Three nights after I left the ork town I had crossed another three villages. These had been quite a bit larger than the first ones I saw after leaving the goblins behind. There were two-storey buildings at least which allowed me to spend some of the daytime listening in on ork conversation and improving my understanding of the language. Keeping at it like this it should take me another week to understand them properly. It really was difficult to learn a new language without a teacher.

I was coming up on another large valley. The one I had followed until now led into a wide stretch of only slightly hilly land cutting through the mountains from east to west. Trees sat here and there forming small patches of forest but for the most part, grassy plains and fields shared the land. A large elongated lake took up a good part of the region. On its shores, buildings spread far and wide. Some had grouped up into villages or towns but there was a good number of houses looking more like estates or mansions that sat alone with their own separate walls. It was wonderful to have this bird's eye view. Even at night, the lights from the houses painted a breathtaking picture. The solitary residences however had very little movement around them. I spotted a golem here and there tending to gardens but no living beings. My best guess was these were the residences of thaumaturges.

As such, they made prime targets for me to find more levels. Only, without my potential targets leaving their homes, I was hesitant to go for an attack. Their estates were surely well defended, I had already seen the golems of the last thaumaturge. Magic defences and wards were also very easy to imagine. Maybe taking a closer look at some of them would let me figure something out. First, though, I wanted a new roost.

I could have simply chosen another cave somewhere on the mountains’ flanks but I decided to scout a little more and took off towards the west. Valleys split off here and there to the north and south. Small spots of light told me of more villages and towns as well as the occasional estate. As the sky was starting to gain colour, I spotted an interesting place. Several trees stood in a patch of almost jungle-like growth. There had been small thickets and forests everywhere along the valley’s ground but these were several times larger. At least a dozen massive trunks stood within a large forest. They towered above the pines and oaks surrounding them by at least three magnitudes if not four. Their leaves and bark were a little darker than oak. If there was nothing claiming this area already for its territory, I would definitely use this as a temporary home.

I reached the great trees shortly after the sun had risen on the horizon. It took me a moment to realize it was shining from between the mountains. It looked really pretty to have the sun copped into the valley by clear slopes and its shine reflect off the lake and rivers. I quickly found a branch to rest in and just enjoyed the scenery for a while. Only once the sun had risen above the mountains did I venture deeper into my new home. Luckily there was nothing stopping me and so I picked a proper spot for a roost with enough space for a stash of food.

I spent the next night filling up said stash before I started exploring the immediate surroundings more intricately. The forest itself was one of the larger ones in the valley. It spanned a size nearly twice as far and wide as the town I had been at before. That meant I could still easily cross it in a few minutes. The central part held 14 of the oversized trees arranged in an approximate circle of ten and a smaller one of four trees within. I had picked one of the outer trees for my roost. In the very centre, I had found a node. It held mana of trees and plants, probably powering the growth of the large wooded area. There was also earth and air mana. Crystals grew on a clearing around the node, these ones brown or green in colour. It seemed the plant and tree mana were evenly matched. I also spotted a path tread into the ground by regular usage. My guess was some orks were coming to this area to gather the crystals every once in a while. Maybe I could find out more about their usage from them.

But first I would have to master ork language. There were several places I could try to learn nearby. Two towns and five villages were easily reachable from my position and even more if I wanted to travel for more than half an hour. The towns were similar to the previous place I had stayed near only with a few more large buildings near the centre. The villages also held at least one, sometimes even a few two-storey houses. I would spend the next few days just hiding on their roofs to finally get their language down.

Species: Great Eagle Owl (fledgeling)

Age: 0

Name: Fio

Gender: female

Status: sapient, mana enriched (medium)

Level: 13

Class: [Assassin lvl 36], -

Strength: 15

Constitution: 12

Dexterity: 21

Perception: 22

Intelligence: 25

Wisdom: 20

AP: 0

Skills:

Racial:

Utility: [Owl Senses lvl 5], [Preening lvl 3], [Owl Stomach lvl 3], [Soundless Flight lvl 4]

Offensive: [Solid Grip lvl 4], [Intimidating Screech lvl 4], [Owl’s Shadow lvl 5], [Aerial Combat lvl 4],

General:

[Maths lvl 4], [Identify lvl 4],

Assassin:

[Sneak lvl 4], [Surprise Attack lvl 4], [Mingling lvl 3], [Eldritch Shift lvl 2]

Four nights. Four whole days and nights and the only improvement to be had was a single level in [Mingling]. At least I finally had Orkish down. Or rather Ordugh as they called it. That reminded me I had no idea what the goblin language was called. Maybe I would find out one day.

While the days were spent listening in on the orks’ hustle and bustle, I used the nights to work on [Eldritch Shift] and [Owl’s Shadow]. Sadly, neither of them improved noticeably. Probably because after a few activations I had to spend the rest of the night recuperating the energy I spent. This led to only four uses every night. At least I had figured out some new things. For example, while the shadows I had formed stayed after I left my normal range through [Eldritch Shift], they did not prevent me from making new ones. I could see a future where I would lay out a long band of shadows through repeated shifting and then be able to teleport long distances with but a thought. I had to stay connected, however. As soon as I moved away from my conjured shadows, they dissipated as always. This was barely more than a far distant fantasy. Hopefully levelling up [Eldritch Shift] would let me find new ‘paths’ to move on. Maybe even just normal shadows?

For now, it was time to find some more targets. I wanted to increase my Attributes and get stronger before finally tackling one of the mansions. From my listening in I found the solitary buildings were the homes of thaumaturges without exception. This was to keep dangerous magic away from townsfolk supposedly, but I suspected the mages did not want their secrets to be revealed. Infiltrating one of their keeps seemed like a proper challenge I wanted to prepare for as much as I could.

The villages and towns however were not without mages. It seemed all of them were led by a thaumaturge doubling as a chief. Though some of them were referred to as other professions like artificer or golemancer. One of the villages even had an alchemist as their leader. These all seemed like valid targets. It also answered the question of why Roguk was an [Alchemist] and not a thaumaturge even though he supposedly learned from the latter. He probably was only allowed to work on the dangerous concoctions while his teacher worked the real magic.

Speaking of goblins, I found out how they fit into the ork society. They were not slaves, most orks did not particularly care for them. They were however seen as some sort of lesser life-form. Heavy discrimination. I could guess and ponder how this social relation had formed but by now I knew orks were simply very full of themselves. They believed in the law of strength. Whoever held combat prowess would lead them. Then how come thaumaturges were the chiefs? Especially diminutive and frail ones, like the one I had killed? Their magic covered their physical weakness. The mystery surrounding their abilities also helped a lot. Apparently, apparitions like that floating armour in the fog were rather commonplace and happened at least once a week in every town. Oftentimes people would not spot the armour but the sudden appearance of an all-consuming fog was enough to scare the less educated.

Besides the chief there usually was no other thaumaturge in town, unless they had an apprentice. Most of the mages with an apprentice however lived in the mansions where fog appeared even more often. Coupled with the occasional explosion, everyone kept well away from those places.

The rest of ork society appeared mostly normal, almost human. Leaders were strong fighters, primarily melee combatants. Crafters, merchants, housewives, children playing on the streets, everything seemed very human. Almost too similar to what I knew. And too different from all the fiction I remembered from my previous life. Even the town and village structures, were very much what I would expect from a medieval human settlement.

There were no guilds, but crafters of similar professions had set up near one another, most of those sections sitting grouped in one area. Some sort of mercenary company, or maybe a local guard, was responsible for hunting monsters nearby and preventing crime in town. Both the towns I had been to had this group, though it was separate for each. The word the orks used seemed to be associated more with what one would expect from a guard but the behaviour was that of mercenaries. The orks I had hunted in the forest after my [Intimidating Screech] practice were from such a group.

Knowing all that let me figure out where to go for experience. The chiefs, the thaumaturges, would give me a good boost but were too risky. Their deaths would definitely set everyone on edge and maybe even lead to the mages in their estates being informed. That would make it more difficult to infiltrate one of them. Though I could just go further down the valley. Instead, I could try to go for the guards when they were out and about protecting the city. As I was thinking that however, I had a better idea. What if I hunted what the orks deemed a threat? It would not alarm anyone and I could level up without worries. If it was too weak to get me much progress, I could always go for guards. For now, though, it was definitely the better idea to keep the orks in the dark about my presence.