"Found it!" Todd calls out.

I climb down from the tree I'd scaled, then walk over to the one that Todd is currently up. He's peering into a nest a little bit out of my view. According to him, tree cavities aren't the only places owls will nest in, they tend to commandeer what's already there.

"You sure?" I ask.

"Yup," he answers. "Can see feathers in here that match those of the lullaby owls."

"And the owl?" I ask.

"Doesn't look like it's been around in a couple of days," he descends the tree, dropping to the ground from a lower branch, landing lightly on his feet. "Just like the others."

This is the fourth lullaby owl nest we've found and so far, all of them have been vacated. They can't all be owls that I killed, either, as Todd's certain that at least one was vacated after the owls disappeared. Based on what he just said, this one had activity after my last encounter with one.

"What we're finding isn't making me more comfortable," I say. "Lullaby owls have a predator and it's able to resist their song. It hasn't attacked us for now…"

"But it's only a matter of time," he agrees. "Should we check more just in case? We'll probably find more of the same."

"Yeah," I say. "But we should still check, just in case."

As we look for more nests, we discuss the possibilities of what could be hunting them. Neither of us know what a normal predator for an owl was before the Mana Flood, but we can agree that snakes were probably one of them. While the normal stonefang snakes probably aren't able to kill a lullaby owl, that's likely not a problem for the queen stonefang snake.

A creature which has yet to come after those killing her subordinates.

None of the next four lullaby owl nests we find have any signs of their owners occupying them in the last two or three days. That only makes us more concerned and on-edge.

"Oh, hello," I say as I look into a tree cavity that we suspected might be an owl nest. "My apologies. Didn't mean to disturb you."

Staring back at me is a large owl with a brown-and-whitish belly, and alternating patterns of dark and light brown elsewhere. Its eyes are a deep, earthy brown in color, and its face is a lighter brown with a darker brown outline and stripe running down the center. She somewhat resembles the barred owls I saw in the area before the Mana Flood and isn't a magic owl variant I know.

However, she's definitely something magical, and I'm not saying that from any spell circle she's casting as she's just looking at me back rather than going on the offense. There's a slight, crystalline shimmer to her feathers, and she has a collection of small pieces of earth maginiite scattered around her nest, likely from things she's preyed upon.

"You're not a monster, are you?" I ask, and she tilts her head to the side. "Sorry for disturbing you. Before I go, I do have a question for you. If you don't mind me asking, that is."

She tilts her head to the other side, so I'm going to assume it's okay to ask.

"See," I say. "There's this other owl species we know of for sure around here. It uses a spell to create a song that makes others fall asleep, then attacks. However, they suddenly stopped attacking us a few days ago. You wouldn't happen to know anything about this, would you? Their spell circle looks like this."

I start weaving together a brownish-orange spell circle and when it nearly completes, I stop casting. This isn't the actual spell circle since I deliberately cast it with the wrong affinity, but I still want to be safe. The hope is that she understands it's not an attack, and that seems to have worked.

After examining the spell circle for a few moments, she lets out a small series of hoots and looks off in another direction.

"There's something over there?" I dismiss the spell circle, and she gives me a small nod. "Thanks. You're pretty smart, able to understand what I'm saying. Next time I come here, I'll make sure to have a present for you as thanks for the help."

She flicks her wings a little, then tucks her head under one.

"Bye," I whisper, then climb down the tree.

"I couldn't make it out," Todd says as I join him. "But it sounded like you were talking. And heard some hooting that I doubt was you."

"Came across a friendly owl," I explain. "Probably a magically-morphed barred owl based on her coloration and the earth maginiite in her nest. She seemed to understand what I was saying and when I asked about an owl that cast the lullaby spell, she indicated in that direction," I point in the direction the owl suggested I check. "Not sure if she was just trying to get rid of me, was saying there's a lullaby owl that way, there's a clue to what's going on with them, or something else. But I think we should go that way."

"Sure," Todd says.

"You're going to accept it just like that?" I say. "Even though I literally have no experience actually communicating with animals?"

"Stranger things have happened," he says. "Is there anything in particular in that direction?"

"Hm…" I think about it. "I can think of a few things, to be honest. That direction is where we're estimating the convergence of all of the massive mana veins of Earth flowing through this area is."

"The… what?"

"Ah," I say. "You didn't get that info, then. You know about mana veins, right?"

"Yeah," he nods. "Everyone has them, including the world. The mana within Earth's beginning to flow while its membranes were weakened caused the Mana Flood."

"Yeah," I say. "Anyway, there's apparently an absolute fuckton of bigger ones flowing through this area, which is why the levels of ambient magical energies are the highest out of anywhere on Earth – nowhere else has as many massive ones flowing through as here. We were given an estimated location for them but not an absolute one so we've mostly been guessing."

"Have you been there?"

"Yeah," I answer. "It's pretty plain, so I'm not sure if it's the actual spot or not."

"Think we should check it out?"

The fact that the owl indicated the same direction I'm estimating the convergence to be might be coincidence or it might be important. That's why I suggested we check it out, too.

"Yeah."

Todd and I begin navigating our way to where I've estimated the focus point to be and I almost immediately spot something different about the location since the last time I was here. It was just another plot of unassuming land turning into a forest back then, with increased tree growth and some undergrowth spreading.

That's still true – mostly. A faint, bluish-white mist has spread across the ground, no more than an inch or two in depth. It only spreads across a space around ten feet in width, fading at the edges of it, but it's something vastly different than what I've seen before. The unusual mist isn't perfectly circular in its spread but more organic, spreading a little further in some spots and a little less in others.

Where the mist touches, the undergrowth has dissolved away. Two trees found themselves affected by the mist and look as if they might fall if it continues to spread.

"Is that… Mana?" Todd kneels down close to it.

"I think so," I answer. "That form is kind of interesting. Careful not to touch it, though. Looks more concentrated than what's just in the air based on what it did to the plants."

What could have caused the Mana here to become like that? One possibility is that a high enough concentration of Mana manifests as a sort of mist. That can't be fully true, though, as I doubt that happens inside of a person. I'll have to ask Grandma if she knows.

"Might your dad know why it's like that?" I ask.

"Maybe," he answers. "But I don't think he knew too much about the higher stuff regarding magic."

"Doesn't hurt to ask," I say. "Since he's already gotten lessons on magic, he might know. If not, we can ask Grandma. I doubt this counts as basic information, but we can also try the golems."

"Alright," Todd stands. "Let's check the area."

We check around here for any signs of what's going on with the lullaby owls and I find a nest within a tree cavity twenty feet up a tree roughly thirty feet from the strange mist. There's not an owl in it at the moment and I don't know how to tell how recently it was last occupied, however, I can identify the feathers in it well enough. The grey-and-white feather with a faint, pinkish-purple swirl matches those taken from the wings of the lullaby owls I've killed.

I climb down the tree and start to call out to Todd to come over when I spot something.

"Ears!" I yell as I cover my own with my hands.

Todd quickly does the same as he looks in my direction. His gaze quickly shifts to something else as a gentle, melodic sound begins to fill the air. I'm not bothered by a normal lullaby owl, but that one is around fifty percent bigger than any other, a clear indicator that it's going to be stronger than those I've faced before.

Damn owl sent us to the king of the lullaby owls. I think she misinterpreted what I was asking.

From here, I can tell that Todd's eyes are starting to droop some. Right. He's not a mage, he's a magic archer. Strength with some magical powerbut not a high Mind. Even with his ears covered, it's still going to affect him a bit.

This owl can also cast its spell for quite a bit. I begin weaving a spell of my own in front of my mouth, using that as my casting focus. The greyish-white spell completes in 5.6 seconds and the owl's still singing its song of death.

"KAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" I yell, drawing it out for the full three seconds [Stunning Sound] lasts for.

Thanks to having 75 Magic, my spell is able to strike and at least disrupt the mind of the beast, even from forty feet away. It knocks the owl off the branch it was perched on and ends the magic lullaby.

Todd seems to have been off to the side enough to have not been stunned by my call, and it may have even helped him shake off the sleepiness from the lullaby. I quickly drop the pack I was wearing as Todd nocks an arrow in his bow. A pair of brownish-orange spell circles begin to form in front of my hands as I bring them up and forward, the owl flying up into the air as another spell circle forms in front of it.

I was able to knock it off the branch, but the scream didn't damage the beast at all. There's a difference between Constitution and weight and the owl was light enough to be knocked over but tough enough to not be hurt.

"You good?" I ask.

"Let's take this fucker down," Todd says as a spell circle begins to coat the head of his arrow with a brownish-orange glow.

I send my [Stone Bullet]s forward, the lullaby owl king dodging one but getting struck in the wing by the other. It tumbles a little before righting itself and firing off the [Air Blast] is summoned in my direction. Having already moved in anticipation of that, I narrowly avoid being struck by the spell as I begin casting a [Stunning Sound] with my right hand.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

"I don't think that will work," Todd says as he lets his arrow fly.

"Not the same way, maybe," I say as his arrow slices through the owl's right shoulder, the archer already nocking another. "That thing is fast."

It soars behind a tree and hides there, probably to prepare another attack without getting interrupted. The main reason to do that would be to cast its sleep spell again, since it doesn't need to be facing us for it to work.

"Why'd you pull off your hoodie?" Todd asks as I finish doing just that.

"I only have so many of them," I toss it to the ground as we both reposition ourselves. "And can't guarantee that I won't take hits. It's not armor so it'll be damaged easily."

My shirt comes off as well and is dropped to the ground as the owl comes into view again. I was right, it's going to begin another lullaby. The owl's on a branch about sixteen feet up and turns its head to face me, its spell a second away from completing as it looks.

"Too slow!" I hold up my right hand as [Stunning Sound] completes and this time, I snap as quickly as I can with both hands.

Blast after blast of the amplified sound assault the owl, sending it tumbling out of the tree. I lower the spell circle in a difficult act of casting so that I can maintain the snaps for the full three seconds, knocking the owl further away. Moving a spell circle once it's been cast is difficult as fuck and strains my casting ability some.

It's worth it, however, as the owl is knocked into view for Todd, who lets fly an arrow. His timing is precise enough that I'm guessing he figured out the three-second limit for my [Stunning Sound], so that his arrow won't be affected by the blasts.

The arrow pierces into the owl's right wing and the monster falls to the ground. As it stands up, it snaps forward with its beak and breaks the arrow. A [Wind Mastery] spell circle begins to form almost immediately after the arrow is broken. Is the owl going to use that to remove the rest of the arrow?

"Don't let it get close!" Todd calls out as I finish casting a [Stone Bullet] to shoot at the beast. "Those arrows aren't weak!"

"Got it!" I call back as my spell strikes the owl in the head.

That seems to daze the owl slightly, but it manages to maintain the casting. Dammit. I'm not able to get another [Stone Bullet] off before the arrow's been removed and the owl's taken flight again.

"I'll keep it out of the canopy!" Todd calls as an arrow of compressed wind soars through the air and pierces through the right wing. "Damn thing must lost fligheeventually. Do your blasts!"

"Got it," I finish the pair of [Stone Bullet]s I was casting and send them off to the owl, striking it in the chest twice.

Then, I begin casting [Stunning Sound] again. This time, I cast two of them together. Since Todd is maintaining its focus on him at the moment, I have the extra few seconds necessary to do this. Then, I begin double-assaulting the beast, using one [Stunning Sound] for screaming and the other for snap-blasts.

Casting two of them at once and using them like this must have pushed my experience with the spell over a threshold, as a notification appears in my vision.

[Stunning Sound] is now Level 4. Casting Time: 5.6 seconds → 4.9 seconds Duration: 3 seconds → 4 seconds

I don't let the notice distract me as I dismiss it and let my sound blasts assault the monster.

The moment my attack ends, an arrow of stone flies forward and pierces through the owl's left wing. Just as the owl finishes breaking and removing it, it notices me closing in on it and flaps its wings to take flight.

Unfortunately for it, that movement was too slow and I thrust both hands forward, triggering the pair of [Stone Blast] spells I cast. Shards of stone and small rocks form from the spell circles and blast into the wings of the owl, shredding them further.

As soon as my spells finish, I jump back to get out of range of the owl.

"There we go!" I say as I stumble over some undergrowth. "Whoa! It shouldn't be able to fly anymore!"

"You good?" Todd asks.

"Small stumble, I'm good," I respond. "I'll disrupt further casting, you-what the heck is that spell? I want to learn it!"

A thirty-inch air magic spell circle has begun to form behind the owl, which has stretched out its bloody, hole-filled wings. I try to cast a [Stunning Sound] quickly enough to disrupt the monster's focus, but I'm not fast enough for that. I'd already seen it can hold a spell while getting struck in the head or I'd have tried [Stone Bullet]s again.

Upon the spell's completion, the owl flies up into the air and I learn what the spell is: flight. This thing has a spell just so that it can fly if its wings are taken out.

That makes it a worthy king of a bird monster species. A little more terrifying, but also worthy of that title.

I snap into the [Stunning Sound] spell circle but find that rather ineffective. With the use of its flight magic, the lullaby owl king is able to maintain its flight even as it tumbles a little, and its Mind stat enables it to resist the stunning effect. Todd lets loose another [Stone Arrow] and manages to strike the beast in the neck, but it keeps flying.

Not only does it keep flying, but it begins casting [Air Blast]. This fucker can cast two different spells at once, just like the breezestep deer!

Determining that I'm the main threat, the owl glides toward me as it finishes its casting… almost. I hold up my right hand and send forward stone shrapnel, some of which passes through the barely-completed spell circle and shatters it. The opposite spell is almost always guaranteed to weaken or break a spell circle.

"Sorry," I dodge to the side to avoid the owl's talons as it continues gliding forward. "But I can cast it faster."

Not by much, but still enough that I can deal with its attacks. A perk of not being in the process of casting two spells at once.

That seems to anger the bird and it begins casting two of a different spell, and one I don't recognize. It does have some things that I can recognize and make a guess about. That must be the proper spell for the blades of compressed air that breezestep deer surround themselves with.

The spell manifests as an arc three inches in width that soar toward me from the spell circles. I manage to avoid one, but the other shallowly slices into my right bicep. The owl begins to turn around as it casts another pair of those. A [Stone Arrow] slams into the bird's back, followed by a second a moment later, then a third. Todd must have prepared those in advanced to have fired them off so quickly.

This thing is losing a lot of blood. It can't live for much longer.

You have learned [Stone Slice].

The five-inch, brownish-orange spell circle I was casting completes as the owl fires off both of its own, and a thin arc of stone three inches in width shoots forward. It cuts straight through one of the owl's attacks as the other passes by it, slamming into my chest and cutting deep. My Magic is definitely higher than the owl's, enough that my [Stone Slice] carries enough force behind it to cut deep into the owl.

Letting out an agitated screech, the owl tries to soar up into the canopy again, probably to ready another lullaby. Todd manages to clip its neck with one of his normal arrows and that seems to draw its attention to him. It's learning it can't go up into the canopy to rest or cast.

"Hold its focus!" I call out.

"Got it!" Todd responds.

I hold up both of my hands and begin casting not two but three spells. This strains my casting ability, but I force my Mana to obey. It's three of my new spell, which takes four seconds to cast on its own. With the ninety-percent increase to casting time per additional spell, that makes it take almost fourteen and a half seconds to finish casting but I manage to complete all three spells without losing control over my Mana. One spell circle forms in front of each hand while the third forms in front of my face.

Practicing [Multicasting] with two casts to improve the spell was too slow. I wanted to raise it some before trying to triple-cast, but I also want to finish this fight faster. My wounds are hurting like hell and I don't have time to drink a potion.

Multicasting is now Level 3. Casting Time Penalty: 90% → 80% Casting Cost Penalty: 90% → 80%

As the owl breaks yet another of the arrows that Todd sent into it, the three [Stone Slice]s I cast soar forward. Two slice into its wing and body while the third slices into its neck and face.

A series of notifications pop up in my vision, letting me know the beast is dead even before it begins to fall.

You are now a Level 20/50 [Elemental Mage]. +20 Mana +0.006 Mana Regen +2 Magic +2 Mind +2 Skill Points +2 Attribute Points You have gained 2 EXP.

You have reached a milestone in [Elemental Mage]. +10 Aura +10 Mana +0.0001 Aura Regen +0.001 Mana Regen

You have reached a milestone in [Elemental Mage]. A bonus has been added to when you gain Status Levels from now on. +10 Aura +20 Mana +0.0001 Aura Regen +0.004 Mana Regen +1 Magic +1 Mind

You are now a Level 5/50 [Mind Mage]. +10 Mana +0.003 Mana Regen +1 Magic +1 Mind +1 Skill Point +1 Attribute Point You have gained 1 EXP.

You have reached a milestone in [Mind Mage]. +10 Aura +10 Mana +0.0001 Aura Regen +0.001 Mana Regen

You are now a Level 6/50 [Mind Mage]. +10 Mana +0.003 Mana Regen +1 Magic +1 Mind +1 Skill Point +1 Attribute Point You have gained 1 EXP.

You have completed a Quest! [Quest Type]: Slay [Requirement]: Slay the Lullaby Owl King [Reward]: 6,500 syscre, 5 [Mana Crystals]; 2 [Mind Maginiite]; 1 [Basics Pack]; 1 [Hunter's Pack]; 5 [Health and Healing Pack]s The king of the lullaby owls is a powerful foe, much stronger than his subjects. With a high Constitution, a potent song of slumber, and strong magic, taking him on is not for the weak of might, body, or mental strength. Those who can overcome his power and take him out, however, will find their area spawning fewer lullaby owls.

"Damn," Todd says as I note that the reward is bigger than for the squirrel queen. "That was even tougher than the deer."

Without Todd here, I don't think I would have succeeded in the battle. I might have even needed to pull out one of my waveblast potions to use against the owl, either for an escape or potential victory. From now on, it might be better to avoid leaving the base area alone.

Just in case another royal monster attacks.

"Yeah," I say. "So glad to have had a second fighter here for that. At least the only real surprise from this fight was its flight magic. The stoneshot squirrel queen only cast [Stone Bullet] and only from her paws… until I disabled her paws. Then she revealed she could cast with her tail and also [Stone Missile]."

"Fucking hell."

"That's what caused Chance to try and create the amulets!" I laugh. "He'll probably have ours ready by the time we get back. For now… I need some potions."

The wound in my chest is pretty bad and I'm starting to feel a little woozy from the blood loss. Fortunately, healing potions also seem to regenerate lost blood starting at basic-tier and I still have a few of those.

I walk over to my pack and open it so I can grab the necessary potions, and Todd approaches the owl's remains and starts harvesting. Since a decent portion of it is destroyed and we don't really need the meat, he's just taking any feathers which might be usable and the magic crystals from it.

Just as with the spiders, it has two. For the lullaby owl king, they're an air maginiite crystal and a mind maginiite crystal. Normal lullaby owls only had either a mind maginiite crystal or an air maginiite crystal, and only one crystal total.

When I asked the golems at the shop about finding two crystals in the spiders, they informed me that as monsters grow stronger, they can develop a second crystal. Stronger monsters in the Status Level 1 range have a high chance of having two, while any monster in the Status Level 2 range will have two for sure.

"Do you think the reward gets split between us?" I ask as I heal. "Or can only one accept the reward and then they determine how it's split?"

"I don't know," Todd says.

"I don't, either," I tell him. "It may be that we each receive it, though."

"Why do you think that?"

"You and your dad did a Dungeon, right?" I ask before casting [Lesser Heal] to treat some of the edges of the cut on my arm as the potion does its work.

That wound was lighter, so [Lesser Heal] could work on it once it healed a little. Better to let the potions focus on the more severe injury than split them between the two.

"Yeah," Todd answers.

"When you turned in the Quest," I say. "Did you have to split the reward with him?"

"No," he answers. "Oh. You think it's the same thing?"

"Maybe," I nod. "We won't know for sure until we try, though."

Todd finishes his harvesting and I finish my healing, then clean up and track down my shirt and hoodie to pull back on. Once my backpack is on, we begin making our way back home.

"By the way," I say. "My animal conversational skills need some work. I think the owl I spoke to thought I was asking where the lullaby owl king was, not if I knew why the lullaby owls suddenly went quiet."