Shit.

Shit…

Shit!

I can't even begin to describe how bad my situation has just become. It's only been a day. I'm just a Level 3 E-Rank infant, and I went from facing F Ranked prey to a group of ostentatiously stereotypical adventurers?!

Fuck me!

I vent the only way I can; by cursing internally.

Damn, not that I feel much better, but after reassessing my situation, it's possible that I'm not in a position of guaranteed death. I mean, come on, the group of humans currently leering at me look like the stereotypical adventurer's party.

There's a guy fitted with light leather black armor and two daggers strapped to his hip, an obvious Rogue. A hulking man with a massive claymore sword sheathed on his back, an obvious Warrior. The walking embodiment of a Mage, clad in robes, holding a staff, and even wearing a magician's hat. And lastly, a woman wearing heavy chainmail armor and holding a shield, who might have been found in my former world's internet when searching for the word, "Paladin," or "Knight."

I imagine any of them could kill me single-handedly, and without mature wings that could take me to the skies, I dare not even think of escaping. Yet, I might not even be in that precarious situation. I mean, why would they even bother trying to kill me? If I just stand down and ignore them, hopefully, they will just pass along and leave me alone.

Or so I hoped…

Immediately after I finished my thoughts, the adventure party's Mage decided to approach me. Honestly, it could have been worse. She probably could have casted a long-range spell. But for whatever reason she walked all the way over to my side, staring at me for any moves, which I obviously did not make as I feared for my life and all, and then she started talking back to her peers.

"Fanubo ikute rar ku hed. Kupi lopep hedot esiemetat!" She seemed rather excited as she took the risk to look away from me to her fellow Paladin.

"Veviw nunar tadilap bep gano..." The Paladin shook her head in frustration, before the Rogue simply seemed to agree with the Mage, adding, "Cetif masexen wisisor nieru italoy!"

The Mage froze up as if to think over whatever he said, before she turned back to me for an uncomfortably long period. Eventually, she squatted down and I got deathly pale as she started chanting some sort of magic within her reaching distance. Through willpower I didn't even know I had, I managed to not hop away despite how much my body screamed at me to do so, but my hardship paid off in the end as the road to life was illuminated by a Status prompt moments after.

[Beast Contract Detected!

Description: The human before you has initiated a special summoning contract. Summarized, should you decide to accept, you will be granting said human, the right to summon you at will. You reserve independence aside from being able to resist the summons, but after accepting you may not terminate the contract before vastly surpassing the Rank of the summoner. Lastly, whilst battling alongside the summoner, experience split will be skewed 50% more towards the summoner.

Accept? Yes/No]

Is this a joke? Obviously, I accept! If I didn't, wouldn't the Mage and her capable-looking party annihilate me? I'm supposed to be an infant, incapable of complex thought. If I rejected, it would come off as suspicious at best, and ominous at worst.

Sure, this isn't what I would call an ideal outcome. The Mage might end up being the type of summoner that doesn't put too much effort in training her summons and I could end up being forced to act as bait in a worst-case scenario. But at least I have the chance to increase my abilities for a little while before she can call on me or something.

In any case, accepting is the only thing I can do. So, when I confirmed accepting the Beast Contract, the magic power the Mage had used to initialize the contract split into both my body and the Mage's before an interesting prompt presented itself before me.

[Beast Contract Accepted!

Conditions Have Been Fulfilled: New Skills "Foundational Communication Magic" and "Summoner's Return Lvl 1" Created!]

[Title Earned: Tamed Beast

Method of Acquisition: Accept a Beast Contract.

Effect: Automatically creates "Foundational Communication Magic" and "Summoner's Return" Skills if you don't already have them. Additionally, agreeing to a Beast Contract forces you into affiliation with the faction of your Summoner.]

I would have liked to read over what these new skills did exactly, but the voice speaking in my head forced me to put my desires aside. "Hello, little bird," I recognized the voice as that of my new summoner's. Uh… I don't know how to respond back, but I understand this probably has something to do with the Communication Magic I just earned.

"I'm not sure if you understand me, E Rank infants like you usually can't, but my intent should be conveyed well enough through our Contract."

Unsure of whether or not it would be best to convey my intelligence with a nod, I only stared at my summoner. It may be my propensity to imagine the worst-case scenario, but there's always a chance that unnaturally intelligent monsters like me are sought by the humans of this world for experimentation.

"Anyways, I have to go now. Don't miss me though, I'll be summoning you for training soon enough." With her concluding statements, she stood up from her squatting position and returned to walk with her group. From my position, I could hear that she started talking with them in this world's language, which still made absolutely no sense to me, and only after they left my line of sight did I feel relieved enough to exhale the breath I had been holding in all this time. When all was said and done, that was a terrifying encounter that could have ended much worse for me.

With the dread of being in that situation slowly leaving my body and clearing my mind, however, I started up a train of thought, pondering why a Mage as powerful as my summoner would want to contact me. She seemed nice enough and even promised to summon me sooner or later to train me up, so I guess she wanted me as her familiar. But I'm just a common bird, a Lesser Avian Infant. The only thing I have is potential, which Munich might have been able to see, but neither my Summoner nor anyone in her party should have that kind of foresight.

Thinking over the matter any longer would just be a waste of time and at the moment, time was a precious resource. Thus, I did away with my questions and focused on getting stronger. I started by reading over what exactly it was that my two new Skills did.

[Skills:

Name: Foundational Communication Magic Lvl 1

Description: Part of the Auxiliary Branch of the Magic System. The higher the Lvl, the more applications of Communication Magic will be made available and the more efficient your ability to cast Novice-level Spells.

Name: Summoner's Return Lvl 1

Description: Part of the Summoning System of Magic that is intuitively learned by all Monsters engaged in a Beast Contract. Uses part of the summoner's sacrifice — typically Magic — which is made every time you are summoned, to return you to the place before your summoning. Lvl 1 grants your summoner total control over this Skill's activation. In other words, you can't be Returned without their direct command.]

Hmm…

Communication Magic explains why I could understand my summoner's words despite our differences in languages and culture, but my status doesn't say anything about her words being able to automatically be translated. Then there's also the fact that Summoner's Return might as well not even be considered my skill.

Damn, I really am quite ignorant in this world, aren't I? Honestly, I'm not enamored by the complete lack of understanding I have, but then again, this just means there are plenty of mysteries for me to look forward to solving. I might have even considered it amusing if my life weren't on the line.

Alas, the only way to solve my problems is to follow the universal goal of becoming stronger. So, off I went to wander once more through the forest.

Though my end goal was becoming a god-like entity for Munich to pass his trial, my current short-term goal was the same as what I'd planned last night before meeting my summoner. Before night fell once more, I'll strive to reach Level 5 and hopefully evolve.