Mother took me out to hunt for food, today. Hunting for insects wasn’t exactly what I was hoping for when I imagined my first epic battle. I suppose all great people have to start from somewhere. While flying, she would give me pointers on maneuvering through trees and tree branches. Through her pointers I got this.

[maneuvering lv1] skill gained

It seems that by increasing my flight speed, I would increase the difficulty of my maneuvers which enabled me to learn the skill faster. This skill system could be very easily understood, sometimes. While some other times it could be very complicated, depending on the skill.

Flying in the air, feeling the leaves of the trees I pass by, shake beneath my feet and the sound of the wind going ‘whoosh’ brought me to my own little world, for a while. Until, mother told me that she saw the ‘pray’ so we softly descended near them. Mother quickly got near and pecked them multiple times. They died harmlessly, just like that. There were all sorts of worms, beetles and cockroaches in here for some reason. I was told to do the same as mother.

I had gotten over my sense of disgust, quickly, Having a bird’s body helped a lot in that department. I got near a soft looking worm that looked easy to penetrate. I hardened my beak and prepared myself then

*peck* *peck* *peck*

I couldn’t get through it. Mother looked at my predicament and smiled merrily. I looked down at the ground to hide my embarrassment. That worm was very slippery, so every time I tried to peck it, my beak would slip off the worm’s body which caused me to lose balance.

“you seem to be having trouble, little one” she said, smiling lightly.

“It’s slippery” I complained.

Looking at the small worm, I’ve chosen for pray, she suggested “why don’t you try a bigger worm?” pecking a bigger worm would allow me to concentrate my beak’s penetrating power easier.

“No” I stubbornly refused, “I’m going to enjoy eating this meal” I said with a mischievous smirk. Closing my eyes and bringing my attention to my own mana. I imagined the bones of my beak hardening and the muscles in my upper body tightening while feeding them mana. If I understood mother’s lessons correctly then giving purpose to my mana, through directing it with my imagination, is mostly the way how magic works.

Readying myself, I swiftly focus my eyes on my prey and

*peck* *squelch*

Blood covered my face, as the worm exploded from the pressure of my peck.

Mother looked at me strangely. I bet if she had a mouth, it would be in the shape of an O right now. With her eyes wide she said “Well done, my dear. Your talent in body magic is extraordinary” she completely ignored the fact that I just refused her.

[Body Magic] sub-skill gained [Body Strengthening]

[Body Magic] sub-skill gained [Body Hardening]

My blood covered face kept blinking while looking at my mother and the windows. “Mom, can I eat this worm now?” I said, expressionlessly.

“Are you alright?” she asked, worried.

Showing a rather fake smile “I’m perfectly normal, I just need to eat this worm”.

“Off course, my dear, you can eat it now, if you’re hungry”

“Ok” without waiting another second, I turned around and swallowed every piece of that stupid worm up. Damn worm, wouldn’t go out without dirtying me. I won’t leave anything of you to be remembered by this land then.

After I was done eating, mother had already finished hunting for the rest of my sibling. I apologized to mother and told her that I would carry some seeds or berries if I find any, on our way back. We weren’t that far away from the nest but I managed to find some berries and seeds and I carried them in my mouth.

After eating, my siblings kept flying around the nest like a bunch of little kids chasing each other. They haven’t talked, yet, but they were very energetic and capable. Do all birds grow up like this? I haven’t seen many chicks in my past life to determine if this was normal but I guess it has something to do with this magical world we are living in.

I asked mother if there was any water nearby so that I could clean myself from all the blood.

“There is a water source near here” she pondered “follow me”

I did as she said. As we were on our way, we discovered that my siblings followed us. I was worried at first, but mother simply smiled when she was looking at them playing around her while chirping happily. I eased up and decided to enjoy our trip. This wasn’t so bad, at all.

When we arrived, I discovered the water source was a small pond without any fish inside. Surrounded by grass and trees, there wasn’t anything living near the pond. I wondered why we were alone, so I asked.

“Isn’t there anyone here, mother?”

“No, there isn’t, little one. Go and clean yourself nicely, nothing will harm you” her reassuring and confident smile made me rather suspicious since animals usually come to a water source for drinking water and washing themselves, yet, there wasn’t any trace of a living creature beside us here.

Even the pond had a slope so that I wouldn’t have to dive in. It was as if it was made for just us. As I was cleaning myself, I heard mother talking.

“Now, little one, the water here will help increase your level in [Magic Control]. Stay in the water and let it reach the highest point in your body without letting it suffocate you. Letting it reach your neck will do. Clear your mind and follow my instructions”

I did as she said and started to feel for my mana.

“To exercise extending your mana outside of your body, you’ve to feel it pouring out of your skin, into your surroundings. The water will help as an indicator and increase the feeling on your skin, making it easier for the mana to pour out”

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Imagining the mana pour out of me bit by bit, the skin below my feathers got covered with mana rapidly as the water increased my focus on my skin. The pressure of the water decreased around me as if it was no longer there. I felt like I was standing normally on the ground. I tried to extended the mana further but it didn’t cover my feather before…

[Mana Control lv2] skill gained

“I did it, mother” I couldn’t stop smiling from happiness. But now, I’m definitely tired.

“Well don…” before she could finish speaking, one of my brothers head butted me while chirping sharply. The rest of my sibling flew around me, as if to congratulate me. One of my sisters looked at my brother furiously for a second. She landed near him and hit his head with her wing, reprimanding him for his actions. He looked dejected but didn’t do anything more than just looking at the ground. My other sister was watching this scene from the air while shaking her head, if she could, I bet she would have sighed. While my other brother was just laughing and chirping happily in the air.

What an interesting family, I couldn’t help but say to myself as I smiled inwardly.

When we got back, mother told me to imbue my mana with the wind while she taught my siblings about the basics again. I waited for a bit to recover some of my mana and decided to watch my mother’s ‘lesson’. Seeing her talk with my siblings and their attentiveness to the lesson, showed me that they could understand every word mother said.

They were only a couple of days old, yet they were so smart already. Looking at their drive to gain knowledge, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of competitiveness rise from within me. I may have been lazy in my past life but I definitely didn’t lack competitiveness. The problem was that this sense might have been going in the wrong direction. Instead of focusing it on what society deemed important. I focused it on games and things like watching the latest movies.

I never got professional at these things though which is what lead to me getting kicked out and my eventual death. But in this world, I’m willing to use anything I can get my hands on. If a sense of competitiveness can help me grow in strength then I will use it to the best of my ability.

After a while, my mana recovered to a descent enough level. I thought it was strange that I could recover so fast, from my interactions with mana in this brief period, I realized that mana was like a sort of muscle, the more you train with it various aspects, the more it will grow.

But maybe that is just the norm for it. Without delay, I closed my eyes and began imbuing wind with my mana, it was easier since my skill had leveled up. The more wind I imbued, the more it felt like this wind belonged to me, as a part of. I could move it around in any way I liked. I kept imagining the wind howling around me.

[Wind Magic lv1] skill gained

Another accomplishment… I thought to myself. As much as I was happy, I was also extremely tired now. Someone like me doesn’t usually exert themselves so hard. Trying not to disturb my family, I lied down to rest a little. Sleep quickly overshadowed the chirping of my family and didn’t walk up till night time.

I woke up to see my siblings sleeping around my mother while she was looking down on me with a peaceful smile on her face. “Mother, what is out there?” I asked, seemingly out of the blue. But I was wondering why she was teaching us so much, so fast.

Not understanding my meaning, she said “The world is out there”

“No, I mean… what is in the world? What is beyond this nest of ours?”

“Oh… well, beyond this nest are various strong monsters that live in this forest. As for what is in the world, there are many unknown things that nobody has ever seen before. But, I will tell you what I’ve seen before, there are cities built by other creatures surrounded by towering walls to protect them from the dangers of the world around them. Some of these creatures are evil that think of nothing but themselves and you must never become like them child, because some others are kind, their kindness spreads throughout wherever they go, they help those in need and save those in trouble, without waiting for benefits and they are the ones that help advance our world and our perspective of our own limitations” she said with a trace of longing and nostalgia in her voice

I couldn’t really understand half of what she said but I just tried to listen to her talking.

“Aren’t you talking about heroes, mother?”

“You don’t have to be a hero to be kind, little one” she chuckled lightly. ”Some evil creatures might be called heroes by those around them. Kind creatures, on the other hand, have no care for fame or titles. They are kind simply for the sake of kindness. If you are kind, not all creatures will accept your kindness but those that do will have their horizons broadened by you”

“Then I will be kind, mother” I said rather proudly. My previous parents never talked to me in such a way before, they were all about doing this and doing that. People around me in my old world always misinterpreted kindness for naivety and stupidity. Then again there is a very fine line separating these characteristics from each other.

“Don’t think that being kind is easy, little one. Corruption and hate are around every corner and they are very infectious, it takes strength and will that are far stronger than what I’m teaching you” she warned.

I could understand her previous sentence, somewhat. When someone disrespects you, it feels more natural to kill them than to forgive them. Even if you forgive them, people would always call you weak. Making you feel angry at yourself, even if you know that you are doing the right thing deep within your heart.

Perhaps I should take back my previous words but I like the challenge.