Days passed by quickly, and after exploring the City of Una, his new home was finally built. He had himself branded by the Notification Bird before saying his goodbyes to Brother Gerard, of course they’ll meet again by the end of the week.
Da gu da du ga da!
Galloping through the plains was an exhilarating experience, one Aeron liked a lot. Though it was uncomfortable at first, he had grown to like it. Spirit also seemed to enjoy it. As he went further and further away from the City, he felt an eerie feeling when he passed by forests and other areas, like he was being watched from behind.
He had become extra vigilant afterwards, later on he would learn that such feeling was common. This were the work of the Guardians of the Areas scanning unknown creatures near their territory. He had made sure to travel away from the edge of the Endless Forest too, it already creeped him out passing by normal forests.
Travelling through areas which were already cleared by other was very different compared to travelling untouched areas. These feeling of constant vigilance made Aeron’s excitement diminish, and doubts about his decisions appeared.
‘I should’ve chosen a nearer area’ thoughts like this started to appear in his mind.
There were all sorts of creatures in this world, there were no lack of scary ones. Thus, as he camped in the middle of nowhere, he had unconsciously summoned all his pets. The night was filled with different sounds and cries, it was a good thing Gaia had brighter moons than Earth, there weren’t any need for him to find or cast a source for light. Of course, it was only bright in the open areas, inside forested areas were a different story.
‘This must be how people with phobias felt huh’ he thought. He shivered a bit, feeling scared, this had further made him realize the dangers of this new world.
Arthur snuggled with him when he felt his master’s unease. This action allayed some of Aeron’s worries, he looked around and saw the vigilant silver monkeys, while the other monkeys were very nonchalant some even started to groom themselves and others.
Realizing that he wasn’t as lonely as he thought he was, and with these pets of his keeping watch he was much safer than others. He let the silver monkeys inside the tent, he had even named them, Lancelot, Gwaine, Percival, and Elyan.
‘I might just name one of my pet Merlin in the future’ he thought.
He let Richie lead 4 other Black Monkeys outside the tent, they were all equipped with his available weapons. He also gave the other four monkeys new names; at this point he had realized that he could easily recall the names he had given without much thought. He named them Richmond, Erick, Bruno, and Rambo, both Bruno and Rambo carried spears as they were the biggest after Richie. He wasn’t that great at naming but he still tried his best.
After a night of sleep, Aeron continued his journey, it only took him about two hours to reach his new Home. There he saw the small forest in the map, it was small when you looked at the map but it probably covered about more than 10 kilometers of forested areas.
He finally saw his new home which was a simple two-story earth house, it was quite big maybe about 300 square meters wide. This kind of size didn’t really matter much when building the house since only the earth is used as material. There was also an underground floor. The second floor was also useful when dealing with beasts using bows if he ever needed to. The stone doors were made so that it would sink down when opened and rise up when closed, this operation was done using [Mana Manipulation] , there was a lock mechanism inside the house too, also a stone platform was inside the house that worked as an elevator to the underground and second floor.
The windows were also the same as the doors, they had also planted some Breathing Bush on each floor, these plants only needed mana to produce breathable air, one mana stone could sustain it for a month. There were also some pitcher plants filled with water, Pitcher Plants were the same with Breathing Bush it only needs mana stones so it doesn’t produce digestive juices, and lets the user store water inside it. The storage area was in the underground floor, it was filled to the brim with mana rice and fruits enough to last him more than a month, I was told this was an amount they usually send as initial supply.
Outside, there were twelve fields filled with newly grown mana rice, it might take another month to mature, which was probably in time for them to deliver his needs, he had already told Brother Gerard that he wanted a spear and a bow with some arrows for his free weapons every two months. With these weapons he would be able to arm some of his monkeys, not counting those that he will make by himself.
Surrounding the whole estate was a 4-meter tall earth wall, the gate’s mechanism was the same as the stone doors and windows. He turned his attention to the forest; he had decided to call it Arthur Forest. He called forth his monkey army.
“Richie, Richmond, Erick, Bruno, and Rambo you stay, Lancelot, Gwaine, Percival, and Elyan, you four lead five monkeys each, explore the forest, bring back all the wood essence and vine essence you can find, if you find any beasts that’s too strong inside the forest then immediately retreat and report back to me”
“Ki!”
The monkeys bowed before taking off, Aeron saw the Silver Monkeys activate their skills for the first time. Their fur suddenly transformed to liquid silver before solidifying into silver armors, it must be a skill like Arthur’s [Gold Armaments] maybe something like [Silver Armaments], then they used [Make Staff], mana agglomerated on their hands then started forming a staff, liquid silver started flowing from their hands covering the staff, transforming it to a silver staff.
‘It seems like [Silver Armaments] is not just limited to armor’ Aeron thought.
The four leaped into the trees followed by the other monkeys.
“Arthur you stay with me and train as we wait for them to return” Aeron said to Arthur.
“Kiki”
Arthur was more powerful than any of the other monkeys, but it was still too young. Spirit was out in the open running around or grazing on the grass. Aeron wanted to see the small river but held off, he needed absolute safety so he should only do so when he had his monkey army with him.
Zhwoom!
Aeron felt the air scream as Arthur swung his golden staff masterfully, Arthur was currently covered by a golden armor but unlike the silver monkey’s silver armor, Arthur’s armor and staff was covered with intricate patterns.
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Sweee!
Arthur’s tail would sometimes pierce through the air, Aeron couldn’t see much but he did notice Arthur’s tail would suddenly transform into golden blades. If this was used properly in a fight, the enemy would definitely be surprised to death. The remaining black monkeys acted as bodyguards for Aeron.
Aeron watched for a bit before proceeding to meditate, although he had the cheat like skill [Level Up (Anomalous)] which gave him unlimited time for meditation, it still took him about 5 hours to gather mana equal to that of a Grade 1 Affinity’s 1-hour meditation. This speed was already further improved by the sublimation of his soul which indirectly increased his efficiency in meditation, this was the sad reality of his Grade 4 affinity.
Considering that 5 hours was already about a fourth of the day, plus weapon and body training, as well as the added daily patrolling mission, he was only able to match a Grade 1 Affinity’s meditation time of one hour per day. But when he thought about it, without this skill he would probably be too depressed to even think about training.
After an hour or so, he noticed some teams already started returning, bringing with them some vine essence and a small amount of wood essence. Aeron stopped meditating for a bit instructing Richmond, Erick, and Bruno to bring the essences inside the house, before resuming his meditation.
Aeron had decided to start his patrolling duties on the morrow, Brother Gerard had actually told him that the patrolling duties was in truth, just an additional task. Just them living near the Endless Forest served their purpose, there was that gathering task too. It was actually a ruse to make sure that the personnel would actually explore the forest. The task changes depending on the applicant, for him, it was fruit gathering task because he had a monkey pet. The quota was there to make sure he would at least visit the Endless Forest every week, for others it might be hunting tasks or herb gathering tasks.
They were after all, just an early warning system, as long as they stayed in their houses which was near the Endless Forest, they would notice if there were danger, which provides them sufficient time to send the notification bird. The underground floor was also an emergency bunker for them to hide in, if needed.
The Monkeys had just started exploring Arthur Forest, he had done this to give the monkeys a place to stay in. And to also gather essence materials, he had even planned to explore the three hills west of his house. If it had any ore essence or just the simple rock essence then it should be enough to serve his purpose, having the three essences would allow him to create crude spears.
Night came and he had the Black Monkeys and Arthur stay in the house, he had first planned to make the Black Monkeys the team leader of the monkey teams, and have the silver monkeys stay with him. It was fortunate that Brother Gerard told him the story about the Horse King. He had yet to know if there were people searching for the monkey king. The five Black Monkeys were already good enough to follow him.
He’ll just have the silver monkeys explore Arthur’s Forest, while he and the Black Monkeys patrol the Endless Forest. Doing so would at least give him an initial understanding of the Endless Forest, when the Arthur Forest is fully explored then he’ll have the other monkey start the exploration of the Endless Forest. As for Arthur, he started teaching him how to read and write, it was a slow process because they only had the ground as paper and wood essence as pencil. Right now, Arthur was memorizing his letters, this was because, although he could understand Arthur’s gesture it wasn’t enough for them to communicate properly.
Maybe in the future they would have some sort of ways to communicate, after all the pets fully understood orders, but casually talking to them would garner confusion. He had guessed it was some sort of rule, just like the Rules of Mana. He actually knew there was a skill for communication in the Transcendent level, but that was too far in the future. Arthur was a quick learner though; it would probably take him no more than 1 week to master the words, even if it was just simple words, it was enough to give him a clearer idea.
“They’re big!” Aeron said in marvel.
He was currently standing in front of the Endless Forest, he had the Black Team as he decided to call them, explore further in the Forest in a U pattern, if there was just one pet doing the patrolling then he would definitely not go near the Endless Forest. He was even riding on Spirit as he looked at the Giant Trees. Some of these trees were probably 100 meters high or taller, and this was just the fringes of the Forest. He didn’t stay for long; he had already felt danger from staying for a bit.
The patrolling task didn’t take long, the 10-kilometer area he was assigned to wasn’t much, it only took him about two hours to patrol the whole area, before going back to the house and continue his training.
Days passed by and he had already stayed for one week, he didn’t forget to gather the fruits as per the task he was given, he was planning to give 14 fruits for his quota. He was tempted to presents more but it would become questionable how he gathered too much, 2 fruits per day should be a justifiable number.
Arthur had just completed his learning period, but right now Aeron was expecting visitors so he had all his pets except Richie stay inside his Pet Space.
Still he went to the Forest to start his patrol, 1 monkey or five didn’t make any difference, he still finished doing so in 2 hours. When he traveled back, he saw the visitors he was expecting.
‘As expected, Brother Gerard is really rich’ he thought.
There was an entourage about a kilometer away from his house, four big tigers with High-Level Professionals riding on them, while in the middle was a carriage being pulled by a giant White Rhino. The carriage didn’t surprise him because he already knew Brother Gerard was loaded, even the High-Level Guards were expected, what truly surprised him was the demon beasts pulling the carriage. That was a demon beast, which means that the Tamer was at the least a genius that had the chance of Transcendence. Of course, he could be wrong and the Tamer was a late bloomer who only tamed the White Rhino when he was already past level 8. But the chances of that happening was small, Tamers who passed level 8 without High-Grade Beast pet wouldn’t attempt to tame them after level 8, it was because it was useless to do so already.
‘It seems Brother Gerard isn’t just a simple scion as he said he was’ Aeron thought, he wasn’t much of a schemer as those in the books he read, he just planned to strengthen himself. As for whether Brother Gerard was truly genuine or not. That was a question for the future, right now he had helped Aeron, and Aeron planned to return the favor.
“Brother Gerard!”
Aeron called as he approached them, there was actually a person sitting on the roof of the carriage waving at him, his attention was also pulled by the carriage driver, it was a youth no more than 20 years old. He had guessed this was the Tamer, as for why, this was because the youth didn’t use any reins to control the White Rhino, the White Rhino suddenly turned then bellowed a roar.
ROAARR!!
The White Rhino roared in his direction; Spirit reared in surprise.
“KIIIIIIII!!!!”
Richie leaped from behind Aeron, he stood in front wielding the emerald spear, Richie looked furiously at the White Rhino not an ounce of fear could be seen.
“Stop!”
Brother Gerard shouted as he glared at the youth. He jumped down the carriage and approached Aeron.
“Sorry about that little brother, ignore that man, his always grumpy” Brother Gerard in a jesting voice.
“Its fine Brother Gerard, they’re probably angry because you had to travel far right?”
Aeron said, this was the only reason he could think of that would garner animosity from Brother Gerard’s people.
“No no no, don’t blame yourself, I could’ve had another person go here for me, it was I who decided to come myself”
Brother Gerard said, while tapping on Aeron’s shoulder.
“Actually, that guy is jealous cause I found another Tamer mwahahaha”
Brother Gerard whispered the laughed in an evil but playful way.
“Ehhh really?”
Aeron was at a loss for words, this Brother Gerard of his became more immature the further he got to know him.
“hahaha I’ll explain it later” Brother Gerard said before smiling.