Chapter 12: Plunge

'Level Up!', Miles happily uttered. Defeating one Goose netted him five experience points. Superior Luck triggered, granting him a bonus three, which rounded up. From there, he received two experience points from using his new Skill, Consume. He found it interesting that Superior Luck didn't trigger when Consume was used. It was likely that this skill only affected Miles during battle. He wanted to see if Superior Luck would trigger on experience earned from Missions next.

Miles had a quick glance at his current level now.

Level: 2/10 (10/20) (=8+12)

Miles earned an entire twelve experience points just by using Consume on a single Goose! And something to immediately note, the requirement to reach Level 3 was exactly double the points needed to what Level 1 required. He would need 20 points to reach Level 3. If his system followed this pattern, Level 4 will likely need 40 points of experience to level up.

Thankfully, Miles earned another ten experience points just by him enjoying his meal. He was already halfway there to Level 3 already. Miles was going back and forth as to whether he should hunt another Goose to take back with him into the wintry forest. It was literally free. The Geese didn't care about Miles taking one of their own.

Geese were really smart creatures. Either they truly didn't care, or they knew they wouldn't stand a chance against Miles, so they left one to their fate.

Apart from gaining twelve experience points and being halfway to Level 3, Miles was pleasantly surprised this single Goose replenished twenty-three points of his Stamina. Looks really can be deceiving. Geese were small creatures compared to the much larger animals lurking in the forest before him, but a Goose's entire belly was made of about 60-70% raw meat, while the rest of it was fatty muscle.

A single Goose could feed an entire household of four to eight people. And Miles was just a single fox. He wasn't one of those animals that had multiple stomachs like a cow had, he just had one. All the meat was now resting inside his stomach to get decomposed. It wasn't like a game where he could absorb it instantly.

He would definitely overeat if he tried to consume another, so Miles knew he would have to take back the second Goose if he were to hunt one now.

There was just one slight problem preventing Miles from continuing his hunt.

Shifting his eyes downward, he saw the once-feathery bird now a dead carcass before him. The stench of blood was reeking all around. It was seeping into the snow, and even splattered onto the sands beneath him. Blood was currently dripping from his mouth, still dripping fresh while he ate it fervently. While Miles ate, more of the Goose's blood splattered onto his glossy, onyx-colored fur, painting parts of it red.

Miles knew if he went into town with this feral appearance, no doubt would hunters immediately attack him on sight.

The first thing Miles wanted to do was rid his current appearance. And it wasn't just the feared hunters to the northwest. He would get met with even more fearsome foes coming from inside the forest before him. Many animals had reacted badly to the scent of blood. They would get their instincts riled. He didn't know which animals could potentially attack him since Miles hadn't explored this forest before him.

So Miles turned his gaze back toward Cold Lake.  

And then he looked back down at the destroyed Goose before him, most of its flesh was carved out by now.

It would be bad if he left this dead Goose as-is. It would definitely attract unwanted attention. And Miles didn't want to find out.

Miles recalled he obtained a new Skill just a moment ago, Burrow. With the sand now exposed, he knew what he had to do.

"Yip!", Miles exclaimed, and began to dig a hole with his paws. Miles acted very similar to how a dog would dig up sand on the beach, reaching his paws inward, and scooping sand out in one swoop.

There was one bad thing about Miles being a fox though, and that he couldn't form a fist. That meant he couldn't scoop sand out into a fist and chuck it somewhere. He had to constantly move his paws deeper and deeper, flinging sand out behind him.

[Ding! Burrow proficiency has been obtained. Burrow proficiency has been obtained. Burrow proficiency has been obtained...]

A rhythmic tune sounded off inside Miles's mind hearing notifications pop in one after another. Every so often, he would hear an additional notification that his Stamina decreased. That made perfect sense since he was currently exerting some energy he had just obtained from his feast to dig a hole big enough to dump this Goose inside. He had already dined on most of the meat inside of his body, and its bones were exposed. There were lots of shredded feathers scattered around it.

[Ding! Burrow has reached Level 2.] (A/N: Do you prefer cut text to where it's just this?)

Miles dug for enough time that his Burrow reached Level 2, which satisfied him. Miles had to shove the remainder into the hole in one go. Once the remains were inside the hole, Miles used his feet to scatter the rest of the sand, making sure to hide the reddened snow and sand together. The scent of blood in the air greatly diminished as a result, but it was still lingering around him. A lot of the blood dried up on his body thanks to the sand getting flung around.

Using his butt, Miles padded the sandy mound one last time, leaving him satisfied.

His eyes shifted upward, and saw the sun was descending into the horizons. It was late afternoon now, and he probably wouldn't have much sun anymore.

He knew he had to clean his body quickly while the sun was still up. With it being winter already, the water was definitely ice-cold, and it would become even colder once night came.

Miles activated Ice-Walk, and a little blue layer appeared beneath his paws. Until he grew more fur to cover the rest of his paws, this Skill would make do. He didn't attempt to run yet though. He only walked along the foot or two of pure ice in front of him.

Since more time had passed, he also saw the flock of Geese had shifted more northeast, closer inside the forest. They were out of reach now. All except one that is. The same one that was with the other Goose Miles killed earlier in the day. This Goose was all alone now, and its neck was nestled deep inside its feathers. Seeing the Goose unresponsive, nor shaking its neck around to try and clean its feathers, Miles knew this Goose was likely sleeping.

Miles also knew that heading into the ice-cold water would create some noise.

Knowing that he also created Observe recently, Miles decided to give Observe another spin. He was close enough to see the Goose before him. He took a moment to observe this Goose's stats, and it left him staring at it for a good moment.

[Goose - Level 3]

HP: 100/100 STR: 10 END: 6 AGI: 8

CRIT RES: 6%

'Fuck...', Miles inwardly cursed seeing this Goose's stats. This Goose had 65 more HP than him. And on top of that, he had one more point in Strength, and two more in Agility! Miles wasn't sure how agility checks worked out. If a foe had more Agility than him, would his attacks start to miss, or would any even land?

Or considering the Goose was currently asleep right now, would Agility even factor into his attacks? He could charge one up, and go for a strong blow without the Goose even knowing.

'Great. Just more things to test out...', Miles continued. There were still many things he didn't know about how this system of his worked.

Still, if he attacked the Goose now, he would likely only do a third of its health at most. And if he used Lucky Strike, it wouldn't even kill the Goose in one blow.

Miles wasn't going to be stingy with his stat points early on, he had to survive first and foremost. Sure, he could save them in hopes to gain an upperhand in a surprise attack, but would he even get to live to see something like that happen?

For now, Miles had plans to use these stat points until he reached his First Evolution.

With that in mind, Miles turned his head away from the sleeping Goose, and instead, turned his attention toward the water. It was creating little ripples, slapping them against the frozen ice. It created a beat that soothed Miles, and it was nice to listen to. Creeping toward the edge of the ice, Miles saw his reflection in the water.

He saw two jade-colored pupils, and a very furry head. His fox ears currently poked out, appearing fluffy to the touch. He could see his ears were padded with lots of hair.

Miles scoffed seeing his eye color for the first time.

'For fuck's sake, this isn't one of those chinese fantasy stories. I'm in Wolverine's world!', Miles retorted. He quickly shook his head, clearing that thought and gazed upon his own reflection again. Wind howled in the distance, and blankets of snow whipped around, creating a picturesque view.

'Welp. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. I spent five stamina clearing the mess I made earlier. This should cover me for now.', Miles thought.

A determined look appeared in Miles' eyes.

"Yip!", Miles let out a yip as his body tucked downward, before it leapt into the freezing lake of Cold Lake, Alberta. 

[Current Stamina: 100/110]