Free Web NovelChapter 21: 30 million languages
Jimmy did not have a nest of his own.
As a crow, he didn’t feel the need to build a nest, because he didn’t have a mate. He didn’t have any eggs to protect.
As a human, however, one who was stuck in the body of a crow, he was constantly reminded that comfort was within his range of desires. Humans built houses to protect themselves from rain, wind, and snow, and although it wasn’t snowing right now, the elements were still beating down on him.
It was a hot day, for one thing. He figured that it was the middle of summer right now, so he couldn’t over-exert himself. He heated up quickly, and could only cool himself down through his respiratory system. Simply said, he had to breathe the heat out of himself.
The rooftops of the city weren’t so great either. They were made of stone, so not only were the rooftops hurting his sensitive feet, they were often cold as well.
Cold if he hid somewhere under shade, and boiling hot if he sat anywhere where the stone was exposed to the sun. Comfort was difficult to find, and as far as he could tell, he would lack comfort all year around. It was difficult not to notice it.
"I’m so damn sick of this city." He said, "I could leave... but I have unfinished business here. A lot of unfinished business. Who am I supposed to be mad at? The elders who beat my father close to death, or my father who banished me? Or should I be mad at all the crows and humans?"
The praying mantis who initially was on his back, moved around across the rooftop. It hunted bugs, and devoured a whole cockroach in less than a minute.
"You’re like a bottomless well, aren’t you?" he chuckled.
The mantis did not answer again. It couldn’t, as they were two separate species who could not learn each other’s languages even if they tried.
Learning was out of the equation, but nevertheless, Jimmy got an idea. He browsed through the fifth branch of the evolution tree, mainly containing skills that were unrelated to the path of an Assassin Crow, and found a skill that he had entirely ignored earlier on.
"Bug Whisperer..." he mumbled, "This’ll let me understand all bugs, right, including my little mantis friend?"
[It’ll help you communicate with any and all insect species, yes.]
"Right..." he winced, "I’ll have to take bugs out of my diet if I buy this. I can’t eat a bug if I can hear it begging for its life."
Jimmy thought about this for a whole ten minutes. When he found himself steering away from the topic in his head, he believed that he had thought about this skill for far too long.
"Let’s hope I don’t have to eat bugs for a while," he sighed, "Give me the Bug Whisperer skill, system."
[Confirmed]
[Initiating...]
Eeeee!
Jimmy’s ears rang as if he was hit by a flashbang grenade. His eyes were fine, but for a moment, he believed that he was deaf. Every note of sound was vacuumed out of his ears.
Instinctively, he reached out to cover his ears, but he couldn’t reach them. His wings didn’t bend that way, so he couldn’t shake off that ringing sensation no matter how hard he tried. His ear holes were safely matted with his feathers, an inch below his eyes, safe from his reach.
His ears were temporarily numbed, in a sense, so his brain could develop a field of new neurons. The neurons were packed with so much knowledge that he started to feel dizzy.
Despite the fact that he only found a few species of insects in the city so far, the reality was that there were more than a handful of species out there. His brain was pummeled with an estimated thirty million insect languages!
A purchase like this should’ve killed him, but the system took measures. She numbed up nearly half of his brain as she implemented the upgrade, so as to prevent any seizures.
The process was fairly smooth.
[Complete]
[-300 system points]
[Remaining system points: 7,437]
The side-effects of the implementation process went away shortly after. He found relief.
"Damn..." he shook his head, "No wonder it was so cheap. You almost killed me."
[It’s an unusual skill to have. That’s why it was cheap.]
[Also, I just helped you learn 30 million insect-based languages fluently.]
"Thirty million?" he exclaimed.
[IQ: 129 points >>> 144 points]
"Haha!" he celebrated, "Free upgrade!"
System points were the one thing he didn’t lack right now, but he was happy nevertheless. He guessed that he saved a lot of points right now, and got a new skill out of it in return.
As he waddled around, he could feel his raging thoughts clearing out, like a stream sweeping away debris.
Intelligence was not a curse. It was a blessing. Heightened neural speed, to his surprise, came with a deep mental clarity. He could figure out what made him angry and anxious, before it even made him anxious. He dismantled the patterns that would otherwise stress him out greatly.
"I broke some sort of bracket, didn’t I?" He asked himself, "The last IQ upgrade didn’t feel like this."
Having such a clear head came with a side-effect. He was too efficient at clearing his head out of all thoughts.
At least for that moment. He had totally forgotten about the praying mantis, until he heard the mantis buzzing around.
"Oh right," he shook his head.
Ffffsss-hiss!
Jimmy heaved in a quick breath of air, as he spoke the mantis’ tongue.
Chhhhhh!
Its language seemed simple, like a barrel of hissing sounds at best, but it was more complicated than that. Mantises, regardless of the species, were usually quiet, so attempting to communicate with them at all, was a tough task even if one spoke their language.
Jimmy hit every note just right. He knew what he was trying to say, even if his beak got in the way. His sudden fluency came in as a shock, and immediately caught the attention of the mantis!
To sum it up, he said, "I can speak your language now, mutterficker!"
The mantis froze on the spot, looked at him, and with a very feminine tone, answered, "How in the name of the Divine Lights can you speak my language?"
"Oh," he pulled his head back, "You’re a woman? I thought you were a dude. You certainly punch like one."
"I am a woman, yes," she said, "Can you answer my question, please?"
"Oh, I just evolved," he brushed the question away as best as he could, "I’m good at that, and so are you, right? You’re the strongest bug I’ve ever seen."
"My evolution comes from rigid training." She answered, "I used to be a member of the Divine Light sect."
