As the altitude continued to increase, Ken had to push himself harder and harder to cover the same amount of ground. The air was thinning faster than the qi was increasing, causing more fatigue and hunger for him and his companions. Thankfully, these changes were accompanied by increased signs of megafauna, and that meant food. Ken observed the huge dark colored birds a few more times but never close enough to identify them. When Ken failed to find prey for more than two days, Rain would bring something. After traveling for four more days in the foothills the woods continued to thin. The desire to not wake up next to headless animal corpses helped Ken reach a new level of motivation to find his own food. The eight foot rattlesnake she had gifted a couple days ago had particurly rattled him.

  While taking a midday rest break, Ken spotted movements in his peripheral vision, and slowly turned his head, focusing, and snatched up his bow and arrows. It was a small herd of mountain goats. While he had been resting, they had appeared over the crest, and were scaling down the cliff he was about to climb, coming towards him at an angle. He slowly turned to keep the herd in sight, and when they reached a part of the cliffside where he had the best shot, he stood up. The goats flinched when they saw him and burst into movement. Ken’s arrow was already in the air. Even at forty yards, he could tell he had missed the perfect kill shot, but it didn’t matter. The shot made the goat lose its footing and roll down the steep grade before being caught on a ledge.

  Ken climbed his way up to his kill and spotted Sunshine and Rain running over from the top most ledge, drawn over by the commotion. Hauling the carcass to the top of the ridge was grueling, the corpse must have weighed at least 300 pounds, and he had carried it up a steep incline. He had first thought he’d have to drain and clean the carcass first, and then carry it up the remainder of the incline in pieces, but when he had lifted it he couldn't believe how light it felt.

  Once he reached the hilltop and located a suitable pce to set up camp, Ken moved with a purpose. This goat was a huge lucky break for him. He would reach the main mountain range in another day of travel and would need to try to find the best pce to pass. High in the mountains food would be scarce, and how long traversing them would take was unknown. If he could dry some of this goat meat, and carry it with him, the trio would be able to eat enough to avoid starvation for a couple weeks.

  Ken drained the body, gutted it, and left it to hang while he built up a fire. He skinned the goat and put one of the hindquarters of the fire to start roasting. He butchered the rest of the goat, as best he could with his clumsy and poorly sharpened ax bde. By the time the huge leg of meat had finished roasting he had already arranged a rge portion of the meat on makeshift drying racks around the fire. While Sunny and Rain feasted on the remaining meat, Ken constructed a rough shelter around the fire. It was little more than a pile of evergreen branches with the hide draped over the top. After removing the roast leg, and rearranging the fire and drying racks, he attacked the meat. It was unseasoned, and unevenly cooked, but it was the first real red meat he’d eaten in what felt like an eternity.

  After he ate as much meat as he could stomach, he removed the hide from its pce over the fire and scraped the inner side with a stone, removing as much of the remaining bits of flesh and fat as he could. Using this kind of rough drying method, the hide would no doubt dry unevenly. It wouldn't st very long and pieces of it would no doubt rot and need to be removed. In the end he would be left with at most a few decent pieces that managed to cure properly, but every bit that survived was useful, and he would have at least something to carry his dried meat in for his upcoming expedition. After repcing the hide on its pce high over the fire, Ken sat down and took a breather. The meat would need at least a full day to properly dry, and the hide longer, although he would probably leave after only two days. Even dried, the meat would eventually spoil from his imperfect methods. He was now on a schedule. Ken gathered enough firewood to keep the fire going and prepared the fire to burn for a few hours. He fell asleep easily warmed by the fire and with a full stomach. Ken was exhausted, but he still had a deep feeling of accomplishment.

  Ken spent the following day gathering wood, feeding the fire, and occasionally turning the meat to try to get it as evenly cooked as possible. He also went to the highest point nearby, to try to get a better look at the mountain range he was facing. He spotted several promising looking gaps in the range, but they were preliminary guesses at best. He would have to get much closer if he wanted to be able to find a decent path but he at least had a general direction to check out. Ken also spotted several of the rge bck birds flying together in the distance. He returned to camp to tend to the fire, and meditated while he waited for the meat to dry.

  He continued his practice of applying pressure to his meridians and channels to help encourage their growth. It took him several hours to recover from each session, and inspect his qi network thoroughly to look for signs of damage. After a couple rounds, he felt the process was working, though he doubted its efficiency. It wasn’t a technique Ken could work on while traveling, especially if he was low on food, but it didn’t seem to be hurting him permanently.

  Ken awoke from his second night on the hilltop and checked his makeshift drying hut for the st time. He would let the fire continue to burn out while he meditated. Ken didn’t strain his meridians either, opting to train normally. Once dawn broke, he could break camp and set a pace towards the mountains. He was itching to get started, but could go nowhere in the dark.

  The dawn seemed to take longer than usual to come, thanks to Ken’s impatience. When the sky started to light up, Ken already had everything packed up in a bundle, using vine to tie the skin around the meat, and strap it to his back. As he called for his companions, he noticed a strange clicking sound coming from the cliff behind his campsite, and walked over cautiously to investigate. Before he could reach the cliff's edge, he heard a huge rush of air from overhead and dove under a tree with low hanging branches for cover.

  When Ken whipped around, with an arrow ready, he was stunned into silence. A massive crow was observing him intently from ten yards away. It was three feet tall, and its feather glistened with an opalescent sheen, however the most startling feature of the dark bird was the gold women's bracelet that was hanging around its neck.

  Ken held his fire, and gnced up at the sky where he found at least two dozen more giant crows circling. Backup. He could hear his backup rushing through the trees in the distance and barking. When he snapped his head back to his closest visitor, he found himself staring at a message hanging in the air, written in perfect Society Standard.

  “Are you a human?! You must be a human!”

  Ken stared at the oversized crow with a tentative expression. He read all the crows with Insight. They seemed… fine. They had been inside his detection range for a while, and it was his physical senses that had alerted him to their presence first. He had no idea how they had escaped his soul perception, which had a range of about half a mile. They were the first souled beings Ken had interacted with in a long time, besides Sunshine and Rain. Ken made a mental note to explore his gift again before breaking out of his thoughts to respond to the bird, who was still waiting for an answer.

  “Yes, I am human.”

  “Excellent! Human, are there more of you? We have been looking for humans but they’re all gone! No humans for miles and miles…”

  The bird seemed genuinely depressed at the ck of humans, which Ken couldn’t really understand. Yes, he was also looking for more humans, but he was pretty sure it wasn’t for the same reasons as this guy. Ken shook his head.

  “I’m also looking for more humans, but so far I haven't found any. I was pnning to try to cross the mountains to look for them. Do you know where I can cross them?”

  The conversation was interrupted by two galloping furballs crashing into the camp.

  The crow stared open mouthed at the two quadrupeds and excimed.

  “Pack hunters with a human! It's just a perfect roosting story now isn’t it. How adorable. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Eldest Brother Gangster the 43rd! Pleased to meet you.”

  It was Ken's turn to stare open mouthed. He read the qi characters twice to make sure he wasn’t missing anything before he burst out ughing. When he regained his composure he heard Rain making a weird noise, while Sunshine mostly just looked impressed, but happy that everyone was having fun.

  Ken and co all introduced themselves and there was an awkward pause while Ken tried to figure out what to say to the bird, and how to continue the conversation. Living alone for years was not really conducive to good small talk and socialization skills.

  “You from around here?” Ken wrote quickly while cringing inwardly. He really didn't know what else to say.

  “Yes the communal roost is close. We were attracted by the delicious bounty left over from your kill. It will feed my brothers for a long time. You must come and visit the elders at the roost. They have tasked us and others with searching for humans. Since you are proof that my gang is the first to find them, you must come with us!”

  “Why are you so interested in finding humans?” Ken asked, still confused by the crows enthusiasm

  “Why? To receive the blessing of eternal life of course!”

  “Uhh. As a human I have to say, I’ve never heard of any human that can give a blessing of eternal life…”

  The crow that procimed himself Gangster peered at Ken attentively.

  “Hmph, special humans can of course give the blessing of eternal life, or else my dad wouldn’t be alive at almost one hundred years old. Just because you are not special, doesn’t mean everyone else isn’t.”

  Well, that stings. Ken thought to himself.

  “If I come with you and meet your elders, can you show me the way across the mountains?” Ken wrote, trying to bring the conversation back to more comfortable territory.

  “Well we will soon be going to the jungle, which is on the other side of the mountains, so you can tag along if the elders are ok with it.”

  Ken was skeptical of his ability to “tag along” on a journey with airborne creatures, but he decided that was a problem for another day.

  “Well, I was getting ready to leave, can you point me in the right direction?”