"how much longer until the book touches down," aero as stretching out, the helper had woken him up before sunrise to inform him his order was nearing the planet.

' it shouldn't be more than a few minutes," the helper responded. they waited a few more minutes of silence as the delivery arrived, the transport box was nowhere near the size of the energy collector. it was only the size of the teen's head, it opened after scanning aero to relive that it was just big enough to contain the energy molding book.

"so this is a book?" he turned the unfamiliar object over in his hands feeling the hardcover. the words were in his native tongue, apparently, the helper sent a translated key with the order. "well let's see what you have to offer," he cracked open the book sitting beneath a tree. 'molding energy given you limited limitless potential, the only thing that limits your power is the energy available and your imagination. step outside the box of common thought...'

the book quickly got to the good stuff giving examples of how molding energy worked, it references different pages for deeper explanations. aero paid attention to the energy blast, the concept was more complex than he first thought but not enough that he felt he couldn't get in the next few days.

after reading the section several times plus a few other parts for context he put down the book and tried putting it into practice, from what he got the hardest part was going to be giving the energy direction. it wasn't hard to make energy explode just had to bring it to a critical mass, but that didn't account for special properties of the energy. heat energy burned more than it exploded, he wasn't sure what that meant for pride energy.

gather energy in his hand he observed it before trying to launch it with a thrust of his hand, it didn't detach. barely moved, "okay let's try this." he tried shaping the energy in a way that would make it easier to fly but it didn't go. no matter what he tried the energy wouldn't fly before he knew it it was mid-day.

"well this isn't going well," somehow he got the feeling the energy didn't like parting. 'well it's born from my pride so maybe that has something to do with it.' he didn't wanna spend to much time on this at this point. 'maybe I should consider a differ method' Areo side before heading home with an uncomfortable empty stomach.

his mother wasn't home but there was food for him, making a mental note to thank her later aero dug into his food. his stomach was no longer uncomfortable he got back to work studying the energy molding book. more information was very useful and gave him a better idea of how energy worked in all the forms it took.

it also explained how some energies did separate well, his energy might be one of those. but it did suggest stretching these kinds of energy instead, which sounded like a great idea to use. the book also mentions having a solid image in mind greatly helped when molding energy, so being the fighter that aero was he brought up the image of a weapon. his main weapon was a bo staff but that didn't mean every sliver moon he didn't practice with something else. one of those things was a sectioned staff, if it wasn't for how complex making medlies with it would have been, the section flute staff would be his main weapon.

he started by shaping his energy into the form of a simple bo staff. with was a lot harder than he thought. it had a vague shape, but aero considered a complete disappointment to stop all bo staffs. he couldn't use this, he took too much pride in his skills with a bo staff to use subpar weaponry. he immensely reabsorbed the energy and tried again. then again and again. his mother wonders what he was doing when she walked into the house but didn't ask as he had a look of absolute determination and focus.

she only grabbed his attention when it was time for the third meal, "oh it that time?" aero stretched out his limbs before he sat down at the table. he ate have a pleasant conversation with his mother, doing the dishes before she had the chance. she rolled her eyes before heading upstairs so he could wash up from the day. when everything was clean he went up to his room and started practicing his molding again, hour of work did improve his skill but aero wasn't satisfied with the results.

he so was determined to improve that he started first thing the next morning barely bothering with the first meal as he worked. the helper had to remind him to stop so he could attend a lesson with Tova, she had an interesting lesson for him and it proved to be a good break from his energy molding practice. "light speed travel is so complicated, "his head was hurting after listing to her explain some of the specifics of the more common space travel methods.

though a lot of it didn't stick, the importance of how long space travel can take did. the distance between this planet and Tova's homeworld is several trillion light-years. that would take years of travel if you couldn't move as fast or faster than light, "how am I supposed to do that?"

'don't worry my lord most cosmic lord figure out how to move faster than light one way or another!' they tried to encourage their lord. but it only gave aero questions about his fellow lords and what they could do. because the way that was said made it sound like they didn't need these spaceship things Tova mention.

'your right, most cosmic lords develop bodies caple of surviving the void with ease, all know away to protect themselves. you will likely discover you're own method one day as well.' aero rolled his eyes of course that was gonna happen when he didn't know but it was gonna happen. he pushed the topic out of his mind and focused back on the energy molding, he was making great progress with making a staff. but he came across a new problem with that taking all his focus, the moment he tried to move the energy came apart.

multiple days passed before aero reached a level that he was satisfied with, the helper was very glad for this as their lord's health was starting to be affected. they were also incredibly impressed, by sheer stubbornness and pride aero reached a level that took years to get. aero's pride swelled hearing this fact, but he moved to turn the energy forged staff to a sectioned staff.

the chains were basic but solid enough to work, he then spent three days practicing with his energy-molded weapon. the weapon lacked any mass which made handling it very strange, but it also lacks a real effect on physical things doing more damage to the pride energy of other beings. this was what aero wanted so he didn't complain about it, he was very interested when the helper commented that it was possible to add mass to the energy constructs. but that was something for the future.

right now he was following the signal of one of his markers, he found the person having a conversation. aero stayed back and turned his back to them, closing his eyes he collected the energy he needed and shaped it into the sectioned staff. holding onto it was unnecessary as he controls the entire thing with his thoughts, but holding it gave him a greater sense of control and it just felt more comfortable to him.

he slowly breathed gather his focus focusing on his target's pride, 'now!' the sectioned staff moved in the space of a breath. crossing the distance between the Grinine, smashing right into the other's pride taking out a good chuck but losing a bit of its own energy before returning to aero's space.

'their pride is harder than I expected!' something he learned since raising his energy stat was that pride energy could be very dense. his pride was, the helper said it near the hardness of something called a diamond. one of the reasons he was chosen as the lord of pride. using his energy at its densest would quickly drain his reserves making him meek once again.

he decided the density of a stone would be a good place to start, but his target proved to be more prideful than he thought. it was sorta easy to raise the density of the energy to something like metal, then he struck again taking a larger chunk than another. aero stopped taking count of how much energy had left, he could already feel his confidence weaker than before. he could feel doubt rushing in his chest, 'i can do this!'

his helper told him that two more hits would bring the energy down to a good level. taking a deep breath aero steeled himself before lashing out twice quickly, he could feel the toll that action took. his clothing no longer felt comfortable as before, he didn't feel the overwhelming need to change but he did wish to get out of the public eye.

'very well done my lord,' the helper praised as their master walked back home. 'you've done well!' from their calculations praising should be a good way to help him recover his pride. of course, they also guessed aero was probably going to practice his fighting when he got home. it felt like it restored a good amount of his energy but the remainder would only come with rest and time, another nuance of pride energy.

feeling a little more sure-footed aero expanded the recently developed energy sense to get a vague feel for the other two targets. he couldn't get that much on them just a vague read on their locations, after pulling back the sense pulled out the energy molding book wanting to finish reading it.

the next day he went to learn something from Tova before stocking his prey, he just wanted to be sure he could take them. overserving the energy they let off uncontrollably, there was both a lord and it looked pretty hard. this didn't scare the mostly recovered aero who knew that he could deal with them easily, of course, he knew there was going to be a price for it.

'i still win!' aero reminded himself as he retreated from the area. 'after I take these two down what should I do?' he had to start taking his plans and duties abit more practically. 'if I'm going to build a school of any kind I need a place to put it,' money would be that big of a problem to aero. it would only be a matter of time and work to get it, along with all the money that he's saved up. no, the real problem would be getting someone to sell him land.

'too bad, I can't just cut down so many trees.' Augustine had strict laws about maintaining the wild. because a lot of things came from what they hunted and any attempt to domesticate usually ended really badly unless you got really lucky. it didn't matter your gender you got punished harshly, so it would take a lot of money and probably lots of time before aero could get his land.

'being the lord of pride means that I should start traveling around to deal with overflowing pride,' he should probably get personal transport. taking carven wasn't that big of a problem but it would get really annoying with people recognizing him and committing on the fake he was traveling alone. especially once he started traveling farther and farther from home.

'yeah that gonna lead to a lot of fights, so many fights and while aero wasn't against stretching his limbs that would just get bad rumors about him. and make no mistake aero didn't give a Zaltess flying ass about what people thought of him but even he could recognize the trouble it would cause him. so he had to operate within in some lines, but that didn't mean he would punch someone who insulted him.

the next someday aero started looking around for gaining ownership of a cart, though some people tried to strongly suggest he stop aero plowed right though and learned to own a cart he would have to head for a big city. he started making his plans for that, it wouldn't be the same as his short term hunting trips. for one thing, he would defiantly need to bring some hygiene supplies, a quick dip in the river would do.

while he did that he counted just how much money he saved over the years. "oh, bless the zalts!" this was an absurd amount of money. has he really done this amount of work over the years, are knew his job paid a pretty coin but almost a billion coins. this was absurd, though it might have something to do with the many difficult missions that aero did."how many missions did I take?" they all kind of blurred together, the only thing he could clearly remember was the burning desire to prove everything wrong.

sighing he counted out a little more than the average price for a cart and money for the trip. "should do some laundry," he would need fresh clothes for the trip. gathering up his clothes he grabbed a cube of clothes soap before going downstairs to wash his clothing. it was several flowers of scrubbing before he was gone and could hang his clothes to dry.

"Welcome home!" he greeted his mother as she walked in the front door. they talked about her day a work a bit before aero broke the topic of him buying a cart, "I plan to travel farther and longer for my missions. so it seems like the most convenient and cost-efficient mode of transportation."

"Okay," Neora said opening a jar of preserves for dinner. "make sure you don't buy one of those unseemly decorated models and make sure the beasts you get are in good health! have your thought where you're going to put it when not in use?" Aero started taking mental notes of what she was saying but he was curious why she knew so much about cart and beast owning. as far as he knew she's never driven anything.

'i mean she is pretty old and probably experience a lot of things without me knowing, 'but still, it was weird. after helping where he was allowed aero did some light, for him, reading as Neora washed up. he took his turn afterward then pulled down his laundry, things went bump in the night and he didn't want to lose something.

the next day he looked at maps and cart trips to figure out how long this was really gonna take. "it's clearly a 6-day one-way trip if things go well, so say I take a few days to pick out my thing I shouldn't be gone more then 2 and a half weeks." he hoped he didn't get homesick during that time, he wasn't pleasant to be around when he was homesick. when he first when to the school and got homesick he did so many things the Zalts and Zaltess would be ashamed to see.