Trials (6)

His mycelium penetrated the raven's body, earning him a surprised yelp from the raven.

But Ash's intention to increase the raven's strength was transmitted to it. The raven just put up with the uncomfortable feeling.

The full knowledge about the raven flooded into him. Ash's brows rose as he learned more about the Raven.

'The raven is… specially unspecial…'

In the forest filled with creatures flinging vines, venoms and poisons, and also a whole ass magical mutation onto their bodies, the raven was surprisingly ordinary.

Instead of having additional vines it could control, or unlocking a magical ability like a cardinal bird that gave it super speed, the raven's mutation was minimal.

Compared to ordinary ravens in the old world before the great ascension happened, the raven in front of him had stronger wings, beaks, talons, or could be said to have just an overall stronger body.

However, the one thing that improved very significantly in the raven was its intelligence.

Studying the knowledge that entered his brain, Ash learnt that the raven was as smart as a human, even with a comparably smaller brain.

'That must be where all the magic and mutations went into…

With such intelligence amongst other animals that greatly relied on their instincts, no wonder the raven was still able to live in this magical world…'

Even without him modifying it with DNAs of other creatures, the raven would already be the perfect candidate for the scout creature the being in the tree told him to create.

The raven was a flying creature, so it was fast.

It was also capable of complex thinking as well as a human, giving it the ability to recognize and avoid danger, and also develop proper communication with Ash 

But Ash himself wanted the raven to be even better.

"Don't worry, bud, I will make you the best, strongest bird in existence!"

With the cardinal's bird DNA that he had extracted before, Ash began transferring it to the raven.

The DNA that was responsible for giving the cardinal bird its magical ability was now inserted into the seemingly ordinary raven.

The internal structure of the raven began to change, its pain-filled caws echoed in the dark forest.

It looked much more painful than when the verdant wolf was given the bloodberry's poison, which made Ash second guess himself.

But the raven felt the power opening up to its body. It could now perceive the abundant mana in the forest better than before.

Every time it took a breath, it felt more and more mana passing through its body and empowering it.

Gritting its beak through the pain, the process was finally finished as Ash redrew his mycelium.

"Go ahead and try out your new ability!' Ash said as he rubbed the raven's head a few times.

The raven released a powerful caw, spreading its wings that somehow felt doubled in power.

The raven flapped them, and he took flight immediately.

At first, it flew like it usually did, but as the raven got higher into the night sky and activated its new ability, Ash couldn't help but clap in astonishment.

Not only because of its black feathers, but the speed the raven flew at was nothing that Ash had seen before.

There weren't even any afterimages Ash could follow as the raven just disappeared in mid-air.

And it stayed that way for a whole minute until the raven reappeared.

It just glided through the air, not flapping its wings as it approached Ash.

Ash raised his arm, and it perched there.

Ash wanted to ask how it felt, but the raven beat him to it.

With several caws that Ash could somehow feel as complaints, he reconnected his mycelium to the raven.

He soon found out that the raven's body was heavily strained by using the skill.

It was at a level where the raven needed some time to heal itself first before being able to fly at its normal speed.

'I see… I miscalculated some things…'

The original skill belonged to a smaller cardinal bird. And not only did their wing structure differ, but their size was also very different.

The ability did give the raven much more speed by enabling its wings to move several times the normal speed, but the raven's wings were not made for such movement.

The natural evolution after the arrival of mana also didn't enhance the raven's ability to do that.

If Ash left the raven as it was currently, then the raven might be slowly killing itself by using its newly given ability.

"But don't worry, friend. I will fix it for you. Come with me."

Dawn was still a few more hours away. Ash had plenty of time to fix his mistake.

He cradled the raven in his arms, not letting it strain its wings anymore, and took off to another area in the forest.

They traveled quite a distance away, back to the place where Ash first met the viney stag.

And there, still lay the fallen tree trunk.

It had been reduced to half its original size, and the perpetrators were currently still on the scene.

Making quick work of a slug with his crimson vines, Ash extracted the super regeneration DNA from it.

To his surprise, his mycelium also picked up on the chemical details of how his necrotic venom worked, which turned out to be more magical than the ordinary necrotic venom.

Ash was extra careful not to extract the venom as well, double-checking it before he went back to the raven.

When the super regeneration DNA was injected, the effect soon displayed itself.

The strained muscles healed in split seconds, and even the old feathers were naturally pushed out.

New, healthy feathers replaced them, and the other feathers returned to their pristine, sharp condition, saving the raven from the trouble of preening its feathers.

Ash urged the raven to take off and try out the ability once more, which it instantly did the second Ash told it to.

The raven took longer to return this time, but when it returned, Ash could easily understand the happy, excited caws it gave him.

"Congratulations on getting stronger," Ash offered a handshake to the raven.

Which the raven surprisingly returned by giving its wing to shake Ash's hand.

'Damn, it's really as smart as a human.' Ash smiled happily while shaking the raven's wing.

He had now completed two of the three requirements the banyan tree had given him.

For the last requirement, Ash began working the cogs in his brain.

And an option suddenly popped up in Ash's mind,

"So, hey, little friend. Do you want to learn some English…?"