- 18 -

Drew woke up to screeching and realized his siblings were stumbling all over him.

There are 4 of us in this nest and there isn’t much extra room for them all to be rushing about.

An adult bird had returned and was coughing up breakfast directly into the mouths of his siblings. The adult Skurr gave him a look, as he wobbled up. Drew gestured with his wobbly appendage to the floor of the nest.

Can you just spit it into the nest? I’ll pick it up from there.

But the other bird couldn’t read his mind and pushed their beak close to his.

Ewww yuck. A bird has to eat tho.

Drew let his bird instincts take control. He closed his eyes and mentally escaped to his status screens.

The screeches of his siblings were loud and he wished he had a volume slider to tune them out.

Status Screen

Name: Drew Level: 1 Race: Skurr (Chick) Title: N/A

Health: 10 (H-Regen: .01/sec)

Mana: 0 (M-Regen: 0 / sec)

Stamina: 5 (S-Regen: .05/sec)

Physical Attributes:

Strength: 3

Constitution: 10

Agility: 3

Perception: 3

Arcane Attributes:

Intelligence: 15

Willpower: 3

Charisma : 5

Wisdom: 3

Blessings:

1. [Assassins Bane II]

2. [Healers Blessing I]

3. [Consume Undead I]

Skills:

1. [Basic Heal] lvl 1

2. [Peck] lvl 1]

He checked his active quests.

Quest: Hunger: Progress (8/10)

Well that is disgusting. But at least I don’t have to think about it too much. New goal, I need to get some real food.

When he didn’t receive a new quest he checked his notifications.

New Ability: [Peck] A focused attack that deals piercing damage. 5% chance to do additional damage when striking weak points.

Under my Race, I’m listed as a level 1 Skurr chick. I need 15 exp to reach level 2. This says I can rank up to a juvenile Skurr once I reach level 5. Is this the first rank up that the speakers were talking about. Its not that complicated, I’ve played worse MMOs.

Quest Complete: Hunger: Reward: 15 exp!

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Level Upgrade Available: Level 2 Skurr (Chick) - (15/15 exp)

New Quest: Hunger: Progress (1/11)

He spent his 15 exp on the level up and checked the next level cost.

23 exp! Seems like the exp required to level up increases each time by 50%.

Drew did some quick math.

I’ll need 23 plus, 35 and 53. What’s that, close to a hundred exp to reach the rank up to Juvenile? There are other branching options for skills and attributes but the details are locked out behind “conditions not met” boxes.

Area Quest: Predator Alarm: A predator has been sighted near the nests. All adult Skurr able to defend the nests are encouraged to respond. 100 exp for fending off the attacker. 1500 shared experience for defeating it.

Drew could hear birds crowing all around him, his siblings were huddled up tightly at the back of the nest. Still mostly blind, with his eyes barely able to open, Drew couldn’t see what kind of predator it was let alone where they were.

I’m completely blind here. I’m what, one day old? Do I die this soon? Do I die as a snack?

A shadow passed over the nest. His siblings were screeching and Drew got in on the action too. He could hear other Skurr echoing the call all around them.

This is so frustrating! How long will I be a pile of jello? I need to level up enough to do something more to help.

A very different screech echoed out and Drew was hit with a debuff and he passed out.

- 19 -

Drew woke up hungry again. An adult skurr was feeding his sibling so he wobbled over and crowded in for his share.

How long is this going to be a daily thing?

He looked inwards to check his notifications and saw the log with the debuff. After looking closely at it, details popped up.

Fear: Debuff: Chance to cause loss of consciousness. You are not able to move or use skills or abilities.

He also noticed that the area quest was completed.

Area Quest Complete: Predator Alarm: Reward 1 exp. A double hawk was spotted near the nests, your contribution helped others drive it off with minimal casualties. Good job!

Quest: Hunger: Progress (6/11)

Things quieted down in the nest, and his belly was full.

I’m not dead yet. At least I can zone out while feeding. I’ve seen videos of what baby birds eat and I do not need to remember it first hand.

“Drew. Drew. Wow why do baby Skurr look like meatballs that rolled around on the floor. Wake up Drew.” Agusta said.

Drew rolled over in the nest as Agusta tapped him gently on his beak. Her hand was massive compared to the size of his head.

“Drew, that's you right? It’s me, Agusta. I’ve got a couple minutes between meetings and wanted to pop down to give you the rundown on your interface since the other Skurr can’t access it. Wouldn’t want you wasting your points and dying.”

Drew shook himself awake.

“Agusta! We got attacked by a double hawk earlier, you just missed it.” Drew squawked.

“I saw the results in your combat log. Interesting, you are already level 2. That’s good, keep leveling up like that and you will rank up by the end of the season.”

Agusta sat across from the nest, her leather-bound tablet open in front of her.

"Now Drew, let's talk about your status interface," she began.

“And just so you know, only you can see or hear me. You can just think your words in your head and I’ll hear them. Not that the other birds will care if you sit there squawking to yourself, that’s pretty normal for your race.”

Got it. Like this? Drew cocked his head, listening intently.

"Indeed. Okay so every person has a status interface that displays their current level, experience points, stats, and abilities. You can access it by focusing on it with your mind since you have a sentient level of intelligence. The other birds won’t be able to spend their exp manually. All beasts and animals learn their skills organically." Agusta said.

Drew nodded, opening up his status interface again to follow along.

"Whenever you gain experience points, you can use them to upgrade your spells, stats, or even contribute towards your race upgrade," Agusta continued. “But first rank up once, just keep spending exp on the level ups.”

"Be careful how you use your experience points. Once you spend them, you can't get them back. Each level up after Tank 1 will get you 2 points to spend on stats. You should spend exp to put a point into constitution and strength to toughen up each level.”

"Now, Elara has a great idea. She wants to encourage you to become a Beastkin. She’s fast tracked Cats and Dogs a couple hundred years ago. Now she wants sentient birds for Lisaria. So expect to see a few quests with Race Upgrade Points as the reward down the line. You can of course buy Race Upgrade Points with exp, but they are expensive. You will want to wait until you have a few ranks in your purse."

Drew nodded, squawking in his excitement.

Does that mean I could have hands again?

"I don’t see why not. As things stand, it looks like it would be an optional 5th Rank, instead of Dire Skurr.” Agusta checked something on her tablet.

Drew jiggled his useless baby wings.

It will be good to have hands again. And I’m looking forward to flying. When can I start flying?

"Juvenile Skurr usually learn the Flying skill at Rank 1. And you’ll need to level it up to 5 before you are really proficient at it. Is there anything else you'd like to know? Otherwise I’m off." Agusta said.

Yeah, what about getting mana? Drew asked. I'll need it for my healing spells.

Agusta checked her tablet.

“Looks like one point of Mana will cost you 5000 exp. That’s because it’s an attribute Skurr do not normally develop until their first rank up. Better to develop your mana naturally.” Agusta said. “Sorry that’s all the time I have. I’ll pop back in later to check on you once you rank up again.”

What? Wait! Drew said, as she popped out of existence.

Drew shook his head and looked at his pale pink featherless wings.

I’ll figure it out on my own then.