Ranvir sighed and gently pulled Frija off his lap and onto the bench. He’d already gathered a pillow from her room for the purpose. Stretching caused a rustling sound as feathers brushed across the floor and each other.

He’d taken the time to assess his new appearance in the mirror. He was a little taller. Ranvir doubted someone without his powers would notice immediately, however. The wings were massive, actually the same size as Graywing’s had been. When folded back, they peaked a forearm’s length above his head on either side. They were going to be a pain to get used to, Ranvir could already tell.

The wings moved on instinct, perhaps borrowed from the vulture itself. They seemed to understand what he wanted them to do, much like any other limb. That said, he still lacked understanding of what they could do. Proprioception wasn’t quite up to par, yet.

Other than his wings, he could clearly feel the heavy down below his hair, even see it if he peered close enough. Thankfully, it wasn’t immediately obvious. Somehow, he’d retained a human appearance. Mostly.

Letting his wings fold back, Ranvir turned to the notes he’d been working through. He was finishing up his eighth book, each covering a half year’s worth of time. It wasn’t an exact measure and all of them had space left over at the end. The older books spent every page, but now that he wasn’t scrounging for keys, Ranvir allowed some ease of management.

Of course, the most notable experience was the events within the Orykto fold. He’d been going over his Ability Scores. Latresekt had claimed he was going to have a rough time after leaving, since he’d gained a lot of easy levels immediately after their cooperation.

It hadn’t been wrong. Though it had taken less than a month to catch up to where Amanaris thought he was, it was still demoralizing in a way. Those hours were even the smallest effort might see a rise vanished like smoke in the wind. He was back to taking hours of careful practice to raise an Ability a single level.

In some ways, Ranvir was glad that he’d held back on Urityon. If he’d advanced, he likely wouldn’t have been able to resist leveling up and gathering further stats, which would lead to more power and less control.

Now, though, Ranvir suspected he was stuck in someway. There was no room left in his soul. Each of his powers were touching both each other and the outer limits of his spirit, even the prison was squished between the other spheres.

Another obstacle. But if he’d learned anything over the years, it was the concept of learning, adapting, and overcoming. Every scenario Ranvir’d been trapped in had led him to a new solution and then to a new victory. He just had to have the determination and the willingness to look for solutions.

Stats and Abilities After Orykto:

Tier: 10 (90)

Level: 10

Mana Type: Sand

Mana: Draw - 450

Physique: Perception - 50

Storm Locust - 351

Sandstorm Rage - 308

Sand Barrage - 275

Sand Strike - 251

Ranvir scanned the numbers again, feeling some minor flare of satisfaction from those numbers. Then he moved to the latest page and his freshest set of scratches.

Abilities Scores after merging with Graywing

Storm Locust - 410 (+59)

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Sandstorm Rage - 337 (+29)

Sand Barrage - 301 (+26)

Sand Strike - 281 (+30)

There was a very visceral feeling to seeing those numerical increases. He was slowly but surely inching up on the recommended Level to Ability Score ratio of five-to-one recommended for Urityons. Storm Locust was the farthest ahead, but those came nearly automatically since Ranvir started using Loce more. The insectoid sand swarm spent most of its days lazing in the fields surrounding his house, and when the rafting would strike, it retreated into the trees.

An insect that needed no sustenance or mating, it simply relaxed and monitored anything that lived in the area. Ranvir was satisfied with its work. He’d always know if someone passed through, even if he was in Legea at the time.

Ranvir still remembered Latresekt talking about bonding with it through space, but he wasn’t sure how. He had a few ideas, and they might be one of his only options for growth until he fixed the spirit issue. That and perhaps his True Concept. And also finish converting the creature trapped in his soul. And increasing his Ability Scores, Ranvir still remembered that old man’s attacks.

Though it had definitely made his life more complex, the many systems he had access to allowed him a great many ways to measure his growth. Too bad I can’t reach Second Stage, though, Ranvir realized with a bit of a pout. Enough of that, he shook his head and got up, causing Frija to stir. Time to put Graywing’s mana to work.

Sure enough, Ranvir didn’t get far from the bench before Frija woke up. She sat up, looking about with a complicated expression, a line from a fold in the pillow marked on her face.

“Hey, Firehearth,” Ranvir said. “I’m going to go outside and train.”

She nodded, though still looked confused. After a moment, she glanced down and patted her pillow twice, then she slumped over once more. All tuckered out, Ranvir noted with a warm yellow love heating his chest.

Stepping outside, the writhing was apparent. Trees and bushes grew, withered, and regrew, turning the entire scene into a twisting mass of churning roots, leaves, and branches. It was not Ranvir favorite season, reminding him a little too much of staring at twisting leaves from the back of a wagon.

He continued wandering until he got the nearby creek where he got his water. He really should get around to building a well some day, but not today.

Graywing’s enclosure worked different, yet similar to his other powers. Where tether-space required some level of internalization to access, so did the enclosure. Instead of a constant stream, however, there was only as much mana within it as Graywing could access. A pool of power. It was a vast pool, but limited nonetheless.

Similar to Amanaris, Ranvir felt instinctive ways to use the mana, though he thought them less structured than Abilities. Calling on one such combination of wind and water from the surrounding area. Water streamed upwards as he felt wind gather around his fist. It seemed once again that Graywing could generate or manipulate its elements. Ranvir stuck to what he knew.

The missile gathered before his hand and, with a thrust of his will and hand, Ranvir unleashed it. A sphere of water launched forth, the wind howling as it further propelled it. The attack crashed into the side of a tree, ripping through the trunk and continuing on to strike the ground, sending waves of dirt into the air.

Groaning, the tree fell over, landing in the small stream. Ranvir nodded along. “Not bad,” he scrunched up his nose. “Feel like it could be a spear, though,” he was missing his stone spear. The range and ease of use had been welcome. Ranvir respected that sand had more trouble getting such a solid and direct projectile, so maybe he could get there with this.

Or if Faidar ever returns a letter on my summary. He shook his head and dragged the tree out of the water. Didn’t want to cause too much damage to the eco-system. He threw a few more missiles at the trunk, shattering it further in a spray of wet wood and water droplets.

Satisfied, Ranvir turned to his next question in mind. Stretching his wings out, Ranvir tentatively beat them. It was tougher than he expected, requiring more effort. And he couldn’t quite get liftoff.

Though… Ranvir narrowed his eyes as mana surged through him. His skin roughened as power and durability surged through him. Beating his wings with his new strength, Ranvir achieved a minor amount of lift off. Just enough for him to stumble awkwardly forward. Coming to a halt with his wings wide, Ranvir smiled wide as he looked back at them.

This part of the forest was clear enough that he could easily manage a few wings beats at least. Probably get a handful of meters into the air. Ranvir leapt and beat his wings with all of his might. Some instinct buried in the muscles guided their movements as he gained a bit of wind under them.

He flew off to the side, moving much faster than anticipated, and hammered into a tree. Landing in a tumble of limbs, two more than he was used to, Ranvir staggered to his feet. “That’s going to take a little more work,” he muttered.

Ranvir attempted to create the funnel Graywing had used on him next. There was too little water to actually sustain the technique, and the trees, though they didn’t seem that close, also interfered in gathering enough wind speed.

Ranvir finished his training up with a few basic uses of the mana. Burst of wind with enough rain to leave a smattering on his clothes. Thankfully, his wings took the rain easily. Or a ball of water with enough wind to tussle his hair and spray droplets on his clothes. He could skew the balance of the mana towards water and wind respectively, though not so far as to exclude the other element. He thought it was strongest, however, when they were working towards the same goal. A burst of wind with rain was weaker than a burst of storm wind with a more neutral balance. Or at least, it had more impact.

Rating his actual power was difficult as Ranvir didn’t want to travel so far that he could actually unleash the full force of his mana, so for now, he kept it practical. Perhaps the biggest advantage was the storage of mana internally let him hold on to it until he’d gotten a handle on it. That simple difference made complex techniques much easier to manage.