“There is much to learn about this thing.” Gnihzur sat on the sofa, getting accustomed to his Digital Feather for almost an hour. “This thing has so many features. I think I should test out that Delivery Circle functionality.”

Getting up from the sofa, Gnihzur walked around the 1st floor of his nest looking for a suitable space. “I think here will do.” He activated a feature of his Digital Feather which sent out a geometrical light projection on the floor. “This particular Digital Feather supports a Delivery Circle that can only be printed in areas with enough flat surface of 3 square metres. When the lines show up red this means the area isn’t suitable for printing, but when it shows up green that’s a good sign. I will print it right here.”

Gnihzur activated the print function of his Digital Feather. Numerous tiny laser beams penetrated the floor in uniform order until they created a circular spell diagram with a noticeable batch code in the centre, marked DCA-F1269. This number was the delivery address.

“Now that the Delivery Circle is successfully printed, I will request my luggage to be sent over.” Gnihzur used his mental power to fiddle with the Digital Feather’s interface. He accepted the incoming transmission that was sent to him earlier by the academy’s assistant. Shortly, he witnessed the swift materialization of his luggage forming within the Delivery Circle.

“It worked!” Gnihzur jumped in excitement, adoring the magical qualities of his Digital Feather. He inspected his suitcase and indeed every item was intact and accounted for.

“This thing is so cool! I wonder how much it cost on the market.” With this thought in mind, Gnihzur visited the digital marketplace via his Digital Feather. He discovered a variety of items for sale, none of which was what he sought. Searching a bit more, he finally located the shelf with the products he sought.

“These are very expensive.”

The price of the various Digital Feathers arrayed in thumbnail format ranged from 30 to 300 Gold Feathers. Silver and Gold Feathers were the accustomed objects used in trading commodities. These particular feathers aren’t artificially produced. They are formed on the wings of crows due to a certain compression of Krowqui whenever a certain evolutionary stage has been met. The energies they produced can aid with a lot of things including longevity, healing, and esoteric teaching, they can even assist cultivators in breaking through their bottleneck, hence their unique value.

As he continued to peruse the product list, Gnihzur came across a Digital Feather that caught his eye. “This one cost 300 Gold Feathers! Why is it so expensive? Oh, it’s one of the latest ones, so that’s why. I wonder what new features it has…”

Gnihzur viewed the specs of the Digital Feather: [C-Zek Digital Feather Version 12.0] An holographic animation of a robotic sales clerk popped up and started listing the features:

“Digital Feather Version 12.0 is one of C-Zek’s latest modules. We’ve taken our customers’ advice and added 5 new key features to the exciting list that can also be utilized independently of Krowqui with the replacement of Mental Quanta. These are:

Quantum Array Strain – This feature allows the user to observe the energy cores and meridian points of over 1,000 types of species. (Requires special Krowqui access to activate fully)

Alchemist Robe – This feature is very useful for aspiring Alchemists. It endows the user with alchemical knowledge capable of mixing approximately 200 ingredients without being adept in Alchemy. For more details, view the ingredients list. (Digital Feather comes preloaded with 70 rare ingredients)

Physical Storage – With this feature, carrying your physical items around could never become easier. Making use of the cutting edge Fractural Glass Element recently developed by C-Zek, this Digital Feather is now able to store a variety of items within its limited Glass Universe of 10-cubic metres. Future updates might be available soon.

Holographic Framework – This is a huge upgrade to the previous feature that only supported intangible projections. Now, users can project tangible light rays with rigid geometric patterns.

Samadhi Trance – A deep undisturbed meditative state of lighted awareness which comes out of Divine Knowledge can now be achieved in only a few seconds after activation.

Order now and get a 10% discount. Was 300-GF, now 270-GF.”

Gnihzur perused the key features once again. They seemed enticing. “Quantum Array Strain, Alchemist Robe, Physical Storage, Holographic Framework, Samadhi Trance. It looks like this thing was made specifically for me! I have to have it! How many Gold Feathers do I have?”

To jog his memory, Gnihzur retrieved his luggage from the Delivery Circle. He searched through it and took out all the Gold Feathers he could find. After counting all he had they amount to 170 Gold Feathers and 22 Silver Feathers.

“Heck, not enough Gold Feathers.” Gnihzur’s hung his head low despondently. He moseyed on over to the sofa and sat with his flaccid wing covering his face. While he was in his dejected mode, a white feather materialized in his blind spot, it flew through the flutters of the air and landed on his feet. Immediately, Gnihzur’s eyes shot wide open brimming with a solution to his current dilemma.

“On the marketplace, my Digital Feather is valued at 165-GF retail value and it is brand new so there won’t be a problem in trading it for pure Gold Feathers. If I combine the amount received with what I currently have then in total I will have 335-GF! This is more than enough to purchase the new Digital Feather.”

Coming to this realization was due to the intuitive spark that Gnihzur received from the white feather that graced his talons. A familiar entity was guiding him, however, he was not yet aware of its presence.

Gnihzur went ahead and set an order for the new Digital Feather after he created a backup data log on the Cloud Framework. He waited until he received the trader’s DC-Address before he unplugged his Digital Feather and placed it inside the Delivery Circle along with the 170 Gold Feathers he unpacked from his suitcase. Shortly, every item placed in the Delivery Circle disappeared out of sight.

Gnihzur waited for almost a minute and still didn’t see his purchased item arriving. “What is taking so long? It’s been over 45 seconds already?” Impatience got the better of Gnihzur. A minute later, his package arrived.

“Ah, it’s here!” Gnihzur eagerly tore open the 7-inch box. Inside, he found a blue-silver Digital Feather along with an installation manual. “It doesn’t look much different from the other one. Probably only its features are different.”

Moments after installing the Digital Feather, Gnihzur felt the drastic change and absorption of his mental energy. “Wow, I can feel its attachment.” Unlike the Digital Feather that the academy issued, this upgraded version was way more advanced. It had a brand new interface and everything.

Gnihzur quickly browsed through the new features of his Digital Feather. The first thing he tested was the storage functionality. He aimed the absorbing laser beams at his suitcase. “Store!” Within an instant, his suitcase fractured into phantasmal glass shards which got sucked into his Digital Feather. From within his mental scope, Gnihzur could clearly see his belongings sitting in the 10-cubic metre Glass Universe.

Next, he tested the Holographic Framework feature. Using his mental power in conjunction with the Digital Feather’s Holographic Framework, Gnihzur was able to project a simple geometric pattern in the form of a tangible sphere. He calculated its durability by smashing it a few times against the wall. It shattered after 3 impacts. “It’s rigid enough to knock over a few pieces of furniture but it isn’t that durable. What of the others?”

Gnihzur tried understanding the other key features but he didn’t have enough Mental Quanta nor sufficient Krowqui to test them all. “For now I can only utilize 2 of its key features. The others require way more Mental Quanta than I can spare right now. This would have been easier if my Krowqui was strong enough.”

As Gnihzur was about to fall into a saddened state, another white feather materialized and came along and rested on his shoulder, offering comfort. “I shouldn’t worry about my Krowqui right now. I’ve gotten accepted into Crowjun Soul Academy and I’m proud of myself. I’m sure there’s a way to activate my Krowqui in due time.”

Feeling energized, Gnihzur decided to go outside and get some fresh air but first, he wanted to solicit Kwaserah’s company. Her nest was directly next to his. So it didn’t take him that long to arrive at the gunk entrance which cordoned her abode. Using his Digital Feather, Gnihzur established transmission with Kwaserah’s gunk. From inside her nest, she heard the entrance of her nest chiming.

Kwaserah inquired, “Who is it?”

“It’s me, Gnihzur.”

Kwaserah was startled to hear his voice. She hurriedly stop what she was doing and directed her feathers towards the branch corridor leading to her nest. On her way, she spotted Gnihzur’s smiling presence through the transparent gunk. She opened it, moreover, looked down the hall to see if anyone was watching. “Gnihzur, what are you doing here?”

“Well, I came to invite you out…”

“Hurry and get in here!” Kwaserah dragged him inside her nest and close the gunk entrance before anyone could see. However, her quick reaction didn’t evade the sight of the dark silhouette who was secretly watching her.

“It’s just as I’ve feared. That girl is really careless with whom she associates with.” The mysterious silhouette vanished out of sight before anyone could recognize its appearance.