Aether Lupis

Seeing their anticipation, Vishok chuckled. Ben and Mahaansh glared at him. He said smiling : "You don't have to bore into me. I will tell. This Gale Lupis has undergone a rare mutation, most probably due to the energy waves. There is a minute probability that it was due to some minerals. Any way, it has now become an Aether Lupis." Ben was confused. Mahaansh had a stunned look. Both of them asked simultaneously, with two different emotions : "A what?". Vishok laughed and said: "An Aether Lupis." Ben did not know what that was and he asked " What is that? Is it a big deal?" Mahaansh turned to Vishok: " You are the right man to explain this. Go ahead." Hearing this Vishok put on a haughty demeanor and suddenly had a scholarly aura. Ben and Mahaansh were exasperated. Vishok began: " The reason this Lupis is special is because it has the ability to manipulate the space itself." Ben was stunned. He looked at the little guy. The Lupis looked back at him. It did not understand a thing. It was kind of cute.

Vishok continued: " It does not show any of its spatial capabilities until it is in the lord rank. Once it enters the lord rank, it is really a menace. But the balancing part is that they had very low reproducing potential. Hence, they mated with other type of lupis and soon the entire bloodline was wiped off. Also, no beast master has ever been able to tame an aether lupis. They simply don't like servitude. Among all the lupis species, this is the only type which lives alone and not in pack. Two aether lupis will only meet during mating season. Otherwise they will always be alone. This is one of the beasts that can evolve into an originator class. For your information, originator is something which lies beyond the animus. Here the animal will return to its normal form from its bipedal appearance but will be more powerful and will have various mutated capabilities. There were three instances when these creatures turned into originators. The first one could create blackholes. The next one could create large worm holes. The next one was an expert at intangibility. They were killed by Martial entities and weapons combined. That was the kind of menace they were. Initially they can teleport small distances and use some spatial lock attacks. As they mature, their capabilities become more and more problematic." Vishok stopped there. He looked at Ben intently and then said: " Ben we will have to handover this creature to the government. This is not something which we can control." Ben was stunned. He understood what was happening. If handed to the government, they would kill it or worse will conduct experiment with it, torturing it for a lifetime. He said " Is there no other way? Can't we keep it secretly? What if this mutated one is one which can be tamed?" Vishok and Mahaansh could understand this. But they were unable to do anything. Suddenly Vishok thought of something. He said, " I think there might be a solution." Ben was a bit hopeful now. Vishok said " This lupis was actually a gale lupis. It became sky lupis only after the mutation. It hasn't been long since the mutation has happened. Also, only when it becomes a lord class creature, will its spatial power activate. Till then it is essentially a gale lupis. There are medicines to suppress this mutation." Ben heaved a sigh of relief. He said " Then we can do it right. Is the medicine expensive?" Vishok said " The medicine is not that expensive. After all beast masters often use these types of medicines to eliminate certain unwanted mutation. But it has two problems. One is the availability of medicines to suppress the spatial talent. Second is the chance of death." Mahaansh sighed and he looked at Ben. He also had a heavy expression. He said " It is better to do that. But how much are the chances of death?" Vishok replied : " About 10%. That is the situation now. But as this lupis matures, the mutation will be predominant and it will become a difficult to treat it." Ben was a bit relived. Mahaansh said "Don't worry. We will take care of it." Ben was now reassured. Vishok added " This guy is going to be a star. Even if I suppress its spatial capabilities, its control over its wind powers would be fantastic. He will make an excellent animal companion." Ben smiled. He suddenly remembered something. He asked " So what about my affinity? How am I going to get the shamanic scripture if this guy is going back to being a normal gale lupis?" Vishok answered that: " You only need some thing alive to test your affinity. Since your affinity has been proven, you just need to get the structure of the aether lupis. That you can get from anywhere. No one will doubt you as well. Because it is not that much of a rare instance to get inspired from reading about an animal. I will get you all the relevant information as soon as possible" Ben was elated. So almost all issues are over he can just look into the information and start the shamanic scripture. He could not wait to start it. Ben and Mahaansh spent the day there. The next day Vishok gave them the information. He said " This information pertains to the Knight Level. As you go up in levels the other information will be provided to you. Also, you owe a debt to me. I will collect it once you grow up." Ben looked at him with a smile. He was a bit relived. He did not know why this man was freely supplying them with information. But it changed now. If Vishok had not asked his price, Ben would have suspected him. He turned to Mahaansh. He said " You should know the reason why I am helping you. I have not only helped you, but several of your seniors as well. My loyalty lies to this land and its heritage. Not to some government or establishments." Vishok was amused by this and wanted to crack a joke. Mahaansh turned to him and glaringly said " Not a word to twerp". Ben was at a loss. He just wanted to get away from here and start reading about the creature.

Soon the data was in Ben's hands. Mahaansh and Ben went back to their city from Pergos. On the way Mahaansh gave him some pointers. The next day, Ben was starting his internal aura training. He also had some work to do as well.

Ben reached home at about 3PM. He talked with his parents for a while and then freshened up and straight away went to complete his works. By about 11 PM he started to read the data about Aether Lupis.

The data had some pictures of the aether lupis as a cub and as originator beast. This was just for a visual comprehension of its true power. Then came the knight level part. At knight level this beast was not that big. It was almost 1.5 meters in length and about 60 cm in height. It had a neutral built, and canines like its normal counterparts. But its fur was different. The male aether lupis had a white fur around its neck. For the females, the white covering was on its ears. Its rest of the fur was dark blue in colour with sparkles here and there. These were not white spots, but really sparkles that would shine occasionally like stars in the night sky. In the knight stage , aether wolves did not have any spatial attacks. But it had the ability to sense space around it. It was not some sixth sense or aura spread, but the literal ability to sense the space around it. The exact reason behind it was written vaguely. Or it was that Ben could not understand it. It said that the meridians in the various parts of its body reacted to the change in gravity caused by the nearby bodies with mass. Its sense of smell also worked exceptionally well. It had the power to shut of the power of smell and spatial sense as well. It could sense the faintest of smells which normal animals found difficult to sense even at their peaks. Certain meridians in its nose were extremely powerful giving it the powerful sense of smell.