As I walked towards the node, I passed by several bodies. Only seeing the rings and baubles glitter in the morning sun breaking through the foliage here and there made me remember to look for valuables. But before I knew how much I could bring with me it would be useless to look for interesting things. So I focused on my experimentation.

I had to somehow combine void with my [Owl Stomach] Skill. That should allow me to ‘eat’ things larger than myself. If I wanted to keep what I ate for later use, I needed something more. Alienis would be great to create a two-way transfer. But it would not hold the items safe in my storage. I needed something else for that. Looking for the right aspect, I started flipping through the Thaumonomicon. I first thought of tutamen, the aspect of armour. It might be able to protect my treasures. But it was too far from any I had access to. Three steps, potentially two, if being sapient allowed me to easily get humanus.

I kept looking. Hunger and greed were very common with storage, so were metal, earth and wood, presumably as less conceptual, more real, containers. Hunger was something the Skill probably already held. And greed formed from it in combination with humanus. I could definitely hold onto that thought. More ideas. Quickly. I considered trap for a moment, but it would not give back easily. Order might help with sorting through a pocket space, on the list with it. Ice or crystal as containers? I had access to crystal, so I noted it down. Movement or travel to get the items in and out. Maybe. It was not too difficult to get there. I had air and order, which combined to movement, as well as earth to turn it into travel. Hmm, what to do?

Void was a definite take. Necessary to be able to take things bigger than me. Then what? Alienis sounded smart. I really liked the aspect. Not as a weapon, but otherwise I felt very comfortable. Probably because my soul was soaked with it. The madness it induced in the thaumaturges though, was not something I wanted to see again. And even if the mind spiders were kinda cute, I could do without them for a while.

‘Stop being distracted, Fio! Back to work!’

I shook my head and refocused. Hunger sounded very obvious. It was part of the Skill, most definitely, so I had to do very little about it. Greed was a good step up from there. I would try to add it as well. It fit perfectly with what I wanted the Skill to become. Finally, maybe a container? Something to hold the items from drifting into the void while they were in my soul? Or how about just adding order to void? It might just create a structure fit to keep my possessions close.

Yes, that sounded good. Vacuos, alienis, fames, lucrum and ordo. Five aspects was a little bit much potentially, but lucrum was only a maybe and fames already part of the Skill. It should definitely be doable.

First, I looked for humanus. If I wanted greed, I needed human. Or humanoid. Or hopefully, sapient. I decided to use [Eldritch Shift] and look near my head. Maybe it would be somewhere there. The other idea was that it spread near my inner gate or wherever my status was, but I had taken a close look at the former a lot of times and had no idea where the latter was actually located.

Luckily, it was very easy to find. Humanus was really just the aspect of knowledge combined with beast. Both of which I had plenty. But there was no need to combine them. Within my brain, I spotted a small cluster of human essence. I hesitated for a bit. This may be a remnant of my previous life. Until I realized I only needed a tiny amount to form the idea of greed. I was already greedy enough. Having a tiny bit of the essence would make my desires form into magic. I turned the idea around a few more times, considering other approaches. But there was no better way. And I had no idea if this would even work. I had to start somewhere.

And so I started. I focused my will. The power of 31 Intelligence and the control of 30 Wisdom drove my ideas into the world. It was time to make real what I wanted to have. My Skill responded first. It was the baseline after all. The second part of the Skill was not needed, even a possible hindrance, so I cut it out. I did not want to break down indigestible items. Parts of my food, yes, but that was not the purpose I had in mind right now.

I formed the idea of an increased space within myself. One that was not actually real but existed more as a concept. Void would create it, order would hold it. Then, a gate. Alienis formed a two-way path between the void and the real world. And finally, hunger and a smidgen of greed to hold what I wanted within myself and not destroy it. The magic buckled and weaved. Void wanted to expand infinitely, order grabbing onto it and forming a shape. Suddenly, the two shifted. Void and order each split off parts and fused. A new aspect. One I had not read about. Though I wondered why. Why had no thaumaturge written about time of all things as a magical concept? Was it just too far removed from reality? The cycle of days and seasons should already clue one in on its existence. But then again, it was not part of an object. Any aspects mentioned in the Thaumonomicon had very clear objects they were a part of. Physical, real things. I only wondered, had nobody ever made a clock in this world?

Disregarding the question I refocused on my Skill. Time was forming a mesh around and within my inner space, void and order latching on to form it. That had gone well. Next, I connected the gateway. An opening in the storage space to reach outside combined with a concept of hunger to form a second gate near my beak. I made sure to have it just outside and variable in size. If I could not store the book because it did not fit down my throat, I would be very disappointed. This was kind of easy. The gates formed exactly how I wanted them and followed my every command. I eyed the purple-black oval surface hovering in front of my face. It blocked my vision quite a bit so I lowered it. Much better. The edges were frayed as if bleeding out into reality. It was definitely exhausting to hold. But I wanted to try using it.

I put a twig I found nearby in my storage space and watched it promptly split into shards. Not splinters, it did not break. It was cleanly cut as if reality broke apart when entering my storage space. One by one I watched the pieces float near the edge of my storage and then flit out in an instant to never be seen again. Yes, I definitely needed to do more work. There were still a few parts left which I pulled out again. Sadly, they did not combine upon returning to reality. I had hoped it was just a perception issue.

Now, for greed. I wanted to add it directly, but that would require me to focus on something new and might compromise my progress. Instead, I pulled on the Skill to bring the essence of hunger into the structure. In an instant, the Skill stabilized. I stiffened. Had I messed up again? Was this just another failure? Then, after a few minutes of not getting a notification, I allowed myself to relax a little. I had not reached the Breakthrough yet. I could still save it.

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It was time to put in humanus and hopefully form the concept of greed. I focused on the hunger part of my Skill and pulled it to the forefront. Then, I picked a small amount of human essence and brought it towards it. I focused on the idea of holding treasure, hoarding valuables. And keeping them there for as long as I wanted. They would be mine and mine alone. It took a while, but at some point, the aspects started to combine. Greed had formed properly. I wanted to wipe my brows but remembered I was an owl. Right. No sweat. This was easy, hah!

The Skill fell back in place. It was now holding both hunger and greed. A notification still eluded me, but I felt confident it would already do what I wanted, at least in parts. Another twig went in. Again, it split into parts. Not yet done, huh? As the shards floated through my inner space, the concepts of greed and hunger warred. One wanted to eat the wood, however, that would happen, while the other wanted to keep it. It was very messy. So I separated them. Sadly, hunger won before I realized, and the stick was no longer. I felt a small amount of mana trickle into my soul from within, most simply dissipating into the void. Interesting. I could eat objects to restore mana without creating flux? This was extremely useful. And no matter how much I wanted a storage Skill, I would not give this up. So I added another aspect to the thing. It was getting really complicated by now, but this one was a very simple concept. Change. I wanted a stomach that could change between eating and storing. Maybe two sets? Yes, that would be even better. And it happened without much of a problem.

Greed swapped places with hunger and I put in a stick. It stayed. No pieces floating off into nirvana, nothing getting devoured and turned into mana. It was almost perfect. If not for the stick still being more than one thing after pulling it back out. I needed a way to keep things whole or it would not do what I wanted. And order was just the perfect concept for that. So I added it to the gates. Both ways, of course. Otherwise, it would be useless. And finally, the long-awaited notification. I had done it!

~ding~ Congratulations! For advancing the Skill [Owl Stomach] past the first Breakpoint you have gained bonus experience.

~ding~ You have reached level 18. Attribute points allocated.

Oooh, that was a lot of levels!

Species: Great Eagle Owl (fledgeling)

Age: 0

Name: Fio

Gender: female

Status: sapient, healthy, mana enriched (major)

Level: 18

Class: [Assassin lvl 50], -

Strength: 17

Constitution: 13

Dexterity: 24

Perception: 23

Intelligence: 31

Wisdom: 30

AP: 0

Skills:

Racial:

Utility: [Owl Senses lvl 5], [Preening lvl 3], [Owl Stomach lvl 5], [Soundless Flight lvl 4]

Offensive: [Solid Grip lvl 4], [Intimidating Screech lvl 4], [Owl’s Shadow lvl 6], [Aerial Combat lvl 4]

General:

[Maths lvl 4], [Identify lvl 4]

Assassin:

[Sneak lvl 5], [Surprise Attack lvl 4], [Mingling lvl 3], [Eldritch Shift lvl 5],

[Winged Death lvl 2]

My status was looking really good now! I had gained two points in Strength and one each in Constitution and Dexterity. It really looked to be boosting primarily lower Attributes. Though why Constitution seemed this neglected was a bit of a mystery. In addition to all this, I had already gained a level in [Winged Death]. Though considering that massacre, it was to be expected. The Skill was truly powerful, as expected of one gained at level 50!

Now, I only had to wait for nightfall. As I looked around, I noticed it was long dark. I had completely ignored the passing of time. It was the middle of the night. I should leave right away. First, though, I tried my new Skill. Another twig went into my storage space. This time it stayed perfectly whole. No problem whatsoever. I used it to get a measure of how much space I had available. It seemed to be rather small for how much effort it was. Maybe a cubic metre? That was still extremely large for me though, since I was only half a metre tall myself. I decided to check the new description:

[Owl Stomach]: Owls digest their food whole. Improves speed of digestion. At higher levels allows to break down indigestible parts of food.

1st Breakthrough: Your stomach has grown further than your body. You can consume any objects and turn them into mana or store them. Space and efficiency improve with Intelligence and Wisdom.

Well, that looked great! Another reason to invest in magic Attributes! Now it was time to leave and find a new place. Although, I really wanted to look for loot.