The Lure of the Sunflower Field

The clever fairy's widely splayed stag beetle pincers whipped through the empty air. If I hadn't dodged in time, my waist would've been sliced clean in two across Cerberus's head.

"Missed me!"

Snap. Snap snap!

Well, as long as I dodged it, that was fine.

Screeech—!

I evaded the second head lunging for my neck this time too.

Stab—!

Then I plunged straight in, driving the fork deep into Cerberus's carapace before quickly pulling back.

Whoosh. Thud.

Next, I kicked the end of the fork's handle to embed it even deeper into Cerberus's body. The tree-pinned beast struggled desperately with both heads ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to deal with the fork, but...

Clang, screeeeech—!

...a silver fork wasn't something those mere stag beetle mandibles could cut through.

Snap... snappp....

In the end, Cerberus couldn't escape its fate of being stuffed and mounted, slumping limply downward.

Thud. Thud.

"Dead? Huh? Cerberus, you're dead, right?"

After confirming it no longer moved by chucking a few pebbles at it, I cautiously approached and retrieved the fork.

Splurt—!

I easily dodged the green bodily fluid that spurted from Cerberus's corpse in the process.

Sizzle—.

"Dangerous stuff."

I watched for a moment as the tree bark touched by the green fluid melted away gooily, then left the insect's corpse behind and pressed onward.

Mutants like this Cerberus were creatures I didn't know about, so they often posed threats that chilled me to the bone.

Even so, the reason I hunted mutants anyway was...

Hee hee.

Killing mutants brought me far more pleasure than catching regular animals—

...No, that's not it.

Something about these mutants seemed to boost my mana stat when killed.

Mana, magical power, magic. The ultimate cheat key in any fantasy world, right?

When I first saw that status window message, I was thrilled at the thought that maybe I could use magic too. Was I finally graduating from forks to fireballs or ice arrows?

...Nothing happened.

But even staring through the status window, there was no info on what mana was, how to use it, or even how much I had. For now, mana was just a resource gathering dust.

Three... no, four now with that one?

Still, stocking up on max mana ahead of time couldn't hurt.

Plus, hunting mutants felt like it gave way more EXP than regular animals, so there was no reason to pass them up.

Stab. Poke. Stab. Poke.

"Ah ha."

I'd been flying through the forest like this, continuing my hunt for a while, when...

Pat pat. Patter patter.

"Hmm..."

I noticed sparrows and mice heading in a specific direction.

"Something over there...?"

What was in the direction they were going? Or were they fleeing something? A dangerous situation maybe? The thought crossed my mind briefly, but...

Eh, probably fine.

There was no urgency from the small animals. Their pattern of stopping to sniff around before moving on seemed more like foraging.

Let's follow.

Since I'd decided to explore the whole forest anyway, checking that direction made sense. With that, I quietly trailed the pack of small animals.

* * *

I'd decided to follow, but no need to stop hunting.

Stab. "Poke!" Stab. "Chirp!"

There were plenty to follow anyway, so I granted merciful rest to the weak ones lagging behind.

"Hmm..."

Unfortunately, levels weren't rising much from these guys anymore.

"Once you get the knack, it levels up fast."

[Pierce] had been lv.3 this morning; now it was already lv.7.

Skill levels didn't seem to lose efficiency against weak small animals as long as conditions were met.

From all my experiments and analysis so far, skills gained proficiency through use.

But there were specific conditions for proficiency gain.

Just flailing arms in the air didn't count for [Pierce]. Hiding behind a tree alone didn't level [Hide]. Fluttering wings while sitting didn't register [Flight].

In other words...

To level [Pierce], I had to grip the fork and stab a living thing to a certain depth. For [Hide], I needed to evade detection by animals at least twice my size. For [Flight], my feet had to leave the ground and cover a set distance.

Shouting the skill name didn't auto-activate it, but...

Pierce. Splurt—! "Kek."

Thinking the skill name beforehand boosted power slightly.

And most importantly...

Just like evolving from Fairy to Fairy via racial levels, skills could evolve too.

About this speed, maybe?

Evolved skills were harder to level, like how my racial leveling slowed after becoming a Fairy.

[Flight] leveled from just flying, but [Flying] required maintaining a minimum speed.

Of course, the payoff was worth it.

Flying.

Whoooosh—.

Just changing from [Flight] to [Flying] nearly doubled my transparent wings' speed. Wing fatigue built up much slower too.

So, my current status window after diligently grinding skills looked like this.

Skill levels rose across the board, excluding Natural Affinity. [Flight] and [Hide] evolved to [Flying] and [Ambush], greatly enhancing their effects. Also...

Thanks to [Analysis] gained from scouting the forest, I could glean more info from the status window.

My dive bombing paid off with [Air Strike], letting me "hard slam" instead of just "slam down."

Additionally...

A new Traits section appeared outside skills upon evolving to Fairy.

But I couldn't figure out what these traits meant.

No rush anyway.

Setting traits aside, yesterday's me and today's me had a gap equal to dozens of small animals.

In other words, I was no overstatement the strongest freshly evolved Fairy—

"Shaaaa—!"

"...!"

—but still, I had much to learn.

...Ambush.

Dealing with a snake the size of an apartment high-rise? I’ll leave that to my senior—the rat.

Thud.

"Ch-chirp?" Gulp.

Instead of me hastily hiding in the underbrush, the rat got gulped down whole, and I watched the snake slither away leisurely, letting out a small sigh.

"...Not easy."

Of course, I'd gotten stronger since yesterday, but I was still just a fairy.

A bird nest there too.Whoa?! ...Almost got spotted. Maybe walking's safer here....Steer clear of that area.

Every promising base spot had bird nests claiming it. Tall grass hid spiderwebs like fisherman's nets. Unnaturally mounded soil concealed hunters dragging prey underground.

The wilds overflowed with dangers beyond my grasp.

Doesn't seem like much more to gain here.

Lots of small animals meant decent hunting, but predators prowled proportionally often.

Time to head back...

I was about to conclude the stump's east side worked as a hunting ground but not a base, when...

Whiiiiish—.

A cool breeze brushed my hair. From the end of the small animals' path, intense light filtered through the dense trees like it filled the gaps.

Then, a faint, soft fragrance rode the wind. The small animals dashed toward the light without hesitation.

Rustle. Rustle.

Naturally swept along, I mindlessly pushed through the thick foliage.

"Whoa—?!"

Suddenly, right before my eyes—a massive brown object filled my vision.

Pat pat—!

I urgently backed away from the bushes, fork aimed at the huge intruder, tense as could be, but...

...A flower?

Realizing the startling object was just a flower, I slowly relaxed my grip.

Yellow petals surrounding densely packed black seeds. It was too big for one flower.

Right, each part's separate flowers.

The yellow "petals" and central seed cluster—each a cluster of tiny flowers forming a composite bloom.

Sunflower.

I scrutinized it for mutant mimicry. Thankfully, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠no movement.

Bzzz—

Flying cautiously upward for a look down...

.

.

"...Wow."

My tiny eyes couldn't capture it all—to the distant horizon, a world brimming with radiant gold unfolded.