One week later.
Back in the group’s planet, Daniel was currently sitting in silence while playing with the long ears of the wolf cub, and staring at Aeron, who was standing quietly in front of an enormous green and transparent giant made out of mental power.
The two were connected by a thin stream of mental power, through which portions of consciousness were transported from Aeron’s body, to that of the giant. At the same time, the mental power of which the large avatar was made out of, was moving back into Aeron’s body, and slowly refining his immortal essence.
This process went on for a few hours, until finally, the green light in Aeron’s eyes disappeared, and the surface of the avatar become denser and closer to that of a normal body, but with a completely different feel to it.
"Is it over?" Asked Daniel with curiosity. The process was of great interest to him, after all, he didn’t know much about the world of mental cultivation, and any information he could get regarding it from Aeron’s ascension, was very much appreciated.
Even for a beginner like him, it was clear what the process Aeron had gone through consisted in. He had moved his entire consciousness into the body of his avatar, and at the same time, he had used the mental power that he was receiving back from it, to refine the very essence of which his body was made out of. Flesh, blood, muscles.. Even the immortal essence that kept the molecules of his body tightly packed together, were forcibly turned into mental power.
At the end of the process, the avatar had taken the place of the body, and the body had turned into a construct made out of Aeron’s mental power.
"Almost.. The most important part is missing." Responded Aeron by sending his thoughts directly into Daniel’s mind. The voice had no origin, and yet, thanks to his powerful mind power, Daniel was able to pinpoint its origin in the avatar, who soon after, pointed his finger at Aeron’s former body, and turned it into a mist of invisible mind power that slowly moved into his nostrils.
The reason why this process was necessary, was because in order to become a true mental warrior, one needed a body that was born out of their own mind and consciousness. That was the reason why mental warriors were forced to create an avatar, and feed it mental power until they would be strong enough to contain their consciousness. They would then absorb the empty shell left behind, which contained the innate affinities from which a special power would be born.
As the last wisp of mind power was entering his body, Aeron said, "Now, it is ov-AAAAAAARGHH" His train of thought was interrupted, and before he could finish speaking, he began to scream without any apparent reason.
These screams were not out of pain, but of panic and confusion. To Daniel’s eyes, it seemed that Aeron had gone crazy. "Damn it!" He said before teleporting next to him, and trying to calm him down. Unfortunately, nothing he tried worked.
This reaction was clearly not expected, so, in a moment of worry, Daniel tried to read Aeron’s mind in hope that he could understand what was happening to him.
This was, and would forever be one of Daniel’s biggest mistakes.
The moment he tried to read Aeron’s thoughts, his own mind was flooded with a buzzing sound so powerful, that ultimately ended up erasing his mind. Luckily for him, his spirit and body had been left untouched, which allowed for his mind to reform soon after. If not for it, he would have died.
Not daring to try that again, Daniel placed one hand over Aeron’s shoulder. He then flooded his body with healing essence which, ever since his own ascension, he had developed to a point where it could not only heal physical injuries, but also the injuries of the mind.
Aeron’s screams quickly lessened as a result, and his hidden expression softened to a calmer one. The two remained in that position for two whole days, until finally, Aeron calmed down completely.
"What happened to you?" Asked Daniel after Aeron started to move.
"Voices. So many of them.." muttered Aeron while trying to keep his train of thoughts straight, and not talk gibberish.
Daniel was confused. He knew that Aeron could hear the thoughts and emotions of every individual in his surroundings, but even considered all of the people within his planet right now, the amount did not add up to twenty. How could the thoughts of such a little number of people hurt him so badly?
Aeron could hear Daniel’s thoughts and doubts, so, before he could even ask, he said, "Dead.. dead people.."
"WHAT?!? Is that a thing mental warriors can do?" Asked Daniel with curiosity. He had heard a lot about the powers of immortals, demons and dragons, but never about the powers of mental warriors.
Aeron turned to look back at him, and responded by saying, "I don’t know. Our powers aren’t as recognizable as yours."
"Can you keep it together?" Asked Daniel, worried about his friend’s state of mind.
"I can.. I don’t know how long it would have taken me to get used to it, if not for your system." Said Aeron, almost thanking his lucky stars for having been in Daniel’s presence when he had decided to ascend into a being of pure mental power.
"Good. So, is that the power you have gained from this? Hearing the voices of the dead?" Asked Daniel after making sure that Aeron wasn’t in any kind of danger.
Aeron shook his head, then responded by saying, "No.. it’s the only power that made itself known to me. They aren’t as clear as yours, and if I have more of them, I will have to discover them."
"Alright then, go rest.. We will arrive in about a week."
Daniel was more shocked that he let it appear. He was not aware that hearing the voices of the dead was possible, nor that there was a place where the consciousness of people would go after their death, so Aeron’s ascension had been a complete revelation to him. For a moment he couldn’t help but think that he would have liked to see what was on the other side, and maybe even see a few of the people he had lost along the way.
With that thought in mind, he left Aeron to recover from the painful experience, and went to wait elsewhere.
-----
One week later, Planet Naturae.
Naturae was the only planet left within the dominion of a faction called One With Nature. It’s size was relatively small for a planet, and yet, its flora was composed of the most dense concentration of different kinds of plants, insects, and small living creature than any other planet in the known universe.
To inhabit this planet, was one of the weakest, and yet most advanced factions within the universal government. A faction who was focused on the in depth study of alchemy, and medicines that could affect the strong bodies of the immortal cultivators.
Due to their objectives, this faction traditionally lacked any interest towards power. All they wanted was to gain knowledge, and make discoveries. Some would only cultivate for the purpose of extending their lives in order to be able to complete their research.
Unfortunately, while they were a small faction, their net worth was above that of many medium sized factions, and that, had made them the target of one faction in particular.
Within the many ki factions, was a group of nomadic warriors whose behaviour was closer to that of bandits than mercenaries. They would move from one galaxy to the other, and find any reason to declare war against any of the weaker factions. If they couldn’t find any, they would usually fabricate one, or instigate the other faction into declaring war first.
Now, the full force of the One With Nature were reunited, and were currently floating in space a few thousand kilometers away from the planet, in order to avoid any damage to befall it in case a fight would break out. In between these individuals, was Lucious. He was eating one of the exotic fruits of which this planet was rich of, and along with the rest, staring at the massive army that filled the spaceship that was fluctuating in front of them.
Standing in front of each group, were the leaders of their respective factions. A muscolous warrior with a bare chest, and plated armor that covered his legs and arms, and an old man who appeared to be a step away from his natural death. He was dressed in white, yet dirty clothes.
Both of them emanated a power that was in no way lower than that of a demon lord, which made them, at the very least, high immortals above the hundredth phase of high immortality.
"Why are you doing this? We just want to be left to our experiments.." Said the old man to the leader of the enemy’s faction with a fair amount of anger and exasperation. They had been attacked more than once in the past, and while they had chosen to pay their way to peace the first few times, they had seen a never ending pattern to which they were not willing to fall prey to.
"Old man, did you forget how one of my people came to visit your planet, and was killed by one of yours?" Said the leader of the faction called ’The Life Takers’, before turning to one of his men, which quickly shouted the name ’Rova’ to him. He then turned back towards the old man, and said "Rova! Little Rova was my best man.. A brother! You will pay for his death."
Clearly irritated by the man’s lies, the old man burst out saying, "You mean the day when one of your goons delivered a crate with a dead body in it! You foul beast."
"Let’s not waste anymore time in pointless chat, old man. This war is happening." Responded the warrior without taking offence to the old man’s harsh words.
The battle prowess that the members of the One With Nature faction did not match their cultivation, as they had never spent any time in trying to comprehend the essences, or to master the use of any weapon. What they wanted, was only to live peacefully, and longer. That was the major reason why the members of this peaceful faction had been so reluctant in fighting despite having a leader whose power could match that of their opponents.
After the warrior finished speaking, the members of his faction unsheathed their weapons, and disembarked the ship. The power they emanated was only a portion of what was truly terrifying about them. What left the deepest impression on the peaceful researchers, was their thirst for blood. The way they looked at them was sickening, and it seemed that they would not be happy until their weapons would taste their blood
Before any of the two leaders could give the order to attack, however, a small shiny dot appeared far away in space.
From the distance, and the way it grew in size with time, it was clear to all of the warriors present that this celestial object was extremely big, and was moving at a mind boggling speed that not even the ships of this group of bandits could match.
Worry started to creep into the minds of the researcher, which after seeing this object come straight for their planet, thought that regardless of this fight, they would lose everything..
What neither of these people knew, was that this approaching object was even faster than they could imagine. So much so, that the light emitted by it was only slightly faster than the motion of the planet itself, which arrived moments later with its full size and glory.. stopping only a few thousand kilometers away from Naturae.
"What the fuck.. What kind of planet moves like that?!" Shouted one of the bandits with a shock that, compared to the one that made its way into his mind the moment the planet began to shrink to the size of a human’s head, was nothing at all.
This ball was taken by Daniel, who quietly made it disappear behind his back. He then approached the two armies along with Aeron, Edmund, Sewah, Xargy, and the wolf cub, who was hanging from his shoulder as if pretending to be a pirate captain’s parrot.
"Hello there."