A grey-armoured forest trooper and a huge black panther hid among the dense undergrowth, three hundred meters from one of the largest trees in this forest.

- Go, Cess. A soft voice reached the cat's ears, causing it to turn its head and look at its owner. In the eyes of the panther there was misunderstanding, as, indeed, always ...

Mentally repeating the order, Rei watched as the only friend who had accompanied him all this time began to slowly approach the huge tree, taking up his position.

"Why don't you understand me?" - for the umpteenth time this thought flashed through Ray's head, but the cat still reacted only to his mental commands.

Taking out a longbow from the Inventory, he put an arrow on it and waited.

So half an hour passed and the silhouette of an animal finally appeared in the sky, for the sake of which the guy had been hanging out here for the fourth day, studying the habits of a bird.

The leaves on the huge tree were fluttered by the gusts of wind generated by a pair of wings that spanned fifteen meters. The hawk gradually descended, approaching the top of the tree - the place of his stop in this forest. Just as he was about to land, a green flash appeared at the edge of his field of vision. The sharp eyesight of a hawk gave him the ability to easily see an arrow flying at him.

One wave of huge wings and he leaves the trajectory of the approaching attack. But at the same moment, the bird's eyes widened as with a flash of green light, the arrow turned in the air, flying straight towards him again. Having covered its head with its wing, the hawk no longer saw how, with another flash of light, several dozen appeared in the place of a single arrow.

Letting out a painful cry, the hawk began to fall, because its wing could not move due to the huge number of translucent green arrows that pierced it. With a loud crack, the branches broke under the weight of the bird. This went on until her huge carcass hit the ground with a thud.

Trying to get up, the hawk realized that one of its legs was broken. He turned his head in the direction from which the arrow came and screamed with hatred. At the same moment, the bird felt pain at the base of the other wing. Lowering his head, the hawk realized that it was the black cat that attacked him from the side.

Dodging the bird's beak, Cess moved away from her, waiting for the appearance of his master, who, as far as the cat felt, was already not far away.

A few seconds later, an arrow flew out of the thicket, fifty meters from the place where the hawk fell, piercing the eye of the raging bird, thereby causing another heart-rending cry.

The arrows continued to fly until the archer himself appeared. After the fifth shot, noticing that the bird wasn't dying anyway, Rey stopped. Calling Cess to him, he lowered his bow and waited.

Only a few tens of seconds later, he raised it again, shooting another arrow, but this time it left a blurry green trail behind it. Without a miss, the arrow hit the beast's eye, sinking completely into it. After a moment, the hawk fell silent.

The soul that came out of his body was completely white, which made the guy quite snort.

- Well done, Cess. Would you like to taste this bird?

Ray constantly talked to his pet, although he realized that he did not understand him. He did it just to talk to someone. And this panther was his only friend, who saved him many times, which even earned his own name.

At the time when the guy went to the forest, he would never have thought that in addition to predatory creatures, here he would have another strong enemy ...

After taking the bird's soul, Rey took off his armor. He, unlike the others, intended to leave this soul, because in all the months in the forest he had never met a single one like it.

The feathers of the hawk were pale yellow, the sharp beak reached almost a meter in length, and no less dangerous claws could tear even the skin of Cess.

Once in his new body, Rey flapped his wings. The sensations were completely different than in the body of the tildas, which he had used until now. Even though the bird had only two wings, but because of its size, it was many times faster than the rest.

Stroke after stroke, the huge hawk rose up until it reached a height of several kilometers. Aligning his position, Rey spread his wings to the sides, surrendering to the wind. From here he could clearly see the vast plain that began beyond the forest. The guy reached it a month ago, when summer began. But I decided not to go there, because there were almost no living creatures there. The forest also became almost safe closer to the outskirts, but the creatures living in its depths could terrify even the most courageous hunters. It was hard to count how many times Ray had to run away headlong, relying on the support of his pet.

What was the case when he wandered into a thicket with living plants or when he found the habitat of strange four-legged stone creatures, whose skin he could not even break through.

The forest was filled with danger wherever you looked, but the skill and strength gained during the days spent here gave Ray the opportunity to decide his own future. There was only one problem that made him rise into the air from time to time and look at this plain. The problem, which over time only became more acute, squeezing the guy's heart with more and more force. Her name was loneliness.

The sun brightly illuminated the endless green expanse, reflected by the glare from the shining feathers of the hawk. Taking a last look at the horizon, Rei was about to begin his descent when he spotted a small black dot moving among the green sea of grass.

Flapping its wings, the hawk lowered its height and moved towards something new. Only after a minute of flight, the point turned into a spot, and then, in turn, into a large cavalry detachment.

Tens of kilometers separated them, but the hawk's gaze was sharp and allowed Ray to clearly see this group, consisting of a hundred riders. Without getting any closer, he turned around and flew back, because Cess was still waiting for him.

Noisily falling to the ground, Rey immediately turned and began to put on his armor, which managed to pretty worn out in countless battles.

Putting on his boot, he turned to the panther with satisfaction:

Are you ready, my friend? Soon we will leave this forest.

Interrupted by tearing the carcass of a hawk, Cess looked at his master and, growling something in displeasure, turned to the carcass, tearing out another piece of meat from it.

Ray knew that his friend really didn't like to be interrupted from eating, so he dressed and silently waited for him to finish. At that moment, he remembered that he never looked up the name of the new soul.

"Status"

Name: Ray???

Race: ???

RACIAL FEATURES:

[Immortal]

[Many Faces Level 3] (Human, Celestial Tildas, Kuring, Snow Serpent, Pharos Forest Native, Sun Eater, Desert Hawk...)

[Soul Master Level 5]

[???]

SPECIALIZATIONS:

[Hunter Lv 7]

(Detect Animals, Trap, Increased Damage to Animals(3x), Dominate(Devil Panther), Hunter's Mark, Vanish)

[Dagger Mastery Level 5]

(Retreat, Cleave, Penetration(2x), Haste)

[Archer Lv6]

(Firing range increase (4.5x), Power shot,

Trajectory correction, Downpour)

[Throwing: Daggers Lv. 4]

(Return, Throw Range Up(2x), Shot)

[Rider Level 2]

(Relentlessness(3x))

[Trickster Level 3]

(Powered Jump (2x), Dash)

“Oh, so that’s why he has such a color. He flew here from the desert." - when this thought flashed through Ray's head, he realized that he had stopped hearing the chomping sounds coming from the side of the hawk's body.

Turning his head, he noticed that the panther was already walking towards him, licking its muzzle, and having come close, Cess lay down on the ground.

After testing the makeshift reins he had made from forest armor and existing ropes, Rey climbed onto the cat's back.

- "Don't be too hasty." - after giving a mental order after this, the guy squeezed the panther's torso with his legs, because he could only ride it in this way, and if Cess picked up speed, then he basically could not stay on it. This could be solved by adding ropes to his body, but Rei did not want to limit the mobility of his pet, besides, he had no idea how to place them correctly so that the powerful muscles of the panther would simply break the ropes with the first movement.