Dream didn't have to go very far before he started sensing enemies.
At first, he came across groups of 10 -20 crawlers. But as he kept exploring, more and more started showing up.
This wasn't too much of a problem as he had [Erase Presence] which kept him hidden. But when he began the fight, he always had to start running as they chased him.
The crawlers had surprisingly good senses. They could pick up on any movement within 100 meters of them. So whenever Dream fired a round, his stealth was dampened which alerted the crawlers to him. He also couldn't hide the effects his body had on the grass and leaves when he touched it while moving.
Not only that, but running away was very tiring. He knew he couldn't keep it up so he started using hit and run tactics.
First he would toss out a flashbang, which worked very well, and then shot as many as possible. He would keep throwing them out until the crawlers scattered. By that time though, many would be dead and he just had to chase down any runners.
This process was fantastic. Dream killed several groups of 40 and leveled up to level 43. His [Erase Presence] was also power leveled to level 41. It made sense because he was constantly using it. While shooting, while running, he never deactivated it once. Though he noticed the toll It took on his mana. But as long as he kept leveling up he would be fine.
Eventually Dream decided to break down how the skill worked with his surroundings. He noticed that the leveling was slowing down, so he went to Sophia to try and understand the skill.
'Sophia. Does Erase Presence seek to assimilate with my surroundings?'
[It's more like it wants to remove your effect on the surroundings. Instead of becoming the wind and moving through it, It just removes the fact that you're in the wind.]
'That seems really powerful. I just don't know how you remove your effect. I mean, my very existence displaces matter. So unless I remove my existence, I will keep affecting matter...'
[I think you answered your own problem.]
'...okay. So I have to figure out how to remove my own existence? But this skill doesn't seem like it goes that far. It says erase presence, not existence. So what is my presence?'
[Your presence is your effect on the surroundings.]
'...Not necessarily. It's the thing that lets other animals detect me. Like an aura. So it's due to mana? Because aura doesn't exist without mana. So I need to pull in everything. Let nothing escape. Killing intent, emotions, and the mana that can be dissipated from using skills.'
[...That sounds more plausible. The only problem is the fact that your senses use mana to sense your surroundings as well. So if you really want to pull in everything, that must be included.]
'That shouldn't be too much of a problem. I need to do it until my skill covers for it. I'll be able to use everything without being noticed when the skill levels up. Although I don't feel the best while not grasping everything about how it works, but we don't have much of a choice.'
[Alright. Then would you like to? This will remove all your senses except for your bodily ones. The effects it will have on emotions is unknown. I will also create a mana barrier on your skin to prevent any leakage. The shooting skill will also be temporarily disabled until we can find a way to precisely transport mana into the projectiles. Anything else?]
'...'
Dream thought for a second. Basically he was going to hide all of his mana. The only problem he was worried about was the effect on his emotions.
'Well just make sure I don't become an emotionless robot. Other than that, Let's try it.'
[Ok. Disabling Skills...]
As Sophia got to work, Dream could already feel the effects of his mana being pulled in. His senses instantly went away. All he had was the primary 5 senses. It felt uncomfortable not knowing what was around him, but he stuck it out.
Everything felt the same other than his senses. He thought that was it and was surprised, until Sophia spoke one more time.
[Removing emotional aura...]
When Sophia started that process, Dream started feeling very different. It started feeling as if emotion had no bearing on anything.
He didn't totally become an emotionless robot. He knew they were there, but they held no say in what he thought.
When Dream finally started thinking about things, he remembered his objectives.
'I came here to kill the crawlers. But I was having trouble with detection. I need to level up my skill and get experience.'
When the 'emotionless' Dream came to that conclusion, he got some notifications.
<[Erase Presence] has leveled up!>
<[Erase Presence] has leveled up!>
<[Erase Presence] has...>
The skill started leveling up continuously. But Dream knew it wouldn't be enough.
'Sophia. We will be going into combat. Highlight any enemies in my vision.'
Since Dream couldn't use his mana sense, he opted to use Sophia's processing power to take in all information and plot out enemy locations.
[Roger!]
Dream began walking when he heard her. He needed to find some crawlers.
.............
It only took around 15 minutes to find a group of 23 crawlers.
However, Dream didn't start fighting right away. He needed to run experiments that would best help level his skill.
'With a presence gone, an animal will subconsciously not realize that I am in their vision. All I need to do now is reduce my effect on the surrounding environment.'
When Dream set his goal, he began walking. Straight into the group of crawlers.
The crawlers were on the floor being very still. They were also rather spread out. This was one of their ways to hide and ambush any unsuspecting animals.
And since they were spread out, Dream used that to help train. He could walk between them to the other side of the group.
So he began walking.
As he got closer to the group, he got slower and slower. Until he finally stepped right next to a crawler.
But even though he was right next to it, nothing changed in Dream's head. No fear. No anxiety. No worry. Just pure, absolute focus on what he needed to do.
He took another step. When his foot reached the grass, the eye of the crawler shot open. Dream stopped moving when he saw that.
The crawler searched around the area, but didn't see, hear, or smell anything. So it just laid down and closed its eyes again.
When it did, Dream continued. He very carefully placed his foot on the ground and made sure it made no sound.
When one foot was placed, he began moving his body to take the next.
Dream dampened the vibrations of his heartbeat, circulated the air in his lungs without even breathing, his digestive system was even suspended to keep any unnecessary fluids from flowing in his body. The only thing his body was doing was pumping blood, moving air, and using the muscles.
Each step he took got easier and easier. At first, he still disrupted the sleep of the crawlers when he stepped next to them, but now they didn't even bat an eye.
After his steps got easier, they then got smoother. Then they got faster. By the time he got to the end of the group, he was basically just strolling.
'The skill must've leveled up. Let's continue.'
Dream then started walking back, just much faster. He got to the other side, turned, and started jogging through. Then ran through. Then he starting jumping in between them. None of the crawlers were alerted.
Dream began working on the next objective
'So I can move flawlessly through them. Now I need to be able to kill them without giving away my location.'
Dream stopped walking through them and walked to about 20 meters away. He then took out his EM gun.
*Dsh*
*Shriek!*
'...'
All the crawlers were alerted when one of their own got killed. They all opened their eyes and started scouring around to find the killer. But even after 5 minutes of searching, they couldn't find anything.
As they all scoured, Dream stayed still. He didn't move a step. After a bit, he pointed his gun again and took another shot.
*Dsh*
*Shriek*
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He waited while the crawlers got alerted again. But none of them found him. He started shooting faster.
*Dsh* *Shriek*
*Dsh* *Shriek*
*Dsh* *Shriek*
The crawlers got more and more scared but they couldn't find who was killing them.
Meanwhile, Dream hadn't moved a step from his spot. After killing about 10 crawlers, he spoke to Sophia.
'What's the level?'
[[Erase Presence] is at level 83. I recommend reactivating skills to further the skill leveling.]
'Agreed. Activate [Shooting].'
When he said that, he started firing again. This time, the bullets were infused with mana.
*Dsh*
*Shriek*
When he took that mana fueled shot, the crawlers actually turned to his direction, but they still hadn't detected him. They just stared for a second before looking elsewhere. Dream fired again.
*Dsh*
*Shriek*
They still couldn't find him. As he kept shooting and more started getting killed, they no longer looked towards Dream's direction. Only towards their dying brethren who were making the noise. Dream kept firing a little faster each time.
It only took a couple of minutes for all the crawlers to finally be killed. Dream asked Sophia.
'Level?'
[94. I will reapply your aura now.]
When Sophia said that, Dream's presence started getting a little less faint, but he also began to feel things again. His first reaction,
"....Wow....I can't go doing that very often. I really was an emotionless robot for a little. Like, I knew they were there, but they just weren't being used. How did that work Sophia?"
Dream felt as if his vitality returned. He went to Sophia to explain the emotions.
[The soul seems to harbor most of your emotion. When I pulled back the connection between the two, the brain's analytical side came out. Though since the connection between mind and soul was still there, you knew that the emotion didn't go away. Just that it wasn't being applied to your thought process. Although this did help rid of most of the aura, it didn't totally get rid of it. The aura that was still there turned cold and emotionless. Luckily most of it still was drawn back and no problems occurred.]
"Good. So to top off the skill v level, I just need to be able to kill the crawlers without alerting them in this state. We're back to square one but with a higher level. Let's find another group then. Use our senses as well."
[Okay!]
When Dream got his mana senses back, it felt really nice. Walking around with only his bodily senses made him feel blind.
After about 20 minutes of running around, Dream found another group of 30 crawlers. He didn't waste any time and started firing at them.
*Dsh* *Dsh*
*Shriekk!*
Unlike before when Dream had to run away, none of the crawlers knew where the shots were coming from this time. Dream was able to shoot them without worry. But that wasn't going to help him level the skill.
After firing some test shots, Dream dashed into the middle of the group. He then slashed down at the crawlers near him with his knife.
*slice*
*Ee!*
The crawlers made a little yelp before dying. Dream was curious as to why they were quieter, but he had more important things to do.
He kept slicing down at the crawlers. At first they noticed him right before he slashed down, probably due to his killing intent. But that was only for a dozen or so. Eventually, he was no longer discovered.
Dream killed off the rest of the group when he got the notification he was waiting for.
<[Erase Presence] is Max level!>
'Nice!'
Dream was very pleased to have his skill finally maxed out. He found a seat after he killed off the last crawler.
*sigh* 'Is it really sunset? How long was I walking through that group of crawlers?'
[Almost 5 hours. It'll be night time in an hour.]
'I should head back then. I doubt Riddick stayed there waiting all this time either. Wait, what was the quest we needed to do?'
Drream felt kinda stupid for forgetting their quest. Although it was more just a side goal. They mainly came here for the experience.
[The quest was to bring back 50 crawler heads. They wanted the teeth that are super sharp.]
'Oh. I guess I'm finished then. Let's just collect them.'
Dream started going back through all his battle sites and decapitating the crawlers for their skulls.
As he was collecting heads, he felt some of the teeth they had out of curiosity.
"These are sharp! No wonder they want these! I can easily cut my finger with them. If you couldn't sense these things and they snuck up on you, you better have the toughest skin in the world or you'll get shredded to bits in seconds. They really are land piranhas."
Dream was glad that he didn't mess up while walking right next to groups of those things. He sure as hell wouldn't have done it if he could still feel fear then.
It took until darkness fell for Dream to go back to all the battles. But when he was finally done, he had over 200 heads. There were probably some more, but he didn't feel like searching.
When Dream realized how may he killed, he asked Sophia about his level.
"Sophia, what's my level anyway?"
[46. This is considering how the girls were still in your party. Though they probably only got small amount, it adds up. You would be level 48 without them.]
"So still not enough to class change. But that's fine. We should level up together. I'm interested to see their training results tomorrow."
Dream stored the bags full of heads in his inventory which almost totally filled it. He then started making his way out of the forest.
Dream passed by the spot where the girls were last time and sure enough, nobody was there. He just kept walking. It took almost 30 minutes to finally get out.
When he was, he summoned his jeep out and started driving back to the city.
10 minutes later, Dream was approaching the gates. Since he didn't exactly have money on him and didn't know if he needed to pay, Dream decided to test his maxed stealth ability.
He walked up to the guard who was at his station, but the guard didn't seem to notice even after he waved at the man. Dream decided that it was safe and walked through the gate. Nobody stopped him.
'Sweet! This probably won't work on higher leveled people, but for these chumps it's perfect.'
Dream laughed smugly in his head before making his way to the hotel.
After many twists and turns, he walked inside the building and to his room. He could feel presences inside the rooms next to him and knew that the family had gotten back fine.
He didn't decide to bother them and just entered his own room. He didn't feel it until a little while ago, but his fatigue was at an all-time high. Turns out walking on the tight rope of life and death for so long takes its toll with or without emotions.
And as a result of such fatigue, Dream immediately fell asleep when his head hit the pillow.