Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

Aiko fell closer and closer and closer above their hands. Feeling confident on what the answer was, they were ready to intercept this vixen and slap the card at any moment. Once she was just above the card, they slapped it, but stiffened soon after.

She slapped their hands with her tail, propelling her in a unnatural direction. She face-planted on the correct card, but because of her momentum, it slid with her towards Char.

Char looked at her stupidly as she was holding her nose, which was slightly crooked from the impact.

-10HP

She scoffed at the notification, luckily she had 18HP, but she would have to be more careful. Her Max HP was 80, but since newbie protection was disabled, she had to slowly regenerate it with her [Health Recovery]. That would take a few days...

Buddy laughed, seeing his friend’s expression like he was eating a bitter medicine. He knew Char ordered his sons to do that and he didn't step in. Buddy knew that dignity was important for rulers, but that little one ruthlessly smacked his face several times just for a bit of meat.

He gave her the rest of the meat and Aiko was confused. The voice resonated in her mind. ("It's best to leave it here. My friend will need some time to recover.") He chuckled.

Aiko nodded and ate happily.

[Level: 20 (1st Evolution)]
[You can Evolve into a [Common] Animal]

Aiko narrowed his eyes. It said Animal, that meant he wouldn't be able to advance further in the Beast Ranks, but then.

[Levelling up further will allow you to Evolve into an [Uncommon] Animal/Beast.]

Beast! It might not be some super cool beast, but he was able to Evolve into a Beast! That was the critical part.

He ate happily as his Levels increased, but for some odd reason, his meat didn't lessen?

Aiko looked around puzzled, but those beasts avoided her gaze. She didn't understand why... little did she know that her 'Beauty' already reached 210, which was a lot and that was also the reason her meat was never running out...

[Level: 34 (1st Evolution)]

Aiko didn't get any notification on [Uncommon] Evolution, it seemed like he would need more meat to do that, but...

His whole body was one big balloon as he ate too much meat. It was funny because he ate so much that he had a hard time moving.

*Burp*

He felt too full and wanted to find a place to hide in, but...

Aiko was picked up by Char's daughter with sparkly eyes. She returned to her seat with the plate, nestling Aiko on her lap and enjoying her creamy fur.

Aiko was paralysed and couldn't move, but soon he dozed off into blissful sleep...

...

The maid glared at Char's daughter, pouting. She wanted to nestle this cute little fox! Char shook his head as he noticed the small 'battle' between the maid and his daughter, but neither made any moves, lest they would wake her up.

...

Aiko woke up again, but before she could even stretch, she smelled delicious meat and immediately bit it. The meat was strange, a bit hard... too hard for her liking.

She opened her eyes only to freeze. In her mouth was a scaly hand. She didn't quite know which or whose hand that was, but she knew that either way, it was not good.

Her ears lay flat and she pretended to sleep again.

"Aren't you hungry?" The maid teased. "There is food here." Her eyes twinkled when she saw the little Fox’s ears twitch.

"Ah, maybe I should give it to the bro-" Before she could complete the sentence, Aiko lunged at the meat, but missed, biting the plate and hanging in the air.

The maid was momentarily stunned and she pinched her nose. It felt like she had a nosebleed, but that was definitely only Aiko’s imagination...

She carefully placed her down and she ate to her heart's content again.

[Level: 40 (1st Evolution)]
[You can Evolve into an [Uncommon] Animal/Beast]

Aiko’s eyes twinkled.

[Levelling up further will allow you to Evolve into a [Rare] Beast.]

Beast! He can be a Beast! He didn't quite know how good that was, but it was absolutely better than being a simple Animal! Aiko will become powerful!

Aiko grinned while eating some more, this time he was able to eat much more, but even after reaching Level 50 it didn't notify him. It might be increments of 20 in which case he would need to wait for 60. His meat didn't decrease, so there was no need for him to leave this place.

[Level: 60]
[You can Evolve into a [Rare] Beast]
[Levelling up further will allow you to Evolve into an [Epic] Beast.]

He was happy but pressed on...

[Level: 65]
[Level: 73]
[Level: 80]
[You can Evolve into an [Epic] Beast]
[Levelling up further will allow you to Evolve into a [Unique] Beast.]

Unique! He was quite disappointed that he couldn't Evolve into a higher Beast Rank than Beast, but he would be really powerful if he Evolved at the Unique threshold!

Just then, Char came. "Feed her a bit more and then return her to the forest."

"But Dad!" She whined.

"You can't keep her! We both know that Foxes don't appreciate others sheltering their young! This should be enough to help her survive the coming days!" He reprimanded her.

She hung her head low, while feeding Aiko.

"That doesn't mean you can't find her later." Char shook his head, he had a soft spot for his daughter. "But don't bring her anything! If the Foxes know, there will be problems!" He warned her in a stern voice.

"Okay!" She was fine with just seeing her once in a while, since she was curious about what the fox would become.

Aiko felt threatened by their words and munched like crazy on her meal. At the edge of her eyes, she could see her Levels increase one by one.

She already wanted to take Aiko out, since she got permission from her father, but she couldn't bring herself to, seeing her munch so much.

Her father shook his head and said. "You can escort her out once she finishes." He laughed, leaving his daughter's place.

...

[Level: 100 (1st Evolution)]
[You can Evolve into a [Unique] Beast]
[Levelling up further will allow you to Evolve into a [####] Beast.]

Another thing he was not allowed to see, but that was fine, he intended to settle for a Unique Rarity Beast and leave the rest for later. He also had a shit ton of Stat Points and Skill Points, but since the lizard's daughter was already carrying him outside, it would be unwise to browse his shop, but he really, really wanted to...

Aiko was very pleased with his stats.

She escorted her deep into the Forest and placed her down, petting her one last time.

She then disappeared without Aiko being able to thank her, but realising she couldn't speak, she didn't dwell too much on it.

Aiko looked around. It was peaceful, yet eerily quiet. He wasn't aware of the fact that she scared all the animals away and he would have a few hours or maybe even dozens of hours before the Beasts would return into this part of the forest.

Aiko swiftly pulled up his [Skill Shop]. She wasn't all that good at finding nice Dens, so she hoped to find something in the shop that could help her...

Unfortunately, she didn't or it might've been too expensive for her... which was surprising since she had 150 Skill Points.

Aiko didn't dwell on it too much and resumed his walking, looking for his Den, but then it clicked for him. He already had [Dig]. It wouldn't be impossible for him to create himself a Den.

While he didn't want to live inside the ground, he realized that it would also possibly be the safest way for him to survive. As such, instead of looking for an abandoned Den or hole, he was now looking for a pleasant meadow or something really nice and somewhat close to the river, so that if he needed, he would be able to drink water.

Aiko scouted around, finding a few holes or places, but they were still a bit warm, so he didn't want to push his luck. It guided him towards a nearby river, where he found a small hole on the side of the tiniest ravine, but that was good enough for him.

Aiko activated [Dig] and he had a very easy time playing bulldozer. He didn't notice that he blocked a part of the river until his paws were soaking wet.

'Well damn... I will have to dig upwards now if I want to stay dry and safe. But that would also mean that the Den would be destroyed with me suffocating inside if a heavier Beast were to tread by...'

He sighed, but still dug upwards. The water filled the lower parts of the Den, due to the river being too close.

Aiko was slowly losing the ability to see, so he purchased [Dark Vision]. He naturally had [Night Vision] even if the System didn't show him, but here it was pitch black and it wouldn't be a terrible idea if he enhanced his night seeing capabilities.

It costed him a whopping 50 points, but it was worth it for him, as he was now able to see in complete darkness.

He was able to see. There were a lot of tree roots, it seems that he was unintentionally digging straight below a tree, which would shield him from being buried alive. This was good news, so he continued to dig all around until...

[Dig: Mastered]

His digging was [Mastered], because he was digging in difficult terrain. There was no notification about what to do next with Mastered skills, but-

[If you Master your skills, you will be able to either Upgrade or Combine Skills.]

There it was, the quiet system was speaking yet again. This time it was very helpful for him and made sure that he would be able to make use of his [Mastered] Skills, but he decided to leave it for later.

...

Aiko finally finished. The Den was quite cold, which slightly disheartened her, but it was better than living above ground where predators could ambush her.

She sat down, relaxed and looked at her status once again.

Aiko had plenty of Skill Points, so she clicked on her mastered [Dig] Skill.

[Upgrade Tree]
[Dig: Mastered]

into

[Burrow]
[Allows the user to Burrow into the ground within moments. Great Stamina usage]

[Enhanced Dig]
[Increases Digging capabilities, while overall decreasing Stamina usage]

[Passive Dig]
[Increases Passive Digging capabilities at the cost of decreasing passive Stamina Regeneration. Works only with limbs that can dig!]

'Whoa, so many options! Here I thought that I would just spend some Skill Points to make it better, but you can even decide which way you want to improve!'

She giggled, thinking about what she should pick. She wasn't as much of a Digger if you ignore the fact that she just dug her burrow.

Aiko won't be using it for a long time, so it wouldn't be wise to get [Enhanced Dig]. That leaves him with [Burrow] and [Passive Dig].

Aiko was thinking long and hard about the [Burrow], since if she was in danger, she could just burrow herself into the ground and wait for her enemy to pass.

Or just keep digging and emerge somewhere further away from her enemy, completely losing them.