In two or three minutes, Martin managed to spot the caravan, a procession moving through a forest of tall green trees.
He realized his new claws were excellent for climbing, allowing him to leap between trees and maintain his balance, which significantly increased his speed.
He followed the caravan, talking to himself as he formulated a plan. He found it was the best way to strategize.
"There are exactly three carriages," he noted. "And about ten men." He also observed that three of the men were dressed differently.
They wore simple, long blue robes with a blue-feathered monkey insignia on their shoulders. Martin didn't know what the symbol meant yet.
"I need to create a distraction and draw their attention elsewhere," he thought.
"That will create an opening for me to isolate and take out the people who leave the group."
His goal wasn't to kill the shapeshifters; it was to eliminate the weaker, unprotected humans. He noticed a few peasants, dressed in shabby clothes, scattered behind the main caravan.
Their worn clothes and isolated positions suggested they were poor and outcasts.
This didn't faze Martin; he had seen such class divisions in his old world.
He continued watching for a few more minutes.
The bright sunlight made it difficult to hide, and he couldn't wait until nightfall. After another moment of thought, he decided on his first move.
"I'll start cutting down trees around them with my claws. This will get their attention and create psychological pressure."
He was cautious, though.
He trusted his abilities, but he didn't want to be overconfident.
He had seen "detect the environment" abilities in the Paradigna Market, and he worried that a shapeshifter might have a similar ability and easily find him if he made too much noise.
The caravan continued its advance.
Martin targeted a tree sixty meters tall and thirty meters away.
He effortlessly cut through the trunk with his claws, and the tree fell with a loud crash that startled the caravan.
A middle-aged blonde man leading the group's vanguard looked to his right and spoke to a young man.
"Hey, I don't remember any wild creatures around here. Why did that tree suddenly fall?" Just as he finished speaking, another tree came crashing down.
Though the shapeshifters in the caravan were confident, they were unnerved by the unknown.
The blonde man, an experienced shapeshifter leader, quickly realized they were facing a clever enemy and began to rally his soldiers around the carriages.
Martin, watching from a distance, saw many people—those who looked like soldiers and wore nice clothes—gather around the carriages.
This confirmed something for him: this wasn't a normal trade caravan.
"There are valuable people in this caravan, not valuable things!" he realized. In a typical caravan, soldiers would spread out to guard against an attack, but here, they were clustering together to protect what was inside the carriages.
Then the blonde man yelled,
"We are men of the 'Shapeshifters of the Golden Warrior,' and there are also people from the 'Blue King Monkey' here! Whoever you are, you don't want to mess with us! Go your own way!"
After his defiant shout, the man returned to the carriages, but his eyes continued to scan the area. Martin, an ex-serial killer, was an expert at noticing such details.
He also saw a group of peasants gathered behind the caravan, all looking like weaklings.
He knew he could kill them in five seconds, but his instincts told him things wouldn't be as simple as they looked.