Chapter 3 – Water and Escape
Night had come, and everything quietened down. There were no more birds chirping, only some annoying bugs screaming in the night.
He waited patiently, being parched it was difficult for him to focus, but he was too worried that he would be hunted the moment he approached that river.
He was right. Soon carnivorous animals walked out of the bushes and went drinking the river water. He felt a chill down his spine when he saw how many of them there were. It was a whole pack of Wolves sipping on the moving water.
He waited inside his bush, breathing as quietly as possible. Soon he heard a rumble and the earth shook. Again and Again.
He was startled and looked around only to find a sleuth of bears. There were only a few large bears, but many small cubs trodding along the rocky path.
Their eyes met and the wolves growled towards the bears and the bears low growled at them back.
Both groups stopped and tried to intimidate each other, neither of them backing out. The wolves got more aggressive as they howled and barked while snapping their mouths at the bears. Bears thumped and slapped their paws on the ground huffing at them.
Finally, one of the wolves couldn't take it and dashed towards the bear. The bear scoffed at the wolf and slammed his paw into him, almost killing him instantly. The injured wolf whined, but couldn't move. The bear howled at the wolves and they finally ran away with their tails between their legs.
Satisfied, the mama bear guided their young towards the river to let them drink. She was alert in case the wolves returned. It took a good 2 hours for them to leave this place because her young loved to play inside the water and hunt for moving fish.
The forest quietened down again. He waited if something/someone would try to approach the river. His ears didn't pick up anything for a while.
He approached the river to have a drink. The water hurt his throat since his throat was too dry and sandy. He ignored that feeling gulping down the water awkwardly as he couldn't just take a cup and drink it, it was also impossible for him to slurp it, so the only thing he could think of was to burrow his whole head into the water and 'suck' the water.
It was a mild success as he was choking quite a lot when it went inside the wrong pipe, but eventually, he got the hang of it and sated his thirst. He could feel eyes on him, but since he didn't know from where and who he didn't know what to make of them. Should he treat every gaze as hostile? Or should he wait until they make some kind of move? But what if they are faster than he is and he is just a sitting duck?
He didn't know the answers to these questions so he sneaked around towards the still not dead wolf. He lowered himself to approach the wolf, the wolf growled at him, but as it was too injured and couldn't move he just tried to scare Aiko away. That didn't discourage him and he stared at his prey. He needed to eat, but considering how dangerous the bounties of the forest were... He couldn't risk getting poisoned again, it would be much safer if he ate this wolf's meat.
He was careful with his approach, the wolf was snapping at him, trying to scare him or bite him to death. He started timing the wolf's snaps and jumped at his throat to kill him. Unfortunately, as he was a weak little Fox Cub he was unable to kill him or mortally wound him. This scared him and he jumped away quickly as the wolf's sharp teeth approached his spine.
-1HP
He was injured again and back to 1HP... again. He was upset at the wolf, but since he was weak and injured he couldn't do much about it. He found a place nearby between the rocks that could barely fit him and he just stared at the wolf without blinking.
This attitude pissed off the wolf and he had a stupor of low howling and growling towards him. He ignored it and waited for the wolf to breathe his last breath, which took several hours...
[Congratulations on your first kill!]
He was... shocked? He couldn't understand how this would be considered killing someone.
[If killing could be done only with strength and power, then most snakes and other venomous creatures wouldn't be able to survive in this plane]
The system replied flatly like talking to an idiot.
This greatly upset him, since this was the first time he had some kind of system and he was not the greatest when it came to the animal kingdom...
[You have gained a Level.]
[You have gained a Level.]
[You have gained a Level.]
...
The system resumed its rewards and bestowed everything upon him.
[You have demonstrated courageous feat above your possibilities!]
[System has rewarded you with Title: [Courageous]]
[Would you like to acquire [Courageous]?]
He naturally said yes after checking the effects.
[You have Acquired [Courageous]!]
[Title: Courageous]
[Gives the User flat 1 Vitality, Strength, Agility and 1 Vitality, Strength and Agility per level.]
[####]
[You have gained access to [Skill Shop]]