New Skill in The Art of Stealth

I traveled through the night as I didn't feel tired at all. I could feel some hunger still, even though I ate the larger portion of that man's roast. I left that man because he would be dead sooner or later. I could see that when we talked. He was afraid for his life and hid himself from the world instead of trying to get stronger, trying to figure out how to avenge his wife.

He was alive for now but I wasn't certain for how long this would last. I tried to change his mind to pursue the strength and improve himself but he refused. I asked him to join me because I would travel and train at the same time. He would do the same due to possessing competitive nature, striving to improve oneself while living in a dangerous areas. That was why I said he would have a chance of survival if he joined me. I wanted to extend a helping hand and give him some advice because he seemed to be a nice guy. He offered me food as well as conversation but it seemed that he just wanted to run.

I didn't think about that man anymore. As I already said, we had our own paths and mine laid in the north. Whenever it was dangerous or not, I still had to face it because the whole world was my home.

I traveled through the night and didn't encounter any animals or beasts. I didn't know where I was. I knew I couldn't be very far away from the area where the fight with massive black boar took place. In the morning, I decided to stop and rest. I took out my Beast Scriptures and started adding in details about that monster.

I decided to call it Black Mammoth. I then filled in everything I knew about that monster. I added some things to the White Boar entry as well and noted that at least some of them can call for the help of the Black Mammoth. I then closed my book and rested on top of the tree. I wanted to be well rested and fresh as I didn't know what type of animals were present in these parts of Great Forest.

In the afternoon, I resumed my journey. I walked for couple of hours when I finally encountered some animals. I found wolves and they were the plain wolves that were the weakest from the wolf family. There were 6 of them therefore I could take care of that group no problem. I still checked for any signs of other animals but found nothing. I used my daggers and killed the group. I then extracted meat as well as fur. I had nothing now and even my clothes were damaged. I decided I would need to make a backpack as well as some clothes that would protect my body better.

Having 6 wolves worth of fur, I had enough materials to try and make some clothes but there was a problem as well. I had no needle or thread or anything that would allow me to make clothes. I decided to eat first and then do something with those skins. I had too much meat of course, I could eat 1 or 2 wolves worth of meat as my appetite was still good but the rest I would have to either throw away or take with me.

I used one wolf skin to make a makeshift backpack in order to be able to carry something. I decided to cook the meat and create dry rations from it. This way the food would last much longer and I could carry more of it. I also took one more wolf skin just to have something as a cover at night and moved out towards the north.

I didn't have a map, I could only determine where north was using the stars. I had no clue as to what I can expect on my way there, I could only walk and train. There was nothing else to do. No one to talk to, play with or enjoy myself with.

I never stopped training, I always did the diagrams from the Strength manual and I trained my strength as well as skills. I was placing more attention on skills this time. Not only my skills were behind but I also wanted to dream the dream of dark figure talking away. I wanted to learn the language and figure out what the dark figure said. I though 'Maybe I would be able to learn something new if I knew what the dark figure says'.

I wanted to train my Stringed Hidden Weapons but that was impossible. I didn't have the strings anymore, I decided to train my stealth as well as fingers and close combat instead. My dexterity and agility was fine but not great. The more flexible I was with my fingers, the easier it would be to control the strings later. I still remembered some of the books that I had in my bag. I also had the Strength Manual in there but I long since remembered all the diagrams, so losing the book was not an issue, I could still modify the further diagrams.

I wanted to use the knowledge from the Soft Fish Technique that I found on a old woman long time ago. It was a skill for the whip users but I decided to modify it in a way that could train my body. I also remembered how to train my fists but I wasn't concerned about that for now.

As for my Art of Stealth, it's been a long time since I made any progress. I still haven't found an inspiration for the "Avoid the Light" part of the skill. I improved a bit with my stealth but I didn't master it yet. I figured that this would be the perfect time to do so and besides, stealth could save my life if the north was as dangerous as the man said.

I trained all the skills in my Art of Stealth from the beginning. Rehearsing the basics but without the tools this time, as I had none. The mask was gone and the puppets too. The strings were lost but that didn't mean I couldn't practice. I used trees, shrubs and whatnot as my obstacles, while I ran around with my eyes closed. Processing the information I got from my ears, nose and touch.

I ran at the fastest speed I could and evaded everything in my way. I then got an idea 'I learned how to calculate the behaviour of people but why not the path I should travel?' I thought. "If I could visualise a path that was not only the fastest but the most stealthy, wouldn't that add on to my skills? Running away would be much easier but also moving around unnoticed would improve" I said out loud.

I decided to try it out. I opened my eyes and tried to figure out a path that would take me to my destination in the fastest time and with as little exposure and sound. I looked for a while but found out that I couldn't do it. I thought 'I can calculate the behaviour of people but this is different, nature doesn't move really, so I can't predict it.. although there might be a way'.

My solution to that problem was 'I need to use every possible path in order to get to the same location and then figure out which was the fastest and the quietest'. My training of the Art of Stealth resumed and a new skill would be added, if I could accomplished what I planed.