As the bird fell, a line from a Dream Theater song popped into Max’s head, about watching a sparrow falling giving new meaning to it all, and that if death didn’t happen today, it would come soon enough. That applied to him just as well as the bird. Was this his new life? Killing any living thing he happened across? That was the only way to gain experience and level up so nothing else would kill him instead of the other way around. As if to confirm that, a message popped up.

You have killed (1) Antarian Sparrow!

You gained 10 XP!

Loot corpse?

He gained more XP from the skill acquisition than killing the bird. Maybe this game wasn’t all about murder. That was encouraging. The bit about looting a bird surprised him, but he said yes and received another notification.

Sparrow feathers (2)

Sparrow feathers with necrotic damage (8)

Bird breast with necrotic damage (1)

“Shit,” Max muttered. “If I hadn’t used that spell, I might’ve been able to eat the breast later.” He remembered that the Sleep spell needed a feather, but he didn’t swap out his hotlist spells. What would happen if he used the feathers with necrotic damage in a spell ? The results could be interesting. And unexpected. He took all of the loot in case it might be useful. He could always ditch it from his inventory later. There was nothing else in there now.

He next tried casting Detect Magic and Weapon Ward, both working without issue, but what he really wanted was another target so he could try Orb of Doom. Continuing down the path, he brought up the mini map to keep an eye on his direction, seeing that the places he’d been remained visible among the otherwise greyed out areas. The mountains were starting to fall behind him as he turned west, deeper into the Haigan Forest.

He soon found another harmless bird, this one on the ground, and reviewed Orb of Doom. Since it had four versions, one for each element, he decided to try the air version first.

“Gather air,” he said, raising one hand, palm up. A softball-sized sphere of swirling air quickly formed an inch above his grip. Eyeing the target, he made a throwing motion and the orb rocketed across the space between with a whoosh. It struck soundlessly as loose dead leaves exploded into the air from the blast, several small branches flying up and backward. The force of it all startled him, but he frowned in disappointment when the bird hurtled upward, wings furiously flapping to escape as it vanished. He’d missed.

He decided to test it on a tree branch, but his next two attempts also missed, by less each time. He grabbed a small piece of dirt and tried the earth version with success, snapping the branch off the tree with a loud crack. His shout of excitement made even more noise before he realized he needed to be quiet in case a threat was nearby. He wanted to try the water and fire versions but didn’t have anything to use as a source, so he reluctantly moved on. This was a good spell and he felt confident with it. It cost 2 MP, and since he started with 6, he could do it three times in a row after the 5 second cooldown. He’d have to keep an eye on his regeneration rate in combat.

Minutes later, the dirt trail opened into an oblong clearing fifty feet wide. A small hill stood toward the other end and a large boulder, which something could be hiding behind, sat to the right. Max paused on the trail, then moved behind a tree. Maybe going through there wasn’t wise, but he hadn’t seen anything dangerous so far. The underbrush was just thick enough in the forest that he’d make noise if he tried to go around this. His mana was at full but he had no other weapons. Stooping to get dirt in the middle of a fight wasn’t good, so he grabbed some now and decided the earth version of Orb of Doom would go first if needed, then the air version second.

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He stepped back onto the path and tried to quietly jog his way across, hoping his Stealth skill would help, but he hadn’t gone far when the sound of large, flapping caught his attention. The source was above the trees and toward the mountains. This was no bird, but it also wasn’t truly huge like one of the giant falcons the winged riders rode.

Kais, he guessed, feeling exposed and unable to hide. Seconds later, four of them crested the tree line, excited, glaring eyes already on him. Had they known he was here? Max had no time to notice more than their brown and green feathers. All of them raised a sling and fired stones that whistled through the air. Two soared past but one struck his right shoulder and another his left thigh. Max cursed at the pain, which he wasn’t expecting. Since when did games have that as an element? It really raised the stakes of playing. He didn’t sign up for this shit. He really hadn’t. If this game was going to hurt, he wanted his money back, assuming he’d bought it.

His health bar appeared for the first time, down a quarter already. He noticed that one of the kais wore a glove with two nasty looking hooks sticking out of it. All of them began circling him twenty feet off the ground. A message appeared as he focused on one.

Daekais. Level 1 Looter. 8 HP. Greedy, deceitful, and wanting easy prey, Looters are the most common class and want whatever you’ve got. Beware the poisonous talons and bite.

Two of the others were the same class, but one was level 1 and the other level 2, with 13 HP. They all seemed mail, but he couldn’t be sure. The fourth daekais had a different class.

Daekais. Level 1 Scout. 7 HP. Easily frightened, Scouts are tasked with finding easy prey but not engaging with it. Instead, they tell their tribe of your whereabouts, threat level, and potential loot.

Max wondered if the noise he’d made blowing up birds had attracted the Scout’s attention. He had no loot, but they didn’t know that and likely thought he wasn’t a threat because he was unarmed. He eyed the path, but they saw his gaze and a Looter moved to hover over one escape into the woods, wings flapping gracefully to keep himself afloat. The Scout guarded the other exit. Max had to get out of here through the underbrush if needed. He was no match for four of them, especially when they were moving targets. And yet two weren’t moving anymore. He whirled toward one guarding a path, his hand pulled back.

“Gather earth!” he shouted. So fast that he almost didn’t see it happen, dirt rose from the ground by his feet into his hand, forming a sphere of hard-packed earth. He hurled it at the Scout, who shrieked as it soared past, narrowly missing. Max almost turned and ran into the woods, but the Scout he’d almost struck flapped its wings furiously to ascend before turning and flying away. He cast several frightened looks back at Max. The other one guarding a path stopped doing so, resuming flying circles around Max, who assumed he had realized the folly of holding still.

Three daekais remained and Max had only 4 of his 6 Mana Points left, though it was slowly regenerating. With Orb of Doom costing 2 MP, he couldn’t get all of them, especially if he missed. Hand of the Grave only cost 1 MP, but it did 1-8 HP of damage compared to 3-24 HP for Orb of Doom. And what if Hand of the Grave didn’t kill one? Only at maximum power would it get three of them. It was also slower moving and they’d likely dodge the damn hand.

But then he had an idea. Before he could do it, two of the daekais fired at him. One missed, but the other hit his stomach. While he winced and doubled over, the level 2 Looter landed on the boulder and fired a shot that struck Max in the temple and knocked him sideways, a sharp pain making it hard to think. His health bar dropped below 50%.

“Gather air!” he said between clenched teeth. With the other daekais circling, he waited for one to fly past the boulder, giving him a chance to hit the second one if he missed the first. He finally threw the Orb of Doom at the sitting daekais, who leaned forward and flattened himself so that Max again missed. But the Orb came close enough to the one flying behind it at that moment that the air blast still knocked him out of the sky. The daekais haphazardly flew into a tree, a red -3 HP rising up from him after the collision. Then he fell to the ground, additional red -3 HP fading into the sky. The daekais struggled to rise, health bar flashing red. Seeing this, the other one still flying around them fled.

Max’s heart leapt. He might actually win this fight. The Level 2 Looter seemed to realize it, too, fumbling for a stone to fire. From the ground, Max snatched one of the rocks that had struck him, wondering if stone would result in a more potent missile than dirt.

“Gather earth,” he said, and a smooth stone Orb of Doom floated in his hand. “Let’s see whose rock is better, motherfucker.”