On a pre-scheduled date, the team gathered back in town to check up on each other and to discuss possible replies. For more training or the journey home, "so taking in these energies could have effects on us. But we're not sure if they count as negative ones?"
'Did you know this?' Aero asked the helper, who confirmed it. 'It is simply my lord, this is a choice for them alone. Each practitioner goes through,' Aero huffed before asking about the worst-case scenario in the changes. 'That varies too much,' they answered quickly. 'But the change can be as dramatic as their entire body becomes the element. Becoming a being of energy and element. But it has just drastic benefits.'
'Benefits?' the helper explained in great detail the top three reasons it was hard to kill something made of energy. 'Alright, I guess that's one thing, but would they want to change that much?'
'Body dysmorphia is a serious thing; take patience and care when dealing with it if they continue down this path.' Aero nodded, watching his team talk out the possibilities. Before something occurred to him.' Could that happen to me? Could my manipulation of pride energy cause physical changes in me?'
'Yes, but at your current levels, you have nothing to worry about yet.' That was a little reassuring, something to keep in mind then, turning back into the conversation, which, as it grew a bit heated, he asked, "What exactly do you think is going to change?"
"Well, are bodies, who knows how that's going to change us!" he conceded to the point, "so how much change do you think you can accept? We probably could find a way to limit the change, the books themselves, the change only taking place after often elemental changes."
Aero took a sip of his drink; simply stepping away could help. Slow it down or even stop it altogether." Galia blinked before nodding." You're right, " letting out a breath, she relaxed into her chair. "In the meantime, focus on my weapon practices." Really, she was getting the hang of it, but she simply needed more practice.
"I can help with that if you want?" Inna offered, thinking along the same lines." If we head back home, we could get some rest, maybe take care of some other business. I know Aero is helping with some science." Aero stated he was only supplying some information, "we could dedicate some time to studying," tzilla commented, which seemed like a decent option.
"Study what?" idit asked, to which Tzillia gestured at Aero, who was a breath away from making a rude gesture." There are aliens and other things in space. I think we should dedicate some time to studying all of that!"
"She got a point, Aero stated," there are many things I've learned that are crucial to living amongst the universal community." Galia then asked what kinds of things they needed to know about people. "Well, the first would be the interplanetary language. created by the first 100 planets coming together. It is a very big language. especially because it grows with time and people, the more plants that join, the bigger the language gets."
"How big is it?" the helper answered the question," over 200 sextillion words." Idit dropped her mug, "sextillion. sextillion!" That was insane, she told Aero as much, only for him to snicker." Fun fact, that's the words we could use with your voice. There are signs, body motions, colors."
"There is an ever-growing number of creatures, an ever-growing number of planets. They could communicate in endless ways. which means endless ways to form languages that must span species. those who speak with sound or light. If you wish to be among the stars and all that lives between and on them, of course, there must be a language for all, no matter how large it grows."
letting out a long sigh," Okay, where do we start?" Aero started, before he made a sound like a click, chirp, or bark. He paused before making another sound, then he made another closer to a thick rhythm growing. He made several more strange and alien noises before he explained, "A few ways to say hello."
"Oh, zaltess of words and languages, please by all that exists assist us."
"When did you learn that?" That answer to that was pretty simple: Tova has been slipping more of the universal language into their lessons and letters. He was nowhere fast on his lesson, which annoyed him a little. But at the same time, he felt surges of pride each time he got a word right, learned another. At this current point, he could introduce himself properly. He could ask for help or curse someone out.
"One of the things you learned is to specifically curse people out?" tzilla clenched her jaw so she didn't laugh; it was so like Aero despite how bizarre it was. "I'm not ashamed of my choice. The better question is what you're going to learn first, beyond the basics of speaking."
"You mean like how to make those noises with your mouth. cause I don't chirp." Inna stated that Aero remembered how much work it took for him to get it down. Even then, his accent slipped through heavily.
Still, he did his best to instruct them on getting the noise down, even though they carried on while they discussed. None of them made an understandable noise. Chirping was hard, but there were other ways to communicate across the universe.
Tova had him learn the basics of several forms. As a lord, he would go many places speaking to many beings. It wasn't even guaranteed that he would be able to learn to speak in other ways. More than one cosmic lord gained power for such a thing. "This is a weird feeling in my jaw," Aero shrugged at the comment before clicking several times, "Was that an insult?" Aero shook his head.
"Complement, actually," then he clicked against it in a light different pitch and pattern." That was an insult." She glared at him while Tzilia snickered, "Alright, so I'm getting that the clicking has to do with pitch and pattern. " Aero nodded," that's how most languages work. An alphabet is just a pattern that forms words."
"Never looked at it that way," she commented," so we need to break it down, get better at making the right sounds and understanding them?" Aero nodded before clicking again. "Some kind of affirmation," he clicked shortly. before clicking a stop and start. Tzilia looked at her teammate, who only looked confused.
"The universal ability in clicks doesn't have much similarity to our own. Probably. Literature and grammar were not his strong suits; what he knew was mostly what he'd observed from reading so much.
Aero then clicked through the entirety of the alphabet he remembered. "Did you bring any scrolls on this?" Aero shook his head at the question. Frankly, they went, and left it hadn't occurred to him that they would end up learning the language. So he was sticking with verbal lessons.
By the time they were ready to split up again, most of them could at least differentiate the clicks a bit. They couldn't come up with a direct translation. Probably because there wasn't any, they would probably have to make it.
Aero's translation was more general. What was a greeting, a curse, a direction, and other decisions, but not what they directly meant. Tova didn't know, and the helper didn't know. It would require a long and tedious study of language to figure it out.
So he was leaving it alone for the moment as there were more serious things. "It would probably be better to hire someone to do it." The helper spoke up," There's no need to hire someone. The interplanetary government is supposed to take care of it."
"I see, what's necessary for it to get started?" The helper started listing things out; they needed to make a formal request. Then, once the request was accepted, someone would come to study the language. So they would need to collect all information about the language and how it works.
"From here it's a waiting game and helping game, before and after a certain amount of varying time depending on how complicated the translations are." Aero nodded," Well, I guess we best get started,' he asked a few more questions about the process before making a decision. I'll have to write her another letter. Huffing, he leaned back on the creature as it continued to trek down the road.
It would be a long while before they reached the valley again, and in the meantime, Aero decided to practice in his chirping. Unexpectedly, the bird type creture started chirping back at him,' Oh. How interesting it can preserve the words,' the helper commented, maybe the creatures of this world possessed more sentience than the inhabitants believed.'
aero chirped back nd forth with the bied for a while before herulaxed it was mimicking him, they weren't speaking the same language, even though his sounds were similar. The bird was definitely more interested in him when they landed in that valley. It took some effort to get it to fly off. "Well, someone made a friend," Aero chipred something inna knew as rude simply from the look on his face. "You're going to be doing that more, aren't you?" Aero smiled and clicked." She sighed.
They returned to their camping spot and put their things back in order. Aero didn't let that stop him from practicing. trying to expand his vocabulary. more diplomatic words and sounds, how to properly introduce himself as the lord of pride, which is probably a translation point.
The next morning, he stretched and went on a run through the valley before returning to camp for some cool-downs and water before diving into preparing the letter. 'Ugh, what's the next point I should make?' he knew he was essentially putting more work on her shoulders. So he had to convince her it was a good idea.
'At this rate, I might have to pay her for the work I keep putting on her.' It was probably fair; maybe I should get her a gift. She's doing a lot for their home. It can't be something cheap. maybe something meaningful that fully expressed his thanks.
'Something handmade, possibly?' he wondered, tapping against the floor of the cart, before sighing.' Well, whatever I get her, it's not coming to me right now.' So he tried to finish the letter, doing his best to come off less hostile and more thankful. diplomatic.
'My lord, you don't have to try so hard, your tone has already been softening. Relax,' the helper encouraged, letting out a breath. He tried again, but it still took some work to get himself to relax enough that it reflected in his writing.
"Well, that's probably the best I'm going to get, he closed up the letter and placed it where it would be secure before turning around and starting some light exercise to get his blood flowing before he moved on to something else.
He really didn't have anything solid in mind, just moving around the field, with his staff in motions that had long ago become second nature to him. he didn't even think she moved, moving the wind. striking the eptals in the air. flipping off whoever was trying to spy on him.
I can't see them, but their pride is obvious at this moment, so instead of trying to chase them out. He threw his staff into the air and gave his imaginary opponent a quick three-piece before catching the start to swing it right into the place that was just mean.
"Mm," twirling his weapon above his head, something occurred to him. "I need to get more letter paper," twirling with the motion of the staff, he flipped over a few bushes of flowers before swatting his staff through a fourth, knocking many petals into the ever constant wind. " But more originally, the beast hasn't tried anything in a while."
'Going through the rest of his exercise, he decides to check in on it, first looking at the barrier that imprisoned it. not that it was something he could do about it at the moment. The formation of the barrier was way out of his league. But it allowed Aero to check for any outstanding problems and assure himself before he went down to the beast.
It was sitting peacefully, chained and bound to the ground of its prison, "Well, that I just don't buy." The creature turned its head away from him, determined to ignore him. Aero didn't feel like dealing with the beast, and it commented either, so he focused on something else, checking over the chains, feeling them for more power so they could last longer.
'There usaly worn down more,' for a brief moment, he considered that the beast had finally given up. Then dismissed the idea, even if it proved fatal, something born of pride simply wouldn't give up that quickly.
'if i was in this sucation id'n simply start redirectiong my energies.' figure something out other then force to get what he wanted." well what ever you're planning, will be over come. waste your time and energy if you feel like it." that got a reaction from it, for a moment it tried to whip around tearing him in half. But the chains held tight. "We will see if your pathetic existence and friends can stop what will come." Aero huffed and left prison, gasping. He came back to his body. holding at the spiritual wound.
"Alright, has that healed even in the slightest?" The helper ran the number,' a negligible amount. But that is a distant concern. The beast is planning something,' the lord asked if it was anything the helper could detect. to which he got a negative.' Alright then, sighing, Aero stretched and tried to think. 'If we're lucky, probably something simple, maybe even from this plant. Of course, it's not above waking ancient things or off-planet creatures." sighing, Aero tried to think, without information, the only solid plan was train.
'We have to get more information about what it's planning, or we're going to just get in trouble.' Coming to a stop, Aero looked up towards the sky before raising his hands. His energy shifted, allowing him to catch the light of the sun, focusing it until he had a sphere of light the size of his head.
"Good so far," taking the sphere, he condensed it until it was only half the size it was before." Still good." With it like that, he could feel its heat better. which he was partially after, pushing some power into the orb, he increased the intensity of the light and heat. even as he was forced to close his eyes to protect them.
Still, he continued to push, increasing even as his skin started to tingle." What the zaltess is this?" Inna cried from where she was mediating. "Are you what are you doing?" he didn't answer, holding the light for a moment before turning away from the camp and his teams, and he was sure that he wasn't going to hurt them.
Then he reared his arm back, like the cracking of a whip, and his arm shot forward. shooting the ball of light soaring through the air. until it destabilized." AHH!" Inna cried," Why did I not see that coming!" she cried as it exploded into heat and force. greater than anything he's got before. enough to feel it ruffle his clothing. enough to burn the ground, set some plants lightly on fire.
"This will work."