"..."

"Knowledge... ideas... information... Since when have I awoken... sentience?..."

A fox demon, born of mana inside a rural forest slowly begins to take note of his surroundings with more detail upon realizing the world outside of his pure instincts.

All he remembered, was to forage and hunt, catching insects, snacking on berries, fallen fruit, occasional nuts... and burrowing whenever he planned to sleep... a very simple life of an omnivorous animal.

Blinking, he takes note of his surroundings... nothing but dirt and rocks... gradually he memorized in depth of how he dug his tunnels.

Without much thought, he would start to go about his day. First things first, water. He usually took his mornings to start by heading over to a river a bit away for a drink.

It isn't too far... only a few minutes at a casual pace; he reached the river and after looking around would then take a drink.

A short visit, after quenching his thirst he quickly leaves to begin foraging.

An ordinary day for him, he finds some nuts today and would sniff them, making sure they're fresh enough, then bite the shell and simply break it. Easily able to eat nuts as he finds them, it doesn't take very many to fill him up for now.

After finished eating and drinking, he would return to his home to make sure his home isn't taken by any others and would rest in his burrow.

Occasionally when bored, he would use some energy to expand the tunnels more to get more space and eventually open up more passages...

An uneventful day, around noon he would go out to drink and eat once more, berries or plants, and return to get ready to rest before the sun will set for the day...

Days pass on without much change. The habits of an animal difficult to change.

However he begins to realize he has been dreaming as of recently....

Some things are hard to grasp... some are hard to remember...

But they're interesting to say the least...

He started to look forward to when he would go to sleep the oncoming days at some point, wanting to sleep longer but finding it pointless as after waking up it's difficult to fall back asleep again when it's morning...

Their memories began to assimilate and he started to realize and feel emotions with his interest piqued....

Having been mostly been alone, this curiosity and interest kept him occupied for a bit as he starts to develop his thinking abilities, strengthening his sentience.

The memories have gotten more stronger... the dreaming and assimilation growing... going to sleep was entertaining. At some point he understood his memories and began to recall stories from another world....

"Fascinating..." simply indulging in such a mysterious process of a reincarnation... he was impatient to get to sleep whenever a new day began.

Unfortunately it must end at some point... the assimilation has completed and the dreams have stopped. His sentience has grown. He no longer dreams in his sleep.

It took a few nights to realize this occurrence, but even if a bit regretful, the experience should be good enough.

With a lack of things to do now, he started to ponder...

It's nice, peaceful and safe around where he lives but staying forever isn't something he could do now that he knows more.

"Would there happen to be humans around?..."

This thought interested him the most.

But before he would go he theorizes up on his own existence.

He is a little Fox demon... an animal he would classify as adorable... but he has been living alone without parents.

Thus he thought... he must've been some sort of monster, demon, or whatever special entity that was created by mana perhaps.

He hasn't encountered any others similar to himself in these safe forests so it must be very likely he's an absurdly rare creature.

Hopefully, as long as he's reserved, he shouldn't be attacked by humans like the so called monsters which he labels vermin.

But now that aside, "Magic should exist?..." he thought up of it, hopefully as a special existence, maybe he can utilize some magic.

Fire would be too dangerous in a forest but water is very important.

"Would the water I conjure be drinkable?" He then experimented within his burrow, attempting to control his magic...

It wasn't very difficult, intuitively he felt a mental strain as he conjured up a few droplets of water that accumulated in the air in front of his face.

He then gave the floating orb of water some a licks and realized it tasted like the water from the river he drinks at.

"This probably doesn't summon the water, but create it... a replica that's usable..." he assumed so, since if it summoned existing water then either it's space magic related or droughts might occur accidentally even if it's not space magic.

It also seems like with the existence of magic, it doesn't seem to follow some law of equivalency that existed in the memories of his assimilated mind.

Fortunately this means he doesn't have to worry about water.

"I can probably clean myself up more often later once I improve my water magic."

He excitedly thought happily for his affinity to utilize water magic. Many issues should be resolved by this fortunate event.

That being the case, he has less fear of leaving his home since the limitations of water will not apply to his movements.

"Now, where would I find people?..." he would ponder about what to do next. He hasn't explored very much of his surroundings now that he thought about it.

"Sleeping out in the open is no good..." his small size is definitely an issue. He can't simply camp out thoughtlessly. A carnivorous bird would be a huge threat to himself.

His plan formulated from there. It would be a hassle, but making many burrows would give him more homes to sleep at or hide if needed.

He thought if he could use earth magic, perhaps he can quickly make them with magic.

"Let's try earth magic!..." only after trying he had instantly become disappointed. He couldn't feel any movements from the earth no matter how he thought about it. Pushing it, removing it, creating some... none worked.

He thought his affinity for it was possibly not a thing.

After trying other ideas of elements... his other attribute he discovered was fire.

He made a little spark of embers but that's enough. He is a bit hesitant and afraid of fire.

The consequences and disasters of fire filled his mind but he shook it off, "As long as I'm careful it'll be ok."

He adds burrowing to his routine now, finding another tree to burrow under as he starts on his second home else where...

After managing the first new burrow preperation, he would start to scout where a good 3rd burrow would be to slowly find a human settlement.

Meanwhile, the convenience of water magic is great. Without spending time walking to the river anymore. He can use all his time to focus of foraging and digging.

Being within the heart of a forest... finding people will be quite a difficult task...

Scouting around... there weren't any roads to indicate a path to any settlement unfortunately.

"This is taking a long time... could I fight my way out?..."

He gives it a few thoughts and thinks the risk is too great

Not only would he tire fast, but there are possibly greater dangerous situations in case of encountering an advanced creature with greater magic abilities than himself.

At a whim his best was to splash a ball of water harmlessly at a tree.

"My head..." and another consequence,  creating enough water that could even drench himself wet completely had taken a toll on his mind.

He went back onto his burrow quickly to nap and rest his stained mind.

It appears that mental power is required to utilize magic...

It isn't too bad of a feeling but being tired mentally is still a nuisance.

He woke up to experiment a bit more, trying to use up as much water magic as possible but he didn't pass out.

What happened was that he had reduced focus, having limited his mind...

He then took a nap before reflecting upon his experience.

He realized he was mentally too tired... enough to stay awake, but he knew he couldn't cast anymore at the time. Also he couldn't focus at his surroundings that well in terms of wariness, his focus tunneled into a very few things at a time.

He could still think but it would definitely be dangerous to be put into a tired state all alone.

He only took a nap but still feels mentally fatigued. He might feel really tired again if he tries casting a bit more.

His condition is well enough to allow foraging so he went to find stuff then and would rest for the remainder of the day safely...

The next day he resumed operations again... making burrows is a lot of work. It's tiresome but an essential in order to keep safe.

After the third burrow have been finished he tried to scout again in now new territory...

He finds himself a bit impatient again... It's going to take a long time to find people at this rate... "Frustrating..."

The little fox resists the urge to try something reckless and would finish his day again having looked around enough for a while.

Starting to settle down, he starts feeling uncomfortable... a sense of loneliness is settling in.

Thinking more about it, he definitely has been alone for practically his whole life...

He didn't really realize it since he lacked sentience back then as a wild creature, but he also feels he must've surely felt lonely without anyone else to be around.

Resigning to an uneventful sleep... it actually turns out not so well.

This time around, unpleasant memories would fill into his mind... as though he had a few nightmares, he suffers in his sleep

These new emotions are unbearable, the loneliness, melancholy, paranoia, anxiety... it all causes him to wake up sooner than usual but clouds his mind and judgement.

In fear, the fox demon suddenly rushes out of his burrow and frantically runs around randomly in the dimly lit forest. The atmosphere seems restlessly foreboding for him currently, tricking him to think he's still somewhat in a nightmare of being lost and alone.

By the time fatigue gets to him waking him up from freaking out and realizing his situation... he noticed he just got lost and doesn't know the way back to his territory.