I continue to ponder my options as I walk to the river. I briefly consider investing all my free stats now to see if it unlocks more options, since monster core was unlocked due to my mental stats, but I decide against it for now. I wouldn’t know which stat to pick, there’s no reason to assume there’ll be a tangible benefit, and it’s really just a risky move. I think my best bet with the scant information I have would be to choose one of the options I see already, and invest my stats after evolving based on what my choice needs. The evolution options certainly provided more useful info than any of the other boxes, but there’s no way it’s everything I could need considering how condensed it is.

With my decision not to decide decided, I find myself at the creek I discovered yesterday. Something carted off the mimic remains I didn’t eat, but I can still see a few traces of our battle. Wary of a surprise, I grab a small twig and prod the larger pebbles in a shallow area before stepping in myself.

As bits of dried red blood flake off of me, I glance down and notice my reflection. Huh. I haven’t really looked at myself since I was reborn here.

My feathers are still downy, but are a light golden, with my eyes quickly drawing my attention with their startling orange coloring. A comb has started to poke out from my head, and a small bit of red is showing where wattles will be later. I’m certainly much larger and more developed than I’d expect a 1 day old anything to be. A quirk of this world as a whole maybe, or a side effect of levelling?

I consider how I’d look with the different evolution options. I’d certainly be much larger if I was a Rooster, considering it’s the only adult option. Being super large would be a disadvantage, sure, but being as small as I am now is a disadvantage too. It seems a safe assumption the Red Junglefowl would be, well, red. Past that, it’s still a juvenile, so not much different.

Fuck, I’m gonna choose magic aren’t I.

It’s the dumbest choice.

It gives me no way to survive in the short term.

It only gives me mana manipulation, no spells, no elements. There’s no way to know if there’s any real use for it at all.

I’d have to be a bird-brain to pick literally the only choice that doesn’t promise any useability ever.

...But I said already I’m not going to just survive. I’m going to live, and I’m going to enjoy myself. Rooster is the safe pick, sure, but it’s the boring one. Red Junglefowl is the best investment, but that won’t make me happy.

With my mind made up, I begin to trek back to my nest to find a safe place while I figure out how this works, when I realize my nest may not be the safest place anymore, considering the monitor lizard managed to squeeze in, and its corpse is far too large for me to move somewhere it won’t attract others. The only other place I know exists is this creek here, but I don’t fancy living out in the open if the fucking rocks can kill me, and I don’t see anywhere I’d be comfortable sleeping.

So I’ve got 3 options then. Go back to my old nest and suck it up, go exploring and hope for the best, or follow the river downstream and hope it leads somewhere safer. Worst case scenario maybe a large body of water, best case scenario there’s a town or something? I remember hearing if you’re lost in the woods you should follow rivers downstream, but that advice was proooobably tailored on the assumption you’ve got a human body. Even so, I’d hazard a guess it’s the least likely to lead to my inevitable demise, and it guarantees a source of water, and probably food too since other things need water as bad as I do.

Plan hatched, I start my trek downstream.

…

….

…..

This may have been not the best plan. I don’t have an accurate way to tell time, but the sun is almost sitting right above me, and it was only a little past sunrise when I left my nest, and the walk from my nest to the creek isn’t all that long. Despite how long I’ve been walking, the forest seems to never end. A few feet of loose soil on either side of the river, then a bunch of trees that seem impossibly tall compared to me. Those large heart-shaped plants at the bases of the trees providing shade to green mice that almost blend in with the foliage. Small lizards like the large monitor that nearly ate me yesterday, that send me running lest a larger one show up to guard them. A creature I thought was a rabbit at first, then it turned to me revealing a bill and webbed feet.

I use my appraise ability on everything new I see to keep from getting bored.

Ixageaf

A type of shrub known for its uses in lesser potions, its large heart-shaped leaves can be refined as a stable base for weak potions.

Yushuan Monitor (Juvenile) lvl 2

A medium sized lizard often found in the forests of Yushuan, this lizard uses its claws and long neck to steal eggs from nests hidden within the roots and branches of the Illphstrana trees. Its main weapons are its large claws and powerful legs. The adults of the species tend to care for their young until they reach adulthood, at which point they will often depart to form their own colony.

Choelledine (Adult) lvl 6

A distant relative to the field mouse, this creature has a natural connection to nature magic allowing small plants such as mosses to cling to their fur. This provides the Choelledine camouflage, and in rare cases the plants may have additional effects.

Duckbunny (Adult) lvl 3

A species created by the Archmagus Izin Ohban, this species originated during a failed experiment to create a powerful chimera. Released into the wild, this species has managed to survive due to their high base luck more than any real skill.

A few were interesting, I suppose, but nothing really useful. I still know nothing about this world, and my appraise ability doesn’t provide any real context.

A small puff of air I intended to be a sigh passes through my beak. Nothing left to do but keep walking.

…

The sun is threatening to set by the time I find a place that could pass as suitable shelter. A single tree is particularly close to the river I’ve been following, and there’s just barely enough space between the roots and the ground where the river has pulled the dirt away when the water was higher for me to slip in. It’s a tight fit, but I manage to get far enough in that I don’t think anything truly threatening can reach me, and I can retreat to pretty much any side in a pinch. I use my wings to push aside any pokey bits, before curling up on the ground.

Evolution.

Evolution options are available. Please select one to continue gaining experience.

Rooster (adult) ©

Red Junglefowl (Juvenile) (un)

Monster Core (un)

Welp, here goes nothing. I’ve had all day to talk myself out of it, no use worrying about it now.

Monster Core.

A small itching feeling starts to develop somewhere deep inside me. At first it’s easy to ignore, but it quickly grows unbearable as the itching gets worse and I feel a small hard thing growing next to my heart. I can feel as it grows, and as it pushes against my insides. I can feel it as my organs protest at the intrusion, but it doesn’t hurt. I writhe on the ground as a strange, painful-feeling-that-isn’t-quite-pain, slowly consumes my being. Just when I think I can’t bear another second, it vanishes.

Congratulations!

You have developed a Monster Core!

This new organ allows you to refine and store mana within your body, which can then be used for various abilities. Mana unlocked. Mana Regeneration unlocked. Skill Mana Manipulation (beginner) has been granted to you.

Mana Manipulation (beginner)

The first step on the path of a magician is to recognize and manipulate the fundamental energies of the world.

Allows the user to shape and manipulate mana within the body, which can then be pushed outside the body to influence the world, or kept within the body to temporarily modify it in some way.

Congratulations!

Due to an evolution, level cap has been increased to 25! Deferred experience has been awarded:

+708 XP!

Level up!

Before I can even read over the stream of notifications now clogging my view, a wave of exhaustion overtakes me. My head hasn't even hit the ground inches below it, and I have already slipped into a blissful sleep.

Spoiler: Status

Status Menu

Name: Grover

Age: 2 days

Race: Rooster (Juvenile)

Level: 6(+1)

XP: 328

XP to next level: 147

Profession: N/A

Seals: 1

HP: 20/20

SP 34/34

Mana: 18/18

HP Regen: 5/day

SP Regen: 10/hour

Mana Regen: 6/hour

Strength - 4(+1)[+]

Agility - 10(+2)[+]

Constitution - 6(+1)[+]

Wisdom - 10[+]

Intelligence - 12[+]

Charisma - 6(+1)[+]

Luck - 4

Stat Points - 16

Skills:

Instincts (Chicken)

Chirp

Peck

Basic Appraisal (Lvl:2/10)

Sneak (Lvl: 2/10)

Claw (Lvl: 4/10)

Mana Manipulation (Beginner) (Lvl: 1/10)

Titles:

Reincarnated

Spiritual Bulwark

Survivor