38

'i was right!' aero pointed out to the helper as Yona showed aero's team one of her new weapons designs. it misses fired and took out a chunk of her wall. 'she herself isn't dangerous but these inventions of hers could kill someone,' seeing as more than half of them were weapons that were probably the point.

'you're feeling was right, but my lord I must suggest that you recruit that girl.' aero didn't want to but listened to the helper's reasoning. 'that's a great reason,' he thought as Galia convinced the girl to show the hybrid weapon prototypes. which the girl did bring out and showed how Galia's chosen weapon.

"well that's one way to make a pudao sing," Galia gave the prototype a swing, making note of the weight." the heads light," Yona quickly explained that when she tested the metal the lighter ones vibrated best. "this is currently the best I could do without the risk of it breaking easily during combat."

"it'll work but your bright it might break," swing the pole over her shoulders. she heard the blade make a small note and repeated the action to get the note again," but it making noise so it'll do for practice weapon at least."

"ooh! that's a good idea," Yona moved around grabbing some spare paper," but what do you think we should use for the final product?" aero decide to interject at a moment," does it matter. along as she can reasonably swing it and it makes noise." his words caused Yona's entire deminer to change, she stalked over to him eyes hard and focused.

"Absolutely not! I will not give out something that is not the best quality I can make." aero felt the pride in her words and felt her energy flare, "I understand." aero understand he insulted her pride with such a suggestion, but at the same time he couldn't help but smile. such pride in her work, refusal to make but the best. 'your right I should get her on my side,' the big question was how social in-depth aero was going to make that happen.

they stuck around the show for half a flower before heading out towards the inn. Aero observed Galia as she tested her new weapons shaking the Tamborine and Pudao. she occasionally made it ring out, "yeah I'll deftly need speed for this." maybe a new fighting style, but she was hoping that a few adjustments would work. if she could feel the work her teammates were going through she would.

asking around the inn after they got their rooms and dropped off their beds, found them a spot on the edge of town to train. aero immediately dropped into some forms to practice melodies, one that you would use against a large number. "we all agree that a little concerning with the conversation we had about fighting the army right?" Inna points out, the rest of the girls nodded in agreement before they split to their training.

Galia found a tree to practice on, slowly scarring its bark with the edge of her blade. it was easier than she thought for it to make repeated noise, but it was a random note with each swing. 'i can't make a medley out of this,' any she did make would be unstable and risk blowing up in her face as her bones cracked. huffing she tried to see if she could make the notes that she wanted or if she had to talk to Yona about it.

'My lord I believe the best first step is to ask Gallia, she seems to know Yona the best!' aero paused in his training to catch his breath and let his thoughts flow, he knew the helper was stating a good idea. but the thought of asking her left a bad taste in his mouth. the prideful teen remained realistic and knew he had to talk to Galia or stumble through conversation with the excitable girl.

"It is the lesser of two struggles," he didn't like either was a struggle but a problem for later. right now he had to figure out how to speak to Galia, they haven't had much one-on-one conversation. as in none, even if aero found himself dropping his guard around his team he was still very socially inexperienced. which left him not knowing what to say or how to start conversations.

'Why is he staring so much?' Galia wondered as the team headed back into the city after 1.5 flowers of training. halfway through she felt the team caption eyes on her, they barely waved. she didn't think she's done anything to get on his bad side. but it was kind of hard to tell, 'but if he was mad,' he doesn't act like the person that would himself back. that has been seen.

eventually, she grew tired of the staring and, "can I help you?" she confronted aero. the teen hid his relief," I wish to recruit Yona! I request your help in the matter?" his awkward sentence relieved Galia it wasn't trouble. but she did ask why he wanted to recruit her, yona was skilled but so was the past blacksmith she meet.

'why do we want her?' aero asked the helper, who quickly explained why they were at the female's shop he scanned her inventions. they possessed a certain outlook, "she has the most potential of those I meet so far to create something to help in the future. with the whole space aliens."

"oh, that going to catch her attention," she would be very excited by the offer. when she warned aero about how much, he put on a reluctant expression. before taking a deep breath and stating that he would like Gaillia to break the news to Yona, he knew his strengths, and Yona's excitement put him on guard. "smacking someone I'm trying to recruit isn't a good idea"

"I'll give you that I'll tell her in a few days after she finished my weapons," otherwise the charcoal girl would drop everything. Galia was more sure of that the more she heard what aero wanted Yona to do. some it just sounded like full-on make-belief creature dung. 'but he seems certain that it's possible, but not how it should be done.'

'it's off-planet information," aero explained reading the disbelief in her expression. "but as it's off-planet it might not apply to our planet so it needs tweaking." and he wanted Yona to do that tweaking, she probably would for free. but Yona was her friend so she had to argue some things in her favor.

so the next few days passed silently for the team, except for the point aero tried to fight this woman who insisted on trying to walk him around town. she honestly believed that he would be safe walking by himself in this town, or she was trying to hit on him. either way, he would have hit her if tzilla hadn't spotted them and aero reaching for his always-present weapon.

"so this is the second version of the weapon!" Yona happy said gesturing to the weapon sitting on the table, they didn't look too different from the training weapon she passed. picking it up she tested it out though it was a little heavier. she was more than pleased with it, Yona giggled feeling the gust as Galia swung the blade around.

the matter of payment was quickly settled, then the fem"ale hunter brought up aeros offer. halfway through it where she didn't even get to the real details Yona was practically vibrating with excitement. "he wants me to work with alien tech! much more advanced than what we work with?" Galia nodded to previous experience telling her to step away.

"OF COURSE I'M DOING IT!"

"you getting paid for it," she added in. which Yona only thought was ever better. she quickly scrambled around her home collecting scrolls and tools before racing out the door. knocking several people over," never change Yona." Gallia said before following after her.

she quickly found Yona looking up at a tree, aero was looking down the tree at her. when Gallia came close enough she saw his expression, it was one someone wore when they stared down a feral creature. not a hyper girl. it was kind of funny, but if she laughed aero might punch her. she got close enough to defuse the situation before aero punched Yona.

"all right now that everyone's calm and on the ground, let's start talking." Yona didn't waste a moment before launching into a stream of questions that the helper carefully logged and found the answers to. allowing aero to respond to each of them with only a pronunciation problem here and there. each answer caused the stars in Yona's eyes to grow.

'is it too late to turn back?' the helper informed him that it was several steps too late. sighing he waited for Yona to step frantically writing out notes so they could continue to talk. said talk went on for a flower as he gave her basic information from the helper. it was a simple task but this girl just seemed to sap his energy from him.

'she an existence you so unprepared for that it takes a lot from you,' the helper told him. aero didn't like that someone's personality could do this to him. he resolved to fix this issue somehow. but for the moment he made the final decisions about how the weaponsmith was to keep in contact with him. mostly by sending letters through his mother. who he sent simple, I'm alive letters whenever he reached a new town.

'i should send an introductory letter,' Aero thought as Yona rushed back to her workshop to understand the concerts that had been gifted to her. 'helper are you sure she'll be able to understand all that?'

'not anytime soon, but it will act as a goal and guiding light for her. meanwhile, it will also have the effect of spreading the information once she applies it to your planet.' the helper said in their usual calm and polite voice. but that only served to send more shivers down his spine, while it did benefit the girl they were using her as a pawn.

'you're very dangerous,' but he liked the idea of someone dangerous working for him. so he didn't complain, but he had it clear he wouldn't participate in any schemes that would cause harm to anyone that hasn't made themselves his enemy. this only seemed to excite the helper, 'what a statement befitting of a cosmic lord! whose words can decide the lives of star systems. you must keep such a state of mind!" aero detected a slight threat but he didn't comment on it.

unchecked power was truly a horrible thing.

"Alright, then I guess we should go talk to the team. figure out where we're headed next." the talk didn't take more than a couple of petals with the remained member of the team who hadn't changed her weapons. "are you looking forward to it, Lior?"

"I let you know later," she replied before they split up to prepare for the several weeks of travel before them. after this point the town Lior wanted to head to was far away. none of them didn't see a problem with the journey, aero privately realized that this would be the furthest he's gone from home.

' I'll be traveling even further in the future,' he looked towards the stars knowing one day he would be among them. an exciting and nervous thought, 'doesn't matter at the moment.' it would be a very long while before he came close to the stars. sooner than he thought thanks to Yona. that night aero spent some time forming four ropes of his energy to send toward the beast.

"Okay, that takes care of that," aero stretched out his limbs laying back on his bed. was there anything else he needed to do before he went to bed? after a moment of thinking about what he did today, aero decides, nothing important. but he did call Xoqax to see how the test was going, so far green lights. a few problems that required terms is didn't know to solve but were good all around.

'should we introduce him to Yona?' aero asked the helper who responded that was a good idea, but believed that they should wait for the moment. "alright, that's on hold." nothing else came to mind the teen went to sleep, asking up early to someone knocking on his door if he flopped in surprise that was between him and the helper.

"tzilla what do you want at the edge of dawn," the sun was just halfway through the horizon. instead of saying anything she handed him the news. slowly he read through it until he found the problem," well the zalts have turned their backs on me."

'world leaders have agreed on their response to the revelation of alien life. they are preparing for battle," not good!! not good at all!" he didn't want to start a battle, Tova explained universal level power levels. according to the last lord of pride, his planet was weak, 'but what's her standard of weak." from what he understood his predecessor was strong and ancient. the power she left behind to keep the beast in check while he grew.

'either way, I don't think it's good for them to go to battle,' how many people would fall to the more advanced planets?' he could see the images of battle before his eyes quickly he got tzilla to help him wake the rest of the team. who when informed of the situation quickly started getting ready, their plans completely changed. instead of planning for the next village they were heading for the capital.

they were just out of town when Lior brought up a suggestion. stopping in a larger town and getting a flying creature to the capital. "it would save us an incredible amount of time and we want to arrive as soon as possible!"

"your right aero agreed and they highly changed their route continuing at a brisk pace, privately aero kept quiet about one part of Lior's idea, he's never been on a flying beast before. at least when he wasn't in the middle of battle. 'time to improve myself, then!' determination swelling in his chest.