Chapter 25 : Bird is the Word

Emma exulted as the pigeon she was piloting took off, circling the outer barrier of the Dungeon at a slow, level heading, before coming back to land down where she started. [20 EXP gained.] It might not look like much, but even mastering the basics of flight had taken Emma most of two days, interspersed with a night's rest inside her room in the Dungeon. All told, the process had involved plenty of observation, trial and error to learn the correct motions of the wings, how to move them fast enough to fly but not so fast it injured the bird, and so on. Hardest of all had been sticking the landing correctly; a dozen pigeons had bravely given their lives before Emma figured out the correct approach, allowing her to shed enough velocity to safely come to a dead stop (pun intended). At last though, her hard work had paid off and she was finally ready to fly home. It's funny, Emma thought as she took off once more, this time heading east for a long overdue family reunion. I never had this much trouble learning how to fight; I thought the sword was supposed to take years of training to even become competent with it? [It does; but you have the benefit of your predecessors for that. Many took up the sword over their lifetime, and some of that knowledge and instinct remains ingrained in the armor to this day, long after their passing. None of them were birds though; so even with the instincts of the sparrow to leverage thanks to Oversoul, you were still starting mostly from scratch for this.] The System is a lot more complicated than I thought. Emma noted as she rose above the treeline, marveling at the close up view of the world below; a completely different experience from that of commercial aviation, where planes rarely ventured beneath the clouds other than for take off and landing. Emma's musings on the nature of the System aside, the flight itself proved fairly uneventful. It was still too early in the year (not to mention too wet and miserable) for hunters to be out shooting pigeons, whilst most local birds of prey weren't that large themselves and preferred to target smaller, lower risk prey such as finches, sparrows and tits (the bird, to be clear). This, combined with the lack of planes in the air to ingest unsuspecting birds into their engines, meant that the sky was entirely clear of hazards for once. The ground, on the other hand? "This is going to be a running theme, isn't it?" Emma sighed as she materialized once more, scooping up the fat orange cat chewing contentedly on the very dead pigeon she'd been traveling in just moments ago. [Fun fact: predation by domestic cats is one of the leading causes of death for birds in the developed world.] "He pounced on me the moment we landed, no need to rub it in," Emma protested as she scratched the tabby cat behind his ears, drawing an approving purr from the feline offender. "He doesn't even look that stealthy either; but I didn't hear a single step until the teeth were already sinking in." You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. [ERROR: Insufficient anima synchronization.] Unfortunately, her attempt to stuff the cat in her inventory failed, the feline not budging in the slightest nor indicating any awareness of her attempt. "Synchronization?" Emma tilted her head. "In that case, maybe this will work." Using her Oversoul, she quickly possessed the cat, falling to the pavement in a heap as she failed to find the feline talent for always landing on her feet. Place Cat in my Inventory, Emma ordered the System, with her still in the driver's seat. For a moment, the world shuddered, and she dared to hope it would work; then there was an almighty crash as the sky vanished in an array of flashing lights. [Divide By Zero Error encountered. You have sustained severe damage! Anima: 100/300 5 EXP gained for trying to be clever. DON'T DO THAT AGAIN.] Her cat was now hissing in displeasure; understandably, given that sixty pounds of armor had just landed on him as Emma emerged from Oversoul, badly charred.