It's some time later. The bird is still standing on top of the table, but the fruit is missing. There is a pile of creatures in the corner, featuring wings, feathers, claws, fur, making up dozens if not hundreds of random avian-like creatures.
"Okay, fine. This one!"
Fine, fine.
After several hours of effort, the crow is staring at.. another crow. Well, not quite. It's got a blue crest on the top of its head, and the feathers are perfectly arranged.. where the "real" crow has slightly odd shaped imperfections and a handful of missing feathers, representing a well known body that has seen a lot of real effort.
"Finally. At least you let me add something. Now, let me clean up the mess.."
The human-like creature waves his arms and the pile of discarded bodies turns ghostly and vanishes from the floor of the room.
"And you can go in anytime. Just touch the body and will yourself into it."
Back to the bird. It picks up one foot and then the other. Then it nuzzles itself. Then it turns around and preens its perfect feathers into a slightly disheveled state.
"Aww, don't do that!"
"Caw"
"Anyway, there's just two things left and then you can go on your way. First, you need to let me know where you wanna go. Just let me know what kinda place you want to arrive at. Normally, there'd be a reception committee, but I'm sure you'd rather just find things out for yourself."
"Caw. Caw Caw Caw."
"Look, just.. ahh. That should be fine. Some humans, some forest, no huge city, no problem."
"Okay. The last thing is, you gonna want to know this. The new world is a place where most everything boils down to numbers. How strong you are, how fast, how tough, and all the special things you can do. All numbers. It's the main worry I had with making you a crow body. It's one you're familiar with, but it's not good numbers-wise."
"Here's a token. If you lose it, you can pick these up anywhere down there, they're quite common. When you touch one, concentrate on it, and you'll get to see what your numbers are and how the world evaluates your condition."
With that, the human flips a coin towards the bird, which catches it in its mouth.
SpoilerName: Bird.
Level: 1/5
Hitpoints, 10/10.
Magic Capacity, 0/0.
Strength, 4
Defense, -21
Speed, 32
Skill, 4
Specials:
Increased Intelligence -> Human.
Animal Soul.
Skills:
Flight 3.
Basic Theft.
Strong Stomach.
It's just numbers. What's the big deal?
"Well.. it does matter. The world you're going to runs on numbers."
Oh? What do they mean?
"Level is what level you are. It determines how much you can grow. As an animal, you'll grow just due to living. Live long enough, and you will reach the next level and get stronger.
At 1/5, in six months to a year you'll hit max level, and be noticeably stronger than you are now."
Sounds good.
"It's not good. Humans or monsters have a normal maximum of at least 25. And that's a minimum. Many humans and monsters can get much higher than that. Some have been known to reach 100. So 5 is pretty small."
Yeah.. but 5! That's a big number. It's four more than 1!
"Right." The human makes an odd gesture with his hand blocking his eyes.
"The other numbers are pretty simple. HP is how healthy you are, with 10/10 being at full health. The stats.. well, there's how strong you are, how tough you are, how fast you are, and how good you are at fine movement with your beak and talons. These numbers are about right for the crow you were."
"At 10 HP, any hit or mundane injury will be life threatening. Even the lightest kind of magic or attack will kill you. You're fast enough to escape slow creatures or non-fliers, but there are many creatures which can catch you even ones that have to run on the ground. You're also not strong enough to threaten pretty much anything that lives. You're probably strong enough to tear flesh off a dead body, or carry a light object."
So.. I'm me, and if I live a few months I'll be just like me, but much stronger? Sounds just fine.
The human is just quiet at this.
"You have a special. Being transported to this world, you get a special reward to boost you or to make you stronger. Special is what you have that's related to your soul, independent of your body.
..I was.. this is where my mistake comes in. I was trying to save what I thought was a brain-damaged human. So instead of asking you what you wanted, I tried to repair your mind. So you're as intelligent as a human is. And yes, they're generally more intelligent than even the brightest of crows, so it should help you.
Secondly, you have an animal soul. This means you level up by staying alive, and you'll max at level 5. Not much to add. But it does mean you don't have to fight or kill things or get special training. You just need to remain alive. Those are real advantages.
As for the skills.. you can have a few skills related to being a crow. You may learn a few more as you level up.
Flight 3 means you can fly like a bird, and you don't need any assistance with taking off and landing.
Basic Theft means you're skilled at stealing things which belong to others. It'll be instinctual.. you'll have some help at picking your moment.
Strong stomach means you can eat things that are rotten or tainted without any problems.
You'll probably gain one of these for each level you earn, since you have such a low max level. You'll get to choose from a list."
Alright. Should be simple enough. Don't die, have fun in the new world, you're terrifyingly weak. And it's your fault for losing your chosen human. World is about numbers, for some reason, and numbers are everything there.
"Yeah, that's most of it."
I feel I should be annoyed at you.. but you're giving me a whole new world. Are there any other crows there?
"Nope. There are some birds, but no crows. Not that many, actually. And none of them as smart as you."
Should have a good time then. Nobody will expect me.
"Oh, and you're supposed to save the world."
It's some time later. The bird is still standing on top of the table, but the fruit is missing. There is a pile of creatures in the corner, featuring wings, feathers, claws, fur, making up dozens if not hundreds of random avian-like creatures.
"Okay, fine. This one!"
Fine, fine.
After several hours of effort, the crow is staring at.. another crow. Well, not quite. It's got a blue crest on the top of its head, and the feathers are perfectly arranged.. where the "real" crow has slightly odd shaped imperfections and a handful of missing feathers, representing a well known body that has seen a lot of real effort.
"Finally. At least you let me add something. Now, let me clean up the mess.."
The human-like creature waves his arms and the pile of discarded bodies turns ghostly and vanishes from the floor of the room.
"And you can go in anytime. Just touch the body and will yourself into it."
Back to the bird. It picks up one foot and then the other. Then it nuzzles itself. Then it turns around and preens its perfect feathers into a slightly disheveled state.
"Aww, don't do that!"
"Caw"
"Anyway, there's just two things left and then you can go on your way. First, you need to let me know where you wanna go. Just let me know what kinda place you want to arrive at. Normally, there'd be a reception committee, but I'm sure you'd rather just find things out for yourself."
"Caw. Caw Caw Caw."
"Look, just.. ahh. That should be fine. Some humans, some forest, no huge city, no problem."
"Okay. The last thing is, you gonna want to know this. The new world is a place where most everything boils down to numbers. How strong you are, how fast, how tough, and all the special things you can do. All numbers. It's the main worry I had with making you a crow body. It's one you're familiar with, but it's not good numbers-wise."
"Here's a token. If you lose it, you can pick these up anywhere down there, they're quite common. When you touch one, concentrate on it, and you'll get to see what your numbers are and how the world evaluates your condition."
With that, the human flips a coin towards the bird, which catches it in its mouth.
SpoilerName: Bird.
Level: 1/5
Hitpoints, 10/10.
Magic Capacity, 0/0.
Strength, 4
Defense, -21
Speed, 32
Skill, 4
Specials:
Increased Intelligence -> Human.
Animal Soul.
Skills:
Flight 3.
Basic Theft.
Strong Stomach.
It's just numbers. What's the big deal?
"Well.. it does matter. The world you're going to runs on numbers."
Oh? What do they mean?
"Level is what level you are. It determines how much you can grow. As an animal, you'll grow just due to living. Live long enough, and you will reach the next level and get stronger.
At 1/5, in six months to a year you'll hit max level, and be noticeably stronger than you are now."
Sounds good.
"It's not good. Humans or monsters have a normal maximum of at least 25. And that's a minimum. Many humans and monsters can get much higher than that. Some have been known to reach 100. So 5 is pretty small."
Yeah.. but 5! That's a big number. It's four more than 1!
"Right." The human makes an odd gesture with his hand blocking his eyes.
"The other numbers are pretty simple. HP is how healthy you are, with 10/10 being at full health. The stats.. well, there's how strong you are, how tough you are, how fast you are, and how good you are at fine movement with your beak and talons. These numbers are about right for the crow you were."
"At 10 HP, any hit or mundane injury will be life threatening. Even the lightest kind of magic or attack will kill you. You're fast enough to escape slow creatures or non-fliers, but there are many creatures which can catch you even ones that have to run on the ground. You're also not strong enough to threaten pretty much anything that lives. You're probably strong enough to tear flesh off a dead body, or carry a light object."
So.. I'm me, and if I live a few months I'll be just like me, but much stronger? Sounds just fine.
The human is just quiet at this.
"You have a special. Being transported to this world, you get a special reward to boost you or to make you stronger. Special is what you have that's related to your soul, independent of your body.
..I was.. this is where my mistake comes in. I was trying to save what I thought was a brain-damaged human. So instead of asking you what you wanted, I tried to repair your mind. So you're as intelligent as a human is. And yes, they're generally more intelligent than even the brightest of crows, so it should help you.
Secondly, you have an animal soul. This means you level up by staying alive, and you'll max at level 5. Not much to add. But it does mean you don't have to fight or kill things or get special training. You just need to remain alive. Those are real advantages.
As for the skills.. you can have a few skills related to being a crow. You may learn a few more as you level up.
Flight 3 means you can fly like a bird, and you don't need any assistance with taking off and landing.
Basic Theft means you're skilled at stealing things which belong to others. It'll be instinctual.. you'll have some help at picking your moment.
Strong stomach means you can eat things that are rotten or tainted without any problems.
You'll probably gain one of these for each level you earn, since you have such a low max level. You'll get to choose from a list."
Alright. Should be simple enough. Don't die, have fun in the new world, you're terrifyingly weak. And it's your fault for losing your chosen human. World is about numbers, for some reason, and numbers are everything there.
"Yeah, that's most of it."
I feel I should be annoyed at you.. but you're giving me a whole new world. Are there any other crows there?
"Nope. There are some birds, but no crows. Not that many, actually. And none of them as smart as you."
Should have a good time then. Nobody will expect me.
"Oh, and you're supposed to save the world."
