Even though she wanted nothing more than to escape, Maya didn't dare to attempt to after looking at how high they were flying. She stayed put but she was still very nervous, if the bird wanted to eat her, she knew she couldn't resist.
After reaching the mountain peak, they entered a cave so dark Maya could barely see with her enhanced eyesight. Upon reaching the ceiling of the high cave, Maya could make out the sounds of hungry baby Eagles.
'the mother plans to feed me to it's babies?'
After seeing that the baby birds were also slightly bigger than her, Maya became even more frightened. Seeing food arrive, the four baby birds perked at her, one grabbed her still transformed legs, another grabbed her arm and another her remaining leg.
[You are being attacked by night Eagles]
[Ding! New quest: Defeat the common beasts]
Rewards:
+5Exp per beast
+ 3 stats
Seeing that the little prey it had caught wouldn't be enough for the younglings, the mother beast eagle soared out of the cave again to look for more prey. As hunters of the night, night Eagles although strong, had a hard time finding prey since most animals were asleep, the serpent had proven to be a formidable foe so it didn't bother to fight a losing battle. The eagle wasn't worried about leaving Maya with it's younglings since Maya was just one beastman.
Once she saw that the mom was gone, a strip of water formed in her free hand. She grabbed onto it and whipped the bird that was holding onto one of her legs.
[-10 EP]
The bird let go and fell back, by the time Maya whipped the second one, the first one had already gotten up and the fourth one that didn't attack her also sensed her hostility and charged at her intending to pluck out her eyes. Maya's palm opened up and a jet of water flew out and hit the baby bird on its chest, making it nearly fall out of the nest.
[-5EP]
The other bird reclaimed her leg and started tugging with all its might, Maya felt like her leg was about to rip off. She quickly recalled her energy and transformed her hands.
+2 speed
+3 strength
+2 defence
When she used her water whip this time, it was stronger than before due to her enhancement. The bird that was tugging on her leg flew out of the nest and crashed onto the cave wall.
[-10EP]
[You have slaughtered a night Eagle youngling]
[+5 Exp]
The other birds saw this, their eyes went red and they started attacking her with renowned vigour.
Maya sympathised with them, but she still wouldn't lay down her life for theirs so she didn't hold back and attacked.
A few minutes later, 3 baby birds lay motionless in the nest, after hesitating for a few moments, Maya dug into their chests and took out their beast cores. Surprisingly, the process wasn't as unbearable as she thought it would be, the scent of blood even carried a tinge of sweetness tempting her to lick up her fingers but her rationality won over the urge instead.
With the exception of the bird she accidentally sent out of the nest, she had collected all of their beast cores and started climbing down. Due to the height of the nest, it took her a long time to get to the bottom. Along the way, she used the chance to absorb the beast cores. She didn't know how to but the moment she though about it, it happened automatically.
[Basic beast core absorbed]
[Basic beast core absorbed]
[Basic beast core absorbed]
[Overall system energy 30/100]
'huh? Wasn't that supposed to replenish my energy? What is this system energy?'
[That is how much energy the system needs to upgrade]
'so while other beastmen use beast cores to replenish their energy, the system steals mine?' Maya felt aggrieved.
When she finally climbed down, an unexpected surprise was waiting for her.
'just who did l offend in my last life to deserve this kind of bad luck?' Maya felt like collapsing on the floor in despair, she had already spent half of her energy points to defeat the baby birds. How the hell was she supposed to fair against a colony of giant ants? Even though she wanted to give up, her resolve to stay alive was stronger. She quickly used up everything she had to boost up her speed and started running out the cave's mouth with a colony of ants following right behind her...
[2 stat points have been allocated to speed]
When the first light of day kissed the horizon, a pitiful figure of a girl in tattered hide clothing could be seen sprawled across the ground. Maya felt that this was the longest night of her life, she has been attacked by a serpent, birds, ants, crabs and even beetles and bees. She was covered in all kinds of wounds, ranging from scratches, bites, claw marks and stings. Her wounds were healing slowly making her anxiously look around, if one more beast attacked her even if it was a common beast, she wasn't sure if she could fend for herself. Her energy had long since run dry.
What Maya didn't know was that just her physical power alone could deter a common beast. So when she sensed a creature running towards her, Maya could help but feel annoyed "not now, l want to sleep"
Enhanced senses LV2 allowed her to perceive moving figures in a 4 meters range without directly looking at them. She lazily reached out and grabbed the head of the creature with one hand before slamming in on the ground. Blood and brain matter splattered on the ground but Maya wasn't bothered and remained motionless until...
[You have slayed a novice beast man]
[+10 Exp]
Then some gasped before screaming in despair "brother!"
Maya's eyes snapped open as she scrambled to her feet and looked at the dead man on the floor and panicked 'Oh no! What have l done!'