Like when he was sent from the growing stables to the training stables, they put him into a wooden box and charged him in a chariot. It was not the most comfortable, but he really didn't have a choice, the day of market the guard were particularly aware.

  He waited patiently, feeling his plan coming to fruition. These long years of waiting were finally coming to an end, and he will see the little girl again!

  He hears the voice of different man outside the box, and some cry from birds. Those were the sound of the white birds he saw a lot around the river next to the training ground.

  The box moved and shakes a bit, as he was brought out of the chariot and inside a room. There was a smell around, weird, nothing like that of the market. But he did smell something similar, in the kitchen with the little girl. What was it? Probably not important for now, probably the merchant making lunch.

  He heard some wood noise, cracking and all. And then some feeling of movement that made him a little bit sick. What is happening outside ? Did something hit his box ?

  After what felt like hours, maybe more, he slept a bit. He was starting to get a bit annoyed and a tiny little bit worried. So he did what any stressed horse do: kicking the box. After a few minutes a man went down shooting for him to shut up, or he would taste the whip.

  So Doggy stopped kicking, and the man went back. He didn't need kicking anymore, he broke a few planks of his box and was able to look outside.

  He was in some sort of wood building, and the smell was worse. Outside, he saw a rat running around. With a bit of analysis, he was able to see it was level 6! 3 more level than Doggy, impressive rat. And it was not stuck in a box him.

  That made him think, maybe he could pretend to be a rat?

  He looked at the rat and start focusing, trying to imitate the noise, and posture of the little beast. Lowering his head to appear smaller. The rat stop his movement and rise up on his hinge leg to look at Doggy.

  He's trying his hardest, pushing all his will and thought in it, to become a rat, to be free to run around, to be capable of going anywhere and be in a house with humans.

  Your Pretender class level increase to 5

  Your pretend class level increase to 6

  Your Pretend skill increase to level 10*

  He could feel his outline shift and change, he was still Doggy, a horse, but to the rest of the world, he was now a rat.

  "What are you doing inside the box, friend ? It's for the horsey. You need to get out of here before getting stomp." The rate address Doggy, and he understood!

  Probably because of the new ability :

  He's hesitating a bit, the horse is still too big to get inside the hole. But also, if he has to follow the laws of Man and Nature, how will he be able to escape and find the little girl.

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  So he squeezes, and to any observer, it is not strange, as he is just a simple rat trying to get out. If the observer was able to pierce the still basic effect of Pretend, he would see reality shift around the horse, as the box and the hole in it aren't able to correctly identify that it is a big horse and not a small rat that try to get out.

  Doggy sneak around with the rats, go steal some grain in a bag, and finally go take a look-up the stair.

  And what he found was shocking : He was on a wooden plank in the middle of the water ! Men were moving around, they were pulling on ropes that were attached to big squares of clothing !

  Doggy was shaken by that view, what happened to the city ? Did the river flood? He can only see a bit farther away a chunk of grass and weird tree.

  A man on a roof a bit higher up looked down at Doggy, and he felt his attributes diminish, the pretender attributes getting affected by the disbelief of the man. With analyzing, doggy noticed the man was a 'Sailor /Captain of ship'. Oh! That must be it, they are on a ship ! The little girl talked about ships, these bad men were on then stealing things, and then princess would go and stop them!

  Doggy didn't have a princess for now, and he was almost certain that he was being stolen by theses strange 'Sailor'.

  "Hoy ! What is that horse doing on the deck !"

  The men turned around like they were noticing Doggy for the first time, they probably were. Doggy got a bit of hesitation, get back in the box, and the men would watch him with more attention, or start running.

  He didn't really know where he is, or where he's supposed to go if he runs. But as he looks around, he notices something, that 'Boat' thing is moving really fast ! The chunk of grass is starting to get out of view already !

  With panic pushing him, he decided to improvise, and with a fast movement, jumped outside the boat directly into the water.

  The water is strangely warm, way more than what he is used to, but he doesn't really have time to understand why as the water try to catch him. He starts to move around, getting his head out of the water, his legs moving like a frantic gallop.

  And then he notices a creature, she got small flat arms, s shiny body, and a weird face, but she is able to move under the water like it is nothing.

  In desperation, Doggy focus on the creature, analyzing it as a 'Salmon level 1', and trying his hardest to convince the water that he is a Salmon also and to let him alone.

  He focuses his will toward that goal, he can see that the creature is calm, so he tries to calm himself, breathing calmly. The water under his throat and he feels like he's dying, but he keeps pretending it doesn't inconvenience him, so that the water gets bored and let him live.

  And then the water cease to drown him, and he gets a slight control over his movement.

  OK, he is now free, and the boat seems to have disappeared into the distance. Now to find his way home.