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And Oli tested it by asking Sarpo and Hurdo to try sensing him out without their eyes.

Sarpo failed to find the drake relaxing in the covered wagon, startling the low-perennial jaguar. Hurdo laughed and said Oli was faintly found only by Hurdo’s earth sensory art.

With the knowledge of that test, Oli confidently located and hid from enemy scouts in those wooded hills.

Oli even used a touch of earth essence around his feet since no witnesses were accompanying him. That allowed Oli to hide better against anyone trying to sense Oli’s body through his contact with the ground, at least until Oli could get a better mastery of the Shadow Stalker art.

Those precautions let Oli successfully traverse and scout those wooded hills. And when an enemy scout was spotted, Oli patiently and skillfully avoided them.

Or, if they were stationary for a while, Oli studied them. He took every chance he could to learn something about his enemies.

For a moment, Oli was tempted to capture a scout and wring them for information. But since the two scouts he encountered weren’t trying to enter Forell Territory, Oli didn’t consider that a true option. Because it would be understandable if a scout never returned from enemy territory. If a scout stationed within Prodson territory never returned, then Prodson would ramp up security and be on full alert.

And since Forell’s forces weren’t ready to invade, Oli chose to remain undetected in place of getting some free intel.

.....

Those hours dragged out for Oli. If Oli hadn’t been used to his soul jade, he might’ve felt impatience begin to set in.

But Oli gladly awaited the darkness of night. He even positioned himself near the edge of the wooded hills so Oli could continue his search at the soonest moment possible. When the final setting sun vanished beyond the horizon, the drake subtly flapped his wing and streaked through the night as fast as Oli could without his wings audibly giving away his position.

Oli no longer needed to study the map either. The last hour before the third and final sunset was spent with Oli fully updating his memorized map with his findings so far.

*One scout seemed to head back in this direction,* Oli’s overclocking mind pieced everything together. *Then my suspicion is probably right…*

Instead of traveling in a straight line to the supposed target of his search, Oli made calculated sprints to rocky ridges and clusters of boulders. Oli always took a moment to scan his surroundings at every stop. When nothing and no one appeared in his search of dark-death essence, Oli moved to the next ridge and scanned the area anew.

Gradually, minute by minute, Oli bounced around the rocky hills until his target came into view. Without a second thought, Oli spent his first five minutes immersing himself in the shadows of a rocky ridge, letting him watch over his target while completely hidden.

Barely fifty krin from the road, there was a cliff with a large clearing on top. Also, a jagged rock formation hung over half of that clearing, and clusters of boulders dotted the cliff’s edge. From the road below, it just looked like a strange land formation.

But from slightly above, where Oli kept hidden at a distance, Oli saw a camp with nearly a hundred tents. After counting all eighty-one tents, Oli took note of light fixtures strategically placed around the camp. It made sure that faint light filled the camp without giving away their position to the road below.

*Eighteen lamps. Damn…* Oli mentally cursed.

Oli’s sense of darkness failed to enter the campgrounds, because of the distance and because of those lamps.

Near the camp, Oli was more than cautious. He was alone, deep within enemy territory, and now less than one hundred krin from a Prodson camp. While doing his best to identify various tents and the most threatening people within the camp, Vloz’s words kept repeating in Oli’s mind.

“... Anyone with stronger dark essence can find you, so long as they’re looking for you. So leave no trace and hide completely. No trace leaves nothing for enemies to be suspicious of. Hiding completely allows you to stalk your prey in peace…”

An hour passed with Oli inside that shadow. Silent and calculating, Oli noted everything that could possibly cause the Forell and Iron Troops problems.

That included the ballistas that were lining the cliff’s edge. They had been rolled back a couple of krin, but those massive, siege crossbows could be readied and wielded in seconds by an elder cultivator with proper training.

Then, after Oli was certain he had gotten all information possible while remaining fully undetected, the drake focused on his immediate surroundings.

During his wait, Oli noticed that they changed the exterior guards twice every hour. Using small, ready-made battle towers that could be pieced together instead of needing a construction crew, the Prodson guards rotated from tower to tower. Oli guessed that it was to help keep the night watch awake and on their toes.

But, regardless, Oli kept that in mind. After verifying that no one was in Oli’s immediate vicinity, he waited for the next guard change to relocate and distance himself from the camp.

The changes only took a few seconds and were well-coordinated by Prodson’s troops with high morale. Still, that was more than enough time for Oli to exit his hiding place, flap his wings and vanish deeper into the night.

Oli carefully backed away from the camp with Vloz’s warning blaring across all reaches of his mind. And, in the end, Oli escaped from the nearby camp flawlessly.

Oli continued scouting, though.

*If that’s one camp, and that’s how they chose to position themselves… Then perhaps the other camp is over there?* Oli wondered, hurrying through the night while he still had darkness to cover him.

He circled around the camp of Prodson’s long-range army, hurrying into the grasslands a few hundred krin away. There, Oli had to be even more careful. The groves of trees were more sparse than the rocky ridges of the hillside. Though, the open area also gave Oli’s dark essence an easier area to search.

At every grove of trees, Oli’s break was a bit longer than before. He used that time to decipher what direction he needed to go next and to make sure no one was nearby.

Eventually, Oli reached the area of his gut-powered guess.

*... Nothing?*

Baffled, Oli searched some more. But Oli failed to find anything more than groves of trees and a couple of grassy hills.

As the night drew out, Oli felt a heavy decision begin to weigh him down.

*Do I keep searching? Or do I head back?* Oli pondered to himself. Alone and with no one to call on for advice, Oli did his best to deduce what both options could possibly lead to.

*If I keep searching, maybe I’ll find the other camp. There’s no way Prodson expects to repel the Forell-Iron forces with that earlier camp alone. If I had to guess… That camp on the cliff was positioned as a supplementary force or reinforcement to Prodson’s main army on the ground.

*If I was the one to put that camp on the cliff, I wouldn’t let them attack until Forell and Iron forces have passed through the rocky hills. Then, I would use those ballistas to destroy the hill opposite the camp, letting the rubble block Forell’s and Iron’s retreat.*

Racing to string everything together, Oli’s thoughts continued, *I would’ve placed a massive main force here on the edge of the grasslands. That would keep the Iron and Forell forces mostly in the rocky hills, limiting their battle abilities while the long-range camp blocks a possible retreat and attacks from the flank, safely tucked away on the cliffside…

*But what are they planning?! There has to be something that I’m missing. Something about the geography that I’m unaware of…*

Coming to that conclusion, Oli frowned and mentally sighed, *... If that’s the case, then wasting my little time left of the night wouldn’t be worth it. With so little time and no leads on the other camp, risking my life isn’t worth it. And, come daytime, if I’m spotted outside of the woods, then Prodson will just change their position and strategy, wasting most of my scouting efforts…*

Almost chuckling aloud, Oli mentally joked, *What do you think, Eeole? Where should I look?*

….. No response.

Oli didn’t expect a response. But Oli had hoped to get one anyway.

The last couple hours of nightfall were spent getting back into the wooded hills. Oli wanted to be under the shade of the woods before dawn, so he put scouting to the back of his mind while safely scurrying back.

At least, that’s what Oli had planned. Until Oli spotted a Prodson scout seemingly on his way back to camp.