Chapter 7: What's your name
A week had passed, and in that time, the anti-bird had become the star of the entire church. Everyone there had grown fond of her. She wasn't just smart but also incredibly clever and even a bit sassy, in her own bird-like way. With her adorable appearance and mysterious gaze, she won the hearts of everyone around her.
Naturally, the children adored her the most. They constantly tried to pet her head or touch the soft feathers on her wings. But, alas, every attempt ended the same way: the bird pecked each brave soul with surprising precision and strictness, as if to say, "Don't touch me!"
The funniest part, though, was her attachment to Asta's head. Once she settled there, it was as if she grew roots and refused to leave. Others tried to place her on their shoulder or hand, but no luck — Nero continued sitting like a king on a throne, even raising her head proudly, as if she deserved a crown for her persistence. She only agreed to leave her "residence" on rare occasions, usually when they were out in the forest, where she could stretch her wings, explore the area, or visit the ancient statue of the first Wizard King nearby.
With curiosity and wonder, she watched Asta himself. He was becoming stronger, practically before her eyes. She was especially surprised by the fact that he still showed no sign of magic at all, and his training consisted solely of physical exercises and strength-building. She started to suspect that it wasn't just dedication but maybe some kind of strange mutation or anomaly at play.
Soon, Nero and Asta became nearly inseparable. He constantly asked her different questions — some simple, and even if there was no answer, he didn't seem disappointed. Occasionally, he managed to pet her, which he saw as a real victory. After each successful pet, he smiled like a delighted child.
One day, after another shared trip to the forest, Asta had a question that suddenly popped into his mind and practically exploded in his head.
"Hey… What's your name?"
In response, there was dead silence. Realizing that they had known each other for a week, and he still didn't know her name, Asta decided to take matters into his own hands.
"Well, since you're not telling me… How about I call you… Feather? Or maybe something cooler? Lightning? Or Typhoon? Or maybe… Tororu?"
But, as expected, the bird pecked him again, with even more enthusiasm, clearly showing that these were not the names she wanted.
"Oh, sorry! Typhoon doesn't seem to suit you!" Asta exclaimed, scratching his head. His imagination seemed endless, yet every name he came up with still met the sharp end of her beak.
Finally, feeling a bit desperate, he sighed, pulled out a piece of paper with the alphabet on it, and held it above his head.
"Alright, since I can't think of a name for you, let's try this: here's the kingdom's alphabet! Peck at the letters you like! You're smart; you can pick your own name, right?"
He carefully touched his head to check if there was any blood from her numerous pecks. Luckily, there wasn't a wound, but there was certainly some redness.
The bird, thinking for a moment, looked intently at Asta, then at the alphabet. After a few seconds, as if making a serious decision, she quickly hopped onto the letters: S… E… C… R… E.
"Secre?" Asta asked, surprised, and then added, with a playful wink, "Well, Secre, nice to officially meet you!"
The anti-bird, now officially Secre, nodded approvingly, as if to say, "Now you understand who the real genius is here."
After a brief chat with Secre, Asta decided to start training. As soon as they stepped outside, Secre, spotting the spacious forest, flew off his head and began circling the trees, enjoying her freedom. Asta, meanwhile, focused on his exercises; his goal was simple — to become stronger.
At first, everything went well, but after a while, he noticed that something was wrong. Despite his efforts, he no longer felt his strength increasing, as if he had hit some kind of invisible limit. He decided the problem might lie in the exercise itself, so he switched training types, hoping the new activities would bring back his progress. For a while, it did work, but then the growth stopped again, as if his "battery" had run out.
This pattern continued with every type of training: first, he focused on strength, then moved to endurance, then agility, but in the end, he encountered the same result — growth halted. After a couple of hours of these "cycles," he stopped completely, puzzled as to what was going on.
For about twenty minutes, Asta tried to figure out what had gone wrong. For him, this was no small puzzle: after all, if you train, you should get stronger! Then, an idea flashed through his mind — what if he tried everything again but focused on balancing his training this time?
To his surprise, as soon as he worked on all the aspects — strength, agility, and endurance — he felt his progress returning. Apparently, the key was balance!
(To readers: if this explanation seemed confusing, think of a leveling system in video games. When you develop just one attribute, it eventually stops growing. To make it grow again, you need to level up other attributes so that everything stays balanced. Hopefully, that makes things clearer!)
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Hello again! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I tried my best with it, and it's always nice to share my writing. Just wanted to let you know that I'll be releasing another chapter in a few hours. I'm looking forward to your thoughts, and I hope you'll like what's coming next!
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