After eating the Tapir, I had a rare moment of clarity where I finally realized how unnatural my feeding is. Looking at the bones that remained, I struggled to understand how my small body managed to eat the entire Tapir in one sitting. Then, question after question hit me at a hundred miles a minute and each was more harrowing than the last.

How did I manage to eat the entire Tapir in one sitting? That should be the least of my concerns. More importantly, I should be wondering why I'm not feeling bloated or even full. I just ate something around three times my size! However, even more important than that would be learning where my body has been storing all the waste from post digestion. I probably should have realized this sooner, but I still haven't needed to relieve myself of urine or excrement and I've eaten literally dozens of prey!

Taking a moment to reevaluate my Status, it was only after I came across the details of my Magical Gizzard Skill that I regained my calm.

[Skills:

Name: Magical Gizzard Lvl 3

Description: A near-universal skill for Avian-type Magical Beasts that allows faster more efficient digestion. Lvl 3 reduces the amount of Magic needed to digest increasingly tougher nutritional sources and further increases the speed of digestion. Additionally, whereas before, you could only completely digest food from sources Ranked E+ or below, now you can completely digest food from sources Ranked D- or below.]

Wow, as a Level 4 Infant, I already have such an overbearing and convenient ability? I'm finally shaping up to be one of those Otherworldly Protagonists Munich talked about. Then again, I could just be over appreciating something that's commonplace for monsters.

In any case, I remain able to eat and just a short distance away there's a plant loaded with what I appraised to be potentially magical fruits. Hopping over to the base of the plant, a happy smirk of appreciation finds its way on my face as I confirm that the plant's false stem, or trunk, is sturdy enough to hold me while I climb to claim my prize.

Utilizing my Grip and Climbing Skills, I make short work of the climb to the cluster of bananas branched off to the plant's side. With a single powerful peck, the cluster is separated from the plant, waiting on the floor for me to eat the dozens of fruits.

After scaling back down to ground level, I grew increasingly happy as I started eating. This being the first time since I had reincarnated where I had actually found something that tasted sweet, without a resistance built up, the first banana I ate might as well have been pure rock candy.

[Appraise Successful

Name: Unknown Semi-Sweet Banana

Rank: E-

Description: Against expectations, the flesh of the banana is tender, sweet, and ripe. Additionally, the banana has magical enhancing properties that should work well in direct consumption, cooking, and occupational use; e.g. alchemy.]

Nodding my head in self-satisfaction, I made it about 75% of the way through to completely eating the bananas before another prompt signal the moment I'd been hoping for.

[Level Up

Status

Name: None (Pick a name? Yes/No)

Species: Lesser Avian Infant

Level: 5/5

Rank: E-

Life: 96%

Condition: Slightly Injured

Magic Reserves: 15 → 16

Attack: 22 → 23

Defense: 14 → 15

Speed: 19 → 20

Endurance: 11 → 13

Magic Potency: 0

Magic Resistance: 5 → 6

Species Level Cap Achieved: Evolution Available

Evolution Options:

Species: Lesser Fledgling Falcon

Description: Defines your Avian affiliation to that of the Falcon's Path. The greatest strength of Falcon types lies in their speed. Though not the physically strongest or most durable, their other physical attributes are above average. Though in return, they aren't magically gifted. Aside from Wind and Special type magic, there isn't much that Falcons can master in the field of Magic.

Species: Lesser Eaglet

Description: Defines your Avian affiliation to that of the Eagle's Path. Eagle-type monsters are defined by their outrageous power. Though a bit lacking in defense and speed, they more than make up for their drawback through their Magic potential. Though they tend to heavily specialize in one field of magic, Eagles are known to be able to pick up and master several branches. However, for their power, they have the highest barriers for growth out of all birds; i.e. they require the most amount of experience to Level Up.

Species: Lesser Fledgling Hawk

Description: Defines your Avian affiliation to that of the Hawk's Path. Known for their titanic size the further along the evolutionary line they go, Hawks have unrivaled Defensive and Endurance Stats among all the Avian-type Monsters. While the rest of their physical stats generally fall far above average for Avian-type Monsters, they are unfortunately magically inept. Even the simplest of foundational Magics, aside from Special type Magic, are beyond their capabilities.

Species: Lesser Fledgling Raven

Description: Defines your Avian affiliation to that of the Raven's Path. As the Avian-type branch of Monsters with the highest aptitude for magic, Ravens are beyond versatile in combat. As monsters with naturally well-endowed Magic Reserves, and the fastest of growth rates for Magic Potency, Ravens only have their relatively weak physical stats to worry about.]

Sighing, I did away with the hundreds of completely worthless options and only considered the top four evolutionary paths that I could see as worthy of pursuing. Of course, there wasn't really much to debate as the hints from the descriptions were too blatant to ignore. Obviously, I'd end up picking Lesser Eaglet as my choice for evolution.

Sure, it seemed counterintuitive at first glance. I only have less than ten thousand years to become this universe's God, so wouldn't it be moronic to choose the hardest path to progress with?

No, it wasn't.

At least, not if you accept bearing the responsibility of having to work that much harder to level up accordingly. Besides, to become the strongest I couldn't be cutting corners this early on in my life. Logically speaking, only the strongest of Avian-type monsters would have the chance to become the strongest entity in the universe.

In any case, I pulled up my Status to accept evolving when a new prompt caused me to stop in my tracks.

[Evolve: Lesser Avian Infant → Lesser Eaglet? Yes/No

WARNING: Evolution induces unconsciousness which lasts anywhere from several hours to days.]

Shaking my head, I dismissed my evolution for now in favor of eating what remained of the magical bananas.

[Magic Reserves 16 → 17]

When I was done, I smiled helplessly at the piles of peels left to the side of the Tapir's skeleton. I know it shouldn't have bothered me considering the remains would decompose and continue the cycle of life in the forest, but what remained of my humanity felt displeased by the blatant "littering."

Now for my evolution…

I looked at the evening's setting sun and cursed internally. From a pragmatic viewpoint, it would be illogical to start my evolution and run the risk of getting ambushed as I'd experienced during the previous night. Still, it was almost dusk, so I still had to look for a new tree to scale and turn into another temporary home.

Alas, before I could take my pick, I felt this tugging sensation from above and the next thing I knew, I was no longer in the forest.

From my posterior, I heard my summoner say, "Over here, birdy."

I turned around, going from looking out into an open plain to coming across the sight of the adventurer's party my summoner was a part of. Only, aside from the four of them, there was also a new man. The man was significantly older than the rest of the party. Whereas he was probably in his late twenties to early thirties, the others didn't even look to be in their twenties.

Hopping over to my summoner's side, I was surprised to see my summoner actually squat down and extend a hand in my direction. Taking the hint, I hopped over atop her hand and was then carried over to her shoulder. While this all played out, the man started speaking with my summoner as he sized me up.

"Rudiesed anutefe ineseda fa coras esa secinier lihuha?"

"Oh, this little girl? We found her at the edge of the Littleroot Forest. She was oddly aloof, neither willing to attack nor run away from us, so Stella proposed I try to make a Beast Contract with her. It was a bit of a surprise to see it only took a single try for her to accept."

"Toyates deja na gomatec litibum..." The man looked a bit smug as he quietly spoke and after he finished, my summoner's companions all started laughing.

"She's a he? Oh..." My summoner looked at me apologetically as I tried my hardest to not react.

"Anyways, Uncle Tebolt, you're the only B Rank Summoner I know. Do you have any advice on how I should train him? I may have learned Summoner's Magic and the Beast Contract for a couple years now, but he's the only monster that's been willing to accept thus far."

"Ahh… Rune fi lo arolesa leb isod yaca lica." This Uncle Tebolt turned into quite the annoyance as he started manipulating my body, checking me out from every conceivable angle.

After he finally put me back down on her shoulder, he said, "Ca lieb cimit kap godamut amexi pec."

My summoner sighed before saying, "What a shame, I guess I'll just have to wait a while until he can evolve, then. It would be asking for much to summon him to fight against monsters on my party's level."

Slowly, a smirk formed on my face as I called for my Evolution to start right then and there. As I slowly started losing consciousness, I felt my body collapse over to the side. Luckily, my summoner's reflexes were good enough to catch me before I hit the ground and I knew I had made the correct decision. My blurring vision and distorted hearing caught the final exchange between this "Uncle Tebolt" and my summoner.

"Wev ovesuri hi sanarop cogifi momer maradat!"

"Are you serious? I can't believe my luck!"