CHAPTER 152 ( PLAT )

Today, in the Baffin Mountains outside Asgard's main city, the weather was like spring all year round. The sun shone brightly overhead, causing the golden spires and crystalline architecture of Asgard to reflect brilliant light across the landscape. In the mountains of the back range, sunlight filtered through thick bushes and ancient trees, dappling the overgrown ground with shifting patterns of light and shadow.

At this time, Aidan was sitting cross-legged on a flat patch of grass in a secluded clearing, bright red flames dancing in his cupped hands. The fire didn't seem to generate any heat - instead, it pulsed with a warm, life-giving energy that made the grass around him grow greener and more vibrant.

In front of him lay a huge, strange beast with lush red fur that looked like some kind of lion but was covered with metallic scales along its spine and shoulders. However, it was currently sprawled on the ground with labored breathing, its throat covered with fresh blood that had stained the green grass beneath it crimson. Its eyes looked at Aidan with faint pleading, the kind of desperate hope that injured animals sometimes showed when they sensed someone might help.

Perfect test subject, Aidan thought . Found it caught in some kind of trap about an hour ago. Let's see if the life runes actually work the way the texts describe.

Aidan's right hand, wreathed in the strange flames, slowly approached the wounded creature. If you looked closely, you could see that he was holding a carved stone, and the healing fire was emanating directly from the runic symbols etched into its surface. The flames swayed gently as his hand moved, gradually approaching the gaping wound on the beast's neck.

But after the fire got close, the creature didn't show any fear toward the flames. Instead, it narrowed its eyes and actually moved closer to the warmth. There was no burning sensation around the magical fire, just a comforting, cozy feeling like sitting next to a perfect hearth on a cold winter night.

The warm flames began to work on the wound, and with a low, rumbling hum of contentment from the beast, the torn flesh started healing at a visible rate. The creature's condition, which had been sluggish and near death, gradually became more active and alert. Aidan carefully controlled the runic stone, guiding it to gradually merge with the beast's body through the healing wound. The moment it made contact with the creature's life force, its vitality absolutely flourished.

Incredible. The Kennaz Rune combination is working even better than I'd hoped.

Soon, under Aidan's careful observation, the strange beast returned to its peak physical condition, and it actually seemed stronger and more vital than it probably had been before the injury. The creature slowly got to its feet, opened its previously squinted eyes to reveal cold vertical pupils, and leaned forward to examine the human who'd healed it.

Aidan met its gaze calmly, already knowing what was coming next.

"ROAR!" The beast let out a deafening roar, its eyes flashing with predatory hunger as it opened its bloody mouth and lunged directly at Aidan. A powerful stench of rotting meat and wild musk rushed toward him, causing him to wrinkle his nose in disgust.

Right on schedule, he thought as his hands began moving through practiced gestures.

A circular magic circle appeared instantly in the air between them, spinning at high speed like a cutting blade. The golden energy construct sliced through the charging beast with surgical precision.

"Thunk!" Under Aidan's precise control, the magical disc severed both front legs of the strange beast cleanly. The creature that had been rushing forward suddenly lost its balance and slid a considerable distance across the grass, planting its face directly into the dirt in what could only be described as an epic face-plant.

Without missing a beat, Aidan casually summoned the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak to bind the thrashing, roaring creature in place. Ignoring its angry protests, he walked over to examine the severed front legs. Blood was still flowing freely from the stumps, but within moments, the same life-giving flames began burning at the locations of the cuts. The limbs that had been completely removed slowly regenerated in the magical fire, growing back with perfect anatomical precision.

"Life recovery, regeneration... not bad at all," Aidan said, watching the process with scientific interest as he nodded approvingly. The experiment had just confirmed that his runic combination - composed mainly of the Kennaz Rune with its vitality-supplying functions - could restore even catastrophic injuries.

The strange beast in front of him had been discovered by accident during his morning walk through the mountains. Originally, he'd planned to capture a healthy specimen for experimentation, but finding an already injured one had been convenient. Although he'd saved its life, Aidan had never held out any hope for gratitude from a wild predator. Its immediate attack had been completely within his expectations.

The creatures here don't understand concepts like debt or gratitude. There's only survival instinct, cunning, bloodthirst, and the drive to kill anything that might be a threat.

After testing the apparent limits of the regenerative effect, Aidan decided to push the boundaries further. With another quick gesture, he summoned a blade of pure force and cleanly decapitated the strange beast.

This time, the headless corpse erupted in life-giving flames again, but the creature's consciousness had completely departed and couldn't be restored. It was apparently impossible to resurrect something that was actually dead, even with an unlimited supply of life force. The runic stone, still burning with healing fire, slowly floated out from the corpse completely clean of blood or other fluids.

Interesting limitation. The runes can heal and regenerate, but they can't actually bring back the dead. Good to know the boundaries.

Looking at the corpse lying in the grass, Aidan turned and walked away without a second thought. It wouldn't take long for the smell of fresh blood to attract scavengers and other predators to the area.

After returning to the main city, Aidan went directly to the royal palace. On the massive golden throne, Odin sat with regal authority, holding his spear of eternity, Gungnir, like a scepter of absolute power. The All-Father looked older than when Aidan had first met him, but his remaining eye still held the sharp intelligence of someone who'd ruled the Nine Realms for millennia.

"Are you going to Nidavellir?" Odin asked, studying Aidan with that penetrating gaze that seemed to see everything.

"Yes, I've hit a bottleneck in my magical studies. I need to learn dwarven forging techniques to advance further," Aidan nodded respectfully.

"I remember that you've been studying Odin's runes. Have you mastered them already?" the All-Father asked with genuine curiosity, no doubt thinking of the various magical experiments he'd been conducting throughout Asgard's wilderness areas.

"Well, I've learned part of the system, but there are still aspects I don't understand," Aidan replied honestly. Although there were only sixteen core runes in the basic system, he'd only managed to master about half of them to a practical level.

"Half?" Odin seemed mildly surprised by this admission, but didn't press for details. Everyone had their own learning pace and areas of focus. In terms of raw power, he was definitely confident in his own abilities, but when it came to theoretical knowledge and scholarly research, he treated Aidan more like an academic colleague than a student.

"I've already contacted Eitri. He's eager to have you study with his people. You can travel there through the Rainbow Bridge." After Odin finished speaking, he settled back into his throne with an air of finality.

"Thank you, Your Excellency Odin. Please give my regards to Thor when he and the others return from their mission," Aidan said, bowing formally before turning to walk out of the vast throne room. Behind him, Odin watched his departure with thoughtful silence, slowly closing his eye in contemplation.

After saying goodbye to Odin, Aidan didn't head directly to the Bifrost Bridge. Instead, he made a point of visiting several people to properly say farewell. First, he found Queen Frigga in her private gardens, where she was tending to magical plants that seemed to grow in response to her touch. She wished him well in his studies and reminded him to be careful around dwarven forging fires.

Next, he visited Ivy and her father Warren in their workshop, where they were cataloging rare materials from across the Nine Realms. Warren gave him a small pouch of crystallized starlight that he claimed would be useful for enchanting metalwork.

Finally, he found old Vogt in the engineering sections, where the ancient dwarf was fine-tuning the Rainbow Bridge's calibration systems. The elderly engineer grumbled about young people always rushing off to learn from other masters, but his complaints were clearly affectionate.

After saying goodbye to everyone who'd helped him during his months in Asgard, Aidan finally made his way to the star observation platform at the end of the Rainbow Bridge.

Heimdall was wearing his distinctive golden armor, leaning casually on his guardian sword while standing outside the Observatory. His all-seeing gaze was fixed on the dark, star-filled universe that stretched endlessly below the bridge. Aidan quietly approached and stood beside him.

"Pretty view?" Aidan asked conversationally.

"Beautiful," Heimdall replied automatically, his attention still focused on whatever distant realm he was monitoring. Then his enhanced awareness kicked in and he turned to look at Aidan with mild surprise. "When'd you get here?" he asked in his usual calm tone.

"Were you checking out the elf girls in Alfheim?" Aidan asked with a teasing grin.

"What're you talking about?" Heimdall's normally stoic expression showed the slightest hint of discomfort.

"Come on, are they as pretty as everyone says? Good figures?"

"Where're you going? I'll send you there," Heimdall said, clearly trying to change the subject as quickly as possible.

"Really, I won't tell anyone."

"Nidavellir? Got it." After cutting off any further teasing, Heimdall walked directly to the central control platform. Without waiting for Aidan to say anything else, he inserted his guardian sword into the command port and began searching for Nidavellir's dimensional coordinates. With a practiced twist of the sword's handle, the transmission mechanisms began activating. "Click!" The sound of massive mechanical systems engaging echoed through the Observatory as the transmission port began rotating at high speed.

"Aren't you gonna say goodbye to me properly?" Aidan asked with mock hurt, waving silently.

"Goodbye," Heimdall replied flatly. He clearly just wanted Aidan to disappear before any more embarrassing questions could be asked.

"Alright, I'll miss you. Bye!" Aidan rolled his eyes at the guardian's obvious discomfort, then jumped directly into the spinning teleportation portal.

With a tremendous column of rainbow energy shooting from the Observatory straight into deep space, Heimdall pulled out his guardian sword and returned to his previous position to continue monitoring the Nine Realms. A slight smile might have crossed his face once he was sure Aidan was gone.

Finally, some peace and quiet.