Assassin Crow Evolution

As Jimmy followed Gundor across the sky, he was surprised to see him fly eastwards.

Every small turn he took hinted that he was heading towards Jimmy’s home-meadows.

This shouldn’t have been too surprising, as the meadows were Gundor’s home as well, but in a way, Jimmy expected to follow Gundor to another country, or somewhere of that equivalent.

He figured that Gundor had taken great measures to hide his treasure as thoroughly as possible. He even expected to fight his way through a dungeon of monsters next, just to get to the treasure, but that was when he realized that whatever inkling of humanity that was left in him, was influencing his expectations.

"Maybe I played too many video games when I was a human?" He muttered, "I don’t fucking remember, but I do know that I was swinging a digital sword at some point."

It was a confusing trip, but he tried to stay focused.

Gundor kept flying towards the city. They were technically in the meadows, it was just that they were getting closer to the fraction of the massive meadows that were occupied by Jimmy’s community of crows.

About a kilometer away from the city, Gundor finally landed. Jimmy followed suit.

"So, where is it?" He asked.

"You should practice patience," Gundor said.

Afterwards, he walked between two oak-trees, bulldozed through bushes, clawing them away.

"The grounds have changed ever since I’ve last been here," Gundor said, "I’ve been away for over four hundred years."

Jimmy did not respond. He was slapped by a branch, and he did not want to admit it.

Minutes later, Gundor started circling a single boulder. The boulder was a couple of feet tall, and several feet wide. It was obviously bigger than what the part on the surface revealed.

To his surprise, Gundor started smashing the boulder with his claw! Whole chunks of rock sprinkled in all directions.

The surprises didn’t end there, as after a few more hits, the thicker, and longer parts of the boulder that were stuck within the thick blanket of the ground, started levitating!

Gundor lifted his leg, and the pieces of rock followed suit, loosening themselves from the ground as if they were great, giant splinters!

"Telekinesis?" He said, "I guess this is this world’s default. Of course it is... those damn giant mantises could lift shit as well."

Gundor was ignoring the other at this point. He picked up on the fact that Jimmy liked to talk a lot, or was very excitable at the very least, and so he took every word the other said as a grain of salt.

It was hard for one not to take his saviour seriously, but Jimmy did pave a way on Gundor’s behalf.

Anyway, he eventually unearthed the entirety of the boulder, causing a ten foot deep hole of up-turned earth.

Gundor did not leap into the hole, he didn’t have to.

Instead, he lifted his claw by a few inches, and within seconds, a small, steel chest floated out of the hole. It was a foot wide at best, and even shorter than that in comparison.

Slowly and gently, Gundor placed the chest in front of Jimmy, and then opened it.

"God damn!" He exclaimed, "I didn’t think that it would look like a literal treasure. This looks like something pirates would dig out of an island."

"Do with them as you wish," Gundor mustered a small smile.

The chest, although small, was filled to the brim with Beast Cores. Fifty of them. The fact that the cores were in fact a bunch of colorful gems, amplified the idea that his reward looked like a treasure chest. It fits the theme.

Gundor was getting ready to take off, but at that moment, he felt a bit guilty.

For that matter, he turned to Jimmy, and said, "You seem smart, but I wish to warn you either way. Those cores can kill you if you’re not ready to absorb them, so I advise that you be very careful with them, and absorb only one at a time."

"I know," He nodded, "I was hoping that you can tell me more about them."

"I can’t do that. Or, to be honest, I could, but I’m too tired to help you in the matter." Gundor said, "I’ve already held my end of the bargain, and all I wish to do right now, is head home, sleep, and then tomorrow, I will visit every creek, sniff every flower, and I’ll make sure to leave no stone un-turned. I miss my home more than you, or anyone else can imagine, young one."

True to his words, Gundor left shortly after, leaving Jimmy with a chest of gems that both excited him, and confused him at the same time.

He watched the massive crow take off, and the only thing he could say at that moment was, "He couldn’t have helped me carry this shit?"

It was frustrating. The chest didn’t look too heavy, but after a long day’s worth of extensive labor, he didn’t feel like carrying it.

Nevertheless, he didn’t plan to bother Gundor any further. He knew better than to piss off an old, powerful crow.

Instead, he looked at the treasure chest, and kept getting excited all over again.

"Look at that, Virena," He said, "I told you that all that work we put in would be worthwhile."

"I have to admit, I thought that he was going to attack us somewhere along the way." She said, "His voice sounded threatening. I did not trust him one bit, but I’m happy that we can go home now."

"We should go home, yeah," He nodded, "These cores look powerful. I have no intention of absorbing them out here in the wild. We’ll be safer at home."

Jimmy closed the chest afterwards, and hopped on top of it.

Grabbing it by the sides, he made sure to prop his hammer on the right side of the chest, with the head placed at the top, so it wouldn’t escape his grasp.

After he flapped his wings a few times, he realized that the chest was heavier than he expected it to be. It was about three kilos, it weighed a bit more than him, but he managed to get it off of the ground nonetheless.

One forced, tiresome wing flap after the other, he floated above the ground, and tried to reach the point where he could simply glide home, rather than over-exert himself like this.