Chapter 6: Status Screen

'So...yeah. I'm a fox now.', Miles thought, taking a moment to get a good look at himself. He really was small and his newfound fur was very luscious. It was pitch black and beautiful, just like an onyx gem. It wasn't like those red foxes, he was of a rarer breed.

Several farm plantations could be seen off in the far distance signaling that this land was occupied, and likely by humans. Aside from that, it was a large lake surrounded by spruce and pine trees. It was a forest landscape no matter where he turned. At the very least, Miles was grateful that he was placed into this world at a large water source. He wouldn't have to go searching for water later.

There was even a marsh or two in the opposite direction. A place to tread carefully now that Miles was a fox. He wouldn't want to get stuck inside that mushy ground, only to find himself unable to get out of there.

So for now, Miles turned his body around, and looked around some more. It was snow. Snow. And more snow. Snow as far as the eye could see. Birds were chirping off in the near distance, happily chatting away as they perched higher up on nearby pine trees that were covered in snow.

Miles then looked down at the snow around him. He suddenly got an urge to play around.

And so he did.

"Yip!", Miles happily chirped. In one big swoop, he dove right into the snow. It really felt as if he dove into a soft pillow. He started to turn around onto his back and wiggled his way around, creating a large and messy snowflake. A sudden notification sounded off inside Miles's mind, getting distracted from the fun he was now having.

[Ding! Host has created a new Skill. [Ice Resistance - Level 1] has been obtained.]

Miles's body shot right up, ending his ever so short playtime. His mind became sharp again.

'Right. There was the system. Did it reward me with a Skill just because I spent a moment fooling around with the nearby snow?', Miles thought with gaining interest.

'So what can you do? You're the [Divine Fox System] Yozora granted me, right?', Miles decided to ask.

After he asked that, one moment passed on in silence. Then two moments, and then three. All he could hear were the slow waves crashing against each other and birds chirping and having fun in the tall tree branches of the pine trees.

'Seriously?', Miles retorted. He expected to hear some sort of omnipotent voice to react to his words by now. Most of the stories he read in his past time always had a pixie-like figure guiding its main character along the way. In other stories, it was an artificial AI. But for Miles, nothing reacted to his voice.

'Maybe it isn't a sentient being like those often shown in the stories I read...', Miles wondered to himself. 'If that is indeed the case, then it might just react to commands. I've read those kinds of stories too. Maybe Yozora wouldn't like it if such a figure was constantly nagging at me? I mean I had enough of that work so maybe I should feel grateful for that, heh.', Miles continued. Concluding that, he opted for a single command, one that was universal no matter which story he read.

"Yip.", Miles uttered, only to see nothing happen again. Miles blinked his eyes, seeing what he had just done. Another cute yell parted from his lips. He couldn't help but facepalm his eyes with his paws, making his appearance even more adorable, and shook his head.

'Great. So this system doesn't react to 'Yip'. And you call yourself the [Divine Fox System]!?', Miles inwardly retorted.

Miles gently shook his head, clearing that thought away. He knew what to do this time.

'Status.', Miles thought. Sure enough, he heard a reaction sound off inside his mind this time. The same mechanical voice he heard a while ago made its voice known once again. Miles started reviewing his Status.

[Status]

First Name: Miles Last Name: None

Species: Silver Fox Kit(+)

Age: 1

Level: 1/10 (0/10)

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

Strength: 1 Endurance: 1 Agility: 1 Luck: 0

Available Stat Points: 10

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

Evolution Requirement: Level 10.

[Skills]

-[Superior Luck] (New)(+)

-[Twilit Fervor] (New)

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

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

[Stat Effects]

[HP] - Known as Hit or Health Points. If Host's HP reaches 0, Host will get knocked out. Host has a high risk of experiencing Death upon getting knocked out.

[MP] - Mana Points. Currently Locked. Effect Unknown.

[Stamina] - The ability to exert Host's body. Moving and doing actions will decrease Stamina over time. Consuming stamina will cause Host to get tired.

[Strength] - Host's power in combat. Attack Damage correlates to how much Strength Host has. Higher Strength deals more damage to a target.

[Endurance] - Host's defensive capabilities. The higher Endurance Host has, the easier it will be to take less damage and potentially block it.

[Agility] - Movement Speed. Having higher Agility will allow the Host to dodge attacks easier and potentially counterattack. It can also help find a target's weak point.

[Attack Damage] - The overall damage Host deals to a target. [Current Effect: Strength x3].

[Toughness] - The overall defensive power of taking damage from a target. [Current Effect: Endurance x3]

'Sure enough, this is a game status window I've often seen in RPGs I've played before...', Miles mused.

'And already, it looks like there are a few things to go over. Not having a last name makes sense. I wasn't brought into a human family, who gives last names to their children. I'm just a fox now.', Miles thought.

'And probably the next one is the most important one to cover, my species granted to me, likely by Yozora. I am now a Silver Fox, a subspecies of the common Red Fox. They are pretty rare to sight, and often found in the northern reaches of a continent, where it is a lot more chilly. One thing to note was that their pelt was much more sought after due to its glossiness and sheene. Just based on that alone, and the time period I was brought into, I may have second guesses in trying to head into the nearest town...', Miles continued.

'No doubt the primary job people had here were farmers, but there were likely a lot of hunters roaming around this land...', Miles continued to think, revealing a frown. 'I probably shouldn't head into town, or else I could get the whole townsfolk to chase after me. That wouldn't be good.', Miles concluded, knowing that it probably wasn't the best idea to lurk around town in hopes to catch a glimpse of Logan. At least, not now.

Instead, Miles drifted his thoughts to the rest of his status. His starting HP was 25, which was quite low. He was rewarded with 10 stat points to start off with, which definitely made up for it. Miles wondered if that was the parting gift Yozora left him.

Aside from that, it looks like there were only three main stats, which was simplistic in nature, but it was easy to keep track of. There was Luck, but most of the time, Luck could only be raised through external means, such as rewards from Quests, bonus stats from Gear, and so on. Miles didn't see a section for Gear or Quests, so he wondered if the Divine Fox System had them.

Seeing the current situation Miles was in, Miles pondered how to distribute his ten initial stat points. As he pondered that, his gaze shifted toward another area of his Status.

One that he had the most anticipation for out of everything else.

'Yozora did mention it, but it looks like this System really does have Species Evolution...', Miles mused, seeing the requirement for his next evolution. That meant he would evolve, and become a stronger race amongst foxes. He hadn't a clue how many fox races were out there. Considering this was the MCU, there was definitely a chance of fox mutations and all that jazz. Species he didn't know about. Not like the common Red Fox.

'Either way, I won't hit my first Evolution until I reach Level 10 it seems. I don't know how hard it is to get ten levels here. It only requires ten experience points to reach Level 2, but would that mean I need to defeat ten animals or something here? And for that matter, do monsters or mutated creatures exist?', Miles pondered, wondering if there was such a possibility.

He shook that thought aside for the moment and looked at the rest of his window. 'I won't go in detail of the stat explanations I just read since it seemed pretty straight forward for the most part, but I will mention one thing. It looks like I won't immediately die if my health reaches zero, so if I'm found in a desperate spot, there is still a chance to flee and such, which is a nice touch.', Miles thought.

'And now, let's go over those Skills. I especially want to see what this Innate Ability of mine is. I do see a + on it, just like how my Species has a + on it. That likely indicates it can be upgraded in some way.', Miles wondered. As he wondered that, he began to look at the couple of skills he started out with, which brought him a nice surprise.