Challenged For Revenge

"Well then, I guess that settles it," she smiled, "Nice to formally meet you Nova, I'm Katherine. Katherine Kirklin." Apparently, she was just as happy that I finally decided on a name as I was to learn hers.

"I'll send you back for now, then," she said as she picked me up from her shoulder and placed me on the ground. "I hope that with your high intelligence you'll be able to understand, but I'll be doing this so you can get stronger and fill up on food before I call for you again. In the plains my team will be crossing, it'll be unlikely that there will be food for you, but the same can be said for Littleroot Forest after your evolution."

She brought out a map of the region and explained while pointing to different spots with her staff, "Here in the northeast is Littleroot Forest where I found you. The area mostly serves as a cultivation ground for Violeteast City which is cut off from the map to the north. It houses low ranked herbs between F- and E+ Rank and by proxy serves as an ecosystem of the weakest monsters."

Now pointing at the massive infilled area in the center of the map, she continued, "Here in the center is the area known as the Desolate Plains and we're close to the center of it after traveling for a full day. My team and I are heading south to the Ganjier Tundra and it will take at least another day of dedicated travel to get there."

Pointing to the far east of the Littleroot Forest, she continued, "Here's the best place I can think of for you to go after being returned. The Black Swamp isn't the safest place, but for a D Ranked Monster like you, it should be safe enough to grow up efficiently. You'll have to watch out as there are B Ranked Monsters at the top of the food chain. Fly away if you think it's too dangerous."

She looked up from the map and met my eyes before concluding, "Now, before you leave, let me tag you with a branding seal." As she pulled out a paper slip from her robe's inner pocket and approached me, she said, "Don't worry, this won't hurt. I just need to place this somewhere on your body to dissuade any other adventurers from trying to kill you if you happen across any."

After taking her words into consideration, I extended my right wing for her to place the paper slip under it. She caught on quickly enough and after placing the slip, it stuck to me like a sticker. With the slip affixed to my body, she kept her hands hovering over it and chanted something before the slip flashed brightly and burned away. The result was a tattoo-like inscription left behind where the slip once was.

"Remember, show this to any human you come across and they will recognize that you are not a Wild Monster. Since you are an Eaglet, my uncle told me you'll eventually learn to use Magic, so try to imbue the branding seal with Magic when you can to get an even better effect."

After I nodded, she withdrew her map and chanted something else before a prompt manifested before me.

[Summoner's Return pending on activation. Accept? Yes/No.]

I gave Katherine an appreciative smiling nod before accepting. In the blink of an eye, I was back to what I now knew was called the Littleroot Forest. However, upon returning, I was almost instantly blindsided after I tried to dodge an unseen attack. Fortunately, my wings could grant me flight and after I swooped up a couple meters into the air I saw my two would-be assassins.

[Appraise Successful

Name: Dotted Bulking Tapir (2)

Estimated Rank: E+ & E

Description: These two appear to be the parents of the Infant Dotted Tapir you killed yesterday. Usually, Tapirs as a species are solitary, but with the exceptions of mating and nursing periods, it would make sense that they stick close to their offspring. Additionally, they match descriptions of a completely mature Dotted Bulking Tapirs.]

Ok? I put aside the question of why my Appraisal had just become so much better and put all my focus into killing the two Tapirs. Though they were much, much larger than I, my Rank outclassed them, and my Stats after evolving had exploded.

It was a bit offputting for the Appraisal to confirm that these were the parents of the first kill I committed in this world that caused my apprehension, but just like their idiotic offspring, they had attacked me first and failed to realize their limitations. More important than that though, was the fact that I was now extremely hungry…

I'd temporarily been able to ignore my hunger pangs due to the excitement of completing my first evolution and being able to fly, but that could only go for so long. Now, there were two conveniently ignorant beasts daring to attempt getting revenge on me? Two beasts that were parents to the most delicious meat I'd eaten since reincarnating?

All in all, I probably only hesitated while hovering in the air for less than fifteen seconds, and that included the time I took to read the Appraisal of the Tapirs, before I attacked. Shooting towards the lower ranking of the two Tapirs, the mother, I landed on her back and tried to get a couple quick pecks in before she rolled like her son did when we fought.

Unfortunately for, well… both of us, I completely underestimated what it meant for my Attack Stat to jump 27 points as the mere action of gripping her back gouged out a sizable, heavy wound on her back. The single peck I managed to deal before I lost my balance also left devastating damage as I managed to cut through the back of her neck and even sever her spine.

Retreating to the air, I 'admired' my work, almost impressed by how quickly I dispatched a mature Tapir when just yesterday its offspring lasted five minutes. Yet, since there was still the even higher E+ Ranked father Tapir, I attempted to reuse the strategy I used on its mate. Unfortunately, the increase in Rank and Stats from E to E+ was good enough for me to not have such an easy time.

Landing on the father Tapir's back, my Talons didn't slice into its back like a hot knife through butter. It did leave nasty cuts, about as destructive as my pecks. But even they didn't manage to get to the Tapir's spine before it could shake me off its back by rolling over. Still, I left it seriously wounded if its heavy panting and bloody appearance was anything to go by.

However, everything changed when it didn't immediately charge back in to kill me. Instead after issuing a guttural squeak, its entire body started pulsating with red energy that appeared to be evaporating its blood into a bloody mist. I guessed it was going berserk and using some sort of double-edged magic, so I did the sensible thing and flew up to a tree branch to watch the spectacle below.

The dumb thing would eventually run out of steam and probably be weakened as a result. It wouldn't be able to do anything since it couldn't clim—

Crack!

The tree whose branches I was standing on fell over after the Tapir crashed into it, irking me to no end. However, I could still just fly around in the air until its tantrum ended, so there was still nothing it could d—

Whish!

After a pathetically small magic circle appeared before the Tapir's face, a small stone was launched at me. These repeated taunts worked well in the Tapir's favor, almost succeeding in getting me to try attacking it again. But I wasn't stupid. I wouldn't challenge an unknown, especially without knowing the extent of what I was even capable of.

In the end, three tiresome minutes passed where I dodged stones from the Tapir until it finally ran out of steam and tried to run away. Of course, it didn't manage to cross ten meters before I executed it with extreme prejudice. Out of its berserk state, it was slower and weaker than even its spouse, so all it took was one precise peck to halfway decapitate it.

With the threats taken care of, I first took a couple seconds to regain my calm. Even though I hadn't been wounded once throughout the entire exchange, I did exert myself to the point of also breathing heavily. Especially in the air, where my maneuverability was put to the test against what I could only assume was the Tapir's Earth Magic.

When my heart rate slowed and my breath evened, though, I immediately started feasting. I had been hungry before the fight and said hunger only intensified after exerting myself. Though, as I ate, I looked over my Appraisal Skill to figure out what had changed.

[Skills:

Name: Appraise Lvl 4

Description: Integrates Common Eagle Bloodline into the Appraisal System. Limited to the Lvl of the Bloodline Skill, all the hereditary knowledge you have access to will be accounted for when trying to appraise an object, person, or place.]

Hmm…

I swallowed a piece of flesh from the father Tapir I was eating from in contemplation. This must mean that aside from granting me Innate Skills, the knowledge in my Bloodline has been converted into subconscious memories that the Appraise Skill can make use of.

I guess this isn't that far-fetched a concept in a world where evolution is commonplace. After all, in my former life, it was scientifically proven that information can be passed down hereditarily. Information like what prey are edible, which are poisonous, which are dangerous, and which to run away from are ingrained in DNA.

In the current universe, where a two-day-old infant like me could mature several weeks or months and evolve into an entirely different species, it made the smallest bit of sense that this was possible.