Greenie, are you ok?

Was it poison? Were the berries poisonous?? I didn't taste anything at all though!?

My head turns a frantic 360 as I search around the clearing, looking for a pond, a puddle, anything that might have water to wash out Greenie's mouth.

Nothing. Only blades of green grass waving in the wind.

If only there was water around here that could help wash out berries.. It hadn't rained yet, in the few days I'd been here, but if we had some sort of container to store water when it rained, we wouldn't have to go all the way to the lake.

Or alternatively, find a way to collect the lake water and bring it back here.

"Ki!"

When I look back at Greenie, he's using his hands to try to send wind on his hanging tongue, and rubs at it, wincing.

I knew that reaction. That wasn't poison. I'd done the exact same thing at a hotpot restaurant once.

Somehow, the berries were spicy!

Though I hadn't tasted it…

Unluckily, I was standing right under Greenie, unable to prevent the tiniest of pieces from flying into one of my eyes while Greenie spits onto the grass.

Aaaaargh!!!!! THat burrrns!!!

Quick! Water!! Wait, there's no water here!

Both of us were jittering now, hopping around as Greenie spits and wipes his mouth on blades of grass and I blink frantically.

I needed meat or blood then, something to change the flavor in Greenie's mouth. The blood! It could wash out my eye too!! Maybe the bloody snake's meat would help Greenie.

Where was that snake??

The patch of grass where it had laid, de skinned under the tree it had made its home in, was empty. There was only the skin we'd removed, lying forlornly like a piece of discarded clothing.

Going from the patch of grass, there were marks of crushed grass and disturbed dirt, leading all the way to where we were, into our cave.

Greenie must have moved the snake into our cave!!

"Craaawk!"

With a rumbling croak that comes out deeper than I'd ever released before, I fly back into the cave. Hopefully the goblin would know to follow me inside.

There it was!

It was pushed into a corner, behind where Greenie had sat on a large stone. And another thing...Greenie had surrounded the snake with his droppings.

Let's ignore that for now.

There was blood congealed in the serrations I'd left, so I stick my head into one of them, rubbing my eye against the exposed meat, making sure to avoid the many bones ridging the back of the snake.

Ahhh, the cool snake meat felt nice on my eyeball.

I tear off another chunk of flesh with my beak, which comes off easily under my beak like I was tearing up tofu.

That was different. Before, I'd had to peck and rip until I got a strand of muscle, and use my head to tear it like beef jerky. It had never been this easy.

The light in the cave gets darker as Greenie's silhouette covers the cave entrance, blocking some of the light. So he'd followed me in.

Making sure I had plenty of blood in my eye, which was helping already, though it dyed everything I saw out of my right eye in a pink filter, I blink and roll my eyes a few times.

I fly back with the meat in my beak and land on his shoulder, making sure the new longer, sharper talons don't cut into his flesh, though it made it harder for me to stay balanced on his shoulder.

Plop.

The meat falls from my beak into his hand, and he eats it, groaning in what I think was relief. His appetite was really something, though.

I felt a lot better now too. Now my eye felt only a slight stinging sensation, but other than that it was still working fine. Getting off his shoulder as he heads deeper into the cave, I watch him do his best to tear off more pieces, but fail. He didn't have his spear anymore to help saw off the thick bunches of muscle in the snake.

Well, I was glad the crisis had been averted. With another powerful gust of my wings, I hover up and onto the snake to tear off the pieces for him, which he accepts with delighted high-pitched ki!s.

I sigh, the thin bones of my bird chest heaving up and down. My eyes still felt watery from the stench, but there was nothing I could do about it now. Working as quickly as I could, I made a small mound as big as myself with ripped up pieces of emerald snake.

And I exit the cave again.

How has my status changed after evolution?

Hmm...Hmu hmu.

The skills Scent Detection (Blood & Decay) and Berserk were new. But other than that, nothing else had changed.

Except for the fact that I could only eat meat now..

I cradle my head with my wings in anguish.

Noooooooooo!

Why had I chosen to follow my whim!? Stupid Raven!!

It was just like those times at the hair salon, when I would go in with a clear plan to get a small trim of my long hair but then come out with a short bob.

But the consequences were so much worse this time than getting a few more inches than planned, cut.

I’d gone from a Common Forest Raven into a Carrion Raven (minus the mindlessness yay!).

My diet had become confined to meat. Instead of stepping forward in my path to eating deliciousness, I may have stepped backwards. 

It was finally registering, when the snake meat smelled a lot more appetizing while I was ripping off pieces for Greenie. The reason why I had tried the berries anyways, in spite of knowing this, was because some part of me didn't want to blithely accept it.

Who said that everything the system lady said was the truth anyways?? Whatever was out there, the one who'd probably given me the ??? title might be watching too.

Which reminds me, the ??? Title had done something to my evolution. I was thinking and acting as I usually did. My mental processes didn’t feel slowed down or off in any way. What had that notification said? Something about changing my status from insanity into a berserk skill?

....That sounded dangerous. Better not test that skill here.

Falling on my back into a patch of grass, I stare up at the sky as the orange and blue mixes together, edges of the sky turning darker as night begins to fall.

They must be laughing, seeing me like this. My previous life had been spent working under my demeaning boss, where I strictly followed everything he said, even if I knew it was wrong.

It would be different this time. No more blithely following someone's directions.

I knew that the system lady had said it, but I wanted to confirm the specifications of becoming unable to eat anything other than meat.

Any animal still needed water to survive right? And fruits usually contain lots of moisture.

Going with this line of thinking, maybe fruits would be ok? was what I had thought. So even though it might look stupid, testing something when someone else already told me how something would work, I did it anyways.

Even if the system had been right, and I could only eat meat. Becoming only able to eat meat probably meant that everything other than meat (and maybe blood?) was tasteless.

I felt like I was degrading more and more into something not human. Surrounded by filth and death, eating the meat of something I'd literally pecked to death. What would become of me after a few more evolutions??

I wasn’t insane, right? Or would it be a gradual process?? Slowly descending into madness??

Another wave of calm crashes over me when I start dwelling on the decision I'd made.

Calm down, Raven.

It wasn't all too bad. Look at the new skills you got!

Logical and positive Raven personalities in my mind perk up.

That was true.

Scent Detection (Blood & Decay) was pretty cool. It would help us with getting our next meal, and maybe even knowing if predators were nearby with the prey that they'd killed.

Activating the skill, I could already smell something wafting out from the opposite direction of the lake, deeper into the forest. There was something dead there. The scent of blood smells sweet, almost, dare I say-delicious.

Hmmm.

How come I could smell the scent emanating from the forest of raw flesh, but not of the scent of the dead snake in our cave?

To confirm my thoughts, I flew under the tree where the snake had lain and smelled the grass there, where blood was still splattered everywhere.

I could still smell the remnants of an almost fishy-sweet odor from the blood. This was probably the scent of the snake.

But it got fainter and fainter as I followed it back to the cave.

Which meant that Greenie's nasty poop was covering the scent of it. Any monsters that also relied on their sight, like me, could still see the dragging marks of something heavy over the grass.

But for a scent-reliant predator, Greenie's poop would almost completely erase, or at least disturb the presence of the meat under the heavy stench.

It was brilliant! For a former-human like me, I would never have thought of covering my own home and food with poop to keep myself and my food safe.

At the same time though, there needed to be some adjustments.

There was no way I was going to live my life surrounded by Greenie's excretions.

And as the forest grew darker, I picked a large tree with strong, sturdy branches.

"Crwaaaak! Crwaaaaak!"

After croaking and tapping my beak together a few times for good measure, I perch as high as I could go without losing my balance in the tree.

My calls should've let Greenie know I was close by. There was still a lot of work to be done tomorrow too. I arrange my feathers and relax my neck against my body, trying to sleep for the night.

Still no night vision for me meant that when it was night-

Raven sleeps.

------

Excerpt from the Adventurer's Handbook:

Flare Berries: DO NOT EAT OR TOUCH!!! Also known as the Wildlands Reaper, the with wide-brimmed leaves and green berries, they grow in patches under direct sunlight exclusively in the Wildlands.  Highly toxic, any skin that comes in contact with the berry will react as if burned and cause a painful itching sensation that will persist unless the affected skin is immediately cut off. Eating this berry will cause a slow, painful death as the throat inflames as if burned and innards develop boils. Most die either of suffocation from inflamed throats or from the indescribable pain of being burned alive from the inside.

Some research has been done as to why the creatures of the Wildlands hold differing levels of immunity to the high toxicity of the berries, though it was never completed due to the exorbitant costs of gathering research samples and the low demand for such information.

tofu_moon

The berries are tasteless, evolved to look more appetizing for self-protection. Too bad every human who's ever tried it died before they could share what it tasted like...