With the world around Ashton illuminated in soft white waves of light, he was able to move forward properly.

  He knew that this was possible, since the Summoner had used similar methods before. They could basically see through Ashton's eyes whenever they wanted to, so he had figured that this was one of the applications for a long time. And now, he had barely reached the level required for something like this.

  The only things he could see were sudden 'changes'. If he tried to see everything, it would be too overwhelming for his mind. If Ashton tried to do this with the gnome or sylph, he might be able to see a short pulse, an instant snapshot of the space around him, but it would be too much to keep up.

  "But maybe... Maybe I could see the changes. Vibrations on the ground, shifting of the air... I should try that out later," Ashton said to himself as he continued moving forward. With this, he had basically partitioned off a bit of his magic to be dedicated fully to the 'umbrella' that the undine was creating around his body, as well as this magical sense that was overlapping his sight.

  And it was straining, to say the least. But it was a valuable experience. The more he struggled, the more he grew, it was that simple. And a bit of proof of that idea already came to him.

  [Skill | Aether Sensitivity - Level 8 -> Aether Sensitivity - Level 9]

  Ashton smiled and looked over at the undine, and decided to keep moving forward. There were a lot of other things that he wanted to try out and practice. The more options he had in a fight, the better it was for him. And the more of those options he figured out early on, the more he could develop them in the future and branch off new options there.

  There were just a few monsters that Ashton figured he had to be careful of. Of course, advanced species like lizardmen, goblins, and orcs could stay awake at any point during the day, just like humans could, as long as they got the sleep they needed. But since nights were more dangerous for them as well, mostly, they just assigned a few individuals to stay up and keep watch, so it was unlikely for Ashton to meet any of them, with a small exception.

  Lizardmen were clearly a pretty big deal in this area, so it was likely for him to run into a lizardman species called 'Xantusi'.

  They were nocturnal night lizards with the ability to meld in with the darkness around them. Mostly, they were used as scouts that used the cover of the night to search for important locations for groups of the tribe to take a closer look at during the day. They were also individuals specialised in deadly, hidden attacks like assassins, and made little to no noise due to this fact. And since they were nocturnal, xantusi could see perfectly in the darkness, so they were one of the bigger threats around here, one that he already had Sam post about.

  They had a few pretty easy-to-exploit weaknesses, though, especially here on earth. One of those being bright lights.

  While most larger-scale electrical currents were interrupted due to the sudden occurrence of mana, and by now most power plants, transformers, and other electrical distribution networks were probably destroyed by monsters or simply abandoned, battery-powered things still worked fine.

  Phones, laptops, and flashlights, for example. And so, the bright, focused light from a powerful flashlight was enough to not just eliminate the places where a xantusi could hide, but could even momentarily stun and blind them so that they could be dispatched easily. Xantusi tended to travel alone, rather than in groups, so they were easy to take care of once trapped. Their forte wasn't exactly one-on-one combat, but that didn't mean they could be underestimated.

  But if you could take out a regular lizardman, you could take out a xantusi lizardman if you had the right tools with you.

  But Ashton had another benefit. With this magical water-sight, he could see the outline of anything. Light wasn't a factor in this. Sure, if there were overhangs somewhere, Ashton couldn't see what was underneath them. He could only see the places that would usually get wet while it was raining. But it wasn't like Ashton could only rely on the magical sight. His eyes could adjust to the darkness well enough that only the darkest spots were an issue. And as long as he stayed a small distance away from those spots, even the xantusi that was currently climbing out from a sunken doorway wasn't a threat.

  The best way to fight against assassin-types was to make them think that they had the upper hand. They were both cocky and cowardly, attacking only when they were confident they could take out their opponent, but that confidence was often not truly earned and could be shaken easily.

  As the xantusi silently scurried along the ground, jumping up when it was just a few metres away from him. Xantusi were much shorter than other lizardmen, even shorter then geckarians. They were more comparable to goblins in height, so to more easily reach weak spots, they had to leap and were quite adapt at it.

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  But Ashton spun around and pushed his staff forward. He hit the lizardman right in the throat, crushing its windpipe. Startled, the xantusi tried to push itself away, but only had the staff to hold onto for this. The moment it did, Ashton slammed the staff down and the monster, trying to find a footing, tripped and fell.

  Ashton put his weight behind the attack and crushed the monster's throat even more. It tried to throw its dagger up at Ashton, but that was a desperate attempt that was easily dodged. It perished soon enough.

  And so, Ashton quickly ducked down and started taking it apart, giving him the opportunity for something else that he wanted to try out. The undine wasn't even level 10 yet, so it wasn't possible to fully control a liquid like blood the same way that he could regular water, but at the very least it was possible to make the blood flow away from him.

  He brought the body over to a gutter and made an incision in the neck, using the undine's magic to force the liquid out of its body so that he wouldn't make such a mess.

  This would be extremely useful for procuring food. Draining blood from meat would be much easier like this. It would still be a struggle to procure meat for certain people, though. Slaughtering monsters in halal or kosher methods would be hard. Rather, it was even questionable if a muslim or jew would be able to consider any monster as proper for slaughter. In the future, it was also likely for species of animals, the ones that survived the monsters, to change extremely due to the presence of mana.

  It would be a struggle, but it was possible to make things work as long as everyone worked together. People with jobs like, 'Butcher', 'Baker', or 'Farmer', should generally be more likely to get those classes as well, so procuring food shouldn't be difficult in communities like this. If Ashton remembered right, there were a few places in Drakewood that might produce specialty food-producers like that.

  But before then, it was important to find the right monsters to domesticate. In particular, some cow-like monsters would be good. Those tended to be massive and comparatively docile already. Not all animalistic monsters were carnivores, and there were a few common ones that Ashton figured would be great to keep for food. But that was another matter altogether, and not what he should focus on for the time being.

  Instead, he should focus on butchering this lizardman. Not for its meat, of course. There were few humanoid species that Ashton felt comfortable eating, and it was mostly those that were 'mock-humanoids', those that looked like people to trick others. There were a few carnivorous plants that had parts that looked like extremely attractive, androgynous people and secreted aphrodisiacs into the air. Well, they were shockingly effective. Even Ashton found himself close to falling trap to one once.

  The bits that looked like people were just fruits, though, and only barely looked and moved a little to help the trick.

  Then again, what Ashton was doing now wasn't exactly less gruesome. He was skinning the xantusi. Rather than being an active ability, the thing that allowed them to meld in with the shadows was more akin to a physical trait imbued into their scales. If Ashton treated this lizardman-hide properly, he could get leather that would allow him to melt into obscurity. There was another lizardman species similar to chameleons that would provide better materials, but it was unlikely to find an exotic species like that here for now. Well, technically even night lizards weren't native to this part of the world, but they tended to be basically everywhere in the otherworld so Ashton figured that they would show up here, too.

  Chamaelis should show up here at some point too, similar to other more powerful and rarer species, especially as the climate changed through the influence of mana... This world would really look unrecognizable in a decade.

  But for now, xantusi hide was a good compromise. Especially when paired with the 'Silent Step Shoelaces', he should be able to act stealthily pretty well.

  Ashton cut away the parts of the lizardman's hide that didn't have the same qualities. He only needed the darkest scales and not the lighter areas on the belly and throat.

  It wasn't enough for a full coat, but if he got a few more, then he should be able to make something good out of this to use at night. For now, he would just try to turn it into leather himself, but finding a 'tanner' would be even better. It was a bit doubtful if Ashton would find someone like that anytime soon, though. But well, it wasn't like his clothes would last forever anyway. Active fighters went through a lot of outfits over a short period of time, and while Ashton was good at patching up regular clothes, when it came to ones with a magical effect, that was slightly more complicated.

  Ashton collected the hide, which was taken from the lizardman without much of a mess, and gave it to the backpacker together with that xantusi's magic stone.

  With that all done, Ashton could move on. There were a few monsters that he heard just now that would be a bit troublesome.

  Specifically, bat monsters. Ashton had already seen them sleeping inside of some buildings, but now it was night and it was their time to act.

  Most of them were relatively small, though larger than the type you usually found around here. They had a wingspan of around two, sometimes three feet.

  But there were ones that were far larger than that, with wingspans of eight to nine feet on the smaller end. Ashton was just glad that it was unlikely for the really massive ones to be around here.

  But bat monsters had pretty good ingredients. If he found a specimen with a body around Ashton's own size, he could probably turn its wings into a glider for himself, and once the sylph got a bit stronger, he should be able to almost fly.

  Either way, the bats were an important target for Ashton, and another reason why he wanted to create that magic sense.

  The moment they entered his range, he could focus magic on them and weigh them down with water magic. They already avoided flying in the rain, and with a bit more weight, they would drop to the ground.

  They weren't the most aggressive or strong monsters, but there were a lot of them, and they had extremely strong senses, including a strong sense of smell and could be lured easily.

  Ashton pulled out a cigarette. It was a special mixture that would produce a scent that the bats would love. It didn't taste great, nor did it have any effects on Ashton, but until he found what he needed to make incense sticks out of the herb mixtures he tested out, he had to make do with cigarettes.

  He lit it in the safety of the magical umbrella surrounding him, and continued walking with a smile, waiting for the first bats to shoot down at him.

  It was time to make some money.