I really wanted to do something. A single attempt per night stealthily identifying the lizard was just not keeping me entertained. The dwarven town was too risky. I did not want to get caught there. But the forest had so little to do. There just was nothing interesting. Maybe I was going at this the wrong way? There should be a lot of animals here, and there were, I had just not found the stronger ones. Then I realized. I could train [Identify] on any wildlife. That was how I had started to level it. I was not really getting any levels from my usual prey either way, so there was nothing stopping me from working my Skill overtime.

And so I did. I hopped through the forest, flying from branch to branch or just walking along the ground, and whenever I found an animal, I used my Skill. I made sure to use [Sneak] so they would not notice me before being identified. This way, it was easy to see the difference. Every time, just before their information plopped up in front of me, my targets focused on my position, no matter how well I was hidden. Or so it seemed, but after half a night I started to notice differences. When I was out in the open, nothing I did could hide my position. But when I was already hidden before using [Identify], there was a slight delay where my position seemed to be a mystery to my target.

I hoped that was not just a mistake and actually happened. The difference was extremely small after all. I decided to try hiding even better. I made no sound, my smell was nonexistent, and any visible cues were prevented through clever use of foliage and [Owl’s Shadow]. This let me finally confirm it. On an insect, yes, but still. Normally even the small bugs and spiders would notice me pulling up their information but this particular one was the first I successfully duped.

A centipede was walking along the forest ground, barely visible from my perch up in the trees. I focused my senses and my will and triggered the Skill.

[Identify]

Species: Centipede (mature)

Age: 2

Name: -

Gender: male

And the critter stopped. This far was par of the course. Normally, they would now either run at me or run away. There was no real rhyme or reason to it, though I suspected it had something to do with how smart they were. This time though, after only a moment it continued walking on its way. I almost wondered if it had stopped right there coincidentally to eat or do some other centipede things. But I had its status page right there in front of me. Only the four lines, but still, I had succeeded.

Maybe this one was just particularly stupid? I really wanted to see Attributes but I could only wonder at which level that function unlocked.

It was time to replicate my success. I had done it once, now to keep at it! Instead of running through the forest randomly and trying to hide after spotting a target, I decided to set up an ambush. Which ended up with me just staying put. This spot had worked once, maybe I could do it again here?

That meant I was back to waiting. I kept my eyes peeled and my ears open. The nightly forest was still lively, listening in like this, though most animals tried their best to be quiet and hopefully avoid the detection of dangerous predators. Like me.

I managed to get a few more successful tries. It really looked to be related to intelligence, or maybe Intelligence. I was suspecting the magic Attributes would make it easier to sense someone invading your soul with a Skill.

The largest thing I managed to [Identify] without being noticed was some sort of worm, the Skill confirming it as a blindworm. Even though I had brought up its status, it continued moving like nothing had happened. I was hopeful to stealthily [Identify] rodents and small birds soon. They should not be that much smarter.

As the night got late I was thinking about finding some food and getting back to my roost. I had used plenty of Skills, even though only spending small amounts of mana each time. I was getting kind of tired. Just as I thought that the leaves parted closely behind me. I turned my head around. Something was walking up to me.

As I looked back, my eyes met another set. These were wide open pupils surrounded by a light sclera. And they were close. A snout extended below and above two pointed ears stood at attention. A wild cat was standing maybe thirty centimetres behind me on a branch looking just as surprised to see me as I was to see it. I had completely missed any movement of the animal and even the leaves it had surely disturbed. For a few tense moments, we stared at each other. A quick tally of my mana told me I had enough to shift at least twice. So I did what I had done the last few hours. I used [Identify].

[Identify]

Species: Ocelot (adult)

Age: 12

Name: -

Gender: female

The ocelot stared at me. I stared back. I was ready to get a move on at the tiniest signal of aggression. This close it was obvious the cat was almost my height and it could definitely pose a threat if it landed a hit. The animal blinked. I blinked back. One of its ears flicked away a mosquito. My shadow made it to a branch on the next tree. With a single thought, I could get out of the way. Then the ocelot started to flow. Like someone had poured a bucket of cat onto the branch it dripped off and splashed onto the ground only to shoot away like a river down the mountain. I stared. Was this why people were saying cats are liquid?

My senses gave sort of an answer. There was a strong residue of water and movement mana in the area. It had used a powerful Skill. Maybe this was something like my [Owl’s Shadow] only for cats? Or it had found a node for itself and gotten to a decent level of mana enrichment. Maybe wild animals had other ways to gain Skills than getting a Class.

The encounter fresh on my mind I returned to my roost after having a quick snack of some sort of songbird. My heart only started to calm down a few minutes after I had made it back. That had been very scary. For some reason, that ocelot gave me the chills. My instincts had not even considered fighting back, I was only focused on making an escape. It was relieving to have met the cat that far from my roost. Almost half an hour of flight would not be crossed easily by a ground dweller and there was no smell to trail because I was flying. At least it was only a small cat. If that had been a panther or something of similar size I would be worried about the extent of their territory. Like this, I was rather comfortable with the distance. Also, both of us being nocturnal meant I was not in danger when resting. The cat should be hunting herself when I was out, I only had to look out not to become that food.

That was the second powerful animal I had found in this forest. The lizard and the ocelot. One nocturnal, one diurnal. They were also living somewhat close to each other or at least had overlapping territories. I wanted to find good targets but these both looked dangerous. The lizard may be possible to ambush when it was hunting as long as I was willing to be out in daylight once again. That should also let me dodge the ocelot. I was only worried there were more large animals around when the sun was up. But maybe some opportunities would present themselves?

So I spent the rest of the night and half of the day restoring some energy. A few snacks in my magic stomach and I had my mana filled up as well. I noticed stone and dirt gave just barely enough energy to pay for the cost of using my Skill. Trees, grass and other plants gave a good bit more and anything that was actual food, like berries, nuts or meat, really helped me fill up. I should pay attention to what I eat even with such an amazing Skill. It also did not fill my real stomach and sustain my flesh and blood body, but I was not too worried about that. Speaking of, I had shifted back into my metal form early in the morning. I wanted to figure out how long I could keep it, or if there was a time limit at all and at the same time it helped me feel safe. Nothing could stop me now.

I made sure to keep [Sneak] active so my wings would not make too much noise while flying. After a few minutes of search, I started spotting larger movements in the trees. Not the lizard but maybe something he would hunt. There was a herd of deer lead by a stag with impressive antlers shining in the sun. They looked polished, almost like steel. I wondered if he was mana enriched as well. It seemed to be quite common around these parts. Why had I never seen animals or monsters like this before? Was my birth home just in a place without a lot of mana? Had there been no nodes nearby? Or was I simply incapable of noticing them with my underdeveloped senses?

While letting my thoughts wander, I kept searching the hills for the lizard. He had to be on the hunt somewhere, right? I found a family of foxes, a small group of monkeys looking much like orangutans swinging through the trees and at one point a breeze revealed a large mountain lion sleeping in the branches of a tree. How could I have missed all these animals before? Still, there was no sign of the lizard and I did not even find any more magical fauna after the stag. At least the first few animals I found here were outliers.

I kept an eye on the deer while dusk turned the sky into a colourful dim. Soon after the sun had started to set, they bundled up close by each other. Once the last had settled in, the light around them started to look off. It quickly formed a new shape here and there matching shadows thrown by leaves and branches. Had I not known where they settled down I would not be able to see them anymore. They had perfectly hidden themselves. I was unsure if every animal could pull off something like them but at least I knew now to look out for the tiniest details. It was time to go bug the lizard again and then practice some more on smaller wildlife if I still did not manage to upgrade my Skill.