She fell closer and closer above their hands and they were ready to slap at any moment. Once she was just above the card they slapped it, but stiffened soon after.

She slapped their hands with her tail propelling her in a strange direction. She face-planted on the correct card, but because of the way she landed the card slid with her towards Char.

He looked at her stupidly as she was holding her nose which was slightly crooked from the impact.

-10HP

She scoffed at the notification, luckily she had 18HP, but she would have to be more careful. Her Max HP was 80, but since she didn't have newbie protection anymore she had to regenerate it with her [Health Recovery]. That would take a few days...

Buddy laughed seeing his friend eat bitter medicine. He knew he ordered his sons to do that and he didn't step in. He knew that dignity was important for rulers, but that little one ruthlessly smacked his face several times just for a bit of meat.

He gave her the rest of the meat and Aiko was confused. The voice resonated in her mind. ("It's best to leave it here. My friend will need some time to recover.") He chuckled.

Aiko nodded and ate happily.

[Level: 20 (1st Evolution)]
[You can Evolve into [Common] Animal]

He narrowed his eyes. It said Animal, that meant he wouldn't be able to advance further in the Beast Ranks, but then.

[Levelling further will allow you to Evolve into [Uncommon] Animal/Beast.]

Beast! It might not be some super cool beast, but he was able to Evolve into a Beast! That was the important part.

He ate happily as his Levels increased, but for some odd reason, his meat didn't lessen?

He looked around puzzled, but those beasts avoided her gaze. He didn't understand why... little did he know that his 'Beauty' already reached 210, which was a lot and that was also the reason his meat was never running out...

[Level: 34 (1st Evolution)]

He didn't get any notification on [Uncommon] Evolution, it seemed like he would need more meat to do that, but...

His whole body was one big balloon as he ate too much meat. It was funny because he ate so much that he had a hard time moving.

*Burp*

He felt too full and wanted to find a place to hide in, but...

He was picked up by Char's daughter with sparkly eyes. She returned to her seat with the plate, nestling Aiko on her lap and enjoying her creamy fur.

Aiko was paralysed and couldn't move, but soon he dozed off into blissful sleep...

...

The maid glared at Char's daughter, pouting. She wanted to nestle this cute little fox! Char shook his head as he noticed the small 'battle' between the maid and daughter, but neither made any move, lest they would wake her up.

...

Aiko woke up again, but before she could even stretch she smelled delicious meat and immediately bit it. The meat was strange, a bit hard... too hard for her liking.

She opened her eyes only to freeze. In her mouth was a scaly hand. She didn't quite know which or whose hand that was, but she knew that either way, it was not good.

Her ears lay flat and she pretended to sleep again.

"Aren't you hungry?" The maid teased. "There is food here." Her eyes twinkled when she saw Aiko's ears twitch.

"Ah, maybe I should give it to the bro-" Before she could complete the sentence Aiko lunged at the meat, but missing, biting the plate and hanging in the air.

The maid was momentarily stunned and she pinched her nose. It felt like she had a nosebleed, but that was definitely only his imagination...

She carefully placed him down and he ate to his heart's content again.

[Level: 40 (1st Evolution)]
[You can Evolve into [Uncommon] Animal/Beast]

His eyes twinkled.

[Levelling further will allow you to Evolve into [Rare] Beast.]

Beast! He can be a Beast! He didn't quite know how good that was, but it was definitely better than Simple Animal! He will be powerful!

He grinned eating some more, this time he was able to eat much more, but even after reaching Level 50 it didn't notify him. It might be increments of 20 in which case he would need to wait for 60. His meat didn't decrease so there was no need for him to leave this place.

[Level: 60]
[You can Evolve into [Rare] Beast]
[Levelling further will allow you to Evolve into [Epic] Beast.]

He was happy but pressed on...

[Level: 65]
[Level: 73]
[Level: 80]
[You can Evolve into [Epic] Beast]
[Levelling further will allow you to Evolve into [Unique] Beast.]

Unique! He was quite disappointed that he couldn't Evolve into a higher Beast Rank than Beast, but he would be really powerful if he Evolved at the Unique threshold!

Just then Char came. "Feed him a bit more and then return him to the forest."

"But Dad!" She whined.

"You can't keep her! We both know that Foxes don't appreciate others sheltering their young! This should be enough to help her survive the coming days!" He reprimanded her.

She hung her head low, while feeding Aiko.

"That doesn't mean you can't find her later." He shook his head, he had a soft spot for his daughter. "But don't bring her anything! If the Foxes know, there will be problems!" He warned her in a stern voice.

"Okay!" She was fine just seeing her once in a while, she was curious about what she would become.

Aiko felt threatened by their words and munched like crazy on her meal. At the edge of her eyes, she could see her Levels increase one by one.

She already wanted to take Aiko out, since she got permission from her father, but she couldn't bring herself to, seeing her munch so much.

Her father shook his head and said. "You can escort her out once she finishes." He laughed leaving his daughter's place.

...

[Level: 100 (1st Evolution)]
[You can Evolve into [Unique] Beast]
[Levelling further will allow you to Evolve into [####] Beast.]

Another thing he was not allowed to see, but that was fine, he intended to settle for Unique and leave the rest for later. He also had a shit ton of Stat Points and Skill Points, but since she was already carrying him outside, it would be unwise to browse his shop, but he really really wanted to...

He was very pleased with his stats.

She escorted him deep into the Forest and placed him down, petting him one last time. She then disappeared without him being able to thank her, but realizing he couldn't speak, he didn't dwell too much on it.

He looked around. It was peaceful, yet eerily quiet. He wasn't aware of the fact that she scared all the animals away and he would have a few hours or maybe even dozens of hours before they would return back into this part of the forest.

He swiftly pulled up his [Skill Shop]. She wasn't all that good at finding nice Dens, so he hoped he would find something in the shop...

Unfortunately, he didn't or it might've been too expensive for him... which was surprising since he had 150 Skill Points. He didn't dwell on it too much and resumed his walking looking for his Den, but then it clicked him. He already had [Dig]. It wouldn't be impossible for him to create himself a Den. He didn't want to live inside the ground, but he realized it would be possibly the safest way for him. So instead of looking for an abandoned Den or hole. He was now looking for a nice meadow or something really nice and somewhat close to the river so that if he needed he would be able to drink water.

He scouted around, finding a few holes or places, but they were still a bit warm, so he didn't want to push his luck. It guided him near the river where he found a small hole on the side of the tiniest ravine, but that was good enough for him.

He activated [Dig] and he had a very easy time playing bulldozer. He didn't notice that he blocked part of the river until his paws were soaking wet.

'Well damn... I will have to dig upwards now if I want to stay dry and safe, but that could also mean that if there is a heavier beast treading past here it could destroy my Den and suffocate me in the process...

He sighed, but still dug upwards. The water filled a part of the lower part of the Den, because the river was too close. He slowly had a hard time seeing so he purchased [Dark Vision]. He naturally had [Night Vision] even if the System didn't show him, but here it was pitch black and it wouldn't be much help if he enhanced his Night seeing capabilities.

It cost him 50 points, but he would be able to see in complete pitch-black. That was worth it for him.

He was able to see. There were a lot of tree roots, it seems he was able to dig straight below a tree, which would shield him from being burrowed alive. These were good news and so he dug all around until...

[Dig: Mastered]

His digging was Mastered, because he was digging in difficult terrain. There was no notification about what to do next with Mastered skills, but-

[If you Master your skills you will be able to either Upgrade or Combine Skills.]

There it was, the quiet system was speaking again. But this was very helpful for him and he would be able to do something with them, but later. Right now he was still finishing his Den and 'shovelling' the dirt out of his Den.

...

He finally finished. The Den was quite cold, which slightly disheartened him, but it was better than living above ground where predators could ambush him.

He sat down, relaxed and looked at his status once again.

He had plenty of Skill Points, so he clicked on his Mastered [Dig] Skill.

[Upgrade Tree]
[Dig: Mastered]

into

[Burrow]
[Allows the user to Burrow into the ground within moments. Great Stamina usage]

[Enhanced Dig]
[Increases Digging capabilities, while overall decreasing Stamina usage]

[Passive Dig]
[Increases Passive Digging capabilities at the cost of decreasing passive Stamina Regeneration. Works only with limbs that can dig!]

'Whoa, so many options! Here I thought that I would just spend some Skill Points to make it better, but you can even decide which way you want to improve!'

She giggled, thinking about what she should pick. He wasn't as much of a Digger if you ignore the fact that she just dug his burrow. He won't be using it for a long time, so it wouldn't be wise to get [Enhanced Dig]. That leaves him with [Burrow] and [Passive Dig]. He was thinking long and hard about the [Burrow] since if he was in danger he could just burrow himself into the ground and wait for his enemy to pass or just keep digging and emerge somewhere further away from his enemy, completely losing them.