After eating, Osho wasted no time in taking Gale to the park.
Since it was a weekday, everyone was still out, so like the evenings, the park was quite empty, something that suited Osho just fine.
Staying reaching their usual spot, he dropped the box that contained Gale’s weighted gear.
"Hm, I’m pretty sure if I had carried that with how I was a few days ago, I’d be sweating quite a bit. But I barely feel any strain. Neat." He nodded to himself. At this point, the results of his Mana Circulation technique were starting to show. His body was getting stronger and faster, and this would only get better as he improved and cultivated mode.
For now, though, he was gonna focus on Gale. Specifically, he wanted to do a comprehensive test to see what had changed since the evolution.
’This will also serve as an opportunity to start putting forth more advanced commands for him to follow.’ He nodded to himself and looked at Gale, who had been staring at him with those beady eyes curiously.
"Alright, here’s what’s gonna happen. We’re gonna have a test to see what you can do after your evolution. After each exercise, I’m gonna give you a treat, alright?" He said with a smile. He knew that Gale didn’t understand a word he said, but that’s where their bond came in. He spoke while transferring his intentions through their bond. His hope for this was that he’d gradually get Gale to understand the words of people around him.
At first glance, this didn’t seem to have much significance since Osho was Gale’s master and the only person he should be listening to. But you never know what can happen in the future.
Also, a small part of him wanted to hear Gale’s voice through their bond.
Gale’s eyes glimmered at the instructions, and he flapped his wings excitedly.
Smiling, he commanded Gale to take flight. First things first, he wanted to see how fast the bird could fly now. The first time they tested, Gale flew at 471.31 mph (758.39 km/h).
He’d done a few more tests at that time, but the speed remained fairly consistent. Now, though, he wanted to see how fast he could go now.
Like the last time, he had Gale fly around the outer ring at a low speed and opened his phone’s stopwatch.
The moment Gale reached a certain point, he commanded him to fly as fast as he could.
The bird blurred, and Osho was stunned as he flew so fast his eyes almost failed him. He barely managed to press stop on the timer when Gale had completed a loop, and he stared at the time with an incredulous expression.
He did the math, and his jaw nearly dropped.
Approximately 617 miles per hour, or 993 kilometers per hour.
"... Damn." He couldn’t help but say, just a bit more, and Gale would be moving at Mach speeds, which was horrifying to think about.
He took a few seconds to calm himself. He expected such a result, but seeing it with his own eyes was nothing short of incredible.
After regaining his composure, he couldn’t help but let a smile slip out. What would happen if Gale flew into something with his beak at that speed? It was something he looked forward to.
For now, though, he wanted to keep doing more tests. For starters, he wanted to see just how flexible Gale was with his Affinity.
If he was being honest, he knew that Gale’s Affinity wasn’t just wind. He had a feeling it had more to do with the sky than just wind, but he had no idea how to even make Gale use sky magic. Moreover, that fact Gale had used it so far meant that Osho was in over his head and there was no sky attribute, he simply didn’t know how at the moment, or he just couldn’t.
As much as Osho wanted to test it, he didn’t know how.
’Hm, there are Affinity test centers. Maybe I can go to one of those eventually.’ He mused before focusing on the task at hand. Gale was still flying above him at a moderate speed.
’Alright, Gale, let’s see just how fast you can fly.’ He spoke through their bond, naturally transmitting his intentions at the same time.
He transferred the next set of instructions to Gale and once more opened the stopwatch. He prepared himself and gave the command.
Gale shot out once more and looped the park again. Osho managed to stop the timer when Gale completed the loop.
Doing the math again, this time, Gale managed to reach approximately 679 miles per hour or 1,092 kilometers per hour.
It was an increase of about 10%. As for what Gale did to achieve this result, well, Osho had instructed him to eliminate the wind resistance around his body as he flew. In doing so, Gale had an easier time maintaining his full speed and even going further.
’Amazing.’ Osho marveled. He spent so long acknowledging that Gale was fast, but he had never tried to test the limits of this speed. Now, he wanted to see just how fast he could push the bird to go.
’Can I make him break the sound barrier?’ The thought sent an excited chill down his spine.
Without hesitating, he made Gale run it back again, adding another command besides just making him reduce the wind resistance.
’Go.’ He commanded, and Gale flew.
A few seconds later, there was a sonic boom.
The sound startled Osho, and he nearly dropped his phone, but he kept his cool, not allowing the excited thoughts to get to him as he was committed to getting the measurement right on the first try.
Once more, Osho pressed stop on the watch as soon as he felt that Gale had completed the loop. Felt because his eyes weren’t able to track the bird properly.
He looked down at the time and sighed, his mind almost numb now.
At this point, Osho did the math without thinking and just sighed at the result.
847.9 mph, or 1,364.6 km/h.
’Faster than sound, huh? I’m sorry, but if Gale can do this much at the grey rank, what sort of monstrosity is Mrs Jane? Or someone stronger?’ He shuddered thinking about it. But his excitement wasn’t quelled.
With a smile, he finally called Gale down, and the bird swooped down and landed on his shoulder softly while releasing a triumphant chirp. He hadn’t gone full speed like that before, so it was bound to be liberating, especially considering that Gale was a bird that needed such freedom to move freely.
Osho dug his hand into his pouch and took out a handful of beast food which Gale happily devoured.
After jotting down his discoveries, Osho decided to move on to other things.
Once Gale was done eating, he commanded him to go up once more.
This time, he wanted to see just how good his agility had become. As such, he commanded the bird to fly as fast as he could while also making sudden sharp turns, dipping, ascending, slowing down, flying backward, the usual things.
What followed was five minutes of Gale flying in ways that must have irritated physics due to the sheer insanity that was his maneuvering skills.
He had no issues with using the wind and durable body to his advantage as he made turns at such sharp angles the whiplash should have injured him at the speed he was moving, but no such thing happened.
Osho simply marveled at this. Gale was truly in his element with how he was moving, and judging by the satisfaction Osho felt from their bond, it seemed like Gale was enjoying this as well
Soon, Gale completed the exercise and once more landed on Osho’s shoulder to which he fed the bird with enthusiasm, content to reward him for his amazing skill.
’Makes me wonder what he’ll be capable of as we further our training.’ Osho couldn’t wait for that. For now, though, he was focused on testing Gale’s limits.
With a smile, he opened the box and started pulling out the pieces of Gale’s new weight gear.
He sat down and patted his lap to which the bird got on promptly, the curious look in his eyes never leaving as he watched Osho bring out the pieces.
Soon, everything was out.
"Alright, stay still for me will you?" He said while transmitting his intentions to Gale.
When he was sure the bird would stay still, Osho started putting the pieces on. Then slid on pretty easily, and soon, it looked like Gale was wearing a mini-set of armor. It looked a bit comical, but also pretty cool.
As soon as he put the chest piece on, the equipment automatically shrunk to fit Gale’s frame and a startled chirp left the bird as it felt its weight increase.
Osho immediately started rubbing his back while assuring him through their bond, and soon enough, Gale calmed down, but he was certainly unhappy by the development, Osho didn’t need their bond to see that.
Thankfully, Gale was very obedient, so it didn’t take long before he accepted his new reality