Chapter 17:

Jung tapped his left foot impatiently as he waited for the stupid bird to finish eating the earth's bounty.

"Are you not done yet?" he complained. Ever since the bird dropped on top of him weeks ago, he’d been waiting on the bird like a damn slave. For weeks now, he's been threatening the bird that he’d leave her for good, but as always, he is forced to cover the bird and grumpily wait for it to finish its business. The small stupid animal is just too weak and helpless.

And as usual, Jung is forced to wait for the bird as she taps the ground for tasty morsels. He tried to find alternatives, like placing some food on the nest itself, but he didn’t know when the food would be consumed, and the bird might jump back down anyway. His conscience made him go back every day at a specific hour.

While he waited, he looked around the surrounding forest. It's getting cold because winter hasn't completely left the area yet. Soon, perhaps a month or so from now, the snow will begin to melt in the countryside. He'd be relieved if that happened because the cold aggravated his parent’s joint aches, and he'd be relieved once school resumed.

As the weather rose, the town's people gradually discarded their bulky winter coats and caps, replacing them with lighter apparel. The children were spotted playing outside, running, and giggling as they took advantage of the nicer weather. However, to many adults, this means the beginning to make up for the time they missed while not working and providing for their families.

The factories and construction sites reopened, and farmers, such as Hyusil, began preparations to plant their crops. With the return of warmer weather, the people of the town began to steer once more. Within a month, people started to earn a more stable income and provide for their families, and the economy somewhat recovered. The massive price increase was not welcomed by the masses, but the necessities must be bought, and so people endured some more.

The trees in the province of Guanzu will begin their gradual change. During spring, dormant plants begin to grow again, new seedlings sprout out of the ground, and hibernating animals awaken. The color in the leaves returns in preparation for the bright sun and clear sky. Then the river began moving again, returning life to the forest.

Preparation for school is also under way. So school uniforms, shoes, and bags are sown back, cleaned, and prepared by parents and students alike. Assignments and projects are done, subjects are reread, and money is borrowed for whatever school fees the government is planning to demand from them.

And then Jung can see Eun Mei once more when he is back at school. Jung smiled dorkily as he daydreamed.

*****

The bird tweeted at him imperiously and then glared at Jung, breaking his appreciation of the forest.

Jung sighed and returned his attention to the baby bird, who was busy tapping the soft dirt. He is beginning to believe that the bird's parents will never return to retrieve the bird. Perhaps they become prey to other predators or simply abandon their young for other reasons, but the bird has been alone for months. The only thing that had kept the bird alive till now was Jung's intervention. He understood this by merely sensing the bird's memories as a result of the animal whisperer's abilities, which is also the only reason Jung couldn't just abandon the damn bird. He'd seen too much of the life of the bird and now he felt responsible for it.

Why did I ever activate that skill, he thought miserably.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

A movement to the left of the bird startled Jung. His body was already reacting even before he knew what was happening. He swooped down and snatched the bird with one hand just as the snake reared its ugly swollen head for the strike. The bird twitched in surprise as Jung grabbed her. The snake struck but missed and looked around in surprise. Instead, it felt the end of Jung's boot smashing its head for its trouble.

It hissed once in anger and confusion, but Jung continued to stomp at the creature's head again and again until it stopped moving.

Congratulations! You killed a deadly animal creature. Designated as level 2.

You received 1400 XP points.

Congratulations! You leveled up!

Current level: 7

-You received 1 Attribute Point (AP)

-You received 5 Skill Points (SP)

Current XP: 22,980

Total XP needed for the next level up: 32,886

Congratulations! You have unlocked the general skill "Danger Sense."

Current level: 0

Needed skill points to upgrade to the next level: 1

Remaining Skill Points: 6

"Coo!" said the bird, who watched the entire trashing with excited interest.

"What the hell was that?!” Jung screamed as the adrenaline inside his body started to subside. Instead, the little boy jumps up and down the forest to express his anger and frustration. “Animals just keep popping out of nowhere! It is like I'm in a freaking forest or... “His gaze turned to his surroundings and the trees around him. ”Oh."

Jung calmed down a bit as he regained his breath.

The bird tweeted a storm as she berated him for startling her and letting a dangerous animal get close to her. She is not very impressed with her servant right now.

Jung knew all this because of his “animal Whisperer” skill, but at that very moment, he didn’t even realize it since he just treated the bird as a person and thought they were communicating normally. "yeah, yeah, I'm sorry. That one was a bit sneaky, and he passed my guard," Jung said.

Jung Hee basically ignores the complaint from the bird and instead concentrates on climbing the tree that holds the bird’s nest. With the end of winter, the climb was so much harder with the frozen bark and slippery branches. Even so, Jung continued to persevere all throughout winter and was rewarded with two skill level increases in climbing and one in running.

While he climbs the tree, his mind is on the snake he just killed. He just received 1400 points of XP. That was like 1-2 weeks of hard grinding to get that amount, and he just received it for killing a single animal. Maybe he is doing this all wrong. Lately, he is feeling a bit behind his leveling progress. Before he killed the snake, Jung was expecting to reach level seven while he is back at school, since there were more activities there for him to do. Maybe he should just grind killing animals in the forest? He made a face just as he lifted his entire body to the next stage of the tree.

The animals in the forest didn’t do anything wrong to him and they are just living their lives. Mother said I should not harm anyone who didn’t harm me. So murdering pigs, wolves or snakes in the forest is just out of the question.

By the way, sorry about that, Mr snake, Jung thought guiltily as he looked down from the tree and the ground below it. But you are about to attack my bird. She may be a stupid bird, but he is my stupid bird. So I can’t let you do that. Either way, I am sorry for flattening your face with my foot.

Even so. The death of the snake made him feel like he is able to peel another secret of the system. Taking another animal’s life is a strong experience booster.

So more than likely, killing another person will give you an even greater experience boost. There are a lot of sick and old people in the village alone…

Jung hee shook his head vehemently and dismissed that dangerous route of thought. He even smashed his head in the tree once which startled the bird.

Eventually, he reached the top of the tree just as he rejected the ... animal extermination plan that is brewing in his mind. He looked at the clean nest and made sure nothing harmful to the bird is waiting for her.

A few weeks ago, Jung also placed an overhead cover on the nest to help the bird adjust in winter and more tree husk inside the nest to warm it up. This gave him another level to two of his skills: crafting and woodworking.

On top of the tree, he carefully placed the bird in the nest. She walk around it for a moment before slumping down and adjusted his feathery wings. Jung rub the top of its head, and the bird leaned towards his finger. Despite his annoyance, Jung prayed for the little creature’s safety. The snake was still in his mind. Who knows what other creature are in the area? Besides, when is the bird's parents coming to get her?

Then he climbed down and walked back home. He reluctantly looked back at the bird on top of his nest and tried to control his worry.