- Wha... What are you? Y... Your eyes...

- I'm a prisoner just like you, so calm down I mean no harm.

When I was looking around, after reading the message, I noticed the woman was staring at me. When she noticed I was staring back at her, she was shocked and talked to me. Her most prominent features were feline's slit eyes and a huge scar that crossed her face from her right ear to her chin. Maybe a sword wound, but in a world with magic I wondered why nobody cured her.

Even covered in dirt and old blood, and scarred she still managed to look charming. And when the shocked look vanished from her face, leaving place to a more calculating one, she looked far more dangerous that I first thought. If at first my paranoid side screamed whispered about fake cell mate and spy trying to acquire information, after seeing much more about her I was convinced maybe I should tread really carefully.

Leaving my fellow inmate aside I started my plan's next step. I was pleased of being able to enhance my eyes, the skills gain were also a nice bonus, but I needed to work on my hearing. In the training was pretty clear that those two senses were the only ones I could safely enhance without help and with no risk of sensory overload. Human brain wasn't equipped for that kind of stimulation.

Just like before I first used the mana to change one of my ears, working on copying mammals seemed easier so I was trying to take cue from rats hearing. Concentrating on the complex changes that needed to take place was exhausting, especially when I needed to numb the nerves, but all the practice showed the wanted results in the end. In fact when I finished working on the second one a message appeared again.

New Magic/Skill UnlockedEnhanced Hearing Unlocked

Enhanced Hearing => Enhanced Hearing I

Enhanced Hearing I => Enhanced Hearing II

Enhanced Hearing II => Enhanced Hearing III

I sighed in relief and was going to continue working, when I heard a few voices quarrelling outside. One of the voices seemed to belong to the officer I saw before, the other one sounded like a ranting old man. I was interested in the talk, even if I took everything with a grain of salt, so I started listening.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

- I'm telling you I need to see him! You don't understand the magnitude of this discovery! Make way! His Highness put me in charge of this expedition!

- But I'm in charge of security and military matters! We still don't know nothing about the threat he is! Until the scouts return and we end collecting information nobody sees him!

- This is my life's research! You will not...

- Soldier! Take him to his quarter! No more strolling around until I say so!

Apparently the old man was trying to sneak inside here and was hindered by the official. More cogs started spinning inside my head from what I heard, but I had more important things to do than focus on hidden meaning of few word. Also the exchange of insults that followed had no meaning to me. 

When the angry voices faded I was sure they were gone their respective way, and not knowing how much more time I had of relative calm I started to work on my defence before anything else.

NameRaceAverageHuman IHPMP112100/120AtkDefDexWis11111111Exp80/180

Looking at my stats showed I gained exp from my new acquired skills, but also served to compare the difference between before and after my next improvement attempt. It was going to be, by far, easier but also more time consuming than the previous successful ones.

Judging by the light, that filtered through the grate, it was still midmorning but I felt the need to be as fast as possible.