Well, now that I’ve killed the spider, and gotten the benefits from the battle, I guess I should start moving high- wait. All I was looking for was an open area. Doesn’t this area fit the bill? I look around. I’m standing in the large clearing where I fought the spider. There looks to be plenty of space for me to experiment. Well, I guess that fight with the spider was more important than I thought.

I walk to the center of the clearing, and spread my wings to their limit. I lift them up, and flap them as hard as I can. I move up a little bit, but not too far. I quickly lift them up again, and flap them down as powerfully as I can. I keep flapping my wings, until I’m quite far off the ground. I’m not that far up., compared to the massive trees. However, I’m certain that even if I were to stand up to my full height, and then add another of myself on top of me, I couldn’t reach the height I’m at now.

Now that I’m high up, I stop beating my wings. Instead, I extend them to their full length, and glide around the clearing for a couple dozen seconds. I slowly sink to the ground, because I’m not beating my wings to keep myself in the air. I allow myself to glide to the ground, because this is just an experiment. I need to know if this is a legitimate way to fly, and I’m too exhausted to keep going higher.

After all, I haven’t rested once from trying to fly earlier, to the short fight with the Earth Elemental. My knees almost buckle when they go from doing nothing, to supporting my entire body weight. I’m just barely able to keep myself from collapsing. Wow, I’m way more tired than I thought I was. Well, I guess that means that it is a good thing I stopped myself from trying to fly higher. The flight was also a resounding success! It didn’t take too much effort, and I definitely could’ve stayed in the air longer if I was less tired. When I’m fully rested, I’ll have to try that again. But to do so, I’ve got to find a place to rest and recover.

I walk over to the edge of the clearing, and examine all of the large trees closely. One of them has a hole in it, but I can easily tell that I won’t fit. When I was smaller, maybe I could’ve fit, but I’m way too big now. I walk past the first line of trees, and almost immediately see a hole large enough for me to squeeze through. It’s close enough to the ground so as to not require me to climb to reach it. Once I’m standing right by it, I poke my head through.

There is a space large enough for me to lay on the ground, curled up. Great! The space behind the hole is big enough for me, and there aren’t any animals living there! But, I do have to keep my wings tight to my body the entire time I’m sleeping. Oh well. That’s a small price to pay for a safe place to sleep. I slowly crawl into the hole, wings tight to my body. I curl myself up as I crawl in, until the entire length of my body is inside of the space. I let myself fall asleep, succumbing to fatigue.

. . .

I wake up to the chirping of birds. I try to unfurl my wings and stretch out, but I’m stopped by a wall that’s surrounding me. I panic for a second, before I remember what happened yesterday. Oh yeah, I’m in a tree. I keep panicking when I wake up inside of these things. I guess that’s another reason why I need a real home. It should be much more comfortable to wake up in. Well, I guess it’s time to get out of here. I shift my body until I’m facing the entrance. I slowly crawl forward, pulling myself out of the hole, mostly with my front legs. I stand up, extending my wings and stretching out now that I’m outside of that cramped space.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Well, that was a nice stretch. What should I do now? My stomach answers my unspoken question with a growl. Well, I guess I’m going hunting then. I walk back to the clearing, and then scan the edges. Nothing. I hope I can find some tracks, or an animal, soon. I want to practice flying. I walk past the edges of the clearing, and start searching for tracks through the woods.

Not even a minute later, I find a strange series of hoofprints. What are these? They don’t look like anything I’ve seen before. Well, I hope it’s something tasty. I start following the tracks, crouching and sneaking. I’m only acting cautiously because I can still smell the scent of the creature that made these tracks, which means that they are likely pretty new.

It doesn’t take me long to start smelling a more intense version of what I’m following. That must be the real creature. And it smells so sweet! Almost as sweet as the deer. Although, It must be moving slower than I am, even when I’m crawling. Just a couple minutes after I think that, I catch a glimpse of the creature that I’m pursuing.

It’s a squat thing, with a brown pelt. It has a short tail, and looks to be a bit more than half of my length. However, the feature that captures my attention the most is its luxurious tusks. They are long, and have a couple of jagged protrusions. Woah. Those are some dangerous looking tusks. It probably won’t be much of a problem, because I’ll be ambushing it, but still. I wonder if I can do anything with them? Probably not, this beast doesn’t radiate that aura like the Earth Elemental did. Well, I should get into position.

I move to the side of the trail, and start walking faster through the bushes. It doesn’t take long for me to move past the creature. Now, the real question is if there are any good ambush spots in the area. The first thing I do is look up, checking to see if there is anything resembling the net of branches I used in my first ambush. The lower parts of the trees have almost no branches in this area, so the lower canopy is pretty clear.

Well, I guess I’ll just have to jump from the side then. I then take another glance around, looking for any higher areas to jump off of. I still don’t find anything. I start to hear the slow, plodding steps of the creature I’m hunting. I’ll have to find somewhere to ambush from quickly. I look around once more, trying to spot an especially dense area of foliage. My eyes land on an especially thick bush that looks like it’ll end up being right next to the beast when it passes by. I quickly rush into it, crouch, and tense my muscles.

I move just in time. A second after I’m in position, the creature comes into view. It slowly tramps right by me, and puts its back to me. That was a mistake, and the last one this creature will ever make. I leap out of the bush, activating [Slash], and swinging my claws. The three blades of something shoot out from my claws, and dig into the beast's back. It screams, and starts swinging its head furiously, but it’s already too late. I join the ethereal waves of light in mauling the beast, its hide being destroyed by my incredibly sharp claws. The creature dies a moment after I begin my assault.

Defeated [Wild Boar - lvl. 5]. Less experience is awarded for defeating an enemy one evolution below you.

What? I’ve never gotten less experience before. Then again, I haven’t killed anything below level ten after my evolution. Which also means I haven’t killed anything one evolution below me yet. Well, the only other things that I’ve seen at this second evolution are that fox, and the Earth Elemental.

My stomach grumbles, interrupting my internal monologue. Oh yeah, I guess I should eat. That’s the reason I went on this hunt in the first place. Although, this is good information to know. It stands to reason that it will take longer for me to get to the next level if I get less experience from creatures I kill, since I mostly kill these first evolution creatures. I shake my head slightly. Okay, I should seriously eat now. I take a large bite of the beast’s, I guess it’s a boar, flesh. It tastes amazing. The flesh is sweet, with hints of salt. It’s one of the best things I’ve ever eaten. This almost tastes as good as the deer! It seems the scent wasn’t deceiving me at all! I dig into the boar with gusto, stuffing my mouth, and stomach, as quickly as I can.