Correction, the picturesque route was not charming at all.

Dirt and grime and constant bird noises were not charming, especially when that bird was the size of a small dinosaur. Dinosaur birds and metal bison. The world was annoying.

Said dinosaur-bird was doing its best impression of a T-Rex as it weaved through the trees of the forest he decided to never venture into again. Why did large flightless birds need that many teeth?

He threw a Daze at it, stopping it in its tracks for a few seconds. He debated actually fighting it or just moving away as fast as humanly possible. He had a dagger, the bird had several of them in the form of each and every claw on its legs.

Couldn't he get one thing that didn't want to kill him on sight, and that would actually help him survive? The kitten was generally useless in both regards.

The bird undazed itself, a word he invented a moment ago, and ran up to him again. He shouted for a Shield and decided to stand his ground. This was personal now.

The bird's overgrown beak collided with the shimmering barrier and it stumbled onto the side as he tried his best to deftly cut across some vital part of its anatomy. The dagger hand worked by itself to try and lodge said dagger into the bird but could manage only a graze.

He was eyeing his mana bar, now slightly below 50, and thanked the system for the upgraded Shield. With less mana expenditure, he could actually do something about the bird.

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The bird steadied itself and slung its heavy head his way, which he called another Shield for. The barrier shattered and the teeth stopped just shy enough to not hurt him.

Then he decided to use the initiative of stopping the bird's attack and cast a Daze its way.

Which was the perfect moment to demonstrate the literality of the wording 'attempt' as literally nothing meaningful happened.

The bird raised one leg and swiped at him, which he couldn't react to in time as it gained purchase across his shin and he cried out in the first meaningful injury he received. Blood rapidly filled the gash in his pants and he made a desperate attempt to make some distance between himself and the bird of terror.

Already anticipating the next attack, he shouted for the Shield when the bird dove at him again, the shimmer materialising moments before disaster would strike. His mana bar officially gave up and stood at a firm 1, so he was officially dry.

The beak struck the barrier again and he used the relative confusion of the bird to saunter upwards and stick the dagger into the side of its head, the small blade piercing through one of the bird's eyes as it screeched in agony.

He pressed further on the blade and the bird limped lifelessly onto the ground. He had won this fight, and Big Bird was dead.

He stumbled towards the nearest tree and leaned to rest against its trunk, gasping for air as the pain seared through his leg. A bright yellow screen came into view, the newest of the colours to brighten up his life.

[Combat finished. Non-fatal wounds closing]

That was neat. The pain slowly subsided as he felt considerable fatigue wash over him. Regeneration was tiring, it would seem.

He stood unmoving against the tree for minutes, gathering both his breath and thoughts as hunger slowly came into effect. He seemed to need more and more food the more he fought.

At least it was great for losing that extra weight he had at times.

There was already a pattern forming as he eyed the dead bird on the forest floor.

"Please don't make me find chicks in an hour."