Chương 33: Do I look like a bird to you?

"GWAARK!" Something feathered smashed into the side of his head. Wings battered his temple. He stumbled and fell onto his backside. Liene's shout of laughter exploded. [DAMAGE TAKEN: Fleeting Trauma] A squat, round, web-footed creature flapped from the impact zone and landed three feet away, glaring at them both with judgmental yellow eyes. The thing was somewhere between a duck and a feathered ballista.

"Was that—" Fabrisse pointed.

"What was that?"

"I think it's a campus clucklebeak," Liene was still wheezing.

"But they're not supposed to be out at night, or this far from the North Pond, or this aggressive."

"We're not even near a pond!" The glyph rang, intrusively cheerful. [NEW SIDEQUEST AVAILABLE:" Cluckle Crisis"] Assist: Mentor Lorvan Lugano Objective: Locate and help contain at least 5 escaped clucklebeak flock currently disrupting containment routines.

Current Status: 0/5 contained Reward: + 1 DEX; + 1 FOR Bonus Objective: Return without an unsustainable amount of unnecessary feather contact (3) [SYSTEM NOTE: Current feather contact count: 1] [ADDITIONAL NOTE: Emergency sub-quests may be triggered by environmental hazards, magical livestock, or poor aim.] Wait. Lorvan? The Mentor Lorvan? A FLOCK of clucklebeak? Why is Lorvan involved with birds? The only bird he tolerates is fried chicken. ACCEPT THE QUEST?

[Yes] [No] [Remind Me Later] Another squawk sounded, followed by the deep vibrating sound of containment magic firing off nearby. He turned around and spotted the source. Lorvan came skidding with one hand outstretched, clutching what looked like a modified tracking scroll layered with emergency glyph overlays. He barked, "Catch them. Catch them for me, Kestovar. Don't let them breach the atrium line." Then he launched a hexagram of light, tinged with an almost unnatural beige hue. Is that a Calm-anchored spell?

[SKILL DETECTED: Aetheric Net (Rank V) — Controlled Range Containment] [EMOTIONAL ANCHOR: Calm] [SYSTEM NOTE: Your INT has allowed you the ability to detect that spell, this time. The probability of detection rises the higher your INT is.] Wait... I can analyze even high-ranked spells like that now? He had to double-check that. Calm? And why was the spell's name in purple? He looked again. Lorvan was gliding and flinging defensive glyphs with zero vocal mnemonics.

His brow was furrowed, yes, and his robes were slightly wrinkled, but his spellwork was the magical equivalent of steady breathing during a fire drill. How was he doing this?

"Now would be an excellent time to help," Lorvan called.

"They multiply if you leave them untethered for more than seven minutes!"

"What?" Fabrisse yelped.

"They what?"

"Come on, Fabri!" Liene snatched the Stupenstone from his palm and shoved it back into his satchel.

"You heard the mentor." Another squawk barreled toward them from the treeline. Fabrisse barely got his arms up in time. A third clucklebeak came flapping low from the edge of the underbrush like a feathered cannonball.

"Fabri—down!" He ducked. A flash of white burst overhead. A beam of prismatic light launched from Liene's hand. It hit the bird, and the creature wobbled drunkenly in the air before slamming into the grass in a puff of startled feathers. [SPELL DETECTED: Lightstrike (Rank III) — Minor Stun Variant] This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. [EFFECT: Staggered Flight Disruption — 3 seconds]"Nice hit!" Fabrisse exclaimed.

"Thanks!" she called, already lining up another. Lorvan ran two fingers across his tracking scroll, uttered a clipped incantation, and sent another containment glyph into the clearing. The net of aether captured the stunned clucklebeak. [CLUCKLEBEAKS CONTAINED: 1/5]"Efficient," Lorvan said.

"Only thirteen more to go."

"You're joking," Fabrisse said. The quest only asked for five!

"I have never once joked in my life," Lorvan conjured another glyph.

"Clucklebeaks are emotionally resonant livestock. If one panics, the others imprint and scatter. The effect is exponential."

"Why do you have them?"

"Interdepartmental research request.

"Do not ask." Another bird shrieked from the roofline.

"Fabri!" Liene yelled.

"Behind you—!" Fabrisse spun. His satchel swung. The canvas bag, weighted with a half dozen enchanted rocks, an extra notebook, and at least one illegal mineral sample, collided with the skull of a diving clucklebeak. The bird let out a strangled gweeeehk, flailing before collapsing in a fluttering heap. [CLUCKLEBEAK STATUS: Unconscious (Mild Concussion)] [Containment Ready.]"Oh no," Fabrisse heaved a heavy breath.

"Don't die on me now." He dropped to his knees beside the downed bird. It was small and round and, now that it wasn't actively flinging itself at his skull, honestly kind of adorable in a scrunched, unamused way. Liene skidded to a halt beside him.

"You okay?"

"Why don't you ask the cluck?" [CLUCKLEBEAKS CONTAINED: 2/5] Three more clucklebeaks dive-bombed the warded garden wall. [CLUCKLEBEAKS CONTAINED: 3/5] It seemed like Lorvan managed to contain another one. Lorvan's voice carried over.

"Contain that one or carry it! We don't have time for field diagnoses!"

"Okay!" Fabrisse bundled the unconscious clucklebeak into the inside of his coat like a guilt burrito. [SYSTEM NOTE: You can adopt a Familiar if you reach a Perfect Resonance with an Aetherically-Imbued creature.] [Perfect Resonance Progress: - 3%] What? I'm not adopting a duck, he thought as he clutched the clucklebeak to his chest. [Feather Contact Count: 2] Liene glanced back and saw him awkwardly shielding the bird.

"You're seriously hugging it?"

"It's fragile!"

"You're fragile! Awww, look at the two little ducklings—" A clucklebeak pecked her head.

"Ouch!"

"I'll help you!" Fabrisse frantically tried to cast Stupenstone Fling at the creature that'd just attacked Liene, but only casting with one hand was twice as challenging.

"Fling!" He commanded as he threw out a stone with his left, and non-dominant, hand. The stone flew non-aetherically. He yelled, "Oh no, my rock—" It hit Liene in the forehead. Liene staggered back. The clucklebeak atop her head let out a horrified squawk as it tried to launch itself skyward. A geometric hexagram bloomed like a summoned constellation, forming a perfect six-pointed star enclosed within a transparent sphere. The instant the clucklebeak's wings brushed the edge of the shape, the hexagram flexed.

Thin golden threads seized it like whipcords, coiling around the bird and snapping it to a mid-air hover. The bird floated there, wrapped in shimmering aether strands like silk restraints woven by someone incredibly polite. That seemed like a massive overkill. [CLUCKLEBEAKS CONTAINED: 4/5]"Keep it up! You two are great distractions!" Lorvan closed the distance. Fabrisse ducked beneath another errant wingbeat as Lorvan jogged past him, boots gliding noiselessly over the cobbled courtyard stones.

The Mentor barely spared him a glance, already scanning for his next containment target. The birds were everywhere, circling wildly near the upper branches of a frostwood tree at the edge of the yard, waddling defiantly atop the disused practice dummy. One had even taken refuge under the tilted bench near the glyphlight post, hissing at a student walking by. Liene rubbed her forehead with one hand, and with the other, struck the closest one with a Lightstrike.

[SPELL DETECTED: Lightstrike (Rank III) — Minor Stun Variant] Lorvan contained the bird that was just struck. Liene swiveled her head to Fabrisse with an exasperated huff and a hand on her hip.

"Do I look like a bird to you?"

"Kind of?" She lightly hit his elbow. [CLUCKLEBEAKS CONTAINED: 5/5] [QUEST COMPLETED: Cluckle Crisis] REWARD: + 1 DEX BONUS OBJECTIVE ACHIEVED: Return without an unsustainable amount of unnecessary feather contact (3) REWARD: + 1 FOR What qualifies as 'unnecessary', he wondered. Sometimes he felt reading from the Eidralith was like taking in instructions from an actual instructant, since they were both prone to elaborations that were in no way measurable.

Add to the hand-waving the Eidralith's habit of sprinkling in sufficiently archaic idioms and cryptic parentheticals, and it became less a manual than a personality test disguised as one. [FP +1—Total FP: 31] [SYSTEM NOTE: Total FP increases by 1 per every 3 STR and every 2 FOR permanently gained.] He hadn't even gotten a chance to read his last notification when another one jumped at him. [ADDITIONAL NOTE: Feel free to assist with the remaining clucklebeaks. There will be no additional rewards.] Fabrisse sighed.

He was going to do so anyway.