Salem pov
It's been eleven days since I came to this world and I been dropped in this forest and I've been slowly and slowly getting used to the current situation. Most trees in this forest were really big and dense and so I used some incredibly sharp and big spikes of a monster I found when savaging the area, to curve a large hole inside the bottom middle of the tree making a shelter for myself. I always covered it so as not to alert any nearby trouble.
I needed to get a lot stronger to survive whatever the hell I was as a lot of creatures here were very big and powerful. Of course, the thoughts of taking over most of them did cross my mind but I was currently too weak for that now.
Speaking of magic, I won't lie the aspects of my abilities really confused me to a capital T. First when using my owl form, I looked like an owl version of a harpy instead of an actual owl, next was the ant form that transformed me into an anthropomorphic ant. Then I remembered that it depends on me as the user to fully transform or transform parts of my body.
I admit I don't know how the magic system of Earthland truly works so I had no idea how I could increase my magic control and power. I just decided to use ideas from the power systems in other anime to help me out a little. So, I treated my magic like a muscle and the more I train and use it, the stronger it will get. I also tried the previous failed experimentation of meditation (huh sort of rhymes), anyway I wanted to increase my control to keep myself from blowing up or something. This was done by me feeling and absorbing the ethernano in the air and trying to control the flow and condensation of it in my body.
Not to mention turning it off and on again repeatedly. Like in mathematics you don't get good at solving sums without practicing them over and over.
Next was my workout. I started with the basic pushups, sit-ups, squats, and to help my agility and flexibility it mostly tree hoped.
On day four I found and took over and managed to take over a hare just for the heck of it. At day six when I was sure I was a little stable enough I began to fighting back instead of running on some creatures of the forest and it did boost my strength a little and because that was the go-to of most characters when they were in forests, but let's just a say the first one didn't go hundred percent.
Flashback
"Hm damn six days of being in this forest and I have only been eating fruits. I need some meat in me" I whined as I was just looking at my fruit scavenge for today in a little dissatisfaction.
"Fuck this I need some protein man!" I then got out of my tree hole and closed it using a circular makeshift wooden door. I scanned the day skies and noticed it was all clear it was time to take flight.
"Animal soul: Owl!" And with that I transformed into my owl harpy form and took off into the skies. "Man this is always so cool." I flew over the forest and enjoyed every feeling of it. I would have used this form to find some human settlement but every time I tried some monster bird would always chase me down, cutting my search.
After two minutes of flying, I spotted some prey, so I completely transformed into the form of the white owl I took over and perched on a tree a little further away not to alert the animal. This took a lot of practice but I at least managed to pull it off. The creature seemed to be some sort of large wildebeest but instead of hooves it had claws, horns were extra sharp, its eyes red, mouth blooded chewing meat with its sharp teeth and nose emitting steam.
I made some 270 degree turns with my owl head to scout the area for any sudden inconveniences and seeing it was all clear and noticed some other big wildebeests close which might be a problem. I transformed fully into the hare and went close to the beast and made hare sounds to get its attention. Seeing it look at me as I was the next and charged at me. I ran luring it away from its friends and thanks to magic giving me additional physical boost so I was faster than a normal hare and was fast enough to keep the chase going.
I was a little fast but not enough as it caught up to me as this little form wasn't all that and so I quickly transformed back to a human startling the creature a bit giving me the opportunity to get some distance. I took out a make shift knife I made from the sharp remains of an unknown animal.
"Animal soul: Ant" I transformed into my anthropomorphic ant form as the beast charged at me. I had severely underestimated its strength as I tried to stop its charge with my increased strength. And so, I was flung to the ground and before I began to stomp me to death I rowed out of the way and grabbed it by the horns and slammed it to the ground causing a large crack beneath it. I could tell this creature was strong and resilient so it quickly got up but I began stabbing it continuously with my knife.
I couldn't hold it in place so it screeched in pain trying to get me off it by running around slamming into things all over the area but I remained in place still stabbing its neck repeatedly and its blood gushing all over me. After some minutes the stubborn animal finally dropped and I had long deactivated my ant form to save power.
"Fuck man this thing is going to be a bitch to carry back." I sighed, getting the blood off my face and I looked at my only clothes in disgust as they were stained again and it was a bitch to clean them. "Likely I helped kill burn animals for meat back at home as this would have been traumatizing". I then caught my breath and waited for about three minutes to regain my energy.
I noticed something in the forest and saw golden eyes then I knew it was time to leave. I transformed into my harpy owl state and grabbed the wildebeest fast with my talons as the thing pounced at me. Good thing I took the skies with this extremely heavy animal before it got me. I took a good look and it looked like a lean and strong humanoid cheetah wearing a loincloth, it looked directly at me and I flew away.
"ROAR!!" I noticed that the ware cheetah thing was chasing after me and damn was it fast with it also showing some pretty good agility by navigating through the forest. If I was flying lower, it would have caught me by now even if I was flying at max speed.
It also made some extremely high jumps attempting to catch my kills and kept evading but with how heavy this thing was I it was a losing battle as I was getting lower due to the weight. The cheetah finally caught the beast and we began struggling for it. It climbed up and tried to claw me but evaded just in time making me almost lose my grip. It tried clawing my talons but I smacked its face hard with my wings but it never let go.
"SQUAWK!!" A loud screech got my attention and I saw a wing creature flying straight for us. Its fur/feathers were brown in color, large wings with a large claw at the end, its bell had black amour, along with some sort of pitch fork at the end, and finally its head had a black beck and fur was pink at the top.
'Oh man.' I grimaced as the thing hit us as it tried to snatch my kill so it became a three-way tug of war. The combined weight sent us downwards and before we hit the ground, I let go of the prey to avoid getting hurt and flew gently on the ground while the other two hit the ground creating a cloud of dust.
The were-cheetah came flying and almost crushed into me but I got out of the way. The dust cleared revealing the winged creatures near the dead wildebeest basically making a claim over it. The other one got up and was ready to go for the attack.
'Hell to the no I caught and killed that thing first and am not going to let these motherfuckers take it!' I thought in fury as I didn't like anyone stealing my food as it was the reason, I went crazy on those giant chimps a few days ago. 'My magic reserves aren't all that so I should finish this fast as I've been using it a lot in recent events.' The cheetah charged at the bird at high speeds that I couldn't keep up, its claws grew as it slashed the bird.
The slash was aimed at the stomach layer of the bird which really was armor as it didn't take any damage. The bird-tired biting the cheetah but it just dodged and kicked its head but the thing barely oved as it took airborne and tried to claw the cheetah but the cheetah countered with its own claws. The cheetah than started zooming around the bird but it flapped its wings making a forceful gust of wing to through its opponent of balance, the cheetah than jumped at the bird it's aiming for its head but the bird somehow dodged and used its beak to pierce the cat's arm but it was undeterred.
Seeing that the two were busy I snuck to my kill ready to sneak away but the two noticed and came at me fast. I flapped my wings at them, making a gust of wind. It just slowed them down a little but then my feathers came off and shot them like darts. The cheetah dodged and countered with its claws while the bird just bounced it off with its amour.
When they got close enough it almost managed to connect a slash at me which was aimed for my chest but it still grazed a hell a lot causing me to hiss in pain. Its attack wasn't done as it tried multiple slash attacks but I went in the air before it could begin as they were too fast for me to track. The bird came after me in the air and we began to clash with our talons.
'Okay so obviously to put this thing down it's either a critical hit on the head or back.' I flung my dart feathers at it a diversion which it took to block and I noticed the cheetah about pick up the kill but I flung my feathers at it precising its left leg making it fall before it could run the bird the grabbed my wings using it talons digging them deep drawing blood and slamming me to the ground.
It was going to rip my face off using its beak but I transformed back to a human rather than to my hare form as fast as I could as I needed to go to my normal form to transform into other animals for now. My non full hare form replaced my normal ears with the long ones of a hare's, its tail, my legs became furry and grew more muscular, and my arms became furry paws. Thanks to my smaller structure and the fact my legs weren't pinned I double kicked the bird of me. The kick was so strong the bird was sent flying a few dozen feet hitting a tree cracking it.
The cheetah then creeped towards me looking at me with anger and hunger, guess I was also a bonus meal for it today, its leg looked healed.
"That's going to be a problem." The speedy cat pounced towards me but it was slower so thanks to my hare form I kept up with it and borrowed in the ground and avoided it. I came out behind it and surprisingly kicked it hard but it blocked though I still broke its guard and twisted and kicked its face hard.
My chest was in pain and it was making loss concentration a little which was bad cause that's what helps me keep up my forms. Thanks to my boosted hearing I heard the bird coming and grabbed its talons. It tried to stab me with its tail but evaded and grabbed the tail and used it to stab the sneaky cheetah behind me in the stomach and dragged it to its upper chest.
The bird wasn't done though as it pierced my ears using its sharp beak causing me to shriek in pain a little. It glared at it hard as I went with a full powered roundhouse straight to its neck, maybe breaking it and making a large gust of wind blowing it back making it slam through about five trees. I focused on the heart beat which wasn't present. I then felt an impact to my back knocking off my feet.
I looked back and saw the ware cheetah panting and healing a little slowly but not much and began punching the air fast but thanks to my super hearing I heard something coming my way but could really pinpoint them fast enough to dodge as five air punched made impact and I spat out blood and a few ribs bruised almost knocking out of my form and consciousness but I stood my ground all the damage I had taken thus far getting to me.
The animal charged at me going for the kill but I could see it coming easier as I ducked and kicked both its two legs hard, temporarily immobilizing it and making it roar in pain and anger as it was on its knees. Finally fighting through my own pain, I jumped high in the sky, flipped and dived first at high speeds into the cheetah targeting its still healing stomach causing a loud boom and dust cloud.
The area beneath us had a crater at least three times bigger than the few cracks on the floor board. To my surprise the animal was still alive and its healing factor very very slowly seemed to be kicking in so I transformed from a hare to a human to a hybrid ant to keep it in place as it struggled against my grip.
"Your pretty tough my nigga I could use you." I smirked then began to take over the ware cheetahs' body with little resistance since it was near death at this point. After about a minute I fully manage to take it over.
I reverted to my normal state and went to my prize. I was tried, hurt, and extremely low on magic power but I still dragged the wildebeest to my area. Luckily there weren't much predatory animals around to cause more problems and two my area was very very close to where we were fighting. After I made it back, I brought the thing into my hideout covered it with a lot of leaves and went to sleep immediately.
An hour later I made a fire and ate the thing all there was left were bones and some other stuff.
End of Flashback
After that incident I used my new werecheetah form and at first, I thought it would be hard to control as I thought I would go insane and believe me it was but I managed to pull my mind out of the fog and by the third day I had it and continuous practice I had it under control. The form was really useful if I want to heal when coming from either a hunt, training or fighting off some creatures off my tree home.
Hunting became easy as I used my full rabbit or owl form to lure unsuspecting carnivorous animals in a trap for food or it just used my owl harpy form or new werecheetah form.
"Man, day eleven and still stuck here." I said to myself as I stocked some deer herd in my owl-harpy form up in a tall tree I perched on. It was nighttime and thanks to my excellent night vision I could see them clearly and flew down at high speeds and snatched one using my talons, easily crushing its neck and flying fast to my tree.
A few minutes later I was by my tree cooking the deer by a large fire for my supper as my appetite seemed to have increased.
"When and if I do get out of here, I wonder if I should join a guild to help earn some income?" If I found a village, town or city I would need income and, in my situation, either I would have to work as an independent mage or join a guild but the later was easier since jobs are found faster and easier.
"Oh, somethings coming." I sensed something approaching so I hid in order to gain the element of surprise and got my little knife ready. It got to my fire obviously attracted by my food and was about to take it but I pounced on it knocking it down twisting its arm and my knife on its neck but thanks to my improving senses I saw it was an adult human male who was a little roughed up.
The man was dressed in a classic bet well equipped explorer get up hell he even had a bag which looked to be full of supplies. His build was a little lean that he exercised, brown hair and had square glasses.
"P-please don't kill me." He said really terrified. The man was sweating in the river and his eyes were flooded.
"Well this is unexpected." I smirked in a little amusement showing off my sharp teeth scaring him more and he seemed to have fainted.
"Oops."