FIND THE HUMANS!

Finding humans proven to be even more of a challenge then I thought it would be. It took me forever to find their trail! Fortunately, I could upgrade my skills and those of my new friend Arc as I went on. My Wind magic was progressing even more quickly than my other skills, just as fast as his Darkness magic skill. I figured that my bat specie probably had a knack for it.

I'll need to get a third kind of magic to see if it's true or not...I wish I could say it is because I'm very skilled with Magic. That would be awesome if it was true. Well, at least I can take the credit of learning everything by myself. Hummm... I probably do not need another element related magic. As a bat though, I might be weaker to certain kinds of magic. Maybe Light magic would be more difficult for me to master...

Even though my skill had evolved in Foresight, it still increased now and then when I did a good prediction. This was one of those times. I chuckled happily, in the high-pitched voice that was now mine as a bat.

Hehehe, this world is so easy to understand, any skilled video games players could have make that deduction. So maybe not Light Magic. Wait... Is there a magic that would allow me to switch dimension?!

I almost stopped flying at that thought... Why didn't I think of this sooner?! I trembled in excitement at the thought of being able to return home... but then suppressed this desire. Becoming a familiar to a powerful wizard was one thing possible for THIS world but if I wanted to come back to my own world, I wanted a way to look back like a human being first. Even if it was under a magic disguise.

However, no matter what ideas I came out with, I neither had the points to buy it or it simply did not exist. It was the same with a magic that would allow me to return home. But it didn't matter for now. I decided to save my skills point from now on. I considered myself quite skillful anyway. Just with my Darkness and Wind magic alone, I was satisfied. Moreover, saving the rest of my incoming skills points seemed like a good idea anyway.

I returned to the initial goal: finding the humans. After a long while, I found some clues and followed the human's trail. I was excited to finally lay eyes on an occupied human camp. There was a few torches up ahead and a guard in armor who seemed to look inside the tunnel I was in. However, since my Stealth skill had become Camouflage, I suspected that most humans wouldn't even be able to notice my presence. I wanted to test it out and I was sure I would be able to flee if he detected me.

Besides, I was having second thoughts about my initial plan. Arc was too nice to throw as a bait at the humans. Moreover, my little Snack was obviously too weak to face them. Although I used one of my followers as shield before, it had being a life-or-death situation.

Activating my Camouflage skill, I flew confidently toward the cave... As I suspected, the guard completely ignored me. I wanted to use the Appraisal skill on them but I knew they might sense my scanning. It was one of the drawback of the Appraisal skill. I didn't want to blow my cover so I just flew by the guard and entered their camp. Inside, the guards were whispering in a language I never heard before. I shook my head silently. I suspected it would happen. I tried to look at their group belonging. I didn't found any magic items or something worth mentioning through Appraisal. I was beginning to think those humans were low ranked.

I was wondering if I should follow up my previous plan with Arc after all when I detected something with my higher sense. One of the larger tent had a smell on blood coming faintly from it. There was a strange powder around that tent that was emitting a moss kind of smell. It was making the blood scent fainter but it was ineffective against me.

I flew in that tent and noticed a young man with lot of bandage over him. He had long deep black hair. When I was human, I wished I had the patience to have long hair like that. For now though, they were in a mess. He had a wet towel on his forehead and he was breathing with difficulty, sleeping and sweating. I did not even need to use Appraisal to guess his injuries were severe. There was a bucket full of water on a small table next to him.

If I could flash a big smile, I would have done so. I used one of my Air Magic spell to create an area of silence inside the tent. I flew above the sleeping man, flapping my wings above him. In the same time, I summoned a sphere of my Divine Medicine Skill. It woke the young man up but before he could realize what was going on, the sphere of medicine dropped on his chest where it was absorbed inside of his body like it was a sponge. Almost instantly, some black stuff coming out from his wounds and became an ice frost on his bandages. His breathing became instantly better and he blinked in surprise. He looked around and finally saw me...

Of course, he screamed in fright as soon as he noticed me. He wanted to get up too but I landed on his chest... I decided to speak to him directly in his mind:

" Watch this "

I knew he couldn't understand me but he suddenly stopped screaming and blinked in disbelief, looking at me. I used my prehensile tail to attract his attention, waving it slowly between me and him. Then, I waved it above the bucket and summoned just a bit of Divine Medicine near my tail to fall inside of the bucket. It did not have much room inside of it but I figured even if diluted, they could figure out that this was good stuff. Then I flew away from the tent, flying low, under the stunned look of the young man. I stopped using mana on my Sound Barrier spell when I left the tent and activated my Camouflage skill again. Only then I flew back and hang to the ceiling of the cavern, wanting to eye what would happen next.

I thought the young man would scream some more but he actually took the time to dress up and exit the tent, looking right and left. One of the guard people who were whispering saw him on the corner of his eyes and when he realize the young man was on his feet, he had one of the dumbest expression I had ever seeing. Clearly a mix a confusion and profound disbelief. When his friends caught him staring and also saw the young man, they were up their feet in a heartbeat and run toward the previously injured young man. They clearly were stunned to see the young man on his feet. I could not understand what they were saying of course but they seemed both excited and still in disbelief, watching him up and down and whispering. When the young man started speaking, however, they frowned and looked at him with a strange expression.

I wanted to chuckle so badly right now. I was hoping they would bring them inside to show the bucket... Soon enough, the young man did just that. I could see everything thanks to my Blindsense. Soon afterward, the three warriors were out the tent, looking at every directions. Their expression were quite particular. I couldn't exactly sense what they were thinking but... I became a bit wary. There was a strange look in their eyes. They walked directly toward a particular tent and one of them entered the tent. They clearly were awakening a man inside... Sensing something was fishy, I decided to fly a bit closer to the exit. I found another hanging point and waited...

A middle-aged man exited the tent, frowning and sounding grumpy. The guards almost pushed him toward the tent where the young man was being taken care up, directly to the bucket. It took some time but then I finally noticed that their tones were excited and even passionate.

The middle-aged man seemingly had completely awoken from his previous sleep. He actually strode forward to the guard I was hanging close to, his subordinates right behind him. He even grabbed the guard by the arm as he spoke to him. The more he spoke, the more the guard face paled. He simply bowed and took a step back, not daring to look at the middle-aged man. It was clear now that this man was the leader of this expedition.

My Danger Perception skill had not being triggered until now but it suddenly rang into me like an alarm signal. I wanted to fly away but I was wondering if I should go on the other exit to get some distance or if I should try to pass the middle-aged man into the tunnel I came from. That hesitation costed me a lot as that middle-aged man rose his palm and from it, a blinding light illuminated the whole place. I closed my eyes but kept using my Blindsense... and I freaked out. Now, the middle-aged man was looking DIRECTLY at me!

Oh crap, oh crap, Oh crap! I have a bad feeling about this!

I took flight and tried to flee... However, it seemed that magician was unwilling to let me get away. He try to blast me with a spell, which I dodged. I could only relied on gained skills to detect that magic attack.

I suddenly felt outraged. He was attacking me... even after he clearly knew I healed one of his man!

I decided to fight back my fear and did a loop around to face him. I didn't had the time to go that far to begin with; he was still in the range of my Wailing skill...

I used it.

Soon, all his man beside him fallen on the ground, losing consciousness. But not him. Although I could detect a trace of fear in his eyes, he was still stubbornly trying to face me. He winced in pain as he try to cast what it seemed like an orb of light toward me.

To him, that orb must had being fast and hard to evade... but he had underestimated me. I dodged it easily and flew so fast that he had no time to react. I was already in his face when his eyes grew bigger in horror.

I slammed him on the head. I was surprised to hear a cracking sound as I do. He felt on the ground... with half of his face gone. I was hoping to make him unconscious with that headbutt... but it seem I underestimated the power of my Diamond Skeleton on humans. Mixed with my speed, I suddenly realized it was probably the equivalent of receiving a cannonball in the face for this poor human.

The remaining of the humans had woken up now and most of them saw me, flying above what seemed to be their leader and one third of their troops, unconscious or dead. Afraid, all of them picked what I figured what the strict essential and were running toward the other tunnel exit.

Well that was a big failure in making a good first impression...

I looked at the humans below me and I figured I needed to save them to salvage my reputation with the those humans... but that's when the mysterious voice warned me I gained so many levels in a row! I coudl even evolve now if I wanted to!

Turns out, killing humans was giving me WAY more experience point then monsters! I was almost tempted to kill the remaining humans but controlled myself... For now. With a evolution around the corner, it was better to prepared accordingly. Also, I still wanted to get outside and I figured the remaining humans would allow me to follow them. Not that they could do anything about it though.

To think humans are so weak... well, that magician probably was not but he underestimated me greatly.

I shook my head and waited for the rest of the humans to wake up. I didn't want to heal them now that it came to this. When the first one woke up, I wasn't hiding anymore. I was hanging next to the entrance of the tunnel entrance the humans didn't flee, looking at them. He shivered from fright but he realized I would not attacking them. He seemed a bit confused but it seem he realized I was no immediate threat. Soon, all of them woke up, a bit confused and scared as they watched me. They started to return to camp and pack up. As they were preparing to leave as well, I followed them. They were watching me warily but they definitely understood now I would not attack them if they weren't attacking me first. The one who I saved earlier seemed less wary then the others. He actually took a fruit from his backpack and threw it in my direction!

I shivered and used Appraisal on it... It was not poisonous so I swooped down and ate it. Oh... the sweetness! It tasted close to a juicy orange, despise being blue in color. Didn't matter, it was so tasty and delicious!

I released a few happy clicking sound after I ate it. The other humans were surprised but seemed to be less wary of me after that. The one I saved tried to talk to me but I think he finally understood I didn't understand a word they were saying. Still, he was clearly more friendly then the rest of the others. I could see he was clearly still a bit wary though but it was understandable. He finally stopped talking to me after a while and they just moved in silence, wary of their surroundings. One time, they faced one of those giant snakes but I got rid of it quickly. They were surprised but seemingly extremely happy of my involvement in this. They even gave me another fruit after that!

The atmosphere among them clearly got better after this. They were clearly didn't see me as a menace after that. The one who I saved seemingly tried to show me his arm. Having seeing a falcon trainer on TV, I knew what he was hoping I would do. I tried to perch on his harm... but he realized I was too heavy for him. I flew back in the air as we both realized that fact. He simply laughed as he had almost lost balance from this.

In my mind, I was thinking this was laughable too but for different reasons. From the way he was looking at me, he was clearly thinking he was the reason I was following them, like we had become close friends or something. Even the other humans were looking at him with envy. They clearly had it all wrong. If I had to choose a master, it would be picky about it... and maybe he would need to be a bit stronger? I was not so sure about that last point though. Humans are greedy. Maybe having someone like me following him around might be a curse if someone wanted to make me his pet.

I considered others might have the Taming skill I had... And try to do it to me. So slowly but surely, I was considering that becoming too close to a human might not be a good idea. Maybe I could simply live off simply, in the countryside. If I learned fire magic, I could probably cook my own food... It wouldn't give me spices but I could probably steal it easily. It seemed like a better plan now to do that. In any case, my Divine Medicine skill would allow me to never feel hungry again anyway.

I was eager for the freedom of this Labyrinth... that's all that mattered for now. Soon enough, we saw the glimpse of the sun... I was ecstatic! Once outside, I took a deep breath... the air outside was definitely better than the one in the Labyrinth. As I was starting to fly away, the humans below me started toc all up to me. Looking back at them, I saw them actually sad of my eventual depart. The one I saved was definitely dispirited. I hesitated but came back down. I snatched his waterskin and filled it with my Divine Medicine skill. It was half-full but I figured he would be enough to make it a great departure gift. Then after this good deed, I flew away.

Ah, the sky, the wind! The sun on my back! It was definitely awesome to be able to fly! Nothing could stop me! I flew until I felt a bit tired. I decided to stop near an orchard. I hid myself in a dense tree. I summoned Arc from the labyrinth. He seemed curious about where he was. A bit nervous even. However, I sensed he was relief that I was here with him. He whimpered though so I decided to indulge him and sleep in the bushes with him. Sleeping next to him was awesome anyway, I could use him as pillow in this situation.

Life seemingly was giving us a break... I was happy.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I get the feeling my character is fickle... But I think it's normal as he is cautious and he has a lot to think about. As for myself, I was lazy and decided to not do as much stats and such for the formatting. I figured an update would be more appreciated, even if there wasn't any of that at this point. I will try to redo that in the future but I make no promises. I will just be happy to not be jobless next week lol!