I jacked up my skill level and I don't remeber any messages telling me a goblin of slug or bat was near.

Hit F9 on the keyboard to use the Track skill.

Though be warned that it's not widely used by most players and is generally considered a wasted skill. You are generally much better putting skill points into one of the following:
* a single weapon skill (I recommend Sword)
* Attack / Defense
* Casting
* Mana
* Lore

Also a small amount (maybe 5-10) of these skills is useful to have:
* Search
* Acrobat
* Swimming

The rest of the skills are mostly garbage unfortunately. It's still an amazing game though.

Thanks

nowhere in the manual does it mention the hotkeys.

I knew F10 was used to go to sleep but I always use a sleeping bag.

Any other keyboard keys I should know about? Besides the all important shift-J

I agree about your skills selection.

But next time in UW2 I'm trying a pure fighter (no magic)

so I'm gonna need Repair and Picklock, too.

Who is the better Picklock trainer between Julia and Fissif?

For UU1, you'll need a weapon skill (except missile) (sword is probably the best choice), Attack, and Defense. Mana, Casting, and Lore are all exceptionally useful, though not needed. A few points (like 2-3) in Acrobat and Swimming are handy. Everything else is less useful and/or highly situational (Picklock and Repair are two of the better choices from the remainder), and after getting all of the above you probably don't have many skill increases left to spend on them.

Insert, Page Up, Page Down, Home, End, and Delete are all useful. Three of them adjust whether you're looking up, down, or straight, while the other three can help adjust your elevation while flying. I can't remember which ones do which, so you'll have to experiment.

I did some basic googling, and as far as I can see there is no difference in their teaching ability. That makes Julia the better trainer since you don't have to pay her.