Hello!

Tis’ I! Raven! With my trusty sidekick Greenie the Goblin!

It was a new day, a lovely day with the sun shining beautifully in the azure blue sky, and we were off trekking, (with extreme caution) through the woods to a destination only Greenie knew.

The hunger and fear that Greenie kept switching between as he sometimes crawled, sometimes ran through the forest towards a large cliff that rose up ahead, told me we were off to get breakfast.

Preening my feathers while enjoying the view around me, I was along for the ride, perched on the goblin's shoulder. Ignoring the fact that I looked like a goth version of one of those pirate's parrots.

In all seriousness, I didn't want to look like his pet..

Maybe I should perch on his head.

Ditto that. His shoulder looked cleaner that his head, and I wasn't looking to get my wings full of fleas.

……..I didn’t want to admit I was scared at being alone by myself.

We needed to get breakfast, since our food had completely run out.

I had a case of the baby chick munchies after my little victory dance finding out I wasn’t a crow. The jar’s contents had been completely emptied out.

Putting my wings together, I shook it like a wrestler shook his clasped hands when doing his victory lap around the ring. Thanks, God, gods, whatever! I’m not a crow!!

Though I didn’t know what the difference between a raven and a crow meant. Perhaps they were a nobler species, one that didn’t steal potato chips from you.

If that was true, I could puff out my chest with pride. I was a raven, a raven, you hear!

After all the excitement died down (Greenie hadn’t woken up even when I hopped up and down his round stomach and concave chest) I’d gasped to see the cracked jar before me.

Correction. I tried to gasp, but a big burp escaped out instead.

I’m sorry.

Self control was really hard when you were only a few days/weeks old.

I hadn’t meant to eat the whole thing.

We finally reach the giant cliff face, thankfully not running into any monsters, though I did glimpse a few on the way.

There were a group of monkeys with the face of an old man, grunting at each other, flower vines that writhed and snapped open to engulf an unlucky yellow bird with a row of glinting teeth in its center that had flown too close, and salamanders, big as a dog, running up and down trees.

Dropping down on the ground, Greenie crawls along the seam where the cliff meets the forest ground, until he finds a slight crack hidden behind some purple berry bushes, which he squeezes into, me following behind.
Wow!

We’ve entered into an ice cavern. The tall walls were coated with ice, the ground bare except for the shattered shards of icicles fallen onto the ground and a pool of melted water in one corner.

Drip. Drip.

A drop would fall from one long stalagmite stretching from the ceiling, down into the rippling clear waters of the pool, creating a soothing ambiance in this place.

“Skreiii!”

Seeing a flash of pink, I call to the goblin, flapping my wings in excitement as he takes me closer to breakfast.

Greenie was using this place as his personal cooler. This goblin was either very smart, or very lucky. The only access to this place was through the slight crack in the cliff wall outside, and inside, cool enough to keep the meat from going bad too quickly.

Only small rodents and insects would be able to access this place.

It was perfect!

Again, I was glad to have met Greenie.

Though it wasn’t as good as a piece of thickly-cut steak, the chunks of meat were the only thing I could eat. He was my ugly fairy godmother.

Thank you for the meal!

Diving towards the food pile, I stop-midair, frantically flapping backwards so I don’t land on it.

One, two, three, four, five.

That was 5 fingers, all right.

Was- was that a human arm?

......I feel sick.....please don't tell me the chunks of meat I had been eating with gusto were human meat bits...

I really needed to check the origins of my food before they ended up in my stomach. Mom would constantly nag about checking the quality of the fruits by tapping it and looking up the area the produce came from as well. Ne..r....bu...y.....a....ca.os...from..Mex...o....pes...ici...des, her words cut out like static when I tried to remember what she said. The only thing I could bring up was a feminine figure shaking her finger at me while speaking, like this was a pearl of wisdom she was imparting onto me

In the small pile hidden in the corner of the cave, were the pieces of different body parts from different creatures. Some were rotting, like they had been out in the sun and already ravaged by a beast long before Greenie got to it and brought it to this cavern.

Next to it was another arm and a leg much thicker than a human man’s, skin pink and ending in 3 fingers on the arm and 3 toes on the leg, hoofed like a pig’s. That was probably the meat I'd been eating, from the pink color. Luckily, there were no white bits of meat like the human arm I saw before me in the jar when I was eating before.

There was a head there too, with thick jowls, features smooshed in almost exactly like the pigs in my home world, but with long tusks that curled up and out of the mouth. I tried not to look directly at it. Its glassy eyes staring back at me was already making me uncomfortable.
Greenie crouches down and bites off pieces from the pig/man leg, spitting it into the jar he’d brought.

When he moves to bite chunks off the human arm next-

Unbelievable!!

At the very least, these were people of my (former) race!

You don’t eat humans!

Bad goblin! BAAD!

I peck at his hand each time he reaches for the human remains.

We repeat this over and over, Greenie reaching for what he perceives as food, and me angrily pecking at his hand.

At this moment the hunger within Greenie, with food right before him, was greater than the fear he had for me.

Fine!

I peck at the pig-monster’s arm, knocking it forward so it rolls towards Greenie.

Greenie should be able to sense my anger through our master-pet link.

He shrinks away from me, cradling his ugly green head with stringy hair attached, legs tucked under his body while he rips into the arm.

Ding~!

[Skill proficiency reached. Acquired skill 『Peck LV1』]

What.

I could peck just fine on my own. I didn’t need no pecking skill.
It sounded like that lame sounding p*kemon move.

But that move was pretty strong in-game.

Though it wasn't like a raven could peck someone to death. Why can’t I get a cooler skill, like Wing Blade! or something?

Let’s try it out.

『Peck!』

I peck at the thick ice wall of the cavern, which shatters a little, making small tinkling noises as thin shards crackle to the ground.

After gaining the skill, my peck was smoother, body moving with ease to carry it out, and seemed to hold more power behind it. If I used this skill on Greenie, his hand would have a deep hole. It might even go through his hand. Better to peck at him without using this skill then.

With this, I might be able to peck someone to death.

Hmm.

Status!

Ding~!

---Status---
Name:
Raven
Race:
Common Black Raven
Title:
???
Magic:
N/A
Abilities:
Skill [Raven Call]
Skill [Peripheral Vision]
Skill [Flight]
Skill [Goblin Call]
Skill [Peck] New!!
Resistances: N/A
------

Hmm…hmmmmmmm.

Raven Call, Peripheral Vision, and Flight made sense, as it came naturally with me being a raven and all.

Goblin Call, I’d gained after repeating Greenie’s words back to him a couple times. And Peck, just now after pecking at my goblin pet a couple times.

Maybe it was a matter of how many times you do a certain action.

Checking back on Greenie, he was sitting on the floor, watching me rub my tiny bird chin with one wing tip.

It was time to test this theory out.

Let’s do one of my best ones from my old life.

The skill I’d won contests and numerous prizes for. The door in my room at home had an array of blue ribbons covering it to show just how skilled I was at it. As a child, my Mom would drive me out to contests after I’d begged her to let me go. “You’ve got a mean competitive streak, just like your father” she would laugh.

One of the things I was proud of most.

You might even say I was the world champion of this.

It was time for……

My chicken dance!!

Da da da da da da dan! Da da da da da dan!

Cueing up the music in my head, I start to flap my wings and dance in time with the music. I even clap my wings together on the beat, though it doesn’t make a satisfying sound like human hands can.

Ding!

Here it is!

[Skill proficiency not reached. Acquisition of skill 『Fowl Dance LV1』failed.]

Inconceivable!

I dance again, flapping my arms and shaking my butt, but to no avail.

[Skill proficiency not reached. Acquisition of skill 『Fowl Dance LV1』failed.]
[Skill proficiency not reached. Acquisition of skill 『Fowl Dance LV1』failed.]
[Skill proficiency not reached. Acquisition of skill 『Fowl Dance LV1』failed.]

Haaaaah…

The system didn’t even get the words chicken dance right.

It didn’t work, no matter how many times I tried. The conclusion was, it wasn’t about the sheer number of times you tried something to gain a skill..

With a raven’s body, the chicken dance would look, simply, like a bird hopping around. I had the know-how, but with this body, it was impossible to execute all the steps and poses properly.

No matter.

Now I knew there were other requirements for gaining a skill. My other theories were that it depended on how good I was at a skill as a raven, or maybe it was a combination of both natural inclination as well as time spent doing the action correlated to the skill.

Taking a break from the dancing, I plop down, wings spread out behind me.
Let’s address the elephant in the room, shall we.

In this case, it was the door in the room.

On the opposite end of where we had entered, there was a large, forbidding door inscribed with runes embedded into the cavern wall, covered with a thin sheen of ice.