Free Web NovelChapter 9: Post-evolution Statistics
"Am I supposed to turn into an assassin, or barbarian?" He said, "I’m twice as big now!"
[Technically, you’re 40% bigger now, but yes I understand the confusion.]
[The main disadvantage that crows have is their size. The path you chose sliced off half of that problem. You can become smaller later on if you please, but I don’t recommend that you do, because making up for the size you’d lose would be very complicated.]
Jimmy listened to the system attentively for once. Unlike before, he could fully understand what she said, and it wasn’t only because he was paying attention to her. He felt smarter.
"Makes sense," he nodded.
Afterwards, he turned around, and faced the rats, "Let me get some more points first, and then we can talk about this in detail."
Jimmy charged towards the rats, and killed all of them, one by one. It was a one-sided slaughter.
Their bites were ineffective. They couldn’t get close enough to bite him either, because he’d either slap them away with his wings, or peck them dead.
Half of the remaining rats had been crippled by the wing slaps. Their spines were broken. In the end, they were easy pickings.
Jimmy ate one of the rats whole, and clacked his beak, "Yup. Still delicious."
The system kept ringing in his ear every time he landed a kill. In the end, he was pleased with the results.
[Total system points: 233]
Jimmy enjoyed the spoils of his battle. He ate two more whole rats before he felt full. The ten remaining rat carcasses, including the big one he had killed before, were laid across the stone ground.
He stood in the middle of the carcasses, covered in their blood, and some of his own blood as well.
"Jimmy, is that you?" He heard a familiar voice call out.
Jimmy looked up, and saw that it was his brother Vorin. He landed nearby shortly after.
"What happened to you?" Vorin asked, "Did you eat a hundred rats or something?"
"No," he shook his head side to side, "I think I just evolved."
"Evolved?" He pulled his head back in shock, "But father spent his entire life trying to evolve, and he only did so once."
"Well, this is my first evolution too," he answered, as vague as he could, so as to shake this topic away.
"Yes, but he was much older," Vorin said.
"I’m the exception, then," he smiled briefly, and his mood sank for the worst as he asked, "Why did you abandon me, brother? If I didn’t evolve, I would’ve been killed by these rats."
"We thought you were right behind us," Vorin answered, "We didn’t know you decided to fight them. It wasn’t our plan to fight them."
"It wasn’t my plan either, but I crashed," he said, "But anyway, I’ll choose to believe you. If you abandon me in the future, we will have to fight it out, brother, and you have to understand that you’ll lose the fight."
"Understood," Vorin nodded, "You’re my brother. I should’ve paid more attention."
It was hard to tell if Vorin was sincerely apologetic. Jimmy was a freak of nature as of now, so he may have just intimidated his brother to agree with whatever he said.
It was a mystery, and Jimmy could only hope that he didn’t have to depend on his siblings again.
Anyway, as his sisters landed, and after their initial shock, they carried the rat carcasses back to the nest. Jimmy carried four at a time.
At the nest, he met with his parents.
In size, he dwarfed his mother by a third, and met eye-to-eye with his father. They were proud, they were happy for him, but they couldn’t understand for the life of them how a thirty-day old crow evolved. It was unheard of.
"Perhaps you got lucky?" Gnegor, his father said.
"Lucky? He’s covered in rat blood!" His mother, Gaya, exclaimed, "My baby almost died!"
The conversation went back and forth in that manner. His siblings were mostly quiet.
Behind them, tens of crows rested across the buildings, or chimneys. They were social creatures, and it had taken only one of them to spot a buff new crow in order for the rest of them to hear about it. They were curious.
Crows of more prestigious reputations, holding daggers in their claws, observed from a greater distance. Their eyesight was far more superior compared to the average crow, so they didn’t have to get close. A lot of them were curious if this youngling was going to challenge their titles anytime soon.
In the meantime, Gnegor said to Jimmy, "I’m happy for you, my son, but you know what your sudden growth means. You’re more than independent now, you’re powerful, so I think it’s time you try and build your own nest. Your siblings need a bit more time to be on their own, but you don’t."
"A nest? But I don’t have a girlfriend yet." He let out a light chuckle. "But I guess you’re right. I can’t fit in this nest anyway."
Gnegor’s face was stern, but everyone could tell he wanted to cackle. He didn’t.
Gaya, his mother, swooped into the conversation, and said, "I wish you luck, my chubby warrior."
Once they embraced each other with their wings, she said, "Don’t fly too far. You may not live with us anymore, but we’re going to see each other everyday."
Jimmy greeted his family, and took off. In a way, he was relieved, because earlier on, his siblings let him down. He almost got killed because they didn’t help him. He liked to pretend that they truly didn’t know what went on down there in the alleyway, but otherwise, after his first evolution, he saw them more than hard to depend on. He saw them as dead-weight as well, and knew he’d have to be on constant alert if they tagged along with him at all times.
As the situation had it, he didn’t plan to be stationary. He knew for a fact that he had to hunt. He left most of those rats he killed in his family’s nest, so eventually, he had to look for more food. Not to mention, he had this gnawing feeling that he needed system points.
Jimmy landed five buildings away from his nest, on top of a building. There were bags of rice there, and he sat on them, finding the bags comfortable. He didn’t plan to sleep right now, but he did need a moment alone with the system.
First things first, he had this great urge to know the greater details of how his body changed after that quick evolution. The system was quick to answer his question with a visual, bright tab that fought the sunlight.
[Strength: Level 2 >>> Level 5]
[Agility: Level 1 >>> Level 2]
[Durability: Level 1 >>> Level 4]
[IQ: 81 points >>> 104 points]
[Max Flying Speed: 40 km/h (24.8 mp/h) >>> 65 km/h (40.3 mp/h)]
[Wingspan: 90cm (35 inches) >>> 105cm (41 inches)]
[Body weight: 0.5kg (1.1 pounds) >>> 1kg (2.2 pounds)]
[Beak to tail length: 50cm (20 inches) >>> 60 cm (23.6 inches)
[Height: 30 cm (12 inches) >>> 45 cm (17.7 inches)]
[Skills: None]
[Mana-based Skills: None]
[Mana Realm: Pale Jade, otherwise known as the first realm]
[Mana Quality: Level 1 out of 8]
[Mana absorption: Low]
[Mana Quantity: 40/200]
