Two objectives
Hearing what Tom said, Moogie grumbled but still executed the order and took the body of its tribesman, while Tom took its spear.
Together, the two descended the mountain and returned to the branch they were resting on.
***
Many hours later, the monkey that Tom defeated awakened, and just like Moogie, it bowed to Tom and became his subordinate.
This time, unlike the last time, there was no hunger preventing him from clearly feeling the enhancement he got from gaining a new subordinate.
The feeling was just like when he absorbed the core from the crystal creature; he felt his ethereal reserves growing a little more and flowing more fluidly in his body like a calm river.
All in all, the improvement in his strength from gaining a new subordinate was similar to the improvement he got when he absorbed the crystal creature's core, but there was also a difference, notably in the enhancement of his physical attributes.
Tom felt that the improvement to his physical attributes was much more potent than when he absorbed the core. He didn't accurately know how much his strength had improved since he hadn't tested it, but he instinctively knew that he had gained more strength than when he absorbed the core.
'That means either the improvement from gaining a subordinate is more substantial than absorbing a core, or this monkey is stronger than the crystal creature I fought, since the level of enhancement also depends on the strength of the subordinate I acquire'
"By the way, what's his name?" Tom wondered before summoning the floating screen that he decided to refer to as "system," like in some novels he had read as a kid.
Immediately after thinking about it, a golden screen with information appeared in front of him. Tom clicked directly on the [subordinate] tab, and a list of his current subordinates appeared.
There was only one name on this list before, but now there were actually two. Tom clicked on the second name, and a list of information appeared:
[Name: Matour
Level: 1
Race: Wisemonkies
{Astralum}: Wind Manipulation
Race Trait: Respects strength, will always serve those who defeat them]
"Hmm... As expected, the informations are quite similar to Moogie's, except for its Astralum," thought Tom before dismissing the floating screen.
He looked at his new subordinate, Matour, and said, "Since you're the newcomer, it will be your responsibility to find food from now on."
Matour nodded, took its spear, and descended from the branch to go find something to eat. It was a little sad that it was the one going to find food while Moogie, who was weaker than him, was leisurely sitting around doing nothing. Still, he obeyed his master's orders.
Meanwhile, Tom started training his time Astralum.
Until recently, it seemed like he had hit a wall and didn't know how to improve his control over his Astralum. Fortunately, he found out how to improve during his fight with Matour; he had actually discovered two things he needed to work on.
The first thing he needed to train was to be able to stop specific things simultaneously. He could, of course, stop multiple things at once; otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to stop all the wind blades coming at him during his fight with Matour.
However, what he was doing was simply deploying his Astralum around him. His Astralum acted like a kind of domain around him and affected everything within that domain. This meant that when he used his Astralum, he blocked everything within his Astralum's range in time.
This was not practical because, on one hand, he was wasting Etherium by using his Astralum on things he didn't need to. On the other hand, it was not practical if he had to fight with allies. Imagine accidentally harming your ally while trying to harm your opponent. That would not be very convenient, to say the least.
The second thing he needed to train was how to stop the time of things within his range. So far, what he was doing was not stopping the time of things or objects; no, what he was doing was just slowing them down for a short while.
Of course, he knew he couldn't stop things indefinitely in time, but he wanted at least to be able to stop them completely for a moment, not just slow them down.
'Which of the two goals do I start with?'
Tom wondered. Both goals seemed to be challenging to achieve. In the first case, choosing just certain things to stop in time while letting the rest continue moving normally was something he frankly had no idea how to accomplish.
As for the second goal, it seemed simpler, but Tom knew it wouldn't be as easy as he thought.
'At least I have an idea of how to succeed; that's already good.'
In the end, he decided to focus on his second goal.
"Hmm... already?" Tom exclaimed softly when he saw Matour arrive with three rabbits in hand.
'The least we can say is that he's fast,'
Matour climbed the tree and placed the three rabbits in front of Tom before sitting down next to Moogie.
"Tell me, how long until the next member of your unit is sent?" Tom suddenly asked his two subordinates. Moogie had already explained Tom's plan to Matour, so the latter also knew what Tom was preparing.
Moogie and Matour looked at each other for a moment before Moogie raised two fingers.
"Two weeks? Hmm... That's less than last time, but it's a good thing"
'It will accelerate my plans, which is a good thing, but if the one who will be sent is significantly stronger than Matour, it will be a problem.'
'But I can't do anything about it, so I might as well focus on my training.'
***
A few minutes later, after eating, Tom assumed a meditation position and began his training to be able to completely stop a projectile or object in time.
In theory, the method he had thought of could allow him to achieve this in a short time, but in practice, it could be more challenging.
Usually, when he used his time Astralum on something in motion, he could only slow that thing down. It was as if the Astralum submerged the object in a viscous fluid.
The method he had thought of was to try to increase the viscosity around what he wanted to stop. That's why he said that in theory, it seemed easy, but in practice, it would be complicated because how do you control something you didn't consciously do in the first place?
But it was his only lead, so in the days that followed before the arrival of the new member of the unit, he trained to achieve his goal.
***
"Are you ready?" Tom asked Moogie and Matour, who were facing him.
It was three days before the arrival of the next unit member, and Tom had decided to train with his subordinates.
He had decided to face both of them at the same time, all by himself.
Moogie and Matour looked at each other before nodding.
"Then let's begin."
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