The Dawn of the New World

"I wonder what kind of a person he is that so many people are looking for him. First it was Eurig's great savior and then the old woman. Oh right, she said others would also be looking for him but I guess I don't have to worry about that for now."

Claudia had her instructions so she wanted to get to them as quickly as possible.

She made her way out of the house and followed the road until it came to an intersection. Behind her a little to the left was the city gate but since she hadn't been here before she didn't know where to go.

And the looks she was getting from the few demihumans still walking about didn't help either. Some of them were even whispering to one another debating whether or not to inform a city guard and who could blame them.

She stood out like a sore thumb in her current attire, not to mention her looks.

She circled around a few buildings and entered an empty alley before summoning the book again.

"I need help. First I need to hide my appearance and turn into one of the city dwellers and second, I need a way to move about or see things that are happening in other places," she said to it but obviously, there was no response.

Her brow scrunched up, "Hey, I know you can hear me. The old woman informed me that you HAVE to help me. Do you really want me to tell her otherwise? It's all for the 'mission', remember that."

She waited a few seconds and with no small amount of hesitancy the book slowly opened up.

It flipped about a dozen pages or so and stopped at an already full page. Unlike before Claudia didn't need to 'pay' the price to get access to the spells this time.

And as requested there were two of them.

[Malleable Appearance: Temporarily change appearance to another humanoid. Can be seen through by more powerful spells and magic detection sensors.]

[Dark Servent: Summon help from beyond the veil for a limited time and watch through their eyes]

Without wasting any more time she vocalized the first spell. Her actual appearance didn't change but she felt like there was an extra coat of something invisible over her body. It was a little constricting as if she was wearing a full-body suit of some kind.

She looked around for something to check her appearance in but all she could find was a small puddle of muddy water. Still it was enough to show what she looked like now, which was a completely ordinary demihuman female with rabbit ears.

"Hmm...not bad."

It was quick and harmless but did consume small amounts of mana every few minutes to maintain the spell.

Then came the second spell. It was much longer and a lot more complicated so it took her several tries to get it right but when she did it left her speechless for a moment.

The book trembled and shook in her hand as its pages cracked before slowly parted from the middle to 'give birth' to almost half a dozen small creatures in quick succession. They held the appearance of ordinary swallows with a couple of key differences.

One, they were a little smaller but a lot more plump as if forcefully stuffed by someone.

And second, there was a dark aura around them that hid their existence from everyone other than the summoner. Only their bright red eyes could be seen momentarily and that was if the person was looking directly at them.

"Um...go, show me what's around here," he gave the command and they flew off immediately in different directions.

Claudia closed her eyes and focused on the creatures which she could clearly feel as if they were still right next to her. It was actually much simpler than she expected and a lot of information about their interaction was magically implanted in her brain.

Not only could she switch between each of the six birds at will but there were also 2-3 different kinds of 'filters' she could use for each one of them.

The first one was the normal one and showed things as other humans would see them.

The second one showed spiritual energy and mana against an otherwise pitch-black background. Each kind of energy held a different color and feel to it so it was relatively easy to distinguish between them. It only took her one look to find the location of the magic circle Eurig was talking about.

It was within an ordinary single-story house and was channeling copious amounts of spiritual energy in five different directions, all of which led to different sides of the city.

The third and final filter categorized different types of lifeforms. Humans were all the same color which was grey, demihumans were a little different but still grey although their extra features were much brighter.

The recently transformed demon friends of hers were a mix of different colors but mostly a mix of dark green and red.

She switched between each one as the birds flew around the city.

"This is amazing! I can see everything and everyone! Even Eurig that disgusting mongrel can't hide from me haha- hmm? What's that?"