27 Better than a mirror

Fate was a debatable topic, it did have ups but tended to favour the downs immensely. William understood that well, he had examples for this matter.

Regardless of the fact that things eventually went his way, these past few days weren't exactly normal. Any other common snakezoid wouldn't go through such struggles, especially on a day-to-day basis!

Perhaps such unholy trouble struck because he sought valuable treasures? After all, adventure came hand to hand with danger!

However, since this mountain had given him more than enough trouble so far, William craved to blow off some steam; he wanted to tame a sizable portion of stress!

Thanks to that matter, he craved a specific method of revenge, it was almost metaphorical even.

"This will show them... dumb birds." The young one muttered.

In the meantime, Olivia tended the fire and tried to cook some food. But even though she constantly avoided eye contact, she could still notice a few details; her friend was occupied with a little stick.

He had gathered up a few finger-wide sticks earlier on, and broke them down to shorter pieces, two-foot long each to be exact. Afterwards, with the aid of his rusty sword, he sharpened one end of each material!

Eventually the boy prepared seven, almost identical pieces of this sort. And finally, he was ready to attach a few items on these sub-weapons.

"Chicken boy won't know what'll hit him, loud bastards." William thought.

In cooperation with these plans, he had put in a bit of work earlier on as well. He gathered up more than a few feathers which that big, albino owl had left behind!

Once the size of that beast was considered, the amount of feathers that fell of around here was understandable. Likewise, it was easy enough to collect a few.

The boy aimed to attach these feathers to the dull, and slightly thicker side of those sticks he had gathered before. With the aid of his sword, such a step was achievable!

So he slightly split the back end of these sticks open, and used that halved gap to carefully slide a couple feathers in there.

After a few tortuous splinters, the boy whispered. "Fuck! Burns like hell guh... but I'm not gonna stop here."

It was noticeable that his one-minded motivation was unbreakable, he still craved revenge with every fibre of his higher intelligence!

Likewise, he was patient enough to carry on through the next step. With a few thin pieces of raw and slippery birch tree shavings, he securely tied the back end of each stick. Such a trick helped keep the feathers in place.

Eventually, after a few more unyielding splinters, he succeeded. William wholly managed to prepare all seven sticks!

This entire task was primarily tiresome. It was a headache for sure, especially since it took a while to find those types of straight, and useful pieces of wood! But regardless of those tough odds, the effort felt worthwhile.

In the meantime, Olivia had slowly grown curious so she finally asked. "What're you up to? You've been fighting those things for an hour now."

Of course, eye contact was completely avoided through that question. If it wasn't for the urge of curiosity, she wouldn't have spoken out at all. The prior embarrassment had shaken her far too much!

However, what helped the lady forget that recent tussle and hustle, was William's bold and absurd answer!

"I'm gonna stab those owls," His tone thickened.

"But we made peace with them..." The brunette urged, and tried not to yell.

It took a while to collect the right words through a headache he experienced, but eventually he weighed in. "Peace doesn't matter right now, we almost became bird seed you know? I promised them all that stuff, just so we could live longer."

Although her friend made a bit of sense, Olivia still debated. "They don't wanna kill us now, and it's bad to go back on our word."

William's mind was still at a blur thanks to the prior upgrade, so it was tricky for him to play nice. Yet after a bite of that finely cooked meat, he tried to communicate.

"Let me explain something to you," The boy first called for attention.

Afterwards he unapologetically spoke out, "I don't care about all that preachy honour, and I don't want peace with those bastards. They almost killed us, isn't that bad enough?"

"It is but..." The brunette tried to stand by her points.

Yet her word was cut short by the other, who urged. "There's no but, Olivia. They wanted us dead, so they'll get what's coming to them. That half-assed peace they gave us, means nothing to me."

Well such a statement definitely didn't befit a noble, fully honest man. But behind all that rage, a dash of logic shone the brightest. Peace became an opportunity after some strong effort, but it wasn't an option to begin with!

Those odd birds wanted war and violence from the start, William wanted to make sure they received it. Only this time around, he felt prepared enough to deliver the message. 

However, after Olivia pondered over these few odds and ends, she slowly decided to favour her good friend's side. The healer instincts she had, naturally craved peace and serenity but this dilemma begged to differ!

So eventually she agreed, "Your crazy words always work, Willy. Let me make you a bow for those arrows."

"That would be nice," He expressed, and trusted the other's capabilities.

Of course, the young boy didn't tell the whole truth through this little chat. He craved violence from the beginning as well, but avoided it because the system offered a reward in exchange for peace.

Now with the opportunity given, he embraced revenge and urged to feed his own ego tantrums. The additional use of white feathers was a metaphor that projected his ego, William wanted to hurt those creatures with their own material!

Or perhaps this odd crave was an after-effect from that prior upgrade? He still felt dizzy, so it was a hassle to think straight!

Likewise, it was also difficult to explore some details of the outside world. So it took him a moment to catch up with a few hints.

He noticed that Olivia either looked at him too much, or avoided eye contact entirely; all while she kept conversations to the minimum. Such behaviour was odd, especially since the lady was usually invasive. 

Which was why William thought, "Huh... what's up with her this time?"

Now regardless of the fact that they almost got intimate just moments ago, the young man thought that his friend's weird behaviour was a product of something else.

Thanks to the prior upgrade, he was numb-headed enough to think. "Maybe I got something in my teeth? Mud on my face probably? Dunno, wish I had a mirror."

Almost by surprise, the system swooped in and caught his attention. [I can't offer you a mirror specifically, but I do have something better for you instead.]

Before he could ask any questions about the matter, an image instantly flashed across the boy's vision. It was enlarged, so such a sight wasn't hard to miss!

"Who's that guy?" William asked, as he peeked at a picture of a dark haired, young man.

[That's you, this is an exact presentation of how you look in this... smooth-skinned form.] The system described.

"Like a human, you mean. And it's not like I saw my snakey self anyway, so I can't confuse my forms." He lightly argued.

But that topic met a quick end, as he was simply staggered by the details of this image. Eventually, the boy was convinced that he seemed a bit handsome!

Sure he wasn't well developed due to these teen years, but his jawline was slightly wide, so the boy's overall face had a bit of texture. In short words, he could be told apart from the average man.

What William didn't like however, was how his skin was too pale and dry. It seemed like any bit of wind could force a bunch of dead, dry skin to flutter off his face!

Such detail made him think, "Man, that can't be healthy."

The young man almost looked like a corpse, but once his hantonic disease was considered, side effects of this matter sounded normal.

Nevertheless, he was still satisfied with his face's overall appearance; those dark hair of his were especially favourable. They were thick and short, which made them look imbalanced and spiky. Such texture was great for an angsty aura!

"Maybe that's why she's acting weird... I'm handsome." He concluded for a second.

But thankfully, William had been awake enough to encourage common sense even further, his awareness grew slowly but surely.

So he eventually remembered, "Wait a minute... we kissed an hour ago, that's why she's weird now."

Afterwards the boy concluded, "Hm... guess she'll be normal again in a day or whatever."

The good man didn't want to think about this topic too much right now, as his focus was derived from something else. Thanks to this degree of self awareness, he managed to notice an important aspect.

William could feel how a sizable amount of energy wandered around his brain. In actuality it was more than that; a whole new branch of electricity circled around his noggin right now, and tried to gain rapid strength!

Thankfully, this time around he was prepared to face a challenge like this one. Well, he was at least prepared enough to grasp a sense of control over this raw power!

A moment later, he thought. "The system was right, my neuro-shocks feel stronger now... they feel destructive!"

After such a grand understanding, a smirk slowly grew across his face. Now, revenge felt easier than ever!