4 Erns (2/2)

First of all, how was he supposed to greet someone of his own species?

If it was a 4-armed gorilla, he would have clapped twice, once at chest level and once at abdomen level, as that was their method of greeting. Of course, they did both at once because they had 4 arms.

As he thought about it, this question was answered in the same way he had been able to read those strange scratches before.

A gesture surfaced from his memory, and it felt as if he had done it a lot of times.

He stretched out his right hand, seeing which the Chief felt surprised before walking forward and shaking that hand.

Yet, Aaron's memory ended there, so he couldn't figure out what to do next. These memories were usually like that: things which he felt he had done a lot of times, such as the action of riding on Woof which he had been a natural at even though he had been unconscious, would appear forth and give him a hint about what he was supposed to do.

However, they were seldom complete, as if their tail ends had been cut off by whatever wall was in his mind which prevented him from remembering anything from before the time when he had been found by Woof.

So, Aaron squeezed Ernst's hand hard, as if it were one of the river reeds he would pull out of from the bank to make ropes from.

This made a glint pass through Ernst's eyes, as he often loved putting his muscular strength on display by handing out excruciating handshakes which would end only when the other party acknowledged that he had grown stronger since the last time they met him.

However, the moment Aaron squeezed, a yelp almost escaped Ernst's lips while a grimace flashed across his face.

How the heck was this scrawny kid so god damn strong?!

Gritting his teeth, he tried to squeeze back, but it was to no avail.

Aaron was busy trying to decide what to say, so he didn't notice the weird expression of constipation on the Chief's face.

It was only when the Chief finally gave up and yelled ”Ok, you win!” did he realize what he was doing and let go.

Ernst first hurriedly looked around, making sure that no one was present to see this embarrassing incident.

Thankfully, there was only his wife, who was stronger than him anyway, especially at home whenever he tried to get away from doing the chores.

”Kid, are you a body practitioner or something?”, he asked, while he massaged his hand that almost looked swollen.

Aaron could only look at him with a puzzled expression again, which made the Chief sigh and say, ”Attend the orientation first. You'll find out everything there. After that, come meet me. We can decide what to do with you. With that kind of strength, I bet you'll fit right into the body practitioner group we have in the hamlet. For your sake, I hope you're not a lot older than 18. Martha! Can you lead this kid to the orientation? You can bake more bread later!”

After shouting the last two sentences toward his wife who glared at him briefly before heading in Aaron's direction, the Chief nodded at him before walking toward the viper which was fast asleep.

After reaching it, he did something so otherworldly and astonishing that Aaron rubbed his eyes, wondering whether he was seeing things.

The Chief reached out with his hand to touch the viper, and between his knuckles, a transparent, white gem appeared out of nowhere which flashed like a star.

The next second, the viper disappeared, leaving behind a cloud of dust in its wake.

This time, even Woof stared as if it couldn't believe that it wasn't dreaming.

Together, the husky and the human had the same question in their minds.

Wh-where the heck had that fat viper gone?!