It took what felt like half a day until the monkeys resumed their chaotic patrolling. I used that time to recuperate and hunt some food. With a large part of the baboons near one place, it was easier to find prey. There were very few critters around wherever the monkeys ran past, which had been everywhere for the last day.

I had thought about finding a target within the monkeys still roaming about but there were only groups of three or more. Nothing I wanted to take on. Instead, I took a quick look at the glowing part of the forest. What I found surprised me. Instead of the assumed thicker cover of moss, I saw less of it. The glow came from crystals. Not smooth, rhombic crystals like the goblins used for light and heating but raw blocks and pillars growing from the ground and trees. Ground that went downwards and trees that got taller.

There was a recess on the wall and floor leading into a separate cave. The entrance was covered in a dense layer of crystal growths only a path on the ground being smoothed by monkey feet. The crystals were the weirdest part of it all. They were somehow glowing pitch black. Anything their light fell on was darkened and only once reflected from a surface did it start to light up the surroundings. This lead to a playful mandala of shadows and light covering the entire pit.

I carefully listened for monkeys but I only heard screaming from the woods. There did not seem to be any in the cave. The only reasons I figured this was their territory were the hairs and droppings visible on the ground.

Not long after the ‘normal’ chaos had resumed, I started my new plan. Using [Identify]. This skill was very useful and somehow useless at the same time. I wanted to level it up and figure out how to use it without alerting my target. So I flew above the trees wrong-way to the monkey's path and whenever I came upon them used my skill. I tried to will it to avoid ticking off the baboons but it did not work at all. As soon as I got the notification the monkey I used it on turned around and threw an even greater fit than before. Thanks to how inertia works I was able to be far away before anything could come of it but I still disrupted their patrols quite a bit.

The results of my Skill usage were not too helpful. I found that not a single juvenile monkey was running around on its own. They were always in groups with at least one mature baboon. At least [Identify] levelled up less than halfway through. This helped just as little, the only thing it added was the ‘Name’.

[Identify]

Species: Cave Baboon (mature)

Name: -

Gender: male

This might be useful for the village but it was a bit impolite to just use [Identify] on others. I could not articulate the goblins’ names anyways so it was pretty much useless.

All together my plan came back to what it was before. Catch one of the lone baboons by surprise and get some levels. I decided to go for the same one I had attacked before. Not for revenge, but because I had hurt it before. I already knew I could get through its skin with my talons. I did not know how tough it was compared to its brethren.

This time I would follow along on its path through the air, slightly behind, and wait for a good spot to break through the canopy and take it out. It had to be far enough away from other patrols and spacious enough for me to get through the branches. This turned out to be at the same spot where I had ambushed the baboon before. The commotion of my attack had caused the breaking of quite a few branches opening up an easy attack route.

On the third pass around the closest other patrol was at least half a minute away. Long enough for me. I accelerated a little before letting myself drop like a rock. Talons first I landed on the monkey’s upper back, my right foot going above its shoulder and digging into its neck from the side. A painful scream quickly turned into gurgling as blood filled its airways. Pulling my body forward I ripped my beak down the side of its head cutting open another gashing wound. Right as its claws closed in on me I pushed off, wings pressed to my body. I dove forwards past its head and underneath arms raised to strike at me. Just when I thought I had made it out, one of its upper arms sent me tumbling through the air. A few quick flaps of my wings got me back in control of my flight and the next moment I was already above the trees and flying away.

As I broke through the canopy a thump resounded from behind me. And then, halfway to my hiding spot, the other monkeys already throwing a huge ruckus, I got the notification:

~ding~ You have taken out your chosen target. Experience awarded.

~ding~ [Assassin] reached level 13. 2 Attribute Points awarded.

‘Yes!’ I celebrated with a screech. A screech that was answered by screaming. Panic welled up in my already racing heart. I looked around. But the monkeys had only returned to their patrols. What was going on?

I was confused. They made a complete mess of the area when I had attacked the monkey before so why did they start running around this quickly when I killed it? It almost felt like my screech was the trigger. I wanted to confirm it. But first, Attributes. I decided to just put both points into Dexterity, bringing it up to twenty. Next would be magic stats. I had two Skills profiting from them and both were useful. And maybe one day I would be able to cast fire and lightning from the skies.

After a short rest, I picked a new target. There were three more monkeys running around on their own for me to take on. Two had not enough time between meeting other groups for me to do anything but the last one was easy pickings.

This time I wanted to observe the monkeys’ reactions more closely. After finding a timing I went in for the attack. It went much like before, my strategy was foolproof by now! I kept the two points I got from the kill for now.

After taking out my target, lots of monkeys gathered and turned the area into a mess. A few were still roaming the forest and after a while, one of them screamed particularly loud. Very quickly the rampaging group split up and went back on their patrols. They had called the others to get back on track. There was some actual plan to this chaos. I had to observe for another half a day, this time flying above the trees instead of sitting in my crevice. Then I figured out their pattern. The baboons were covering the forest and killing anything that moved. This was a reaction to an unknown threat. Instead of figuring out what harmed one of theirs they just killed everything that might be a threat.

I realized something else as well. The pattern they moved in was centred around the last victim. From there they spread outwards in seemingly chaotic paths. This meant they had yet to reach the goblin tunnel. If I kept taking out monkeys away from the entrance, the village would never get attacked. I only had to figure out how to kill one baboon in a group without getting myself killed.

That was where my new Skill came in handy. Or so I hoped. It would let me mingle with a group of monkeys. I only had to play along and hope they did not attack me on sight. But the reaction to my screech earlier made me think I had a decent chance. I picked a small group to test my theory. They were three monkeys running and jumping through the forest. I followed them for three circles and memorized their route. I also observed their actions but they did not do anything special. They simply screamed every once in a while, announcing their presence to other nearby groups, and beat up anything moving they ran into.

As I approached I covered my plumage in a veil of [Owl’s Shadow]. This would let me blend in more easily with the cave baboons’ black fur. With a screech, I joined the group from just below the branches. I tried to make it sound as much like the monkey screams as I could and apparently it worked. The baboons barely paid attention to me as I joined their patrol. It was a bit difficult to keep up though since I was not just flying straight along their sides. Instead, I jumped from tree to tree keeping my speed with a few flaps of my wings.

As I kept following the baboons we got close to their territory with the crystals all around. My temporary companions slowed down and made sure to touch the black stones as much as they could. Of course, I followed their lead. At first, I was confused. Nothing much seemed to happen. But then I noticed my [Owl’s Shadow] had gotten even darker. On the second pass through, I started feeling a slow seeping flow pass through my feet wherever I touched the crystals. It was not much but it reminded me of the way Roguk had charged up his heating crystal. Only instead of a slight warmth, it felt more like a crawling chill. Not exactly cold, more like when you cut off the blood flow in your leg for too long and the nerves prickle and tingle.

I followed the baboons for another round, I had to wait for a better opportunity to strike anyway. When we got to the crystals for the third time the shadows around me had turned pitch black, just like when father had used it all those weeks ago. My head felt a little dizzy as well and so I made sure to only touch the crystals whenever I had to. Once we had gotten some distance again, my dizziness cleared up enough that I felt confident to strike.

I fell back to the end of the group and waited for a bit of distance to form between the baboons. The opportunity came quickly and I accelerated. Talons forward I jumped the monkey in front of me like I had done to the other two before. Blood sprayed from its neck and head as I pushed off again. A painful scream cut off quickly, but not quick enough. The other two turned around as fast as they could. I met their eyes and saw a seething rage directed at me. They jumped. I dropped. Close to the forest floor, I started to flap my wings and accelerated. The monkeys aiming for me spun in the air trying to somehow get to me with their claws. They were too far away. I shot forwards and made my way through the canopy as fast as I could. Out. I had done it. Taking out my target from within its trusted group.

~ding~ You have taken out your chosen target. Experience awarded.

~ding~ [Assassin] reached level 16. 3 Attribute Points awarded.

I hurried back to my hiding spot. Just before I arrived, the cave shook. Not from an earthquake but from a roar. An almost physical wave of sound shot out from the direction of the monkey territory. It shoved me forward into my cave where I dropped flat against the wall. My body was frozen. Only after a few moments could I move again. That was absolutely terrifying. Was that an [Intimidating Roar]? If so that had to be a really powerful monster.

I took stock of my body. My wings and face hurt from the collision but there looked to be no lasting damage. A bunch of feathers were messed up but nothing a good [Preening] could not fix. I still had a bunch of shadows flowing around my body. A small trail led directly into my cave but luckily it was quickly dissipating. Even if it led the monkeys here they were unable to climb the sheer wall. I was pretty safe.

I checked my status next.

Species: Great Eagle Owl (fledgeling)

Age: 0

Name: Fio

Gender: female

Status: sapient, slightly wounded, mana enriched (minor)

Level: 5

Class: [Assassin lvl 16], -

Strength: 9

Constitution: 8

Dexterity: 20

Perception: 21

Intelligence: 13

Wisdom: 9

AP: 3

Skills:

Racial:

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

Offensive: [Solid Grip lvl 3], [Intimidating Screech lvl 2], [Owl’s Shadow lvl 4], [Aerial Combat lvl 2],

General:

[Maths lvl 4], [Identify lvl 3],

Assassin:

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

There were a few interesting changes. [Owl’s Shadow] and [Mingling] had levelled, so had my class. Three more Attribute Points were available to me as well. But the biggest thing was in my Status. Mana enriched. Minor. So, those crystals were mana crystals? And by touching them this much I absorbed mana? Was this good or bad? I was uncertain what to make of this change.

[Identify]

Mana Enriched (minor): This individual has been exposed to increased mana. They have absorbed some of it and made it their own.

So I was turning more magical? This confirmed it for me: I wanted more points in my magic stats. So I got Intelligence up to fifteen and Wisdom to ten. I would push for fifteen in both before reconsidering. Level twenty was coming before that and I would know if a milestone happened every ten levels or not. Getting these two stats up would help me against that roar if it worked the same way my [Intimidating Screech] did.

As I thought that, another roar sounded out. I flinched and froze for a moment. Shorter than before, but not enough. Once I was able to move again I stepped up to look into the cave. And I saw it, the source of the roars. A huge baboon, more than twice the size of the others, had ripped up the trees near my last assassination. Only one question was on my mind: How many levels would I get for killing it?