After one more bout of shouting, the warrior pulls the pelt over its shoulder and departs. An incredibly quiet rustling signifies the archer leaving as well. I sigh in relief once I can’t hear the stomping anymore. I need to get out of here. This place is clearly incredibly dangerous, and I can’t even use that to level up because I have no chance of beating any of these creatures!

  Before I leave, though, I should finish refilling my energy. And there looks to be just enough meat left on this bear for that. Perfect! I crawl out of the bush, then rush to the bear’s corpse. I wonder what this’ll taste like? My mouth waters as I lean down to take a bite.

  The moment the meat touches my tongue, the flavor suffusing it bursts out.. This tastes amazing! The meat is rich and succulent, a combination of salty and sweet that makes me yearn for more. I quickly chew and swallow the delectable chunk before leaning down and taking another bite.

  As I continue to eat, I can distantly feel all traces of exhaustion fade away. My body feels like it’s being restored to pristine condition, with more energy now coursing through my body than ever before.

  And yet, despite all of this, I barely even notice through the euphoria of eating such a delicious meal. I can’t appreciate it when eating like a starving animal having finally found food. In spite of knowing that, I don’t even attempt to stop. After all, stopping would mean the torrent of flavor would end.

  But when my stomach feels like it can hold no more, I’m finally forced to stop. I’ve eaten so much, I feel like I’m going to explode! But it’s so good, maybe just one more bite? When I look back at where the bear used to be, nothing remains.. Oh… Now that there is no more to eat, I’m finally able to control myself and fully appreciate how rejuvenated I feel.

  That was an incredibly useful meal, although I do wonder why that duo left meat like this behind? Surely they’re not so powerful that this is worthless to them? While pondering this, I walk back to the bush, moving to a safer position to digest the massive lunch I just had, or at least enough so that I don’t feel like I’m on the edge of bursting.

  Something pushing at the edge of my mind catches my attention, distracting me from what I had been focusing on just a moment earlier. Oh? Do I have some system notifications? I walk back to the bush while quickly letting it in.

  1 skill level gained. Advanced [Passive - Heightened Danger Sense] to level 4.

  1 skill level gained. Advanced [Flora Camouflage] to level 3.

  A level for Heightened Danger Sense, and Flora Camouflage too, nice! I guess I have been using the two a lot, so it makes sense that an especially dangerous encounter would level them up. I wonder how different they’ll be, how much more powerful? Will Heightened Danger Sense give me a warning even earlier? Will Flora Camouflage cost less? Or maybe it won’t really improve right now, but is building up to something that I’ll see later?

  I let out a slightly frustrated sigh. If only I had something that could answer my questions. For the moment I let the thought go, focusing on something a bit more important. It was pretty quick, but I think I’m ready to go, so it’s probably about time to get out of here. Looking up, I orient myself in the direction of the mountain and begin to walk, purposefully moving away from the old clearing.

  As I begin to move, I continue down my previous line of thought. How does the Status even determine what level things should be? I mean, clearly it has to do with how powerful that thing is, but what’s the exact difference? What differentiates a Level 2 deer and a Level 10 deer? Is the Level 10 one just physically stronger? And how do deer and those kinds of animals even level up?

  My thoughts shift in direction as that line makes me reconsider. Is there any way to level up besides killing? I don’t think those animals are killing enough creatures to get to levels like five, six, and seven, so they must be leveling up another way. But how? My question goes, frustratingly, unanswered. And again, I have no way of finding out.

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  I fume while walking back to the mountain, unhappy with the lack of answers. I hope my parents pick me up soon, they’ll probably have the answers I’m looking for. Before long, I’m entering another clearing. It bears a resemblance to the previous one, with red cliffs leading up to the mountain and a line of trees. Right as I take the first step in, though, I freeze. Sitting in the halfway point between the trees and the cliffs is some kind of monster. An abomination.

  It’s a fox, like the one I killed right before evolving, but different in that it is orange. That’s not what makes it so terrifying, though. That award goes to the bones sprouting from all of its joints, and the large root-like antlers sprouting from its head. Its jagged claws certainly don’t help either. A closer examination of those latter two features shows that these too are made of bones, making the whole thing look even more monstrous. Adding to that is the skin, hanging loosely on its bones, with a pelt that looks malnourished and is practically falling apart. Worst of all, though, are its eyes. Dead, empty eyes with not even a speck of life behind them.

  What is that thing? Some kind of monster? Well, it doesn’t seem to be breathing, so maybe it isn’t even alive? I’m just gonna destroy it either way, this thing is just too creepy to let stay. I activate Plant Control, aiming to take control of a root beneath the fox, but there’s nothing large enough to do any damage. Luckily, there’s a sufficiently sized root decently closeby, which I manipulate to begin coiling it up. That’s when the thing begins to move, giving me a bit of a scare.

  The creature’s first action is to look straight at where I’m winding up the root. Can it see what I’m doing? I launch the root preemptively, unnerved and a bit frightened. It sails through the air, straight towards the fox’s head. However, just before the root burrows into its skull, the fox dodges. It was able to dodge?! This is bad, I need to kill this thing now! If it knows what I’m controlling and where it is, then that’s one of my two most powerful weapons gone. I can probably still set up an ambush, though, since it’s unlikely that I’ve been seen yet. As if to dissuade me from such a thought, the fox turns its head to look straight at me. Never mind! I quickly remember how to use Slash, and wait for the fox to approach.

  It slowly pads towards me, but that is the only movement it shows. It’s still not breathing, it doesn’t blink, and not a single muscle besides the ones actively required to walk twitches. Does it not need to breathe? No, that’s unimportant right now, I have to kill this thing! I clumsily toss the Slash towards the fox, before quickly charging another one in my other hand. The fox dodges to the left, and I release the second Slash, catching it right as it lands. The Slash tears through the loose flesh of the fox, halting its movement. The sound of bones cracking is audible, even as far away as I am.

  However, despite the fact that it now has massive cuts raking across it, and at least one broken bone, the fox doesn’t flinch, or even let out a droplet of blood. What?! What is this thing?! I charge up two more Slashes, one in each paw. I can feel the skills starting to take their toll on my energy, but I quickly discard the thought. I’m not going to stop until this thing is dead! I send out another Slash towards the fox, and it dodges to the right. Once again, another Slash launches from my claws the moment before the fox touches the ground. This time it’s prepared, however, and that makes all the difference.

  The fox contorts in an unnatural way, and all three waves of light pass by its body. One of them comes so close that it seems like some of its fur might have been shaved off. What?! What is this thing doing?! Ok, there’s no way that this monster is alive. No living creature contorts like that without even a single indicator of being in pain. That’s just not possible. I have to refocus on the fight quickly to make sure this monstrosity doesn’t get any ideas.

  The only way I’m going to hit this thing is if I’m way closer. The fox, probably seeing that I’m not attacking it at range anymore, advances towards me as I move towards it, beginning to prepare for a risky idea. We grow closer to one another until suddenly, it leaps at me. Through the forewarning of Heightened Danger Sense, I know to jump to the side, but the creature makes another unnatural contortion and claws at my tail. The claws leave deep gouges in my scales but thankfully don’t draw blood. I turn around and retaliate with a Slash, aimed straight at the fox’s head.

  This time, since the fox is so close, it can’t dodge or contort out of the way. The Slash lands and goes right through into the creature’s skull. The creature falls limp on the ground, and I wait for the notification. It never comes. Isn’t this thing dead now? I carefully watch the creature, looking for any signs that it’s, in fact, not dead. Only after careful examination do I notice the twitching. The creature’s limbs are twitching.

  It’s not dead! Ok, there’s no way I can kill this thing. It doesn’t bleed, barely seems hampered by wounds, and even after its skull is smashed and its brain is gouged out, it’s still alive! I definitely need to get away from this thing. This is a bit suboptimal, but the only way I can be sure to be safe is to fly out of here. Hopefully I can find a place to rest tonight. I move away from the creature quickly, open my wings, and start flapping them powerfully. Semi-gracefully, I begin to rise into the sky.