Having walked in this way for about a dozen kilometers, Ray passed the city and turned a little to the west. His goal was not far away - the river served as the main source of drinking water in these places.

Having reached it, he again headed north, right along the channel. The river was about 40 meters wide, but shallow - less than the guy's height. Due to the flat terrain, the current was rather slow.

Walking along it, Ray enjoyed the wonderful view of crystal clear water, and the fresh morning breeze caressed his face with cold. Extremely cold...

He decided to move this way not because of the need for water, no. He did not need it thanks to the energy of the souls, but next to the river there should have been most animals, and since he was going to travel exclusively on foot and only in the form of a forest, it was useful for him to simplify his search for prey.

He made this decision due to the fact that although hunting in the form of a snake was more effective, his body itself in this form could no longer develop. Rei was sure that he could no longer learn how to control the body of a snake or something like that.

But the body of the forest, in addition to having excellent perception, could become stronger due to specializations and skills that could not be used in animal form. And over time, it most likely should have grown stronger.

Another factor that spoke in favor of the body of the forest was the ability to wear armor. But if he remained in the form of a snake and developed professions each time turning, he could be in danger, because according to Thea, in this part of the forest, the animals were stronger than in the south. And although, while he did not notice any difference, he decided not to risk it.

Moving for some time near the river, Ray nevertheless decided to move away from it for some distance. Even if the hearing of the forest was phenomenal, the sound of water still bothered him.

***

At the same time, about twenty kilometers to the north, a woman appeared near a small hill, dressed in a strange robe, with a large hood covering her face. She came straight out of thin air, as if she had always been here.

Looking around, the woman approached the hill and held out her hand, muttering something.

At the same moment, a ball of light several meters in diameter appeared next to the outstretched hand. The snow, along with the soil beneath her feet, instantly melted, releasing a huge amount of hot steam.

The woman, ignoring this, lightly moved her finger, as if pushing this unimaginably powerful clot of energy forward. He moved really very slowly, but after a couple of moments he nevertheless reached a hill, but did not consider it an obstacle, continuing to move through the thickness of the earth.

Steam poured out of the hole, and the temperature of the surrounding air rose so much that the snow cover began to melt rather quickly. The woman just stood and watched what was happening, because even a piece of her clothes did not move, despite the fact that she was at the very epicenter of what was happening.

After a couple of minutes, it seemed to her that the hole made should be enough. Waving a finger towards her, she forced the ball of light to return, which happened much faster. Crashing into the outstretched palm, it disintegrated, but the release of energy raised the temperature near the woman by several hundred degrees.

Lowering her hand, she walked towards the hole she had made, which had been created at a slight angle, causing her to descend. The woman did not care at all that a huge amount of smoke was still flying out of there, and drops of formed magma dripped from the ceiling. The same thing happened under her feet, but she walked straight through the air.

When she reached the end of the almost twenty-meter deepening, she muttered something and stopped, and at the same moment, the hissing caused by the melting of the rock that had continued until now subsided. This was caused by the fact that the temperature inside this newborn cave dropped dramatically.

The woman held out her hand in front of her and a strange black spherical object appeared in it. When she released him, he sank slowly, like a feather, onto the hardened earth.

With a last glance at the abandoned thing, she turned and in a moment was back on the surface.

- This gift will be the last... Don't let me down. - A gentle voice came from under the lowered hood, although there was no one near the woman, because even the animals ran away from this place, feeling an abnormal temperature jump.

With her last word, she stepped forward again, disappearing with ripples through the air.

***

Everything that happened passed Ray, because the distance was too great to notice the release of steam among the distant thicket of the forest, even though there were no leaves on the trees. But indirectly, this event still touched him, because after twenty minutes he met the first wave of fleeing animals.

The strange behavior of the local fauna naturally surprised the guy, and he, at first intending to start running away in the same direction, nevertheless changed his mind. Pulling out his bow, Rey fired an arrow at a large deer charging straight at him. An arrow that hit the head instantly killed the beast, but the guy did not stop, because several more representatives of the same species were running behind the just killed one.

Another arrow whistled and, hitting the animal's neck, gave him the opportunity to take a few more steps, after which he fell almost reaching Ray. The rest of the deer finally began to scatter to the sides, because of which the third shot hit a tree without hitting anyone.

Having stopped shooting, the guy rushed to the body of the deer, which was closest to him. Without stopping, he ran beside him, absorbing the soul as he went. Doing the same with the first killed, Ray hid behind a tree, listening to the noise of the forest and trying to understand what these creatures were running away from.

But now, a minute passed, and nothing happened. Coming out from behind his not the best hiding place, he collected the arrows, which were very well made, so they could safely be used far more than once.

"What is there?"

Crouching slightly, Rei slowly walked forward, but all he saw after a while was another group of beasts that were running in the same direction, but due to the low speed, it seemed to have fallen behind.

Ray did not lose his head and, drawing his bow, fired again ...

After killing three, he followed on, but did not meet any more.

There was a dead silence in the forest again, which was a little annoying, because due to the arranged race, he could not even find small animals now.

Continuing to move forward, Rei steadily approached the place where the woman appeared. For two hours, he did not meet a single animal, but when he saw that there was no snow at all on a huge area of ​​the forest, the size of a small quarter, and there was a huge crater in the center, he understood the reason. Bypassing it in a circle, Ray spent almost half an hour to make sure that there was nothing alive there, for this he nevertheless decided to turn into a snake. Taught by bitter experience, the guy already wanted to pass by, but interest overcame caution. Moving extremely slowly, Rey approached the center of the strange place with his bow drawn. Approaching a small hill, he realized that what at first seemed to him a crater turned out to be a hole in the ground, the depth of which he could not determine due to the inconvenient position of the sun. Without becoming approached, the guy remained ten meters from the entrance. “What a strange shape…” The hole was perfectly round, as if carved right into the ground. After watching for a while, Rei did not notice any movement inside, so, taking a torch and a pinch of the flammable grass already familiar to him from the Inventory, he made himself a source of light. Coming closer, he threw it into the passage. The force invested in the throw was sufficient for the torch to fly the entire length of the hole without problems and reach the bottom. Rey saw everything he needed during the throw, so he was sure that there was nothing there. Having calmed down a little and putting away his bow, Rey nevertheless took out his daggers and began to carefully descend. The torch burned quite brightly and this amount of light was quite enough for him to see the walls of this “cave.” It went down at a slight slope, thus plunging deep into the hill. The walls were almost completely earthen, but after about ten meters of the way, Rei noticed a huge stone under his feet, the surface of which was also broken, walking flush with the ground. The guy had no idea how it was possible to create such a hole in the ground, but now he was more interested in a strange object, next to which lay a torch. He did not even immediately notice him, since he did not even reflect the slightest light, which seemed to go around this small black ball. Without getting closer, Rei stopped two meters away from him and, having carefully examined, came to the conclusion that this thing was not perfectly round. “Is this ... an egg?” noticed a small, faint lump of warmth inside. It was also strange that even in the form of a forest, he saw a small green glow from him. Ray had no idea what animals in this world lay such strange eggs, but the fact that this beast had not yet had time to hatch calmed him down a lot and he, having made up his mind, approached the egg. At that moment, the thought occurred to him: “Is this place… a nest?” “But then it means that the mother of this creature is somewhere nearby. Maybe it was her that the animals were running away from.” “And I understand them, a creature capable of creating such a hole in the ground cannot be weak.” “If I get such power, then such a long-awaited day will become much closer.” Ray ran out of the cave naked, because when he turned into a snake he found out that it was an egg, he did not put on the armor back, not seeing the point. He put his strange find on the ground and turned into a tildas. Gently grabbing it with his claws, Rei struggled to take off. The egg was slightly smaller than the chicken, so it easily fit in his grip, but he had never taken off when he was carrying something, so he hesitated a little. He only descended after flying almost a dozen kilometers. He didn't notice anything strange downstairs, but he still didn't dare let his guard down. Even in flight, he decided what he would do with the egg, therefore, choosing a small clearing with a tree fallen on it, he, hovering over it, opened his claws. Ray did not know what kind of animal was inside the egg, so he was in no hurry to go down and after a couple of seconds he was delighted with his decision. The egg crashed into a tree trunk and broke without much trouble, throwing out a small puff of black smoke around it. He seemed harmless, but soon Rei realized that he was mistaken - after all, only dust remained from the tree, at the points of contact. After waiting a few seconds for the smoke to dissipate completely, Rei began to descend. At first, he wanted to land away from the crash site, but when he noticed a miniature gray haze in the hole formed in the tree trunk, he immediately hurried there. As it turned out, it was a snake egg. A small black body, as long as an index finger, lay next to the fragments of the shell. Without waiting for landing, Rei turned into a forest and, grouped, landed next to a tree trunk. Immediately jumping towards the soul, he was able to exhale with relief only when she was inside him. Dropping to the ground, Rei was looking forward to his new body, but looking into his inner space, he realized that the soul of the snake was very vague, which alerted him a little. She was gray, like all the souls he had met before, except for the human and the soul of Arvus. The soul of a man, by the way, was no better than the soul of the forest, which Ray himself strengthened with souls. And in some ways she even conceded. This was very frustrating, so the guy still had to break the soul of the former teacher - it took up a lot of space. Therefore, without attaching special importance to the color of the snake soul, he took on a new look. The body was almost familiar to him, after being in the form of a snow kite many times, so Rei could move completely freely, but there was one problem. Now he was placed in the footprint, which was left in the snow from the forest one ... "Do not rush." The body of the snow snake was also not too big at first, but the poisonousness more than compensated for this. Having tried to inject poison, the guy was disappointed, because he did not succeed. Looking around his body, Ray realized that this snake's eyesight is much better than that of the snow one. The sunlight penetrating the clearing did not interfere with him, even the colors were clearer and he was able to carefully examine himself. "What a dark color." The body was indeed matte black. Not a single glare due to the light falling on it. Its entire length was covered with tiny scales, which were difficult to see due to the strange, impenetrable dark coloration. “It cannot be considered useless. Because of its size and natural camouflage, it is great for both escaping and sneaking in. In this regard, it is even better than the curing body. If you think about it, then this is generally the smallest creature that I have met so far. ”Consoling himself with this, Rey turned into a forest again and, wearing armor, decided to check the Status, because he did not do this due to the constant tension that even pursued him after taking the egg. What he saw made him happy. [Hunter] had risen to the second level, although the guy could not tell when exactly, because he had not checked the Status since killing the fleeing animals in the forest. Leveling up unlocked a new ability - [Detect Beasts]. "This really can be very useful." After reviewing the rest of the information, Rei briefly noticed the latest change, a new species name that appeared on his soul list. "Sun Eater." "A little too loud for a small snake." - the guy chuckled and, glancing at the sun, went on. The beginning of the journey was no longer as boring as he had initially thought.