POV Stanley

[Stanley began to run back toward the village in terror for his life. How pathetic he must feel for having to run from a small wolf.]

“WHAT PART OF THAT WOLF IS SMALL!” Stanley screamed whilst scurrying away as the enormous wolf nearly double his height chased after him.

“One bite from that 'small wolf' could swallow me whole!” Stanley cried as the wolf leisurely stalked after him. Whether it was from enjoying the chase or simply toying with its prey, Stanley would never know.

I thought we had a deal, narrator.

I followed what you said… and you keep me alive, safe, and NOT BEING CHASED BY WOLVES!

How could this possibly be the luckiest course of action! It literally cannot possibly be described under any circumstances as ‘lucky’.

What on earth is your definition of 'lucky'?

For that matter, how could going back to the village be lucky! That child is going to kill me if I head by there! Like, literally, murder me!

This is entirely your fault narrator! ENTIRELY YOUR FAULT!

POV Swap - Tobias

After calming Rin down I, by some miracle of the gods, convinced her to stay in the village while I take some time to explore our surroundings. My actual goal is to find and kill some monsters to improve my ability… Preferable a venomous one, rather than poisonous monster.

If I actually manage succeed in hunting, I shouldn't have to waste valuable rations from the earlier zone. Instead, I'll have fresh meat to cook.

Rustling... Hmmm? What that?

Glancing toward the source of the sound, I found Stanley weaving back and forth behind trees and around rocks as a gigantic wolf monster follows behind him.

Right…

Well, uhh... that seems... completely normal to me…

Excuse me, while I slowly back away in the opposite direction.

And they ran past me… This is getting ridiculous…

Seriously? I know they were distracting each other... but, if I were to improve my ability anymore, how's anyone gonna find me?

Sending a silent prayer for the safety of Rin and Stanley, I marched onward.

My quest is of vitally importance.

Find edible food!

Huh… officer?

Nope! I didn’t pass by anyone being chased by giant wolf!

Definitely didn’t witness a companion running for his life.

I was totally busy searching for food…

Yup! That’s my story, I’m sticking with it.

POV Swap - Rin

After discussing the idiot’s theft of food with Tobias, we decided we should simply leave the man to his exiled fate.

The moron somehow survived the dungeon… he’ll probably be fine. If not, he's not my problem.

Tobias seemed unnerved from the theft of food and eventually decided to explore the area.

Letting him wander about as it should distract him from the theft.

Meanwhile, I'll organize the remaining food and prepare to put the remaining supplies in more hidden places.

How many more people might be arriving? She thought, setting out as she began hiding the remaining food.

Tobias mentioned in his ramblings that the food from the dungeon should be able to last a few months. If that’s true, the remaining food should be used mainly for emergencies rather than wasting it.

She had been naïve earlier, thinking no one would arrive in the village due to the brutal nature of dungeon.

Tobias and the idiot arriving proved her wrong.

Making this place extraordinarily dangerous to consider staying long-term. She needed another place to stay before more people arrive.

If more people continue to show up, each with their own powers, merely one dangerous person could cause endless amounts of trouble.

On the note of powers though, she'd realized Tobias seemed to disappear whenever she wasn’t paying attention to him. Consider that dungeon's impossible for regular people to survive, everyone who's reached this point almost certainly has some type of power.

In Tobias' case, when he wasn't actively standing out she had trouble finding him. A useful superpower for surviving and scouting.

Presumably the main reason he survived that dangerous wilderness portion of dungeon. He probably doesn't even realize the amount of monsters he avoided in the dungeon. Rin was still clueless as to how he survived first corridor of the dungeon though.

Still, Tobias’ ability is a useful for scouting on his lonesome. Partly why she let him explore on his own. To help prepare him for future scouting missions.

She would have to discuss with him about finding a new base of operations when he returns.

Although finding a new base made exiling the idiot an utterly pointless endeavor. Even if he returned to the village, it wouldn’t matter if they were leaving.

If the idiot wants to stay in an empty village with potentially murderous superpowered people arriving at random intervals.

Rin welcomes him to.

POV SWAP 3^rd Person

Whilst Rin decided that the village was too hazardous to consider staying longer than necessary, Stanley had finally traveled to the edge of the forest around the village.

Fenrir, the wolf chasing Stanley, finally decided to stop playing around his meal and lunged forward toward it’s snack.

Fortunately for Stanley, the ground beneath the wolf suddenly gave out.

Fenrir fell into an old pitfall trap, which had long since abandoned and forgotten after being covered over with soil and mud.

The trap’s wooden spike had been consumed by time and did nothing to harm the centuries old wolf.

It did, however, stall the wolf’s pursuit long enough for Stanley to inform Rin of his trouble.

Not that Rin was practically sympathy to his plight.

In fact, it wasn’t for suspecting that Fenrir would destroy the entire village after eating Stanley, wouldn’t have intervened.

Although she planned to abandon the village, it would be an annoying as Rin hadn’t found a suitable spot to move to.

Preparing her sword and bow, Rin set off toward the wolf.

After violent battle, the young girl emerged victorious.

But... If someone looked at this battle from an observers perspective, it would seem extraordinarily strange.

The girl dodged every blow, as though she already knew where it would land, and would strike blows using opportunities that had just came into existence.

A strange battle indeed.

Fenrir himself was extremely perplexed. As this strange fight dragged onward, decided to flee rather than deal with this troublesome girl.

Unfortunately for him, he never a chance to escape. When he tried, Rin landed a fatal blow on the beast.

Stanley, in the meantime, was standing uselessly in awe on the sidelines. Finally realizing the magnitude of trouble he received when he'd angered the creature wearing the thin disguise of a teenage girl.

Rin, however, had completely forgotten about Stanley's existence and was instead pondering about a peculiar message from the system.

Does she want to receive Fenrir’s Inheritance Manual?

After debating with herself, Rin decided to accept the inheritance.

POV Swap - Rin

Pah! That took way to long to just deal with a stupid wolf. If this inheritance thing is detrimental, I’ll just reload and decline instead of accepting.

<Confirmed accepting Fenrir’s Inheritance Manual>

<Some discomfort occurring is normal>

<Progress 1%...5%....15%....24%....52%....83%....100%>

<Fenrir’s Inheritance; Level 1, 1%– Basic stats strengthened, sense of smell enhanced, Hearing enhanced, Secondary ability added Fenrir’s Stomach>

<Fenrir’s Stomach; Can digest anything into nutrients and can improve basic stats from eating powerful beings.>

Useful! Definitely useful! Though the forest smells funny now and everything seems to be kind of loud… But, I refuse to believe I cannot find Tobias with these enhanced senses!

Oww… everything’s sore especially my head…

Still, once I'm used to my new enhanced senses they should be extremely useful…

Ugh… I'm suddenly feeling sleepy…

Probably some side-effect.

I should sleep...

For... a minute.

POV Tobias

Apparently, unlike in novels, it's incredibly difficult to find animals and monsters.

The only animals (or monsters) that are easily found are predators (thus don’t need to hide and are too dangerous for me to attack) or extremely poisonous to the point nothing will eat it (which I would kill when I noticed them for the mana).

Actually, discovering edible monsters is more a game of luck than actual skill (at least for someone as inexperienced at hunting as myself).

In fact, I probably could only find edible food once out of thousand trips into wilderness.

However, I know of a secret weapon to increase my luck!

Earlier I prayed and swore to offer tribute (a portion of the food) to our resident god of luck (also known as Stanley) if I found edible food today.

Thus, edible food I found and victorious I returned!

Ah… exploiting other’s luck to bring myself benefits has never felt so good (though, I'll have to give him a portion).

Arriving at the village spoils of war in hand (nonpoisonous snake meat). I discovered Stanley had already built campfire just outside of the village. Taking advantage of that, I offer him a portion of the food in exchange for using his campfire to cook it.

Stanley seemed honestly delighted and relieved (also slightly startled by me appearing suddenly). Probably relieved that I didn’t hate him for eating Rin’s food and delighted for offering him a portion of my own food.

Little does Stanley know, I'd already promised him a portion anyway. This was just a convenient excuse to give it to him.

Stanley and I chatted for an hour or so while our food cooked over a low flame. We discussed various topics from back on Earth including novels, animes, and various other otaku topics. I enjoyed simply talking about something remotely familiar in this strange place. Talking with someone of common culture was refreshing after mainly talking one-sidedly with Rin.

Eventually, Rin showed up sniffing constantly as she discovered the smell of cooking meat.

Now before going any further, I would like to mention I’m not normally very observant.

However, this seems to be kinda important... WHEN DID RIN GET WOLF EARS!

Did her Inheritance Manual do that?

I’m like 90% confident (as stated earlier, not observant) she didn’t have them earlier today. I don't remember writing that an inheritance manual provides animal traits in the novel!

I know I said Rin was cute before… now, though, her cuteness is deadly.

I mean, just look at her.

Staring at the cooking meat with those two wolf-ears pointed forward… How is someone supposed to refuse that face? Forcefully tearing my eyes away from her wolf-ears, I gave her a portion of my cooked meat.

Is it normal for Inheritance Manuals to create animal traits?

...I don’t think so?

I haven’t grown a snake tail, tongue, or anything else? Maybe, her Inheritance Manual is special?

Non-verbally questioning Stanley through eye contact about what happened to Rin, but he simply shrugs back at me.

Whilst Rin devoured the meat I'd given her and began salivating over the currently cooking portion, we continuing our short non-verbal conversation.

Frantically gesturing attempting to get the other to breach the conversation of Rin’s new additions.

Unfortunately, Stanley continued to vehemently refused on the entirely unreasonable grounds, he didn’t want to be murdered by Rin.

I shortly afterward realized (convinced myself) I wasn’t that curious about her wolf ears poking out of her red-hair.

Coming to a consensus, we simply decided to ignore Rin additional appendages and never mention them aloud.

After everyone finished eating, Rin informed me of her plan of leaving the village and stated we should prepare to leave as soon as possible.

I agreed with her, although it was for an entirely different reason. I wanted to leave the village because it would speed up my development and allow us to find temples and artifacts faster (whilst Rin was worried about potentially dangerous newcomers).