Time wore on me heavier than the ever present gloom of the Stormwall’s endless clouds. Without the day and night cycle, time blurred together, warping uncomfortably and unbalancing me. I rested when I grew tired.

There were only three hours until Littlebird’s egg hatched, which meant I would need to rest again early. I was saving the three attribute points I had earned from my levels for an emergency, but as I sped across the Stormwall road, I wondered if I should put them in Constitution or Strength to enhance my endurance.

I kept my eyes open for a place to rest. No more monsters had interrupted my journey in the two days since the spider, and I was very far from the Spiritbeast horde that would have threatened me. Still, I hated sleeping in the open on the road.

The road bore through a mountain, unyielding in its direction, and I found a place to rest; a tunnel had been carved into the side, just wide enough for me to squeeze through. I wouldn’t have been able to if I was still wearing the backpack I had carried with me.

The inside was dry and empty, the center of the floor swept clean. Piles of dry wood sat in one corner. Someone had stayed here within the last years and then moved on. A carved path of rough steps led up and above the road, atop the brick canopy. I didn’t explore very far; the tunnel above the canopy was cramped and dirty, stretching off into the dark. The yellow stones that provided light for the road weren’t here, either.

To one side, there was an opening in the floor that dropped through the canopy into the tunnel road; that side of the tunnel ended there.

I sat and listened in the dark. The only noise was the quiet drip of water and the distant noise of rain hitting the canopy far down the tunnel. I should have been able to see the end of the tunnel if it opened out into the storm.

“This will be safe enough.” I said, talking mostly to Littlebird as I took a seat in the back of the tunnel. A tiny trickle of yellow light spilled in from the road outside.

Cultivating, I drank in the storm-qi rich power in the air, simultaneously practicing the Mind Refinement technique I had acquired from the system while I waited for Littlebird’s egg to hatch.

The Storm’s Crucible was a Mind Refinement Technique assembled piece by piece, building an inner world out of images. The individual details resisted, testing my Willpower. The entire construction fell apart when a pull on the connection between me and Littlebird disrupted it.

I scrambled to pull the egg out of my robes. I had made a makeshift sling that held it close to my chest where it could remain warm. I held it closely still. The edges of it chilled my hands, the smooth surface of the egg radiating away heat. It had grown bigger as I fed it qi, now big enough that I gently cradled it with both hands.

The connection between us shifted suddenly. I felt Littlebird wake through the connection. Then the egg shifted and shook in my hand as Littlebird pecked at the inside.

Then it cracked open, and a bar of black light shot out. Littlebird bounced against the ceiling before falling down with a pitiful squeak. I rushed to the edge of the room and picked him up as he shook himself.

He didn’t look like a newborn bird; he looked fully grown. And the connection between my Dantian and him didn’t stop; instead, it grew much thinner, but felt more stable.

I looked him over. He seemed uninjured.

His body was entirely different. Smooth black feathers as dark as the night sky covered every inch of him, tight pressed together. Little streaks of purple crossed them like bars of lightning. His tiny black beak was sharp, and his eyes glowed the gray-white of a cloud covering the sun. He groomed himself standing in my hands, pecking at dirt that clung to him from ramming into the ceiling.

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[Feng Littlebird, Level 1 Roc, First Realm Anti-Storm Spiritbeast]

[A Spiritbeast bonded to Feng Sai. Its evolution has been altered by the absorption of a large quantity of highly refined Storm Qi. Its connection to Feng Sai has granted it both cultivation and a system.]

[New Skill: Divine Spiritbeast Sovereign 1(Intelligence +1, Willpower +1)

[Divine Spiritbeast Sovereign: You have formed a pact with a Spiritbeast. Doing this has enabled you to form others, if you can trick, coerce, or beat the Spiritbeast into submission. Bonded Spiritbeasts will be unable to harm you. You may gain or give benefits to those connected to your bond. You may view the status of your Spiritbeasts.]

“Did the System of this world name this skill?” I asked. No other skill had a name as familiar sounding as this one… except for Poppy’s Vascaran Steel. “And why do I have to beat or coerce them? What if the Spiritbeast wants to be bonded?’

I looked at Littlebird and tried to call up his status.

[Feng Littlebird Status: Very hungry.]

[Health: 100%] [Level 1] [First Realm]

Littlebird vibrated as its stomach rumbled. Then he chirped at me.

“I don’t think I have any food that’s good for you to eat.” I said with a frown. “What do birds eat?”

Littlebird sent a pulse of images as he finished cleaning himself.

Rain outside. Worms on the ground. Good food!”

“It’s dangerous.” I started to protest.

Littlebird shot out of the room anyway in a bar of black light. I sighed with exasperation. I shouted at him, focusing on our connection.

“This isn’t the Savage Expanse! It’s really dangerous out there!”

Littlebird shot out of the tunnel in a flash. I could sense his general direction, and so focused on our bond, I caught flashes of images and senses. I flinched at the sense of Littlebird finding a worm and eating it within a moment. The taste and texture flowed down our connection, and I cut back from it, separating out the sense.

“I taste it on my tongue…” I complained.

A much vaguer impression of Littlebird teasing me came back through the connection as the bird rampaged across the forest.

[Feng Littlebird has reached level 2!]

“From killing worms? Seriously?”

Littlebird sent back a message with a sarcastic tone. I squinted, trying to figure out how he did that, as I processed the rest of the message. Then I grunted as the taste of a beetle hit me.

“You’re ridiculous.”

I was getting pretty hungry myself, and the sum of my rations had been lost. There was a pile of wood here for cooking…

“I guess I’ll go hunting too.”

There were slim pickings in a jungle of constant rain if I didn’t want to eat bugs.

I wandered east of the road, exploring the area around where Littlebird hunted. In the constant rain, it was hard to find anything worthwhile even after an hour of roaming. The environment wasn’t conducive to trails or tracks.

Eventually, Littlebird alighted my shoulder, chirping a song.

“You’re going to help me hunt?” I asked.

Littlebird chirped in assent and shot up and over the treeline. He was incredibly quick, disappearing in the rain in a blur of black.

I followed after. It only took a few minutes for Littlebird to stop and circle. When I caught up, I found him resting in the branch of a tree of waxen leaves over dryer earth.

A massive boar snored in the center of a nest. It glowed in the night, gnarled green roots interwoven with its fur, leafy branches shooting off the side.

[Gloomroot Boar, First Realm Life/Earth Spiritbeast]

Littlebird alighted on my shoulder again, then along on our connection, called me a bad hunter.

In fairness, I didn’t expect anything in the First Realm to be alive out here. It was so weak that I hadn’t sensed its qi.

I slaughtered the boar and dragged it up the road. Then I started to inspect it.

The roots and plants growing from its back were so rich with potent life qi they were practically glowing. I cut one of and bit it experimentally. It exploded with an earthy flavor.

I lamented my lack of seasoning as I cooked the boar, preparing it by stacking a flat rock high on the road and starting a fire under it. Littlebird chirped happily at my side before shooting off to eat more. He was absolutely ravenous, his body starving for nutrients. I wondered how fast he would grow.

The memory of the size of the Gale Titan flashed in my head. A jaw so large that I could walk through it like an open door. A wingspan the size of an entire meadow. But he would be on my side.

I still needed to get a night of rest. I headed back to the cavern. The smell of roasted meat and smoke still filled it as I settled in for the night.

The sensation of a chill no longer effected Littlebird. He was more than happy to spend all day flying through the rain.

“Be safe Littlebird. I’m going to get some sleep.” I said.

When I woke, it was to the scream of panic through our connection. And he wasn’t out in the rain — he was on the roadway, just outside the tiny room I was in.