Being on the 1st floor of Falens Cry, I thought I would get rid of the nagging feeling. Sah was up there in the square, unable to reach me. Yet, the hairs on the back of my neck were still bristled up.

This time the source of it wasn’t hidden somewhere in the shadows.

The avier woman, her stare was truly bothersome and piercing. She watched me like a hawk while I ran the course that Deckard had prepared for me. She studied my movements as I was doing a stretching routine to get into splits and observed every twitch of my muscles while I jumped through the hoops.

Bloody annoying!

Even more so, her constant obnoxious humming. She criticized me for my behavior, comparing it to mutts and beasts, but I couldn’t help thinking of her as a songbird. When she wasn’t pissed, in which case she sounded so high-pitched it hurt my ears, her voice was lovely and melodic.

“So? What do you say Zer?” Deckard asked her when I finished the exercise set. Wiping my sweat-covered forehead, I took the offered canteen with water from him and perked up my ears. I endured her staring, so I wanted to hear what she had to say. Was I really just a beast with wings in her sharp eyes?

The avier woman thought and hummed some more. “Your apprentice is quite confusing.”

Not what I expected to come out of her mouth. And judging by Deckard’s reaction neither was he. “She’s not your typical run-of-the-mill gal, but confusing?”

“How?” I asked, taken aback by her assessment. Many would say I’m easy to read.

“Hmm...how do I put it?” She bit her bottom lip in thought. “You are many things, Korra Grey. I see felines in some of your movements and the canines in others. You have the virtue of avians, yet I also see something of the lizards in you.”

Did she name species of terrans or beasts? I couldn’t tell. Either way, she wasn’t far from the truth. But lizards? Really? Only my heart mutated nothing else. Not visually, at least. I checked thoroughly every nook and cranny and found no scales nor rough skin. 

Still, I’d be lying to myself if I denied that the drake essence only affected my heart. None of the ‘changes’ was that simple. It wasn’t just the wings, or there wouldn’t have been feathers on my ankles and elbows. Sage didn’t come alone either. Each time, there were minor things like a tuft of fur here and there.

The humming of the avier woman drew my attention back. What was her name again? Zer-someting. Zeraphe? No, that wasn’t it. Damn! If she hadn’t been pissed at me from the start, I would have remembered. Ah...Zeranyphe!

The moment I found her name in my mind, her humming changed. Judging by the high pitch irritated tone, she knew what I pondered. “Not Zer, Zera, or Nyphe. It’s Zeranyphe.”

Cursing my open body language, I gave her an apologetic look. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be rude, Zeranyphe.” What about Deckard and his nickname for her? Even though the remark was on the tip of my tongue, I swallowed it. Too late, though.

“He’s a rude man, but one I’m willing to tolerate. Plus, he ruffled my feathers,” she said, reading me like an open book. Annoying, but it went both ways. I’d have to be blind not to notice that the feathers on her ears, or rather the little wings that formed them, had spread slightly. Was she embarrassed? Hard to say. Despite all the changes, I didn’t know the terran body language, nor was it a skill I had access to.

But, ruffle the feathers?! I didn’t even have to ask what the expression meant. Deckard’s intentions were more than clear last night. Good for her.

“So, what about my wings?” I asked before Zeranyphe reacted to my openly expressed thoughts. 

“Brute,” she said dryly. “They lack all the elegance, finesse, or any kind of control.”

That gave me pause. On the contrary, I felt I had great control over them, unlike others like me. They often found it painful to move their wings if they could do it at all.

“What I mean is, you’re acting on instinct, on what’s natural to you,” she said, this time without any scorn, trying to explain the problem to me. Praiseworthy, but I had trouble seeing what she saw.

“Isn’t it a good thing?”

Zeranyphe smirked, shaking her head. “If that’s good enough for you, yeah. You won’t be much different from the beasts, though.” Lacking rudeness, her tone managed to be harsh. Beasts. I understood a long time ago that it was something all the terrans tried to distance themselves from. Pretty lame reason not to act on what was natural to you, if I may say so.

“What’s natural doesn’t mean it’s the best,” Deckard quipped, seeing me pondering on the words of his one-night stand. “Why are you training, learning how to run, how to jump hurdles, and suffer through splits?”

“To get stronger,” I replied. There was not much to think about. His shrug told me that while not wrong, it wasn’t the answer he wanted to hear.

“Have you ever seen a child pick up a spoon for the first time?” Deckard asked, waiting to see if I’d get the point. And this time, I did. Kids grip the spoon in the palm of their hand. You might say, based on instinct. Sure, it’ll get the job done. However, it doesn’t mean it’s the more efficient way. It takes time and practice to hold the spoon correctly.

Everyone could run, but it didn’t make us all runners, huh? Even the athletes were taught the proper techniques of their sport.

“I think she gets it,” he said with a smug grin towards Zeranyphe when he saw my expression. She just hummed in response.

“It takes will and determination to go through the pain to do a split,” he continued. “You might say intent, and therefore reason, which suppresses the instincts. Whether it is an animal, beast, or monster, as long as it follows its instincts, it will avoid unnecessary pain.”

“That’s what makes intelligent beasts and monsters so dangerous,” Zeranyphe added from her experience as a seeker. “Instinct-based reactions are easy to read. Deliberate, not so much.”

Deckard nodded. “People are a good example. The bastard you’re fighting can feign a strike when you expect a defense or lure you into an attack when you should be running away. You’ll hardly know.”

Zeranyphe swayed slightly on her toes. “The moment you see a hint of intelligence in the eyes of beasts and monsters, you should prepare yourself for such a fight.”

With no idea when or how my training turned into imparting the life experiences of two seasoned seekers to a complete rookie, I found myself listening intently to the two. They fought the beasts and more for a living, and they’ve been doing it for years. For me, it was a matter of days. If I were to draw on my experience, it would be fighting weeds, fungus, and pests. Not exactly what I needed here in this world.

“You are like a chick.” The avier woman pointed her finger at me. “Every avier chick learns to fly. Soaring through the sky, that’s another story.”

So even for flying, there was proper technique, and instincts could only take you so far. Sadly, “I can’t fly.”

“Of course not!” Zeranyphe said with a firmness that took me by surprise. “For that, you would need these.” To make a point, she spread her wings, and they were...simply put...magnificent.

Feathers colored in shades of blue like her head feathers glistened in the artificial daylight, giving the wings a magical touch. Compared to them, my wings were dull and lusterless, not to mention the wingspan. My mere three-meter span could not measure up to her impressive eight meters.

“...” My instincts told me to say something, to praise her gorgeous wings, but the words stuck in my throat. Of course, she noticed. So I braced myself for harsh words. Instead, a smile appeared on her feather-covered face. “In silent awe as little chicks. I’ve almost forgotten what it’s like. Thank you, Korra Grey.”

As she folded her wings along her back, my focus returned. Seriously, though. How she managed to fold her wings, so they looked smaller on her back than mine was beyond me.

Taking advantage of her good mood, I asked her a few questions. It turns out she actually could fly with those wings without the aid of skills. Given her lighter body structure compared to other terrans and humans. She had more than a few skills to support her flight, though.

Speaking of skills, [Flight] the only one I had, was the most basic flight support skill. It made wing movement easier, fought air resistance, and helped with a lift at really high levels. What it didn’t give you was the ability to fly.

With that said, Zeranyphe was unable to tell if I would ever be able to fly. Given the size of the wings, their placement, and my body structure, she felt it would be challenging. I think she was trying to be polite and not crush all my hopes.

The training itself was more than I thought. Instead of a few points and corrections of my wing movements, I got an entire lesson from her on wing behavior, both while walking and flying. What’s more, she put me through a series of wing-specific exercises.

Some were not far from splits, stretching muscles, and limbs I had no idea were connected to the wings. Seriously, even though they were attached to my lower back, I could feel the muscles all the way up between my shoulder blades. That went the other way, too. Wing exercises, my ass! My butt was sore, my thighs felt like I’d run a marathon, and not even my calves were spared.

Not surprisingly, the first notification the System threw at me was about pain.

• Painless Agony reaches lvl 22

More followed as time went on.

• Perfect Equilibrium reaches lvl 18
• Beast reaches lvl 29

The only reason I could come up with to explain why this skill leveled up now and not when I trained with Deckard only was that now I was exercising my beast parts. Regardless, it meant that the skill was just a step away from tier up. Quite an exciting thought and one that made me chuckle at the irony. It hasn’t been that long since I was dreading to have this skill among General Skills, and all the more, it's tier-up.

Not long before noon, a new notification chimed in my head. This time it had nothing to do with skills and concerned my class.

•  [YOU HAVE REACHED LEVEL 98]

“Yeah!” I shouted my joy for the entire first floor of the labyrinth to know and crashed into a hurdle. Unfazed by that little mistake, I expressed my joy of approaching the almost mythical threshold of level one hundred with a celebratory dance. 

Name: Korra Grey

Race: Human/Beast

Gender: Female

Age: 29

Class: Slave (Master - None)

Level: lvl 97 -> 98

[Unspent Stat Points: 3 -> 4]

 

Constitution: 77 (39)

Strength: 40 (23)

Endurance: 31 (25)

Dexterity: 23 (23)

Intelligence: 19 (11)

Wisdom: 17 (10)

 

Yeah, it was right there, under my hated class. Level 98. It poured new energy into my veins and made my stomach jitter with nervousness. No wonder. Whenever I thought of class evolution, I began to question if I had anything other than the path of a slave ahead of me. Was meeting Esu enough to change that? Doubts, doubts, and more doubts.

Better not to think about it too much.

“Is she always like that?” I heard Zeranyphe up on the hill ask.

Deckard growled. “Lost in thought, easy to read?”

“Pretty much,” she nodded. “So clueless, too. She’s worse than a chick.”

“There’s a reason for that,” he said simply, not elaborating on his answer.

“Whatever,” Zeranyphe breathed. 

“You don’t like her?” It didn’t sound like a question. More like a statement of fact.

She hummed, expressing her approval and disapproval at the same time. “She has potential and determination. I can see why you picked her out of all the people. But there’s too much about her that doesn’t make sense to me.”

“I see,” he said.

“Do you, Deckard?” she turned to him. 

He shrugged. “Sometimes, she doesn’t make sense to me either. I still don’t know if she’s a fool or brave.” His remark on my questions to Esu was not lost on me.

Zeranyphe gave him a puzzled look, then shook her head with a sigh. “Sometimes, I feel you don’t understand me at all.”

Ah, was she...?

“Move your ass, girl!” Deckard shouted at me so suddenly that I squeaked in fright. Giving him an apologetic look, but without saying a word, I skirted the hurdle I had hit and continued on the course. Sadly, his answer to Zeranyphe, I did not hear. Focusing on running and jumping took too much of my concentration. 

Actually, I believed that was the reason for my level up. Heeding the advice of the avier women, trying to put it into practice as best I could and combine it with what I learned from Deckard. Zeranyphe explained and showed me how stiff my wings were and that they could have been more helpful in my movement than I thought. Running became even easier. I was faster, jumping higher and farther...gliding. 

The closest I’ll get to a flight. Sad truth.

Anyway, my effort and progress Deckard saw as a reason to extend the course and raise the hurdles. Yay, for me. However, to take my frustration out on him would be unfair of me. I didn’t push my limits for him, I did it for my own sake. So I just soldier on.

By the time lunchtime rolled around, I was drenched in sweat, breathless and glad I didn’t take Janina’s clean clothes this morning, but my stinky one I got in Esulmor. 

“Congrats, Korra Grey.” Zeranyphe had caught me by surprise with her compliment as I was taking food from Deckard. I blanked out for a second before I realized she meant my level up.

“Thanks,” I replied, a little awkwardly.

Seeing my pause, she added, “Not every day, you level.”

“For someone like us, it can take weeks, even months,” Deckard noted.

Months?! I almost blurted out loud. If it was going to take me months to get one level, I’d most likely give up. Then, it hit me. That’s why there weren’t people at the 1,000+ level running around, why the majority of them, like Mr. Sandoval, ended up with the level they were at. Sure, he said he was happy with where he was, but that couldn’t be the only reason. Why wouldn’t he try to advance if he had the opportunity? Because it took too much effort.

Will I ever hit the same ‘roadblock’ he did? If so, I was hoping it would happen at Deckard’s levels.

He laughed in disbelief. “Not everyone is like you.” 

What was that supposed to mean? Suppressing the urge to give him the middle finger, I just shrugged.

“Like her?” Zeranyphe asked, frowning. More unknown about me.

He grinned. “She found herself an Opportunity, leveled three times in one day.” What the fuck! Was he trying to kill me? Get me kidnapped, again? Because if he did, it made sense that he’d say something like that on cue.

“Calm down, girl,” Deckard growled. “She’s not going to sing it to anyone.”

“I don’t see any reason I should,” she said. Her tone made it clear that she felt offended by me thinking so. “It’s a blessing. Unique chance, an Opportunity. It doesn’t present itself to everyone, and hardly ever more than one can use it.”

Could training, under the guidance of a massive beast that the entire Empire was wary of, be used by anyone else? I didn’t think so. If someone tried, we probably wouldn’t hear from them ever again.

“In any case, it’s time for us to say goodbye,” Zeranyphe said, taking my breath away. Already? Why, all of a sudden?

Deckard smiled. “I’ve taken up enough of your time. Thank you so much, Zer.” 

“I owed you,” she reminded him, but it was clear from her voice that she wasn’t doing it just to pay off some debt. Judging by his smile, he was aware of that. Did he have feelings for her? Now I was the one confused. Didn’t he like Rayden? I quickly put the thought out of my mind before either of the two noticed. When the avier woman glanced at me, I froze, afraid it was too late. 

“I can’t say it was nice to meet you. You’re... confusing. But I have a feeling I’ll be seeing you around, Korra Grey.” At least she was honest about her dislike of me.

“Thanks for teaching me, Zeranyphe,” I said, putting gratitude into my words, and I meant it. She earnestly taught me even though she didn’t have to. I was grateful for that...for that and for not teaching me crap.

She nodded, and that was it.

No more words. She spread her wings, gave them one mighty flap, and was airborne, soaring through the 1st floor of the labyrinth to the teleportation platform. One bewildered gasp and she was gone.

Me? I had to stay down here on the ground, shedding sweat and blood till the time of my lesson with Ria came. Whatever the reason, today wasn’t the day. No more level ups.

But I was one step closer.