Chapter 7: Reviewing Status

Warning, info dump.

*****

Miles had a thorough look of the explanations he was given as he reviewed his stats. The stats he was given was the bottom of the barrel. He would have to put in lots of effort to grow. Seeing as Yozora won't visit him until fifty years later, he figured he will have a substantial growth period. At the same time, Miles tried to recall how long lifespans of a fox were. Would he even be able to last till fifty years?

Miles could only shrug that thought aside for now, and move onto reviewing the couple of Skills he received. Just glancing over the first one brought him a big surprise, and the anticipation grew in checking his Innate Ability.

[Superior Luck - Passive](+)

 -Special Effect 1: Each Level Up grants five points in Luck.

 -Special Effect 2: Grants Skill [Lucky Strike].

 -Special Effect 3: Experience Point Gain is boosted by 50%.

[Twilit Fervor]

 -Special Effect 1: During Daytime, gain extra two Stat Points upon Level Up. During Nighttime, gain extra three Stat Points upon Level Up.

 -Special Effect 2: Stamina Recovery Rate is boosted by 100%.

 -Special Effect 3: Bite or Claw Attack Damage is boosted by 30%.

[Ice Resistance - Level 1 (0/100)](+)

 -Special Effect 1: Reduces damage received by Ice-type Attacks by 1%.

[Lucky Strike]

 -Deals Critical Hit to target. Limit: Once per day.

[Status Effect]

[Critical Hit]

  -Upon delivering a blow at a target's weak point, has a chance to deal a Critical Hit. Damage dealt = 200% upon landing a Critical Hit.

  -Critical Hit Chance = Luck x 1.

[Critical Resistance]

 -Target's resistance to receiving a Critical Hit.

As much as Miles wanted to whistle at the sight of reviewing these Skills of his, he was a fox now, so he was unable to whistle. Instead, he let out a cute yip in response to seeing these effects.

'In particular, [Superior Luck] is quite nasty. I now have a passive gain to increase Luck, which normally can't be increased unless it was through rewards or quests, if this system even has that function.', Miles thought.

'I don't know if Luck will affect item drops or anything along those lines, since I don't know if item drops exist with this system of mine. For now, it appears Luck only affects my chances to deal a critical hit.', Miles continued. As he thought that, he saw his updated stats seeing the effect of [Superior Luck]. and in addition, [Twilit Fervor]. He reviewed his changes after seeing his Skills implemented.

Level: 1/10 (0/10)

HP: 25/25 MP: Locked Stamina: 99/100

Strength: 1 Endurance: 1 Agility: 1 Luck: 5 (0->5)

Attack Damage: 3 (STRx3) Toughness: 3 (ENDx3)

Critical Hit Chance (New): 5% (Luck x 1%)

Critical Resistance (New): 6% (Crit Hit + Endurance)

Available Stat Points: 12 (10->12)

Even though Miles hadn't leveled up yet, Miles's skills were still affected while he was still Level 1. Just like that, he gained five points in Luck, and an extra two stat points to use. Miles saw the sun peering down on him as its rays snuck through the rolling clouds, so he knew it was still daytime. He had no way to tell the time like using an alarm clock, so he would have to resort to the old fashioned method.

'Now that I think about it, do clocks even exist yet? Man, I really need a history lesson...', Miles retorted.

Still, Miles smiled. He already had a 5% chance to deal a critical hit no matter what strike he dealt.

For example, Miles's Strength was currently 1. Let's say he put two points into strength, increasing it to 3. The total damage he would deal would increase to 9, as the Attack damage is his Strength multiplied by 3. The same goes for Toughness. Toughness was the total damage a target would receive.

Continuing this example, if Miles found a nearby wild animal with an Endurance of 1, that would make the animal's Toughness 3. Upon landing a blow, it would deal 6 damage after factoring in Toughness (Attack Power: 9 - Toughness: 3). Having a chance to deal a critical hit will boost that damage to 200% of its normal value!

It wasn't just an increase by 100%. If that happened the damage would become 12. It was a full 200% increase in damage. Miles's damage output would become 18. Essentially boosted three times over two times.

That was the power of dealing a critical hit. and he had a 5% chance to land one whenever he wanted to give if said target had zero resistance to it. It was a nice touch to see the resistance stat. Miles concluded that seeing this would definitely create a more dynamic form of combat.

And talking about fighting was fun and all, but he hadn't a clue how to fight as a fox yet, so he would need to experience that firsthand before he could make any further assumptions.

Instead, Miles drew his attention to his [Innate Ability] next.

[Innate Abilities] were a bit hard to explain, but deep down, they are essentially abilities granted to an individual at birth. It was very dependent on one's family, as different families passed on different kinds of [Innate Abilities]. Gojo's Six Eyes from Jujutsu Kaisen was a prime example of what [Innate Abilities] were. A skill only members of the Gojo Clan could use, and no one else. [Steel Claws], on the other hand, was granted by the Fox God herself, so in a way, Miles inherited this [Innate Ability] from her.

On the other hand, taking the story Naruto for example, Naruto possessed the ability to use the Nine-Tailed Fox from birth. It was passed down from his mother. But don't confuse this as an [Innate Ability]. The Nine-Tailed Fox started with Naruto's mother, and it was initially given to her through external means, sealing the fox away inside her body. It did not get passed down from her previous generations of the Uzumaki Clan. However, the Sealing Jutsu of the Uzumaki Clan would instead be seen as [Innate Abilities], as only the clan could utilize these techniques. That made Naruto eligible to use them.

But that's enough references for now. Miles was happy that he even got an [Innate Ability] at all. He was very thankful to Yozora for that. On top of that, it had a (+) next to [Steel Claws]. He also saw that [Superior Luck] and [Ice Resistance] had a (+) marked to it as well, while [Twilit Fervor], did not. Miles thought that this (=) icon likely meant that it was possible for these Skills to evolve once they've met certain conditions, or reached a high enough level. He did see that some Skills could level up, while others could not too.

With that in mind, Miles looked over [Steel Claws]'s information.

[Steel Claws - Level 1 (0/100)](+)

 -Special Effect 1: Covers Host's claws in a silvery glow, dealing an extra 50% damage to target.

 -Special Effect 2: Upon landing a blow to target, has a chance to inflict Bleed. Bleed Chance: (Luck% x1)

 -Special Effect 3: During Nighttime, [Steel Claws]'s effect is boosted to 100% damage, instead of 50%.

[Bleed - Status Effect]

 -Deals Bleed damage over a period of ten seconds. Current Bleed damage = STR. Can be altered or strengthened by Skills/Passives.

"Yip!", Miles happily yipped seeing all of this information present before him. The previous calculation Miles imagined didn't even factor in the boosted damage from [Twilit Fervor]. And now with [Steel Claws] added into the mix, under the right conditions, he could deal a whopping 330% bonus to his damage output!

Unbeknownst to Miles, his bushy tail started to wag around happily, swaying further inside the snow. The snow wasn't super deep, only half a foot or so of snow, but it was constant and all around him. Feeling a constant pitter-patter nearby caused Miles to get distracted. He glanced downward, and saw his own tail wagging out of happiness.

'Right...Tail.', Miles thought. No matter what type of animal it was, it was a universal sign that a tail swaying back and forth was a sign of happiness. And now, Miles had his own tail.

'Man, I really need to spend some time getting used to this...', Miles thought. Calming down a bit, his tail stopped swaying. Part of the snow could now be seen shifted aside, revealing the sandy earth below.

Still, Miles felt relieved seeing that he wasn't completely left in the dirt, despite starting with low stats. Just those couple of skills made up for it, and each time he levels up, he would gain additional stat points! He didn't feel a need to go over anything more, so Miles drew his interest elsewhere. He was done looking at his [Status], but he wanted to see if there were any other functions the [Divine Fox System] had to offer. After all these systems came in many shapes and sizes, offering different things depending on what the system was.

'Should I try to see if functions like [Inventory] or [Quests] exist, or should I invest my stat points first? I realize that I'm still weak. Sure, I am in an open field right now with the little town way off in the distance, but there was a full wilderness before me. If a dangerous animal springs out of nowhere, I should be ready for it. Judging from the position of the sun, it's around noon. I need to see if I can hunt for a meal before it gets dark...', Miles wondered.

[Ding! Due to having Host's tail wag for a couple moments, Stamina decreased by 1. Remaining Stamina: 98/100.]

Miles just blinked his eyes seeing that notification suddenly show up.

'The hell's wrong with you!? I only wagged my tail for a moment at most. Just doing that action alone decreased my stamina!?', Miles retorted. As he pondered how to invest his current Stat Points, Miles didn't know whether to laugh or cry seeing a whole stamina point was spent on his tail wagging.