The Weight of Gold

Tight grips on his shoulders interrupted his command, and the wind blew against his face as he immediately went for the sky.

Sharp pains bit into his chest region as the claws of what had him in its hold sank slightly into him.

Mark summoned courage and looked up at what lifted him.

'What....'

His mind blank in a struggle to comprehend the flying beast. Head large, thin and bald like that of a vulture, resting on a long neck, powerful large legs with red scales, puffy feathers that dressed it in black giving it a ghastly look, like it was death personified as a bird, and its eyes were a dull orange.

"Ahhh…" he groaned from the pain, the bird seemed to not care about the noises he made.

Its eyes were focused on its path, and that, Mark was grateful for.

The hard ground below wouldn't welcome him with a soft hug, if he were to miraculously get away from the bird's grip, then falling to the ground below would be his death.

Mark rummaged through every corner of his mind trying to piece ideas, a way to break free of the bird and avoid certain death from falling at the height.

He also had to tolerate the pain that was biting into his shoulders.

He looked up to the face of the beastly bird again, and this time it fixed its face at Mark in response.

Mark reflexively swallowed, he mustn't let it get to its destination, he was going to be food for it.

The bird was about five times the size of Mark, and had large and powerful legs, overpowering it would pose quite the challenge.

Mark kept his gaze forward, fear and pain eating into him, his demise was close he feared, then he spotted the orange ring in the sky—the sun, the area sudden change had also affected it changing it from its glorious golden light to the dull presence that Mark's eyes could withstand looking at.

Then an idea clicked, the sun looked very close to a coin of gold, that was what Mark needed.

Suddenly, Mark's body forgot fear and pain, replacing it with hope and courage.

He looked inward–into his mind, and an image of his system sheet came up.

[Ability] [Skills] [Map]

[Affinity] [Stats]

[Quest]. [Inventory]

He focused on inventory and it expanded, revealing its contents.

Silverine Fanged Spider items laid across tabs, then the Rexadurus, and after was gold divided in slots, slots, slots and more slots, as far as time allowed.

'So much gold, this is perfect.' Mark had momentarily forgotten his greed in acquiring them.

A slot held 20 gold coins and Mark remembered gold weighing quite a ton. And then, he put his idea into motion.

He held out his arms, placing his hands side by side and together like he was asking for alms.

There was going to be a waste with what he was about to do, but he had no choice, his life was more important than gold, whether it came from a thief or a god's temple.

'Withdraw 30 gold coins.'

Suddenly, multiple balls of light appeared above him, hovering, and they caught the attention of the bird, having it look down. The shimmer from them startled it and blinded it momentarily–Mark's plan was already working better than he had intended.

The light died, and the gold coins fell on his arms with over half spilling to the ground.

The bird shook its head, and continued on smoothly.

'I could have the gold materialize atop it if I focus on its back hard enough. The problem is that I can't see its back at all.'

His best bet was to continue adding on gold, increasing the weight the bird lifted and hope that it slowly descends from the strain rather than just dropping him.

In his moment of ponder, a sound he knew too well interrupted his train of thoughts.

Ding✓

[New Quest: Sojourning bird food]

[Main Objective: Escape the grip of the Awawk bird, and land to safety]

[Reward: Wind of Euses lvl 1]

[Bonus Objective: Kill the Awawk bird and loot]

[Reward: A map of Rivenfar, swallowed by the Awawk bird years back]

Mark internally grunted from the quest name, he didn't like the name Bird food, it felt like the system and perhaps the goddess had given up on him.

The rewards from the quest did intrigue him however, but how was he going to kill the vile, bald bird?

He dispensed away the thoughts and continued with his meager plan.

'If I can just get the gold to appear inside of my clothes. It'll hold them to an extent. Maybe if I just focus.'

Being capable of coherent thoughts in that situation was a skill in its own regard.

He squinted his eyes, restricting his vision and emboldening the colors of his imagination.

'Withdraw.'

White lights surrounded him once again and they all spilled to the distant green ground.

The bird made a noise that Mark suspected was a mockery.

He was running out of ideas, his plan to weigh the bird down wasn't working as he had intended.

'I'll have to risk this. I'll definitely die if I don't, but I may die if I do.'

He suddenly wore a stern countenance telling of the sudden determination in his heart.

He swallowed, and his fear sunk down with the saliva in his mouth.

His arms were a little restricted from the bird's grip, but he made do, ignoring the wounds that opened more as he moved.

He then grabbed the toes that he could with his hands and immediately he did, he yelled the command.

"Withdraw Gold!"