Mochi wakes up to a bright light shining into her eyes. This is unusual, as normally she sleeps underground, with basically no light. Reluctantly and still half asleep, she opens her eyes, and immediately looks away because it was the sun.

"~hm? Why is the sun visible? And why does it smell weird?" Slowly, as the questions begin piling up, her mind grows more and more awake. Did something happen that led her to this position? Well, what happened last night? She found angel beard lichen, helped the wolf, and then...

Mochi slowly looks up, and her head bumps into the neck of the wolf. Ah, so that's what happened. "Oh, sorry mr. Wolf! I must've been too tired!" She yelps, while carefully getting up and backing away from the wolf. They're in a different position from yesterday, so has the paralysis worn off?

Sure enough, once Mochi backs away enough, the wolf shifts positions into a half-sit, half-laying position. Likely due to the wounded leg, which is currently wrapped in way too many layers of leaves (Mochi definitely overdid it in her exhaustion). Now fully awake, Mochi gets a good look at the wolf. She didn't have much time to really look before now.

The wolf's fur was a deep black, with bits of grey undercoat just barely visible from below. Their eyes were an odd blue color, which is usually impossible for normal wolves. And they look a bit big for a wolf, though maybe that's just because Mochi is a very small fox.

Finishing with a quick look over for any other injuries or issues, Mochi finds nothing else wrong (or at least, nothing that she can see). Now that she's finished though, there's a silent awkward pause where neither fox nor wolf knows what to do.

"Uh... well, if you're feeling good, then you can go now! I'll check in later just in case... oh, try not to mess with the 'bandage' too much." Mochi says, partially out of habit. Even in her past life she said this to beasts who couldn't understand her.

And then Mochi runs away, a bit embarrassed. It's only once she's far away does she realize that sleeping next to a wolf was, in fact, really dangerous. Especially for a small fox such as herself. Well, best not to think about what could've happened. Yep.

Looking up at the sun's position, Mochi realizes that it's still fairly early in the morning. Normally, she'd still be asleep at this time. Given this opportunity, Mochi decided to go on a relaxing walk around and just enjoy the scenery. Maybe she'll even see some morning roses!

And so, the little fox walked, as birds chirped overhead, bugs buzzed around, and a cool blue breeze blew through. A mix of forest sounds and earthen smells filled Mochi with a relaxing mood. These past few days have been terribly busy. But now, she can just forget everything and enjoy today, starting with this moment.

After thoroughly absorbing the atmosphere, Mochi begins looking for breakfast. Oh, and she'll remember to grab some for the crows, of course. She hopes they won't hate her for having to ignore them for a few days.

Walking through familiar trees, Mochi decides to have some pepper peas today. And so, she makes her way to that pepper pea bush she found so long ago, and carefully eats a few. She enjoys the warmth in her mouth, before tearing off a branch for the crows. Now, where should...

And then the sound of cawing fills the sky, as several crows emerge out of the tree tops. How convenient. "Hello crows! Sorry, I got busy, but I finished! Today is pepper peas~" Mochi calls out, before dropping the branch and backing away. Almost immediately, the crows drop down and peck at the peas.

Leaving the crows alone, Mochi walks off to do something important that she almost forgot about. There was a special lichen that might be useful... if it grows properly.

Returning home, Mochi covers the entrance to try and make the inside as dark as possible. In the darkness, on a blob of plant material, is a tiny patch of blue glowing lichen. The angel beard has taken root! That was the had part, now all Mochi has to do is store it in a safe environment. Luckily, the storage room is good enough for angel beard.

Relocating the blob carefully to the special storage room, she stores it next to the glowy gems. She spends an extra minute in the room to check up on the other stored items, before leaving. Next she goes to her bedroom, where her bed is currently scattered around.

Mochi spends a while fixing it (and obtaining more soft material from outside to make it comfy again). By the end, she feels a bit hungry again. It's time for some more food! And this time, she'll try hunting. Having a balanced broad diet was important, and the past few days weren't exactly balanced all that much.

Mochi hops out of her home and picks a random direction to hunt in. While looking for useful plants helped in learning where everything is, it didn't help with finding spots with prey. And so, the next best thing is to just explore!

Little did the fox know, a shadowy figure watches her leave her home. It slinks back away, out of sight of the crows now following the fox.

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Sir Leitnir was supposed to be a third ranked knight. So why is he suffering going through the Blighted Forest! Even worse, it rained halfway through, and a flash flood nearly dragged away his supplies. Mottle wasn't so lucky, having both his tent and sleeping bag washed away. On the bright side, less weight to carry.

This mission was supposed to be easier. All they had to do was deliver a message to some random town in the middle of nowhere. Ideally, they would've just used the merchant roads around the forest. Unfortunately, a recent dragon attack meant the road was impassable. And the alternative, a long detour the other way, would've taken way too long. And so, through circumstances beyond their control, the mission was now so much worse.

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As Leitnir and Mottle grumbled about their bad luck, a rustling nearby catches their attention. Immediately, they stop and draw their weapons, a spear and a machete. Forests are dangerous places, but knowing where to watch makes things just a little easier.

Out of a bush runs out a squirrel. And behind it, a small fox runs after it. The knights' tension fades, as it is only a small fox hunting. Though, as the squirrel runs up a tree, the fox is left with no way to chase. It stops, before noticing the two knights and freezing in place.

"Hey, how much do fox pelts go for again?"

"Mottle, no. We're not allowed to hunt anything in this forest. Might get blighted." Leitnir reprimands his friend. Though he immediately regrets mentioning the reason.

"Ha! You believe that? Blight isn't something you get, it's a plant thing!"

Of course, neither of them know for sure what 'blight' actually meant. The scholars were the ones to coin the term, and they were knights, not scholars.

"Just leave the fox alone. Not like it'll be worth much with how small it is." Despite saying that, Leitnir uses 'appraisal' just in case. There is always a small chance this is a rare species.

Oak tree [D]; significant damage to bark from recent storm, large fungal infection makes wood unsuitable for [...]

Leitnir curses. Aiming 'appraisal' at anything further than a few steps away was always hard, especially when the target is so small. He's tempted to get closer, but is afraid that he'll scare the fox away.

"Missed appraisal. Why don't you try?"

Mottle nods, and uses his own 'appraisal'. Normally he wouldn't, as he can only use it once a day, but unlike Leitnir he's a lot better at aiming-

No target detected.

"...wh-"

The fox then runs away, as Leitnir looks over at Mottle for the result. However, Mottle is stuck staring at the result. "No target detected? But it was just- you saw the fox, right?"

There are many skills that can be used to identify something. Some only provide limited information. Others can give in-depth explanations. But all have a few consistent abilities. First, when used against another creature, it always reveals the target's level no matter what. Next, information cannot be faked, only hidden. And finally, anything you can see can be a target, even illusions and hallucinations.

And yet, the fox could not be targeted. It broke the third rule.

The two knights stand there, bewildered by what they just encountered. Something that looked and acted like a fox, but could not be targeted? If it was only Leitnir's appraisal, then they could've written it off as missing. But Mottle was accurate down to a grain of rice.

Just another reason to get out of this forest as soon as possible. The two knights keep walking ahead. According to their map, the village should be about one more day's walk away. Good thing they found those apples, food won't be an issue.

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Wisteria lets out a sigh of relief. While the two knights haven't done anything yet, their encounter with the fox was certainly bad luck. Unlike with the prime wolf, who properly understood the danger of hurting someone under her protection, the knights were outsiders.

Speaking of the prime wolf, his encounter with the fox was... unusual. The fox actively helped them recover. Well, Wisteria would be lying if she said she didn't expect this. The fox was already a fairly kind individual, giving free food to crows. Force feeding a wolf was, technically, similar enough.

There was also the ghostvines though. Wisteria knows how painful those can be, so why did the fox put it on the prime wolf's wounds? Clearly the fox knew it hurt, so was there a special reason to it? Wisteria notes to experiment with ghostvine later. Maybe it had medicinal properties.

Though, now that the prime wolf isn't paralyzed anymore, she should check up on them. She shifts one of her eyes over to the prime wolf's territory, and searches around. Yet oddly, she doesn't find them at all. Though, the other wolves have calmed down, so the prime wolf must've at least told them he's fine.

Oh well, Wisteria doesn't particularly care what the prime wolf does. She looks back over at the fox, who seems quite discouraged by the failed hunt. Oh well, not every attempt will be a success. Out of curiosity, she wonders what level the fox is now.

"Lily, what is it?" A young white crow lands next to Wisteria, who spends no time questioning Lily's intentions.

However, Lily remains silent, and simply snuggles up to Wisteria. Wisteria sighs, but wraps a wing around Lily anyways. Lily worked hard the past few days, she deserved this moment.

Looking out over the entire forest now, there is a faint glow of mana spread throughout. The pollen was spread nice and evenly. Everything will grow just a little better this year. Another step closer to a holy land.

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Mochi walks, head down in disappointment. Today's hunt was an utter failure. She tried three different times, but every time they managed to escape her. First was a rat that hid in a deep hole, then a hare who outran her, and finally a squirrel who ran up a tree.

Well, this isn't the first time she failed hunting. That's just how it ends sometimes. Maybe she'll have better luck tomorrow. Hopefully, she won't run into those knights again. She was lucky enough that they were too far to attack her, but next time she might not be so lucky.

Though, she did find it odd that they were so slow to react. Maybe they were as surprised as she was. After all, if you were expecting a bear or something, and then a tiny fox jumped out, then surely you'd take a moment to react?

Well, Mochi wasn't sure. She isn't a soldier, she's a fox (formerly a scholar). Maybe they were waiting to see if she attacked.

Anyways, Mochi finally returns home... and notices something odd lying nearby. It looks to be a rabbit, though completely unresponsive. Walking up to it, Mochi tries shaking it. A bit stiff and cold, the rabbit has likely been dead for less than an hour. Uncertain of what to do, she checks around for any danger. Yet, finding nothing, and no sign of the cause of death, she decides to not let the corpse go to waste, and eat it.

Of course, there's a risk of disease or something, but Mochi knows where to get some silver capshrooms. If she feels sick tomorrow, she'll be able to treat it. (She'll get some anyways since there might not be symptoms.)

Finishing up, she moves the corpse a good distance away from her home for the scavengers to find. Then, she goes down into the little hole and straight to her newly made grass bed. Curling up, she begins drifting off to sleep, as today was the first Sunday in quite a while.

"I wish I knew what you're saying, mr. narrator. Good night!"