A week had passed by and Aeron was preparing his harvest, which was almost all fruits, vine essence, and wood essence, the monkeys had all but plucked the western part of the forest bare. Though Aeron didn’t find any more spice plants, his harvest was still more than enough to put a smile on his face.
“Caesar bring Eggy her”
Aeron told a brown monkey second only to Alexander, this monkey would be Eggy’s nanny of sorts, Caesar, and 4 more brown monkeys.
“I never thought there would be elastic vines in this forest”
Aeron said as he looked at his creation, a cart, the wheels were tricky as they took longer to create, but connecting 4 wood essence would do the trick. Now, this is where the elastic vines come in, elastic vines where the closest humans could get that could be used as rubber, the problem being that they were very rare, but Aeron had discovered a lot of them in the western part of the forest which was a huge boon. The wheels could actually be made purely with wood essence, but the problem with that was that there were no proper roads in Gaia, roads where very useful but most roads could only be found in cities, which were usually made from flattened earth via mages or flattened rock essence.
“Of course, with you guys, it shouldn’t be a problem even without elastic vines”
Aeron said as he patted the smallest silver wolf, the silver wolves had completely healed, and because of the abundance of wood essence in the untouched western part of the forest as well as the debris from the Grey Eagle and Bloody Hyena’s battle, Aeron was inspired to create carts which could be pulled by the silver wolves. He had named them, Akila, Fen, Fang, Lobo, and Luna for the only female wolf in the group.
“Alright then, climb up Caesar, Arthur”
Aeron said as he boarded his cart, which was pulled by Luna, the other four carts were pulled by the males because they were full of fruits and other material essences which was much heavier.
“Go”
Aeron said, the wolves slowly accelerated towards an acceptable speed as they started to depart, in truth it would’ve been beneficial for Aeron to stay within the forest, considering he now had Arthur as a High-Grade Beast, but he didn’t know what awaits them on the eastern and central part of the forest, as for the northern part, that was where the Golden Eyed Snake lived. Aeron had also thought of training more, he had planned to train first till he reached level 5 naturally, as for level 6, it was too huge a gulf to overcome naturally, especially him who needs to take 5 hours of each day to meditate. This was actually also the level where those talented people from different places go out and explore the wilderness, of course with some protection, albeit in secret.
“But this should help boost my fighting strength”
Aeron said as he punched forward. The punch didn’t seem so strong at first, but the emphasis on the punch wasn’t strength, it was control, this was a discovery Aeron made when he tested the effect of his new skill which was [Micro-Control (Muscle)] which allowed him perfect control of his body, Aeron had always felt something missing within this body, sure the soul had been perfectly fit for the body, but there was always something blocking the full utilization of his body. It was unknown to Aeron whether it was because this body was not truly his or he had some sort of mental factors blocking him from doing so, the skill he got from Arthur remedied this by a lot, but it was still something which made him uncomfortable. In a way Aeron was right, there were side effects with his transmigration, the soul and body were a perfect fit, but his psyche wasn’t, this had made him feel uncomfortable mentally instead of physical discomfort. But with his new skill, the bubble that covered his mind had fully popped, he felt much more comfortable, the control he had with his body had become more perfect than even the original Aeron.
‘Good thing I didn’t have to fight with that Golden Eyed Snake’
Aeron thought it was a truly scary image, the Golden Eyed Snake with the [Micro-Control (Muscle)] skill was absolutely scary, this skill wielded by a creature with a body made almost entirely of muscles. If Aeron were to guess, then he was lucky enough to only battle the Golden Eyed Snake in soul form, else, a simple attack from the Golden Eyed Snaked would’ve turned him to mush. It still made his skin crawl remembering the fact that that massive snake wrapped him with its body, a small vibration from its body would’ve turned Aeron to liquid.
“Good thing it can’t attack me now”
Aeron thought out loud, which made him remember that Arthur was able to face the Golden Eyed Snake by himself with a 3 level disadvantage, of course, this was under the premise that the Golden Eyed Snake couldn’t fully attack Arthur as they had the same master, it was more of a battle of souls, if the Golden Eyed Snake was strong enough to squash Arthur’s soul then Arthur would die, it was a good thing the Golden Eyed Snake had yet to reach Earth Stage which would probably sublimate its soul to another level.
After an hour of travel, they had finally arrived on Aeron’s base, the wolves were not in no way slow, but they had to consider their speed while carrying supplies.
“Home sweet home!”
Aeron said happily as he went inside, this place might not be the most comfortable home there is, but it was much better than staying in the forest.
“Alright Arthur, let them unload the goods into the storage room, Caesar give me Eggy”
Aeron ordered, he took Eggy to his room where he fed it with his mana, this had become a fixed routine Aeron did. Eggy was a very behaved egg, it didn’t complain and just waited to be fed.
“Such a good Eggy”
Aeron found his fondness of Eggy increased day by day. He petted Eggy’s top shell as he felt Eggy’s delight. This was not to say that Aeron liked Eggy more than his other pet, but it was more like caring for Eggy became his relaxation time, and in Gaia, relaxation was a luxury. Only those with enough power could truly be relaxed in this world, Aeron didn’t know how powerful God Stage Professional, but judging from the way they called themselves, they should be very powerful. If not, then humans would’ve long been extinct in this world. He had already seen High-Grade Beast at the Mortal Stage fight. It was truly unimaginable for him what scene it would be for God Stages to fight. Unknown to Aeron, he would see not only one, but almost all of Gaia’s God Stage Expert fight in the future.
“Time for training!”
Aeron stood up and put Eggy back on its basket, he had Caesar guard Eggy with the other monkeys in rotation, at least 2 monkeys were left guarding Eggy.
“HAA!”
Aeron thrusted, the spear pierced through the air leaving spear shadows behind, he would sometimes mix in some [Accelerated Strike] which still threw him off, his control was otherwise perfect, but as he leveled up, the skill effect also leveled up, which made his attacks faster. This was the reason why Aeron wanted to train more first before leveling up after he got the skill [Micro-Control (Muscle)]. Aeron realized how much strength he truly wasn’t using, it was like giving a sharp knife to a civilian and a martial artist, one would still be able to use the knife to attack, but the other knew how to use it more effectively. By training his body to a more acceptable level, the time he had to adjust would be shortened each time he leveled up.
“Huu! I should be able to do this!”
Aeron said as he felt his body being exhausted, in truth he had all the help he could get in terms of training his body, his skills [Golden Monkey King’s Martial Mastery] and [Micro-Control (Muscle)] lets him perfectly utilize his body, his [Accelerated Strike] allows him to accelerate his movements and lets him exhaust his body faster, and finally, his [Level Up (Anomalous)] which consolidates his gains as he trains. This was a shorter version of breaking your body down with intensive training and letting it repair and become stronger, but with [Level Up (Anomalous)], the breaking and repairing process becomes much shorter. When the skill detects Aeron’s body gain something, it consolidates that gain more quickly, but it was weird in the sense that wounds don’t heal faster because of the skill, which makes the skill a none regeneration skill. Aeron has yet to fully know the extent of his skill.
Twit Twit Twit
“Oh, a twitter?”
Aeron heard the bird make noises as it came closer to him, this was actually the reason why they called it a notification bird or a twitter because of the noise it makes as if notifying you, unlike most messenger birds. Though humans did find the noise it made, impractical, most other birds would either be untrainable or too big. The twitter was small and trainable, it was small enough so that predators wouldn’t take notice of it, or even when they do, they would just outright ignore it, while bigger birds would be a worthwhile snack. Twitters also had a weird skill which allows it to trace the marked target anywhere in Gaia, but a return trip was impossible, of course there were other more easier way to send messages like the twin whispering trees or through mana rune carved stones, both of which were either very rare or too expensive to use with simple errands.
‘Brother Gerard?’
Aeron thought, only Gerard had a twitter with Aeron as its marked target. Aeron was wondering whether it was news about the City of Una or about the girl. Aeron took the memory stone from the Twitter’s small vine purse. Aeron took the memory stone and placed it on his forehead.
“Little Brother, it is me, your Brother Gerard”
Aeron saw and heard Gerard in the memory.
“I hope you’re alright out there, unfortunately, the worse has come, the Governor left, leaving us a wolf king with a deep grudge against humans, and now I’m busy with fortifying the City. I’m giving it my all to defend the city so I might not be able to visit you in the future, also little brother, one of the reasons why the wolf king hates humans is because of me, I can’t tell you any more than this. As for the tasks, the Governor has left so they are all forfeited. You have no responsibility upon the city, but the land promised to you will be given if we survive the wolves hehe I’ll even let you choose the land after, also, little brother, you should stay where you are and wait for me to send you another twitter, it should be much safer there than it is here, I wish you luck little brother”
The memory ended with Gerard smiling at Aeron’s direction. Aeron didn’t know how to react, Gerard had already told him that the City might become a Free City, but the chances of that were actually low, as long as no one enters the forest to attempt anything against the wolf king, then it should’ve been still good. Even if the Governor leaves because of uncertainty with the future of Una, as the wolves grow in number and the Endless Forest would become less accessible, it would only be that and the city would still be viable to live in. The city was not something the wolves would notice in the first place, as it held no advantage to them, going deeper into the Endless Forest would benefit the wolves more.
“But according to Brother Gerard, something happened to the wolf king, the reason was even connected to him”
Aeron thought out loud, he knew Gerard was from a powerful family, but he didn’t know that the Central Region was starting to collapse as the powerhouses turned their attention elsewhere. But Aeron knew that humans were never perfect, and according to the tone to which Gerard said his message, then it should be in connection to his family, but what confused Aeron was that there would usually be no human in Gaia who would be greedy enough for power to the point of causing damage against others. This was because unlike in the past, personal power was more important in Gaia, so what if you were the head of a powerful family? If you’re weak then the powerful could just ignore you altogether.
But there was something Aeron had not thought of, the most powerful families in the Central Region, those families might still value strength in their core, but they had a guarantee that would not allow others to disrespect nor harm them, even Transcendents or Demigods would allow them to err to a tolerable level, and that was because these families had a God Stage Professional. Being the head of families with God Stage Professionals means your authority would be that of the God Stage Professional, these people valued their families for a reason unknown to Aeron.
Most of these experts would punish the enemy first before punishing their families, and in recent times, when God Stage Professionals became busy with something important, their families ruled instead.
“It should still take a lot of time before the wolf king matures, even Arthur needed my bestowed skill to mature faster, if I train enough, level up to 6 then I should be able to help somehow without revealing Arthur and the other monkeys”
Aeron thought hard, he was right, the wolf king would need more time to mature, with its powerful parents by its side, the wolf king could have all the time it needed to grow, but there was something Aeron didn’t know about the Endless Forest, and that was deep inside the forest, a small tree was nurturing a fruit that could change things up, and just after 1 year, the fruit would ripen, and things would change.
**********************************************************************
After 1 year.
“It’s here! It’s really here!”
A voice filled with happiness suddenly sounded, the voice was soft seemingly trying to cover the excitement from deep within.
“Mom! Finally, I found it!”
A small healthy tree stood conspicuously around giant trees, in front of the tree was a grey-robed figure. A red fruit filled with rings like that of the rings from a tree hung from one of its branches, the fruit was filled with vitality or life energy that one could feel from afar, this was only possible because the fruit had ripened, otherwise, the beasts in the forest would’ve eaten the fruit already. A dainty hand caressed the fruit, feeling its smoothness and vitality, as the grey-robed person got ready to pick the fruit, glowing pairs of eyes suddenly shone from the surrounding.
