Chapter 16: Using Points

Small poll for you guys!

Which calculations do you prefer?

#1: (Base EXP + (Skills + Bonus Rate)) = Rewarded EXP

 -Example: 10 + (50% + 100%) = 25 EXP

#2: ((Base EXP + Skills) + Bonus Rate) = Rewarded EXP

 -Example: (10 + 50%) + 100% = 30 EXP

Name Clarification

 -Double EXP Bottle -> 100% EXP Bottle

*

Nom. Nom. Nom.

After letting out a cute yip, Miles dove right into the dead Goose before him. He didn't hesitate to start gnawing at it. His butt pointed upwards, and his tail started to pitter back and forth in response.

'This feels so immoral...', Miles thought to himself. His gnawing didn't stop despite feeling weird, as this was his second time consuming raw meat from a dead carcass. It wasn't the same act as eating sushi or anything of the like when he dined out in his previous life. Doing this just felt so, raw. 

'I should be disgusted by it, but I'm not. There's nothing censored either. I'm not bothered one bit as the blood of this Goose gets splashed onto my face...', Miles mused. Even as he thought that, more blood clung onto his teeth while chomping away into its body.

Miles wasn't sure if he would get disturbed by these actions later on, but it was something he had to do to ensure his survival here.

As he thought that, the notifications started to come in. Miles had high expectations now that he had his 100% EXP Bottle active. A moment ago, he had 55 minutes remaining, and now he had 50 minutes left. He wanted to make the most use of it. And sure enough, Miles wasn't left disappointed.

[Ding! 4 EXP obtained from Level 3 Goose. Bonus experience detected. Now recalculating...]

[Ding! 8 EXP has been obtained.]

[Ding! Twilit Fervor has activated. Now increasing the rate of Stamina...]

[Ding! 6 Stamina has been replenished.]

[Ding! 8 EXP has been obtained. 6 Stamina has been obtained. 8 EXP has been obtained...] (A/N: I might start condensing these notifications, only showing the result of Consume after it's done)

Happily eating, the notifications didn't stop. Miles's tail continued to wag. Before he realized it, Miles was already at the center of the bird's body. Its gray feathers were scattered onto the ice as blood seeped across it. Miles started to smell that rotting stench again. It was similar to entering a butchery. But it did not bother Miles in the slightest. 

Miles felt stuffed again, satisfied by his meal. He wanted to burp, but could foxes even burp?

Unsure, Miles saw the results of his Consume. To his surprise, he leveled up again!

[Ding! Host has consumed the Level 3 Goose. 52 proficiency obtained. Consume - Lv1 (75/100)]

'Neat. Only 25 left to level that skill up. I wonder if it will start providing additional benefits once it reaches level two?', Miles wondered. Not many of his skills have reached level two yet, apart from Smoldering Claws, Burrow, Swimming, and Dive. The latter three decreased the stamina consumption rate ever so slightly, which allowed Miles to dig a bit deeper, swim a bit farther, or dive a bit deeper accordingly. The change was still minimal, but as the levels rose, the effect would gradually increase.

Miles likely couldn't swim across the entire Cold Lake if he tried it now. If he maxed his Swimming skill, there was a possibility he could in the coming future. Still, the sight of a fox swimming across a giant lake like this was a funny sight to watch.

Musing to himself, Miles continued to review his notifications.

[Ding! A total of 80 EXP has been obtained. Additionally, 60 Stamina has been replenished.]

[Ding! Congratulations, Host has reached Level 4!]

[Ding! 5 HP, 5 Stamina, 2 STR, 2 END, 1 AGI, 5 LUC have been obtained.]

[Level: 4/10 (55/80). Current Stamina: 120/120] 

[Ding! Due to leveling up in the night, additional three stat points obtained.]

'Wow, Twilit Fervor and that EXP bottle really are something, huh?', Miles thought, amazed at what he just reviewed. On top of that, it was night time, and Twilit Fervor provided even more rewards. It may just be one additional stat point, but down the road, it will have a much bigger impact. Miles really considered whether he should just rest during the day, and hunt at night for the time being. 

Before he could decide on that, Miles needed to clean up his mess. It was similar to the mess he made prior, but the one difference was that he was on the ice now. He could try using his claws to dig into the ice and let the rest of the body rot in there, but Miles decided on pushing the Goose's remains into the lake.

Plop.

A bloody trail soon followed as Miles slid the remains off the edge with his paw. It may still attract the attention of other wild animals, but Miles planned to retreat into the forest after this. He couldn't hunt the rest of the Geese, as they were out of sight now. In fact, if it did attract some form of attention, Miles could lurk in the shadows of the trees, and pounce at a moment's notice.

If he went into the forest as-is though, he would definitely attract attention. With his eating fiasco, another twenty minutes passed. His hour of boosted experience was now halfway over. Thankfully, Miles changed the way he ate, and made less of a mess. Most of his fur remained glossy. His head, on the other hand, was a bigger mess now. Blood seeped across his fur, and drips of blood trickled down from his fangs.

Taking a moment, he activated Ice-Walk for a third time, and wandered toward the lake's edge again. With a single motion, Miles plopped his face inside the freezing waters. Swiftly moving his head around, the smeared mess across his face began to dissolve at a visible pace. Splash!

Miles's head popped out of the water again, feeling refreshed. There wasn't any blood left on it. Miles took another moment to observe his face, and it was dripping wet now. He proceeded to do a quick shake, and droplets splashed around the water and the ice.

With his face cleaned up now, Miles took a moment to review his newfound status. Just being one level away from level 5 excited him! There was something to note too, his Stamina was fully replenished again, and his Consume was almost at Level 2. It provided more than twice the stamina as the Level 2 Goose did, so it appeared there was some form of variance with how much he obtained from Consume. It wasn't a straight increase like the experience gave him. As far as the experience went, the Goose netted him four points in experience, and it was increased by 100% thanks to the boosted experience he currently had.

Something to further add to that was the fact that Superior Luck did not trigger when he obtained experience from Consume. As a result of seeing that, Miles could only assume  that Superior Luck triggers only on experience obtained through battle. He still had yet to see if the Skill would trigger when he claimed rewards from completed Missions.

Since he gained 60 stamina, it went from 58 all the way back to full, and then the level up increased his maximum stamina to 120. It would seem the additional gain didn't cause his stamina to go over 120 either, just keeping it at its max.

Either way, Miles was happy that his Stamina was fully replenished from the Level 3 Goose. That meant he didn't need to rest right away, and he could continue being active during the night!

[Level 4: 55/80]

HP: 45/45 Stamina: 120/120

STR: 13 END: 13 AGI: 8 LUC: 20

CRIT: 20% CRIT RES: 33%

Available Points: 11

Miles wanted to suck in a cold breath of air seeing his new status now. His health was almost at the halfway point to the one hundred mark. His capabilities were now much stronger than the Level 3 Goose he had just killed a moment ago! Miles didn't need to worry about killing any other Level 3 Geese, should the flock he had come across still have any. Hell, Miles likely didn't even need to worry about any Level 4 Geese now. Hopefully he'll get a chance to see that flock again. Miles wanted to use Observe to see what the Goose Leader's stats were like.

During his combat earlier, Miles didn't have a need to use his available stat points since he could take down both the Level 2 and Level 3 Geese without much issue. Since that took place, he gained a whopping three levels, becoming Level 4. These three levels gave him three points to use. Twilit Fervor additionally provided an extra eight as Miles increased his level once during the day, and twice at night. Presently, he had eleven points to use. 

Miles could dump them all into Strength alone, and he would become much more confident in taking down the smaller animals around here that could be lurking or hiding in Cold Lake Alberta. If he did that, his Strength would approach 25!

On the other hand, Miles would need to discover ways to compensate for his lack of Agility.  He did know that foxes were naturally agile creatures, but that alone can only carry him so far. It's not like Miles could outspeed everything here. Especially if he happened to come across a much larger threat. 

 Since that was a worry of its own, Miles concluded it was best to invest his points all across the board. The only stat he couldn't actively invest in was Luck, so he could only invest them in his other three stats. He wanted to make sure that each one received some at the very least.

'I know earlier that I decided to not hesitate in investesting my available points. I see no reason to hold onto them. I need to prioritize my survival over everything else, and using these points now will help that.', Miles thought. 'At least, I will keep this up until I see how much my stats get improved by when my First Evolution happens...', Miles continued. He didn't know how much his parameters will be increased by when his First Evolution happens, so he had to be ready for that.

Miles felt resolved to invest his points now. Without any further hesitation, he willed his system, and used them. Immediately after, he reviewed his updated status again, leaving him satisfied. 

[Ding! Host has placed 5 points in STR, 4 points in AGI, and 2 points in END.]

STR: 18 END: 15 AGI: 12 LUC: 20

CRIT: 20% CRIT RES: 35%

'Excellent. I feel much safer now seeing this. I decided to put more points into Agility since it was the stat I lacked the most. All of my stats are in the double digits now. I shouldn't need to fear the rest of the normal Geese around here. Other animals though, that is to be seen.', Miles concluded after spending his available stat points. His current investment left him satisfied.