Magic Gizzard? Oh! Oh… Thank goodness this Skill manifested. I completely forgot that my digestive system was that of a bird's now. Unlike my human counterpart, I can't just shovel food into my mouth and be done with eating. Because I have no teeth, I haven't been able to chew my food and aid digestion, so like any other bird, I have a gizzard.

Now, my understanding of birds from my previous life was that birds swallowed rocks and stocked them in their gizzard so that the food they swallowed would be broken down similar to the process of humans chewing their food, after grinding it against the stones. However, I haven't done any of that up until now…

It might be my human mentality or arrogance, but even now the thought of swallowing stones is beyond unappealing. Fortunately, reaching Level 2 gave me the Skill Magical Gizzard, so without further ado, I pulled up its description on my Status.

[Skills:

Name: Magical Gizzard Lvl 1

Description: A near-universal skill for Avian-type Magical Beasts that allows faster more efficient digestion. Lvl 1 consumes trace amounts of Magic to break down weak plant fibers, animal flesh, and even scales from insects and reptilians. Activation is automatic so long as you have Magic and food in your stomach.]

Great, it's an automatic skill. I dismiss the Status panels in my face and finish eating the Ugly Worm before continuing on my aimless journey through the forest.

Munich only gave me a deadline of a couple thousand years to become this universe's strongest entity or titular God, and there wasn't anything better for me to do. So onward I went, seeking more things to prey on and Level Up.

Over the course of a couple hours, I scavenged for more Yellow Flowers. Strangely, aside from grass, weeds, and bushes, those were the only flowers I found worthwhile to eat. I also killed and ate a couple more Ugly Worms. Though as I preyed on more and more Ugly Worms, my Appraisal for them became increasingly detailed as well.

[Appraisal (General)

Name: Ugly Worm

Ranks: F-/F

Description: Vary in size from twenty to a hundred centimeters in length and ten to seventy centimeters in width at its bulkiest. Colored an unpleasant brownish-grey, "Ugly Worms" can be classified as one of the weakest prey in "The Forest", with near nonexistent defense and speed. Provides edible and nutritious meat which can be processed by even the least powerful digestive systems.]

So far, my reincarnation progressed without a hitch, but the day was coming to an end.

As a Level 2 newborn, I didn't exactly have the power or background to remain confident even during the day, never mind at night when predators no doubt became active. Thus, when I noticed that the sun was starting to settle past the horizon to bring dusk, I made the executive decision to climb a tree.

After a day of parading around the forest, I had more or less learned the limits of my strength. Where I came from, one wouldn't normally expect a newborn bird as capable of well… anything aside from crawling in a nest. But I came into this world able to hop several dozens centimeters and with the power to eviscerate Ugly Worm monsters. Was it even that abnormal when there was Magic and Gods abound?

Anyway, Grip Lvl 1, though not some sort of ultimate ability, wasn't anything to scoff at. My wings couldn't amount to anything, yet, but I had unusually strong legs. I had nails that could presumably grow into claws at some point, but even without claws at the moment, climbing a tree was less difficult than I imagined it would be.

The learning process was rather awkward and to get proficient at climbing, I fell more than a couple times, but in the end, I was rewarded for my efforts with a new Skill.

[As a result of repeating an action and reaching basic proficiency the new Skill, "Climbing Lvl 1" has been created!]

Content with learning that I could get Skills this way as well, I climbed up to the upper-middle region of a large tree, just before the top. Even after deciding on a branch that was large enough for me to sleep on without risking falling to my death, I felt paranoid about being exposed, so I turned to the tree's trunk.

After killing a dozen or so Ugly Worms today and even more Yellow Flowers, Peck was now Lvl 3 and though my Attack Stat hadn't increased, I thought it was worth a shot trying to make a burrow. Despite not having seen my own face thus far into this life, I could confidently claim that I was not a woodpecker, but, Woodpecker or not, I would risk hurting myself to make a nesting site inside a tree if it meant I would be able to sleep better.

I hyped myself up and ruffled my face with my immature wings as a ritual of preparation before letting loose and pecking the bark before me. A low thud resounded as my beak broke more than an inch into the wood with no damage done to myself that I could feel. So with renewed spirits, I pecked at the tree as if it were my mortal enemy. Chipping away at it efficiently from several points to weaken the structure and before long a small hole, fit to house my entire body slowly formed.

When all was said and done, I was rather exhausted from hopping around and exerting myself today. It only took a couple moments after settling into my tree burrow for me to fall asleep even as I sat facing up.

If only it were that easy…

In the dead of the night, no more than three hours after falling asleep, I awoke to a sharp pain at my side and my Status alerting me to the first time my Life Stat had dropped below a hundred percent.

[Life 100% → 97%]

My mind quickly sobered up as I understood that there was a threat abound, but I found myself slightly panicked as I couldn't see very well in the darkness. Feeling the pain intensify on my left wing, I flailed around and furious pecked at the shadow.

Squeak!

I pecked at it hard enough to draw blood, but unlike the Ugly Worms, it wasn't eviscerated to pieces. With my eyes gradually getting adapted to the dark, I caught traces of my assailant's appearance and thought I couldn't be sure, it looked like some sort of rat. It also looked to be angry, rushing at me to get revenge for pecking its body. But my anger far surpassed its, as it had disturbed my sleep!

I tried to dodge the rat's charge, but the burrow I dug out did not have enough room to allow it. Taking the hit, my Life dropped to 93%, but it wasn't in vain as I positioned myself for a countering peck. This time, I aimed for the rat's neck and succeeded in landing a critical severing slice to its throat.

[Level Up

Status

Name: None (Pick a name? Yes/No)

Species: Lesser Avian Infant

Level: 3/5

Rank: E-

Life: 93%

Condition: Slightly Injured

Magic Reserves: 11 → 12

Attack: 18 → 19

Defense: 12 → 13

Speed: 15 → 16

Endurance: 7 → 9

Magic Potency: 0

Magic Resistance: 3 → 4

Skills:

Magic Gizzard Lvl 1 → Lvl 2

Summary: Increases grinding potential and speed, requires less Magic to break up tougher pieces of food.]

Honestly, the Level Up lifted my spirits, at least until I remembered it was pitch black outside my tree burrow and I could get attacked again before the sun came up. Alas, I came to the logical conclusion that it was best that I finished eating up the rat I just killed and return to sleeping.

The thought of going to sleep and potentially getting attacked by something stronger terrified me. It could end my life in this incarnation before a full day passed, but as a diurnal animal, if my lack of night vision was to suggest, it was pragmatic that I rest now to go hunting during the day. I could only hope for the best at night, while I was still weak, and strive to become strong enough during the day to never suffer nights like this one. Though, before that, I Appraised the corpse of the rat I was eating.

[Appraise Successful

Name: Black Rat

Rank: F+

Description: Seems to be around a quarter of a meter tall and twice as long, has inch-thick sleek black fur, and well-developed teeth. Its meat is savory, albeit tough, but it's nutritious and filling.]

Well, I guess that explains why I leveled up. This is the first F+ Rank animal I've killed. The experience killing it gave was likely leagues ahead of anything an Ugly Worm could have given me. Combine that with the fact that I'd already had experience stocked from killing multiple Ugly Worms, it was only natural that this was the straw that pushed my Level from two to three.

After eating the rest of the Black Rat, I didn't even bother to wipe my body clean of its blood. It was troublesome to do so without hands anyway and there was a chance I'd be woken up again before daybreak, so I was off to sleep right there and then. Something I found disturbing mere moments after settling down was how easy I found myself calming down from the battle and the anxiety surrounding my situation. If I hadn't been consciously thinking about it, I don't doubt I would have been able to fall asleep in less than a minute after returning to my sleeping posture.

By relaxing my mind, I easily slipped unconscious once more, and both to my luck and surprise, I awoke the next day to the first rays of sunshine pouring into my burrow. The luck aspect was obvious as I didn't suffer a second ambush during my first night in this incarnation, but the surprise was that I'd actually woken up exactly when I had wanted to. I'm not sure if it was my nerves being startled by the sudden advent of light, or just luck, but I was satisfied knowing I'd survived my first day and was also well-rested enough to thrive on the second.

Hopping out of my tree burrow, I stretched my small body by the nearest thick branch before carefully utilizing my Grip and Climbing Skills to scale down the tree. As expected, the process was different enough from climbing up to trip me up at times, but by taking my time, I managed to reach the bottom without falling. Additionally, I managed to get the last of my starting Skills to Lvl 2 after finally reaching the bottom.

[Grip Lvl 1 → Lvl 2

Summary: Increases maximum grip strength. With the same Attack Stat, constriction attacks deal more damage. Also reinforces your feet to better take damage.]

"Hipire caqa gen nag racore." Before I even decided which direction I should head in, I heard this gibberish. Turning to the source of the noise, my mood falls lower than I think I'd experienced even in my first life.

Before me… there are humans.