《Wonder Worlds》 prologue & Chapter 1: A Strange New Life I¡¯m finally dead. My life hasn¡¯t been that great, in fact, it wasn¡¯t great at all. My most recognizable characteristic is my laziness, I even died from starvation. My parents thought it would be a good idea to give me some money and throw me out of the house to survive on my own but who were they kidding! I ended up getting mugged, lost all my money and starved on the street. Nobody cared enough to give me hand though that might have been because of me staying at a garbage dump and never getting up again. All in all, I¡¯m glad I finally died maybe this will mean everything is finally ending, I won¡¯t have to care or worry about survival, society or anything else ever again. As the darkness of death swept over me and I felt my life slipping away, I saw my worthless life¡¯s memories for one last time, I honestly didn¡¯t feel anything when I thought about my family and I never had any friends. Such a boring life, I¡¯m glad it came to an end which is sort of ironic when you think about it. Now there is absolutely nothing, I¡¯m drifting in nothingness and I am nothing... For a little while anyway. Why am I still conscious ? Wait, is that light?! Oh no. Oh no no no. I THOUGHT IT WAS OVER!!!! Chapter 1: A STRANGE NEW LIFE This is ridiculous. I¡¯m currently in the middle of a bird nest and yes, I¡¯m a bird, a canary actually. I feel very complicated right now. I don¡¯t know if I should be disgusted by the way my ¡°mother¡± is feeding me? Or be happy by the fact that I will be able to fly in the future which was always a dream of mine? Or be sad by the fact that I don¡¯t even have arms anymore? And I also don¡¯t know if I should be happy or sad that I got a second chance at life even though it¡¯s a bird¡¯s life? For now I am going to sleep since I¡¯m so tired. Somewhere deep in my heart, I hoped that this would just be dream with me waking up at my parent¡¯s house anytime now. But noooo¡­ I just woke up a day later. Waking up to the sight of my mother coming in with ¡°food¡± in her mouth, fear loomed over me since I knew it was my food and by food I mean WORMS, freakin¡¯ worms. Even though the scene of her flying under the rays of sunlight made her look beautiful giving her yellow feathers a shiny feeling. It appears my species is a wild canary with yellow feathers covering our heads and chest while our wings and back are black with a big black feather at the tip of our backs. Though the colors vary in intensity from bird to bird but that is the general look anyway. My mother kept feeding me and my brothers and sisters until we were full. Even though I thought it would be disgusting to eat worms and from the beak of my mother no less. My bird body¡¯s instinct took over and it made the ¡°food¡± tasty as if it¡¯s the most natural thing for me to eat worms. Ever since I was born all I¡¯m been hearing was the sounds of tweets from my brothers and sisters and my mother. I wanted to know how many brothers and sisters I have but my sight is still blurry. I have too much energy in this little body of mine which is why I¡¯m unable to sit still, I keep wiggling and shaking my body almost from instinct until I feel tired then I go to sleep. I woke up at sunrise again almost as if I have an internal clock¡­ Oh yea, birds do have those I suppose. All my siblings are awake, chirping and tweeting. I think my mother went to get food. My father hasn¡¯t showed himself yet. Maybe he¡¯s dead. Today, I try and get a feel for my body while trying to control it better. After a while my mother comes in with the daily dose of worms. I spend the rest of my waking hours trying to better control my body rather than just shaking it out of instinct and I sleep when I get tired. On the next day, I felt my control getting much better. I try tapping my legs in front of me then to the back then I try flapping my wings a few times.
[body control lv1] skill gained
Umm¡­ what the heck? This is a blue window. A blue window¡­BLUE WINDOW. Wait, I know what this is. I should be happy if it¡¯s true but the more I think about it the scarier I feel because I know what I AM. If this really turns out to be a fantasy world like all those novels then it¡¯s filled with monsters and magic which is awesome BUT I¡¯M A FREAKING CANARY BIRD. Never mind surviving for my 10 year life span, how am I going to survive living outside this nest? And how come I haven¡¯t heard or seen any monsters yet? Ugh¡­ everyday, I keep asking more and more questions without any answers and it¡¯s very frustrating. What am I going to do now? What have I been doing until now? Did I really plan on living a bird¡¯s life for ten years? I have to calm my thoughts. Everything has an answer. Maybe I was just delusional about that blue window just now, that must be it¡­ yea, I¡¯m just a DELUSIONAL CANARY. Who am I kidding right now? Huh? WHO? Ugh¡­ calm down me. Calm down. Since I am stuck here anyway, I can just kill myself. Wait, wouldn¡¯t that make me a coward? I mean sure, I might have been the laziest person on earth but I was never a coward and I don¡¯t want to be one, either. Whoever or whatever brought me here might have just given me a chance to change myself and I also like the aspect of fantasy and magic. For now, I will try and figure out a way to get stronger maybe strength will be better than lying around all day and doing nothing. After my mother fed me that day, I immediately started flapping my wings as hard as I can until I got tired, I knew I obviously wouldn¡¯t just fly but maybe this might act as strength training or something when my mother saw me flapping my wings she kept turning her head sideways as if she was a dog while my siblings kept chirping, completely ignoring my existence. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. I looked at my mother to my surprise as she moved towards me and pushed me with her head till the edge of the nest. I was horrified since I thought she was going to throw me of the nest, so I kept pushing against her while trying to scream for her to stop. Only to hear loud chirping and tweeting coming out of my mouth, hopefully she understood what I wanted to say. ¡°Why do you want me stop? I¡¯m only going to help you fly since you are so eager¡± a calming motherly voice sounded in my head as my mother stopped pushing me and looked at me while turning her head again and chirping. From the context of the words I only froze for a minute before my brain started working again. I understood that my mother somehow talked to me through chirps or whatever. So I tried to ask her how she could talk but only heard chirping again. Then she chirped something back to me and I heard. ¡°off course I can talk. I¡¯m more surprised you can talk when you are so young. Looks like you are a fast learner, little one¡± he heard her say cheerfully. This must have something to do with us being the same species, that would make perfect sense to me. In fact I can¡¯t think of any other reason. She is also speaking very intelligently for a bird. Anyway, back to the matter at hand. ¡°Um¡­ mother, could you not try and kill me?¡± I honestly can¡¯t think of anything else to say to here since this is the first time I spoke to a bird. It has actually been so long since I talked to anyone, even my previous family didn¡¯t talk to me too much. I¡¯m feeling ashamed since I feel like my way of speaking is less intelligent than a bird. This might at least convince my mother that I¡¯m still a little bird. ¡°Haha¡­ I wasn¡¯t trying to kill you, my boy. I was helping you learn to fly¡± ¡°But I don¡¯t know how¡± I retorted ¡°Off course not. Which is why I¡¯m trying to help you LEARN it¡­ haha¡± She said it as a matter of fact. I couldn¡¯t help but feel some mockery in her tone which irritated me since I realized how stupid my retort was. ¡°Mother, I¡¯m tired. Can I try tomorrow?¡± ¡°Yes, you can, little one. Rest now¡± She said as she brought me closer to her with her wings for a warming sleep. I slept soundly under her wings. I couldn¡¯t help but feel happy for some reason, maybe it¡¯s her act of affection towards me. My past life didn¡¯t include many ¡°affectionate¡± moments from my parents or anyone actually. I tried to remind myself that she was just a bird but I was still very happy that she showed such motherly affection to me. The next day, I woke up to the chirps of my siblings again and noticed that my mother already left to bring us some food. While waiting for her I tried to do something different and kept jumping in place while flapping my wings when I felt like I was about to fall. I never flew but I landed slowly. Every time, it kept getting slower and slower however I haven¡¯t reached the flying stage, yet. After a while, mother got back with food. ¡°Are you ready to fly, little one?¡± she asked after feeding all of us. Just imagining it, made me feel extremely elated ¡°how are you going to teach me to fly, mother?¡± ¡°Like this¡± she said as she approached me, held me by the back of my neck and threw me out the nest. ¡°Ahhh¡± I screamed as I was falling, frantically trying to flap my wings. In a couple of seconds, my instinct took over and I was able to glide my way down to the ground. I managed to softly land on the ground. Panting heavily for a bird, I took a look around me. The dirt ground I was on was covered in dried leaves surrounded by various different kinds of plants, giving my surroundings a colorful look with the rays of sunlight magnifying the effect. I¡¯m very happy to have been able to see such a scene. Mother landed beside me and said ¡°Not bad, my boy¡± I could feel the happiness in her voice inside my head. I reflexively tried to small but only managed to make my eyes look like crescent s since my beak wouldn¡¯t move. I¡¯ve still to get used to this small body of mine. ¡°Just a couple more tries and you¡¯ll get the hang of it¡± She swiftly took me by the neck and flew me to the nest which I could tell was about 3 to 4 meters from the ground on a thick tree branch. She threw over again. This time, I managed to float a little before gliding down again. We repeated it for a third time and I managed to sparingly fly and float. Mother noticed I was starting to get tired so we treated it as a success and ended it for the day. The sense of accomplishment I felt made me forget my tired body. I couldn¡¯t sleep from my happiness even though I was cuddled against my mother. As I lied there pondering about today¡¯s events, I asked mother ¡°Mother, why weren¡¯t there any animals or beasts around here?¡± ¡°There was, child. You just couldn¡¯t see them, yet. But you needn''t fear them.¡± she said reassuredly. She sounded mysteriously confident in her words. "Aren''t they dangerous, mother?" I was confused by her statement. "They surely are" she chuckled "but they won''t harm you" I was even more confused. Seeing my confusion mother calmly said "trust me" She didn''t seem to be willing to tell me any further. I wondered why she was so confident. Could this have something to do with my mother¡¯s ¡®abnormal intelligence? ¡­Intelligence? No, it can¡¯t be. Leaving that matter aside I asked ¡°Mother, where is father?¡± Chapter 2: Magic?! _____________________________________________________________________ ¡°Father¡­ is not here anymore, little one¡± I could feel the hesitation and sadness in her voice. I had a soft feeling of loss in my heart, it was a rather new feeling for me. My previous life was just like a void, I never had friends or enemies so I never felt like I gained or lost anything before. In this life, it was rather fulfilling to have such strangely affectionate mother for a bird. Yet, with it came this feeling of loss from never seeing my father. I didn¡¯t even care if he was a bird or not, at that point. Seeing my mother in such a state, I knew it was better not to talk about this subject any further. My siblings were already sleeping around my mother. Their sound sleeping faces and soft breathing sounds looked very calming. Just like that, I slept for the day. Waking up the next day, I felt strange as I looked at my siblings. Now that I¡¯m able to see them clearly, I could see they were about 4-6 centimeters in length with varying weights. There were four of them in total other than me. I instinctively knew there were two females and two males since I couldn¡¯t see below their stomachs. But they felt small compared to me for some reason, I thought we were supposed to be the same size and age. ¡°Mother, why do I feel bigger than my siblings?¡± I asked my mother after we were done eating. ¡°Because you ARE bigger since you are stronger and more intelligent¡± she said as a matter of fact. ¡°Is our sizes are determined by our strengths?¡± ¡°There are multiple ways to change our sizes, little one, which includes increasing our strengths and learning magic¡± Magic? Her words stormed my ears like a hurricane of excitement. ¡°You know about magic, mother?¡± I asked excitedly. ¡°Haha¡­yes, I do, little one. You want to learn more about it?¡± That¡¯s a no-brainer. ¡°Yes, please¡± ¡°All will happen in time, my dear. For now, you have to fly first¡± Before I started I asked ¡°if you know magic then why are you not very big, mother?¡± looking at her now, she was about 20 centimeters in length while she looked very elegant without much fat, if any, on her body. ¡°This is the biggest I can get, my dear¡± she said chuckling. ¡°Oh¡­ ok¡± without adding any further, I did as she said. I could already feel my body¡¯s strength increasing enormously. Without waiting for mother, I jumped off the nest and flapped my wings
[Flying lv1] skill gained
Immediately, I gained the skill. Hovering above the nest, I decided to do a few laps around it. I noticed the happiness in my mother¡¯s face which made me happy in return. Feeling the wind against my chest and wings was very refreshing. I understood now that her intelligence was indeed not normal and more than that, this world was, indeed, a world of fantasy and magic. My brothers and sisters were chirping happily in the nest while some of them were also flapping their wings. It seems they are all fast learners, for birds. They kept stumbling cutely on the nest¡¯s twigs but continued none the less. I landed near mother and said excitedly ¡°will you teach me now, mother?¡± My mother agreed and we kept talking about some of the rules governing magic in this world. Something that I took notice of immediately was that mother was definitely not a bird because when we talked she actually told me some scientific knowledge that would usually be impossible for a bird to understand. However, I kept my mouth shut since I was supposed to be a bird that hasn¡¯t even left its nest yet. Maybe all animals and beasts in this world were intelligent or my mother was just different. Either way, the things she talked about fascinated me immensely. From her knowledge, she talked about how all living beings in this world have mana in them. Through the use of this mana, people are able to influence the world around them. For example you can try and imbue wind with your mana and move it, this will make you expend mana in the imbuing process and the movement process however if you know the scientific principles by which the wind is generated which, in the case of wind, is that warm air rises into the sky while cold air stays closer to the earth, therefore cold air pushes warm air up. That causes air to move and wind to blow. You can use this information to expend less mana with the same outcome. This is true in every branch of magic, be it the elements, healing, etc¡­ However, the imbuing process is the most fundamental and most important process through which the doors of magic start opening for you. Mother says that nobody can use all branches and elements in their life time since some elements or branches of magic will not accept every type of mana imbued in them. The reasons for this are not completely known to her however it has something to do with the understanding of the person to the imbued element. For example a person that doesn¡¯t know how lightening is formed, will never be able to imbue their mana in lightening. If what mother says is correct then the only reason nobody can learn every branch of magic is that we never stop learning. However, that also means that this world might very scientifically advanced depending on the different civilizations in it. Ugh¡­ I hate studying. Why does everything have to include studying in it. Grumbling inwardly, I kept listening to mother. She told me that all birds have an affinity to wind magic so it¡¯s easier to imbue mana in them and us canaries have a weak affinity to sound magic. I could obviously understand why that is. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.After that, mother taught me how to feel for the mana inside me. In order to feel mana, one must be centered and calm or else you can never truly control and move it. It would obviously get easier and easier the more you practice but being centered and calm is the optimal state for mana control. I kept training to feel my mana till night time. It was the first time I stayed up to see the darkness of the night before sleep overtook me. I could see the unbelievable amount of stars in the night sky even by the cover of trees. That night I was mentally exhausted so I slept like a new born (because I AM). I slept very soundly with mother and my siblings.
[Mana Control lv1] skill gained
The next day, I finally started feeling and moving my mana. I¡¯m always amazed by how fast I¡¯m improving every night. Mother told me that I have to level up my [Mana Control] skill to level 2 before I can use mana outside of my body. Apparently, certain skills level up using special methods or by getting additional effects. For example, when I told mother about my body control skill, she told me that in order to raise its level I had to exceed my control over my body right now which means that since I¡¯m already able to have a certain degree of control of my muscles and joints, I have to either exceed my current level of control over them or start controlling other parts of my body like my organs, blood or even bones. I obviously didn¡¯t even know that I could control my blood or bones but I did hear about this certain yoga master that was able to stop his heart for a minute back on earth. I don¡¯t know if that is true or not but in this world, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Back to topic, to leveling up my [Body Control] skill by controlling my blood and bones would require a special method or technique which neither me nor my mother know of, currently. However, leveling it up by exceeding or exercising my current control of my muscles and joints would be possible, if only I knew how to control them better. This might require me to learn some sort of martial art but I don¡¯t know what sort of martial arts can be taught in this world. Besides, I think magic is cooler (it would be better if I didn¡¯t have to study for it, though). Right now, I¡¯ll just focus on leveling up my [Mana Control]. Focusing, I try and condense the mana of my body to a certain point and move it around a little. After a while I get an idea, I start to imagine mana going into my right wing and them I try to imagine it getting absorbed by my right wing, into the muscles, feathers, veins, blood, nerves and bones. I¡¯m trying my hardest to imagine every detail of my right wing absorbing the mana. My face scrunches up as my right wing starts to burn a little. I start to fear if I¡¯m doing something harmful so I quickly decide to stop. I was training while standing on my two legs, it was easy for me to stand since I¡¯m not really that heavy. Opening my eyes, the sun was setting, dying the sky red with hues of orange. The forest was already dark for a human but my eyes could see clearly enough. Mother was teaching my siblings how to fly, this morning. Now, they are already cuddling around her and sleeping soundly in front of me. Our nest was rather spacious, if you ask me. You could probably fit about 20 to 25 chicks like us in it. As I nimbly walk towards her. I pay careful attention to not let my small talons make any sound. She sees me and smiles gently. Without beating around the bush, I tell her my experience, quietly. She looked surprised and told me ¡°that means that you have an affinity for body magic¡± ¡°Really?¡± I chirped rather loudly before shutting my mouth with my wings ¡°Sorry¡± I say quietly. ¡°Well, it¡¯s either that or you have some profound knowledge of your body and its systems¡± ignoring my excitement she said with an inquisitive look on her face. ¡°But that can¡¯t be, you couldn¡¯t possibly have that knowledge, yet¡± she said as she dismissed her own silly thoughts. ¡°Oh¡­ Y-yeah¡± trying not to look suspicious I said while trying to smile ¡°can you teach me more about my body¡¯s systems to improve my body magic, mother?¡± ¡°If you wish, but I was planning on teaching you more about wind and wind magic first ¡±she pondered slightly then said ¡°however, if you want to learn more about body magic then I will teach you all that I know, for now, keep imbuing your body with mana until you get the [Body Magic] skill¡± ¡°How do I imbue my body again?¡± ¡°Just do exactly what you¡¯ve done before with your right wing but this time imagine your whole body instead, it might hurt a little but the pain will go away quickly¡± she answered I did as she told me and my body felt like it was in a 50 celsius degree desert with the heat being proportionally distributed around my body. My skin was stinging but it wasn¡¯t really that painful, more like, very uncomfortable. It only lasted for about a minute or two and then¡­
[Body Magic lv1] skill gained
It felt like a barrier broke inside of me and instead of pain all I felt was strength and lightness. The shift was too sudden that it broke me out of my trance. Though, my mana was felt rather depleted, my body felt rejuvenated even after I had stopped feeding it mana. I was, once again, mentally exhausted but extremely elated. I told my mother of my accomplishment and slept on her nice warm body while hearing her congratulate me Chapter 3: Kindness Mother took me out to hunt for food, today. Hunting for insects wasn¡¯t exactly what I was hoping for when I imagined my first epic battle. I suppose all great people have to start from somewhere. While flying, she would give me pointers on maneuvering through trees and tree branches. Through her pointers I got this.
[maneuvering lv1] skill gained
It seems that by increasing my flight speed, I would increase the difficulty of my maneuvers which enabled me to learn the skill faster. This skill system could be very easily understood, sometimes. While some other times it could be very complicated, depending on the skill. Flying in the air, feeling the leaves of the trees I pass by, shake beneath my feet and the sound of the wind going ¡®whoosh¡¯ brought me to my own little world, for a while. Until, mother told me that she saw the ¡®pray¡¯ so we softly descended near them. Mother quickly got near and pecked them multiple times. They died harmlessly, just like that. There were all sorts of worms, beetles and cockroaches in here for some reason. I was told to do the same as mother. I had gotten over my sense of disgust, quickly, Having a bird¡¯s body helped a lot in that department. I got near a soft looking worm that looked easy to penetrate. I hardened my beak and prepared myself then *peck* *peck* *peck* I couldn¡¯t get through it. Mother looked at my predicament and smiled merrily. I looked down at the ground to hide my embarrassment. That worm was very slippery, so every time I tried to peck it, my beak would slip off the worm¡¯s body which caused me to lose balance. ¡°you seem to be having trouble, little one¡± she said, smiling lightly. ¡°It¡¯s slippery¡± I complained. Looking at the small worm, I¡¯ve chosen for pray, she suggested ¡°why don¡¯t you try a bigger worm?¡± pecking a bigger worm would allow me to concentrate my beak¡¯s penetrating power easier. ¡°No¡± I stubbornly refused, ¡°I¡¯m going to enjoy eating this meal¡± I said with a mischievous smirk. Closing my eyes and bringing my attention to my own mana. I imagined the bones of my beak hardening and the muscles in my upper body tightening while feeding them mana. If I understood mother¡¯s lessons correctly then giving purpose to my mana, through directing it with my imagination, is mostly the way how magic works. Readying myself, I swiftly focus my eyes on my prey and *peck* *squelch* Blood covered my face, as the worm exploded from the pressure of my peck. Mother looked at me strangely. I bet if she had a mouth, it would be in the shape of an O right now. With her eyes wide she said ¡°Well done, my dear. Your talent in body magic is extraordinary¡± she completely ignored the fact that I just refused her.
[Body Magic] sub-skill gained [Body Strengthening]
[Body Magic] sub-skill gained [Body Hardening]
My blood covered face kept blinking while looking at my mother and the windows. ¡°Mom, can I eat this worm now?¡± I said, expressionlessly. ¡°Are you alright?¡± she asked, worried. Showing a rather fake smile ¡°I¡¯m perfectly normal, I just need to eat this worm¡±. ¡°Off course, my dear, you can eat it now, if you¡¯re hungry¡± ¡°Ok¡± without waiting another second, I turned around and swallowed every piece of that stupid worm up. Damn worm, wouldn¡¯t go out without dirtying me. I won¡¯t leave anything of you to be remembered by this land then. After I was done eating, mother had already finished hunting for the rest of my sibling. I apologized to mother and told her that I would carry some seeds or berries if I find any, on our way back. We weren¡¯t that far away from the nest but I managed to find some berries and seeds and I carried them in my mouth. After eating, my siblings kept flying around the nest like a bunch of little kids chasing each other. They haven¡¯t talked, yet, but they were very energetic and capable. Do all birds grow up like this? I haven¡¯t seen many chicks in my past life to determine if this was normal but I guess it has something to do with this magical world we are living in. I asked mother if there was any water nearby so that I could clean myself from all the blood. ¡°There is a water source near here¡± she pondered ¡°follow me¡± I did as she said. As we were on our way, we discovered that my siblings followed us. I was worried at first, but mother simply smiled when she was looking at them playing around her while chirping happily. I eased up and decided to enjoy our trip. This wasn¡¯t so bad, at all. When we arrived, I discovered the water source was a small pond without any fish inside. Surrounded by grass and trees, there wasn¡¯t anything living near the pond. I wondered why we were alone, so I asked. ¡°Isn¡¯t there anyone here, mother?¡± ¡°No, there isn¡¯t, little one. Go and clean yourself nicely, nothing will harm you¡± her reassuring and confident smile made me rather suspicious since animals usually come to a water source for drinking water and washing themselves, yet, there wasn¡¯t any trace of a living creature beside us here. Even the pond had a slope so that I wouldn¡¯t have to dive in. It was as if it was made for just us. As I was cleaning myself, I heard mother talking. ¡°Now, little one, the water here will help increase your level in [Magic Control]. Stay in the water and let it reach the highest point in your body without letting it suffocate you. Letting it reach your neck will do. Clear your mind and follow my instructions¡± I did as she said and started to feel for my mana. ¡°To exercise extending your mana outside of your body, you¡¯ve to feel it pouring out of your skin, into your surroundings. The water will help as an indicator and increase the feeling on your skin, making it easier for the mana to pour out¡± If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Imagining the mana pour out of me bit by bit, the skin below my feathers got covered with mana rapidly as the water increased my focus on my skin. The pressure of the water decreased around me as if it was no longer there. I felt like I was standing normally on the ground. I tried to extended the mana further but it didn¡¯t cover my feather before¡­
[Mana Control lv2] skill gained
¡°I did it, mother¡± I couldn¡¯t stop smiling from happiness. But now, I¡¯m definitely tired. ¡°Well don¡­¡± before she could finish speaking, one of my brothers head butted me while chirping sharply. The rest of my sibling flew around me, as if to congratulate me. One of my sisters looked at my brother furiously for a second. She landed near him and hit his head with her wing, reprimanding him for his actions. He looked dejected but didn¡¯t do anything more than just looking at the ground. My other sister was watching this scene from the air while shaking her head, if she could, I bet she would have sighed. While my other brother was just laughing and chirping happily in the air. What an interesting family, I couldn¡¯t help but say to myself as I smiled inwardly. When we got back, mother told me to imbue my mana with the wind while she taught my siblings about the basics again. I waited for a bit to recover some of my mana and decided to watch my mother¡¯s ¡®lesson¡¯. Seeing her talk with my siblings and their attentiveness to the lesson, showed me that they could understand every word mother said. They were only a couple of days old, yet they were so smart already. Looking at their drive to gain knowledge, I couldn¡¯t help but feel a sense of competitiveness rise from within me. I may have been lazy in my past life but I definitely didn¡¯t lack competitiveness. The problem was that this sense might have been going in the wrong direction. Instead of focusing it on what society deemed important. I focused it on games and things like watching the latest movies. I never got professional at these things though which is what lead to me getting kicked out and my eventual death. But in this world, I¡¯m willing to use anything I can get my hands on. If a sense of competitiveness can help me grow in strength then I will use it to the best of my ability. After a while, my mana recovered to a descent enough level. I thought it was strange that I could recover so fast, from my interactions with mana in this brief period, I realized that mana was like a sort of muscle, the more you train with it various aspects, the more it will grow. But maybe that is just the norm for it. Without delay, I closed my eyes and began imbuing wind with my mana, it was easier since my skill had leveled up. The more wind I imbued, the more it felt like this wind belonged to me, as a part of. I could move it around in any way I liked. I kept imagining the wind howling around me.
[Wind Magic lv1] skill gained
Another accomplishment¡­ I thought to myself. As much as I was happy, I was also extremely tired now. Someone like me doesn¡¯t usually exert themselves so hard. Trying not to disturb my family, I lied down to rest a little. Sleep quickly overshadowed the chirping of my family and didn¡¯t walk up till night time. I woke up to see my siblings sleeping around my mother while she was looking down on me with a peaceful smile on her face. ¡°Mother, what is out there?¡± I asked, seemingly out of the blue. But I was wondering why she was teaching us so much, so fast. Not understanding my meaning, she said ¡°The world is out there¡± ¡°No, I mean¡­ what is in the world? What is beyond this nest of ours?¡± ¡°Oh¡­ well, beyond this nest are various strong monsters that live in this forest. As for what is in the world, there are many unknown things that nobody has ever seen before. But, I will tell you what I¡¯ve seen before, there are cities built by other creatures surrounded by towering walls to protect them from the dangers of the world around them. Some of these creatures are evil that think of nothing but themselves and you must never become like them child, because some others are kind, their kindness spreads throughout wherever they go, they help those in need and save those in trouble, without waiting for benefits and they are the ones that help advance our world and our perspective of our own limitations¡± she said with a trace of longing and nostalgia in her voice I couldn¡¯t really understand half of what she said but I just tried to listen to her talking. ¡°Aren¡¯t you talking about heroes, mother?¡± ¡°You don¡¯t have to be a hero to be kind, little one¡± she chuckled lightly. ¡±Some evil creatures might be called heroes by those around them. Kind creatures, on the other hand, have no care for fame or titles. They are kind simply for the sake of kindness. If you are kind, not all creatures will accept your kindness but those that do will have their horizons broadened by you¡± ¡°Then I will be kind, mother¡± I said rather proudly. My previous parents never talked to me in such a way before, they were all about doing this and doing that. People around me in my old world always misinterpreted kindness for naivety and stupidity. Then again there is a very fine line separating these characteristics from each other. ¡°Don¡¯t think that being kind is easy, little one. Corruption and hate are around every corner and they are very infectious, it takes strength and will that are far stronger than what I¡¯m teaching you¡± she warned. I could understand her previous sentence, somewhat. When someone disrespects you, it feels more natural to kill them than to forgive them. Even if you forgive them, people would always call you weak. Making you feel angry at yourself, even if you know that you are doing the right thing deep within your heart. Perhaps I should take back my previous words but I like the challenge. Chapter 4: Playful Chase First off, Thank you very much, Skull_Mech, for your review. About the similarity with other reincarnation stories, I honestly don¡¯t know if this will be like them or not since I haven¡¯t read that many (only re:monster and every reincarnation story on the site :P ) but the way I¡¯m planning for the story to play out, it will be unique for me at least, yet, at the same time it might seem familiar to every reincarnation story you''ve read so far in one way or another. Also, I very much like my grammar, in fact, I¡¯m a bit of a grammar nazy (the same can¡¯t be said for my punctuation skills) so, if somebody finds any mistakes PLEASE TELL ME!!!! As for the mothers POV, it is part of the main story so you guys will just have to wait for it. That¡¯s all and enjoy the chapter :D !!!!!!!!!!!! _____________________________________________________________________________________ I had slept the rest of the night and woke up the next day. After waking up, I found mother waiting for me to go bring food with her. Though reluctant from yesterday¡¯s ¡®incident¡¯, I went anyway after knowing that she waited for me. On our way there, I maneuvered around the trees like yesterday. My skill definitely showed its effect, it was far easier to move through the air and between the trees like this. We arrived to the place of the insects faster than yesterday ¡°Remember, little one, it is easier to peck bigger insects than the smaller ones. Try not to use your body magic to conserve your mana for training¡± Mother advised. ¡°Alright, mother¡± I agreed, I would rather not have any more insect blood on my face like yesterday. Approaching a cockroach-looking insect that looked extremely red, I pecked normally without the aid of magic. I tried to aim at a vulnerable spot on its body to make easier for me to kill eat. My aim was horrible and I kept hitting its scales. It even tried running away after I missed the first time, so, I tried aiming for its legs and head. It took me a while but I managed to get a leg and the rest came after. Every time it got too far away I would fly and dive after it. Thankfully, it couldn¡¯t fly yet or it would have been a real pain to hunt down. After I was done with it, I turned to look for more pray, only to find mother had already finished. ¡°Will you be able to bring that with you?¡± She looked slightly worried. Now that I looked at that roach, it was too big to hold with my tiny talons. Having taken the time to hunt it, I wasn¡¯t about to just leave it. So, flipped it over using my talons and pierced them into its soft belly part. I flapped my wings to see if I could fly with this thing on my legs. Surprisingly, it wasn¡¯t heavy to the point of me being unable to carry it. It felt heavy enough for me to carry it back to the nest before tiring out. ¡°Yes, I¡¯ll manage¡± I smiled. I couldn¡¯t calculate the distance very well between here and the nest but if I had to guess, it would be about a mile give or take 200 meters. The margin for error here is rather big, hence my previous statement. It took a while to get back, especially since I asked for some rest stops. The trip back was harder than I thought it would be. My wings were sore and my legs felt like they were about to fall off the rest of my body. My siblings were already awake by the time we got back. My sister that reprimanded my brother yesterday looked at us worriedly and suddenly I heard a childish, yet lovely, female voice in my head. ¡°Big brother, why were you so late?¡± she asked. I couldn¡¯t grasp what just happened. Apparently, my sister just talked¡­ But¡­ Big brother?... I mean, I know I¡¯m the biggest in our group but she just called me¡­ Big brother¡­ Eheheheh. As I laughed to myself with a dreamy look in my eyes and silly smile on my face, my sister snapped me out of it, as she approached me, visibly more worried than before. ¡°Big brother, are you ok?¡± ¡°Eheh¡­huh¡­oh¡­ Y-yes, I¡¯m fine, sis?¡± only now, did I remember she was talking. ¡°Anyway, since when can you talk, sis?¡± ¡°Hehe, mother taught us yesterday¡± she smugly replied. I turned to mother and asked ¡°how come they only started talking now, mother?¡± ¡°It was only a matter of teaching them how to voice out their own intents, instead of just acting upon them. After all, birds aren¡¯t used to communicating with their words. You were special, it seems¡± After mother said that, I realized that my siblings were always chirping, yet, I couldn¡¯t hear any words before. Unlike how me and mother would hear each other¡¯s words when chirping. The rest of my siblings were merrily eating while we were talking but my sister was still making sure I was okay. Feeling weird from all the worry that she was showing me, I tried to tell her to go eat before the food is over. ¡°I won¡¯t eat without big brother¡± she said as she seemed to puff her bird cheeks, threatening to cry if I refused. ¡°O-ok, let¡¯s eat¡± I hesitantly said. As we were eating, my thoughts wandered to my siblings and my past life. I was an only child and didn¡¯t have any friends, even as a child. Never having enjoyed a childhood, teenage years, or adulthood, it wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to say that my past life was empty. It isn¡¯t like I was bullied or anything, it¡¯s just that nobody tried approaching me and me, them. But looking at this happy bird family of mine, I had this most wonderful feeling rise within my heart. This life is, indeed, a gift, I will do my best to treasure it. They say that you don¡¯t know the value of something until you lose it but in my present state, knowing that I already lost a useless life and gained a meaningful one, I¡¯d rather die than lose it. ¡°Big brother, I want to hunt with you and mother, tomorrow¡± came another childish voice that contained a hint of raucousness in it. That was my brother that head butted me, yesterday. ¡°Umm¡­ Why don¡¯t you ask mother?¡± I asked, I didn¡¯t know if I should call him little brother or just brother. In fact, we still didn¡¯t have names. I haven¡¯t heard about names from mother, in this world. So I tried not to ask her directly. Looking at her while she was eating with us, I asked. ¡°Mother, is there a way for us to differentiate between one another?¡± I didn¡¯t notice but I appeared to have interrupted my brother¡¯s discussion with her. She looked at me and replied ¡°Yes, every creature has a name that differentiates them from everybody else¡± then she looked at my brother and replied to him ¡°As for you, my dear, you can come whenever you want¡± she replied while smiling lightly. ¡°Yes! Thank you, mother¡± my brother energetically replied. ¡°So, about those names¡­ do we get one?¡± I asked. ¡°Not yet¡± she chuckled ¡°You will get your names before you leave this forest, little one¡± ¡°But why?¡± this didn¡¯t make sense to me. ¡°Don¡¯t be hasty, little one. All will be revealed, in time¡± she said rather sternly. It was new, for me, to see her strict side, especially since we were only talking about names. I was rather taken aback but recovered quickly and replied in understanding. ¡°Okay, mother, I¡¯ll wait¡± I said with tinge of sadness in my voice since I was yelled at. I wouldn¡¯t normally react like that because of something as petty as a stern reply but I guess I got used to her loving side. Thankfully, I got over it quickly. ¡°Now, children, it¡¯s time for today¡¯s lesson in wind magic¡± mother said to all of us. ¡°You¡¯ll join us to, little one, having a deeper understanding of the wind will increase your potential in utilizing it with magic¡± she advised. ¡°Oh¡­ Ok¡± I replied perplexedly. I was still thinking about how to call my siblings for now, so, I decided to give them a name for each of their personalities. Since my brother, who was talking to me earlier, was energetic and rather aggressive, I decided to call him hothead. While my sister was a worrywart, I decided to call her worryhead. My other brother¡¯s always cheerful and tends to laugh a lot, so I¡¯ll call him cheerhead. My other sister had this cool atmosphere around her, so I¡¯ll call her coolhead. ¡°Yes!¡± hothead exclaimed. ¡°Ok, mother¡± worryhead said. ¡°Yay¡± said cheerhead. ¡°Hmph¡± was all coolhead said as she walked to mother. That day was all about wind, science and magic wise. We learned about air, air pressure, tornado formations and storms. Though my siblings were still level one in [Mana Control] mother still taught us a lot about wind magic. After 2 or 3 hours, mother instructed my siblings in how to break through to level 2 in [Mana Control] and taught me more about body magic. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. Body magic was actually just a cool way to put it, because it felt like I was in biology class. She talked about the digestive system, nervous system, urinary system, enzymes, different functions of muscles, bones and blood. Though she talked about each one briefly for me to get the general idea about them, she made sure to describe everything in detail to help me imagine it. I didn¡¯t think I would be able to remember anything she said but everything she told seemed to literally stick in my head, involuntarily. From the way she put, when I get at a high enough level in [Body Magic] I will be able to control every aspect of my body, be it emotions, muscles, organs, bones or blood. As exciting as it sounded to me, I was very dejected because every level of [Body Magic] required me to study more of my body¡¯s biology to increase my proficiency and unlock more sub-skills. We finished the lesson when my siblings advanced to [Mana Control lv2]. After that, mother guided them on how to imbue wind with their mana. Imbuing wind wouldn¡¯t take much time to any bird since all birds have a natural affinity with wind magic, coupled with the added effect of my siblings¡¯ newly gained knowledge. They didn¡¯t take more than two minutes to gain the [Wind Magic lv1] skill. Though, worryhead finished in less than a minute which showed that her affinity was greater than us, according to mother. Particularly, since we should be at about the same level of knowledge in wind magic. Off course, I was supposed to have a better level of knowledge due to my past life. However, studying wasn¡¯t exactly my best aspect and I practically forgot most of what I learned in school about science, at least. So, I didn¡¯t have that big of an advantage when it came to wind but my body magic was easy since I¡¯ve practically seen muscles, bones and veins everywhere on the internet and real life when I was eating meat. But advancing in it required a deeper understanding that I didn¡¯t have yet. As a congratulatory gift, mother taught all of us a wind magic sub-skill. It was a sub-skill that could increase our flight speed and movement speed in general called [Jet Stream]. The way it worked was by coating ourselves in our imbued wind, then narrowing this wind in front of our bodies like a blade cutting through the air and the wind generated by our momentum, whether using our wings to fly or our feet to run, would push us forward faster and faster. We all got excited to try it, and we kept doing laps around the nest while mother gave us pointers. Our speed increased bit by bit and if one listened closely it would sound as if a blade was cutting through the air repeatedly.
[Wind Magic] sub-skill gained [Jet Stream]
¡°Hey, guys, catch me if you can¡± said hothead after he got the skill. He turned and flew away from the nest a little bit leaving the sound of a blade cutting the wind in his wake. ¡°Oh no, you don¡¯t¡­ Haha¡± said cheerhead as he flew after him. ¡°Brothers, don¡¯t go too far¡± said worryhead as she also chased after them. ¡°Hmph¡± said coolhead as she also flew after them. ¡°We won¡¯t get far, mother¡± I cheerfully said as I followed after them. ¡°Have fun!¡± mother cried. It was time to show my [Maneuvering] skill in action. I flew with unimaginable speed for such a small bird as myself. All of us were like blades cutting through the air. I gained the advantage since they had to slow down to evade the tree branches while I would twist and turn my body. I neared coolhead and touched her head with my talon ¡°Got you¡± I smirked at her as I was about to fly past her. But she suddenly caught my tail feather with her talons and said ¡°No, you didn¡¯t¡± she sounded childish but no one could deny the elegance in her voice. It was the first time I heard her talk and her voice in my head was rather mesmerizing, one didn¡¯t have to think too much to know that she would break many boy¡¯s hearts in the future. She pulled me back to slow me down and put her legs on my head as my body was perpendicular to the ground. Jumping off my head increased her momentum and decreased mine. She looked back at me at actually put her tongue out in mockery. I wasn¡¯t about to lose here so I flipped my body and flapped my wings in her direction very hard. Deciding to cheat a little, I used [Body Strengthening] with [Jet Stream] for an added effect on speed. As I was about to catch up to her, I found worryhead beside us with trees acting as the distance between us. ¡°Hey, sis, little sister got injured while flying but she doesn¡¯t want to stop¡± I lied through my teeth. However, the desired effect was achieved. ¡°What?!¡± she cried ¡°What? No, I didn¡¯t¡± coolhead said but it was too late. ¡°Sister, stop this instant¡± in a blink, worryhead passed the trees and stopped in front of coolhead. Her wind affinity was really showing its effect. As they slowed down, I past them with a smug look on my face and heard them arguing in the background. My brothers were a bit in front but I caught up quickly, using my skills. ¡°Caught you¡± cheerhead said, as he had already caught hothead before me. ¡°No fair¡± he said, slowing down. I couldn¡¯t slowdown in time so before I crashed into them I yelled ¡°watch out!!¡± ¡°Huh¡± ¡°Huh¡± They both turned back to look but it was already too late. ¡°Omph¡± ¡°Ahh¡± ¡°Ow¡± We fell on a branch softly, thankfully. ¡°Hah¡­Hah¡­Hah¡­ Sorry, guys¡± I was completely out of breath. ¡°No worries, big bro¡± said hothead. ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s alright¡­ Haha¡± laughed cheerhead. We all sat there and laughed for a bit until our sisters came. ¡°Are you guys alright?¡± asked worryhead. ¡°Yeah, we are fine¡± we all said. ¡°Big brother, are your eyes ok?¡± asked worryhead out of the blue. I would have thought she was joking but her voice and expression didn¡¯t seem like it. ¡°Yeah, they are fine¡± I said as a matter of fact. ¡°But sister wasn¡¯t injured at all¡± she said Wait, she still believes me? Scrunching my non-existent eyebrows, I was about to ask her but coolhead replied before me. ¡°He lied to slow us down, sis¡± she said looking at me with a hint of disdain. ¡°What? Are you mad?¡± I said ¡°I¡¯m not the one that pulled your tail feather, that really hurt, you know?¡± I tried to fake being hurt and seemed to convince worryhead but coolhead was having none of it. ¡°Wanna fight¡± she screamed as if she suddenly did a one eighty personality change. As she got closer to me, her rage froze me to my core and my originally smiling expression froze on my face so I hurriedly said ¡°W-wait, sorry¡­ sorry, sis¡± ¡°Help me!¡± I whispered to the boys. But cheerhead was already on his back laughing while the usually aggressive hothead kept shaking his head profusely. ¡°U-umm¡­ Catch me if you can¡± I said as I flew back to the nest with even more speed than before. ¡°Get back here¡± screamed coolhead behind me, her current expression was anything but cool. ¡°Wait, sister, I¡¯m sure big brother didn¡¯t mean it¡± said worryhead as she also flew after us. With hothead flying silently behind her and cheerhead¡¯s laughter echoing in our heads. The forest that night was filled with the sound of blades cutting the wind and the rustling of the leaves. We all returned to the nest tired from chasing each other. Coolhead had already returned to her usual demeanor after she managed to get my face in tree midflight. Thankfully, I had realized it in time so I used [Body Hardening] at the last minute. It still hurt like hell but it was better that having my skull break in half. We slept soundly in our mothers care. Today was definitely the most satisfying day of my lives. __________________________________________________________________________________________ I hope you liked this ¡®playful¡¯ chapter. I know this isn¡¯t the kind of action that is in most stories on RRL but I would really like your opinions on how well it was written and what I could do to make it better. Don¡¯t expect much of those scenes though since real action will begin soon. Thanks for reading!!!! :D Chapter 5: Devious ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Hothead came to hunt with us today. He tried killing a roach like the one I hunted yesterday but failed to hit it in a weak spot like me. Using [Jet Stream], he was able to catch up to it easily but still didn¡¯t damage it. ¡°You need any help, brother?¡± I asked. He broke out of his focus on the roach ¡°Huh, no, brother, I got this¡± he confidently said with a smirk. I wasn¡¯t going to press the matter any further but I tried advising him, so that he would kill it faster, since he looked rather stupid in his offensive methods. ¡°Hit its legs, it¡¯s a weak spot¡± Hearing me he flew up into the air, activated [Jet Stream] and descended on the running roach like a mini-hawk. Instead of aiming for the legs like I told him, he went straight for the middle of its body. With his speed I doubt he could have aimed for its small legs anyways but I didn¡¯t have to be a genius to know that this was going to end badly. He went full-force into the roach, piercing its body completely. This just showed the strength of the [Jet Stream]¡¯s piercing ability, especially when it was aided by our beaks. However, my brother¡¯s head appeared to be stuck. Flapping his wings he tried to fly, to get rid of the body. But it went up with him because of how light the two of them were. His head was lower than his chest at this point and I couldn¡¯t help but laugh at his predicament. I laughed for only a couple of seconds before flying to help him. Grabbing him by the neck, I proceeded to shake it a few times until the roach¡¯s corpse flew off. ¡°Puah¡­ That hurt, big brother¡± he complained, agonized. His face was also covered in blood like I was. ¡°That¡¯s what you get for charging it like that¡± for or some reason, I feel like a wise old man now. Seeing as my brother had already hunted a big prey, I decided to try my luck with small insects again, since the both of us will probably have to carry together. I chose one that looked like a small beetle, strangely, all those different insects were close to each other here. But I paid it no heed. The beetle-like insect¡¯s shell contained different strips of color, I chose it mainly for its round back. Seeing its shell, I knew it wasn¡¯t going to be easy to pierce and its weak spots were too small for me to aim at before it flew away. It was adequately smaller than me so I could lose it easily when flying. Getting an idea from hothead¡¯s earlier action, I coated my beak and face with wind like I did with [Jet Stream] and quickly struck down at the beetle. Its shell crumbled from my strike and I hit it again with a normal peck to kill it. The wind aided my piercing ability as I expected. Thankfully, it wasn¡¯t powerful enough to make the beetle¡¯s innards explode in my face like the worm did before.
[Wind Magic] sub-skill gained [Wind pierce]
It even registered as a skill, that¡¯s nice. It wasn¡¯t as powerful as [Body Hardening] and [Body Strengthening] combined but it was still useful on its own. If I use the three skills together with [Jet Stream] midflight to strike at someone, I would probably have more piercing power than an iron rapier. Just imagining it makes my blood boil with excitement. I¡¯m awesome, I think to myself. Mother had finished gathering the ¡®food¡¯ after I had hunted a couple more of the beetles with my brother, he didn¡¯t seem to be bothered by the blood on his face at all. She always filled her mouth and talons with worms to bring for us to eat. Even though today¡¯s catch was the biggest so far we still ate it all because of our growing bodies. My siblings were now ranging from 7 to 9 centimeters in length without counting their wingspan and I was 12 centimeters, almost adult size for earth¡¯s canaries. Mother was close to 30 centimeters with her wings spread. I doubt they grew this big on earth. But this was extent of her growth. After we ate we went to that small pond again for hothead. We played a little bit before mother interrupted us. ¡°Alright, children, all of you try imbuing your mana in water. Don¡¯t be discouraged if you fail, you still don¡¯t have any knowledge regarding water or any natural affinity from your race¡± she continued ¡°that doesn¡¯t mean you have no affinity to it at all, it just means that your chances are lower¡± We were all excited at the prospect of learning water magic. After exchanging brief glances with one another, we dove into the lake and tried it immediately. With mother watching us, I closed my eyes and focused on my mana. Pouring it out of my body and into the water, imagining the water droplets get covered in my mana and going deeper to imagine its pure (H2O) form. Though, I didn¡¯t do well in chemistry, the internet was enough for me to know that water was comprised of 2 hydrogen atoms and an oxygen atom. Mother was keeping a watchful gaze on our focused expressions without uttering a word. After close to 3 minutes, I opened my eyes.
[Water Magic lv1] skill gained
¡°I did it, mother¡± I said, smiling. Seeing my success a faint look of surprise appeared on her face before changing into a warm smile. ¡°good job¡± she said. In the following two minutes coolhead, worryhead and cheerhead gained the skill with coolhead being first then worryhead and so on¡­ all that was left was hothead. Another two minutes passed, his face was scrunched up from concentration. After five more minutes, mother walked towards him and told him to stop. ¡°But I can do it, mother, please give me just a little longer¡± he pleaded. ¡°It¡¯s alright, my dear, you can¡¯t succeed at everything¡± she tried to reassure him ¡°There will always be another chance when you study water for a bit, then you will definitely gain the skill¡± Seeing us all out of the water, he understood that we all gained the skill. ¡°But all my siblings got it¡± he complained. ¡°Yes, they have an affinity for water¡± she said as a matter of fact ¡°just because you don¡¯t have an affinity for water doesn¡¯t mean you have no affinity for other elements but if you want to learn the skill so much, I will give you some knowledge about water with your siblings. How about it?¡± she said with a smile. ¡°Okay¡± he cheerfully said. I doubt the skill meant much to him but it looked like he just didn¡¯t want to be behind us. For the next hour or so, mother taught us about water, things like the water structure, viscosity, its effects on the environment like corrosion of the earth over thousands of years and how to apply it to magic. She also taught us about compressing water and its offensive abilities. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. After we were done, she told hothead to go try again. This time he got the skill in five minutes. He was very happy and kept shouting ¡®Yeah!¡¯ loudly several times. ¡°Ugh¡­ shut up¡± coolhead looked annoyed at all the noise he was making. Immediately he replied crestfallenly ¡°Yes, sister¡± He was very quiet and fearful of her for some reason, I guess their personalities were just incompatible. Mother paid it no mind while cheerhead laughed lightly. ¡°uhh¡­ Congratulations, brother¡± worryhead said trying to cheer him up a little. ¡°Thank you, sister¡± hothead enthusiastically replied, his ability to change his mood should be a skill of its own. Ignoring all of that I asked ¡°are going to teach us a skill, mother?¡± I would be lying if I said that I didn¡¯t anticipate it. ¡°If you wish¡± mother pondered for a bit ¡°let¡¯s see¡­ Since we were just talking about water compression, I¡¯ll tell you about [Water Spear]¡± Apparently, [Water Spear] is concentrated water gathered into a line. With increased [Water Magic] proficiency, piercing power and throwing speed would increase. It was a rather basic skill but it would increase our offensive capabilities greatly, near a water source. It took us about half an hour for all of us to learn it. Every day, mother appeared more and more amazing in my eye. By now I was almost definitely sure that she wasn¡¯t a canary bird, even if this was the most magical world in the universe, it still wouldn¡¯t explain her unusually huge scientific knowledge. After we learned the skill, we returned to the nest. It was still day time, so mother decided to teach us more about wind magic. She taught us two new skills called [Wind Orb] and [Wind Slash]. [Wind Orb] was a defensive skill that encased our bodies in a revolving orb of wind. This would be great to repel arrows and unbalance melee attackers in the middle of combat. [Wind Slash] on the other hand was pretty self-explanatory. By compressing wind to a certain degree, thinner than we did in [Jet Stream], and hurling it at an opponent it would bring devastating slashing damage. We acquired the skills quickly and tried them on a nearby tree [Wind Orb] would pluck a branch of leaves dry and [Wind Slash] left a slight diagonal dent on the trunk of the tree. Mother told us to train our three wind-related skills till the end of the day. So after a bit of a discussion, we arranged a small competition between us. Using our skills, the first one to pluck all the leaves off a tree and slice its trunk in half wins. ¡°What are the bets?¡± cheerhead asked. We all looked at him strangely. ¡°If it¡¯s a competition, we need to win something in the end or else it would be too boring¡± he said. though, I liked his idea, I didn¡¯t know what would be considered a satisfying reward. ¡°What do you suggest?¡± I asked him. ¡°Whoever wins gets to ask one request from each one of us and we can¡¯t deny him¡± he mischievously said. It was rather clich¨¦ in my opinion but there wasn¡¯t much here to bet on currently. ¡°What do you say?¡± he said. ¡°I agree¡± I said. ¡°Me, too¡± hothead said. ¡°A-alright¡± worryhead worriedly said. Coolhead didn¡¯t say anything, so we all looked at her anticipating her reply. Seeing our eyes on her, she turned her head away from us and said ¡°Fine¡± ¡°Alright everyone, let¡¯s go a little further away from the nest first¡± I said. I didn¡¯t want a tree to fall on our nest that would be devastating. After going far enough away from the nest, I said ¡°Ok, guys. Pick a tree and begin after the countdown¡± We all stood on tree branch of our own. The trees we picked were near each other, so each one of us could see what the other was doing. ¡°3¡­ 2¡­ 1¡­ GO!¡± I said. Immediately, I formed a [Wind Orb] and tried to widen it as far as I could, however, since my level at [Wind Magic] was still only one. I could only stretch it to form a circle of radius of a quarter of a meter around my body. Then I flew to the nearest batch of leaves to pluck them out. The trees here were very much like earth¡¯s, their trunks were one and a half meters thick and their average height was 22 meters. It was definitely going to take us a while to finish up. Before I reached the first batch of leaves, I saw as cheerhead went to hothead¡¯s tree instead of trying to finish his own tree. He mumbled something to him, hothead looked reluctant at him for a bit then cheerhead hurriedly mumbled some more words to him. Hothead suddenly had a determined expression and nodded to him. Cheerhead then proceeded to help hothead pluck the leaves of his tree. ¡°Hey, that¡¯s not fair¡± I shouted at them. ¡°The deal was to pluck the leaves and cut the tree. Nobody said anything about doing it alone¡± cheerhead said with a mischievous smile. Damn! That guy had a surprisingly devious side to him. I knew that I wouldn¡¯t be able to win if I didn¡¯t use my [Body Magic]. So, I used [Body Strengthening] to increase my speed and [Body Hardening] to ram into the tree branches so that I could save some time. My sisters were trying to hurry themselves, too. But, no matter how much I or my sisters tried. We couldn¡¯t be as fast as both cheerhead and hothead. If this played out normally, worryhead would have definitely won with her amazing wind affinity. However, now that I used [Body Magic] I was even faster than her. Five minutes passed and the brothers plucked the tree dry while I was only a little over halfway done, worryhead was slightly behind me and coolhead was losing her cool because she wasn¡¯t even halfway done. With a reluctant expression, coolhead went to worryhead and talked to her for a bit. It appears she might be asking to help her. Worryhead nodded and coolhead started helping her right away. I guess she didn¡¯t like losing at all. But now that everyone is teaming up, I knew it would be useless to try on my own. So, I flew to the boys to ask them why they teamed up in the first place. I approached cheerhead and asked ¡°why did you help brother like that in the first place?¡± To which hothead answered for him ¡°Brother said that we can order sis to do something embarrassing if we won¡±. He spoke in a low voice to not let the girls hear. Devious, too devious. Thinking about it for a while, it would be nice to get coolhead off of her high horse. Cheerhead appeared to follow my train of thought and smiled mischievously to which I also smiled back to him. Maybe he didn¡¯t like seeing us being bullied by her all the time even though he would always laugh in the background. Without uttering a word, I helped them in cutting down their tree. ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Chapter 6: Embarrassment With me joining the boys in cutting the almost falling tree, we didn¡¯t take that much time in finishing the job. The tree fell, accompanied by the sound of branches breaking and a loud crash sounded when it hit the ground. We paid it no mind though. Looking at the two girls, they were visibly worn out from trying to keep up and kept catching for breath. Once we were done, we gathered on the tree cheerhead chose since he didn¡¯t even touch it. ¡°Che¡­ That wasn¡¯t fair¡± coolhead was sullen while looking away from us. I don¡¯t know whether she didn¡¯t like losing at all or she just didn¡¯t like losing to us. ¡°Nobody said anything about being fair¡± cheerhead mischievously said. ¡°You¡­ Why did you do that, anyway?¡± she scowled at him. ¡°We can¡¯t have you bullying us all the time now, can we?¡± he said, coyly. ¡°What? I¡¯m not bullying you¡± she looked surprised as if she didn¡¯t consider her actions bullying. ¡°Then what do you call shoving me into a tree and breaking brother¡¯s good mood earlier?¡± I brought her attention to me. ¡°You were annoying¡± she said in a deadpan voice. ¡°Wow¡± I exclaimed in astonishment ¡°whatever, brother can now give you an order and you can¡¯t disobey it, that was the deal¡± I tried to sound threatening so that she would take this matter seriously. ¡°I don¡¯t have to listen to you¡± she gave off a domineering attitude. ¡°Now, now. You aren¡¯t going back on your word, are you?¡± cheerhead said with a smirk. ¡°Off course not¡± she immediately replied. ¡°Then you¡¯ll follow the deal¡± he ordered in a commanding voice. This guy has a high sense of justice all of a sudden. ¡°Fine¡± she exclaimed, defeated. Throughout the talk worryhead was watching from the sidelines trying to intervene and make us reconcile but not finding the words, she just stood there with here beak slightly open. Me and cheerhead approached hothead. ¡°What are going to tell her to do?¡± I asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know¡± ¡°You have any ideas?¡± cheerhead asked me. I had no idea what would be considered embarrassing to do in a forest and to a bird, no less. All I could think of was to tell them the nickname I gave her, that would at least infuriate her. ¡°We can give her an embarrassing nickname, like coolhead since she is always acting cool around us¡± ¡°No, that¡¯s not enough¡± cheerhead exclaimed. He seemed to be thinking of something more sinister as he had a sinister smile and was rubbing his wings together. ¡°We should spank her¡± he looked like an evil sadist to me. ¡°That¡¯s not embarrassing, that¡¯s humiliating¡± I directly told him. ¡°Che¡­ fine¡± he pondered for a little bit more, seeming to have found an idea, he said ¡°why not order her to bow and apologize¡± ¡°That¡¯s still humiliating¡± I looked to hothead and told him ¡°just tell her to apologize to us¡± ¡°That¡¯s too boring, big brother¡± cheerhead told me ¡°at least make her sing it¡± ¡°Oh¡­ that¡¯s actually a good idea¡± ¡°Alright, go do it¡± I told hothead, who was hesitant. With a bit of ¡®encouragement¡¯ we pushed him forward. She was standing there and taping her talons on the ground, showing her impatience. If she could, I think she would have folded her wings in front of her. Facing her, his legs were shaking and he was stiff all over. ¡°S-sis has to sing an apology to us¡± he shouted it out quickly and closed his eyes in fear. She widened her eyes for a moment and said ¡°fine¡± I honestly didn¡¯t think she¡¯d take it so well. I thought for sure she was going to try and attack us first. ¡°I~ am sorry~¡± every word was long and with a particular rhythm. Her voice sounded angelic in our heads. She only said three words but that was enough to captivate me. She turned around and headed to worryhead after she finished her ¡®song¡¯. ¡°W-wow, sis, you sing so well¡± worryhead said as she snapped out of her trance from hearing coolhead sing. She was just that good. Is that what mother meant when she said that we had an innate talent for sound magic? Was that even sound magic? ¡°Thanks¡± was all coolhead said as she looked sullen. Noticing her expression, I understood that she was sad we made her do that. ¡°Look¡­ Sis, we just wanted you to understand that we can feel bad, too¡± I tried to make her understand that we weren¡¯t just getting revenge on her. ¡°I understand, big brother¡± her voice still contained a hint of sadness. Feeling as if we¡¯ve gone too far I asked ¡°what can we do to make it up to you?¡± Her face was looking downwards so I couldn¡¯t see her expression. Moments later, I regretted not seeing the dark smile that appeared on her face. ¡°Just stand there, big brother¡± she said. Feeling the danger cheerhead suddenly whispered to me ¡°you¡¯re on your own¡± and flew away to the nest. ¡°Wait, sis, don¡¯t do it¡± I heard worryhead say. ¡°Huh?¡± confusion and bewilderment were the only things I felt before a wild kick came in contact with my face and I was sent flying. She actually used [Jet Stream] to increase her speed. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.A couple of moments later we all returned to the nest. Mother saw us and asked in concern ¡°what happened, children?¡± In particular she saw me and hothead, we were currently missing a few feathers and small branches were stuck in some of the rest. Under coolheads ¡®gentle¡¯ gaze, I said in a deadpan voice ¡°N-nothing, mother, we just lost control and hit a few branches¡± with hothead slowly nodding his head with his unfocused, dead eyes. ¡°Come, children, let me see¡± she cleared the branches off of us and then placed her talon on one of my missing feathers. Gentle, blue light orbs gathered around the talon and my yellow feather started to magically regrow itself. Though my siblings were amazed at the sight, I and hothead were currently traumatized but her talon made me feel better none the less. She proceeded to do the same with all our missing feathers until we looked as good as new. We felt much better but the trauma might stay for a while. Worst of all, cheerhead, the master mind, got away with it just fine without a single scratch. Glaring at him, I saw as he was trying his best to hide his chuckles and failing miserably at it. I don¡¯t know if he cares for us or just wants to see us being abused. ¡°Alright, children, go back to training and be careful¡± mother said. We continued to train our wind magic for the rest of the day. Hothead completely ignored the fact that he could still give an order to the rest of us and no one brought it up since we really didn¡¯t want to remember what happened earlier. By the end of the day, there were many decimated trees laying next to each other. We didn¡¯t use the earlier strategy of simply cutting a tree down since that would be wasteful. Instead, we cut apart every part of the tree to the smallest part until our accuracy started to diminish then moved to the next one. Using this strategy, everyone managed to gain [Wind Magic lv2] which further increased our control of our wind-related skills. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This morning, we all went to hunt for food together. We decided that we might as well eat there and be done with it. It was like an all you can eat buffet, we went back satisfied and full to the brim. Mother started teaching us about sound magic today since we all had a natural talent for it from our species. Apparently, it wasn¡¯t very easy to imbue sound since it was always moving through the air and a silent area wouldn¡¯t have any sound in it, disabling us from gaining the [Sound Magic] skill. To solve this, mother told us to simply maintain a certain rhythm of humming and imbue the sound generated by our own vocal cords. This would obviously affect our concentration but since we all had the [Mana Control lv2] skill and the sound was inside of our own bodies, it wouldn¡¯t be too hard for us gain the skill. Before starting, mother also imparted on us some basic knowledge regarding sound. Like how sound consisted of waves, its speed and how it rippled through the air. This knowledge helped us ease the imbuing process even further.
[Sound Magic lv1] skill gained
It didn¡¯t take more than two minutes before all of us learned the skill. Immediately, mother taught us two sub-skills for it called [Noise] and [Sound Movement] [Noise] was a skill that increased a generated sound frequency, with the increase in proficiency allowing us to increase the sound frequency higher and higher, until one can reach ultrasonic sound and beyond. With enough proficiency [Noise] can shatter the eardrums and lungs of a target while damaging the internal organs. At lower levels it will still cause pain and disorientation to an opponent. The biological effects on the targets alone are extraordinary. [Sound Movement] was, in a sense, a way to transfer sound from one place to another. Instead of letting it travel in waves, a person could shoot it in a straight line to a specific target, making it a great way of communication within enemy territory or while hiding in stealth. With increased proficiency, the range of the skill would increase and we also gain a certain control over the shape of the sound so that it wouldn¡¯t have to be only in the form of waves and line. These skills had a great amount of versatile uses to them and were definitely going to help us a lot in the long run. As much as I was excited for all the possibilities these new skills are going to open to us, I couldn¡¯t help but notice how mother was rushing our training today. Within moments my suspicions were proven true when mother said. ¡°Children, it¡¯s time for you to evolve¡± ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks for reading!! Chapter 7: Unknown Currently, we were all flying through the forest together. After flying through the sea of trees for a while, we seemed to pass some sort of invisible membrane. We passed it without any difficulty and there was no change in scenery. However, I knew the membrane was there from my [Mana Control] skill that allowed me to identify it after coming in contact with it but I couldn¡¯t see the edges of this membrane. It seemed as if it spanned a considerable part of the forest we were in. Mother was hurrying to get us somewhere and ignored all our questions she simply told us to follow her and stay very close. Me and my siblings were flying with confusion and worry plastered all over our faces. I really wanted to know what she meant by us evolving or the serious look of worry she had on her face. After flying for about thirty more minutes at full speed a gigantic tree was seen in the distance. And let me say it was like a giant among ants when comparing it to the other trees with a thickness that spanned tens of the smaller trees. Even though, those same smaller trees were at least 20 meters in height and were 1.5 meters wide. The upper part of the tree looked like that of a weeping willow tree with similar looking branches and leaves however the lower part was abnormally huge. The branches were also very thick and strong, to the point that I could put roads up there. I could hear the loud rustling of its leaves by the wind even though we were still a good distance away from its shade. For a moment, I thought this was an elven settlement with elves living in that tree. But, as we got close, I could see that the tree was unblemished. As for the area covered by its shade, huts and different kinds of buildings were built there. The area covered by the tree¡¯s shade had all of its smaller trees removed which showed a distinct border between the rest of the forest and the shade. ¡°Come, children¡± Mother descended close to the shade at a particular tree. As we neared the ground, I saw a woman standing there in blue and silver armor with a sword at her waist she had silver wolf ears and a silver tail with blue eyes and pearly white skin and hair. I couldn¡¯t understand why we were here, how mother found this person and who this person is. With my confusion building up, I couldn¡¯t stand it anymore. ¡°Mother, what is happening?¡± I flew in front of her and asked in a loud voice. She stood there, stunned for a second at my attitude. But seeing the confusion and panic I was in she said in a hurry. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, children. Come and you will understand everything. This person is a friend¡± She answered me and flew to the woman without another word. We helplessly flew after her with nothing but trust in our hearts for her since we were practically blind in this situation. ¡°Edith, when are they coming?¡± Mother addressed the silver-wolf-woman without opening her mouth. This was a way of using [Sound Movement]. She also spoke in different language that me and my siblings seemed to understand innately. ¡°In a week, Lady Ava¡± the woman addressed mother with her voice full of respect. Did she just call her Ava? Who is coming? What is happening? We were all merrily playing around this morning and now we are in this strange place with this strange woman, hearing these strange things. My panic was rising again and I was about to scream my thoughts before hothead beat me to it. ¡°Mother, what are you talking about? Who is this woman? And where are we?¡± He screamed with confusion just like the rest of us. ¡°Listen, children. There are people coming to destroy this place and hurt you and everyone here. I promise you, you¡¯ll understand everything soon. Just please follow me¡± Mother told us calmly, knowing that we were in panic. She was in hurry to get us somewhere that seemed to hold the answers we were seeking. ¡°Let¡¯s just shut up and follow her¡± said Cheerhead all of a sudden, with a seriousness unlike his usual demeanor. He wanted to just get to the point and understand everything just like the rest of us but he understood that the quicker we followed her, the quicker we would get our answers. Noticing that we all stopped talking, Mother ordered Edith the wolf-woman to hide us within her clothes while urging us to do as she said. At this point we just went with the flow and did as she said. All of us, including mother, hid within her clothes and she proceeded to walk toward the giant tree. Although, the awkward position I was in would have usually made me very embarrassed, the only thing that was on my mind was to make sense of what¡¯s happening. If there were people coming to destroy this place as mother said, then why would she bring us here? Come to think of it, That Edith called mother, Lady Ava which meant that she knew who she was. She was almost like a guard or a servant of sorts. Which meant that mother used to live here but then why would she give birth to us in that forest instead of here? Were the people coming to hurt us after something specific, after all, Edith said they were coming in a week, yet mother hurried with us here. And what does this all have to do with our evolution? There were too many questions that I felt like my tiny brain will explode. Lost in my own thoughts, I failed to notice that we were already under the tree¡¯s shade with the different buildings passing by us. Throwing my thoughts aside for a moment, I focused my attention to the noise in the streets. There was the sound of children playing and adults walking and trading with one another. I tried to take a quick peak by getting my head out of the lower side of Edith¡¯s breast plate where I was currently positioned. Although, once Edith noticed she stuffed me back inside. I was out for enough time to realize that this was a demi-human village with many different kinds of demi-humans which explained why I saw some very strange looking houses. As we got closer to the tree, Edith made 90 degree turn out of the blue and stopped at a door of a white rectangular mansion where mother flew from Edith and was about to get inside before we all asked her almost in unison. ¡°Mother, where are you going?¡± we asked out of worry and fear. ¡°Children, follow Edith to the cave in the tree and you will understand everything¡± she stopped and said with a smile ¡°Trust me¡±. We could do nothing but do as she said. Edith turned around and walked to the base of the tree while mother left for that mansion. ¡°What¡¯s your relation to mother?¡± I asked Edith since I wanted to shed some light on this strange situation. I used the same method Mother used to communicate, since I strangely knew the language. ¡°I am one of Lady Ava¡¯s guards¡± she said while walking straight, unblinking. Her voice resembled that of a genuine soldier. ¡°What¡¯s her relation to this place then?¡± Cheerhead was the one to ask, seeming to want the same thing as me. ¡°Your mother is the first resident of Leden and the one who convinced the spirits of gathering all of us here¡± Edith answered our questions without shedding some light on the rest of the details, as if she was expecting us to understand on our own. ¡°Leden?¡± asked Coolhead. ¡°Leden is this tree we are living under, it was made by our savior the Sage¡± Every answer Edith gave brought more questions than answers to us. But, before we could ask anymore questions, Edith ordered us to stop talking since we were about to reach the entrance of the cave and she didn¡¯t want anyone to hear us talking. She and mother didn¡¯t want anyone to know of our existence for some reason. At the entrance, Guards were stationed to not let random people pass. It seemed the cave was very important to the residents of this village. However, Edith just kept walking as if it was nothing but before she could enter the guards who were holding spears in their hands crossed them in front of the cave¡¯s entrance. ¡°Passage orb¡± the guard on the left said while looking at Edith from the corner of his eyes without turning his head, seeming to look down on her. One could see that from both of the guards helmets came two feline ears. Without blinking, Edith brought a small transparent orb from the belt on her waist and handed it to the guard. Once the guard gripped it yellow smoke filled the inside of the orb and made a pattern. After that he handed it back to Edith and allowed her to proceed. I wanted to ask her about what that was about but kept it to myself because there were more guards stationed at every corner. I and the others could tell from the greetings she shared with everyone she passed. Some of them replied cheerfully while some others just grunted in reply, there was nobody that acted in between. Everyone was either happy to see her or just hated her sight. A moment later, after going through the criss-crossing corridors, we came across a black stone door with different engravings resembling different kinds of birds while in the middle of the stone doors was written {Majestic Bird Spirit, Gale} and just like the name the letters it was used to write the name gave off the feeling of majesty, in fact, the whole room and door gave off that feeling. As if it was in the air. I seemed to understand the letters which at first glance looked like gibberish. I added that to the list of things I don¡¯t know yet and ignored it. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. Edith greeted the guards there and they greeted back respectfully, they seemed like the side which was happy to see her. ¡°Forgive us, Officer Edith. But we must follow the routine inspection¡± The guard was very respectful when he addressed her, completely different from the guards at the entrance. ¡°It¡¯s fine¡± Edith gave a stark reply. Even though they said routine inspection, all they did was ask her to state her business. Where was the inspection in that, I wondered. ¡°Lady Ava is doing a check on the tombs¡± said Edith, unblinking. Without adding any further questions, the guards let her through. Once inside she lightly closed the doors. The room was easily the size of a football field with an elevated area in the middle and large tomb on top of it. ¡°Which one is the female with high wind affinity?¡± Edith whispered. ¡°I-I am¡± said worryhead, shyly. All this time, she stayed quiet throughout the whole journey. From what I saw of her, she was the most confused out of all of us, yet, she also was the one who had the most trust in mother, so, didn¡¯t say anything to her and followed her loyally. Edith brought her out of her armor and held her close to the tomb. ¡°What are you doing to her?¡± we asked. I could see, that despite her loyalty and trust towards mother, she was visibly shaking from fear of the unknown. ¡°You¡¯ll see¡± was all Edith said. She brought the little worryhead on top of the tomb and placed her in the middle of it. ¡°Don¡¯t worry¡± Edith lightly tapped worryhead on the head as she gently smiled a very calm and angelic smile. Even she couldn¡¯t resist worryhead¡¯s cute demeanor. Although, still visibly shaking, Worryhead instinctively smiled back which helped calm her down a little. Almost immediately, after Edith stepped back, transparent white orbs soundlessly floated out of the tomb and into worryhead¡¯s body. We all looked on in fear of this strange phenomenon. Hothead suddenly flew from Edith¡¯s armor to worryhead to shield her from what was happening. However, Edith caught him and told us to watch in silence. Worryhead, who was the one in the middle of this strange phenomenon, looked at Edith in fear while shaking. Edith simply nodded while smiling gently to reassure her a little. Worryhead then closed her eyes tightly, awaiting what¡¯s coming. The white shining orbs continued to fly towards her in silence until they reached her body and continued on inside of her. Once inside, Worryhead¡¯s shaking stopped and she fell down, unconscious. To that, I feared for the worse and flew towards her. Edith didn¡¯t stop me this time. ¡°What have you done to her?¡± I asked lowly, in anger. ¡°Nothing, the spirit of the bird Gale, is now inside of her. It will show her the truth that all of you wish to know¡± she calmly told me. ¡°What about the rest of us?¡± asked Cheerhead. ¡°Your Mother designated a spirit for each one of you. The bird spirit Gale was for her and the rest you¡¯ll find for yourselves¡± So that was what she meant by our evolution, I thought. These spirits must have something to do with it. But when has mother said anything, I wondered. Once we were done talking, Edith took worryhead into her breast plate again and took us out of the tomb. We went through the different paths in the corridor again until we reached another black door. This one had what seemed to be mermaids and sirens carrying musical instruments, for engravings. The guards were the same as the last tomb and we went through the same procedure. On the door was written {Bewitching mermaid, Pitch} ¡°Which one of you is the other girl?¡± ¡°I am¡± Said Coolhead, as she flew to the tomb herself this time. If I didn¡¯t know any better, I¡¯d say that curiosity was killing her. The orbs flew towards her exactly as they did to worryhead. However, these orbs were completely transparent except for their edges which were refracting the light off them a little. Once the orbs entered her, she fell slowly, unconscious. Edith put her aside worryhead and moved on. The process repeated itself at Hothead who entered {Wrathful lizard spirit, Lavis}¡¯s tomb. And Cheerhead who entered {Mysterious Fox Spirit, Grav}¡¯s tomb. When I realized it was finally my turn, I couldn¡¯t help the feeling of excitement that sneaked into my heart. As we walked the long and different corridors, I also realized how big this place was and the amount of tombs in here was unimaginable, all under the roots of the giant tree, Leden. Finally, I could see we were nearing the door for my spirit the name on the door was {Virtuous Ape Spirit, Irven}. I feel a little underwhelmed. Not that I have a problem with apes but I wanted something¡­ more. Though, the more I thought about this spirit, the more it made sense. After all apes are the closest you can get to a human and I was a human in my past life. From the pattern I¡¯ve seen with my siblings, it¡¯s safe to assume that mother choose a spirit pertaining to some part of personality or talent that we possess. Coolhead being talented in [Sound Magic] getting a mermaid spirit that is said to bewitch listeners and Worryhead being talented in [Wind Magic] getting a flying bird spirit, are examples. Does that mean that mother knows I was a human or did she just choose the spirit based on my personality and talents like the others? I brought my attention back to the tomb. Edith was dealing with the guards again. Although, those weren¡¯t the nice type which made her take a while. As we went inside, I wondered what would happen to us while we were unconscious, therefore, I asked Edith. She said she would take us somewhere safe outside the village until we regained our consciousness and wait for mother¡¯s orders. Without waiting any further I went to the tomb and waited for the orbs to enter my body. The orbs from this tomb were dark brown in color. Once they entered me, I felt my consciousness shift out of my body to a dark space filled with nothingness. Looking around I saw an ape demi-human, his body wasn¡¯t emitting light however I could see him clearly. In fact, he was the only thing I could see even without light. He sported brown colored mutton chops that gave him a unique fierce look with his chocolate brown skin and dry, untamed hair. More than anything, his muscular body might be the most important factor. As I approached he turned his head to look at me. ¡°Ah¡­ The Sage¡¯s descendant is here¡± ...................... So, I''m about to give you my mandatory explanation for the long wait. Short story: I''ve got no excuse, I''ll try to release at least 1 chapter per week from now on. Long story(Rant): Spoiler : I honestly started this story at a very bad time and I thought I would stop until it''s a good time but the way things are going in my life I doubt I will ever reach a good time, So I will continue this as a hobby for now. Also, I said I was going to take a "1 to 2 day" break THREE MONTHS AGO to establish a proper bestiary and I still haven''t touched the damn thing and probably never will since I''ll just make up monsters on the go. BTW, I f''ing hate naming stuff. Also when I read the comments on the previous chapter I realized how awesome those ideas were compared to mine but when I tried to implement them in my head I always drew a blank which sort of made me depressed and when I wrote the first six chapters, I''ve to admit that I didn''t like my writing style because there are too many repeating words and I can''t see that as bad thing when I read this story because I''m always imagining the scenes instead of reading them then imagining them so the words are just there to recall what I already imagined which doesn''t help me evaluate my own work. I''m not going to lie, I wanted this fic to be in the top someday and that''s the motivation I had when I started writing it but the way things are going, this will never happen which just gave me reason to stop writing this novel even though this is the second one that I''ve submitted to this site. So now I''m here telling you guys that I''m busy as fuck and procrastinating by writing this novel. I don''t care if its quality is bad anymore as long as people read it and give me advice so that i can improve after that when I finish this novel I''ll definitely get back to my old one because the other one has many of my own thoughts in it, complicated ones, that i don''t think i can convey to a reader as I am now so to anyone reading this far please judge rate and review my novel to your hearts content you are the reason I will keep going. I will try to get out a chapter per week at the LEAST!! Also, I''ve too many f''ing descriptions in this novel that I don''t know how to convey without boring everyone including me while reading it... YET! Apologies Hello, everyone! I''m very sorry that it has been more than a year since I''ve posted anything. I have no excuses!! Therefore, I apologize sincerely, especially to those who wanted more of this story. I''m planning on continuing this story, this time until the end. However, I won''t rush it, chapters will be slow to come out and the story will be rewritten.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. I hope that you guys will stay with me in this journey until the end this time. I will be using a different username and a different title so once the novel is accepted, I will be posting the link here! EDIT: the link is here:https://royalroadl.com/fiction/13860/free-flight