Chapter 278 - [Bonus] Over the Clouds (1/2)
Today is the day that Zero was going to take the literal jump. It was an all or nothing gamble. If he failed, that would be the end of it.
Bob looked atMii feeling very uneasy. Their master was standing on top of a tall cliff on Endow Hill. That morning started off relatively normal with Hua Tuo going away for a few days for seclusion training. Zero was left to his own devices and it was good for a while.
The boy slept in and tended to the garden before hunting a little. Zero didn't have many things to play with and he had finished reading all the books Hua Tuo had. Bob and Mii were called out by the bored young master. They played some games for a while before Zero asked Bob where the tallest cliff was on Endow Hill. The trio went on a short hike and came to the current situation.
”Why did you have to answer him?!” Mii shrieked with the mental connection and Bob flinched. He didn't think that answering such an innocent question would bring them to this.
Zero grinned. Baal had taught Zero how to shapeshift and the young doctor had been practising a lot. He was able to maintain an alternative form after eating enough of that same kind of animal. Zero transformed into fishes and furry bears easily but he wasn't able to transform into rabbits or pheasants too well.
Zero knew that too well and for the past few weeks, he made careful pre-preparations for such an opportunity. Zero would often hunt birds whenever he could and Hua Tuo didn't suspect a thing because he was enjoying the change in diet choices. Bob and Mii were also slow on the uptake. Mii thought that she would understand her master's habits and train of thoughts by now but she was proven wrong once again. Bob tried to dissuade Zero from learning how to fly today.
Zero took a look at his assistance and grinned. ”No. Actually, it would be better if you could teach me how to fly. I'm almost able to maintain transformed wings for a full minute now.”
Mii took a look at Zero's 'wings' and shuddered. If Zero jumped with these mutated limbs he called wings, the boy wouldn't survive.
”Where are the feathers for the wings?” the strawcherry fairy asked and Zero laughed carefreely.
”What are you talking about? Bell didn't have feathers on his wings. It was more like a thin stretchy skin with a leathery feel.”
Bob went up for a closer look. ”Zero, this is fur. You're not going to be able to go air-borne like this.”
Zero blinked. ”But it helps with trapping air.”
Bob unfurled his wings.”This is what a wing should be like. Firstly, your bones structures are wrong. Secondly, your wing shape isn't wide enough for gliding and maintaining altitude. It has to be in an arc shape and longer than your entire height. Lastly, You must be able to flap them with enough strength to lift yourself up. Most avian creatures have hollow bones and weigh lighter so they can fly.”
Zero took down notes and revised the structure of his wings with much difficulty. Mii watched Bob teach Zero about aerodynamics and the different methods of flying. As a strawcherry fairy, she was thankful that there weren't many different techniques. She activates fairy dust to propel the air currents beneath her wings and zip off. Still, she wasn't going to tell Zero that. After all, the boy was insistent on looking good with wings. She highly doubted that butterfly wings would suit Zero's artistic sense.
”I don't think I got this right...” Zero moaned.
Bob went around to snap a picture of the new design. ”I think it's functioning now. All you have to do is remove the fur. There should be feathers and not fur if you don't want leathery skin.”
The young doctor reluctantly removed the fur and was embarrassed by the pinkish colour of his wings. Bob tried his best not to laugh. Now he understood why Zero was so insistent on covering them up with black fur.
”Don't worry, what's important is being able to fly. How about adding some feathers to them? It can cover the colour up.”
Zero sulked. ”It takes too much energy trying to grow the feathers one by one. Who knew that after eating so many pheasants, I would take on the skin colour of pheasants after transforming... if I knew this would happen I would have hunted bats!”
Bob laughed nervously. He didn't know what bats tasted like but he wasn't that desperate to try them. Instead, the Eternal Dragon did his best to convince his master that he could practice with these wings first and worry about the aesthetics later.
Thankfully, Zero listened to the advice and practised launching off on the clifftop instead of jumping off it. With the new wings, Zero found it exhausting to hold onto the transformation. The boys took frequent breaks to recover strength. Zero found it exhilarating when his feet left the ground successfully for more than three seconds the first time it happened. The feeling of not standing on anything was a little scary at first but once Zero started to trust his wings, the feeling of defying gravity became addicting.
Bob watched over Zero's progress like a proud parent. The boy went from bad wing structure to able to hold them out for five minutes and balance himself in the air. However, there was still a lot of room for improvement. Zero's landing was still terrible. He might be able to propel himself forward and turn mid-air in wide circles but Bob didn't trust this airhead to land without issues.
”Glide and drag the wind under your wings! Stop trying to go against it!”
Zero was so confused and lost with the instruction and it became worse as he tried to process it in his head. The boy yelped and found himself spiralling with another gust of wind. He didn't spread his wings wide enough to catch the air current and those huge wings worked against him instead.
Mii covered her eyes when Zero crashed into a dead tree. Bob groaned. Zero still hasn't gotten the hang of catching a drift. Flapping wings took up a lot of energy which was why it was used to gain altitude for the initial take-off. The rest of the time, reading air currents played a crucial part in flying. If Zero couldn't master becoming one with the wind, Bob wasn't going to allow his reckless master to fly off a cliff.