Upon entering, Gale who looked like he was dozing off suddenly snapped awake, his pupils dilating as Osho felt a wave of desire radiate from him, his body tensing as he seemed to want nothing more than to fly in and start taking everything in sight.
Osho wasn't surprised. Among the many things they'd been taught, one of them was how beasts were very receptive to things they believed to be valuable, as their instincts told them to eat drink, or absorb whatever it was that elicited such a reaction.
So the way he responded wasn't surprising. What was was how, despite the desire coursing through him, he didn't move an inch. As for the reason? It was simple, Osho told him to stay put.
It sounded simple, but for someone who had hatched his beast just a few days ago, to be able to garner such a level of Obedience was simply unprecedented. Yet he had done so and with ease from what it seemed.
"Ah, hello sir. It's a pleasure to see you again. What might I help you with this time?" The same attendant as the last tike Osho came approached him with a respectful tone and Osho nodded.
"I was wondering, would you guys happen to have the equivalent of leg and arm weights for beasts?" Osho asked while pointing at Gale who looked like he was about to explode from keeping himself still.
'We also need to train your self-control buddy.' He thought as the attendant rubbed his chin at the request.
"Yes, such a thing should be possible." He eyed Gale, specifically, the four wings on his back." I will be right back." He said and walked away.
Osho just shrugged his free shoulder and decided to get the items needed for Gale's evolution in the meantime.
Just like before, he followed the grey lines in the air that led to different parts of the store.
Ribbons were floating in his vision again, and surprisingly, there were only three once more. Osho didn't know if it was a coincidence or if it was a fixed number for each evolution. But he wasn't inclined to look too deeply into it.
He sensed Gale's barely restrained excitement and felt more amused than worried. He didn't know how to put it, but he was used to the bird being... calm. So seeing him so restrained was a bit funny to him. Still, he didn't want to prolong his suffering, so he went ahead to gather the things his ability led him to.
The first thing he saw was a transparent bottle that contained about 100 milliliters of a clear liquid that looked like water. What was strange about it, however, was the faint motes of light that moved within the liquid. Faint being that they were difficult to perceive with the naked eye, but Osho managed.
He looked down at the price tag and was pleasantly surprised when he only saw 10,000 credits. Moreover, the name of the liquid was called Atmospheric Dew.
A small part of Osho wondered how the hell people even managed to find this stuff. He imagined it was called Atmospheric Dew because it came from the atmosphere. Who in their right mind would go to the atmosphere just to find treasures?
'Wait, that's not right. I'm sure only powerful beast tamers with flying beasts are capable of pulling something off. Instead, it should be 'Who in their right mind would throw away such a perfect opportunity to get some benefits?' With that, Osho remembered where the Dew was and followed the next ribbon. He didn't carry it immediately simply because he didn't want to accidentally drop anything.
Soon enough, he reached the next item. It looked like a bunch of blue glass, but judging by the glow it let off, it certainly wasn't normal glass. He looked at the name and had to pause when he saw what it was called.
'Crystallized Sky Fragment... what the fu-' He failed to wrap his head around such a concept. How does one crystallize the sky? Much less extract it?
'This world is weird.' He sighed and looked at the price. When he did, his sigh deepened.
'30,000 credits.' Quite the significant jump from the Atmosphere Dew. Then again, it was a fragment taken from the sky, he felt like just the extraction process was extreme. So while the shards were few and only about the size of his fingers, their value was bound to be through the roof.
He took note of its position once more and followed the last ribbon. He arrived at a table which had a small glass dome on it. Inside the dome, several stalks of light blue and green grass were growing in what Osho assumed to be a simulated environment to sustain the grass.
He looked at the tag on the table and grimaced.
'Horizon Grass. 10,000 credits per stalk. I'm being pointed at three stalks.' He mused. That would bring his total to 70,000 credits.
His heart hurt at the price. Sadly, there wasn't much he could do. Besides, it still fell within his budget and left 20,000 credits over which he intended to use and buy the weights for Gale.
"I've found the items you are looking for sir. Is there anything else here that has caught your fancy?" A voice came from behind Osho, but he wasn't startled and simply turned to see the attendant standing there with a box in his hands.
"Oh, well I saw some other things I'd like to purchase. But can I see what's in the box first?" Osho asked as he looked at the box with interest.
The attendant nodded and put the box on the edge of the table where the stalks of Horizon Grass were. Osho was a bit surprised by this since he expected the display of items to occur away from the valuable items. But then again, this man must have worked here for a while, so he certainly knows how to do things carefully.
As he started opening the box, the attendant started talking.
"Since your beast has four wings with enhanced strength and agility, the optimal design for something like weights should be aerodynamic, balanced, and adapted to both flight and grounded movement without compromising his natural rhythm." When he said this, he brought out four metal bands of a light grey and blue color and two small cuffs of the same color. There was also something that looked like a harness that could be fitted around his torso. A chest plate would be a more apt description.
"These are the wing bands. They will be the primary focus of the training. They will be attached to the joints of the wings and be distributed evenly along the primary bone structure." He pointed at the shape.
"As you can see, they are slightly curved to flow with the shape of the wings, and these slots make it so that flapping isn't impeded in any way." Then he pointed at the cuffs.
"They are sleek, feather-compatible cuffs that are to be attached just above the talons. They are to hell with takeoff, dive stability, and explosive bursts of speed in the air. Then this chest plate will serve for heavier training. Like everything else, it's streamlined so that his flight isn't impeded, and as you can see, it has slots." The attendant brought small but noticeably dense pieces of metal from the box.
"You can slide these in here to increase the weight. Regarding the chest plate, I advise you'd use it only during grounded or gliding training. Full flight in these would burn stamina fast." When he finished, Osho couldn't help but marvel at just how thorough the weights were.
If he was being honest, he hadn't been thinking of anything like that. He just wanted something Gale could wear properly to train with, but it seemed that a lot of thought had gone into the manufacturing of the weights.
Still, he had some reservations.
"What happens if he gets too strong for them in the end?" This was something that was bound to happen eventually, but Osho wanted the weights to be relevant for as long as possible.
Hearing this, the attendant smiled a little.
"Well, besides the additional metal bars you can slot in to increase the weight, the metal used to create it is quite special. It's quite light, but using some runes, they passively draw a small amount of the beast's mana to make sure the weight the beast feels doesn't reduce even as it gets stronger, and don't worry, the Mana being used is negligible and won't affect the beast in the short or long run. Moreover, as he grows, the metal will grow to acclimate to his size, so that won't be an issue either." Hearing this, Osho felt a bit of relief. This was bound to be a big purchase, so he wanted it to be worth every credit.
"Alright, before anything, I also want to add a few more items to this so I can get my total." Osho explained.
The attendant nodded. "Alright then. What else?"
Osho exhaled and told him about the three other items. The attendant nodded thoughtfully.
"Alright then, in that case, your total will be..."