It was another day of travel, and Simon had just finished his meal. According to his pn, he would sleep a few hours into twilight before continuing his journey through the forest at night.

  He was about to begin the cycle, but then visitors shrieked “Caw!!” in the air. Two rge birds stared at him. He didn’t feel any hostility, so he stood his ground.

  The birds had dark green feathers, eyes of amber, and twitched as they focused on Simon. Their beak and cws were their natural weapons, evident even at first gnce. They held their grace as they nded near him, with a soft touch to the ground.

  These rge eagles preyed on the monster monkeys. To Simon’s understanding of the natural food chain of the forest. He knew what to hunt and what to avoid, and these rge eagles were definitely to be avoided since they used Wind Magic.

  ‘That was before, now I can use magic too!’ But Simon had been thinking of hunting these birds out of curiosity about how their meat tasted.

  One of the birds fpped its wings sharply, then struck its beak against the ground twice—an unmistakable challenge. Simon’s eyes locked with the bird’s unwavering gaze, waiting for his move. No words were spoken, but the meaning was clear.

  “GRAAAWR!!!” and the boy roared just for fun, the two birds were surprised by his answer. He dropped his bag, grabbed up the sword, and unsheathed it, revealing the bde of the makeshift sword—Fin Bde.

  The bird began gawking. The boy then started moving away from his things; he didn’t want his backpack to be shredded by the upcoming fight. The bird followed him, but the other one stood its ground.

  “So you are watching? You won’t backstab me, won’t you?” Simon gred at the other bird, but it didn’t move in its spot.

  After getting into position, the two stood in silence for a while. ‘It’s time to test this sword!’ Simon began channeling magic into the handle of the Fin Bde.

  As if rehearsed, the two moved simultaneously, unching long-range magic attacks—{Water Bde}s from Simon and Wind Bdes from the eagle.

  The eagle was using its cws to unch Wind Bdes while it was hovering, and it was also slowly moving closer to the boy.

  Simon immediately noticed this, and he moved closer too. In a few moments, they were face-to-face.

  “CLASH!”

  It was now Beak vs Sword. The two were locked in a draw for a while, but the rge form of the bird was enough to push the boy away.

  With just a few flicks of the eagle’s cw, the bird unched a sneak attack with a small Wind Bde, successfully nding a hit on Simon’s shoulders.

  “Aargh! That hurts!” Simon grunted, but his lips were smiling. He gave up the weapon’s lock and jumped away from the bird.

  The eagle celebrated by fpping its wings and then threw some “Caw!!!” along the way, and the bird that was watching was celebrating along with its comrade.

  Simon nodded. The brief exchange between his {Water Bde} and the eagle's Wind Bde was already a lesson for him. It didn’t have to be a {Water Bde}—he could shape the water freely with his will and movements.

  ‘Like that small razor wind that hit me!’

  The {Water Bde} was formed by him conjuring water and waving it. ‘If so,’ he tried creating a small water drop close to the hilt of the sword, but it immediately popped. ‘I’m an idiot, I’ll figure it out some other day.’ His imagination was just not enough to compensate for his natural efficiency.

  He formed back into his stance. ‘It’s time to finish this,’ he held his sword forward, focusing.

  The birds who were celebrating felt the change in the atmosphere.

  The battle in the wild was always life and death, and everyone present understood it.

  The eagle began its charge, and Simon fired {Water Bde}s. The eagle dodged it by spinning into a hover in the air. The bird then fired Wind Bdes, but the boy was already out of sight.

  Simon reappeared directly under the rge eagle with an attack ready to unch.

  “Over here!” Using a thrust forward, he created a burst of water that instantly tore the body of the bird. Blood flew, painting Simon in red.

  The eagle’s body dropped lifelessly to the ground. The other bird, who was watching, was too surprised at what had just happened.

  “Are you going to fight against me, too?” Using his gnce, Simon’s intention was immediately understood by the other eagle.

  It shivered in fear as it began fpping away.

  Simon was in a bloody mess, but it helped since he wouldn’t need to drain much of the blood and wait that long. ‘I have to light the fire again,’ he smiled, it would take some time again, but he just had to confirm something.

  ‘This should taste good!’

  Forest Folks.

  “I've never seen someone kill a Storm Hawk solo,” remarked one of the boy’s observers.

  Earlier that week, they had come across a young boy. They had thought he was just a lost child, looking ordinary and likely to die that day. But the boy was not normal in the first pce; the boy traveled with his whims, dispying an abnormal resilience and skill when in trouble.

  The Forest Folks decided to kill him themselves, waiting for the right opportunity. However, the boy was always on high alert, his senses sharp.

  They didn’t want to confront him directly after witnessing him sy the Heg Monkeys out of spite. In fact, they avoided crossing his path, fearing they might be detected.

  But after sying and feasting on a rge fish—the Grim Fish that inhabited their Holy Spring—the boy was not a normal human for sure. They quickly abandoned the idea of resolving the issue through violence.

  The Grim Fish had been residing in their Holy Spring for fifty years already, and they didn't mind its presence since it would perish in another hundred years or so. In fact, the boy’s sying of the fish was seen as a great service to them.

  “That sword… it would be a great help if we acquired that,” one of the forest folk commented. The other two knew that it was not said out of greed for power, but rather it was for their cn.

  But their secretive cn had always struggled with interacting with humans, which left the three in a predicament. They didn't know how to approach the boy, who was impressive but also quite intimidating to them.

  “Continue to observe him, I will call for father,” their leader, the son of the cn chieftain, decided. The other two simply nodded in agreement.