"so how do they feel?" idit asked Inna, the most recent of them to receive their hybrid weapon." kind of light," she replied flipping one of the curved blades, part of a set to replace her previous triple dagger. this version replaced the handles with flutes. "they feel pretty good, not looking forward to working out how to use the."

when she spoke to the weapons smith, she would admit to taking aero's idea. but instead of turning her entire weapon into a flute. she turned part of it. now she could swing the daggers to make noise or she could use them like a flute.

"That's going to be the fun part thought," aero commented from where he was resting. having just cut off from a spar with idit. "for the record I would start with finger strengthening exercises," holding the notes while fighting led to some bad cramps. aero's had to break away from fights because of these cramps. he still did finger pushups to prevent that.

"What kind of finger exercises," Inna remembered the cramps she got trying to learn how to play the flute. aero gave a short lecture on what he found worked and the exercises that he remembered. so how did everyone decide that wanted to try them out, aero showing them how all of them were done? he may have preened a bit seeing them all struggle to strengthen their fingers. which of course left them with cramps and sores.

"I think we did very well," Galia commented as they returned to their hotel. asking one of the workers for something cold for her hands. "it was our first time, I doubt you're gone that well." neither say anything leaving the comment to float in the air. "so how did you learn something like that in the first place?"

"I read about it."

"Such knowledge is in the scrolls," Lior commented before making a point," but it's not the kind of thing you just casually find, why were you looking for such a thing." are turned to her and while part of him wanted to shit down the conversation. 'i'm trying to be more vulnerable with people.'

"I couldn't ask the school teachers how to strengthen my body, they would have told me to stop or take it easy. honestly, when I think about it, they only gave up when I didn't even try to go to them instead, just went around or through them." in the end it didn't change his lack of trust in them deciding they were weak in terms of wills. 'or did they decide that it wasn't a battle worth fighting?'

he pushed the path of thought aside, it was the past and he didn't plan on speaking to any of his older teachers any time soon. though the universe might have different plans for him, 'i pray to the zalts that doesn't happen. anyway, I've got a few hours before bed,' closing his eyes he took control of the pride energy that floated being him.

it has been several weeks of practice that allowed him to form the energy into threads that weaved into thick ropes. he made a thick coil of rope before he ran out of stored energy. "that part is done!" he panted the strain of the focus, catching up to him. he took a moment to catch his breath before drawing his focus up again.

it took a full two petals until he had the lock on and was able to send the newly crafted rope into the sealed realm where the beast of pride was trapped. to assist on the beast seal, while it was something like a bandaid on a dam. it annoyed the beast, which allowed aero to show it that he wasn't taking its attempts to break into his mind without a fight.

'Hopefully, that means it'll be quiet for a while,' he was growing warier and warier of the beast's attempts to poison his pride. but he got the feeling they weren't going to step back. which he understood, it was pride itself. but aero was too prideful to cower before the creature, even though he knew he was no match for it now.

'you've woven stronger ropes this time my lord,' the helper praised, 'i believe if your progress continues at this rate you'll be able to affect the beast.' which was something aero wanted to hear. he was going to take this creature on head first, he was going to build up to it.

"ah, so what is your suggestion for the next step?"

'well you've shown the ability to attack and bind, so something to defend would be the next step, it might slow the beast's attempts to infect you.' aero decided that was the best idea as he left his room for his third meal. washing up afterward where he kind of ran into Lior who was returning from her dinner. "hello aero? heading to bed?"

"yes," aero answered shortly unsure what he was supposed to do at this point but remained ready to figh- talk. but that was unnecessary as lion continued to her bath leaving aero to return to his room. ' inner to get better at conversation,' sighing he closed his room door and dropped onto his bed, grabbing a story scroll to read before he went to sleep.

the next morning they were getting ready to head out to the next town, aero took the chance to figure out the form of his defense. 'i know the best is attacking my mind so I need some kind of head defense.' the best image he could conjure was a head carapace or antlers like he's seen on creatures but that probably wouldn't work.

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'any image would work, as long as the intention behind it. is solid,' aero nodded in understanding before spreading out his senses trying to determine if there was anyone that he should worry about in terms of pride level.

"well she's young," aero opened his eyes and crossed a few streets until he found her. what was probably a 9-year-old who was glaring down at another girl her age. "a lot of pride for someone so young," she wasn't even trying to reign it in. ' the arrogance of youth people call it?' he wondered if that phrase was right for the situation, a lot of people call his pride the arrogant of the youth.

of course, he didn't take well to that. going as far as never to act arrogant, which causes him to do some self-reflecting on how he did things. 'i wasn't arrogant, at least not by my standards.' his reminiscing came to an end, and aero molded his energy into the sectioned staff. it floated around his slowly reaching for her pride.

a simple tap told him the pride wasn't that solid, he has it one good stick at about medium strength and watched it fall apart like glass. "by the zalts that's bad isn't it!" it wasn't a question and the helper immediately switched into an emergency mode.

'my lord you've managed to completely wreck her pride, the effects-' they didn't get to continue as the girl fell to her knees dead silent. aero immediately shifted the form of his sectioned staff turning into a wall of marble-sized bubbles. 'very slow and very steady,' the helper instructed as aero closed his eyes summoning the best of his focus.

in a thin stream, he poured the bubbles into the girl's shattered pride letting the bubbles build up her pride. it had to be slow with it so that he could make sure it was at a level that won't draw the beast's attention.

'that good my lord,' the helper informed him, drawing the teen from his focus. opening his eyes and ignoring the sweat around them to check on the girl. she was already getting to her feet, with the help of the other girl. 'the pride of a child is more fragile than I thought, that will not happen again.' he kept his distance but made sure the girl made it to her father before heading off.

'i need more control in my striking force, I also misjudged the strength of her pride. but it felt pretty solid,' that baffled him. it felt so solid but fell so easily,' it's possible.' the helper started a theory coming together,' that's it! a false sense of pride. it might have looked big and solid but inf act it was pretty hollow!'

"That kind of makes sense for someone her age," the words false sense of pride rolled around his head. he spent a flower later on, wondering if that applied to him was his sense of pride false. 'no, they would have chosen me to be the lord of it was. though he did decide that he had to figure out a new section of methods that wouldn't be filled by false pride.

'for now, let's just check everyone's pride!" aero thought as the sectioned staff formed around his waist. orbiting him for a moment before it stuck out. testing each pride when in his immediate area. he hugged them all as varying levels of solid and none of them seemed false to him. "well that wasn't much help," he reached out and didn't strike, digging into their auras.

'working a bit better, feeling the resistance to my invasion.' but it was proving better testing method. for the moment, so aero continued to test it, setting how well he could gauses the strength. at most he got a vague sense of this person's pride is stronger than this person's. which told him he needed a wider selection to draw from.

"you look busy," aero snapped to face Lior. "but I just wanted to let you know the rest of us are ready to head out," she asked if they should wait and aero told her that he wasn't doing anything urgent. the team seat out within the flower, and they grabbed the paper before they did.

"man I can't believe that there's life in the stars," the front page of the news that the leaders of their planet had been visited and left strange gifts. there wasn't much about who sent it or why but, there was something out there in the stars. "man I wonder if will meet the mastermind behind this." Inna joked.

"you've already met them," aero commented measuring the angle of the sun to figure out how far they could make it before sunset.

"what do you mean?"

"I sent the clothing to them," he responded starting at his team to watch their reactions.

"How?" tzilla asked, she knew enough about aero to know that he wouldn't lie about his accomplishments. he didn't even hide the fact that he committed several small crimes. "why?"

"I got a job a couple of months back, as a side effect of this job other plants are likely to pay attention to our planet. not all of them are nice, so I figure people should know there is life out there."

"so sending clothes is your way of telling that there is life out there?" aero nodded to Galia's question, clothing hasn't changed much in the last few hundred years. "I designed my clothing to meet my needs in combat, the materials alone of what I sent them can't be made here."

"So what's the next step of your plan?" aero reasoned, for the moment was to wait and see people's relations before introducing himself. he wasn't going to invite trouble without a plan. "then I guess it's time to introduce myself, we'll see how things for from there."

"part of me wants to keep away, while another wants to see this possible disaster with snacks." lion quickly shushed tzilla, though she agreed with the comment. she wondered how the world leaders would deal with the prideful male. he would be quite the sight, they could collectively aero holding himself back from attacking someone.

"well, as long as you don't plan on fighting an army you can count on me?" Galia was concerned about how aero didn't answer her. it got more concerning when they stopped to stretch their legs and aero did so by training out how one would fight an army.

"if he starts the fight I'm out," but she couldn't stop herself from preparing all the same. or praying to the Zatls and Zatless in hopes they could prevent the possible battle.

the group headed south for almost a week before turning east-ish for a few days before they arrived at the large town Galia frequently enough that she knew a good weapon smith and an inn to stay in. "now I must warn you, my choice is a bit interesting?"

"why is that a question?" aero could feel his hackles rise.

"I was trying to find the best word to describe her, but prepare yourself." she lead the way to a rather big building that looked like someone made several attempts to paint it different colors but gave up or lost interest each time.

"hey come out!" a crash followed her words. more noise came from the building each growing louder as they came to the door. it only served to put aero on guard, they sounded dangerous to be near. "Galia!" this cross and what couldn't be described as more than a mess almost fell as she burst through the front door. aero stepped back at the manic look in the girl's eyes." I got your letter and already have a prototype ready!"

"she sent letters, why didn't we do that?" Lior asked pulling her gaze from the disheveled weapon smith. "because some people need to see the idea before they can do something with it." Inna responded looking at aero and wondering if they would have to get between them. "oh hello everyone! I'm Yona! I'm a weapons smith, people say my thoughts aren't in order, and they're right!"

"I give her points for confidence," idit added to the conversation, as Yona moved closer to shack their hands and instead of their weapons. she didn't take notice of the glare aero gave her when she grabbed his staff, he didn't release it for a moment though he did determine while she was in decent shape she wouldn't match him in power.

'That's good, her threat assessment isn't high.' the helper commented on their lord's path thought asking why she needed a threat assessment.' causes she gives me a weird feeling like it's a warning.'