Aeron woke up early the next morning, fortunately, he slept well and no nightmares happened. He started to feed his pets, he even checked on Lina but she was still sleeping, it seemed like her waking up yesterday was too abrupt for her so she had to rest further. Aeron quietly placed some fruits and a mana stone beside her.
‘The mana stone should help her a bit,’ Aeron thought.
Aeron quickly went on to meditate, the faster he completed his pseudo-core, the better. Claude sat on a large branch closing his eyes, his ears would twitch every now and then, and his tail swung languidly behind him, Aeron could already imagine Terra looking intently at Claude’s tail.
‘Maybe Terra thought it was a huge worm,’ Aeron thought as he chuckled mentally.
Gathering his thoughts again, Aeron entered into a trance, this time, he had no idle thoughts about his pets.
Lina woke up a short time after Aeron meditated, seeing Aeron in mediation solidified her trust that her identity was no longer doubted as she ate the fruits Aeron placed beside her, she too started to meditate shortly.
“My body is really messed up,” Lina said.
She tried to see whether her body was better than it was yesterday, she did recover to an extent, although she was still much weaker compared to her peak state, she was still much stronger than Aeron after sleeping for half a day. But the weird thing was she felt like she was being watched, that if she were to make a move on Aeron, something unexpected would happen.
“Still, such a young man is here in the Endless Forest training by himself, hmm Ironbull…” Lina thought for a bit.
Although the Ironbull Family was famous, they were still not on the level of the families in the Central Region. But their name still rang some bells on her head.
“Oh! So that’s why he reacted with a bit of suspicion,” Lina suddenly said.
She realized that her reaction was not what one would expect, luckily, he didn’t ask further. As for the grey cloak and the piece of fruit, she still had no idea where he hid it, she wanted to ask yesterday but she couldn’t because of her condition, and right now, Aeron was meditating, if she disturbs his meditation, it might lead to injuries on his soul, and there was still that feeling that she had of being watched. She just decided to ask about it after she recovered at the least her Earth Stage strength.
*****************In the City of Una*****************
A man suddenly appeared from the shadows as he bowed in front of Gerard.
“Young Master, the wolves have started to surge in numbers, the outer layer of the Endless Forest near the city has been overrun by Low-Grade and Mid-Grade Wolves, High-Grade Wolves also started to appear with them, the people assigned near the Endless Forest have also retreated,” The man said to Gerard.
“So the wolf king really survived, I wonder how much strength it got from eating that fruit,” Gerard said as he started to contemplate.
As for those people who retreated, Gerard didn’t blame them, it was the natural thing to do. But Gerard still thanked these people, they risk their lives for a promise, and they were also willing to fight with him.
“Young Master, the almost everyone has evacuated the city, there are still some that remained and have decided to fight with us,” Rodrigo said.
Rodrigo was the man assigned to lead their small army of 3000 people, Brock and Sam were vice commanders, and most of Gerard’s people were tasked to lead at the least 4 people each to form a proper squad.
“Let them fight, they shall be rewarded after the war, but put them in reserves,” Gerard instructed.
This was to be expected, they had not partaken in the training they had in the past. So, Gerard didn’t expect much from these people who only decided to fight at the last minute, having them as reserves were the best he could do. The wall was built and it was a tall 15 meters with a thickness of 6 meters, four walls were erected to surround the city, each wall was 500 meters in length.
The wall might seem tall and sturdy, but Gerard didn’t expect it to be of much help. These type walls were only useful for delaying the enemy, and when the enemy lacked number and strength, but the wolves were not weak nor were they few. If they had the walls of the City of Isa, then it might be helpful against the wolf army, but the resources spent in creating that kind of wall was not something he could provide, that’s not even to mention the amount of money spent to hire mages powerful enough to build it.
“Yes Young Master,” Rodrigo bowed before leaving.
“Hmm, its already been a week since I sent the notification bird,” Gerard murmured.
He had wanted to have someone fetch Aeron back, but he didn’t have any spare hands, the city was huge and they were currently in preparation, the wolves could attack any time so the situation was very hectic.
“Sam, how is our guest doing?” Gerard suddenly asked.
“He’s doing fine young master, but he wanted to remind you that he’ll only help when he deems it necessary and that he’ll retreat once Transcendents gets involved with the war, but he added that he’ll save as many people as he could if that ever happens,” Sam said with a solemn look.
Even a person of such caliber did not hold a positive view on their situation, a Transcendent could probably wipe them out single-handedly, but they were also beholden by a rule, otherwise, Gaia would become a land of slaughter. But there were exceptions, beasts could tolerate being defeated in war, and most of them were very prideful, so attacking those weaker than them was a very rare sight, but those things still happened, especially when it involved the killing of their offsprings.
“Be careful out there little brother, war is coming,” Gerard said as he looked outside.
His hands were now tied, he had done his best to prepare for the inevitable, and all they had to do now was wait.
*******************In the City of Isa********************
“Lord Governor, please let us go to Una!” A couple suddenly kneeled in front of a middle-aged man.
His eyes were icy blue and long silver hair fell to his back, he was tall and buff, one might even mistake him as a Warrior, but he was the opposite instead, the Governor of Isa, Governor Arius Azrhail one of the most renowned Necromancer of humanity, the only one able to raise Titans as undead.
“Both of you should understand, your role is to guard this city, this was in your oaths, I’ve already conceded enough when you asked about shortening your service time, your son might be out there, but so is my daughter, I understand what the both of you are feeling, at the least, your son would probably not enter the Endless Forest at his current level, but the only clue I have of my daughter being alive is the soul fire I built for her,” Governor Arius explained.
Every time a person reaches the Sky Stage, they would be sent to guard a City in the outer regions of humanity’s territory, they had to swear an oath to the Governor to guard the City for ten years. Of course, the Governor had some ability to modify their oaths so that situations like a forceful retreat could happen. The reason why Aeron’s parents had to do dangerous missions was because of their request for shortening their remaining service time to two years instead of five years, the horse, Spirit was only a gift from the Governor which also surprised the couple.
“But there’s currently a war nearing in the City of Una!” Aeron’s mother suddenly said.
Of the couple, Aeron’s mother was more outspoken, it was the nature of a Berserker, but this was the first time she spoke loudly to the Governor. Aeron’s father stood silent as ever, but his body was starting to exude a hidden pressure. Governor Arius stared at the two, before shaking his head, an enormous pressure came gushing from his body covering the two in front of him.
“Calm down,” Governor Arius said.
The pressure exuding from the Governor’s body was icy cold, but Aeron’s mother was not calming down at all. Her eyes reddened as a red aura burned like flame covering her entirety. This was something innate to berserkers, the [Berserk] skill, this was not an active skill that could be activated so easily, conditions such as extreme emotions needed to be fulfilled. Governor Arius was surprised, a mother’s love for her son was truly amazing, his thoughts suddenly transferred to his wife, Governor Arius sighed as he closed his eyes.
“Enough!” the Governor said.
An enormous shockwave of aura exploded from the Governor’s body, enough to jolt Aeron’s mother out of her berserk state, this was only possible because of the gap between a Sky Stage and a Transcendent Professional, if another person at the same stage tried doing so, they’d probably die trying. Aeron’s father quickly caught her wife as she fainted for a short amount of time.
“Raynold, I know both of you worry for your son, but sending both of you and Rebecca there won’t change a thing, it might instead turn into a war between humanity and the beasts of the Endless Forest,” Governor Arius slowly withdrew his aura as he tried to explain further.
The Governor even wanted to travel to Una to find his daughter himself, but his responsibilities and the risk of worsening the situation prevented him from doing so. The wolves were but one faction inside the Endless Forest, and even though each powerful beast had a territory, if a threat from the outside entered their domain, then they would join forces to stop the intruders. Beasts were very simplistic with their thoughts, but it didn’t mean that they were idiots. The establishment of Una was a probe to see whether the powerful beasts inside the Endless Forest would react aggressively towards them, it was fortunate that 1 Transcendent was tolerable to them, even so, the development of Una was slow, as not a lot of people wanted to support a City with such risks.
With the departure of the Governor of Una, the Transcendent beast’s inside the Endless Forest would not have a reason to mobilize themselves, and the war between the wolf king and the City of Una would only be considered as a turf war between two young beasts. Yes, beasts, humans were only treated like another beast as Beasts didn’t have a concept of race, unless they evolve into one themselves, thus, most humans were treated as foreign beasts intruding their territory.
This was another secret of humanity, once a Sky Stage Professional breaks through Transcendence, they would need a large amount of territory, this was in connection to breaking through the Demigod Stage, but establishing a City was no simple matter, you not only need strength but also resources. Thus, a Transcendent human would sometimes infiltrate huge forests and claim part of it as their territory. This would only work with beasts and not with other races. Humans were also limited in terms of their quantity in a single forest, once another human enters the scene and claims another area as his territory, then they would catch the eye of the most powerful beast in the forest.
Of course, there were certain areas where humans became the most powerful creatures and expel the Transcendent beasts inside it, these places were dubbed as Forest Cities, and were often hidden from the public. These Cities were handled by humans, but there were still large amounts of beasts inside it, these places were also turned into training grounds for handpicked humans.
“Also, you shouldn’t underestimate your son,” Governor Arius suddenly said.
Raynold was surprised, he didn’t underestimate his son, but he also knew the risks of being a Tamer as he had seen many even more talented Tamers fail, but here was a legend among Necromancers telling him he shouldn’t underestimate his son instead. Rebecca who woke just woke up was also stunned by what she heard.
“Now go, you also know your brother went there already, if he can’t stop them from being defeated, then both your presence there will only increase the chance of it becoming a full-blown war, and that is not something we want to see.” Governor Arius added.
Raynold nodded as he understood the Governor’s position, of course, they only wanted to go there to save their son, even so, he was still uncomfortable about there being a chance, of his newly awakened son dying in a war he wasn’t part of.
*******************Back inside the Endless Forest********************
Aeron woke up from his meditation at the sight of Lina in meditation, he had also woken up earlier and just so happened upon her entering meditation, thus, they were unable to converse about the grey cloak he had stashed away. By now, the sky had turned dark and Aeron became sleepy, tomorrow would be the day he would reach level 6, the thought excited him to no end, but he still needed to sleep.
Lina woke up when Aeron fell asleep, he clenched her fist to test her strength.
“Tomorrow should be enough,” she murmured with a smile.
Lina fell asleep shortly after, both Aeron and her had a smile plastered on their faces as they imagined tomorrow’s events. But in Gaia, you should always expect the unexpected.
