When [Examine] activated, Alan couldn't suppress a snort of amusement.
Lvl 4 Glumph HP: 37/37
Not only did the fish have a stupid-sounding name, but it looked absolutely ridiculous. As he watched it swim around in awkward circles, looking like an upside down, soggy boot with fins, Alan tore the skin off of another plantain and took a bite. They were already becoming one of his favorite foods. The only problem was, having already consumed six, he was beginning to feel a drastic decrease in the energy the fruits were providing.
By the time he started working on unwrapping the ninth, aside from an upset stomach, he was no longer receiving anything at all. Nevertheless, he grabbed the small stem with plans of eating one more just in case he was jumping the gun with his assumptions. But once again, when he pulled the tab, the brittle little handle snapped clean off, making it damn a damn near impossibility to get it open.
As it turned out, Golden Plantains were not only tasty, and packed with energy. They were also really fucking annoying. All in all, out of the twelve fruits he picked for eating, and Cultivation purposes, he was only able to eat nine. And several of those were badly mangled. The stems just weren't reliable. But his stomach was full, and, he realized with a shiver, he was starting to feel nauseous. When his guts clenched up and released an ominous gurgle, he began to panic.
Now that Alan had a reason to think about it, his body had grown acclimated to a diet consisting mainly of dry rations, and bug meat. Having eaten so many pieces of nutrient-dense fruit, he was suddenly in a race against the clock to find somewhere to relieve himself. But that opened up a whole new can of worms. How was he supposed to take a dump in the body of a reptilian Beast-Folk? After his earlier assessment, as far as he could tell, not only were his dangly parts missing, he didn't even seem to have a butthole anymore.
Yet regardless of how he tried to rationalize, there was no mistaking the feeling of desperately needing to poop.
If it weren't for his scales, he would've already broken out in a cold sweat. Unable to take another step, Alan squatted in the grass and let nature take it's course. For the next thirty minutes, what sounded like the death groans of a pack of wounded animals could be heard throughout the entirety of the Lakeside Safe Zone.
“I'm never eating those fucking things again,” Alan swore, while making his way back to Su'ong's side. He stopped in his tracks when he spotted a large black bird perched atop the cocoon he was supposed to have been guarding.
It had a wide, angular face, armed with a beak that ended in a vicious-looking hook. A plume of bright yellow feathers wrapped around its neck, standing out in stark contrast to the otherwise colorless avian.
It was busy pecking away at the cocoon's leathery surface. Trying, and failing, to break through and get a free meal. Having never seen a bird up close, Alan felt conflicted. It was a handsome beast, and he didn't really want to kill it. Though when he thought about it, he realistically needed the Experience. But no matter what he decided, this couldn't be allowed to continue.
“Hey! Shoo! Get the fuck away from there!“ Alan roared, trying to spook it into flying away.
The bird craned its head casually in the direction of the sudden noise like it didn't have a worry in the world. It fixed Alan with an intense stare. Wings opened up wide, and chest puffed out, the beast stood it's ground and screeched. It was a fairly large animal, but if that was supposed to be intimidating, Alan was unimpressed. Sensing an easy meal, he lowered his stance and activated {Meteoric Rush}.
In a surprising show of intelligence, the yellow collared bird gave Alan a displeased glare, and took to the sky before he ever got a chance to get moving.
Alan stood next to his partners cocoon and ran his hand along its leathery surface. At first glance, aside from a few shallow scratches left behind by sharp talons, it appeared that the bird hadn't managed to do any true damage. After a more thorough investigation, he found that there was a tight cluster of tiny dents where its beak had made contact.
“That's right! You get outta here before I fry you up!“ Alan shouted up at the bird that was now making lazy circles far up in the air above him. Screeching out what he assumed to be avian obscenities, while staying high enough to remain out of reach. He wasn't making idle threats. As far back as he could remember, he had never seen, let alone eaten a bird.
The only animal he'd ever eaten that even vaguely resembled a bird were the feathered Raptors back home. Except those were obviously reptiles. So while he couldn't say for sure how good it would taste in comparison, a part of him was eager to try.
It was a fairly large bird, but he thought that if he tried hard enough, he could probably eat every scrap of meat on it in less than five minutes. Seven tops. And that was if he ate the bones. Which, strangely enough, was something he wanted to do.
Fish were also on the menu, but that thought alone was almost enough to give him indigestion. If he were to catch, and then eat the wrong fish, he would end up consuming his own filth. The Lake Chubs might've been fine with eating the disgusting crap that came out of his scales, but thinking of that horrid smell was more than enough to quiet down his insatiable stomach.
“Not so hungry now are ya?“ Alan asked, patting the tough scales covering his abdomen. Having just gotten over his stomach issues, he felt it would be in his best interests to hold off on eating any strange, new creatures. At least until he could make a fire. His stomach grumbled weakly in protest. Meat was meat it said, and that was what it hungered for.
“Knock it off,” Alan growled. It seemed that no matter what he tried, his mind kept returning to the the thought of consuming flesh. A part of him couldn't help but wonder if perhaps the plantains had been the cause of the whole issue. Did Beast-Folk even eat fruit? With all of the chaos over the last few days, there wasn't ever a reason to breach that particular topic while conversing with Su'ong. So he couldn't say for certain one way or the other.
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The part of him that was still Human was happy that the annoying beast remained out of reach. Though he'd rather it went and bothered someone else, at least it was staying close enough that he could [Examine] it without much effort.
Lvl 2 Banded Roc HP: 10/18
There wasn't much information to be gained from the description itself. The Roc looked healthy as far as Alan could see, but its HP was barely over fifty percent. Which honestly wasn't surprising when he thought about it. The asshole bird didn't seem to shy away from pissing off creatures that were much bigger that it was. It was probably fleeing from such an encounter when it spotted a massive egg, and decided to take another chance.
But the beast's name seemed really familiar. One of Rexus' favorite stories involved a sailor, who might've also been a pirate, getting saved from a shipwreck by a giant bird. If he wasn't mistaken, the bird from that same story was also called a Roc. Only that one was told to be massive and white.
According to legend, the Roc's wingspan was known to be nearly fifty feet. Apparently that wasn't fantastical enough though, because according to the story, each one of its feathers measured twenty-four feet long. Craziest of all, it was said that it could pick up an elephant, carry it all the way up into the lower atmosphere, and drop it for an easy kill.
“Why waste all that energy just to finish off an elephant,” Alan wondered, for what had to be the thousandth time.
In all honesty, Alan didn't have anything against the story. In fact, he remembered mostly enjoying it. At least the first dozen or so times he'd heard it. But after a while, he started really thinking about it, and the math just didn't really add up. If its feathers were really as massive as was told, each one would be as long as the entire wing that housed it.
And the most glaring issue. If it was powerful enough to fly off with an elephant, why wouldn't it just kill the damned thing where it stood? What was an elephant going to do, swat a mountain of a bird away with it's trunk? Perhaps if the Roc was facing dozens of them at once, but just one?
“In no way at all does that make sense.“ Alan complained, “Land on its back, give the top of its head a few good pecks… Game over. Hells, why not just bite the damned things head off and be done with it?“
Now that Alan had eyes on a real, living specimen, not only did it fail to live up to the tale, the reality made it all seem even more unlikely. It was fairly large, he was willing to admit that. However, with a wingspan of perhaps six feet, forget an elephant, he couldn't imagine this Roc was capable of lifting anything heavier than a large rabbit. Perhaps a Goblin. And even that would be a tall order.
The Roc unleashed a fierce squawk, and made a sudden dive in Alan's direction. Out of habit, he started calling up a [Water Jet] to blast it out of the sky once and for all. Shit! I can't use my Spells! It only took him an instant to realize his error, but by then, it was already too late. With another joyous cry, the Roc took advantage of Alan's inaction, and swooped down over his shoulder.
Alan saw the glint of something white falling in his direction as the Roc sped off into the distance. Had that damned bird just shit at him?! “HEY MAN , WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT FOR!?“ Alan yelled at the retreating bird. He looked himself over, and sure enough, there was a chalky white splatter running down his left arm.
Alan clenched his fists and swore bloody vengeance. But that shameless asshole of a bird had plans of its own. It soared across the lake, making a beeline for the solitary tower. As it grew near to its destination, Alan witnessed a pair of larger Rocs perched on the thatched roof taking notice of its approach. With a piercing scream that Alan could hear from halfway across the Lakeside Safe Zone, they spread their wings, and took off on an intercept course.
At the last moment, the lone Roc noticed the approaching hunters, and cut off to the left. The swift maneuver was only enough to buy it a few seconds, but that was all it needed. Although Alan wasn't quite sure what was going on, one thing became obvious almost immediately. If something didn't change, the nuisance they were chasing was was going to escape. It was simply too small and agile for them to compete with.
After watching the unexpected show for a while, Alan noticed the new pair of Rocs were content to tuck back their wings, and occasionally show off incredible bursts of speed. Unfortunately for them, it just wasn't enough. Any time one of them would get close, that crafty little bird would cartwheel off to the side. Sometimes it would even plummet towards the ground, while spinning around like a top. Only to level out and speed away at the last possible moment.
With blind determination, those Rocs kept shrieking out in challenge, refusing to give up on a chase that, outside of a lucky break, they obviously weren't going to win. It really seemed like there was likely to be a story there. And quite honestly, Alan was pretty sure that whatever it was, that swift little shit was likely to blame for their behavior.
Regardless of the reason for his current entertainment, Alan soon found himself rooting for the fleeing Roc against his own wishes. Even though it had so casually used him for fecal target practice, he couldn't help but be in awe of its mastery of flight. It might not be able to lift up an elephant, but that didn't change the fact that it had no problems with performing crazy feats of aerial acrobatics. It looked extremely dangerous, but Alan would've been lying to himself if he said it wasn't incredibly effective. And entertaining.
The little shit was actually quite impressive. Anyone with functional eyes could see the chase had only one realistic outcome. Unless the yellow collared beast happened to make a costly mistake, there was no way it was going to be caught.
When the Roc that Alan was now begrudgingly cheering for passed through the barrier leading out of the Lakeside Safe Zone, one of its pursuers broke off the chase, and flew back towards the island. Likely to rouse up some backup. That was when things got nasty. Rather than doing as Alan thought, and taking the opportunity to make an easy escape, the hunted became the hunter. Without missing a beat, the Banded Roc spun around, and flew back into the Safe Zone. It let out a cocky squawk, facing off against its solo pursuer as though the size difference meant less than nothing.
If Alan wasn't mistaken, the beast was up to something. It was rapidly becoming even darker. All of a sudden, the ambient light around the bird began to dim. It was as if all color within several feet of its body was being sucked away. Within the span of several heartbeats, he stared up at what he could only describe as a bird-shaped blot of spilled ink hovering in the sky. “Is it activating a Sk…” Alan's words died in his throat when the blurred silhouette of a Roc went on the offensive.
In the end, a single silent flap of its now liquid-like wings was all it took. The Roc instantly gathered up so much speed that it nearly disappeared. When it slammed into its enemy, not a single sound was made. Alan blinked with confusion. Had his eyes started acting up again? Was that really all it took?
Alan's expectations were flipped on their head. Instead of being at a disadvantage in a close quarters duel, the smaller Roc had ended the fight before it ever actually started. He watched, dumbstruck, as two separate halves of a large bird tumbled from the sky amidst a fountain of blood and shredded organs.
Just as he started to come to grips with the sudden turn of events, Alan heard a chorus of angry screeches coming from off to his right.