"Gugu gaga"
(Oh come on, not this again!)
He thrashed about angrily, his tiny limbs flailing around.
(What's wrong with these skills? Even if they're level 1, they should be better than this)
Paul spent some time complaining about his skills, until his baby body was overcome by exhaustion and fell asleep. He laid there naked, his chest rising with every breath.
The next day he woke up in his nest. His human eyes opened slowly, unable to see properly, as they couldn't easily adapt to the darkness. The drowsiness faded away and Paul tried to stand up.
"Gaaah"
Surprised by his inability to get up, he remembered the prior days events.
(Oh right … This body is seriously inconvenient)
He activated his skill once more and changed back to his small bird body.
(I accidentally fell asleep. Even if my mind isn't that of an infant, it makes no difference to this newborn body. But even more so than that, this skills are … Come on, Paul. This isn't the first time you've been in a bad situation)
He walked around in circles, deep in thought. A solution was needed or else he would be stuck behind the safety of the barrier, until he grew up.
He looked over his status window intensively, reviewing his options.
(What to do? How can I – Hmm?)
A thought flashed through his mind.
His eyes remained stuck an a certain part of his status, while he considered the information from the [Beginners guide].
True to its name, it only contained basic knowledge of this world and the system. Things that even children would learn early on. But that was enough for Paul to form a plan of action.
A minute later he closed the status window, a glint of resolution in his eyes.
He pecked at the moss in his nest a couple times, satisfying the rising hunger from his stomach and with firm steps he headed towards the entrance of his little home. The barrier, which had gone back to being invisible, rippled with light when Paul crossed it.
Once outside he opened his beak and spit out a few spark before going back inside. He didn't bother being overly cautious like last time, as it appeared empty and he didn't intent to stay outside for more than a few seconds. Having finished his business outside, he went back inside the nest.
He activated his [Polymorph lvl.1] skill, transforming into a human baby again. But this time he wasn't going to fall asleep.
(Open status)
The translucent window appeared in front of him, as he laid in his nest.
Status window
Race: Newborn Phoenix
Name: Unnamed
Class: None
HP: 3 / 3
Fey: 1 / (+++)
SP: 3 / 3
Strength: 1
Dexterity: 1
Defense: 1
Intelligence: 1
Resistance: 1
Speed: 1
(As expected, my Fey went down)
He hadn't paid attention to this particular matter, when he tested his skills the day before. Now this had become so obvious, that he wanted to slap himself for not realizing this sooner.
(This settles it. I don't know why it's called Fey, but essentially it's my mana bar)
Paul was glad to solve this mystery at first, but with it came more questions.
(If that's my mana, then what's this weird +++ symbol next to it? The other displays for Hp and Sp are normal, but this one is different for some reason)
He spend a few minutes thinking about it and yet was left with no answer. Thus he put the matter aside for now and focused on something else, but it seemed that it would take more time.
So while he waited, he went through the [Beginners guide] several times to make sure he didn't miss anything important.
Then finally half an hour later, he saw what he had been waiting for. His Fey increased from 1 to 2.
(So it takes an hour to get my Fey back to full)
With this knowledge, he started planning what would become his new schedule.
The full hour passed and his Fey was back to full. He immediately activated his skill, transformed back to his bird body and stepped outside.
After using his [Fire attack], he returned to the nest and waited another hour.
At first he would walk around impatiently, while he was waiting for the hour to pass. But other than that he remained still whenever possible in order to save energy.
He repeated this routine every hour, making sure he used his skills as often as possible. Sometimes he would wait for a second and tilt his head after using his skills, as if expecting something to happen.
When he got thirsty, he would make a quick run to the nearby pond. And when he got hungry, he would peck some of the moss in his nest.
This continued for two days until-
Ding! [Fire attack] leveled up!
Ding! [Polymorph] leveled up!
His body jerked in surprise as he received the notification.
(Finally! Open status)
He anxiously hurried to look at the results of his efforts.
Status window
Race: Newborn Phoenix
Name: Unnamed
Class: None
HP: 6 / 6
Fey: 8 / (+++)
SP: 6 / 6
Strength: 2
Dexterity: 2
Defense: 2
Intelligence: 3
Resistance: 2
Speed: 2
Skills: [Budding immortality] [Polymorph lvl.2] [Fire attack lvl.2]
(Oh, yeah! Now this is looking a lot better)
Paul jumped for joy, as he saw the numbers in the translucent window showing his status had doubled. Not only that, but his skills had improved like he hoped for. He couldn't help but celebrate, after his experiences in this world. Now things were starting to go his way.
(Skills can be trained, just like I thought. Even if it took two days)
The guide included information about skills having levels, but it didn't name any methods on how to improve them and thus he had to find the correct method himself. Luckily for him, his idea worked out nicely. Paul was on a timer after all.
He was acutely aware that the moss he fed on would run out sooner rather than later and so he would have to set out once more. At that time he would need a way to fight back against the Salamander and anything else that awaited him.
In the beginning he contemplated training his body, since his stats were most likely tied to it, but quickly gave up on that thought. Him being a newborn meant no amount of training would make him stronger, just like a toddler couldn't train to become a bodybuilder. He couldn't accelerate his growth, thus he decided to work on his skills instead. That was the plan anyway, until he saw that his stats had actually gone up. This made him reconsider his approach again.
(Is it because of this bird body? I guess it makes sense, that a bird would grow faster than a human)
He wanted to believe training could work to make him strong enough, but he couldn't take any chances when his life was on the line.
(Let's take a look at my upgraded skills before I start deciding how to progress)
Kindred skill: Polymorph lvl.2
-Allows the user to transform into the shape of a different race. This skill cannot imitate the kindred or unique skills of other races and the transformations are limited to races of the same grade as the user
Lvl.1 – Human
Lvl.2 – Empty
(Hmm? Empty? … Ah, I see. That's how it works. Skills get stronger as you level them up and this skill in particular allows me to add a new form for every level. But this probably means the number of forms I can get are limited, so I'll have to be careful about which ones I decide on)
Paul wanted to plan ahead, but sadly he didn't have enough knowledge about the creatures that lived there. After all the Salamander was the only one he knew about and he wasn't sure that it would be a good choice.
(Whatever, let's check the other one)
Kindred skill: Fire attack
-A skill held by races with a fire affinity. Allows the user to create and manipulate fire. Skill level determines strength and efficiency.
Lvl.1 Fireball
Lvl.2 +5% to fire attack
(Oh, now this is an interesting turn of events. This one gave me a boost to my fire attacks. Even though they're both kindred skills, they seemed to be quite different from each other)
He didn't know if this was normal but it simply meant that he would have to keep an eye on the matter, in order to get a better understanding of skills.
(Questions for later. This is a good start and now I can start planning my revenge match against that stupid lizard)