All the excitement of my most recent Breakthrough made it so I woke up early. The dwarves were still asleep as I quickly took off to the top of the ravine. The thaumonomic sensor would warn them if anything dangerous closed in.

My first order of business was shifting back and getting some food. My stomach was very pleased to finally be sated and my focus soon heightened. The lack of nutrition had been more exhausting than expected.

Still, now it was time to experiment with my improved [Winged Death]. The first thing I did was see if there were any changes to the normal state. A simple iron feather shot out and dug into a nearby stone. It had only gone in about three centimetres but that was quite the accomplishment. A quick check on my reserves showed me the Skill had gotten a little cheaper. That might have been the increased Intelligence and Wisdom, though. I tried again, carefully feeling the energy. Metal vis flowed out of my Core and spread into both wings. I kept a close eye on it and flapped. The vis formed into a feather shape as I pulled back and was propelled forward with the reverse motion. Somehow, it was a lot cheaper this time. I checked the target and found only a single projectile sticking in the rock. Besides, it was a small hole about a centimetre deep. Had I…?

I tried again, this time keeping an eye on the rock. I felt the expected amount of energy drain and a steel feather flew out. Wait, was it steel or iron? How would I even tell? And why was it not thaumium, the metal I actually had in my other form? I shook my head and pushed those thoughts aside. Two feathers were stuck inside the rock, now. Once more, I focused on my wings and the vis pushed into them. This time, I realized what was happening. I somehow prevented the vis to turn into essence and thus a ‘real’ feather. Instead, I simply shot out a chunk of vis shaped like one. It was a decent bit weaker but also used only about a tenth of the energy. Somehow. Did that mean, whenever I was shooting void feathers, I would create a real vacuum to cut through my target? That was terrifying.

I had to try replicating the vis-only mode with my more expensive aspects. It looked like it worked but I soon realized I saved less mana for an even weaker effect. Still, a third of the cost for a tenth of the effect was more than enough when working with pure perditio or vacuos.

That was an interesting discovery and for a moment I wondered if I had always been able to use the Skill like that. The answer came quickly as I tried once more and shot out a ‘real’ feather from simply slipping a tiny bit in focus. This was not the Skill upgrade but a result of my increased Wisdom. I would need quite a bit more to really get there. Maybe even a more rapid-fire attack could be possible eventually.

The next test was combining different essences. They had to be non-adjacent but that still allowed for some interesting combinations. I had to be a little careful with my reserves since the dwarves would soon start moving again but I decided to experiment a little nonetheless. The most powerful aspects I could use were void and destruction, going by combat capability. I had some ideas on how to improve those.

First, I got to work on void. The feathers made from it would cut through pretty much anything but be incapable of doing large scale damage unless going through the length of my target. That required pinpoint precision to hit where I wanted and made avoiding death from them much too easy. What I wanted was a way to control it. Since my attack was the concept of a feather, I could imagine volatus and aer, flight and air, were the best choice to guide its flight. I decided to go for broke and use both simultaneously. The first attempt was a pure vis attack trying to conserve some more energy. It did not work. The not fully realized feather was quickly swallowed by its own energy and did not fly more than a few centimetres before disappearing from reality. Taking the plunge, I shot the real thing. The essence made it much more stable and I soon had a void projectile flying off each of my wings. Slivers of air and flight essence hugged the feather to which my mind was still connected. I found a simple exertion of will could easily adjust the direction at first but the further my attack got from my body, the harder it was to control.

I watched the void feather cut an upward arch through the air before shooting straight up into the sky. For a moment I thought I saw a tiny hole cut through the clouds above. How far would it fly? Normally these void feathers would stop after destroying a certain amount of matter, digging holes of a few metres into the ground at most.

No matter, it was no longer my problem. I had a way to adjust my strongest attack’s path. Now, I wanted to see if I could improve my second strongest. Destruction had the issue of lacking focus and resulting in surface damage. On the leopard that was still enough to take out its legs but the beast seemed focused on mobility and ambush tactics. I would have problems breaking into a tougher target’s natural defences.

The obvious solution was to focus it. I wondered if earth, crystal or metal would be the best option and quickly realized my wings holding all three of them. With a bit of concentration, I was able to move all metallum vis to my right wing and all vitreus to my left. The terra vis was absorbed into my Core.

Destruction joined both sides and within a moment, I had my attacks flying. Both feathers dug into my target stone at the same time. The metal ripped a rather smooth initial hole that quickly expanded to about two centimetres wider in all directions. I ruffled my feathers. What a wonderful attack. The crystal was even more destructive. It cracked upon impact, cutting in less deep at first. Then, it shattered and the destruction infused shards flew out the back of my target like shrapnel, leaving tiny holes all over the gravel. A few pebbles started tumbling down but luckily there was no sudden rockslide.

The metal also stuck in the ground behind, eroded in a web-like pattern. The destruction aspect had eaten into it a little. It looked like it would be a very effective tactic to go through strong protection without using my void feathers. It was also cheaper since the majority of vis was metallum which easily converted without eating itself. That seemed to be the real reason why some attacks cost more than others. The aspects had different ways of forming into real objects, some more easily than others. It was an interesting observation that might lead to some more cost-effective attacks down the line. I would need a lot of research and practice, though.

For now, I decided to stop my experimentation. The dwarves were waking up and questioning where I had gone. I stepped to the ledge and hooted, drawing their attention.

“There you are, Fio!”, Fredrick waved, “You got enough rest?”

I tried and barely managed to connect to him with [Telepathy] over the almost 20 metres separating us.

“Yes. We can make some good time today but I suggest taking it easy. We have maybe two more days before we reach the halfway point.”

“Sounds good!”, he answered before turning to the others who were preparing breakfast.

I flew down to pack up the thaumonomic sensor and shifted to hunt for some breakfast as well. My energy reserves were at around half at this point but I probably had another five shifts in me. Maybe even six. Those points in Intelligence really made a difference.

Soon after, we were on our way again. I was a little more relaxed now that their pursuer was taken care of and flew slightly ahead to scout the path. In the distance, I made out the peak of my workshop mountain. The ravine was thinning out as well, closing around one day’s walk away. I took the time of the dwarves’ lunch break to investigate and found it continued underground. The water splashing through the cavern made reverberating sounds similar to those I knew from the goblin village’s underground river.

When I discussed it with the dwarves, we decided to use ropes to climb out and continue above. Nobody knew where the gorge led after diving into the earth or even if the path would continue.

The next two days passed without complications. If I flew very high up, I could see the ravine holding the entrance to the goblin village. It should be less than a week's travel from here on. I kept an eye out for more wind leopards but luckily never saw one. Maybe moving into a more open space made it too risky for them to attack. There had to be more around here, potentially even the Progenitor. For now, I was glad there was no contact with them.

I could have made a quick stop at my workshop but decided not to. I did not even point it out to the dwarves. They had no need to know.

On the third day after getting out of the gorge, more predators started to notice the group. Most of them were solitary hunters and had little interest in moving for them. The few that did were no magical beasts with insane sensory abilities and such we could avoid another stressful stalker. Rather than that, I simply took out any threats as soon as they made themselves known. I was getting more comfortable again with hunting. I promised myself to never let my skills get this rusty again. I had the ability to engage in combat with a decent amount of safety thanks to my metal form so there was no need to avoid training. Maybe I could even join the guards in their sparring sessions every once in a while. That would help everyone involved.

The predators I took out in the following days brought me all the way up to level 86, giving me another eight Attribute Points. That let me bring both Intelligence and Wisdom up to a round 60. I also gained a level in [Shock Attack], the upgraded [Surprise Attack]. Looking at my status, I considered putting a point in Dexterity and Perception each before reaching 100 in [Assassin]. That would bring both of them up to 30. Maybe getting my race level higher would do that, though. I would wait as long as possible.

Species: Sgiathan Dorcha Owl (adult)

Age: 1

Name: Fio

Gender: female

Status: sapient, healthy, Beast Core (unique), metallized, crystallized, ordered, outside

Level: 41

Class: [Assassin lvl 86], -

Strength: 26

Constitution: 22

Dexterity: 29

Perception: 29

Intelligence: 60

Wisdom: 60

AP: 0

Skills:

Racial:

Utility: [Owl Senses lvl 7], [Preening lvl 4], [Owl Stomach lvl 6], [Sgiathan Dorcha lvl 6]

Offensive: [Solid Grip lvl 4], [Intimidating Screech lvl 4], [Owl’s Shadow lvl 7], [Aerial Combat lvl 4]

General:

[Maths lvl 4], [Hidden Identify lvl 5], [Telepathy lvl 2]

Assassin:

[Sneak lvl 7], [Shock Attack lvl 6], [Mingling lvl 6], [Eldritch Shift lvl 6], [Winged Death lvl 5]