Paul glided high up above the lava pools, as felt the air brush against him. He happily flapped his wings to gain altitude, before he let gravity pull him back down and with the additional speed he started swirling.
His wings cut through the wind and whenever the wind currents changed, his body would react instinctively.
Unlike before when he used the heatglider form to fly, the Phoenix form felt far more natural to him. There was no incongruity between body and brain, which resulted in the confused and clumsy movement of his other forms.
Soaring high like that made him feel free and unrestrained like never before, adding to his euphoria and so he celebrated his earlier triumph without reservation.
(Mwahahahahaha, I did it. I did it. I got rid of the big ass lizard)
Paul was understandably happy, having solved his most frustrating problem at the moment.
Ever since he stole the simmering fire fragment from the queen, she had been chasing him with a murderous fervor. After a few days the matters got progressively worse.
The Salamanders were spread far and wide throughout the area to search for him. Once they saw him, they would scream, alerting the others. These would then scream as well, effectively creating a chain until it reached the queen, who would then come running at top speed.
She used this method to chase him everywhere, which irritated Paul to no end. After all with the strongest monster around chasing him, he had to continue running. He didn't think he could take her on yet, especially with her grunts surrounding her.
This still would have been manageable for him, if he could have indulged himself a little. Since his rebirth in this new world, he had been encountering one danger after the other and he was getting used to it. However even if he had the physical strength to endure this onslaught, this simply meant that mental exhaustion started to pile up instead.
He had a remedy for this problem, but this solution was trying to kill him. Ever since he sampled the Salamander flesh, he had made the decision to take his time and savor the flavor in peace. This would allow him to relax and recover, if only these lizards weren't chasing him everywhere.
He couldn't build a nest to rest in and every time he tried to hunt one of the Salamanders, a bunch more would appear and delay him until the queen arrived.
This left him no other choice than to eat the disgusting Heatglider, in order to not starve, which only added to his ever growing irritation.
And to make matters worse, his new class wasn't helpful at all. He had tried out his new skill of [Lesser summon], only to waste his energy by summoning a small mosquito sized monster.
At first he had been seriously disappointed with it, until he remembered how bad his other skills had seemed at level 1. His [Polymorph] skill had become a literal lifesaver by gaining two levels. Even his [Fire attack] skill was useful depending on its application, despise its lack of power.
As such the same should be true for his new skill and in fact he quickly found something promising. After reading the skill description once more, he noticed a little detail he had overlooked before.
The skill could summon not only beast, but also objects.
He couldn't take his time to test it properly, while running from the Salamanders, so he did as much as he could whenever he had some time.
Paul marked a random rock he found and left it behind, when the lizards found him. After he escaped and found a new location, he would then try to summon the stone. Through this test he found out, that summoning inanimate objects required less energy than the miniature beast from before.
It was during one of those moments that he noticed the Salamanders screaming again.
At first he though, they had found him again. He got ready to run once more, but then he nearly fell over, when he saw the group of humans.
As shocked as he was at how humans could survive the inside of an active volcano, he was even more surprised at how easily they took care of the lizards.
He saw them activate a bunch of skills, that quickly overpowered the beasts, which made him feel a little lacking in comparison. After all his go to tactic was to simply abuse the [Polymorph] skill to gain an advantage, since his [Fire attack] was rather useless against creatures living in a volcano.
Seeing them fight, he started thinking about his own skills once more.
Now that he had a new skill of his own, that he was testing the limits of, he wanted to make better use of it. But how would he do that?
He spent some time lost in though, forgetting about the humans until The Salamander queen showed up as usual.
Once again they fought the lizards, but the result turned out vastly different.
Where the group had dominated the beasts in their earlier encounter, the queen made their efforts look entirely insufficient. Each of their attacks was countered and they were swiftly beaten down.
Paul didn't just observe the combat from the sidelines.
To his own surprise he was split between two sides.
He still identified as a human on the inside and felt the need to help his fellow humans.
But at the same time his newly awakened Phoenix instincts told him this was a chance to rid himself of the queen, now that she was distracted.
He struggled to choose between helping them or ambushing his foe, only to get struck by a flash of inspiration.
His conclusion was far simpler than he expected. Instead of tormenting himself with an unnecessary choice, why not do both? Two birds with one stone, though ironically the bird would be the one to throw the stone this time.
Thus he swooped down and unexpectedly ended the fight in an instant, which led to him triumphantly flying around the place. He could barely contain himself, after his victory.
Finally he had rid himself of this major problem called the Salamander queen. Despite having only met her a week ago, it felt much longer to him.
And now that he wasn't in immediate danger, he could relax.
However first he had to inspect his gains, so he perched on a protruding rock on the wall and opened his status window.
Status window
Race: Fledgling Phoenix (Iron grade)
Name: Unnamed
Class: Summoner (Iron grade)
Level: 4
HP: 38/ 38
Fey: 18 / (+++)
SP: 34 / 34
Strength: 12
Dexterity: 12
Defense: 12
Intelligence: 20
Resistance: 14
Speed: 15
Kindered skills: [Budding immortality] [Polymorph lvl.3] [Fire attack lvl.2]
Class skills: [Lesser summon lvl.2]
(Woah, I got three levels from that lizards)
He felt a sense of satisfaction looking at the improved numbers in his status window, but at the same time a he noticed something odd.
(Although the level ups increased my stats, they didn't go up as much as before when I reached maturity … Ah, I see. Since that's a one time thing it gave me a big boost all at once)
This was both good and bad news for him. After all this meant he could still get stronger, but to do so he would have to fight more monster.
Paul wasn't a bloodthirsty beast and he didn't want to go around killing just to become stronger. In fact his biggest aspiration, since being reborn was to explore this fantastical world.
However without the strength to back up his actions, that would either remain a dream or end in his death. He had to survive first before he could do something else.
(No use worrying about it now. Instead there is something more pressing)
He looked towards where the fight took place and observed the humans, who were busy taking apart the queens remains.
(These guys came from outside. If they can get in, that means I can get out)
Paul was still in his Phoenix form and so he couldn't smile, or else a massive grin reaching from one ear to the other, would have decorated his face.
(I should kiss this place goodbye while I have the chance, cause it looks like I won't be here by tomorrow)