Underneath the trunk, the bird laid on the ground, still. Slowly, Gabriel's wings moved. His eyes open. He woke up in sweat, his wings flapping fast.
His eyes skirted over his environment. What happened slowly went back to him and he calmed down.
Wait, what day is it ? He panicked again. He had eleven days, which wasn't as bad as it could be, but still ! An entire day had been passed just laying around, doing absolutely nothing !
He breathed in, breathed out. He needed to calm down. More importantly, he needed to look at his new status screen !
[ Status
Gabriel Everly
Level 1
Bloodlines : Dove ( lvl 1 ), Angel ( lvl 1 )
Strength 32
Agility 42
Charm 50
Endurance 43
Magic 51
Skills : Magic Missile ( lvl 1 ), Heal ( lvl 1 ), Lunge ( lvl 1 ), Stealth ( lvl 1 ), Track ( lvl 1 ), Eyesight ( lvl 1 ), Devour ( lvl 1 ), Blessing ( lvl 1 )
Stat Points : 0 ]
Angel, huh ? Damn, that legendary pill was no joke. Gabriel stayed transfixed by how much stats he had gotten with just a few pills. He shook his head, trying to stay focused. Rare pills were much less effective to raise stats after they reached fifty, Gabriel had better go look somewhere else for pills of higher ranks. He already had an idea of where to go.
Gabriel flew high into the sky, his wings much stronger and bigger than before, he easily soared above the tall trees he could barely go over a day ago.
He started flying north, where the Demonic Sect was. Since the Orthodox and Unorthodox Sects could never get along, they both refused to go on each other's territory. Luckily a compromise was reached for the tournament, and the Demonic Cult leader accepted to host it.
Gabriel went to the demonic grounds because of this, and also because of the huge ressources they had. The Demonic Sect not only had pills, but they had a variety of body refining and qi refining techniques.
Gabriel heard that animals who reached a hundred points with their magic stats were able to transform into human-like creatures. With the ressources of the Demonic Sect, he would barely need a few days and would be in time for the tournament.
He looked at the quest screen again, and got goosebumps just looking at the timer, and the unforgiving ' Death ' written just beside ' Punishment ' .
Soon, the tall wooden towers of the Demonic Sect were in sight. Gabriel wanted to upgrade his magic fast so he could try and get into the sect while masquerading as a human.
Gabriel used stealth again and got in without difficulty. The security was much more lax than the palace's.
A heavy presence suddenly weighed down the atmosphere. He cursed. He spoke too soon, he thought. His wings hunched over himself, his body sticking to the wall, blending into the shadow.
[ Stealth ( lvl 2 ) ]
He ignored the screen, now wasn't the time. A man appeared. On his clothes, Gabriel recognized the crest of one of the Demonic Sect's seven main families : Liliang. Gabriel shuddered ; the man looked as fearsome as Gabriel had imagined.He felt his heart sped up as the man passed right in front of him. But the man continued on his way.
Gabriel let himself breathe again. His wings fluttered, and he flew into the room the man had just left. Like a bloodhound, Gabriel soon sniffed out whatever the man had : an ascension fruit, two epic grade medicinal herbs, two seventh-grade qi refining pills, demon blood and a golden healing potion.
Gabriel would never be able to take all that outside. He thoughtfully looked at the door. Gabriel had a small frame, if he could just hide under the bed, he doubted the man would suspect some random bird of having eaten his ressources. The bird dragged his loot under the bed and started eating.
He didn't eat the ascension fruit since it was supposed to help with cultivation level and Gabriel wasn't a cultivate yet. But he didn't hold back with anything else. His body, who had already been reinforced, didn't faint this time. He felt a faint burning sensation in his heart and muscles, but that was it.
But once he ate the second seventh-grade pills, Gabriel felt a familiar sensation. It felt exactly like the Rebirth spell, although with much less intensity. The skin beneath his feathers started shifting. His bones cracked, changing form, his whole body expanded to try and make place for something more. He wanted to open his mouth scream, but stopped just in time.
Somebody had entered the room. Gabriel tried to breathe through the pain as quietly as possible. His wings had gotten so big some of it protruded from the bed, he quickly shifted it closer to him.
The man stopped, before resuming walking towards his closet.
Gabriel's feathers had started shrinking everywhere except for his wings. Fur, no, hair had started growing out on top of his head.
His body suddenly stopped changing. He looked down, and surely enough, he had hands again. His feet too, had returned. He was for all intents and purposes human again, except for the feathers where his ears should have been and the two huge wings in his back that were sticking close to him to avoid being found out.
Gabriel cursed. The man was searching for what he had stolen, and he only seemed to be getting angrier.
Shift back, he thought. Animals were supposed to be able to shift back. He tried, but to no avail.
The man's steps led him just in front of the bed before he stopped.
" Come out. " He coldly ordered.
Gabriel curled up, using Stealth and wished to disappear.
" Come out ! " He yelled, kicking the bed frame hard.
[ Stealth ( lvl 3 ) ]
He suddenly stopped.
" Was I mistaken ? " He muttered.
He starts going back out. Gabriel's muscles relaxed and he started breathing again.
The man already had his hand on the handle of the door when he stopped. He turned back, walked towards the bed. He took the bed frame with his hands, and flipped the bed.
Gabriel looked at him like a deer caught in headlights. The man too, had frozen in place. The man came back to reality and pushed away the bed to free his arms.
He lunged at Gabriel, trying to grab him. On instinct, Gabriel hissed at him, raising his wings. It didn't deter the man. Gabriel bit hard his hands. The man cursed and tried to put his hand away. Gabriel's jaw stayed firmly closed around his flesh.
The flesh in his mouth started warming up, he let go just in time.
The man had started glowing red, the fruit of a fighting technique. His eyes looked up and down at Gabriel.
" Hey, wait. " He said, his arms raised to calm down Gabriel.
Gabriel was coiled on himself, like a snake ready to bite. He momentarily stopped, glaring at the man.
" You're…not human, are you ? " He asked.
Gabriel raised one of his wings, looked at it, then at the man. He raised his eyebrows.
" What makes you think that ? " He asks sarcastically, his voice raspy from disuse.
" I'm not sure if you know this, but those were my pills you took. "
Did the man think he was dumb ? Oh. Gabriel looked at his wings again. Of course, the man must think Gabriel was an actual spiritual beast, and not a human reborn as one.
Gabriel didn't know the exact level of intelligence of spiritual beasts. But while they should be more intelligent than normal beasts, he doubted they reached a human level.
" I didn't see your name on them. But fine, let's say those were yours, what do you want in return ? " Gabriel asked. At the same time, he searched for an opening to leave.
" Become my spiritual beast. "
Gabriel momentarily stopped searching for an escape to look at the cultivator with incredulity. He was asking for the cultivator's equivalent of a familiar contract. Gabriel got goosebumps just thinking about becoming someone else's pet, it was all to reminiscence of his sister's treatment. But… becoming his spiritual beast didn't include any actual obligations, not like with familiar.
No ! What was he thinking. Becoming a pet ? Hah, he would rather die.
Besides, with the power he just reached, Gabriel thought he could hold his own against him.
He lunged at the man. Surprised, he didn't immediately defend himself, allowing for Gabriel to get a few hits in. The man's palm glowed red as he hit Gabriel. The hit pushed back Gabriel until he hit the wall.
Stupid, he thought to himself, he shouldn't have used a physical attack when his strength stat was so low. Gabriel raised his hand. He cast Magic Missile again and again, his magic stat was high enough that he didn't have to worry about exhausting his magic.
[ Magic Missile ( lvl 2 ) ]
Gabriel casted the spell even faster. The man couldn't manage to avoid them all. He kept on trying to get closer to Gabriel. But it was impossible with how the long range of the spell.
[ Magic Missile ( lvl 3 ) ]
As Gabriel felt his magic slowly depleting, his spell hit the man's stomach. Blood came out of the wound. The man glared at him.
He pulled out an orb and threw it in Gabriel's direction.
The orb glowed a bright red. It was some kind of bomb. Gabriel tried to get away but it was too late.
It exploded, sending Gabriel flying against the wall. His vision went dark for a second. Gabriel felt his body burning. He used the last of his magic to cast Heal on himself. Just enough of his magic was left to keep himself alive.
He slowly opened his eyes. The man had also been affected by the bomb. His body was lying down. He had difficulty breathing, let alone moving.
Gabriel stumbled toward him. He didn't have enough magic to kill him with Magic Missile, and his body was in too much pain to use Lunge. He stared at the man's burnt face, reflecting Gabriel's own wounds. He looked thoughtfully at the time left on the quest screen. Soon, another day would go by.
His mouth opened wide. His jaws bit into the man's burnt flesh. He used Devour. He didn't know if it's because he was initially a bird, but the human flesh didn't taste bad.
[ + 5 Agility ]
[ Devour ( lvl 2 ) ]
Oh. Gabriel stopped eating. He clicked on the skill.
[ Description
When you eat an animal you permanently gain 10% of their lowest stat and 10% of their level. ]
Level… Right. The status clearly took into account levels, just like a regular appraisal spells. Then why didn't Gabriel get any level update after having killed an enemy ..? Gabriel stopped looking at the screen to look back at the man beneath him.
He was still breathing. Gabriel placed his teeth right on his jugular, he bit down, hard. His heart beat right underneath his teeth. It soon slowed down, as did his breathing, until it finally stopped completely.
[ Level 10 ]
[ You have level up ! The Shop now has more options ! ]
[ + 10 All Stats ]
[ Dove ( lvl 10 ) ]
[ Dove leveled up ! You get a new Dove skill ! ]
[ Fly ( lvl 1 ) ]
[ Angel ( lvl 2 ) ]
[ Angel leveled up ! You get a new Angel skill ! ]
[ Sanctuary ( lvl 1 ) ]
Gabriel let go of the corpse. Distant steps got closer and closer, attracted by the sound. The ascension fruit was put in his pocket before he left through the window.