King Of Limbo



Roses's answer brought more questions than answers but before Arias could inquire, she furrowed her brows and recalled her scouter, "It seems our presence here hasn't been ignored."

Looking at the crystal helm of her scouter, Rose could see a group of aethelians coming toward the outskirts of their said territory. Her expression wasn't overly concerned seeing as the group wasn't even armed.

After a brief skeem through what the scouter had collected, she flicked her wrist and made the scouter hover over towards Aron. Upon looking at the images, Aron didn't give much of a reaction and just nodded before going back to cleaning his body.

Seeing his unconcerned expression, Rose couldn't help but ask, "I take it they aren't a threat?"

Aron nodded his head at the question, "If they were, they would have been rushing toward our location, it seems their intentions are to speak first then act, depending on our answers. Then again, I could be wrong but looking at their numbers, I highly doubt they're coming here to start a conflict."

From a logical perspective, Aron's reading of the situation seemed accurate. Rose recalled the scouter to go over the scene again and felt he had a point.  Although she didn't state it, she admired just how quickly Aron could analyze a situation, hoping she could reach that level of deduction herself with time. 

While Rose was immersed in her thoughts, Aron came out from the stream and quickly dressed up. "I'll be going to meet with the group, you observe from a distance. If they are hostile, I'm confident I can escape myself so no need to risk our entire group. And if they aren't we lose nothing either," he revealed upon wearing the last of his garments.

Rose saw nothing wrong with this plan and just nodded in agreement. At that point, Evanora was oblivious to this scene, comfortably floating still with her eyes closed.

Without saying anything more, Aron's figure disappeared into the woodland as he began heading toward the aethelian group's direction at a casual pace.

…

Meanwhile, the aethelian group itself was moving in silence, with only the leading eccentric elder mumbling incoherent words to himself. They walked for quite some time before he suddenly raised his hand and gestured them to stop.

"Wait, coming, yes… he's coming." The elder mumbled aloud while looking toward their north west direction with wide almost excited eyes.

The other aethelians weren't excited at all and were instead cautious and worried, after all, some of them had never even seen beings outside their own race. 

Aron soon emerged from the woodland, his tall and imposing figure causing some of the aethelians to take a step back in fear. His strange appearance, with the tall stature and the distinct aura he exuded, was unlike anything they had encountered before.

However, the eccentric elder was undeterred by Aron's appearance; instead, he greeted him with excitement. "Ah, you've come! Fascinating, yes, very fascinating," the elder said, his eyes glittering with curiosity.

Aron looked at the elder and the group with a calm expression, although his mind was anything but. "I mean no harm to you or your people. You should just ignore my presence, and I'll ignore yours" he stated, his voice firm yet composed.

The elder shook his head, a wide smile on his face. "Oh, but I cannot ignore such an intriguing presence in our territory. No, no, we must speak," he said, his excitement palpable.

"In that case," Aron replied, "what do you wish to speak about?" His attention had now turned toward this strangely excited older looking aethelian who Aron could only guess was the owner of the heavy fluctuations he felt earlier.

The eccentric elder leaned in closer, his voice lowering conspiratorially, "Limbo and its many regions. I wish to know more about them, yes. Your people have traveled far and wide, and I believe you hold valuable knowledge."

Aron raised an eyebrow, intrigued by the offer. "And what do you have to offer in exchange for this knowledge?" he asked, unwilling to just reveal what he knew without gaining something in return, especially from a being who seemed knowledgeable himself.

The elder chuckled quite creepily, his eyes gleaming with cunning. "Ah, a fair question, yes. In exchange for your knowledge of origin worlds, I offer you an invitation. Come to our settlement, share your wisdom with us, and I shall share ours with you," he proposed, a sly smile on his lips.

Aron considered the offer for a moment before nodding in agreement. "Very well, I accept your invitation. However, I expect your knowledgeable to be of equal of greater value to me, otherwise I'll retract my words." he agreed but gave a firm warning too.

The eccentric elder clapped his hands in delight. "Wonderful, wonderful! Come, come, let us not waste any time. I shall lead you to our settlement, yes, yes," he said, gesturing for Aron to follow him.

Aron didn't immediately follow and instead first glanced upward towards Rose's scouter which was hovering not too far, he then spoke in the Pesian tongue so as not to be understood by these native aethelians, "When Jagu and Jin return, follow me at a reasonable distance, just in case of anything."

This simple exchange alone was far from enough for Aron to lower his guard, if anything, it was raised simply due to the fact that this elder before seemed very unwell mentally.

Hearing Aron speak in the Pesian tongue, which he heard snippets of from the Pesian aethelians who came, his eyes brightened, because unlike them who struggled to learn the native language of Limbo, Aron was fluent.

"Truly gifted, truly wonderous, so young but so knowleagble, yes, yes, I, Rorthik was right! Haha," The elder known as Rorthik burst into laughter that resonated throughout the woodland, even his own aethelian escorts showed discomfort towards his hoarse excited laugh.

Aron chose not to comment, instead just taking observations and making his own deductions, which in this case, leaned towards a deterioration in mental health.

One thing Aron was very aware of, was that no matter how powerful one became, they weren't truly invincible, this was a statement he had been told by Argos himself, who claimed to be a tier that Aron was yet to even encounter in the outside world.

The main reason he doubted Argos was because despite being so powerful, he had a weak body that was on its last legs, it was then that Aron came to his own realization.

Most humanoid beings simply manipulated the mana around them, how powerful they were was dictated by their level of skill, techniques and arts. Meaning, despite how powerful an individual became, behind the mana, they were still weak, very much so.

To combat this, Argos had desperately sought to become a beast monger. Because unlike who humanoids, who could only absorb mana from the environment when they formed cores, beasts did so naturally, so the hybrid beast mongers naturally took on such a trait, possessing incredibly strong physiques.

The only real problem was, most beast mongers were unskilled in the use of arts and techniques. This was why the prospect had excited Argos, to have a body that could match that of a beast and the skills of a tier 10 elder archon, he would've been unrivaled in most regions he went to.

Other than that prospect, beasts had prolonged lives thanks to the mana they absorbed, be it rejuvenating cells, keeping organs reinforced and enhanced, and so much more. The advantages were almost endless in comparison to the few disadvantages, such a beast like desires and emotions, usually in the form of short tempers or heightened sex drives.

This was what made Aron such a unique case, Argos used many methods to bring out what he felt was a perfect physique while nurturing a young Aron's mind with various concepts and theories, teaching him to think for himself, rather than rely on that which was already written.

So, looking at Rorthik, Aron was genuinely curious to hear his story. Surviving to live a long life in Limbo was already impressive on it's own but Rorthik had reached a level of grand mastery, tier 8. 

More impressive, he did so in a region that seemed to lack an adequate form of written knowledge from past generations… like most Limbo regions. Which begged the question, how did he get to this stage? Through sheer tenacity and genius? Or through a chance encounter like Aron, whichever it was, Aron needed to know.

"You seem quite knowledgeable yourself," Aron baited, easing his naturally imposing demeanor and even wearing a smile. "Have you traveled to other regions of Limbo? Or maybe origin worlds?" he asked plainly.

Rorthik though showed a dejected expression and shook his head vigorously, "No, a shame, tried many times, but failed, know too little, lack the skill, but maybe together, answer can be found, yes, hope is not lost!" His expression elated as he finished speaking, seeing hope in Aron.

This caused Aron to sigh internally, but he too didn't lose hope. If by chance what Rorthik did know was useful, then Aron could very find a way to tear into regions of Limbo without awaiting the natural evolution unique to Kolieans.

"I suppose it's not…"