After having his fun trying out his new skill with a few different forms Leo reverted to his original form
'Hmm, what should I do now. Following the river might be a good idea, human villages and cities are usually built next to rivers so I have a good chance of finding one if I follow it. It's been so long since I last saw a human'
Leo began treading along the river with a carefree attitude, just enjoying the landscape for the first time since he got to this world. The water flowed with a gentle murmur, reflecting the dim, ethereal light of the jungle's glowing flora. Strange, iridescent fish occasionally broke the surface, and the air was filled with the sweet scent of exotic flowers. He drifted along the bank, admiring the beautiful sight before him.
As he continued his leisurely journey he noticed faint smoke rising in the distance
'That's smoke if I'm not mistaken and where there's smoke there is fire. And where there is fire there are usually humans as well. I need to go check it out'
Leo hurriedly went towards the direction of the smoke in hopes that he would finally find a humans and just as he passed through some tall bushes, there it was, a small human village.
'Finally, I actually managed to find a village'
It was nestled in a clearing, a round village comprised of small wooden houses, surrounded by a simple not very tall wall made of sharpened logs. The source of the smoke he followed was the smoke coming out of the chimneys, the source of the smoke he had followed. He observed the village for a bit. There were very few people moving around in the village, only a group of people that looked like they were hunters and two people that were guarding the entrance of the village. Everyone was wearing heavy, warm clothing.
'I didn't know it was cold since I can't feel the temperature, good to know'
Leo sat there observing for a bit and then decided to go in the village. He floated silently through the low wall, his ethereal form passing through the sharpened logs as if they were mist. It was very quiet. The hunters he'd seen were now gathered a big wooden house in the center of the village, cleaning their weapons and sharing hushed conversations. The two guards at the entrance stood vigilant, their eyes scanning the perimeter of the forest.
He drifted between the houses, his invisibility ensuring he remained completely undetected. The smell of woodsmoke and cooked food was stronger here, a comforting aroma that stirred a faint, distant memory of home. He saw simple tools leaning against walls, dried herbs hanging to cure, and animal hides stretched out to dry. It was a humble settlement, but undeniably human. The longing to reveal himself, to simply speak to another person, was a powerful ache in his spectral chest.
He moved closer to the group of hunters, curious to hear their conversation. Their language was unfamiliar so he couldn't understand what they were talking about
'Is there no way for me to figure out what they are saying?'
He thought for a bit and then a thought came to him
'Perhaps there might be a skill to learn languages in my skills shop'
Leo opened the list of skills and scrolled through it. He looked over more than 100 skills yet still couldn't find a single one that would allow him to just learn a language. He thought for a bit longer and a thought flashed in his head
'What if I were to possess someone, wouldn't I naturally get to know the language then? But, they're humans, I don't want to possess them, it's not ethical. Wait, what about a very sick person perhaps. If I possess someone who is on the brink of death then it wouldn't be such a big deal, right?'
After going about it back and forth in his mind for a bit Leo finally convinced himself to possess some very sick person that would most likely die anyway.
'Alright then, now i just need to find one'
Leo went around the village looking through the houses trying to either find the infirmary of the village, if it even had one, just a seriously sick person in their house. After around an hour, Leo had looked through almost every building in the village but without any luck, he found neither an infirmary nor anyone sick at home.
'What the hell, there's no way there isn't a single sick person in the whole village, there has to be at least one sick person. That's the only house that I haven't looked through yet, please make it so I find someone there at the very least. If I have wasted my time looking through all these houses for nothing then I don't know what I'm gonna do'
With crossed fingers behind his back Leo phased through the wall of the house and looked through it and he finally found one. In the bedroom of the house he found a young lady, probably around the same age as him laying in bed. She was covered with two thick and heavy blankets from neck to toe, she was pale and was sweating quite a bit. She was visibly skinny and malnourished, most likely from her illness and her face was pale as a sheet and it was apparent in her face that she was in pain and that she didn't have a lot of time left.
'This is the one. She looks like she will die very soon, exactly what I was looking for'
Leo then proceeded to perform a quick appraisal on her, she was level 5 and her stats were originally almost as high as his, but thanks to the illness she was considerably weakened and thus will be much easier for Leo to possess her than it would if she were to be at her peak condition
'Welp, here goes nothing, time to possess my first human i guess'
Leo hesitated for a bit but it was something he had to do if he wanted to learn anything about this civilization and interact with them in any way. There was no other way. He finally steeled himself and jumped inside the woman and so the fight for control over her body had begun.
It was much harder than he anticipated. She may have been weakened due to her illness but her soul was still fairly stronger compared to the few animals he had possessed up till now. The fight for control was fierce but after a minute or so Leo emerged victorious, he had succeeded in possessing the woman's body.
'Damn, that was much harder than I had thought it would be. I guess humans are just mentally on a different level compared to animals. It's time to do the absorbing now I suppose. God this feels wrong, i hate to do this to a fellow human'
With remorse Leo activated his skill and started absorbing the life essence of this woman.