Once I'd finished with the chipmunk, I found I was still a little hungry. It's a perfect opportunity to do further testing. I found another broken branch and brought it up to me. Bracing it between two parallel branches, I stripped the extra twigs and small branches, leaving a three-foot-long, mostly straight piece of wood about two inches in diameter.
I figure if I use gravity and a little extra push from my telekinetic ability, I can probably use this as a weapon and not blow through my Esprit so fast. Before I try this out, I test the cost versus the duration of the effect. It comes out as one point of Esprit every thirty seconds, give or take. If I had to guess, it was about ten times the cost against the chipmunk.
I have a little over half of my Esprit reserves left, enough for a couple of tries to play a game of bonk a 'munk. Oh man, that's messed up. When did my sense of humor get that dark? Is it this fucked situation, or did some wires get crossed when the goddess rebuilt me? Maybe it's because I'm a crow now?
Hang on. One's coming into range. Dear innocent woodland critter that I'm about to consume may your passing be swift and painless. Bombs away. The little extra oomph from my telekinetic ability sent it a little wide. No! He's running away. Damn it. Come back. I'm hungry.
None of the chipmunks come back after almost an hour. I'm so bored that I started cracking acorns open. They're mostly bitter and otherwise tasteless. Eating raw animal may be gross, but at least there is a rich flavor. I've recovered enough Esprit to bring me over the fifty percent mark, so I place a few shelled acorns in a pile right below my perch and get ready for the next time some chipmunks or other small critters some looking for their evening meal.
I wait for a while, and dusk officially settles on the area. The chipmunks haven't come back yet, but I did have to shoo away a deer by whacking it with the branch. There is no way I could take that thing down, so the best I could do was scare it and boy did it work. It's probably still running like a ghost is chasing it.
Another hour passes, and night is settling in pretty solidly. It's getting harder to see, and I think about calling it a night, but I don't want to go to bed hungry. A scratching sound catches my attention and peer around, looking for what it could be. A midsize raccoon-like animal scurries down the side of the tree I'm sitting in. Where the heck did he come from? I don't recall seeing any holes or nests in the tree, and I had time to look too.
Screw it. I don't have time to worry about that right now. I'm getting tired, and I'm hungry. A perfect recipe to put me in a bad mood. No screwing around. This time, I'm going to guide the branch down and strike simultaneously.
I activate telekinesis and ready the club. Alright, I can do this. Remember to use your wings to reverse the dive and latch on with my talons. Aim for the neck with the beak, and don't stop until the target is dead. My heart rate is a little high. I'm a bird, so maybe that's the way it should be, but it's still a little fast for me.
The target is at the bait. Ready? Go! I hop up and follow the stick as gravity does its job. I use telekinesis to adjust the angle and center the strike on the back of the raccoon's head. I'm planning to hold the stick in place as I attack to hopefully buy me some time if it doesn't die right away. At the last second, I accelerate my improvised missile hard into the target and back-wing to drive my talons into the raccoons back.
Immediately I slam my beak forward to pierce the raccoon's neck, damaging muscles and trying to find an artery or major vein. The raccoon howls in pain, but I only hold on tighter and jam my beak in as far as it can go. It tries to thrash, but the stick must hurt it badly because it doesn't seem to be able to right itself enough to throw me off. It feels like an hour even though it probably hasn't been ten seconds yet, but I'm rewarded for my effort with a hard repeating spurt of blood. An artery! This fight is over. I keep tearing until the raccoon finally stops moving, and the system alert flashes.
A moment later, the golden orb rises from the body, and I eat it. The energy rushes through me, and a light floral scent washes over me. That's new. I check my log.
[Defeated Flora-born Raccoon. Gained 10 EXP
[Used SOUL SCAVENGER. Gained 6 EXP. Gained 6 CARRION COINS. Gained Plant Affinity.
What is Plant Affinity? I better check my status.
[Carrion System]
[NAME: Morgan
[RACE: Spirit Crow
[AFFINITY: Plant
[LEVEL: 1
[EXP: 133/200
[CARRION COINS: 64
[HEALTH: 6/11
[VITALITY: 8/24
[ANIMA: 8/11
[ESPRIT: 11/33
[ESSENCE: 10/10
[MANA: 24/24
[ATTRIBUTES
[ABILITIES
[*LOCKED*
[*LOCKED*
[...
That's something I haven't seen before. What does it do, though?
[AFFINITY: Plant. Indicates the user's ability to affect the associated element. Grants the Talent Plant Manipulation and the Art Plant Sense.]
Two new abilities? That's great.
[PLANT SENSE allows the user to locate and identify plants and their properties within the user's perceptive range based on the strength of the user's Soul and their Awareness.]
[PLANT MANIPULATION Level 1 allows the user to influence the growth of a targeted plant to a certain degree. When used on non-living plant matter, the user may freely shape an amount based on the rank of the skill and the user's Soul strength and Mana control.]
So that's how the raccoon made its nest in the tree, camouflage. I examine the tree with my new sense and locate the small crevice that leads to the interior of the tree. It looks like a safe place to rest. I fly up and land on the edge of the opening. The practice is paying off; I barely stumbled this time. I look back at the raccoon and use my telekinetic ability to pull it up to the nest and push it inside. Thank goddess it's a bachelor pad. If adorable baby raccoons were inside, I'd cry.
I use Plant Manipulation to move branches in front of the entrance. I have a real green thum-er green feather now, I guess. I tear chunks of flesh out of the carcass and satiate my hunger. This has been a hell of a day, or maybe it's a week. I don't know, but I do know I need some rest. As I start to tuck myself in, I notice a blinking notification.
[Congratulations. WINGED FLIGHT has improved to Level 2.
[Congratulations. IT'S THE THOUGHT THAT COUNTS has improved to Level 2.
Nice. Some heavy use was all it took to level up my abilities. I thought I'd have to level up and gain some skill points or something. I should make a training regiment to level them up some more. Maybe later. My first goal is level two I need to understand the system better. What the levels get you and all that. In the process, I can learn the extent of the abilities and try to find even more special animals with different affinities. If I'm lucky, I can expand my selection of abilities.
For now, I'm exhausted. There was a lot that happened since I became previously human, and other than a couple of naps when I was either knocked out or drained to a near coma state, I haven't really gotten any restful sleep. It was all just blackout dreamless sleep like when went under anesthesia. One minute I'm counting backward from one hundred, and the next minute the nurse is waking me up. I prefer dreaming. On that note, I settle in and drift off.
Dreams are funny. I remember an old sci-fi movie my dad made me watch growing up. They talk about "residual self-image" or something like that. Basically, it's the way you see yourself inside despite the reality outside. Outside, I'm a crow, oil-slick feathers and all. Inside, I have hands and fingers and lips and all the amenities of a human body. In my dreams, maybe I can maintain a semblance of normalcy. Well, that's what I thought going in.
The throne room of the Raven Queen's palace is as I remember it, right down to the goddess sitting on her throne. The difference is me. I have the hands and finger and lips and all the accoutrements that go with being human, but I also have two large raven-black wings sprouting from my back.
"Well, don't you look lovely," the goddess says with a playful smirk. "I'll take this as a sign of things to come."
I look around. Something feels off. I frown and ask, "This is a dream, isn't it?"
"Fundamentally, yes. However, it is also real in some ways," the goddess said. "I've placed a fragment of consciousness into your subconscious to help guide you. Now, I don't want you to worry that I'm controlling you. All decisions are yours to make. I don't want to influence you unduly. I only offer guidance when the situation demands it."
"And the situation now demands it?"
"No. I just wanted to let you know I was here and answer any questions you might have. I'm certain you have them."
"I do have one," I said frowning.
"Why are you a crow?"
I nod.
"To be expected," she says with a sigh. She rises and steps from her throne in a smooth motion that brings her right in front of me. She reaches out a delicate white hand and cups my cheek. She has what I can only think of as an indulgent smile. "My dear, when you came to me, there wasn't much left. Your soul was barely being held together by your will and consciousness. In order to bring you back from the brink, I had to improvise and fuse your soul with another."
My first instant is to panic. There is another soul inside me! Am I still me? I start to talk fast, "I was fused with someone else? Am I going to have their memories? Am I still me?"
Her other hand comes up cupping my other cheek. "Calm yourself, darling. The soul was a blank slate. No consciousness was attached to it. You are entirely you, just maybe a little more. It was a powerful soul after all. And that is why you are currently a crow."
"Huh?" What does my soul being fused with another powerful soul have to do with me being a crow?
She laughs. "You need time for the grafting to fully take hold and for both of your halves to fully synchronize. Don't worry, through the system's evolution process you will be able to regain a more humanoid form, perhaps even this one," she says with an appraising eye.
"Evolution? How does it work?"
"As your soul reaches certain plateaus, you will be given the option to choose an evolutionary path. Depending on certain factors you may be given several choices. Once you've chosen, those other choices are gone for good. Before you choose though, I suggest finding somewhere safe. The process will leave you in a vulnerable state until it is complete."
"How do I know when I reach the plateau?"
"It's your level of course. I'll update the system to include the plateau points. Once you've evolved your level resets and you'll begin the journey to the next plateau."
"How many evolutions until I can regain a human form?"
"That depends on your choices, my dear," she says smiling. "But I warn you, don't be in such a rush that you miss out on an opportunity. There are evolutions that could be extremely beneficial to you between now and a humanoid form, even if those forms are not of your ideal aesthetic."
I think about what she says. Is it super important to become human so soon? I don't have anyone here I even know nevermind any sort of relationship. I can afford to take my time for now. Getting more powerful is more important.
"One more question," I say. "When I first got here, I got a quest from the system. Is that going to happen a lot?"
"Not often, no. That quest was merely there to get you started. I have no intention of pushing you in any direction unless there is something important that you'll miss otherwise. Take note that quests, while rare, are of great importance when they do crop up."
Suddenly, she looks around. "It seems we are out of time. I hope some of your concerns were assuaged. Once I am able to I will contact you again. For now, be bold, be careful."