Hours or maybe even days flew by as Leo continued to work on his Hunter's Pulse. After his limited success in the beginning, he tried to achieve something similar in the next attempt. Yet, no matter how long he meditated beforehand or how much focus he put into the skill, it never gave him the same results.

One time, the whispers would be stronger, filled with unknown voices, screeches, and howls. Another time, they would be completely gone, replaced by all kinds of scents that overwhelmed his mind. Then, on the next attempt, the sense of taste would take priority, assaulting him with flavors he had never tasted before.

To make the entire process even more complicated, his attempts at Essence detection made him particularly sensitive to even the weakest energy signatures around him. Now, despite everything, he should have been happy with this achievement. Yet, when combined with the overwhelming amount of information from his other senses, he barely knew what was happening when Hunter's Pulse activated.

As such, Leo had spent the last few hours, or maybe more, working on each of his senses separately. Then, once he got the feedback from one of them under control, he attached it to its respective Essence trail instead of having all that information go straight to his head.

Of course, the process of fixing the skill this way was far from easy.

Often, Hunter's Pulse would deactivate before he could achieve anything, making him start from zero. Another time, pieces of information would slip between his phantom fingers before he could attach them to anything, thus throwing the ability out of the loop.

Other smaller but still annoying issues involved Leo punching the ground. However, once he finished the work on his sense of hearing, the entire process sped up a bit—not by much, but enough for him to stop complaining every five minutes.

Last one. He sighed, closing his eyes and putting all of his attention on the sense of touch.

By far, the last of the five basic senses was the hardest to use in Hunter's Pulse, as it didn't really provide any information. Instead, it somehow amplified what the others delivered and made the feedback easier to understand. He had no idea how that worked—stuff like that was beyond him—but he still had to attach this final sense to his skill somehow.

What if I use it as a way to interact with the Essence trails I find? This could work.

Until now, Leo just had to extend his mind toward any point of interest found by Hunter's Pulse to interact with it. If he cut off that method and put his sense of touch in its place, he just might succeed.

Well, it can't hurt to try. What's another hour or two wasted at this point? If time is still flowing in the real world, I'm fucked anyway.

With a shrug, he activated his almost perfected Hunter's Pulse and refused the connection it wanted to form with his mind. He paused at that moment, unsure what to do next. The first step was easy, but the next part of his plan was nothing like what he had done before.

Trial and error again. Great...

To his pleasant surprise, attaching his sense of touch to the skill turned out to be simpler than he had expected. He just had to replace the connection to his mind with the chosen sense during activation and then glue it all together with sheer willpower. It took a few tries to get it down, but on the seventh attempt, Hunter's Pulse triggered and filled his vision with the usual colorful Essence trails.

Just as he had planned, no information entered his mind upon activation, leaving him to choose his first target.

All right, the moment of truth.

Slowly, Leo extended his hands toward the nearest point of interest—an orange streak of light leading somewhere deep into the forest. The mass of energy wrapped around his hand, and he gasped as different sensations in the form of a flickering vision entered his head.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Hooves stomping against the ground. A low grunt leaving the animal's snout. The heavy smell of wet fur. Small bits of weak Essence being left behind.

Just like that, the weird vision stopped, and he pulled his hand away, shaking his head. His gaze fell on another energy trail—this one blue—and he touched it too, making sure that the last try wasn't a fluke.

A vision pulled him in instantly, and Leo smiled as it, too, came to an end, leaving him with enough information to identify the source.

Some kind of a small bird. He noted, looking up at the sky. It is weak—weaker than even a Scavenger.

"Congratulations," a familiar combination of voices spoke from behind him. "You've managed to advance Hunter's Pulse to its next stage. There is still room for improvement, but now you're ready for the next part of this trial."

Leo turned around to face the dark ghost and released a sigh of relief. "Finally... What do you have for me?"

"Another lesson and your next task." The collective motioned to the violet Essence trail that only he should be able to see. "You have grasped the idea of proper detection. Now, we shall show you the correct way to track and mark your target."

"Can't I just follow the trail?" He asked.

"You can. Of course you can." The ghost chuckled. "But why would you do something so inefficient, so primitive?" The collective shook its head. "No, the technique we will teach you is much better... Grasp the violet signature, and don't let go after the vision. Now!"

Eyes wide at the sudden order, Leo scrambled forward and touched the mentioned trail. The vision—describing some kind of a wolf—came and went, but he kept on holding.

"Good," the ghost said. "Now you have to infuse it with your own Essence—not too much. Once you do that, follow those tracks right to their owner. This process should be almost instantaneous once you get some practice."

He nodded. "And then what? I infuse my Essence into the target?"

The collective shook its head. "No, not infuse. You want to create an invisible mark on them. It won't last forever, but once it is placed, your prey will never be able to hide from you. Of course, you need to be careful when placing it. One wrong move and your target will realize that something is wrong. Likewise, there are plenty of ways to avoid marking, but with time, you will learn how to work around them. Now, try it for yourself."

This time, the ghost didn't leave and watched him, waiting for his move.

Let's do this then. Leo took a deep breath and sent a spark of Essence into the violet cord coiled around his hand. With another order, the energy surfed along the trail, only to stop a few seconds later after it hit some sort of a soft barrier.

Must be the end. He mused and, following the ghost's instructions, forced his Essence to shift and paint itself over the invisible wall. The energy did just that, and his eyes widened when a crimson wolf silhouette appeared in his sight. It was far, far away from his current position, but the fact remained that he could see it all the time.

"That was easy," Leo muttered, still looking in the distance.

The ghost sighed. "Of course it was. This temporary world was created to assist you. Here, detection, tracking, and marking are much easier. Please remember that once you return to the real world."

"I will."

"Excellent. Let me present you with your last task—the final test, if you will... There are many different creatures in this forest. However, three of them don't belong here. Your job is to find and eliminate them without being noticed. Your targets are easy to kill; this isn't a combat trial. Understood?"

"Hold up!" Leo frowned. "How the hell am I supposed to know if a creature doesn't 'belong?'"

Even without eyes, the ghost somehow managed to make him feel like an idiot by looking at him. "Have you already forgotten how you used Hunter's Pulse before this trial?"

He blinked, only for his eyes to widen as realization hit him like a train. "Right... Fuck. I can still give it intent and supply it with what I need to find."

"Exactly." The collective nodded. "Good luck, youngling. I will see you again once you finish your task. Till then, you are on your own. Remember, nobody can see you."

With that, the ghost faded out of sight, leaving Leo alone again. He sighed and dismissed the current Hunter's Pulse and the mark. It was time to reduce his search area.

Okay... I have to give it the right intent so it won't show me everything. Might as well start simple.

He gathered enough Essence for another Pulse and fuelled it with the desire to search for anything unique that differentiates from the usual stuff in the forest.

Instantly, the colorful signatures returned, and while there were fewer of them, there were still too many.

Of course it can't be that easy...