5.1. Grinding: Perception

Overflow Experience Added.
Experience has reached the required level.
Individual Earth Lizard (no name) has increased from Lv1 to Lv2.
Individual Earth Lizard (no name) has increased from Lv2 to Lv3.

Huh? Oh, right. It said I earned too much experience from that eagle to add all at once. Let's see my information again.

"Character Information"

Earth Lizard Lv3 Nameless
00d:22h:03m:12s

HP: 79/79 (green) | MP: 76/76 (blue)
SP: 79/79 (yellow) – SPL: 10/79 (red)
ATK: 79 | DEF: 79 | MAG: 75
RES: 72 | SPE: 49

Twenty-two hours already?

Wow, that's almost fifteen more hours than the last time I checked. That evolution took a lot longer than the last one... or maybe the evolution length was fine, but I just lost track of time. The last time I checked was before that long battle with the eagle. Time sure flies when your life is on the line.

But that's not important.

What IS important is that, now that I'm a lizard, I have eyes, meaning...

I CAN SEE!

I can see I can see I can see!

There's a big stone, there's a tall tree, there's a bird bone, albeit a little blurry...

Proficiency has reached the required level.
Skill [Enhanced Vision Lv1] has become [Enhanced Vision Lv2].

But blurry is better than nothing. And I think everything is just a little clearer now that I leveled up that skill-

Wait a minute...

I can grind levels just by looking at things?

Yes, please!

Proficiency has reached the required level.
Skill [Enhanced Vision Lv2] has become [Enhanced Vision Lv3].
Skill [Enhanced Vision Lv3] has become [Enhanced Vision Lv4].
Skill [Enhanced Vision Lv4] has become [Enhanced Vision Lv5].

...

What, no level 6?

Hm...

"Skill Progression Information."

Let's see...

[Enhanced Vision Lv5] is only at 3%. I guess the skill is taking a lot longer to level up now that it's level 5. Usually that doesn't happen until it reaches level 10 and evolves.

Maybe it's because I'm not trying to use it for combat. Most of the skills I've leveled up so far... except things like [Ground Magic] and the basic [Impact], [Crushing], and [Piercing] attacks... anyway, most of the skills only level up quickly inside combat. And once the ones that could level up fast outside of combat evolved to the next setting, like [Ground Magic] evolving into [Earth Magic], they couldn't keep being leveled up quickly outside combat.

So it looks like [Enhanced Vision] just reached the "needs to be in combat to level up quickly" point at level 5 rather than level 10. But I do have two other skills that I just got that can probably be leveled outside of combat for a while. In particular...

I HAVE A NOSE!

Proficiency has reached the required level.
Skill [Enhanced Smell Lv1] has become [Enhanced Smell Lv2].

Actually, I think it's my tongue that's smelling things. Weird.

Anyway, let's grind that one out.

Proficiency has reached the required level.
Skill [Enhanced Smell Lv2] has become [Enhanced Smell Lv3].
Skill [Enhanced Smell Lv3] has become [Enhanced Smell Lv4].
Skill [Enhanced Smell Lv4] has become [Enhanced Smell Lv5].

Good.

Also...

Proficiency has reached the required level.
Skill [Enhanced Hearing Lv1] has become [Enhanced Hearing Lv2].

I HAVE EARS TOO!

Proficiency has reached the required level.
Skill [Enhanced Hearing Lv2] has become [Enhanced Hearing Lv3].
Skill [Enhanced Hearing Lv3] has become [Enhanced Hearing Lv4].
Skill [Enhanced Hearing Lv4] has become [Enhanced Hearing Lv5].

And like I said earlier, I HAVE A TONGUE!

AND ARMS!

AND LEGS!

AND HANDS AND FEET!

AND SHOULDERS, KNEES, AND TOES!

...

...

...

What, no No Enhanced Tasting?

No Enhanced... um... moving?

...

Guess not.

Oh well.

You know what, maybe it's a good thing I can't taste things... actually, hold on. I have [Enhanced Smelling] again. Does that mean I can taste things?

I guess I should find some food and find out. Come to think of it, I should be eating anyway. It's not as bad as the last time, but the evolution took a lot of energy and I'm low on SPL again. I need some grub... preferably something that won't gross me out.

So... maybe I should eat what my species normally eats, and I won't get grossed out?

What do lizards usually eat? Bugs, right? And maybe small rodents? And eggs?

Okay, we can try that.

Let's see what kind of creatures are nearby.

Proficiency has reached the required level.
Skill [Presence Perception Lv2] has become [Presence Perception Lv3].

Oh, right, that skill was on the cusp of leveling last time I checked.

Anyway, this is perfect. Now I can see and sense all the little creatures nearby. Let's use [Pebblekinesis] to kill the bugs and bring them to me. It should be faster now that I can actually see what I'm doing, and it shouldn't take too much mana either... plus, I can always meditate to get my mana back, and I can grind [MP Automatic Recovery] if that happens. It's efficient either way.

The only problem is if I get ambushed when I'm low on mana... but I can't see any big enemies around, and I can't sense any danger, so I might as well just go for the bugs even if it uses MP. I'll try to be quick, and I'll plot out the pebble's movements in advance, to give it the fastest path.

Die, die, die, die, die, die, die...

Proficiency has reached the required level.
Acquired skill [Magic Warfare Lv1].
Acquired skill [Mental Warfare Lv1].

Hm?

What are those two skills?

Well, I can check them out later. For now...

Blegh. Bugs are gross.

And not very filling.

I guess that means it's time to move on to rodents, see if they taste decent.

If I overlay my [Heat Perception] skill with my [Presence Perception] skill, I can sense which presences – which creatures – are warmer than others. Right now, there's one little underground nest in particular that's really warm. Hopefully that's because the creatures are warm-blooded.

But how to beat them... I guess I could go for physical attacks. I do have arms (yes!) and legs (YES!) now... but I'm not used to them yet. If I tried to attack, the food might escape.

Let's go for a few [Earth Spear]s instead. I'll try normal attacks once I've gotten used to my new body.

Since the nest and the creatures are underground, I'll need to use something other than my eyes to aim. Well, it worked well enough to find them, so let's try [Earth Spear] combined with...

Proficiency has reached the required level.
Skill [Presence Perception Lv3] has become [Presence Perception Lv4].

Yup. Skills definitely level faster when you use them for combat. I guess I can try aiming with [Presence Perception] for future battles. In the past, I aimed with [Heat Perception]. I guess that's how it got to level 7 so fast. But [Heat Perception] isn't as reliable as [Presence Perception], and if I had to choose, I think I want [Presence Perception] to reach level 10 first, so I'll focus on that one for a while.

Also, rodents don't taste bad. They don't taste good, either, but at least my SPL is going up again. Good.

Let's find some more rodents... wait, is that a bird up there?

*Squints.*

I can't tell if it is for sure. It doesn't fly like a bird. But just to be on the safe side, I think I'll burrow into the ground a little bit, first.

One moment...

Okay, there. I'm completely hidden. And with all my ground skills, I can move through the ground pretty easily. I am an EARTH Lizard, after all.

Now let's find some rodents.

Proficiency has reached the required level.
Skill [Presence Perception Lv4] has become [Presence Perception Lv5].

Perfect. I can sense three nests. Time for [Earth Spear] to do its magic. Literally.

Die, die, die, die, die, die, die-

Conditions satisfied.
Acquired title [Assassin].
Acquired skills [Stealth Lv1] and [Shadow Magic Lv1] as a result of title [Assassin].