I was too anxious that I hadn't properly considered all the variables of me eating that body, I just thought I needed to remove this big calamity from here and ate it without even thinking.

What should I do now?

I knew that not all snakes are venomous, plus that big snake looked somewhat like a python and it had a large strong body.

No, I should not judge this world's monsters based on my previous knowledge.

I could not even appraise it to see if it had poison or not, the body was already eaten.

Shit, what do I do?

I still had one option, my 20 Stats points. If I start noticing that my HP falling I will put everything into vitality.

I could not put it right now for fear that a monster might come in, I need the free points for emergency use.

I had 8 Skill points and a resistance skill

[Firm Stand(Passive): Resistance +50%]

'System does Firm Stand include toxins resistance?'

[Yes, poison and venom fall under the category of both physical or magical resistance. Sometimes, it's physically created through glands, and other times it's thanks to a skill that converts Mana into a certain toxin.]

I see! Anyway, I'll stay alert.

The moment I notice my health decreasing, I'd upgrade it.

Should I also raise my Wind Blades? I need to think carefully here, I'm freaking out a bit too.

Ok, calm down!

One thing I was sure of was that freaking out lowers my survival chances because my mind focuses on fear instead of thinking of ways to come up with solutions.

Sky Dash No, I could not fly. Umbra Hands maybe, though it'd be useless to just hold them if I'm in a defensive position. Bird of Darkness No, Agility is useless now if I could not run, I tried running before it was not optimal, especially this high in the tree. Mask Presence No, my position would be already known if they were here due to the blood. Zephyr Child No, again Agility.

The Stranger seemed to be the best choice, I could boost my Magic Damage, Vitality, Spirit, Strength, and Stamina.

After waiting for a while and seeing that I was fine and that in fact, I did not eat any sort of toxins.

I decisively put all of my Skill Points on it.

With 8 Points I only managed to upgrade it to the Mastery realm, to reach the Perfection realm I need 5 Skill points, but I only had 2.

I put one in Wind Blade, and the other in Umbra Hands.

The moment I did I felt my body changing and growing stronger. Especially my mind was flooded with information-like memories about the uses of these skills. I had a stronger hold on Wind Blade now and could use it in different ways.

[WindBlade(Active): Creates a magical wind blade that has a range of 70 meters, Deals Intelligence(x2) in damage. Cost(20MP) 1/5]

[Umbra Hand(Active): Generates a hand from the shadows that can be controlled by the user range 120 meters. Cost(3MP/Second) 1/5]

[The Stranger(Passive): +40% to all Stats. 4/5]

WindBlade's range increased from 50 to 70 meters, which did not help in my current predicament.

All the enemies that may come will be very close.

Umbra Hand's range increased to 120 meters and its consumption fell to 3 MP a second, not bad.

The Stranger's boost went from 25% to 40%, and with my title, I had a whopping +140% to all Stats which would put my attributes at...

Vitality: 16(22)

Strength: 16(22)

Stamina: 17(23)

Intelligence: 22(30)

Agility: 18(25)

Spirit: 36(50)

Coupled with other passives my Agility was even higher than this, but it won't be of much help without any feathers...

I stretched out my senses to the limit, the moment something gets closer I will be able to notice it and prepare a bit beforehand.

I looked up and saw how entangled these branches were with leaves covering them, I needed to find a good place to hide in.

Shit! I should've upgraded Mask Presence instead of Wing Blade to increase my stealth, but no worries.

[Mask Presence(Passive): Masks the presence of the user to a certain extent in the dark. 1/5]

It could still help me a bit, I looked at the siblings fooling around in the nest and I sighed.

In this case, ignorance is indeed bliss, they had no idea how to use their abilities yet so it was better to remain blissfully unaware instead of getting terrified not knowing whether they'd live or die.

I started using my beak, wings, and claws to climb the trees, I climbed for about 10 meters found an empty little hidden space between some leaves, and stayed there.

'System do I need to activate Mask Presence or is it automatically activated once I'm in the dark?'

[It activates on its own once its conditions are met.]

Looking down I had a clear vision of the nest and its nearby branches, the moment a monster comes in I will be able to slice them up in half.

All I had to do was wait.

In the meantime, I decided to ask the system the biggest question I had regarding growing stronger.

Should I give it a name? It felt awkward to say System every time, forget it may be at another time.

'System, how do you cultivate? How do you refine your body using mana?'

[Monsters have two cultivation options while others like humans, elves, and the other races have one. The first one is having a cultivation manual and following said manual to gather mana and temper your body with it, in a certain specific way. The other option that the monsters have is cultivation along the direction of their bloodline, what this means is there is already a cultivation manual of sorts in the depths of your gene that can gather mana and spread it all over your body.]

The system continued...

[The first option is more advantageous, it's faster because you actively grab hold of the outside mana and bring it to your body to control it as you wish. The second option is slower because you need to put yourself in a passive state that is welcoming to mana and you can't actively use it to temper a specific body part for example.]

Cultivation manuals were invaluable then.

'How can I get a cultivation manual?'

[Well, they are man-made so you need to go out and find them, maybe buy them even who knows? Or you can reach Level 10 and unlock the quests option, once you do you'll be able to get certain rewards and chances are high that you can get a cultivation manual of your own.]

I see, level 10 huh?

It did not sound that hard, I just needed to get my feathers, and leave the nest then I would be able to level up.

'Tell me about this bloodline cultivation you mentioned earlier'

[Well, it's simple. Close your eyes, and imagine that going deep within yourself you'll fall into a state in which your brain activity will slow down considerably then you'd be able to tap into some of the memories of your bloodline, and there you'll learn how to cultivate as a monster.]

I did as I was told, I closed my eyes and started imagining like I was falling into that darkness. After a while, I felt like a pull into the river of history and I witnessed some ancient memories in the depths of my being. Yet, when I woke up I did not remember anything, only what I set to learn.

The cultivation manual was pretty simple but the prerequisite was having this very specific bloodline.

I only needed to control the existing mana in my own body to form with it a membrane that would cover all of my body.

I already knew how to control my mana because I sensed its existence earlier against the snake.

I easily managed to create it and covered my whole body with it.

The good news was that I did not have to actively maintain it. It was self-sustainable, it attracts the nearby mana in a radius of one meter and absorbs it, and refines my body with it.

However, I needed to sit still and not move an inch, the moment I do it gets broken.

I understood why this cultivation method was slow. I could feel the mana around me, it was rich! But, the suction force of this light membrane was very gentle.

I only attracted around 5% of all the mana in 1 meter, even though that five percent was slow and sometimes the suction failed midway for some unknown reason.

However, I was not discouraged at all! Just the opposite, I was very delighted!

I could feel the mana that entered my body did not just help me regenerate my own, but it made its way deep into my flesh, muscles, and bones strengthening them in the process.

If I could make a rough estimate, I'd say that if I stay like this for a couple of hours my Vitality, Stamina, and Strength will increase by 1.

I was satisfied, although it was indeed very slow...

*Bangg!*

Something big smashed into me from the side, I was hit by the full blow and was smashed against the tree bark.

I was terror-stricken!

I had never felt that much pain in my whole two lives, my mind almost went blank.

I barely held on through sheer fucking will!

My wing was broken and I almost fell from the tree branch but I luckily held on with my sharp claws.

My eyes were closed and I did not feel anything coming so I had no idea who hit me or where it was.

But it came from my right, I started looking around only to see two big red eyes locking into me from around 100 meters.

I couldn't see the body of the monster, just those vicious eyes with a hint of madness in them.

'Appraise'

[Appraised Target: Dark Vunamian Mandrill

Cultivation Realm: Body Refinement(Mid)

Health Points(HP): 240/240

Magic Power(MP/Mana): 111/111

Spiritual Power(SP): 21/21

Magical Resistance: 19

Physical Resistance: 20

Spiritual Resistance: 6

Vitality: 35

Strength: 39

Stamina: 29

Intelligence: 19

Agility: 31

Spirit: 14

Description: The Dark Vunamian Mandrill is a monkey species that specializes in long-range attacks with rocks and is extremely strong in close-range fights thanks to their high Strength, Stamina, and Agility. They have several stealth skills that hide their presence and they can blend into the darkness.

Weakness: Very low spiritual resistance compared to monsters of the same rank.

]

Oh shit!

This was the strongest monster I had seen so far, looking at the 240 HP and 19 magical resistance I had no confidence in killing it.

I hurriedly remembered that I forgot to allocate my Stats points before because I was occupied with my skills!

Where should I put them is the question now?

As I was thinking, the figure got out of its hideout and started making its way over here and I could see a big fucking rock in its hand.

It's also worth mentioning that this Monkey was also black and it had strange red patterns on its face, it looked super intimidating.

Shit, shit!

It was very similar to the Mandrills that I knew, only this one bulkier and with one glance you could tell that those hands held tremendous power. I was sure that if it laid those hands on me, I'd break as easily as a dead autumn leaf once stepped on.

As I was hyperventilating and looking at it, It seemed to have let down its guard, previously it was very cautious.

But now? All it could see were three baby eagle fledglings and one shivering with a broken wing dangling from the side.

This guy looked smart!

Wait what if I could use that to my advantage?

I will try.

I jumped out from the branch I was in, right into the nest, and started making some panic-stricken noises.

*Screech... screech..*

The monster looked as if it was gloating and not as serious as when it first came in.

Holy fuck, it's working!

I thought of maybe baiting it like this if it didn't work, then I'd just fight it out with it. Yet, it did work!

Ok, breathe... calm down.

I had a rough plan in mind, Umbra Hands 120 meters and Wind Blades 70.

The Mandrill was already around 100 meters and getting closer by the second.

The moment it gets close I will hold it and launch three consecutive Wind Blades.

I hurriedly put all of my free points in Intelligence.

Now I had 42 base Intelligence plus 58 from my +100% title + The Stranger 40%.

Reaching a staggering 100 Intelligence, each Wind Blade dealt Int x2 so around 200 of damage but it had magical resistance.

Just to be safe for now I will go with three.

90 Meters...

*Screech!!*

I started making crazy terrifying noises and shrinking to the edge of the nest, the siblings were also losing their shit.

At least they had a bit of self-awareness to recognize danger.

80 Meters...

I wanted to wait until it got close to 70 meters but now was the best time because where he was in a perfect position, in which he was sandwiched by two thick branches.

I did practice Umbra Hands before so I knew how.

I created two big burly hands like those of a big gorilla and held both of the mandrill's hands at the same time.

I simultaneously formed 3 horizontal Wind Blades while running in its direction to close the remaining 10 meters.

These new Wind Blades seemed different, before they were almost invisible now however they were like a vicious tornado waiting to destroy everything in its wake.

*Whoosh* *Whoosh* *Whoosh*

The monster was shocked at the unexpected twist, then its eyes turned serious.

Black smoke started to form in its forearms and bicep area.

With a big pull, it broke free from Umbra Hands.

Unfortunately, the wind's main property was agility and speed.

The moment it broke free, three blades made of wind were already in front of it, aiming directly at its throat.

It hurriedly raised an arm to block.

The moment I saw that I immediately created two more blades in the same direction and held its remaining arm with two Umbra Hands.

The first two wind blades cut its arm in half and the last one struck its throat, just as it was stunned by its remaining arm being held down again two blades hit it right in the previous wound thus completely removing its head from the rest of its body.

*Splashh*

[You have killed a Body Refinement(Mid) Monster |Experience Points +2000|]

[Congratulations Host for Leveling up from 5 to 6. +5 Stat Points, +2 Skill Points.]

*Thudd*

The head fell to the ground making a big crash.

The body was fortunately still held down by Umbra Hands.

*Pheew*

I was holding my breath without even realizing it.

I leveled up again!

I was almost 10 then I could unlock the Quests function.

But I couldn't even be happy about it, the moment I saw the Mandrill monkey I thought of something dangerous once again.

They were herd animals that are usually headed by a dominant male.

The worst thing is, they are not your usual 10-20 pack animals but they gather in hordes that can get up to hundreds of monsters. How fucking scary is that? Hopefully, it was different here!

I added my new 5 free Stats to Agility and upgraded [WindBlades] from Intermediate to Advanced.

Now I had Advanced wind blades, Intermediate Umbra Hands, and Mastery in The Stranger the rest were still at the beginner stage.

I controlled Umbra Hands to put the body of the Mandrill on a branch and started eating it. I needed to grow as fast as possible and I need my feathers to fly, it'd increase my survival chances by so much.

While I was tearing apart the body and eating it,

I opened my Status Window to take a look.

[~Status Window~

Host: Zed - Umbra Storm Eagle(Fledgling).

Titles: {Blazing Heart}

Level: 6

Experience Points(Exp): 350/2500

Rank: Body Refinement(Low)

Health Points(HP): 40/116

Magic Power(MP/Mana): 72/182

Spiritual Power(SP): 190/190

Magical Resistance: 11(5)

Physical Resistance: 9(4)

Spiritual Resistance: 19(9)

Vitality: 16(22)

Strength: 16(22)

Stamina: 17(23)

Intelligence: 42(58)

Agility: 23(32)

Spirit: 36(50)

Available Stat Points: 0

Available Skill Points: 0

Karma Points: 0

[Skills]

[Quests(Locked)]

[Map(Locked)]

[Party(Locked)]

[Shop(Locked)]

]

I was stronger but... I did not think I was even able to handle two Dark Vunamian Mandrills, and what if a Body Refinement High came in? Or worse Peak? Or even worse, Foundation Establishment??

Should I run?

It was not worth it to stay in the nest anymore, but the baby siblings would die if something came.

It was not like I could make any difference if a horde of them came in, I would just die pointlessly.

Just as I was contemplating whether I should stay or leave, I heard rustling noises.

The worst part was, not from just one place but several...