Chapter 261: Hunting Pegasi

After several days of hunting, Kai realized that the pegasi were two things: beautiful and stupid. He'd felt just a little bit of guilt hunting down such an elegant animal, at first. After long enough he saw them shit everywhere, endlessly eat grass, and once a male tried to mount a female and missed entirely, falling onto its wings and rolling down the entire valley. Not so much guilt anymore.

Then again, what had he expected? That animals like these spent all their time majestically soaring and posing? Life didn't consist of moments like that. He wondered if it was similar to elven glamours, making their every little action seem elegant.

Kai reconsidered that theory more seriously and examined his newest quarry.

Beast: Pegasus (young)

Total Power: 67

Pegasus Essence: 53

Soul Level: 2 (14)

>

His spiritual sense made the beast look half-way to a full soul, completely unlike the normal animals that he'd glanced at before. No Physique Levels in this case, just a certain amount of essence chakra and a Soul Level. The fact that it had soul power, and more than would be expected just like an elf, was actually support for his theory.

It was easy to see how some of the species on Rosemount could be scornful of humans. Even stupid animals could gain refined souls beyond them. Not that any of it was going to save the pegasi from him.

During the day he practiced Garuda's Wing, taking it to Delta rank quickly as he became faster and more agile. Still not enough to catch the pegasi, who were born for the sky, but he was getting closer. Yonto had given them two weeks, implying that was the minimum amount of time he expected the hunt to take.

For meals and evenings Kai went back to camp with Omilaena, who was busy with training of her own. She'd finally raised her Physique to D-1, which he thought meant she was catching up on the sorts of training she'd neglected. It had seemed to encourage her and he wondered how fast she would improve if she stuck with it.

After two more days, Kai managed to catch a young pegasus with a slightly malformed wing. He let it go, deciding that was unworthy of him. If he was really going to eat one of these for its essence, it needed to be an exemplary one. Since they had clearly visible souls, that was easy to determine.

He managed to almost catch several healthy adults before he finally saw it: the largest and brightest pegasus he'd seen so far.

Beast: Splendid Pegasus

Total Power: 228

Pegasus Essence: 112

Soul Level: 4 (116)

>

It was the most powerful by far, with over 100 Power in pure essence and a soul that outshone all the others, even comparable to an elven glamour. Of course he didn't get even close, but Kai kept throwing himself into the task.

Six days in, with Garuda's Wing at Epsilon rank, he finally managed to catch his first full-grown pegasus. He struggled with it for a while, and hunger growled deep within him, but in the end he let it go. Even if he knew how to absorb the power of sacred beasts, he didn't think he'd gain much just eating them all. The vast majority of his power would come from the single strongest meal.

"Great. I'm equal to several people who smash rocks for a living."

"Tighter and lower," Kai told her.

"Dammit, just get over here and show me!" Omilaena sounded honestly irritated, so Kai stepped up behind her. He realized that he was going to be touching her body, but she seemed so focused on training, he decided to approach this with the same energy.

That lasted until he actually touched her, his fingers pressing just below her navel. Her clothing was so soaked that there was practically nothing between his hands and her skin. Somehow that touch stripped away all his focus. If she'd backed up against him, as she'd done when they were enemies, she would have felt the effect she was having on him. He should have pulled his hand away but he didn't, especially when Omilaena looked over her shoulder at him.

"We have nothing to do but train and wait," she said softly. "What's the harm?"

"I... no." Kai pulled his hand away. "I promised Zae Zin Nim I'd wait for her. I don't know what that means, but... it wouldn't feel right."

"Of course. I understand."

Omilaena's smile was slightly sad, but she didn't make a bigger deal of it. And soon after he left, trying to get the touch out of his mind, she mastered the exercise. Maybe it was really that easy for her and he was the only horny kid here.

.

..

.

Motherfucker.

While Kai flounced around the sky, Omilaena trained furiously. She'd had him, she was sure of it. Unlike the first encounters when he hadn't trusted her and his brain had overridden his instincts, this time she thought they actually connected. And now it was some stupid fucking moral code.

The worst part of it was that it was all her fault, playing matchmaker between him and Zae Zin Nim. He was being a stupid romantic again, saying he was "waiting for her" even though she barely had her own emotions figured out. Dammit, the two of them were going to awkwardly flirt for years before eventually having fumbling sex and she was going to have to watch all of it.

She managed to suppress her frustration with discipline and focused on her training. As an added exercise, she tried to deploy her spiritual sight against Kai as he continued working on aerial maneuvers. It was still impossible for her to see his full soul as he saw it, but by examining him like a monster, she could get flickering impressions.

According to those, she could feel his threat rising steadily during their last days in the valley. His new pegasus ability rose from Gamma to Delta to Epsilon and he grew correspondingly more graceful. The real leap was when, on the very last day, he began using two abilities at once.

When Yonto showed up again, he seemed a little surprised that they'd completed their hunt. Then again, it was difficult to tell with him. In any case, he didn't have any complaints about taking them back - since there was no news from Zae Zin Nim, he teleported them directly to the northern plains.

Omilaena rolled her shoulders and realized that she'd picked up the habit from Kai. It seemed to unwind the knots in her muscles somehow, even though she wasn't likely to fight. Her major part in this was over and she could only see if the results of her experiment were successful.

"Ready?" she asked.

Kai grinned and leapt into the air. The sky was clear at first, then in the distance she saw the dark clouds beginning to grow.