20

"It looks nice," Neora said as her son hooked up the creature to a post she had installed next to the house. "thank you!" he beamed as he placed some feed before the animal, once that was done he raced over to the cart and pulled out a small box which he handed her, "gift." then he moved off before she could accept or reject the gift.

Neora rolled her eyes as she opened the box, she took a moment to admire the necklace. it was simple but beautiful all the same. smiling she put it on the necklace, she would check out her reflection later on but right now she was going to enjoy how her child smiled when he saw her wearing the gift. she asked about his trip to the city, aero didn't sound too interested in it.

"Sure it's kind all kinds of store and restaurant, the hunting station was bigger had a lot more missions I could take on but wasn't much that met his interest." she didn't ask why he felt this way, she raised and while she wouldn't dare say she knew everything about him. making an educated was possible, he didn't like the city because he probably didn't feel safe there. she knew her son didn't trust a lot of people, it wasn't that he thought they would hurt him he thought they would smother him.

he found his freedom, his joy, his pride, he feared most that someone would take that from him one day. so he refused to let people close enough to even try, Neora respected her child's choice but she couldn't help but worry that one day he might end up alone no one willing to get close to him at all. his decision to open a school of his own and the way he decided to interact with someone of the guys around town settled her worries for the moment.

As they settled inside she asked aero about his next move, "I need money to start my school. probably should loan out some for other guys to take steps toward their own pride. yeah, that would be a good idea, most of them don't want to draw attention, even those who found things they enjoyed doing something not expected of their gender. buying things that would help they would draw attention though most guys managed the finance of their household especially if they were married, it didn't mean others didn't pay attention and would notice.

when had had his third meal and finished speaking with his mother aero headed upstairs to clean up, when that was done he started having a conversation with the helper about selling his energy. they agreed he had to be cautious about it for several reasons, bring up some aero didn't think about but couldn't forget about afterward.

"so the store set up by the lord of greed is my best bet for selling"

'yes, it's her greed that you can bet on. she will make sure the action go well, so you sell through her exclusively, which brings her more customers!' aero nodded that was something you would expect from the lord of greed, of course, he didn't base all his expectations on her title. he was the lord of pride but those words didn't capture his entire being.

"so it probably would be best to sell a big batch maybe smaller batches, he could probably buy from the same place as well.' since he knew nothing about space auctions and currency methods yet, he asked the helper to figure out how many batches of energy he needed to sell before he got ready for bed pulling out the story scroll he was going to read. "okay this is better then I expected, but I gotta stop here or I'm gonna be reading the entire night." huffing he put done the story before closing his eyes sense form the story dancing under his eyelids.

the next morning he stretched out and headed to the library, he still had many things to learn from Tova, even though it kind of hurt to admit. today's lesson was about the creatures that lived in the void of space. because that was possible only thank to the source's power, scientists didn't believe that something could have naturally evolved this way. but the source just admitted that he turned manipulated existing single-cell life in space, now no one would accuse the powerful creator of everything a lair but there was still disbelief.

"I mean it' can't be that surprising that no one found some cells ins space, not only was no one really looking but cells are small and space is the biggest thing there is!" aero looked up from the notes he started taking after Tova started listing the things the lived-in space. like this thing called a shark or the creatures that ate dead planet. big enough that it could do so whole.

"What counts as a dead planet?" aero asked rolling up his notes. Tova blinked before thinking hard, "I guess there are three good indications of a dead planet," the first is the no chance of revival of its ecosystem. the second if the atmosphere is just straight gone, and finally the third more than 60% of the planet has been destroyed." aero blinked as these all kind of seemed extreme. but on the other hand, it meant planets and the life on them was resilient.

after dropping his notes at home he moved to the forest for his flower of training, mostly trying to control the speed of his pride energy. it was harder than it should have since he could already make the energy into a decent-looking sectioned staff. though the helper had a theory that because the staff was an image he related to his pride, his speed wasn't which. this there had some merit, aero had a decent amount of speed for a hunter but he didn't focus on it. which his staff he hit hard, quick, and probably much time than you understood. not to mention it made a good flute.

he didn't get any noticeable faster but no training ever went to waste, of course, he knew this on a logical level but emotional he was frustrated. ' i should be doing better even though I've only had access to the energy less than four weeks!' grumbling he instead turned his frustration into motivation as he checked up on the guys and see who need financial help.

"ugh turned to be more than I expected, not a high amount of money though." he could work with this, it didn't even take to the end of the day to dish out the money. he informed them he didn't bother if they paid him back or not, it was kind of pocket change depending on how much he worked. he could make it up in a week if he really wanted to. "probably should so I can buy some land," tomorrow he would check out the available mission right now he was gonna head home for the third meal.

after that, he talked with his helper about the auction more, 'i sent a message to the lord of greed but she hasn't responded yet, might have some to do with day cycle differences. night on her plant last about 11 flowers.' aero choked that was a large amount of time to remain asleep, then something occurred to him.

"she still lives on her home planet?"

'yes, it's actually pretty common with cosmic lords, since they will live long they tend to stay where they are most familiar with.'

"so I don't have to leave?" that was a simple worry he pushed off confident that he could handle the possibility.

'of course not, most lords are too strong for them to be forced off the planet and this strength helps defend the planet so only the crazy try to get rid of them.' that was reassuring, though he did like being strong enough that an entire planet couldn't tell him to do. could he make his mother as long living as he did? asking the helper revealed that it was possible and quite simple.

'bring your level up to the right level and you will be able to bless people, using your energy to increase their life span. but make no mistake this is far from easy, done wring the best thing that can happen is your power burns them from the inside out.' they didn't say what the worst situation would be, not because they didn't wish to tell their lord but because there simply weren't the words on Augustine to describe it.

"so I guess that means I have to be more of a leader," aero was informed that supplying the other with financial help and just checking on them was a good step in the right direction. "but there is more I can do, so I guess taking a team mission ould be a bad idea." hopefully it went better than the last which Aero would never admit to being the tiniest bit discouraged by how it leads to a fight he won. the other listened better, but he wasn't looking for them to all end in fights that would get beyond aggravating.

the next morning after the first meal he headed over to the collection of missions to see if any of them were team missions, he made sure to check they were all up to date before wasting his time. she was still plenty scared of him, though she tried to shield her new desk with her body. "do you think I can't lift you or something?" she didn't have a response to say to that but didn't move from the desk while aero looked through the missions. not that he paid her much attention after that.

"this one should do!" it wasn't an important mission or had a big reward but it would be quick and required him to work together with others. if he took charge it would be a great chance to earn some experience. it would be taking place in four days, two of these days he would have to take to get three. "guess I should get training and lesson done." leaving the station he went to the library to listen to Tova until it was time for the second meal.

after that, he spent time training until the third meal when he told his mother his plans. she didn't have anything to say against it instead insisted that she make some food for him to take. "that unes-," the words died as she gave him a stern look. a part of him said he should cower so easily, but he didn't fear his mother she didn't have the physical strength for him to be scared. but he did respect her and know he got his stubbornness from her, she also usually one more of their disagreements never having to raise her voice.

the next day repeated the same pattern but also prepared his carriage loading it up with spare clothes, food, feed, some basic tools the usual things he brought on his missions. then he went to the library where Tova explained about currency conversion since there were millions across the universe. when on the larger scale no one really agreed what they could use to represent monetary value. some people just didn't really give fuck.

After the second meal, he did some light training so that he could rest, 'what stat is my bones at?' he wasn't sure if they had healed since the last mission. it would be a big problem but he didn't want to worsen his condition if he could help it. he asked the helper who pointed out for the most part his bones were good, but they were likely to break again when he next used a medley. "I've got a way to prevent or heal?" thinking about it he asked the helper which would be easier to calculate?

'bassed on my understanding if you could reinforce your bones, you wouldn't reinforce damage, but are there no melodies to heal or reinforce?' aero held back a scoff, if there was a medley to reinforce your body it would have been forced on him when most people notice that he wasn't going to quit being a hunter. healing medlies were actually plentiful but they required several years of medical studies for them to be of any good.

' I will get started on calculations right away,' the helper then shut down as aero finished up his training. heading home he had the third meal with his mother before going to bed early, he wanted to get an early start tomorrow. after a blessed sleep he got up while the sky was still plenty dark, "ah so that was her plan!" he was checking over his luggage when he found some food his mother had snuck into the carriage at some point. "well done well done," if he wasn't thorough he wouldn't have noticed until he was miles from town.

"Okay that's everything let's get moving shall we!" climbing on board he steered the cart into the main road leading east. not ten petals out of town he was growing bored, 'yeah I'm not the best at driving but this is cheaper than buying tickets everywhere.' he wished for a moment that he could let go of the reins and red but the creature already proved that it wasn't interested in going where he wanted to go.

"This kind is gluttonous so it would probably go looking for food," like he didn't feed it every day. the hours passed slowly with the helper trying to entertain their lord, but that was proved to be a problem as aero was a bit tired of learning about the larger universe. oh don't get him wrong it was interesting and important but it's been mostly facts for months now. instead, he requested the helper to tell him about the people of the universe.

' the largest portion are the first ones, they have the job of watching the universe since the source went down to rest. they head many organizations, they've loved past the concept of war. but they spend a great amount of time discussing things, doesn't mean they still don't do stupid things, you'll see that when you get access to the extranet."