—Sally—

  I woke up more uncomfortable than any previous morning I’d been subjected to on this planet. It took a moment for me to orientate myself, but it quickly became clear that the pain I was in was coming from my wing—which Aylin was lying on.

  I loved my new wings, but they were sensitive—sensibly so, given that it’s incredibly important to keep them safe and well-groomed—which meant they hurt like hell if something was even slightly uncomfortable.

  My night-adjusted eyes flicked over to Aylin, and spotted the source of the pounding, dull ache that'd woken me up. The girl was currently clutching my irritated limb like it was a teddy bear, squeezing it against her chest and forcing it to bend in a way that was painful.

  I considered waking her up through my usual method, but I do not think Aylin would be as silent as Orion if I used my claws on her. While the idea did tempt me, I wasn't annoyed enough to hurt a child—not yet.

  So instead, I gently pried the limb out of her grasp, the kid thankfully letting it go after I used a talon and my tail to lift her arms up enough to slip out. I made a—mostly—silent grunt of disgust when I noticed how slimy the 'elbow' of my wing was, the joint having been drooled on by the young child.

  After wiping it off using Aylin's hair, I carefully crept out of the tent, making sure none of my four feet touched anyone's limbs—the two people squished into the one-man tent made for a fleshy obstacle course. At least having double the legs made it much easier to balance my precarious steps than when I was human. Now that I’m accustomed to them at least.

  As I stepped outside, I shivered from the coldness of the air. I could at least see the faint light of the rising sun staining the sky above the trees, and its pale colour suggested that there was still roughly an hour before proper sunrise. It irked me that recently I'd been waking up early and often enough to be confident about the educated guess.

  I glanced over at where I’d left Orion the night before, and found the man was uncomfortably lying on a bed of roots. His mattress was a mesh of wood that formed a somewhat flat surface, with his jacket and one of Icaro's bags being used as a pillow and blanket.

  Given the conversation we had last night about suspicious wood, I paused for a moment to attempt to recall if I had seen that large, flat knot of roots the night before. I then shrugged using my wings and moved to the other side of the campsite, deciding to leave Orion alone to avoid re-experiencing a different sort of encounter with ‘suspicious wood’.

  I jumped up onto a comfortable log and sorted through my system, looking for something useful to do. I wanted to be in my best shape for the probable confrontation we'd have with the Wendigo later.

  [Flight (Basic) – Level 6]

  [Weather Magic (Basic) – Level 9]

  I had been doing some grinding whenever I had a spare moment, but now I was eager to complete the final stretch of [Weather Magic (Basic)]. If I did, then I might have access to a new weapon, one that might help me accelerate my struggle for my [Race] XP.

  I also needed to practise my [Talent], or at least the portion of it that I currently had access to. After some thought, [Soul Heart], and its ability to imbue stuff with different qualities might not be as useless as I initially feared.

  I just had to figure out how it works. Which is the part I was still very much afraid of.

  Though, currently I had nothing else to do for the next few hours and a full bar of mana to waste, so, why shouldn’t I waste both on some experimentation?

  I began with feeling around the mana in my heart, manipulating it in an attempt to find the different 'Soul Essences' I could imbue into my magic. Almost immediately I realised that controlling this new aspect of my tools wasn't going to be a simple task. It felt like trying to sort objects in the dark by how squishy they were. After stumbling around, I did manage to do… something, and mixed my mana with… what I was ninety-percent sure was a ‘Soul Essence’.

  [Activating: [Weather Magic (Basic) – Level 9]]

  I pulled the tainted mana through my veins and used it in the same way I always did for [Weather Magic (Basic)], gathering it in my claws. In a few moments, I had mist gathering in one of my front talons.

  I massaged the clump until it had enough integrity to hold itself together, and then inspected my creation, which resembled a dark-grey cloud of pollution.

  [Using [Appraisal on: [Cursed Smog]]

  [Wasting Smog – Level 9 [Environmental Attribute]]

  [A thick smoke that gathers where grand stories end, ensuring they stay dead]

  [Everything is beholden to the cycle, all come, and all return to its embrace. In the place between maw and tail, the cursed smog lingers, to ensure the dead stay dead, for their own safety. Sometimes, when ^@#% f!nds #hos% w/0 l!ng%r, !#]

  [Error #013 - corrupted file]

  Neat! Now I just had to figure out how to do it on purpose! And ignore the concerning—typical file corruption!

  ***

  [[Weather Magic (Basic) – Level 9] has Levelled up!]

  [[Weather Magic (Basic) – Level 9] -> [Weather magic (Basic) – Level 10 (Max)]]

  [Mana: 39/46 -> 38/46]

  It took around thirty minutes, and after producing multiple different coloured and smelling mists, I finally maxed [Weather Magic]. It took getting well-versed enough in manipulating the mana to create short bursts of clouds instead of exhausting all of the mana I’d gathered in a single stream.

  A useful trick, and a confirmation that progress in this system required actual development and understanding of the skills, instead of mindless repetition. Which I know is realistic, but that doesn't mean I like it.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  But I did manage to get [Soul Heart] working somewhat reliably—which actually meant that I only got the right effect if I was concentrating on it and only it. A single distraction was enough to turn my [Wasting Smog] into [Fairy Dragon's Mist], and that was not a mistake that I wanted to make in the heat of battle.

  I'd found three effects I could create with the clouds, and I turned to the [Appraisal] windows of each that I'd kept open for reference.

  [Fairy Dragon's Mist – Level 9 [Environmental Attribute]]

  [The enchanting mists, infused with the recklessness of a lovestruck teenager]

  [The Fey Thing of scales was barely a dragon, a half-breed at most. But he certainly did share the dragon's pride, and enjoyed spending his time sending greedy interlopers into desperate suitors. The mist he filled his forest with was enough to send any man, and the occasional woman, into a horny frenzy. Serving him lavishly until they could give no more.]

  The first was [Fairy Dragon's Mist], which de-buffs enemies with [Charm] and [Reduced Inhibitions]—which I wasn't going to use again if I could help it. The next was [Wasting Smog] which I found the most fascinating by far. The essence of death was by far the most useful thing I could do right now. But roughly in between the two extremes, I now had a third enchantment for my magic.

  [Life-Giving Dew – Level 9 [Environmental Attribute]]

  [The rawest essences of nature, caught within dewy mist.]

  [Water infused with abundant vitality, and sent out into the world as a perspirating mist. This dewy cloud is filled to the brim with life-giving energy, capable of accelerating healing and growth.]

  [Life-Giving Dew] was an interesting conundrum, as it had the same effect as Orion's [Talent], but on a much smaller scale. It barely healed a few points of damage when I tested it on a wounded tree-trunk. But even a situational fertiliser was more practical than its shitty sibling [Fairy Dragon's Mist].

  "Sally? Are you awake?" I heard Orion hesitantly ask. The man was just now stirring, sitting up and wiping his eyes. A glance at the sky told me that dawn was well under way.

  "Yes?" I quietly whispered back, wondering what he wanted from me.

  "Did you want to evolve your skill? I just got a notification that I could select one." Orion asked right back, which actually answered my question about why he woke up. I suppose system notifications don't care if you're sleeping.

  "S-ure." I replied, slinking over to him as I opened my own system to see what new options were available to me.

  [[Weather Magic (Basic)] has reached max level]

  [Please select from the options below to continue your progress.]

  [Possible Evolutions:

  

  
• 
  
    [Cloud Magic (Beginner)]:
  
    Magic that progresses [Weather Magic (Basic)]'s ability in a linear fashion, continuing the creation of mist and clouds in your hands talons. Changing the attributes of the clouds and giving them localised properties usually only reserved for natural phenomena. A master of [Cloud Magic] is capable of creating snowstorms in their hands, and lightning storms in a bottle. The size of the clouds you can control is up to your aptitude alone, which could range from a puff to the sky between horizons.
  
    


  

  Prerequisites: [ [Weather Magic (Basic)] = Level 10] ]

  Rarity: [All too common]

  

  
• 
  
    [Climate Magic (Beginner)]: The over-achievers progression of [Weather magic (Basic)]. It allows for the basic ability to create extremely small and localised clouds to evolve its next stage, and induce them in the sky instead. [Climate Magic (Beginner)] was born in the roots of shamanism, of days-long rain dances and slow careful manipulation of an environment's humidity to create clouds above. Lacks immediate results, but allows for the creation of weather events limited only by one's power, and imagination.
  
    


  

  Prerequisites: [ [Weather Magic (Basic)] = Level 10], [A soul that lords over the sky] ]

  Rarity: [An unusual sight]

  

  
• 
  
    [Mist Magic (Beginner)]:
  
    [Mist Magic] is a branch of magic that has origins far removed from [Weather Magic], and was created by a witch that wanted a method of poisoning trespassers, without damaging her forests gloomy aesthetic. Much like that witch's creation, [Mist Magic] is focused on the mass production and expulsion of fog that carries an effect. Typically a negative one. This magic excels at covering a wide area with a dispersed enchantment, and it is ill-advised to use it on an enemy that can see you.
  
    


  

  Prerequisites: [ [Weather Magic (Basic)] = Level 10], [A talent for creating a gloomy and inhospitable environment.] ]

  Rarity: [An unusual sight]]

  Well, this might be the first time that the common rarity option was the best one. While mist and climate magic might have the grander abilities, they aren't as good in a vacuum as the simpler cloud magic. Both unusual tiers of magic require preparation and time, and support you rather than be your main weapon. While I could possibly create lightning storms or toxic smog, whenever I pleased, it's not exactly worth giving up my best tool. I also have a lot of synergy with clouds, and I feel like I would also be losing [Cloud Shaping] if I got rid of my ability to make the clouds.

  "Cloud magic, th-hat one." I told him, and he picked it immediately.

  [[Weather Magic (Basic) – Level 10] has Evolved!]

  [[Weather Magic (Basic) – Level 10] -> [Cloud Magic (Beginner) – Level 11]]

  I gave the new skill’s description a quick glance, and dismissed the notification after seeing that it was the same information as the synopsis in the options. Either way, I was currently too busy stewing in the frustration from having to go to Orion for the skill evolution to care.

  I looked at Orion again as he got up and began moving around the campsite, and remembered some of the events from yesterday.

  While he was certainly capable when it came to fighting, I didn't think his skills applied to being… normal. After the few incidents in the village, and the awkward pauses and misunderstandings from last night, I was coming to realise that he was a strange person. Not in the interesting or 'he has a cool backstory' kind of way, but in the getting bullied, and being forced to sit by himself at lunch sort of way. And bullied in a way that makes you unable to feel sorry for them, because they said something so stupid that the others can't even be blamed for taking it out on me—them.

  I still wanted to have a normal social life once we got somewhere with normal people, and that means I would probably have to ditch Orion. I had gotten my hopes up after his great performance after the end of the mountain dungeon, but the last week had been enough to ruin those ideas. The idea of shedding the social handicaps Orion brought with him wasn’t an unfamiliar duty. This wasn’t the first time I would have to leave behind a friend so they couldn’t weigh me down after all.

  I didn't want to get trapped in the vicious loop that a bad reputation could give you. Once was more than enough exposure to that hell.

  ***

  A while later Icaro clambered out of his tent, the old man stretching out his body as he exposed himself to the bright sunlight.

  I was sunbathing myself as I waited for the day to really get started, and I had lazily opened a single eye to watch the Medicine-Man go through his morning routine. I opened the eye a bit wider when Icaro took off his shirt, and revealed the extremely well built body underneath. While it wasn't anywhere as impressive as Orion's lean form, it was strange to see what resembled a martial artist's body attached to the neck of a man who was at least sixty years old.

  He was flexible as well, his limbs far spryer than my old body’s ability to stretch—at any age I could remember.

  "Could you start breakfast young man?" Icaro asked Orion. The Ranger nodded and moved over to the campfire, loudly clapping the pans and utensils from last night together as he moved the dishes aside.

  I ignored Orion's task as I moved over to Icaro, curiously watching him continue his concoction from last night. With his knife, he shaved thin curling slices off of the puck of solidified pasty green wax. He caught them in a small device that resembled a double-sided colander, the flakes resting in one of the hemispheres. It was made of a thick layer of a silvery metal, holes peppered all over its few-centimetre thick shell, at its hinge, a chain was attached to it. I followed the series of links connected to the twenty-centimetre wide ball, and struggled to find the other end in the messy dozen or so metres of chain.

  By the time Icaro was finished turning his bar of soap into a pile of kindling, Orion was finished with cooking—my own stomach uninterested in another meal so soon. I watched as he handed one of the three bowls to Icaro, but he stopped Orion before he could take the last one to the tent.

  "Let me add something to help her sleep. It'll be safer if she only wakes up again after we get back." Icaro said as he sprinkled some herbs over the top of the porridge. He stood there awkwardly for a bit, unsure if he should give a little girl some food laced with sleeping medicine.

  I gave him a thumbs up, and that seemed to be all the encouragement he needed to take the meal to the tent.

  "Once she wakes, and we confirm that she's gone back to sleep, then we can depart." Icaro decided. It irked me a little bit that he was unilaterally telling the both of us what to do.

  Only I got to do that to Orion.