New World Day 12

The afternoon of my 12th day in the New World was ushered in with a series of bangs. I bolted upright as I realized that something was banging against the garage door. Did something other than the blood mosquitoes figure out that I was hiding out down here? I needed to investigate what was going on. I pulled on some socks and shoes to go with the jeans and t-shirt that I had worn to bed and crept over to the door that led to the garage. I grabbed the shotgun leaning against the love seat along the way and then peeled off the tape holding the beach towel to the door frame. Once the towels were out of the way, I cracked open the door and slipped through into the garage where I hid behind the Ranger. Light was pouring through the garage door windows, and it lit up the entire length of the garage without the need for any candles or lanterns.

Considering the length of the garage, I was a good distance away from the garage door windows, but I was happy for that large size. It not only gave me a place to train, but also gave a lot of hiding places and defensive space. My parents originally planned to make a large family room here instead of a garage when they had built the house. Family room? That thought struck a chord with me, but as I stared at the garage door windows from behind the Ranger, I couldn’t quite figure out why. AH! That’s why! The fireplace that is in the great room upstairs. There was supposed to be one down here as well, and the flume was built for it. It's just that when they decided to make this area a garage they blocked it off.

If I opened that area back up I could cook my food here in the safety of the garage, and the smell would go up and out the chimney. I knew that many beasts had incredible senses of smell, and I was sure that magic would only serve to strengthen that ability. However, I believe that the python and frog wouldn’t be able to track the smell since it would be drifting down from the sky if they could get a whiff of the smell at all. As for the bird, I knew that birds hunted by sight and sound instead of smell. The bird would no doubt see the smoke, but if it didn’t see any accompanying food, then it should leave me alone. It would be a considerable risk since if they did find me I would lose my only safe spot, but it was a far better solution than cooking outside had been. Besides, my supplies would only last for so long, and considering how high my resistances had leveled up by eating cooked crayfish tails, I feared that eating them raw would kill me.

In the madness of the past few days, I hadn’t had a chance to consider what I was going to do, but now I saw a excellent solution in front of me. Before I started to get things set up for my garage based kitchen though, I needed to figure out what was going on outside. The appearance of the solution to a problem that had been plaguing distracted me for a bit, but finding that solution wouldn’t matter if I was about to be overwhelmed by beasts. I had watched the windows, but with my distracted mind ,I hadn’t really seen what was happening. Now that I concentrated on the sight, I saw that it was around 10 large birds fighting each other. Every once in awhile one of them would either dodge in such a way that they would ram into the door, or another bird would smash them into the door. I saw dents formed from the impacts all over the door. I wasn’t sure how much more the door could take. I needed to get rid of these birds, but there was something off about them. They were nowhere near the size of the bird that kept stealing my food. They were however still as large as a bald eagle, and I didn’t recognize them at all. With all of the time I had spent here over the years, I was sure that I knew all of the Old World birds native to the area. That meant that they were New World species and were sure to be more dangerous than even their large size and sharp talons suggested.

As I watched the fighting outside, I couldn’t help but wonder what they were all fighting about until I happened to see a glint of red on the ground in front of me from the corner of my eye. That’s right, the corpses from the blood mosquito swarm must be out there. They were of a small size, but there must be hundreds of thousands of corpses out there. That would be more than enough to fill the stomachs of even birds of that size. There seemed to be three species of birds fighting over the corpses out there. There was one long legged bird that was light pink and had a long sharp dagger shaped peak. The legs of the bird reminded me of a great blue heron or considering the color of the bird a flamingo. Unlike either of those two species, this bird could breathe fire. I got a look at its mouth one time right before it sent a gout of fire at another bird and there was an odd u-shaped groove along the top and bottom of its beak that extended out far enough that the bird couldn’t tightly close its mouth. When its mouth was closed, the groves formed a perfect circle from which the bird spit fire. The second type of bird was pitch black with blood red eyes. It reminded me of a raven if a raven was three times its normal size. Aside from the increased size, the black bird had steel grey talons and a similar beak. From my observations, this bird relied on its strong and sharp talons and beak to catch and kill its prey. The last bird was a bit smaller than the other two birds, but it made up for it with its incredible speed and the ability to create small tornadoes with a beat of its wings. This last bird was an azure blue color with yellow talons and a green beak. I couldn’t help but think that it was an odd color scheme for a bird. None of the three birds had any additional patterns on their plumage which I found strange as well.

The more I watched the fighting, the more I saw a pattern within it. A pattern that made me think that there might be a symbiotic relationship between two of the three species. The smaller azure bird would send out those small tornadoes that would cause great clouds of blood mosquito corpses to fly into the air, and the pink bird would spit fire out that would cook the blood mosquitoes. The black colored bird didn’t add anything to the mix though. It just seemed to be hungry. Now that I had a good idea of what was going on, I needed to get rid of the birds somehow. Their fighting was making a mess of my garage door. It was a minor miracle that they hadn’t broken it already. Aside from the door, I needed them to leave so that I could work on opening up the blocked fireplace without attracting any unwanted visitors due to the sound. As I thought of the fireplace and my hopes of cooking a meal in peace, I thought of something. What was I going to cook? It was pretty late in the day and I didn’t have any food stored that I could cook up. My thoughts were pushed back to the more immediate issue when another dent was added to the garage door by a wayward bird. A mischievous smile crossed my lips as I thought that perhaps I should have some bird for dinner tonight. If I was going to eat those annoying birds, I needed to change the ammo in the shotgun from the slugs to birdshot. I crept back into the bedroom and then went into the workshop to grab the birdshot from the gun safe. I hadn’t thought that I would have a need for it anymore, but I was glad that the shells wouldn’t go to waste. For good measure, I strapped on the pistol and slid my axe into the loop meant for a hammer on my jeans in case the birdshot didn’t have the effect I hoped for. It was a little awkward to walk with that long shaft bumping into my leg, but I would make it work for the moment.

The next issue was how was I going to get the garage door open without the birds attacking me as I opened it. As I pondered that issue, something yellow caught my eye from one of the bins on the metal shelves next to the workbench. It was some of the rope my dad kept handy for odd uses. A good idea struck me when I saw that rope. I grabbed the rope and took it along with the shotgun into the garage from the door in the workshop. I crouched down when I entered the garage to keep the birds from seeing me by accident. Then I took the rope and tied it to a metal piece on top of the garage door and unlocked the door before I threw the rope over the top of the ATV blockade. With that part done, I backed out of the garage and went back around through the workshop and bedroom into the back of the garage. I crouched down again and slipped by the Ranger to the ATVs and grabbed the rope sitting there. I put the shotgun on the seat of the middle ATV, unbuttoned the flap of the pistol holster, and took the axe out of the loop to lean it against the ATV. Now everything was ready.

I started to circulate my mana slowly and did one full loop before I shifted to circulating it at my highest speed. At the current rate of circulation, my mana would run out in just a few minutes, but it should be enough for what I had planned. Once I felt the mana boost my body’s strength, I pulled the rope tight with my left arm and yanked the garage door up with all of my strength. The door squeaked and rumbled as it shot into the air. I twined the rope around my left arm a couple of times to keep the tension on the rope tight enough that the door wouldn’t go crashing back down to the ground. The noise startled but didn’t frighten the three groups of birds. That was just fine. If they had been scared then my dinner would have flown away anyways.

After the birds got over their surprise, they all seemed to think that a better prey had presented itself to them and started to fly my way. I held the shotgun stock at my hip with my right hand while my left worked the pump. I fired off all of the shots in quick succession and sprayed the entire open area in front of me with birdshot before the 10 of them had a chance to get close to me. The spray of pellets worked just as I hoped and all 10 of them plummeted to the ground with high-pitched screeches of pain and injured wings. I hadn’t intended to kill any of them with the birdshot. I only wanted to use it to injure their wings to keep them from flying around and dive bombing me. This success didn’t mean that the danger was over though, and just to drive that point home, I ducked down behind the ATV blockade to dodge four gouts of flame. Three small tornadoes peppered me with gravel and flipped over the other two ATVs that weren’t held down by my weight and sent them skidding toward the Ranger whose mesh doors were now aflame from the gouts of fire. The scent of sulfur and burning plastic filled the air. The three black birds were in the worst shape since they relied on getting close to their prey to do damage, and I heard them screeching in anger as they hopped towards me on their little legs.

After dodging that first volley of magic, I drew my pistol and popped back up. I aimed for the four fire breathing birds first and before they could react to me, I dropped them with two quick shots each. I dropped back down right away and put all of my weight on the ATV as three more small tornadoes stormed into the garage. Gravel pelted me again, and one hit the crown of my head hard enough that I felt blood trickle down my neck. I weathered the second storm with minor injuries, jumped back up, and fired three quick shots at the azure birds. I hit two of the birds in the chest, but the third shot only tore a furrow in the last bird’s left wing. I put that bird down with my last round but not before it managed to let loose one last tornado. The birds had hopped close enough by this time that the tornado didn’t launch any more gravel at me. What it did do was far worse though. It launched the three black birds into the air. The birds couldn’t fly on their own due to their injured wings, but they were able to spread their wings and glide in the air over my head with the support of that tornado.

When the first bird soared right above me, it tucked its wings and dive bombed me like a kamikaze jet. I abandoned the now empty pistol and rolled to my left. The dagger-like beak slashed a long cut down my right leg before it smashed beak first into the concrete floor. Its sharp beak pierced deep into the concrete foundation. Deep enough that for a moment it was stuck vertically like an arrow lodged in the ground. I stopped my roll so that I could push myself to my feet and use my right hand to scoop up the axe that had tumbled to the ground next to the ATV after that last tornado attack. I wanted to kill that first bird with the axe before it could work its beak lose from the concrete, but the second bird came soaring at me just a few seconds after the first. It followed a similar pattern and tucked its wings to dive at my exposed back. I let the rope still twisted around my left arm go and jumped backwards right as it tucked its wings for the dive. The garage door slammed down with an enormous bang when I let go of the rope. The jump saved me from its beak, but this bird was smarter than the first. It twisted mid-dive so that its talons faced my chest and thrust them at my chest. I backpedalled into the Ranger in an attempt to avoid the strike. However, my dodge was only partly successful. The talons failed to pierce my heart yet still gouged six bloody trenches in the center of my chest.

Whew, that was close, but I wasn’t out of the woods left. My dodge caused me to back into the burning mesh doors of the Ranger, and as I stumbled forward in an attempt to keep my shirt from catching fire, the last bird spread its wings out wide and came floating at my face talons first. It was too late for any conscious thought to save me, but my instincts and mana fueled body took over. My entire body went limp and I dropped bonelessly to the floor. The drop saved me from the bird and put the fire on my back out at the same time. The bird on the other hand wasn’t so lucky. It went flying into the burning door of the Ranger with such force that the damaged door tore off of its hinges and collapsed around the bird like a burning net. Looking backwards, I heard the bird screeching in pain and saw it rolling around on the driver’s seat struggling to escape from its fiery predicament.

That was one bird that wasn’t going to bother me for awhile now. I would deal with the other two first before coming to finish off that one. The second bird was on its feet, but was stumbling around dazed. It looked like it had hit its head on something. That trick with its talons must have messed up its landing. The first bird managed to pull its beak out of the concrete and hopped towards me though. Those blood red eyes filled with murderous intent as it came to finish me off. Before it could get close enough to stab me with its beak, I pushed against the ground as hard as I could with my left hand so that my upper body rose up, twisted my body to the left, and lashed out with the axe clutched in my right hand. A metallic clang echoed through the garage as the axe cut through the bird’s left wing and buried itself in its chest. The bird fell dead to the floor without a chance to retaliate.

I stared dumbfounded at the bird. I couldn’t believe my own strength. Judging by the sound from when the axe hit the bird, the bird’s feathers had a metallic element to them, but despite that strong defense, the axe went right through the wing and into its chest. My mana was still circulating through my mana veins and amplifying my body’s physical abilities, but I was running out of mana. The metallic feathers gave the birds a strong defense. I needed to finish the other two off before I ran out of mana. I might not be able to harm them without mana to boost my strength. The third bird was still working itself loose from the burning door, but the second looked like it was coming to its senses. Before it could finish recovering, I rolled all the way to my feet, put my foot on the dead black bird, and yanked the axe out. There was a squelching sound and blood began to pool around the dead bird once I managed to work the axe loose. The second bird regained its senses by this time, but a bird without its wings wasn’t a match for me. Not even one with metal feathers. I stalked forward and swung the axe over my head with both hands. Like lightning striking a tree, the second bird was split in two by the blow before it had any chance to react. Pivoting around to face the Ranger, I strode over and finished off the last poor bird. After experiencing the horror of fire for myself, I felt sorry for the damn thing despite the fact that it just tried to kill me. The deed was done and now it was time to collect my just rewards.

You have reached level 8!

4 bonus stat points have been awarded!

Survivor (B) * leveled up!

Fool (B) * leveled up!

Swarm Killer (B) * leveled up!

Beast Killer (B) * leveled up!

Risk Taker (B) * leveled up!

Repeated Risk Taker (B) * leveled up!

Basic Axe Mastery (B) * leveled up!

Basic Gun Mastery (B) * leveled up!

Minor Regen (Passive) ( C ) * leveled up!

Basic Disease Resist (B) * leveled up!

Basic Parasite Resist (B) * leveled up!

Basic Poison Resist (B) * leveled up!

Name: Jason Silver

Job Name: N/A

LVL: 8 48%

Job LVL: N/A 0%

Job Points:

N/A

N/A

N/A

Titles:

Survivor (B) LVL 8 20%

Fool (B) LVL 8 96%

Swarm Killer (B) LVL 9 31%

Beast Killer (B) LVL 9 49%

Risk Taker (B) LVL 6 68%

Repeated Risk Taker ( C ) LVL 7 15%

Compassionate Fool ( C ) LVL 1 78%

Curious Fool ( C ) LVL 3 71%

Stupid Fool ( C ) LVL 4 81%

Extremely Stubborn Fool ( C ) LVL 2 97%

Greater Mana Wielder ® LVL N/A

Title Points:

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70

Stats:

HP:

MP:

Mana Regen:

Endurance:

Strength:

Speed:

Spirit:

Bonus Points:

88/130

10/46

12 per min (-2.75)

14

10

11

8

28

Status Effects:

Regen, Spirit Regen, Disease Resist, Parasite Resist,

Poison Resist, Bleeding x7

Skills:

Basic Axe Mastery (B) LVL 8 66%

Basic Gun Mastery (B) LVL 5 11%

Minor Regen (Passive) ( C ) LVL 8 5%

Minor Spirit Regen (Passive) ( C ) LVL 2 40%

Basic Disease Resist (Passive) (B) LVL 9 22%

Basic Parasite Resist (Passive) (B) LVL 9 19%

Basic Poison Resist (Passive) (B) LVL 8 2%

Minor Mana Control ( C ) LVL 5 56%

Greater Mana Vein (Passive) ( R ) LVL 1 0%

Flexible Mana Lake (Passive) (B) LVL 1 0%

Pain Control (B) LVL 3 61%

Basic Close Combat Footwork (Active) (B) LVL 3 44%

Basic Ranged Combat Footwork (Active) (B) LVL 3 59%

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