Chapter 210 - First friend

Adion could hardly believe it. 

What is White doing here? And he’s a Diamond beast now?

Seeing White pinning down the Gold Talon Eagle, Adion decided to think about that later. He needed to help White.

He grabbed hold of the space above the eagle, teleporting over and swinging his sword as he froze the beast in space. He was curious how long he could hold a Diamond beast in place.

But as his sword cut into the beast, Adion paused. The eagle wasn’t fighting him at all. He could hold it still in space without any issue.

This…It’s dead.

Adion opened his mouth wide. He stared down at the dead eagle below him. It already looked like a frozen corpse that had been dead for weeks. 

He looked up to White.

Is he this powerful?

“Adion!” White let out a happy bark while communicating through his aura. 

Adion smiled as he watched White waving his tail excitedly. He looked different from what he remembered, but he was still a white-furred wolf, so Adion obviously thought of his old friend when he saw him. Even if his aura now had Diamond strength, Adion could feel its familiarity once he knew what to search for. 

White was now a lot bigger, his head well above Adion’s. His eyes carried a cold glint that almost made Adion shiver. But there was still some of that silly, somewhat naive look in his eyes.

“White,” Adion said, smiling so widely his skin felt like it was about to tear, “What are you doing he-”

Before he could finish his question, White shot off to the side. Adion turned to see that the two Sun Fire Tigers had arrived. 

Adion wanted to help this time, so he teleported over to the Sun Fire Tiger that White had ignored. With White by his side, Adion felt his confidence returning, and he made the risky move to teleport right in front of the beast before freezing it in space. 

He jabbed his sword up under its jaw as fast as he could. Unfortunately, the sword only entered by a few inches before the beast pulled its head away, breaking free from his constriction.

Damn! Do Diamond beasts really have such a strong Will?

Adion grabbed hold of the space he had just come from, ready to teleport away. But just then, White lunged from the side, his jaws clenching down on the Sun Fire Tiger’s throat.

The tumbled around on the ground for a second or two before the Sun Fire Tiger slowly stopped moving, dead.

That easy? Adion thought, an awkward smile creeping onto his face.

“Sun Fire Tigers, they taste awful. It’s all hot,” White said, shaking his large head as he stepped up to Adion.

“White,” Adion couldn’t contain his excitement. He didn’t remember every moment he and White had spent together, but he remembered enough. And as he watched his wolf friend approach, a lot of memories they shared surfaced. The quiet moments they shared in the cave as Adion returned from a day at the glade with Fellion. It was thanks to White that those days felt a little bit like home. 

Adion jumped to White and threw his arms around his neck, patting his now much larger head, recalling more and more bits and pieces of their days together.

“I found you,” White let out a happy bark, wagging his tail. 

Adion couldn’t help but wonder why White still barked out loud to communicate, but he liked it.

“I thought you would be with the humans,” White continued, “But you were in the forest all along. Did you also get lost from Fellion’s directions?”

“No, haha,” Adion laughed, stepping back to look at White, “I returned home, but I somehow ended up out here again. It’s a long story. What are you doing here? Did Fellion relocate?”

“I was looking for you. You didn’t come back, so I went to find you instead. But I got lost,” White said with a casual, happy tone.

“I…I’m sorry, White. I really took too long to return, didn’t I?” Adion said, feeling guilty.

“Yes,” White said, “But it’s okay. I have many stories to tell you.”

“I have many stories for you too,” Adion said, smiling. “But first of all, how did you get so strong? You’re already at the Diamond stage. How did that happen? And how did you manage to kill those beasts so quickly? That can’t be normal, right?”

“I’m very strong now,” White said, lifting his head proudly, “Look at my snow.”

White wiped his paw in the air, casually conjuring a heap of snow.

It wasn’t any threatening attack, but Adion could feel the intense cold radiating from that pile of snow. 

That’s no ordinary snow.

Adion carefully reached out his hand to feel it.

“Uh, Adion. It’s very cold,” White said hesitantly, lowering his head. 

“Cold enough to be dangerous?” Adion asked. He couldn’t imagine how something could be cold enough to cause any damage from just a light touch.

“Well,” White said, quietly looking to the dead Sun Fire Tigers.

“You…The cold killed them?” Adion asked, baffled.

“My snow is very cold now,” White said, a little giddy, “I just need to conjure a little, and no beast can handle it. Even the sun can’t melt it now!”

“Really?” Adion asked, shocked.

“Well…At least not immediately,” White said happily.

“Haha,” Adion laughed. If the snow White conjured actually couldn’t be melted even by the sun, that would break down everything Adion knew. “But how did you manage to make your snow so cold?”

Adion knew that beasts had it harder to grasp concepts, and White didn’t seem to be exceptionally intelligent, even now as a Diamond beast. And from what he could feel, the concepts involved in that pile of snow, something that could immediately kill beasts at the Diamond stage, was incredibly complicated. 

“I found the blood of-” White began to explain excitedly, but he cut himself off as his attention turned to the west. 

“What is it, White? Are there more beasts coming?” Adion asked.

“I feel Soul beasts in the distance,” White said, “They aren’t coming here, though.”

“We’ve just killed three Diamond beasts,” Adion said, “That won’t go unnoticed. We should leave.”

“Okay,” White turned to Adion, wagging his tail.

“Let’s go,” Adion said, smiling. For some reason, he didn’t worry about the Soul beasts as much as he probably should. With White here, he was more excited than fearful.

Adion and White took off running, heading south. But it immediately became apparent that White was ridiculously much faster than Adion.

Not only do beasts have an amazing aura sense, but their bodies are incredibly powerful.

I suddenly feel that the concepts and mana control of the sapi aren’t as impressive anymore.

“Adion, jump on my back,” White said, running back toward Adion.

“Nice,” Adion said, jumping up on White’s sturdy back and grabbing hold of his fur. Adion had expected his fur to be cold and sharp, as that would align with what he knew about beasts, but it was surprisingly soft and pleasant. 

“Your new bigger size is really handy,” Adion said.

“It’s because I’m powerful now. I’m even bigger than Fellion,” White said.

I’m pretty sure you’re about the same size. And Fellion is a lot more powerful.

White took off, and Adion had a hard time catching his breath as the wind passed by him. 

So fast!

This is amazing!

Adion also wanted to show off a little. So he tried clearing his mind and focusing on expanding his Authority, covering himself and White.

“Don’t resist; I’ll show you something cool,” Adion called out.

He felt how the space around them came under his control. Focusing on a space further ahead, he pushed through his limits momentarily, and teleported them away. 

As he arrived, he immediately lost his concentration, and his Authority went back to normal.

Was that my first time making use of so much Authority? I think it might be!

Adion hadn’t practiced expanding the volume he could control for a long time, and he had never before made use of that Authority.

But if he wanted to teleport something as large as White, his normal Authority wouldn’t cut it, so he had given it a try, feeling that he would succeed.

“Is that space? Fellion told me about it. Amazing! It was so fast,” White said, coming to a stop.

“Well, it’s quite handy, but it isn’t as efficient as your running,” Adion said, “Let’s keep going!”

As the two continued their now combined journey, Adion’s mood soured. Even as he struggled to get enough oxygen from the blowing wind, he couldn’t help but continue to talk to White about the things he had been through lately. White always answered enthusiastically, and it was like no time had passed at all since they separated.

It felt so nice to finally have a friend to talk to about everything. He couldn’t help but pour out every little thought that popped into his head. 

As the hours passed and the sun started going down, Adion and White slowed down and prepared to rest for the night. White effortlessly found a Gold beast in hiding and killed it for dinner. 

If it’s like this…I don’t think I would mind the journey taking so long.

Adion smiled as he collected some firewood. He looked back to White, lying on the ground, waiting excitedly to taste some cooked meat.

“By the way, White. Do you know why those beasts have started gathering? Is something going on?” Adion asked.

“I don’t know, but I’ve sensed several of those groups recently,” White said, “It’s really strange, why would they leave their tribes? What if someone takes over their home? You don’t think Fellion is moving around our tribe, do you?” 

“I don’t think he would do that,” Adion said, conjuring a flame to light the fire. “I get the feeling that they might be planning an attack on the sapi. A really big attack. Do you know why they would do that?”

“Beasts and sapi always fight, so that makes sense,” White said, seemingly content with the explanation.

Adion felt his face twitch slightly. White seemed to have become a lot more intelligent and articulate now that he had advanced to a Diamond beast, but at certain times, he could see none of that.

“Well, I’ll talk to the Headmaster about it. There is nothing we can do about it now anyway,” Adion said, placing a few pieces of meat over the fire. “Anyway, tell me about your snow. How did you manage to grasp such a complex concept?”

White’s head lifted off the ground in excitement, and he started explaining, “I forgot to tell you. I found the coldest place!”

“The coldest place?” Adion asked.

“Yes, I noticed it was getting colder in a certain direction in the mountains. After a long time, I found the absolute coldest place,” White said.

Is he talking about a mountaintop? 

“It was actually below ground. I fell down, and there was, wait, I had figured out how to tell it,” White rambled on excitedly before stopping himself, “Well…It doesn’t matter. There is a sky below the ground!”

Adion stared silently at White for a few seconds before speaking, “What are you talking about?”

“A cave! And there was a huge skeleton there. The biggest thing I’ve ever seen. Besides mountains. And there was a drop of blood there. That was the coldest thing. When I drank it, I felt myself growing a lot stronger, and making my snow cold was a lot easier.”

“That…sounds like you drank the blood of an ancient, powerful beast,” Adion said.

“That’s right. It was definitely very powerful. But I’m going to be even more powerful. With its coldness and my snow, there is no stopping it,” White said in a gloating manner.

I suppose that would explain it. The blood of the Celestial Phoenix gave me Authority over space, after all. But does White have Authority? It seems like he gained more of an insight to concepts instead.

“You’re really lucky. I’m glad,” Adion said with a smile, “Do you feel like you have control over snow longer now? Or does the Will of the world take over control just as fast as before?”

“It should be easier to control,” White said hesitantly.

“Well, we can do some experiments tomorrow to see the extent of your new abilities,” Adion said. “But it’s getting late. Let’s eat and then sleep.”

“Okay,” White said, getting up to his feet and waving his tail gently.

Adion and White sat down together and enjoyed their meal. Adion had to grill more meat constantly in order to feed White, but he quite enjoyed doing this for his friend.

Adion couldn’t help but pat his head. Even if he was now a Diamond beast, it didn’t feel strange at all.

His thoughts drifted back to when they first met. The memory was now clear in his mind. Just because Adion gave White a healing pill, White had turned into such a loyal friend, not ever asking for anything from Adion.

As it got dark, Adion leaned back against White and closed his eyes to sleep. His restless nights were over. He felt safe and content with White by his side. Even if they were attacked in the night, they would handle it together.

Adion fell asleep with a smile on his face, reunited with the first friend he ever made.