3. Making a Home
'I killed a mouse... I hunted something...' Zion slowly released his jaw from the head of the mouse and moved back, sitting on his haunches as he looked at the floating screens in front of him.
'I now have 30/100 EXP to level up... hey system, what happens when I level up?' He licked his mouth subconsciously, licking away the blood on his mouth as the system answered him
[[Every level up earns the host 2 points to each stat. Also, when the host reaches certain levels, they gain the ability to evolve into a higher rank fox beast.]]
'Higher rank fox beast... Do you mean I'll get stronger?' He asked, tilting his head.
[[Yes but you must meet all criteria for the chosen evolution to succeed.]]
'That answers my next question: can I choose the evolution.' He chuckled softly, then looked down at the mouse and sighed softly, 'Alright, let's get this over with... just imagine you're eating a burger...' He mentally readied himself, then bit down into the side of the mouse before tearing part of its flesh out and swallowing it.
He was surprised when, instead of disgust, all he felt was that the meat of the mouse tasted pretty good, but then he rationalized, 'Of course, it's going to taste fine. I'm a fox now; my fox body will find it tasty even if my human mind is still bothered by it.' He started munching on the mouse, now keeping his eyes open since he knew he had to get used to it anyway.
Within a few minutes, he finished off the mouse, only leaving its bones behind. He stood up then looked at his now bloodied fur, 'The blood red is a big contrast on my white fur... better find a stream or something to clean.' He started walking randomly, keeping his ears up and listening.
After walking for about 20 minutes, he found a stream trickling along gently, and once again, he waited to make sure nothing would approach the stream before walking over to it.
The stream was pretty small, and it was only high enough to go halfway up his legs. He lay in the water to wash off the blood, watching it mingle into the water in silence for a bit. Once he was completely clean, he then walked out of the stream and found a sunny rock to lay on, sunbathing his fur to dry off.
'So much has happened in the last 3 hours. I died skydiving. I became a fox in a weird world that I'm assuming is filled with magic, considering that mouse was not normal. And now I've gotta try to survive as a lone fox with a human mind.' He couldn't help letting out a sigh.
'Whatever. It's too late to think about it now. What has happened can't be changed. From now on, I am a fox named Zion. And I'm going to survive!' He nodded to himself with a determined look on his face.
'System, what are the requirements for the first evolution?' He asked.
[[Level 5 required to access first evolution choices.]]
He nodded, 'That makes sense. People and beasts probably get stronger the more they fight. I guess one main thing I should probably do... is find a home. Foxes dig their homes usually.' Having finally dried his fur, he stood up, shook himself off, and began looking for a good spot for a home.
As he explored around near the stream, wanting to stay close to a source of water, he found a huge tree that had very thick roots. He looked around it and clawed at the roots momentarily before nodding his head.
'These roots will act as a barrier. It will help prevent people from getting into my burrow. Until I can care for myself better, a burrow is safer.'
After confirming the location is only about a 25-minute walk from the stream, he began to dig under the tree, around the roots, working on his first home in this world.
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It took Zion 3 hours to dig out an underground burrow he felt comfortable with. His fox instincts helped out quite a bit with the creation of the burrow, but in the end, he did create it.
He lay in his sleeping zone and let out a tired sigh, 'That was so much work. I guess having a small fox body does make some things difficult.' He closed his eyes, wanting to have a nap when his stomach growled. He opened his eyes again, and a strange glint crossed his lilac eyes, 'Of course, after all that work I should be hungry. Hmm... I'll probably need to hunt a couple things this time. Maybe enough to level up.'
He stood up and stretched, yawning wide before heading to the burrow entrance. He paused and sniffed the air then peeked out, using his sight and hearing to check around him.
Once he was sure it was clear, he nodded and climbed out. Then he ran into the forest, listening and sniffing as he tried to hunt something. He eventually found another one of the Thorn-Tail Mice and although it had better defence due to being a little bigger, he still beat it after a short while.
[[Thorn-Tailed Mouse (E) killed. 10 EXP gained.]]
As he sat and ate the mouse he heard a sound causing him to turn and paused as he spotted a lizard approaching him, hissing at him. It was around 70 cm long including the tail, it's scales were a dark brown, it had a square shaped head and narrow yellow eyes which stared at him, it's mouth slightly open to show off the teeth in its mouth.
Zion and the lizard just stared at eachother, 'Oh... can I even eat a lizard?'