Huh?

What's going on? They're running away from me! But... I haven't even said hello yet? Why would they run away like that?! That's kinda rude. OOH! Of course they would run! They're leading me to where Bartlon is, aren't they? It would make sense for them to move quickly, and not waste time saying hello, time is of the essence after all! Although I do think a simple wave would have been the least of courtesy. They didn't even ask me to follow after them either... they're lucky I'm incredibly smart or I might not have followed at all!

And I probably should hurry up and follow them before they do vanish completely. They're moving quite quickly, especially the wrinkly one! He's even faster than Bartlon at running through the trees! An impressive feat! I wonder if that sort of speed is normal for people? You wouldn't think they could move so quickly after watching them walk.

But it's not as if their speed matters! No one can outrun my Cinders! Muahaha! Your long, silly legs are no match for my fantastic, fiery wings! I'm the fastest bird in the world! I've been practicing for the past three days, so I will catch up in no time! And I'm like 90% sure that the forest won't catch on fire either, so I have nothing to worry about, I can flap freely!

"Cinders" I caw excitedly, my voice filled enthusiasm and relief in knowing that Bartlon will be found soon.

With a tremendous spray of bright, yellow flames, I rocket off the forest floor in a speedy pursuit, quickly weaving past the numerous trees and branches towards the two fleeting figures as they hurriedly bash their way through the obtrusive plants and bushes towards Bartlon's peril. With each second that passes, and each meter that shortens between us, Bartlon's friends seem to pick up even more speed! Sprinting as if their very lives depended on it! Especially the yellow haired one, he's clearly struggling to maintain pace with the grey haired one, who's constantly looking back at the both of us with an extremely pained expression on his face. They both must be very worried.

I should go even faster! I don't wan to be out done!

+ 1 Dexterity

Woo~! Wa~! Wee~! "Cinders!" Uho~! Wuh~! Zhu~! "W-WHOA!! Cinders!" That branch was close! "Cinders!" Weeee~! Huuuu~! This is awesome! Fhew~! Why did I ever bother walking?! Yay~! Woooooooooo-

*Donk*

Suffered 31 Falling Damage

+ 1 Endurance

Owwwwwwwww! My head!

Suffered 5 Falling Damage

Ooff! My back...

Grrrr

Stupid, silly, terrible tree, with its stupid trunk being super stupid and extra wide. That really hurt! I bumped the exact same place where I hit the Shaggy Fluff! My battered neck is going to be sore for hours! And not only that, I'm going to fall behind too! Grrrrrr!

"Which tree did that!" I chirp outraged, glaring at the trees while patting my tender neck with a flared wing.

A guilty silence creaks from the trees.

"I won't forget this" I threateningly inform the trees, committing each tree's shape to memory for later revenge "I will be back".

Wincing as I raise my wings, I painfully launch myself back into the air with Cinders and slowly fly above the foliage, only to find that Bartlon's friends have entirely vanished into forest in the short time I had stopped. So with a sense of disappointment and anger, I gingerly flap to a nearby branch and begin to fret uncontrollably.

I think I really messed up. No. I did mess up. The perfect opportunity to find Bartlon was thrown away and wasted. If I wasn't flying so recklessly, I wouldn't have lost my only two guides, and I also wouldn't have suffered so much damage either. I won't be able to help rescue anyone in this condition! This really sucks. Gosh I'm so stupid, I got too caught up in the moment.

I stare down at my feet listlessly as they scratch deeper and deeper grooves into the soft wood of the unlucky branch I'm perched upon.

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This sucks, sucks, sucks. Waiting is the only thing I can do. I'll rest and fully recover my Health and Mana, and I'll also wait and see if those two people come back for me. It's the best option right now, but I don't like it, It makes me feel useless. It's like being a pile of ashes and being unable to do anything, except, I'm not a pile of ashes, I'm still a pheonix, yet I still can't do anything. It's stressful. The Shaggy Fluffs are to blame for this entire mess! Once Bartlon is safe and sound I will transfer this stress onto them.

The nudge... I guess I can take care of the Enhancement squiggle while I wait, the constant pull in my thoughts is distracting me from moping properly anyway, that won't do.

"Status" I grumpily chirp.

Name: -----, ------

Health: 56/114 Mana: 23/192 Level 5 (114/800) Strength: 15 Endurance: 24 Species: Pheonix Dexterity: 15 Intelligence: 43 Class: Pheonix, Level 2 Affinity: 35  

Status Haroune's Fruit *Enhancement*

Skills Traits Cinders, Level 4 Mythical Bellows, Level 2 Fire to Fire   Profound Fire Affinity   Soul Affinity   Lesser Light Affinity   Dungeon Bound

Ok. Time for step two, and this time I actually have a plan.

If none of the choices make any sense to me like the last time I looked at the 'Enhancement' squiggle, I will just choose something at random, because I doubt any of the choices will be bad. It wouldn't make sense for 'leveling up', something that makes me stronger, to make me weaker because of a poor choice. That would be stupid! All of the choices must be good in someway... I hope. Although that does raise the question... why was level 5 special, and not any of the other levels? Is it random? Is it something Mr. Squiggle decides? I wish I could ask him, but he only seems to respond to me when I say 'status'. So for now, I should just let the Enhancement squiggle do whatever it's already doing without resisting so I can make it go away. The pull is almost irresistible anyway, it shouldn't take too much concentration.

Enhancements

Fire to Fire -> Ashes to Ashes

Ashes are more durable, a complete rebirth requires less ash. Rebirth time is shortened to 4 hours.

Requirements: Fire to Fire, 100 Mana, 15 Endurance, 25 Affinity.

Cinders -> Fleeting Cinders

Cinders allows finer aerial control.

Requirements: 10 Strength, 10 Dexterity, 20 Intelligence, 30 Affinity.

+ Sparks

Volatile feathers charged with explosive energy are launched from the wings.

Requirements: Level 3 Cinders, 10 Dexterity, 25 Affinity.

+ Healing Flame

A flame that restores health.

Requirements: Fire Affinity, Lesser Light Affinity, 20 Affinity.

+ Soul Flame

A flame that consumes magic.

Requirements: Fire Affinity, Lesser Soul Affinity, 25 Affinity.

+ Dungeon Experience

Experience will gradually accrue in proportion to Dungeon's strength

Requirements: Dungeon Bound.

+ Dungeon Influence

Dungeon creatures of lesser strength will obey.

Requirements: Dungeon Bound, 40 Intelligence.

Oh golly why does it hurt my eyes so much? It's too many squiggles for me to absorb at once! Why can't I look at it in little bits at a time? That would be so much easier. Such bullying.

"Listen up Mr. Squiggle!" I loudly chirp, summoning all the certainty in my voice as I possibly can "None of them make sense!! So gimmie the first one!"

Trait Unlocked: Ashes to Ashes

No sooner then after the words escaped my beak did the annoying presence in my brain release its tenacious hold on my attention and surge down my spine like a rolling wave of warmth, eager to fulfill its purpose. Once the vague sensation collided with my heart, it pooled together tightly for several breathless moments to build in heat and energy, strength and tangibility, then once it had grown enough, with a slow, singular pulse, the mysterious and ancient power gently washed forth over every millimeter of my confused body, and suffused itself deep into the fibers of my very soul and being, in a way that somehow felt more natural then how my body previously felt. The whole process only lasted a mere heartbeat.

Pwaaaaaah~! That really cheered me up heaps! It feels like I've been freshly revived as a pheonix! Look! Even the air around me has gotten all hazy and steamy with joy! And it really does feel like I've stronger now too! I'm sorry for ever doubting you Mr. Squiggle, I promise never to do it again! I should have more faith in your wiggly loops of infinite wisdom! Next time I won't hesitate to make a decision, I promise! I only need to figure out how to make the 'special level up' appear again...

But despite how good I feel, I still need to wait before I can act. From what it feels like, my Mana is still very low, not even at a third of completely full, definitely not enough to fly for very long with, let alone fight with. I need it to recover more. Very annoying, I need to get more Affinity.

Hmmmm. Now that I think about it, if I had have kept chasing after Bartlon's friends I probably would've used all my Mana whilst flying and crashed into a different tree or something else regardless. And if that something else was a Shaggy Fluff, then I would've became its breakfast! That's a scary thought. So maybe I won't take revenge on those trees anymore, since it turns out they kinda helped me out in an unintentional and painful kind of way. Not that I can even remember which trees were the same trees I promised to punish. All of these trees look far too similar for me to be able to distinguish them apart, and there's like a million of them too! Finding the right trees would be impossible. So that's one issue taken care of.

All that's left to do now, is wait. How fun.