Here I am, alone in the desolate city, a noble human on his graceful hunt. Only my prey isn't a powerful beast, a majestic dragon, or a sneaky griffin.

No, it's a goddamn sparrow. A bird not much bigger than the oversized pigeon, and apparently blessed with the agility of Biscuit when he is trying to steal some food.

I stalk my nemesis with inhuman determination... well, let's call it a determination of a bulldozer, as I'm currently crashing into walls here and there, unable to fully control my speed.

I can't help but see the irony: A mighty me reduced to a maniac chasing down a bird. Yet as I plow through the city and the walls, I think how absurdly ridiculous it all is.

But! I can't give up. At this point this is personal! I swear this little asshole did laugh after I missed the last attack.

I swear this sparrow did laugh at me! I'm not crazy.

I boost my body more and then push to the side to dodge one of the houses while my [Perception] tracks the animal that continues to fly in between houses at dizzying speeds while all the orbs I threw at it miss.

Surely either something's confusing my vision, my perception, or some sort of field is redirecting my attacks slightly.

In just a short moment after the start, we pass a lot of distance and I'm leaving craters behind me as I continue to pump more and more kinetic energy to propel myself to the point you could call it flying.

The bird flies inside the house and I brace myself against the impact as I come crashing inside while sending waves of perception into the surroundings to track it.

It flies outside and I follow it only to stop a moment later after the bird out of nowhere doubles its speed to stop a few seconds later, looking back at me.

Haaaaaaaa.

Haaaa.

I stomp once, releasing all the kinetic energy I hold, making my surroundings crack and sending a shockwave into the street that breaks all the windows and cracks some walls.

Then I activate Mana regulator once more and lower amount of mana going to my Kinetic Heart.

My return is shameful as I run back through the streets that I bulldozed through while following the sparrow. The houses I hit, and the cobblestones I destroyed. I have lost and somehow I'm sure I feel the bird's gaze on me as I move back to the group.

“Where is the bird?” the icy guy asks the moment I come back only to be poked by Cipher who just looks at me and shrugs his shoulders.

“I already ate it.” I say and Cipher stops him once more before the man says something else.

“You are lying!”

Oh no, Isabella, please don't make it worse.

“You didn't catch it at all! It ran away!”

You can't break a man's pride like that. That's just pure evil.

“I think it only wanted to play with you,”

Help.

“It didn't even see you as danger, I think it was… how was the word? Amused?

Please Help.

Somehow it was decided that the little girl will be keeping a watch, having to stay quiet. It's all pure coincidence and it will help her train her skills. She doesn't like it, saying it's not fun, but we are a team, aren't we?

It was decided by me.

The icy guy somehow ended up having to fight with more monsters than he was used to. Unfortunately, I was unable to stop them in time. There are too many of them, you know, poor me, hungry, still beaten unable to stop them all.

But why is he complaining so much? They wounded him only a few times, barely more than scratches, there is no need to be such a prima donna about it.

“So, how many did you get?” I ask Isabella after jumping on the roof next to her.

“Three invisible ones! They almost got to them and they didn't even notice, “ she points her small hand at the trio down there fighting with vermin, “they are weak!” the little girl adds.

I can't help but agree. Well, I'm sure they are hiding a useful skill or two but even with similar levels and stats they are lacking.

“About the bird…” Before Isabella finishes her sentence I reach with my right hand and pinch and pull her cheek. It's soft and it stretches out slightly, “ouch” she mumbles, hitting my arm with her tiny hands and after a while, I let go and she grabs her slightly red cheek.

“You are mean!” her pouting face is somehow cute and it makes me want to bully her even more. But I hold back and instead of that, I check my skills, especially the one that I have trouble getting to level 20.

Redistribution (Symbiotic Transference) - Lvl 19

I'll have to push a bit harder, maybe I can go outside during the night? That dumbass savant said that there are some strong monsters lurking around so it could be a good practice.

Another thing is that I'm hungry and I already noticed that I started losing some weight, all of us did. We do a lot of fighting, moving around and the food we are getting is minimal. Maybe even the food we are getting isn't as calorie dense? It's annoying. Well, one of the problems is that I'm giving half of my food to Isabella, my weakness showing once again.

I just can't leave her alone as there is no one to take care of her and she is just a kid. Little cheeky girl in a fucked-up situation.

Damn, when she grows up she better take care of Grandpa Nathaniel in the way I did care about her now.

To make myself feel better I pull her cheek again, watching her pout afterward while checking the new side quest.

Side quest: Kill 500 enemies

Rewards:Common gear of your choiceFood and water rations

Well, it's as expected, also as the reward for the last one I did pick a bag. Somehow I expected it to be a bag with some magic on it. Maybe it's super durable or bigger inside than it looks from the outside.

Nope, it's just a normal ugly bag.

So yeah, I got scammed by the system once more.

Another thing is Cipher. The man is slowly pushing me more and more. He is asking for bigger things, using his water skill as a trade card.

At some point I almost feel like just grabbing him by the neck and forcing him to become my personal water dispenser, but I decide against it. Yes he is annoying but he is useful too, he is already dealing with the trio of natives, taking care of his group and only asking somewhat reasonable things.

He knows the moment I find a better way to get water he is out and probably with a few bruises so he is milking it as much as he can, always careful to not step over the line.

So I just push my growing annoyance to the back of my mind.

Oh, he also keeps using some weird skill. It shows itself by collecting his mana in his eyes. At first, I thought it might be some sort of manipulation skill, maybe hypnosis so I kept my Reinforcement construct running and focusing on defense against mental attacks, but later after watching the movement of his mana and the man I think it's not it.

My suspicion is that it's some skill similar to [Perception], collecting information, maybe doing something else. He always uses it when dealing with me so it also might be something similar to Isabella's skills that allows her to know my intentions and partially my feelings.

I could try to ask him, even force him to tell me but I find it fun trying to find it out on my own.

I stop my thoughts right there, catching a familiar mana signature on the edge of my [Perception].

Not waiting a moment later I grab the girl and jump high into the air and while being high up I push against the air, propelling us even further in a weak imitation of flying.

When we reach the place where I felt a signature one word sounds in my mind.

(Asshole!)

Goddamnit, you silly dog, how the hell did you get here?

Biscuit runs towards me, his pink tongue sticking out and his short legs making his body wobble from side to side, the doggo seemingly shaking his butt and it wags its short tail.

I ignore Isabella's excited screams and caress the best doggo of the second… of the third floor.

He continues to shout in my head and it takes a while for him to calm down and then when I expectantly look at him, his head turns to a group of people, all of them looking similar to the trio of natives we met. There is some fear in their eyes and they look towards me, their eyes ticking in between me and Biscuit.

“What is it, Biscuit, your friends?” What did this silly dog do this time?

(Food.)

Huh?

His voice in my head somehow sounds proud and one massive purple tentacle appears from his back pointing at the group of scared people.

(Food!) he repeats happily.

Biscuit?