After waiting for a couple more minutes, Shang noticed that the dangerous feeling didn't return.
Apparently, the Vanishing Snake had vanished.
Shang put the beast sack back on his back. It still was rather light since he only harvested ears and feelers.
By now, the sun was near the horizon. Soon, it would be night.
'I should be able to find a lot more Pest Cats in the night. I've already found quite a few during the evening when they are hiding, which means that I will find even more during the night.'
'This definitely isn't like Duke Whirlwind's garden. Duke Whirlwind's garden didn't have that many actual beasts. Most of the things in Duke Whirlwind's garden were animals.'
'When I came to this world, I thought that the God put me in some dangerous area, but only now do I realize that he really had put me in some sort of tutorial area. If he had put me in this forest, I wouldn't even have survived a day probably.'
'The most dangerous beasts in Duke Whirlwind's garden had been the Pest Cats, and there hadn't even been that many. Sure, there have also been some more powerful beasts, but they were rare. On top of that, the Ice Spear Bear was completely isolated in the lake and only appeared in the winter. If I didn't search for it, I wouldn't have found it.'
Shang continued towards the northeast, and soon enough, night hit.
As soon as the last glimmer of light vanished, the entire feeling of the forest changed, and a familiar feeling appeared in Shang's heart.
This was just like back when he had been in Duke Whirlwind's garden at night.
It was a feeling of pressure and unknown. It was like every nook and cranny could hide a powerful beast.
Shang knew that he wasn't in much danger since he counted as basically the strongest entity in this forest, but he still felt a bit nervous.
His instincts simply told him that he had to be careful.
Shang continued traveling towards the northeast and killed a couple more Pest Cats. Sure enough, Shang found one nearly every five minutes as soon as night hit. Luckily, since he was at the Peak of the Soldier Stage, his eyesight was pretty good.
However, even that wouldn't have been enough to find that many Pest Cats.
So, how did Shang find so many?
Because Shang found something interesting.
As soon as the night hit, the Darkness Mana in the surroundings started to become denser.
Yes, ever since Shang had absorbed the Darkness Mana Source, he had been able to feel Darkness Mana. He was also able to feel Light and Fire Mana, but those two skills were irrelevant at the moment.
The fact that feeling Fire Mana was useless was logical, but why was feeling Light Mana useless? Shouldn't he have been able to feel his surroundings during the day by feeling the Light Mana?
Well, it depended on the location.
The Wild Forest was thick, and not a lot of light reached the ground. Because of that, during the day, the Darkness and Light Mana had actually been in balance. There wasn't enough of either of them to feel the surroundings.
But now, during the night, Shang could use the Darkness Mana to feel out his surroundings.
It definitely wasn't very accurate, and it didn't have that much range, but it was something.
Shang could only perceive a bit of movement regarding Mana. If something without much Mana moved, like the wind or branches, he wouldn't be able to feel that. However, if something with a lot of Mana moved, the Mana in their own being shoved the Darkness Mana to the side.
But when it came to Pest Cats, it was a bit different. Shang couldn't feel them push the Darkness Mana to the side but gathering it. It was like they were attracting it and gathering it.
Shang guessed that this cloak of Darkness Mana was the reason why the Pest Cats were able to move that silently.
As Shang used his new ability, he also noticed something else.
Up in the sky, something was displacing Darkness Mana, and it was displacing a lot.
Shang guessed that something was flying above him, above the forest, and it was quite powerful. Shang wasn't certain how powerful it was, but it felt more powerful than any of the beasts he had seen before in this forest.
Shang couldn't see the flying thing due to the trees, and he certainly didn't want to aggravate whatever was flying there by climbing above the trees to take a look.
If Shang knew more about the beasts in this forest, he would certainly take a look. However, as it was now, he didn't know whether he was allowed to kill it or not. If that thing up there was on the blacklist, and he provoked it, he would have to flee until it gave up.
It was better to just let it fly around in the sky.
Suddenly, Shang's eyes narrowed, and he stopped moving.
The feeling had returned.
Another Vanishing Snake was near.
Shang didn't move at all. Last time, he had scared the Vanishing Snake off by looking around frantically, and he didn't want that to happen again.
The Vanishing Snakes were exactly the reason why Shang had come here.
One of them was worth 2,000 Contribution Points!
Even with all of Shang's hunting up to now, he barely earned 900 Contribution Points.
Shang concentrated on his Darkness Vision and closed his eyes.
He had already learned earlier that it was impossible to spot the Vanishing Snakes with his eyes, which meant that he had to rely on his instinct and Darkness Vision.
For the first time in a long while, Shang was genuinely nervous. He felt a heavy feeling in his stomach, but he also felt some excitement.
This was the feeling of being close to death.
It had been so long since he had last come into contact with it.
Shang's pores opened, and his concentration reached its peak.
His entire mind was concentrating on his instincts and Darkness Vision.
The wind moved lightly through the forest, but mostly, the forest was silent.
In the middle of the night, Shang simply stood in a small clearing with closed eyes, in nearly total silence.
After some seconds, Shang felt his instincts become louder. They were telling him that he was in danger.
However, at the same time, Shang noticed something.
Something very small was moving in the darkness.
It was about ten meters away from him and moved very slowly.
Judging by the displaced Darkness Mana, Shang guessed that it was probably only a meter long and very thin.
Shang narrowed his eyes.
Whoosh!
Then, Shang's eyes opened wide.
What had he just felt?!
Something different had suddenly moved through the darkness at absolute ridiculous speeds!
It had come from the top, interacted with the supposed Vanishing Snake, and shot into the sky again.
All of that had happened in barely a second.
Shang's guess was confirmed when he felt the dangerous feeling vanish.
The Vanishing Snake had vanished once more, but this time, Shang knew where it had gone to.
Shang concentrated on the flying thing above him.
That thing had been the culprit.
Shang remained standing for several minutes.
That thing flying above him was extremely dangerous, and he didn't want to aggravate it.
The speed he had just witnessed was insanity!
It had probably moved as fast as teacher Loran when he had intervened in Shang's fights.
Shang remained in the same spot for ten more minutes.
However, that thing circling above him didn't vanish.
It was like it was following him!
