Chapter 171 - 171: Another Legendary
Another Legendary
Osho slowly stretched as he inspected his body, and he couldn't help but marvel at how well he'd recovered in such a short amount of time.
'I guess I shouldn't be surprised, though. A place like Stellaris will have the best of the best of everything, recovery tools included.' He thought before looking up. The others had given him some space after the AI had said his treatment was complete. So other than a bit of fatigue, Osho was more or less fully recovered.
"Ugh..." At that moment, a soft groan reached their ears, and they all turned to see Peter slowly coming to his senses.
They watched as he blinked a few times, his black eyes dazed momentarily before they widened, and in the next moment, he sat up abruptly.
He looked around, and as soon as he saw Osho, his expression lit up and he practically jumped out of the bed with his arms stretched out..
"Brotheeeer." He yelled with a big smile on his face, and Osho promptly moved out of the way of his jump, causing him to miss and hit his head against the railing on another bed, making everyone wince collectively.
"Bro... He just recovered from a concussion." Kurt mumbled as Peter sat up and rubbed his forehead which had gotten red from the impact, but he didn't seem to mind as he spun, his smile still on his face as he got up and tried to hug Osho, but Osho just put a hand on his face to stop him from advancing further, his face impassive.
The others watched this with varying expressions, but confusion was still the most prominent among all of them.
"Uh... What's happening?" Ellie asked tentatively.
"Yeah... He seems a lot less homicidal now." Sam pointed out with Irene nodding along.
"Oh, yeah, it's a thing he does." Osho said casually as he kept Peter at bay.
"As soon as any of us stars beat him and don't kill him, he becomes extremely affectionate and clingy. It's sort of like doing so lets him acknowledge us as his elder sibling, so he acts the part. This is the first time I'm experiencing it myself since it's the first time I've ever fought him, but I've seen him do it enough times with our eldest, so I'm used to it." He shrugged.
"That's... What?" Now the others were even more confused.
"Aw come onnn! It only makes sense though. How can I just accept you as my senior if you can't even beat me in a fight?" Peter stopped pushing and folded his arms like a petulant child. Which he sort of was.
Osho gave him a deadpan stare and said flatly.
"Say what you want, but I still don't like you." He said, and Peter just rolled his eyes.
"You don't like me yet." He countered.
"Wait, so what happens if Peter loses to someone who isn't one of the stars?" Kurt asked a very important question.
"Oh? In that case I get stronger and find them until I kill them." Peter said with a noncommittal shrug, but the casualness in his words made the non-cult members shiver.
'Definitely still homicidal.'
Osho, though, seemed mostly unperturbed as he looked down at the boy.
"Go home." He said flatly.
"But I wanna–"
"Go. Home." Osho repeated, leaving no room for argument, and Peter huffed, clearly unhappy with the stern rebuttal. But nevertheless, he sighed and turned around.
"Fine, fine, I'll leave." He sulked. But just as he reached the door, he paused and turned slightly, his black eye locking onto Ellie.
"By the way. I suggest you be careful. Not all our siblings are so receptive to one of us being too close to an outsider." And with that, he stepped out.
Ellie blinked before frowning. But before she could bring it up, Osho placed his hand on her shoulder.
"Don't worry too much. They can't do anything to you if I don't let them." He said reassuringly.
"The fact that they could mess with people you care about if you didn't actively tell them they couldn't is very concerning," Irene muttered with worry.
"Trust me. They won't do anything." Osho said with a certain confidence that made them all relax slightly.
"Anyway, you guys wanna see the lab?" Osho said with a smile as he decided to change the topic.
***
"Damn... they really hooked you up, huh?" Lurt said with awe as the group walked into the lab, all of them showing various levels of awe as they took in the large space.
"Yup, it has everything I need for the foreseeable future." Osho nodded as he opened up his beast space, allowing Gale and Bedrock to come out.
"Oh, is that your new beast?" Everyone's attention immediately snapped to the monkey who'd made his way to Osho's shoulder.
"That's right. I forgot to introduce you guys. This is Bedrock." Osho said with a proud smile, and Bedrock just gave a slow wave.
"He's kinda cute." Ellie said as she got closer to inspect him. Bedrock also looked back at her before pointing at her with seeming excitement while looking at Osho, and he must have said something through their bond as Osho started laughing.
"Huh? What did he say?" Ellie was confused.
"Haha! Heh... It's nothing bad, he just said that you'd make a great partner in 'that' context." Osho grinned, and Ellie's smile dropped as her ears reddened.
"Huh, so he's a dirty little monkey, huh?" She grumbled.
"Did you check his potential?" Sam asked while staring at Bedrock who was just lounging on Osho's shoulder without a care in the world, looking mostly unbothered by everything going on. "He's pretty chill." She added.
"Yup, didn't react to Gale's rage baiting at all." Osho chuckled which earned him a peck of the head from his bird that didn't seem happy about the attention Bedrock was getting.
"But to answer your question. No, I haven't tested his potential yet." He finally answered and looked towards the potential measuring device in the room at the far corner.
"Then let us, I'm curious to see what this new guy is capable of." Kurt said with anticipation, his fist clenched.
'I guess it should be fine. I was gonna do it later anyway.
The group made their way over to the far corner where the potential measuring device stood, its polished surface reflecting the bright lights of the lab. The rounded metal base was spotless, and the cluster of clear crystals surrounding it caught the glow like a faint halo.
"Alright, Bedrock," Osho said, patting the monkey's head before setting him down. "Just stand in the middle. You don't have to do anything else."
Bedrock looked at the platform, then back at Osho, as though silently questioning whether this was worth his time.
"Don't give me that look," Osho deadpanned. "You'll like the results."
Bedrock gave a slow shrug before hopping onto the platform, his tail swishing lazily as he stood upright.
The machine hummed to life with a soft whir. The crystals began to glow faintly, one by one, as the screen above flickered.
"I'm calling it now. Legendary rank potential." Irene predicted.
"How so sure?" Mike raised a brow, and Irene just smiled. "Call it instinct."
Everyone watched in silence as the glow from the crystals intensified, shifting from faint white to deep gray, then darkening further until the entire cluster shimmered with a pitch-black radiance.
"Oh, damn…" Kurt breathed, eyes wide.
The screen above beeped softly before displaying a single word in bold letters. Legendary.
"Called it." Irene smirked, looking more pleased than surprised.
Ellie let out a low whistle. "Another Legendary? You're seriously collecting these things like they're candy."
Osho just grinned. "Yeah, he's something else, even from birth."
"Oh?" Irene raised a brow.
"Later," Osho said quickly, not wanting to derail the moment.
Meanwhile, Gale was staring at the glowing platform with what could only be described as offense. The massive bird fluffed up his feathers and let out a low, sharp caw that echoed through the lab.
"Don't start," Osho warned, pointing at him. "He's not replacing you."
Gale turned his head away dramatically, but the angry twitch in his tail feathers said plenty.
"Yup, he's mad," Kurt said, failing to suppress a laugh.
"He'll get over it," Osho muttered, though he didn't look entirely convinced.
Bedrock, oblivious to the brewing avian jealousy, hopped off the platform and climbed back onto Osho's shoulder, looking smug for some reason.
"Does he even know what just happened?" Ellie asked.
"Oh, he knows," Osho said dryly. "Trust me, he's already using this to fuel his ego."
Bedrock let out a soft chitter, as if agreeing with him.
Kurt shook his head, grinning. "Man, I really wanna see what he can do. He strikes me as a tank."
"That's the plan," Osho said with a small, satisfied smile as he shut the device off. "And now that that's out of the way… time to get back to work."