they could do right now.

'i believe you should find them and mark them on your radar, then when the book arrives and you've studied enough you can deal with them.' aero nodded this was a sound strategy and would be the first time he made a temporary retreat during a hunt. the babbit incident lacked a way for him to retreat, also he panicked more than a bit not that he would ever admit this fact.

it took a flower and a half for the lord to mark all his targets, he decided he was gonna use this skill more because remembering unimportant people's names and faces was a waste of his brainpower. was he looking down on them, maybe? but he truly did need that brainpower for more important things, like remembering what Tova told him about what sat beyond the stars.

going to the forest aero stretched out before doing some light training, he did grab his staff before he left so he could practice with it. today he focused on keeping his imaginary opponent off balance, he kept going a lot of his attacks aiming high or low. maybe a random one to the middle as he practiced, he was panting when he decided it was time for a break but that didn't he didn't do anything.

'it still quite a bit of time before your bones are back in a peak state,' aero nodded and asked if there was a way to make his bones heal faster. 'hiring a biologist would probably be the best bet.' the helper understood that the time it took for aero to heal after using multiple melodies was an annoyance to there lord. they explained that for something like to happen a better understanding of the grines biology was needed, then medical theories could be made then applied.

"would it help if a got some medical scrolls?"

'it would be a good starting place,' aero nodded wondering where he should go to get these scrolls they certainly weren't in the library as that was more recreational reading. more informative text for things like science belong to larger libraries, aero thinks the closet one was a few towns over. which was probably a week of travel, 'so a two-week trip at the least.' yeah that wasn't gonna happen soon.

deciding to do a bit of asking around about the library and the town it resides in, for more reasons to go. maybe the town had some nice clothing he could buy for his mother, he didn't know but he would fire it out. he like stores but he wasn't going on a two-week trip just for some stories. he got back to training counting where he left off.

it was after two flowers of training that he decided to go home, his mother wasn't home but there was food so he dug in before he did some yoga in the living room. he did take in a good amount of water before he stopped, he did a "bit" of reading until his mother came home with Adir at her tail. he turned around after greeting his mother, she was in a good mood and he didn't want to ruin it.

up in his room, he continued reading at one point he got bored left the house, and sought out the guys who were finding their own pride. most of them were doing fine, moving at a pace they felt comfortable with. aero didn't push, his mother told him that would be a bad idea. he also knows to push enough and someone would push back, aero did so violently.

"well it seems you're getting better," aero commented rocking the child as the writer showed him his latest work. it was good, his vocabulary has clearly expanded and the grammar was better making the reading smoother.

"you've started working on the two-step?" aero asked as a child attempted to climb him which he was not having. her father nodded as he showed off the two-step he recently learned, aero honestly didn't know if the man was doing it right or not but still he clapped for him.

he enjoyed visiting them, but more he enjoyed how he could feel new pride blossoming, each time he could feel words on the tip of his tongue but he didn't let them out. not now, he feels that it would be better if their pride was a little stronger. he wasn't what that really meant but he was going with it trusting his instincts, little else he trusted more.