Ryusei was confused. How could an eagle speak? Not that him being able to speak was any different, but this wasn't what drew his attention—it was the rank of the monster. It was at least King-ranked, if not higher. He couldn't help but be on guard against this beast in front of him.
He narrowed his eyes.
"What do you want!?"
His voice was steady and carried a sort of confidence with it.
The eagle raised a brow.
"Don't be so on guard. I'm only asking how you survived inside the cave."
Ryusei's eyes narrowed further as suspicion washed away his fear.
Why does he want to know?
"Why?"
The eagle began to speak in a soft tone.
"Not just anyone can survive inside that cave. I've seen countless venture inside, only to never be seen again. Rat King—although a king, he was a ruthless one."
The way he spoke made it seem like he knew Rat King personally.
This made Ryusei even more suspicious of the bird. Which brought up the question.
What would he do if he found out Ryusei killed Rat King.
For a moment, only silence and the sound of the wind blowing filled the air as daylight began to fade—until Ryusei decided to speak.
"I—"
Before he could finish his words, the sound of a blow horn could be heard in the distance.
The eagle glanced over his shoulder and then back at the black snake.
"Trolls! No! We need to move to higher ground!"
The earlier calm eagle was now filled with fear and panic."There's no time!"
"What?!"
Ryusei grew more confused. The bird didn't seem like an enemy, but its rank suggested otherwise—he couldn't fully trust it.
The eagle began to flap its wings, approaching Ryusei, who looked ready to attack. In the blink of an eye—not even that—the eagle swooped him up in his talons, carrying him like a piece of meat as he flew west from the cave, over the forest.
"Ahhh! Let go of me!"
"..."
"Hey! Are you listening?!"
The eagle ignored Ryusei's pleas, focusing solely on flying, as a faint green glow shone from his eyes.
He flew toward a giant tree in the distance, taller and thicker than the rest, with white leaves decorating its black branches as it stood on a small hill.
They flew at incredible speeds, but it was slow enough for Ryusei to use Thermal Vision and see what was going on beneath them.
Red outlines numbering five, with about ten orange outlines behind them much shorter than the trees and the red a bit taller than them.
Ryusei could feel his heart thumping. It wasn't fear—just shock. He had never seen anything like this before.
A dark red outline—taller than the trees.
His mind was in disarray. What could that be? Is it higher ranked than a King, or could it even be a Tyrant? he thought before he felt himself being thrown.
He winced as he hit a hard surface.
"Ow... Hey! Can't you be a bit gentler?!"
Haku landed near the edge of the wooden platform they were on and immediately started looking towards the trees below.
"Come take a look. Quickly!"
Ryusei shook off the slight pain and slithered toward the eagle.
"Where am I looking?"
The eagle used his eyes to signal down below to a green thing barely visible behind a tree.
Ryusei lowered his head, squinting, trying to make out what the eagle was inspecting.
After his eyes focused, his vision of the area became clearer.
"What's that... A green human..."
The eagle turned to Ryusei, meeting his eyes.
"That's a Troll. They come out to hunt at night and are currently the most powerful monsters occupying this forest. See the smaller one over there..."
Ryusei nodded, indicating that he did see the small green creature with the physique of a human, wearing what seemed to be leather clothes.
"...that's a goblin. It notifies the bigger ones if it spots prey by blowing the horn around its neck."
Ryusei could understand why the eagle was so shaken earlier, but there was one thing he couldn't understand.
"Why is he helping me..."
Without realizing it, he accidentally blurted that question out.
The eagle only gave him a glance and said:
"Because you're strong."
Ryusei frowned. "Huh?"
The eagle began to flap his wings, hovering over Ryusei.
"I'll tell you tomorrow morning." He vaguely said before taking off.
As he flew higher, Ryusei called out with one last question.
"What should I call you?!"
He looked back down and shouted:
"Haku!"
Ryusei nodded and gave his name.
"I'm Ryusei!"
Haku disappeared from Ryusei's sight into the dense canopy of the tree.
Now alone on the wooden platform, Ryusei looked around to make himself familiar with his new surroundings.
The platform he was on circled the tree trunk, about five meters in length which was comparably much smaller than the tree's girth. It also looked to be crafted by humans.
After inspecting this structure for a while, he abruptly stopped as he was reminded of something he had forgotten. The shards and scroll.
He coiled up.
"How could I forget the scroll in the cave! Ahh! I'm so stupid!"
He sighed and flopped his head on his coiled-up body.
"Let's just check out the new skill."
Parallel Processing.
The skill activated, but nothing happened.
Huh? Did I do something wrong?
> No.
What?! Did Haku come back?
He turned his head around, yet no one except him was present.
I'm even hearing things now... I think It's about time I slept.
> No, I'm real.
"What's happening?" Ryusei jerked his head around, trying to make sense of what was occuring. "Is this the skill or something else?"
> Yes, I'm the skill Parallel Processing.
The voice in his head sounded like an adult version of him, a soft and elegant voice.
What?! A skill that talks? Is that even possible?
> Yes and no. I am only me through you, and I am only alive thanks to you. I am the one that collects what you seek.
Ryusei didn't know what to make of this angelic yet emotionless sounding voice, but what confused him more was the riddle she gave.
What do you mean?
It stopped speaking for a while. Then it suddenly spoke clearer.
>Think of me as a memory card.
Memory... card?
> Yes. I collect and store all the information of a specific target.
> Here are the current targets available to collect from:
> Majestiar
> Skills
> Ranks
> Magic
> Monsters
> Please choose one
Ryusei didn't instantly know what to choose, but he acknowledged the importance of this skill. It could tell him things he wanted to know about—now he just needed to choose the most important one that would allow him to survive.
He thought for a while before he made up his mind.
The thing he knew almost nothing about—"magic."
With that being his answer, the skill immediately began 'storing'—whatever that meant.
It then conveyed one last message.
>Since you have chosen 'magic' I will be storing all information related to it when you come into contact with 'mana.'
Then it stopped speaking completely.
After a while, Ryusei tried deactivating the skill, but it wouldn't. He could feel it draining his mana, although only a little bit at a time.
He didn't pay any mind to it, as information was more valuable than mana—mana could be recovered by sleeping.
Which was what he was about to do anyway. He closed his eyes, his mind drifting away into a slumber as one thought kept pestering him.
"Was choosing magic really the right choice?"