Escape

Reading the task gave Zack a mini heart attack but not long after, the system's notification can be heard again. 

*Ding* 

[Reward: Active skill] 

Zack escaped from his trance and quickly came back to himself before the assistant said anything. 

Looking at the direction where the vibration is coming from, he cannot see anything at all because of the thick fog all over the place. It was as if a mist hovered around the place which made his hearing—or his senses, rather— numb. 

Out of instinct, Zack jumped off the tree. He doesn't know who or what was that thing, the only thing he knew is that it wants him dead. 

"What the f*ck?! was that tree its home or something?" Unbeknownst to Zack, it was not its home but a part of it. 

Fleeing, It feels like his senses are coming back slowly as he can now able to see clearly. Zack was now at ease for what had happend, there's just one problem with his wings while flying. 

"How do I turn this thing? If I keep doing this, I will not be living the other day." He complained. 

<I agree, forget surviving if you don't know how to hover left and right.> The assistant teased him. 

"I believe I am safe now, so where's the reward?" Noticing that after he escaped, the system's task was still ongoing. 

<I... wouldn't say that if I were you.> 

After the assistant's last word, Zack finds it hard to move his wings. The air around him feels heavy and occupied like a vacuum focused behind his back. 

Being unable to look behind, he asked the assistant what was going on. 

"Godd*mmit, what is it this time?!" He cried. 

<You don't have to look behind know the answer, at shadow below your head.> 

Looking down, he can see a shadow of a bird right behind his own. Flapping his wings faster, he just made it more difficult to fly bacause of the lack of air. 

"Is that a crow? What the f*ck is a crow doing here!?" 

Zack was dumbfounded because not only he's flying so low near the ground but a crow on a different planet is surprising. He's one hundred percent certain that the crow is following him because everytime he ascends, so does the crow. 

<Close... but that's a Cron, it's different than crow because... well, you'll have to find that out yourself.> 

The assistant is pretty much useless at this point and time inside Zack's head, cursing it to the point where he almost forgot that something is following him. 

He's quite in luck because not only there's nothing blocking his path but it also seems like the Cron is a slow bird. Looking up ahead, Zack can see several trees around him, planning to use his advantage of being small and go through every space of branches. 

He quickly disregarded the idea, remembering that he can only flew straight and wasn't able to turn left or right. 

Straight ahead, Zack noticed an 8 meters tree. Panicking, He closed his eyes and prayed to whomever God can hear his words. 

"Dannazione! I don't want to die this quickly, I wasn't even here for long!" He cried. 

He was still far from the tree but seeing how big it is gave him a slight worry, not mentioning the big bird behind him. If he keeps flying straight ahead, he'd be a goner, imagining that if He and the Cron crashed at the tree, the probability of surviving is less than one percent. 

"I'm gonna be a smashed potato if this big headed guy and that tree slaps my body like a ham inside a sandwich!" 

While his eyes were closed, he don't know what to do, the air around his body feels like it has a mind on its own, circling him like he was inside a sphere of air. 

When he ascends, the Cron will try to capture him, if descends it will follow. It will be impossible to stop his wings and just let the Cron fly straight ahead in order to hit the tree. 

'Alright. keep calm, Zack. Turn your body slowly and just follow your head to the right.' 

It's easier to think than done because when he opened his eyes, he was about 8 inches close to the tree; he faced upwards toward the sky and gone straight instead of going to the right side. Almost hitting the tree, Zack's mind was beyond shock but what's more interesting is that the Cron doesn't seem to be following him anymore. 

"What was that— Did it gave up?" He asked. 

<Not really, but I suggest you keep going until feel like you're gonna die.> The assistant suggested. 

"That, I don't know. I don't feel like out of breath or any discomfort on my wings." Zack happily said. 

<That would be good then, fly as long you desire.> The assistant ordered. 

Monarchs butterflies from earth can fly up to 10,000 feet high. Knowing this, Zack keep his pace and tried to control himself turning left and right while in the air. 

"I don't see any building or villages here but a forest. A tree there... and there.. and.." Pointing his eyes in every direction, he can see nothing but trees. 

After some time, Zack has now get the hang of turning his own body facing up, down, left, and right. Now that he can control his new body just fine, he decided to slowly get down and find a place for him to rest. 

The sound of running water had entered Zack's ear. Deciding to head there, he can't keep his mind blank for thinking about the rewards he got earlier. 

____ 

When Zack was busy controlling his butterfly body, several dings can be heard making him out of focus. 

"Hey assistant, can you do something about this?" He asked. 

<Can you please drop the 'Hey' thing? And yes, I can disable sound of notification in your head if want.> 

"Much appreciated." Sigh, and blaming the assistant for not telling him about this earlier. 

<Yeah, and thanks for ignoring me earlier.> The assistant sarcastically said. 

"I can't keep on calling you the assistant, I need to give you a name.." The assistant is now one of his inner self— another mind inside his so he needs to somewhat give appreciation. 

<... > The assistant kept its mou- mind shut. 

"Alright, I'll call you Sei." 

<... > 

"What, You don't want it? Alright." He paused. "I'll just keep on calling you the assistant." 

Zack decided not to check the system reward yet to focus his mind on controlling his body. 

____ 

Back to the present, Zack had arrived at the lake and finds himself at the top of one of the trees in the area. 

"Let's see what's good here." He cheered. 

[Mission Complete!]

[Active Skill: Clairvoyance aquired!]

[+75 Exp]

[MP aquired!]

[Optional Task: Fly up to 5,000 feet high Complete!]

[+15 Exp]

[Optional Task: Fly up to 7,000 feet high Complete!]

[+15 Exp]

[You level up!]

[1 stats point aquired]

[Optional Task: Take a 2 hour flight Complete!]

[+15 Exp] 

"That's a whole lot of rewards!" Zack said. Thanking the system for all of the rewards he just received. 

Taking a look at the new skill first, he quickly opened the skills tab. 

[Active Skill: Clairvoyance] 

[Open your eyes and sought what you seek. This skill grants the user to see through objects within 3 meters and find everything that the user wants.] 

[The skill requires 4 MP to activate and depletes 2 MP every 5 seconds of using. This skill doesn't have a cooldown, giving the user to use it as long as it has MP.] 

This was the first time Zack got an active skill and he is quite pleased because it will help him in other ways but fighting. 

<That's not so bad, I guess it will be helpful in some time.> The assistant said. 

"Yeah and look at this." 

[Name: --]

[Race: Alpha Shaus'n]

[MP:15/15]

[Level: 2]

[20/200] 

[STR: 0]

[INT: 3]

[VIT: 1]

[AGI: 2]

[DEX: 1]

[1 stats point] 

The Exp capacity doubled the gap after his leveling, not only that but a new feature got Zack confused. Just below his race section, a new word appeared that he assumed to be his mana. 

"MP.. was that mean mana pool?" He asked. 

<I don't know anything about that mana thing but if its use is to wield your abilities, then I'm one hundred percent sure it is.> 

Now that he saw his new skill, the next step he wants to do is to think where to put his new stats point. 

Looking at his overall stats, he wants to put it on his STR to balance out. But after his experience with the Cron, he remembers how helpless and slow he looks. 

Although the Cron was slightly slower than him, there's still an itch in the corner of his mind that cannot describe how dissapointed he was in himself. 

"Surviving doesn't always mean you need to be the strongest." He said under his breath. 

[AGI +1] 

Surviving in this new environment is not uncommon for Zack— in fact, its his expertise. Diving in an unknown world that full of nothing but predators hungry for more. If you fall behind, you lose. 

A spotlight in the middle of nowhere is like wishing for them to eat you alive. That's why Zack decided to keep low key whenever he's with his so called colleagues. 

In the world full of money, you can't trust anyone— not even yourself. That's just how society works, the one who-trusts-who will not last. When Zack was about to die, he thought that was the chance to escape reality, but for the first time; Zack's intuition had failed him. 

After putting the stats point in his agility, he decided that he will rest for the night and give the assistant some reminders. 

"Do i need to go to state of quiescence? I mean, i'm a butterfly now." He wondered. 

<what do you mean by that?> 

"Well.. butterflies don't actually sleep but keep their eyes open while resting." He explained. 

After discussing it with the assistant, Zack ended up closing his eyes to force himslef to sleep. 

Not that he got fatigue or is tired of flying for 2 hours without stop. But he is curious if butterflies do have dreams if fallen asleep. 

'See you tomorrow, Sei.' He said to himself. 

<I can hear you, dummy.> The assistant thought.