Reincarnated as a Land Shark???

Chapter 16: The Setting Sun

I'm glad, on second thought, to know that this path didn't lead to a dead end. It looks like this used to be an unpaved road of sorts, and now that I'm off what was likely the main road it's hard to follow but still clearly present. For some reason, things feel so much easier now that I have a path... even if it's an old, overgrown one. I guess that's just my memories of being a human talking.

The bird calls pick up the farther I go, and I hear what I will not be talked out of believing is a woodpecker jackhammering away at some poor tree in the distance. This would be a good place for them. Even if they're generally found in less humid regions back in my own world, the wood here is softer and would be easier to get through.

Checking my water bar tells me I still have a good ways I can go before I have to seek out water to rest in, so I decide to take advantage of it while I can to consider my next plan of action.

So far, different areas have different levels of 'difficulty', or so I've gathered. The reef seems to have been the easiest area, followed by the scarcely-populated shore. That means this area is probably going to be difficult but not impossible due to my recent evolution. The mountains, though...

I have no idea what waits for me in those. It may be similar to the dropoff with its leviathan for all I know. In other words, I'm not going to want to head straight there just yet.

So I'll want to stick around this strip of forest between the shores and the mountains and gain some levels, then head for the mountains when I'm more well-prepared.

Another look around tells me the trees here are large and sturdy... leading me to another thing that I've been wanting to try for a bit now.

The Tiger Shark evolution came with the gliding skill. I want to test it.

I climb up one of the trees, tearing the wood with my claws. It's not a pine anymore, the trees in this area seeming to be interspersed with other types of trees with climbable branches now. It's certainly helpful for climbing, though I probably won't make as much progress to leveling up the skill by climbing these as I did trying to climb the pine.

Alright... now how do I go about this? Do I just... jump and spread my fins out? Try to do a flying squirrel?

Well, here goes nothing.

I take a deep breath to steady myself, and then jump. On instinct programmed into this body my fins snap out and catch the air. And just like that...

I'm flying!!! I'm a flying shark, this is amazing! Haha, f**k you physics! F**k you biology! I'm a flying sha...ark?

I suddenly lose all momentum midair, coming to a complete halt.

Wait what?

And just like a puppet with cut strings, I drop straight down. I land with a thud that jarrs my bones. Oww!

What the heck was that? I didn't change anything about the way I was gliding from the start, and that technique seemed to work just fine. Even if I did change the way I was flying, I shouldn't have just come to a complete stop midair like that. What am I, a hummingbird?

Well, the only thing I'm sure of at this point is that I definitely don't count as a shark.

Okay... maybe a status inspection will give me an answer...

Oof that took off a full ten HP points. Not even sitting there and letting Little Shark maul me took me down quite that much.

Looks like falling can do some serious damage then... well, falling like that in my previous world probably... no, I definitely would have broken some bones from that. I would think that the additional weight would have made it harder for my bones to withstand the fall, but I guess this world works differently.