Reward, Not Human

The man was slightly surprised that Veronik instantly realized what the test was. He expected her to realize it, but not that fast.

"I made you wake up in this forest because the forest king is a guardian grade beast, a beast which no one on your level should be able to defeat, but you successfully killed it, which proves that with your knowledge of medicine, weak spots of beasts, and your strategic mind, you are able to take on what others couldn't." He sneered.

"Since you've passed the test, I have a reward for you."

Veronik narrowed her eyes slightly, feeling slightly suspicious about the man's words. "Let me guess, if I accept the reward, you'll assign me some work, am I right?"

The man snickers. "That's true! But you don't have the right to decline, as the reward was already given to you!"

With that, Veronik felt something scratching hot course through her veins, causing beads of sweat to form on her forehead, as she gritted her teeth in pain. "What did you do?" she hissed at the man coldly.

But the man only snickered. "Don't worry. The pain will pass and you will understand." After that, he nonchalantly disappeared and Ariel and her three children were no longer immobilized.

Veronik frowned deeply because of the pain, but she refused to make a sound, silently bearing through the ordeal as she felt like she was being burned alive from her insides.

She didn't know how much time passed, but after a while, the scorching heat within her started subsiding, and she heaved a sigh in relief. When the pain completely disappeared, she sat down on the ground and looked at her hands.

Though she didn't know why, she felt like something in her body was different.

Ariel and the fox cubs came to her and looked at her worriedly. "Sister Veronik, are you okay?" Helen asked as she nuzzled her furry head against Veronik's hand.

"What did that bad man do to you?" Luna joined her sister in nuzzling close to Veronik.

"Did he hurt you, sister Veronik?" Silver blinked her big innocent eyes.

Veronik smiled gently and patted the small foxes on their foreheads one by one. "Don't worry. He didn't do anything to me." She reassured.

Ariel looked on worriedly. "He spoke about work..." She frowned slightly.

Hearing that, Veronik nodded and told them about how she gained her new life. When she was done explaining, silence befell the foxes for a moment, before the three fox cubs nuzzled themselves even closer to Veronik.

"Do you think he can be trusted?" Ariel asked after a while, and Veronik nodded ever so slightly.

"At the moment, yes!" Veronik's expression was deep and profound, unreadable for anyone who saw it, but as the four foxes shared the bond of equals with her, they could feel that she was thinking about the "reward" the man mentioned, and about the pain she had to go through to gain it. She was wandering as to why the man said that the reward was already given to her even before the pain started.

Thinking about it, she looked at her hands and frowned in contemplation. "Ariel?" She looked up after a while. "Can you sense something different about me?" she asked a moment later.

Ariel came to Veronik and sniffed her hand, a slight frown forming on her face. "It's like something bestial appeared within you!" she said as she sniffed Veronik's hand again. "But at the same time, it's like it's always been there..."

"Bestial..." Veronik mumbled to herself as she continued looking at her hands in thought. A long while of silence passed, Veronik closed her eyes and her consciousness slipped into the library in her soul that the man gave her before. She didn't really know why she did it, as it was already nearly empty, but she felt like she might find answers there.

When she saw the library, a wave of shock ran through her. The library that was nearly empty the last time she saw it was now filled up with books, all without titles.

Only one book had a title: "Calmed Beasts"

Veronik placed her hand on the edge of the book and the knowledge started flowing freely into her brain. She retracted her consciousness from the library and opened her eyes back in the real world, a newfound understanding in her eyes. She finally knew what the "reward" was.

Ariel looked at her worriedly. "What did you find out?" she asked after Veronik remained silent for a while.

Hearing the question, Veronik looked up at Ariel and gently rubbed her white fur. "Did you know that I'm not a human?" she asked slowly.

The moment her words fell, Ariel and her three children fell silent in shock. "What do you mean, sister Veronik?" Luna finally asked.

Veronik looked down at her hands. "It seems that when I woke up in this world, in this body, I was no longer human. I only resemble a human. I'm actually a Calmed Beast." Her voice was lowered and slow as she spoke, giving the foxes the chance to digest the information.

When Ariel heard Veronik's words, she froze in shock, as she knew what Veronik was talking about, but her three children only looked at Veronik in confusion.

"Sister Veronik, what's a Calmed Beast?" Silver asked curiously.

At that moment, Ariel spoke. "A Calmed Beast is a kind of animal that can take on any form of a living thing as long as it understands the basic things about the being it wants to turn into. But that's not what makes the beast so feared. It's because it has a certain ability, that no one can understand."

Veronik looked at Ariel and nodded. "It's the ability to create and destroy. The name might sound quite simple, but the part create includes healing, remaking, renewing, copying, and so on, and the part destroy includes devour, corrode, shatter or even annihilate and similar."