While waiting for the disheveled hawk to recover from her fall, Avery decided to examine his temporary home.

  The pendant he had chosen to inhabit had a slight spiritual nature, even holding a few drops of powerful blood essence, but nothing so advanced as an alternate space suitable for housing spirits. It just contained a trace of refined blood Qi, which wasn't very comfortable for him to coexist with. Wanting to renovate a little, he habitually drew a translucent rune, but midway through the first stroke, he hastily abolished his spell.

  He was not in the real world, and was met with many unexpected complications when using his powers. The subtle differences between both worlds had complex repercussions on his runes. Some differences enhanced his magic while others were a hindrance, but that was not the main point.

  His failure in spellcasting was not caused by a lack of power, but because Avery's mana pool was situated in the core of this world. Each rune he drew would draw power from said mana pool in a very obvious way, which could easily be traced back to him.

  This obviously wasn’t conducive to his goal of spying on the Elder without being noticed, so the power of runes would have to be reserved as an emergency measure. Not that it mattered too much, since he was a spirit with practically no material needs and very high survivability.

  Avery was engrossed in making plans when he realized quite some time had passed without anything happening. He had let himself get lost in his thoughts, waiting for the necklace to be picked up, but the hawk showed absolutely no interest in it. She was wholeheartedly focused on catching up to her group, which had inconsiderately left her behind, perhaps not even noticing her fall.

  She was not going very fast, awkwardly running on legs unsuited to such activity, her torn wing trailing behind her, kicking up dust and causing her to have a coughing fit. She was having a hard time catching up to the caravan, but he had been lost in his thoughts so long that she was about to run out of his telepathic range.

  Not expecting to have miscalculated, Avery hastily reached out to her. He hesitated whether to change his voice and take an ancient or wizened tone, but finally decided against it. He was here partly to gather worldly experience, so he better act as himself.

  “Wait up, little girl. If you leave me behind, I don't know how long I will have to wait for the next person to come help me.”

  The grounded bird showed a very reasonable reaction to some unknown creature suddenly speaking to her telepathically, and promptly fell flat on her face.

  “What? Who are you? Ouch! Oh, they are leaving me behind! How will I catch up? What is happening? Who is talking? What does he want? What is this voice in my head? Go away or I will peck you! Please don’t hurt me. Is it asking for help? It does not sound dangerous…”

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  Avery chuckled at the mess of chaotic thoughts that the inexperienced avian unintentionally broadcasted through the telepathic link. Finding her panic amusing and charming, he showed a rare smile and quietly filtered out the thoughts that were not meant for him.

  “Don’t worry, I mean you no harm. I am just an old spirit, looking for a companion to carry me and show me the world. Since you stumbled upon my receptacle, it means we are fated, and I would appreciate it if you could take me in as your travel companion.”

  She glanced around, trying to figure out where the voice was coming from, before whirling around to glare in the direction she had been running from.

  “You are in that necklace I tripped over? But that was some time ago already, why did you wait until now to speak?”

  “Uh… I didn’t want to scare you, so I thought I would let you pick me up first before approaching you when you were calmer. I didn’t expect you to ignore me, and it took some time for me to react.”

  Unfortunately, his explanations were met with skepticism and distrust. She shot a few curious looks back at his position, but soon shook her head and started running away.

  “I’m sorry, mister spirit, but I have to go. If I don’t hurry, then I will never catch up, and then I will be lost too. If you want, I will tell the guards about you, they are very powerful and will be able to help you.”

  It was Avery’s turn to panic, forgetting for a moment he wasn’t actually tied to the pendant and could leave whenever he wanted. He didn’t want his first interaction in this world to be a rejection, so he tried to entice her with benefits.

  “No, wait, don’t leave me! You won’t only be helping me; you will be helping yourself too. I might only be a spirit, but I have a lot of knowledge and experience I can share with you. For example, I can teach you how to cultivate and cure your wing. Then you will have no problem catching up to your friends.”

  This made her stop dead in her tracks and exclaim incredulously. “Really? You can cure my wing? And help me cultivate?”

  She was still very suspicious of this unknown entity that was suspiciously insistent on her touching it, knowing that if something sounded too good to be true, it probably was.

  “Better, I can teach you how to heal yourself, and be reborn as the ultimate bird of prey. In fact, if you listen to me, I will make you the fastest bird in the world.”

  Avery’s unrealistic sounding boast did nothing to reassure the distrustful bird, and only made her more hesitant.

  “Nonsense. I know about cultivation, and I know I have no talent. How can you claim to make mùe the fastest bird, when even my ancestors lost to the Roc lineage?”

  “My dear, if you are willing to put in the effort, I can guide you to heights you have never imagined. Cultivation is much more about hard work, knowledge and opportunities than it is about talent, and I can provide two of those things.”

  Before she could doubt his exaggerated words again, he backpedaled and focused back on the present situation, offering her more realistic rewards.

  “Even if you are not willing to put in any effort, I can at least guarantee that your wings will be cured. Besides, do you have a choice? Without my help, will you ever catch up to your friends? I think it is more likely you will get lost forever in this desert.”

  Looking ahead at the dwindling dust cloud, she knew he was right. She was already tired, and at this rate she might never catch up with them. On the other hand, he was offering her a once in a lifetime opportunity, to repair her wing and regain her dignity as a bird. This was a dream come true, and she decided it was well worth the risk.

  Seeing her stop tentatively and slowly make her way back to him, Avery showed a satisfied smile, and congratulated her.

  “You made the right choice, little one, and have taken your first step on the path to the Tao.”