Assassin Crow Evolution

Jimmy traveled tens of kilometers away from home, hoping to find a single Sentient Feather.

Under means that he could not have expected, and would not indulge in if he didn’t have another choice, he got four Sentient Feathers.

Initially he didn’t know if he could get a feather for his brother, Vorin, and he didn’t care if he would’ve failed to do so, but this was no longer a problem. There were plenty of feathers to share now.

Granted, the system didn’t tell him everything he needed to know about the feathers.

The system explained that Sentient Feathers dabbled in immortality, and if Jimmy was to merge with one, his regenerative abilities would sky-rocket. She didn’t mention anything about surrendering his Arcane Comprehension to the feathers.

Of course, he could skip the task of merging with a feather all together, and it wouldn’t cost him much to do so, but he went through too much trouble to get them.

The demands of the feathers led to another problem. Vorin could technically not absorb either of the four. His Arcana Comprehension was non-existent.

This was a problem that was difficult to work around, but Jimmy decided to break the news to him later.

For now, it was best for them to fly back home, because they needed a safe space to try and absorb the feathers. This forest, teeming with plenty of ungodly creatures who could kill them in a blink, was not a safe space.

...

The trip back to the home meadows took them three whole days.

The team wasn’t in a rush, so they made sure they slept well along the way.

The meadows were just as they left it. Peaceful, calm, and no one had reported seeing a raven or Razor Squirrel so far.

In other words, it was almost depressing. Jimmy at least found the lack of progress here infinitely boring. He guessed that if the other crows knew what was beyond the meadows, they’d be depressed of this place too, or they’d be thankful. He figured that not everyone had his adventurous spirit.

Anyway, he had convinced his brother that he couldn’t absorb any of the feathers for now, so they separated.

Vorin went to check on the family, to see how his parents, brothers and sisters were doing, and Jimmy found a nice hole in a tree where he could experiment comfortably.

Jimmy promised his brother that he’d help him find a Mana Core to absorb, so he could get his introduction into magic started, but for now, they were comfortable doing their own separate thing.

Jimmy had brought a rock with him. He placed three of the Sentient Feathers below the rock, so they wouldn’t float away.

The feathers may be old, they may be powerful, but they didn’t even weigh a single gram. A simple three-pound rock easily overpowered them.

Jimmy grabbed and held the black Sentient Feather only, as he was told that he had an actual chance to absorb it.

"Okay, system," He held his breath, anxious, "I know I bothered you with a lot of questions these past couple of days, but let’s go over it again. I’m supposed to talk to the feather?"

[Simply said, yes, but syncing into the meditative state required for this process isn’t easy.]

[Higher stages of meditation aren’t for everybody, though, I sense that you have potential. With that said, don’t be discouraged if you fail a few times, or hundreds of times, really, because you should be able to get it right eventually.]

"Alright," He nodded.

Jimmy grabbed the feather with his beak, sat down, and got comfortable.

Meditation was something that he never practiced.

With the system guiding him a little bit, he managed to grasp the basics of it. He just had to sit, and focus on his breathing.

It took him ten minutes to figure out that he was not a fan of meditation.

’It’s like I’m faking a nap,’ He thought, ’This is so stupid. An actual nap would be better.’

’Hmm but that wouldn’t let me merge with the feather. This damn thing smells like ass. Can’t these supposedly sentient motherfuckers wander in a stream once in a while and take a shower?’ He thought, and only managed to irritate himself in the process, until he had to remind himself, ’Focus Jimmy, focus! You’re not supposed to think.’

It took him a while, but after about three hours of de-rooting every fraction of a thought within his mind, he reached the basic state which most humans could otherwise reach in half an hour at most.

His conscious mind started mixing with his subconscious mind while he was awake, and the latter was finally gaining the upper hand.

He started hearing weird sounds.

What started out as small pops as his body relaxed, and decompressed, developed into very distracting voices.

"What the fuck are you doing?" He heard Vorin say, but his brother was nowhere around.

"Banana banana banana..." He heard a woman sing, but he didn’t know who it was.

Short bursts of words like that were distracting, but other than Virena resting on a leaf nearby, he knew that there was no one else around, so eventually he stopped being spooked by these voices, and focused on the primal lack of focus that meditation required.

These voices did set his progress back quite a bit, and they even forced him to open his eyes instinctively, which stumped his progress significantly, but when he learned to ignore them, the progress he made was exponential.

Much more impressive than what the system expected him to reach today, at least.

His ears were overwhelmed with waves of a loud hum.

Calming, and yet it somehow prevented him from mustering a single thought.

His eyes, previously engulfed by darkness, were now coated with a canvas of beautiful colors waving around, as if they were painted on his pupils.

Despite the progress he made, he had to remain in this state for another hour so far. It appeared to be difficult to break through whatever was beyond this point, but as for now, he tried not to fall asleep.