*BOOM*
Thunders resounded loudly through the dark jungle.
'And I thought I'll be able to sleep...'
I mocked myself, how could I sleep in such a loud environment? Loud Howls from far away, Thunders and lightning lighting up the sky, and the sound of flowing water from the river.
A night in the jungle was anything but quiet.
*Gurrrh*
My stomach growled, it had been 5 hours since I had my last meal, which was also my first.
'How did I get so hungry so quickly?'
I pondered in my mind, could these be the effects of [Elite Nutrition] or [Apex Body]?
I had no clue, What I did have a clue about is that I need to find food.
Having never hunted anything in this world and my previous one, I had no idea where to start.
'I should probably try to scavenge for dead bodies instead of hunting them myself.'
That was the conclusion I came to after a few minutes of thinking, but then a new idea appeared in my mind.
'What about fishing?'
There is a river right in front of me, surely there are fish in it right?
And I also have a skill for fishing, don't I? I thought, looking over my status, I found it.
[Glide-fishing-1]
[Requirements to use: Hover over a body of water with fish in it, put your beak in the water, and open it. Glide-fishing will cause fish to be attracted to the upper part of your beak, when a fish comes into contact with your beak, close it. if all was done correctly you should have captured a fish.]
It seemed a bit complicated, but I didn't have much of a choice. I'll was until the Rain stops and then try to fish.
***
Dawn, the Rain had just stopped, to my surprise, dawn was the quietest time in the jungle.
'it's time.'
I thought I had been able to get a bit of rest but not sleep because of my hunger and the noise.
I jumped off the branch and started Gliding towards the river.
'Okay, hover slightly above the surface of the water and open your beak in the water, not too hard right?
It was easier said than done, of course. you had to be very careful not to fall into the river and there was no guarantee you would find any fish.
I opened my beak in the water, it felt quite nice if I'm being honest! I was prepared for a long process, but to my surprise, after about 90 seconds, I felt something touching the inner part of my beak and immediately shut it, gliding left towards the ground, I roughly landed my eyes filled with delight.
'I did it, and it was quite easy!'
I couldn't swallow the fish whole, so I dropped the fish on the ground.
One thing I forgot to take into account was that even if the Fish was captured, it wasn't dead, and just like that the fish flopped around for a second before jumping back into the river.
My pain was inexpressible as I stared at the ground where the fish *was*.
***
*Gurrh*
My stomach growled again.
'Stay quiet you little vermin!'
I screamed in my mind.
I tried fishing for 25 more minutes after that, 25 minutes of pain on mental torture.
Some fish were too heavy for me to lift them.
Some fish were too smooth and just slide out my beak.
And Most of the time I failed to capture the fish.
But after a lot of struggle, I finally caught another fish.
I Landed on the ground near the river, But I wasn't going to just drop it and let it escape.
I had a plan.
I walked to the nearest tree and lowered my beak, while leaning on the tree I raised my leg and managed to grab the fish.
I held it in my tiny claws and put it on the ground, stepping on it. The fish tried to flop away But to no Avail.
I started Pecking it.
*Peck*
*Peck*
[Peck has Leveled Up ]
And the moment my beak pierced the fish for the third time;
[Host has killed a Young Riverfish level 3,+ 150 EXP]
[Level Up]
[All stats increased by 1]
'Yes!'
I screamed in joy.
I didn't wait a single second before starting to consume the fish, and after about 4 minutes, I ate the entire fish.
[Food Consumed! Elite Nutrition is taking effect...]
[Elite Nutrition Process completed.]
[Apex Body is taking effect...]
[Apex Body Process Completed. + 15 Biomass, + 50 EXP]
[Level Up]
[All stats increased by 1]
'Awesome!'
I thought happily being encompassed by the warmth caused by upgrading my stats.
'I can rest now!'
I quickly hurried back to the tree branch, It wasn't very easy to get to, but with my newfound strength I managed to flap my wings a few times to fly higher.
[Glide has Leveled Up!]
'Neat.'
I thought in satisfaction, finally landing on the tree branch, there was one last thing I had to do before I rest.
'System Open [Apex Body]!'
[Apex Body]
[Please choose a section you want to upgrade.]
[Head]
[Chest]
[Wings]
[Abdomen]
[Legs]
'I choose legs!'
[Legs (Lowly)]
[Agile Legs:]
[Agile Leg muscles: 5 Biomass]
[Agile Leg bones: 7 Biomass]
[Agile Claws: 3 Biomass]
[Empowered Legs:]
[Empowered leg muscles: 5 Biomass]
[Empowered leg bones: 4 Biomass]
[Sharpened Claws: 3 Biomass]
'I should have a total of 17 biomass, I guess I don't have to think much about it, I choose [Agile legs muscles], [Empowered Leg muscles], [Empowered leg bones], and [Sharpened Claws].
The muscle upgrades will help me a lot in takeoff when flying, and the bone upgrades let me suffer more impact when I land.
As for the sharpened claws, I need some other way to damage my enemies other than pecking them.
[The combined cost is 17 Biomass, Would you like to proceed]
'Yes!'
I prepared myself for the pain, But I couldn't expect it to be much worse than last time!
'It's a small price to pay for getting stronger.'
I thought with determination, I tried my best to stay as quiet as possible and endure the pain so I won't attract any predators.
[+ 5 Agility, + 8 Strength, + 10 Vitality, +5 Endurance]
Finally, I'm relieved of my pain.
'System, Show me my status.'
[Name: Unavailable(past: Jason Greenwood)]
[Species: Pteranolon]
[Level: 3]
[Age: 0]
[Stats:]
[Health: 250/250]
[Mana: 0/0]
[Vitality: 37]
[Strength: 20]
[Agillity: 22]
[Wisdom: 5]
[Dexterity: 13]
[Endurance: 17]
[Attributes: Elite Nutrition]
[Abilities: Apex body]
[Racial skills: Peck-2, Glide-3, Improved vision, Grab-1, Glide-fishing-1 ]
'I am much stronger now.'
I concluded proudly, at this rate, I'll surely be able to get my revenge! although It'll take a bit of time until I'm strong enough to fly to the nest since it is hundreds of meters in the air.
'Finally, it's time to sleep!'
Cuddling into myself, I closed my eyes as I fell asleep slowly...
***
*HAUUUW*
Painful howls of wolves could be heard near me, waking me up.
Looking at the sky, I could see it was noon by now, standing up I felt like I had already digested all the food from earlier.
'I should check it out.'
I thought with curiosity, at worst I can just fly away, and maybe I can even get some food out of it.
With that in mind, I jumped from the jump and started gliding toward the direction the howls came from, avoiding trees and landing on branches to rest for a bit on the way.
After a few minutes of gliding, I arrived at the source of the howls.
Numerous Bodies of wolves and horned tigers could be seen on the ground, and a fatally injured bear with 4 arms and a big horn was lying on the ground, barely breathing near a purple gem that had a mysterious aura to it.
'What the hell happened here?'
I thought as I approached the barely breathing bear with caution.
Finally flying right on top of it, it didn't seem to react to my present, obviously, the bear was about to leave the world of the living very soon.
'Why not just end his misery?'
I thought, I might even get some EXP out of it!
As I walked up to the bear and started pecking its eyes and scratching it with my claws.
[Host has killed a Demonic Greater Hornbear level 124, + 36,400 EXP]
[Due to the level difference, Host's EXP will be doubled. + 36,400 EXP]
[Level Up]
[All stats increased by 1]
[Level Up]
[All stats increased by 1]
[Host has reached the level Limit of 5, Please evolve before Leveling up ]
I looked as shocked as a bird could look, I was so shocked I forgot to breathe for about 15 seconds.
'72,800 EXP!'
I thought with a crazed tone.
'Wait, I must calm down, that Might not even be that much!'
There is another thing I had to check, and that was the Gem the beasts fought for!
As I approached it, its aura became stronger and I had trouble breathing.
'This must be a powerful artifact!'
I walked closer and closer, getting more excited by the second.
Yet, the moment I was in the touching range of it, I lost control of my body.
My body crouched, picked up the gem with my beak, and swallowed it.
'What did I just do?!'
I thought in a panic, artifacts are not supposed to be edible! how do I know it won't poison me?!
[Host has consumed A bloodline gem, Grand Bloodline [Demonic Dragon] Received.]
[Due to the host's Incompatibility with the bloodline, it will be changed into the Grand [Demonic Skylord] bloodline.]
[Effects of the bloodline will influence evolutions and get stronger with every evolution.]
'This is absolutely amazing!'
I wasn't shocked anymore, with this Power, I will be one of the most powerful beasts in the jungle!
But the system seemed to have one more gift in line for me.
[Due to the Host's high bloodline grade, Host may now name himself and creatures with similar bloodlines that are willing.]
[Host may now name himself!]
After Giving it some thought, I finally chose a name.
'My name shall be Aviseus(a combination of the Latin words bird and god (Avis and Deus)) for I will be the beast that rules the skies!'
[Name chosen.]
[Host is advised to finish his business in this area and evolve as quickly as possible.]
'Alright, Alright.'
I walked back to the bear's corpse and ate as much as I can until I almost choked on the food.
'Time to evolve!
I thought while gliding back toward the branch.
On the way back, I only thought about one thing.
My Revenge!
'Be prepared, brother. the reaper is hovering above you!'
I thought with an evil tone as I flew back to the branch.