I rubbed my temple and crossed my arms while I was still sitting over a branch on top of the tree and entered into thinking mode.

First of all, my level increased which means one of four speculations:

First, the tree and I were considered as a party and when the tree killed the bird, I also got Exp., but as far as I know, it’s most likely not. If the tree wasn’t normal and can level and get Exp., then the Exp. should have gone to the tree, unless parties are formed automatically, which I highly doubt.

Second, when the bird died, it was still under the effect of my magic, so it was considered as my kill even though the tree was the real killer, maybe if it wasn’t a tree but another creature then the Exp. would have gone to it.

Third, when I attacked the bird then the bird died after some time, I was considered the killer and got the Exp. because I led the bird into its death. For example, if I made a trap and someone or something got caught by it and died or if I stabbed someone or something then they died because of the wound.

Fourth, it’s a mixer of all the above and there are thin lines connect them all together except of the party with the tree of course. Or maybe, it just depends on the mood of whoever is giving the Exp.

I’m planning to do some experiments in this matter, but I’m betting my money on speculation number four. But whatever the real reason was, I’m glad that my level increased, though I never imagined that it would in such a strange way.

The second thing that caught my attention was the new resistances that I got, I was surprised at how easy I got them, which made me wonder if increasing the levels would be this easy, though I doubt that, if it was easy then my constitution or dexterity would have increased from all the walking during the past ten days.

And now for the main event, which would be that I finally managed to use magic, and I think I now understand - to some point - how it works. It starts by transforming the mana then manipulate it, not the opposite, which was what I tried to do before.

The best way to explain it would be by comparing it to cooking, the first step would be to have the ingredients (For example, dark magic) because without the ingredients you don’t have essentials to use for cooking, if you don’t have the ingredients (For example, light magic) then you first need to find them somehow.

The second step would be to know the recipe of the meal you are trying to cook (For example, the spell ‘restriction’) if you don’t know the recipe, then you need to invent one, of course, it must be edible otherwise the ingredients will go to waste.  

After that is the most important part and it’s your knowledge of how to cook, which would be how to ignite the fire (transforming the mana into magic) under the pot (manipulating the mana into the desired destination) and arranging the ingredients according to the recipe in the pot. When the meal is ready, you can use the pot to take the cooked meal wherever you want.

So, to use magic, you will start by transforming the mana into dark magic then form the spell ‘restriction’ and by manipulating it you can send it to the target.

The downside of it is that even if you know the spell you may mess up and it may not work, because it will take time to learn how to cook, I mean, how to correctly transform the mana, and how to manipulate it and send it out of your body to the target.

To transform the mana into the desired magic you have to start from the heart and mind, they should be united into a strong image and desire. To manipulate the mana, you must guide the spell out of your body and keep control over it until it reaches its target.

I guess I was lucky that I was grabbing the bird at that time, otherwise, the spell would be useless only inside my body because I doubt that I would have known how to send it onto the bird.

I stared at the bird and laughed mischievously then shouted at it “The roles had changed; I will be the one eating you.”

I licked my lips in anticipation and climbed down the tree and started to walk toward the tree which the bird was hanging on, with every step I took I could see the creepy vines crawl slowly toward me, which made me glance at my damaged clothes and cursed.

My shirt was a total mess, the upper part was cut into shreds from the bird’s talons and soaked with dry blood, my pants and the remainder of the shirt were tattered with small holes all over them and I think they would tear apart at any pressure, which meant that I needed new clothes urgently.

I avoided all the vines and climbed the tree slowly while looking in awe at the scene in front of me.

The bird was lying on its side and its wings were Interlaced with the branches and twisted, one of its legs was still catching a branch while the other was hanging in the air, some of its green feathers were full of dried blood and dyed with red, but the most disturbing thing was its head, a branch pierced from its right eye and made its way into the bird’s brain.

I shuddered at the thought that we both have fallen from the same place and that just as easily could have been me, I shook the thought quickly and strengthen my heart and climbed on a branch next to the bird.

I grabbed my dagger and looked at the bird and said with a smirk “Payback is a bitch.”