The second and third time I tried to use the magic in my hands, I felt more and more successful. I still didn’t acquire a new [Skill], but that wasn’t too surprising to me since I was pretty sure I still wouldn’t be able to use this in combat yet. Maybe a bit more focus on how to use the magic itself, as well as getting it to be a smoother stream of magic through me would enable it to be classified as a [Skill], but even without a [System] recognized improvement and achievement, I watched the tally for Sonilphon tick over to 30/50. With my progress of three a day, I would qualify for the evolution of my sonilphon in just seven days, a couple days after my next growth period. In the time until then, I would focus on practicing every thing I could try with my Sonilphon, just to see what the difference would be. And not getting killed by Redael.

I shuddered, but was grateful that today at least I would be able to rest, recover, and try to teach Solia how to use her magic. Maybe I’d even be able to teach Percral and get him closer. Then, of course, there were also the new twenty. And finding more productive hunting grounds, as we continued to completely destroy this section of the jungle. Nothing was easy, was it?

[Fen POV]

Fen hated most everyone in her life. She’d been born in Harandal (or so she supposed, considering she’d never met her parents and nobody much cared for another homeless kid in the scummy capital of the Godless Hordes) and had spent her entire life there too. Every so often Fen would hear a merchant mention something about how the gods didn’t care about the “ancient betrayal”, and she was inclined to not give a stoneskin’s toenail about that. Far as she could tell, the gods either didn’t exist or didn’t care about anything going on in the world. Otherwise, they were just a buncha bastards that got off on seeing suffering. She preferred to think that the world was godless, than have some pervert watching her puke her guts out. There were enough of those bastards already.

Anyways, she was constantly looking for something to eat, or, better yet, a paying job, but those were in short supply, given she was scrawny, skinny, stinky, and whatever other insult the rest of the world had to throw at her that day. That’s why Fen primarily lived off of scraps and charity, mostly the first since charity didn’t seem to be the first thought of the Godless Hordes. They said a whole lotta bout how we all gotta stick together and so on, but she’d never seen that happen.

Anyway, far as she could tell, Fen was somewhere around ten years old when she died. Again, the whole “no parents” thing can get in the way of accurate timekeeping. It wasn’t the most glamorous of deaths, but she didn’t think that death could be glamorous anyways, so Fen didn’t much care about that. Regardless, most summers had the usual fevers come around, but there wasn’t a prayer to the godless heavens that could get her medicine anyways, so Fen didn’t worry too much about what she would do if she caught it. Unfortunately, a positive outlook and hopeful heart didn’t do much to keep you healthy, and catch the fever she did. In a big way.

The last thing she could remember was being curled up in an alleyway off the crowded main street of Harandal and the wracking pains that shook her skinny body. It was worse than that time last year when she’d been beaten for stealing that meat skewer, since that time she’d at least been able to scarf down a couple of bites before the beating she’d taken. This time, to add insult to injury, she was starving while also dying of the fever. That was the pitiful end to her pitiful life.

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As her consciousness faded to black, all Fen could think was “I wish I could have been healthy and strong. Then I could have gone out into the mountains and actually taken care of myself.”

[Blessed Body Skill Acquired]

[Scaled Deer subrace, Lifebringer, selected]

Um… what?

[Time until birth: 00:00:21]

So… what?

[Time until birth: 00:00:15]

Great. Can you make sure that I can protect myself this time?

[Time until birth: 00:00:09]

[Evolutionary Foresight Skill Acquired.]

I don’t know a couple of those words.

[Time until birth: 00:00:01]

Suddenly, bright light blinded Fen as she fell to the ground. She tried to stand up but everything felt… wobbly. Her head felt heavy and her neck more floppy than ever before. Finally, her eyes began to adjust and she noticed a giant… thing looking at her. It had a massive pair of horns and a dully shining armor covering its four-legged body. Panicked, she began to try to backpedal, but her legs didn’t respond to her commands and the beast immediately caught up to her.

Fen bleated in fear and rolled over, still trying to flee, but the creature gently nuzzled her head towards its belly. Startled, Fen didn’t respond, but the creature ever more insistently pushed her head downward and suddenly instincts took over and Fen began to nurse from her mother.

…

About a week later, Fen had come to grips with her new reality, and, frankly speaking, it was much better than her old life. She had a mother that cared about and protected her and a father that stood guard over their little family. Both constantly showed Fen how to act and taught her the ropes of living as what this new [System] called a “Scaled Deer Lifebringer Fawn”. Her new body was much stronger, and she could see all around her at the same time with her new eyes, and she could run so fast, and she could eat grass or the prey her mom brought her... The only downside was that her parents didn’t, or maybe couldn’t, speak, but they were able to communicate just fine. Fen hadn’t ever experienced such a luxurious life as a human, so she was altogether quite happy with the current state of her life.

She’d known she shouldn’t have gotten complacent and satisfied with her life.

It was the next day that the hunters came and slaughtered her parents.

They were what the Godless Hordes called “saharliard”, meaning scaly friends, but to the scaled deer, they were anything but. Before any of the scaled deer could react, there were three of the saharliard ripping into her mother’s flank. In terror, Fen tried to help her mother once she was ambushed, but her mom had used her horns to lift and throw her further away, as her father charged the assailants. He was already close to losing, but he tried to protect his daughter as best he could, and so, with a sob choking her throat, Fen had left her parents to be torn apart and devoured by the monstrous lizards behind her. For the first time, she cursed her new vision, since no matter which way she turned, she could still clearly see her mother’s blood painting the previously verdant forest a sickening shade of crimson, and her father being pulled down and ripped into.

As Fen made her escape as best as she could, for the first time, she looked at the [System] to see what it could do to help her take revenge on those who took her family from her.