I finish chewing the last bits of meat from the boar. Wow. That boar filled me up. It should have given me enough energy to continue practicing flight. I turn away from the shattered bits of bone and the bloody ground, and begin to walk back towards the clearing. It doesn’t take me long to arrive, since I’m moving significantly faster than when I was stalking the boar.

I look around the clearing from the edge of the woods, checking to see if anything has decided to move in while I was gone. The clearing is as empty as I left it. I guess it wouldn’t really make sense for something to move in within the couple of hours I was gone. That means that I can probably practice my flight without being interrupted. I walk into the center of the clearing, spread my wings, and start flapping powerfully. I rise quickly, and instead of stopping at the height I reached last time, I keep flapping my wings. I rise higher and higher, until I finally reach the edge of the cliff where parts of the Earth Elemental dropped from. However, instead of stopping to investigate the area, I continue to vigorously flap. I can feel my surplus of energy draining away, but I feel that I can keep flying for a while yet. Once I reach the height of the next cliff, I stop moving my wings. I’m finally above the canopy of the forest, and I can see trees extending far, far into the distance. I start gliding at an angle, circling the area I rose from. I fail. I almost fall because of my attempt to glide. I try again, and manage to do it properly, albeit shakily. Woah. I almost fell there. I glance down. I certainly wouldn’t survive the fall. Well, I shouldn’t worry about that. I should just enjoy the moment while I can. I continue to glide while I think. I occasionally flap my wings to stop myself from sinking. Woah. This forest is massive. And. I look up and see the mountain towering over me. It looks like I could go up 100 times where I am now, and still not make it to the peak. This mountain is massive. It definitely has somewhere for me to live. My ruminations are interrupted by a system message.

Learned General skill [Passive - Dragon’s Flight]. Experience is awarded for the learning of a General skill.

What?! I learned a skill for flight? And it’s a general skill? That’s awesome! The effects of the new skill are noticeable immediately. I can feel the slight shakiness of my flight even out, and I can feel the drain on my energy lessening. Still, I think I should go down now. Although, I do want to check the cliff where the Earth Elemental fell from. I stop flapping my wings, and I slowly start descending. It doesn’t take me long to sink to the level of the low cliff, and I angle myself so that I will drop right behind the edge. I pull my wings tight to my body, and drop the last couple of feet. I land on the ground with my knees bent, and then spring up. Woah. The flight skill even affects how I land? This skill is super useful. I look around, and start examining the area around me. It just looks like a small, rocky area, bordering another cliff on one side, and the clearing on the other. Actually … I look a bit closer at the cliff face, and start walking towards it. After taking a single step, I stop. Is that a cave? No, it’s too small to be a cave. It’s more of an alcove. It’s strange that it is the only alcove here. What could it have been used for? I ponder for a moment. Is it the Earth Elemental’s previous home? No, it’s too small. But how about its core? It is the Earth Elemental, after all, and it would make sense that it would surround itself with earth. It also makes sense because when the Earth Elemental assembled itself in front of me, some of the rocks fell from this cliff. It’s not impossible that the core fell with them. But why would the Earth Elemental choose here, of all places, to stash its core? Is there something special about this alcove?

I reach my claws inside, trying to see if there’s something special about it. My claws roam the walls, floor, and ceiling of the tiny room. Everything is impeccably smooth. Well, there’s definitely something interesting about this alcove. Although, I suppose that earth elemental might have been able to carve it out with magic. The creature was made up of rocks, after all. I continue running my hands along the walls of the alcove, and finding nothing. After a couple more seconds of the futile search, I retract my arm. Well, that was pointless. At least I know that there is nothing there. Although, this small valley is a pretty sheltered place. The small area is surrounded by steep cliffs on all sides but the one I arrived from. Well, this’ll make a good base of operations for now. I’m not strong enough to make it very high up the mountain. Practicing the skill, and leveling up will make me strong enough to fly higher. Once my wings are strong enough to take me that high, I’ll be able to find a much safer place to call home. I crawl up to the edge of the cliff face, and look down. The field is empty. That’s good. I didn’t expect anything to move in after a few minutes of me flying, but it never hurts to check.

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I spread my wings, and jump off of the cliff. The air catches in them, and their parachute-like properties allow me to slow my fall. About half a minute after I jump off, I land on the ground with my legs crouched to lessen the impact even more. I stand up, and look around the clearing. Even though I didn’t do much, I’m still hungry. I’m probably going to have to eat more food than usual while I practice flying. Well, I might as well start hunting now. I walk to the edge of the clearing, and begin looking for tracks. I quickly find the same tracks I found the other day, the ones that lead to the boar. I ignore them. The boar is already dead, so there’s no point in following them. I continue looking, at least until I find a new set of tracks. They are deep, uneven, and have large gaps in between sets. Either the creature that made these is large, heavy, and staggering, or they’re constantly jumping around.

Even if it is a larger creature, it won’t be bigger than me, and will almost certainly be injured. If it is a small jumping creature, then I can just restrain it with plant control. I begin to follow the tracks in the same way I followed the boar’s; slowly and quietly. I crawl along the ground, while thinking about how long this might take. The tracks didn’t seem too dry, so it was probably made today. And it’s not even midday, so it can’t be particularly far ahead. It shouldn’t be more than a couple of hours.

…

Finally! I finally see the creature making the tracks. It’s a small, fluffy white creature. It stands bipedally, hops, and isn’t taller than my shoulders. Considering its small size, that means that it probably doesn’t weigh much. If I tackled it, it would definitely collapse. The only worry is staying away from its antlers. While they are small, they look sharp. Actually, why am I even thinking of such a complex strategy? I could just use plant control to bind and crush it. I only didn’t do it to the spider because of its size and durability, but this creature is lacking in one, and almost certainly the other. I use the understanding my skill gave me to take control of a root beneath the creature. It pauses right before it jumps again, slowly turning its head around to scan the area. I go completely still. Perfect! This’ll make my job even easier! The root I took control of launches out of the ground, and wraps around the creature. It almost leaps away before the root moves, probably because it has its own danger sense skill. Luckily for me, it reacted a split second too late. The root successfully binds the creature in place. The moment I confirm that the creature is trapped, I make the root squeeze as hard as it can. The creature immediately begins to show signs of damage. Everywhere the roots are touching, the creature bleeds. It lets out a pained yell. I spring from the bushes, and use slash. It tears the creature apart.

Defeated [White Rabbit - lvl 6]. Less experience is awarded for defeating a creature one evolution below yourself.

The creature, the rabbit, falls limp. I release control over the root, and both of them flop lifelessly to the ground. I let out a grin. That was easy. I begin to dig into the rabbit. Half way through, I pause. Danger Sense is telling me something. I immediately prepare for combat.