the energy swirled around aero, even the spheres of stored energy. which currently were the size of medium boulders. the spun behind Aero as he let his energy spill into his weapon. By the time he reached the pack of Babbits and they charged at him, his prideful energy was barely retrained wanting to lash out at the world and all that treated it.

A Babbit launched straight, its instincts were screaming that this creature before it was dangerous. in the way others around it weren't. which meant eliminating and devouring their flesh.

aero barely blinked, many thoughts drowned out by his pride energy. nothing at this moment seemed that big of a deal, he knew what he could do and thing furry annoyance would understand that just as it died. a simple straight jab with his staff was his only response.

"by the zalts!" was the only thing idit could say as Aero's single strike killed the babbit in a gorry fashion. Gittins of bone and fur flying off. the explosion was nearly silent but it still drew all eyes, absently she noted not a drop touched Aero.

"that was new," Aero commented before walking forward." what was that?" he asked the helper looking at the now more hesitant babbitts. 'a hostile energy infusion,' the helper commented. this opened doors. but they didn't say anything letting their lord maintain their level of focus and harmony with the energy as he walked towards the creatures he currently identified as annoyances.

annoyances that sensed a change in the danger before them, something that could spell the end of them if they didn't fight back. but still might wipe them out even if they fought back, but as the threat walked forward. calm that true self-confidence could cause, he didn't expect any true loss to happen in this fight.

"May the Zatls and Zatless have your souls and may they show you kindness and mercy." that was the last words Aero spoke before his staff moved. it wasn't fast but lacked the smallest waver as he tapped each babbit he passed. each dying in a gory fashion. though not a drop touched Aero. they were not worthy of touching him.

after 5 deaths the Babbits moved, no longer letting themself die like helpless creatures. so they took to the air and dived at the teen, who only paused to shift his hold on his staff. before he swung high, the weapon briefly touched several Babbtis, before he swung low touching more. but that was more than enough to .et the energy injection take place.

"how," tzilla wondered as the babbit swelled and burst, their remains raining down on the area but not a drop touched Aero as he continued to march towards the hoard. it was strange to watch this...it couldn't be called a fight. it couldn't be called a massacre either as Aero intentionally left a small number of male and female Babbits living. but not conscious, he wasn't giving them that mercy to try and attack once more.

slowly the number of Babbits neared the red line, hunters shouldn't cross. though Aero didn't seem to be thinking about it, as he stared down the remaining Babbits. the ones that have managed to avoid being killed or knocked out. aero looked at each of them wondering what he should do with the annoyances.

'my lord are they not worth your attention anymore,' the helper spoke for the first time in several petals. aero blinked, he looked closely at the trembling creatures. too afraid to attack him. but also two afraid to run from him. 'your right there not worth my time,' he stared at each of them. his energy briefly flaring as he looked them in the eye.

"know your place!" he didn't raise his voice, but his tone and the energy behind made up for it. infused with the creatures, scaring themself into the minds of the creatures as Aero walked back into the forest.

"What in the story of the zalts was that?!" aero wasn't sure which of his teammates said his ears were buzzing a bit too much. nor was he sure who was right in front of him, they might have been the person who spoke. but at the moment he couldn't care, though the fog in his eyes and buzz in his ears he found a tree to lean against and take a seat on the ground.

he didn't faint, stubborn will. but he went into and out of awareness for a bit. the sun had set and moonlight shined down on the world when the buzzing died down and his vision started clearing up.

'helper what was that?' the helper responded quickly, 'energy overload after a period of high-level energy use. you synced with the pride elements of the energy and resulted in a temporary enlightened state.' aero was silent before admitting he needed a bit more time to put that together.

"what you saying is," he said after a few moments," I synced with my energy in a way that brought me to a higher level of understanding. This led to instinctual usage of the power... probably not something I can replicate easily," the helper informed him people could spend there lives searching for entitlement and less than 10% will ever truly find it.

'as a comic lord, your chances are increased by 3/4. not mention how long you will possibly live.' aero asked about his chances beforehand,' to which the helper was unsure. they didn't have enough information about his mental state before they meet. At the time they meet aero was already going through a mental change thanks to trauma from his battle with an unexpecting large battle of Babbits. 'know what kind of change it would have been, but my lord I didn't think your chances would have been that low.'

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"some times I think you're kissing up, what makes you think I had a good chance of reaching enlightenment?" the helper didn't say anything to the kiss-up comment, instead.' my lord at your core you question things and don't accept the simple truth that people hand to you, but you don't deny the facts of things. adaptable as well, this is a good mindset for searching for enlightenment.'

"Okay," Aero stated as that was annoyingly true. instead of asking more questions, he tried to recall what enlightenment felt like. the memory was foggy, but he could tell at that time he was calm. calmer than he's ever felt even in his mother's arms. calmer than he had any right to be.

like even with all the world's creatures before him, he didn't have a reason to worry. he couldn't figure out anything other than how calm he felt, the thought and memory were too foggy. 'I guess I'll have to work from that one bit,' so he shifted and started using meditative breaths.

half a flower went by as he tried to reach that calm, but it wasn't even within reaching distance. "Man this going to be a long-term thing." sitting up he stretched out taking stock of his body and his pride energy. sore but movable and combat-usable while the store of energy had been burned through.

'they were about the size of my fist,' it would take some time for them to return to their previous size which was good to aero. "if I hadn't had those I would have dropped into a weakened state from all the energy burned." what a great feeling to do something great and not have to drop into a weakened state.

climbing out of the cart, he found idit sitting before a small fire where she was boiling a pot of water. she was either going to use it to wash or put in her waterskin, he wasn't sure and didn't care all that much, what he did care about was how late it was.

the sky had gone dark when the sun had left the sky, which gave him an idea of how long he had been out from the enlightenment. he didn't like something like that had knocked him out for so long," helper I would appreciate a way to prevent that from happening again."

'it's simply a matter of energy resistance,' Aero paused remembering when he stopped his energy leak. he blacked out from," How would I raise my resistance?" the answer to that was simple but a little harder to put into practice. it required him to circulate energy through his body in amounts that pushed his limits.

'but not too much as you risk damaging yourself or risking death,' Aero nodded climbing out of the cart and putting his feet on the ground so he could feel a feel for the state of his body. besides all over sore from the overload, but he didn't feel too bad. opening his stats revealed no hidden injuries, but also his energy and mental stats gained a small boost.

Abiathar Aero

Mind 3.3

Body 3.2

Energy 4.8

Lord Level 4

'gaining an increased understanding of the energy I wield would affect those,' something he could keep in mind. he didn't feel a change in either of them, but he would take it at face value for the moment.

after making sure that he was injured and in good health he drank some water and nibbled some food before climbing back into the cart for more sleep. he slept straight till morning, at which point Inna work him up as idit set a filled water skin in his cart. " come on we have to leave," he blinked at her some more, ' I'm too tired for fighting them.' so he climbed into the front of the cart and started taking hold of the reins.

they were on the road for half a flower before Aero decide he wanted to talk, " so have you figured out a destination?" he figured they were leaving the area due to the massacre they committed. at best the remaining Babbits might try something, at worse other creatures would feel threatened and come after them.

moving was a good idea, decreasing the chance of them getting attacked. but having a new destination would be good, probably something for more training. " nope haven't figured one out, plan to visit the nearest town and top off supplies first before figuring that out."

aero nodded knowing that was a good choice of action, they move for another 3 flowers with light conversation before someone brought up the topic of what the zalts happened with Aero. "I don't fully understand it... don't remember it. I know that happened as a matter of fact."

"well it was cool looking," tzilla said getting agreement from the rest of them. aero preened before pushing down the reaction," I would be cooler if I could control it." that got another round of agreement.

"zaltess willing I'd like to learn something like that," Gaillia commented. mostly to herself, so she was caught off guard when Aero said that she could. " I don't know if you can get enlightenment, but you can learn to use energy and attack with it."

"how do you think that?" aero explained they were already manipulating energy thanks to their melodies so it was not a jump for the rest of them to learn some form of energy manipulation.' besides if they know now they'll probably be able to keep up with me in the future.'

his statement of course affected the path of their conversation for the next few hours, as they talked about how they would reach that ability. aero explained that they would have to craft a melody. the one the helper crafted was specially designed for his body and to access the power of his pride.

they probably didn't need the power of their pride, which wasn't a 1/4 as strong as his own. maybe a little more or less individually, 'that's probably why I was chosen.' four times the amount of that was probably unusual, even the people he had to track down treated less energy than he did. plus showing humility even though he would have truly been fine to die with his pride.

'what would be the best energy for them to unlock?' the helper was only quiet for the moment it took for them to process and collect the answer.' it depends on what kind of energy resistance potential they have. if it's low I would recommend a low-grade energy like physic. for something higher maybe mana or aether.' they were stronger energy forms but the helper frankly doubted they were someone on this planet that could take them.

'what happens if they use too strong of an energy?' the help gave a rather gory description of how the power would burn them from the inside out. if this didn't kill them they would be hurting for months. 'how do I test their tolerance," he rather not hurt his team. he was reluctantly getting attached and sort of did want to spend more time with them.

'There are seven most commonly used methods,' Aero listened to each method weighing the pros and cons of them. a few of them were pretty risky but gave a wide range of answers. he deiced on something less risky for the moment. after they stopped for the night he would ask them for their opinion on the options.

the most risk-free method was to take his energy and essentially poke them with it. the helper gave a more detailed 5 petal lecture, but Aero was going with poke. As the road straightened and looked it would remain that way for a while. aero closed his eyes in focus, he reserved flaring as he gathered and molded the energy.

"This might sting," he spoke loud enough to be heard over the absence before his energy lashed out." wha-?" Inna managed to get out before something invaded her mind body and soul. she bit her lip bending over in the strange and uncomfortable sensation. vaguely registering the swears that tzilla was unleashing.

as suddenly as the feeling appeared it retreated, leaving her shuddering as she lifted her head. turning to her male teammate whose eyes were closed with his head tilted as if listening to something they could not hear." that's an exciting result!"