My body started to crack, and the area of my head burned like hell, I could hardly believe it would hurt so much, and the tail was painful too.

And just like that, Crack! A new set of eyes appeared painfully, and my vision turned so much better all of a sudden. Wider…

Then, a venom sack with a menacing sting started to take form after a few minutes.

My tail was heavier now, but it's not slugging me down. My new upgraded eyes were helping me make sense of my environment. The eyes allowed me to check the movement better and some primary colors.

With this, I started to move around and practice a few tail attacks.

Once I felt confident enough, I walked deeper into the forest.

With my new eyes, I could quickly locate the birds as one of the very few movement sources in the whole forest. That was unnerving. There are over 20 or 30 kinds of different plants from what I can see, but just a pair of birds?

I kept investigating them until I seemed to merge with the forest itself. After a few minutes, I have understood their behavior.

There is always one warding their nest, and the other one goes searching for food, branches, or flies towards a wall made of rocks with a few openings on it.

Is that where the next biome is? Should be… I looked back at the air vent from where I came and at the door that was nearby. I then looked at the wall again, now sure that that is the new biome.

There seems to be some moss, and I can even hear the sound of water.

Screw the door, I will go through that opening as soon as I deal with these birds.

I started to walk around the danger zone and picked a spot where I can gain some advantage.

It is a rocky area with a tree with lots of branches blocking part of the space so they cannot make use of their advantage against me again.

Okay, now the troll part. I take advantage of one of the birds' routine flights to get near their tree and start munching it. It doesn't take long until the bird at the nest begins to call its partner alarmed.

I stopped the munching and ran to my designated spot with cover, and I waited there for a few minutes.

It just took a minute or so before the bigger bird (whom I suspect is the male) to get back and start to search for the menace. It's quite pissed off. But after a while, it just flies away.

I keep with these tactics 2 or 3 more times, eroding the tree base until it lost a third of its width. But the fourth time, they have learned the pattern, and the bird caught me, faking his leave.

"So you think you are smart for a bunch of feathers, ahh? Come fight me on the ground, and I will teach you manners."

I ran to my refuge, and he kept scratching my back with its claws. It hardly managed to hurt me, but I didn't want to take unnecessary risks fighting it out in the open.

I arrived in the enclosed area and hid into it.

The bird flew around a couple of times, hesitating.

I poked my head out to lure it while hissing. It's all it took for him to dive and try to catch me.

I moved to a side, and despite getting punctured into the abdomen with its claws, I managed to stab at him with my tail. The sting burrowed deep under his skin, and I can see the light in its eyes dying.

In its last moments, it cries desperate for help, but I immobilize it and start to approach my prey.

"Food, tasty food… a change of diet, at last!"

I still don't know I am so hungry.

WE KILL, We eat!! We grow!

* Screech!!!

"What was that?"

A second shadow appeared, and I felt a deep pain in my back.

“AHHGG!! FUCK, get off me! You damn bird!! Aghh, My eyes!”

The second bird came flying and used its beak to blind my left eye. I was too focused on the food, I don't know what happened… That wasn't me.

I use my tail again, but the bird evades my attack easily. As we fight, I keep trying to wear it down while focusing on not taking any more damage.

But there was something weird about this bird. It’s much faster than before and has hurt me while the other one couldn't do that.

"What the hell?!"

I retreat, my health has taken a few hits and has fallen to 5 points, too little to fight in the open.

While I am hiding on my improvised bunker, the bird kept approaching and calling for its partner.

It's quite a sad sight. I’m not really sure why I acted this way. I just didn't care about the birds.

All I could feel was a deep and bottomless hunger.

My hp slowly recovers as time goes by. I can see my energy also rising, while my biomass reserve loses a few points. I guess it's a fair trade.

But it's taking forever.

I look at the bird and decide to end what I have begun… This was my first time killing and eating an animal, and I liked the feeling.

I start to devour the bird, bite after bite, piece after piece, and it disappears in mere seconds. As I finish, I feel as bottomless as before.

-Moar food!!

And Norn seems to be so too. It’s nearly been 3 days since the mind transference, and I’m starting to feel a significant influence from this body’s instincts.

It’s clearly a superpredator, despite being in its infancy stage. I have never seen or heard of any organism with such a voracious appetite and speed in adaptation. I’m nearing a point where I can push my evolution further with the next meal, I feel it.

But now is not the time, I cannot shut down or lose focus even for a second.

I just need to keep climbing the trophic pyramid.

The second bird has been out of sight for more than 20 minutes. Maybe it went to rest.

Then as I was starting to relax, I feel a weird cry. It is a mixture of pain, anger, and something I cannot identify.

* ROaahgh!!!

My instincts are kicking in. Something's not right.

I keep my senses on high alert. My left eye has healed enough to work again, despite some lack of focus.

I approach the bird's damaged tree, ready to retreat at any second.

But what I found was a bunch of feathers with a distinct black and purple coloration. I get closer, and I can feel a corruption vibe from them, just like my body.

No bird is at sight. That worried me a lot. It was better to see what you’re dealing with.

"What did just happened here? And more importantly … Where did it go?"