They are really a carefree group.

Is it because they are born strong?

Is it because they are used to the peace they have had for a long time?

In this world, monsters and humans fight each other. And it is not simply humans versus monsters. Monsters are divided into different races, and fight each other for their survival, while there are also wars and conflicts between humans.

It's because of how the level works. Since regardless of monsters and humans, they will get stronger if they kill other creatures, the one who choose to fight will get stronger and survive, while those who remain passive will decline.

It's a natural selection, making the monsters to be mostly hostile.

That's what I thought, but the days I've spent with the foxes contradict with all I have seen and experienced so far.

It has to be the reason why, the happy days I have spent with them feels so volatile, just like a dream.

I head out to the southern mountain range. I decided to go out to hunt today. Even though I can still practice magic without fighting, it is far more efficient to hunt. It also increases the level on top of the skill levels, so it is important to keep doing it.

It appears that none of the foxes noticed my strength. Even though the powerful ones in the tribe surpass me in level, their perception abilities and wariness aren't as developed as mine.

I had expected it to a certain extent, since my wind and light attributes are very useful in perception and concealment. But on top of that, their detection abilities are on the low side because of how easy going they are.

If other tribes are also like that, it would be convenient. But I always need to assume the worst when I know nothing of them.

One other thing I managed to confirm is that they don't have a way to communicate with each other instantly. There is nothing like a telepathy, and they communicate normally through words. However, I found a magic item allowing long distance communications used by the chief. It seems to be used to exchange important or urgent information within the alliance.

This is important, since those who have an exceptional mean of communication are extremely dangerous to deal with.

I don't want to antagonize the foxes. The warmth I have received isn't something I am willing to ruin by myself. However, since I don't know how it will be with the other tribes of their alliance, I need to do my best to prepare for the worst.

In the southern mountain range I'm heading to, there are some powerful monsters. What I'm trying to look for are the Saber-toothed tigers renown for their strength and agility. Since they have high pride and are hostile to whoever entering their domain, they aren't part of the alliance, nor have any relation with any other tribe. They are also individualists that don't like acting in a group.

That is why I decided to hunt them, since it won't catch the eyes of the other powerful beings.

Advancing through the sky using Wind Step, I perceive one small Saber-toothed tiger.

Even though it is a small one of the kind, it is still about two meters tall. However, since it seems weaker than the description I was given, it makes a perfect target for the experiment.

Upon dealing with species I haven't fought before, I need to thoroughly learn about them. And it is best to start with the weak ones.

It's because those belonging to the same specie usually share lots of common traits. While it is not good to assume that they will be all the same, it is also important to take into account their similarities which allows to make flexible strategies to fight them.

First things I check are their perception abilities. I start by checking which senses they are able to use and to what extent. If I know that, I'll be able to figure out what they will be able to see and what they won't, allowing me to use it in my advantage in situations like hiding away or fooling their senses for a surprise attack, or even analyzing their thought process based on what they have seen.

On top of the five senses that I was used to on Earth, magic makes a huge addition in the perception. Not only it enhances the natural perception abilities, but it is also perceive the mana of the opponent, or even use special perception abilities using magic.

The Saber-toothed tiger doesn't seem to have that, though. Their control of mana is unpolished, and I don't feel any trace of spread out mana used for perception. I can tell that they aren't a magic oriented specie, since the foxes had a much more sophisticated control of the mana even though they didn't bother using it for perception neither.

I then check its standard senses. It seems that its sense of hearing is the most developed, since it starts getting cautious the moment I let out a small sound. Using wind and light magic, I gradually increase what should be able to be smelled or seen, which I find they have an excellent sense for them as well, albeit less than their hearing. It is a common distribution among the beasts of prey, and so was the case for the foxes.

Since magic strengthens the body when level goes up and gives you a better control of it, the senses also get sharper. I have to expect the higher leveled Saber-toothed tigers to have a lot sharper sense than it. Carefully checking the smallest sound, scent and vision they are able to detect, I estimate how much the high leveled ones would be capable of if they had the same traits. I'll have to confirm it later.

There is also this thing called intuition back on Earth, which is sometimes also called the sixth sense. However, it is more an innate deducing ability coming from the experience than a real sense, and I have to deal with it another way.

Next things I check are their physical abilities and weaknesses.

The Saber-tooth tiger that already became aware of my presence due to my experiment stares at me with hostile eyes and starts growling.

It charges at me, and tries to bite me. I dodge to the side, where it follows with the claws. Its movements are not bad.

Without forming a wind blade, I block its attack with bare hand. The claw penetrates into my skin slightly, leaving a small wound, but that's where it stops.

So it is more agility-oriented than strength. Same type as me, except that the difference between the two stats is bigger in my case.

It's attacks are mainly using the sharp claws and the large tooths. It can also use the heavy body weight to do a body blow, but it's not so effective as a damaging move.

It appears that it is a lot more capable of fighting an opponent in front of it than from side or back. However, it is also able to quickly turn around. While I can use this, I can't rely on it as much as to call it their weakness.

After dodging and parrying for a while, I decide that it's enough. After all, I only need to know what their attacks mainly consist of, since the rest will depend on the individuals. It's not good to gain too much prejudices when I'll have to adapt.

Now, I have to check the resistances. I not only have to check which part is tender and which part can deal fatal blow, but also find out what wounds will limit their movements and such.

The resistances and defense differ depending on the body part, but they are rather simple to check. The best method is dealing damage and see how much of it goes through. Since there are three different physical resistances, I have to try all three of them. There are other resistances like cold, heat and poison, but since I don't have any way of attacking inflicting those, I don't need to check them. Since I can heal the tiger back up after damaging it, one specimen is enough to find out everything.

Unless one trains a particular body part, the distribution of resistances will be the same among the same specie. That is why, the knowledge I gain about the weaker one of the specie will also be useful against the stronger ones.

Also, while most of the species have the canonical characteristics of their type, exceptions aren't rare since it is also a feature developed by magic. That's why it is important to carefully inspect them.

With the foxes, since I didn't want to stand out among them, I used a different method. I was inspecting the physical conditions upon using the healing magic on them. Sometimes, unique features are also found, so I have to be careful of that as well.

Helping Lisa with her job as a doctor, I managed to see various patients, including those having heavy wounds in different parts of their body. Not only from checking how their wounds close, but also from inspecting their body parts with light magic, I can infer their defense and resistances to a certain extent.

This is not as good as the direct method I am doing right now, both in speed and accuracy, but since I didn't find anything unusual from them in this aspect, this is good enough.

“Khaaaa!”

The tiger lets out a sharp cry as I keep experimenting on it. The sound won't spread though, since I created a sound barrier around it. After experimenting for a while, it completely lost its will to fight back. When it is only focused on running away, it is time to check the movement.

Usually, tendons are the key at hindering their movement, since they are the most fragile yet essential. However, I can't neglect checking the effect of bone fracture or blood loss and such.

Wounds on the head are also extremely important. Since some ways of damaging them will affect their perception abilities or their abilities to think. Since it is difficult to figure out the precise effect on this aspect, I have to make some assumptions based of the structure of common animals.

Usually, hurting the eardrum perturbs their ability to hear, and damaging the semicircular canal will hinder their balancing ability. It doesn't seem that they are reinforcing those abilities with their magic, and I confirm that it affects them properly.

The Saber-toothed tiger I experimented with became unable to move and is just lying around. Even though I healed its wounds properly, it seems that it couldn't handle it mentally. Since I can't continue with it, I decide to finish it off. As a final experiment, I cut its artery at the inner part of its leg, and see if it dies from that.

As blood gushes out from its body, its movement become scarce. Lying still, it just silently stares at me, and I don't divert my eyes. However, it seems like the wound is healing. To think that its regenerative abilities are capable to this extent, it's an interesting find.

I stab it once more closer to its heart. With this one being fatal, the tiger finally dies.

Those tigers don't use magic to reinforce their abilities. It appears they are capable of using earth magic, but all they do with it is to throw some soil in hope to do some minor damage or obstruct vision. While it is true that wind magic is the most suitable at supporting physical abilities, I can't help to think that there should be better ways to make use of their magic.

It was the same with the foxes. They have such an outstanding magical abilities that surprised me so much, yet they don't combine it with their physical strength.

Their transformation magic is so powerful that I first thought it doesn't even make any sense. I managed to grasp what they are capable of to an extent, but the mechanism behind it is still a mystery that I want to solve.

Contrarily, their physical strength is quite lacking, and they don't really train it neither.

It works for them, because water magic has a nice balance, and it can be used defensively as well as offensively. But if they also trained physically, I think they would be able to yield their power in a much more efficiently.

Is it because they are born so powerful that they never needed to optimize their way of fighting?

Or it could be, because they are not humans, they don't bother think about it?

I'm starting to think that it might be the case. After all, with their level of intelligence, they should be able to develop magical tools and such, yet they don't do it. All they are concerned about is living a carefree life.

I wonder if humans would do that in a similar situation.

Either way, I don't think it's a bad thing in nature. I might even be a bit jealous. However, I'm also worried.

I run around and defeat more tigers. I make sure that my presence is only known to the one I'm facing, so I keep the wind magic to conceal my presence from other beings, and keep my perceptions sharp to sense any approaching creatures.

As I face more of them, I notice some patterns from them.

It's not like they have an AI like in game, so it might seem awkward to call it a pattern. But thinking back, even humans had a pattern.

It is quite obvious if you face them over and over while it is first time for them to face me.

The options they choose from are limited when they face me for the first time, after all. Since I now know what information is in their disposition, I get used to how they reason, and they eventually become as easy as a book to read.

Learning about their physical abilities, finding out how they perceive the world, analyzing their thought process, is it because I spend so much effort into understanding them? I can somehow understand how they felt when they realized their prey was in fact their predator, and that death is approaching them. It is just like with the horned-rabbit back then.

Resent, anguish, fear and distress.

'You are definitely kind, and I guarantee it!'

Rina's voice resounds in my head.

It is impossible for that to be true. After all, I have taken so many lives so far, and even though they were monsters, they could also feel and think, albeit a bit differently from us.

I wondered so many times why even though they are supposed to be cruel monsters, just enemies of the mankind, I can still understand their feelings.

It is like a side effect. I only wanted to learn how they reason so I can predict how they will act, but I end up also learning how they feel.

It would have been so much easier if they were just mindless monsters like those in games.

However, I have to ignore it all. Their eyes filled with resent and fear, and their cries of agony.

Is it because they are enemies of the mankind? Because they would have killed me otherwise? Or because everyone else does it too?

No, it is in order to become stronger, to gain levels from slaying them, so that I don't repeat my past mistake. The mistake of having seen the possibility yet having ignored it for my comfort.

For that purpose, I became an invader, a slaughterer.

That is exactly what I am for them.

The exact opposite of a kind person.

'Value of life, huh?'

If there was such thing in this world, why is it possible to level up from killing?

I erase pointless thoughts form my head. After all, the reason why doesn't matter. What's important is understanding the way it is, and whether I am able to act according to it.