I waited once again beside the creek, waiting for a creature to pass by. I wasn’t hungry after the night; I needed a creature so that the pup would fix me. After learning that my wings are needed for [Dodge] to work, I rushed to the creek once I got out of torpor.

The forest was strangely quiet, too quiet in fact.

I didn’t immediately head off to the creek, I had a new [Skill] to figure out, yet I couldn’t exactly figure out what it did. I tried mentally shifting my exoskeleton, yet that didn’t work.

I decided not to spend too much time on testing out different ways to use my [Skill], Like the [Essence of the Moon], it might be something I waste a lot of time on with no result rather I went along with my day.

Just before I went to the creek, I did momentarily stop to check on the Lurker’s remains, and for some strange reason they were not there anymore, I didn’t exactly know what happened to them, but either they disappeared due to the sun, or some other creature ate them.

The leaves started falling this day; Which I was thankful as the forest seemed brighter than before.

I watched as the creature that blended into the surroundings, drank from the creek. My boredom was making my mind wander as I thought about how tasty that creature was.

Wait... what?

I watched in fascination as without warning the creature got bitten by its own shadow, which looked extremely similar to the large black pup.

Oh, I was wondering where you went

I had thought they would be around the creek as I had seen them being around here for so long, but it's been a couple of days since I last saw them.

I decided to use [Appraisal] on the creature but I received no response, annoying but I cant do anything about that. I watched as the creature couldn’t even cry out before it went limp. I was sure I would’ve freaked out if I saw that the first time, but now? I wasn’t even surprised.

It scared me a bit with how nonchalant I was, but I tried my best to ignore that.

I went deeper into the trees quietly, but a leaf fell right in front of me scaring me and causing me to jump back, yet thankfully there was no noise.

Yet as I looked at the pitch-black pup, I found out that it was staring right back at me. It might’ve seen my sudden movement.

It didn’t spend another moment on me and rather started dragging the now dead creature, up the creek.

I stood there motionless and speechless.

I decided not to bother with the fact that there was another creature in this forest that didn’t want me dead, I had to worry about getting another creature for the white pup.

I once again regained my spot in the bushes, hiding.

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The day was once again going slowly, thankfully it was warmer today and there was no water falling from the sky.

Should I quickly clean myself?

I was still dirty from this night, and it was starting to bother me.

And why is it so quiet?!

My mind kept wandering to subjects I would rather not think about. I didn’t have to worry about such things before as the constant sounds distracted me. I was already struggling to keep my mood up, yet those efforts were futile just because of today.

I’m getting distracted, let's just... clean, yeah.

I trotted up to the creek, my mood worsening as I still couldn’t hear anything, I was very sure that the creek made a sound that I liked listening to.

The piercing cold I welcomed as it was distracting, I laid there, feeling the running water flow through my fur, collecting bits of dirt on its way.

I was at peace until the white pup appeared above me, I looked into its eyes before realizing the situation which caused me to panic as I desperately tried to make distance between the two of us.

I watched the white pup carefully, it seemed larger than before, it looked at me with its head titled as I slowly got out of the water. It waited a moment before it trotted up to me. I was momentarily confused on how it made no noise but then again, I couldn’t hear anything.

I don’t have anything to give you so don’t-

I tried to reason with it even though I knew it couldn’t hear me, yet for some reason it still placed its leg on top of my head. I immediately shook it off me as I had nothing to give it, and I’d rather not take off a piece of me.

It stared at me with its unchanging eyes, and I just continued going backwards, I didn’t stop even after I made it into the tree line.

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I wandered through the forest, looking for a creature, yet without being able to hear anything it was hard, until I finally found a fat grey creature eating a yellow flower.

I immediately used [Appraisal] on it to lure it towards me.

[Level] - [2 / 10] [Age] - [4 months] [Species] - [Hare] [Sub-Species] - [Young Mourning Hare] [Level] - [2 / 10]

Due to constant use of [Appraisal], [Appraisal] has gone up in level.

Seeing that my [Appraisal] went up in level brought me joy as that meant more information, I was going to use [Appraisal] on the Hare again, yet it was already running off in the other direction.

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I looked at the running Hare in exasperation and looked at the blue rectangle in betrayal. I trotted up to the flower the Hare was eating and used [Appraisal] on it instead.

Common Yellow Thbra A common flower with no special qualities.

I wasn’t sure how much more information I got as this was my first time using [Appraisal] on this flower, I’d have to use it on my [Status] again.

First, I should focus on finding a creature.

I looked in the direction that the Hare went in and followed.

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I came along a lot of other creatures which I was not able to get as they were all too fast for me, that’s when I saw another Hare, yet this Hare’s leg looked ensnared in a thick gray line, the Hare was bleeding and struggling with pauses in-between.

I looked around for anything that looked out of place, but nothing was odd. But before I went closer, I first used [Appraisal] on the Hare and the strange object.

[Name] - [???]

[Age] - [9 months]

[Species] - [Hare]

[Sub-Species] - [Leaping Hare]

[Level] - [6 / 25]

Stats:

[Dexterity] – highest

Ensnaring trap - small A trap made to ensnare a small animal.

There was something new on the [Status], does that mean the Hare’s [Dexterity] is the highest level out of all of them? It would make sense but I’m not sure.

I carefully trotted over to the Hare, and I noticed that it opened its mouth to scream, yet I couldn’t hear it. I didn’t waste any more time and jammed my leg into its head. Compared to the mourning Hare, this one was bigger and was larger than me, I was hoping that the white pup would take it.

I looked at the Ensnaring trap and tapped it multiple times, nothing happened.

I didn’t want to bother with the trap so I simply bit off the Hare’s leg and started dragging the Hare, the sun was going to set soon so it would be a better idea to bring the dead Hare the next day.

That was the plan until the white pup trotted up to me out of nowhere. I was startled once again by the sudden appearances.

Did you follow me-

My inner thoughts were interrupted as the white pup wasted no time and placed its leg on top of me. It was still slightly uncomfortable having another creature make contact with me, but I tried not to move too much this time.

As I had nothing to do, I simply stared into the white eyes of the pup. They were pure white, yet the longer I looked, I could see another color, a golden hue was present just at the edges of the eyes. It looked like the golden hue was swirling around the white center.

It was almost perfect, which I think is better than perfect. Perfect reminds me of endless plains of nothingness, a void.

My inner monologue was interrupted by a loud pop with the sound of wind howling. It was too much as the world I was in before was silent, I was momentarily stunned as I fell to the ground.

The sounds of creatures from afar brought immense joy, with the sound of the wind blowing through the trees giving me peace.

The pup had taken a step back, before coming back and placing its leg once again on me. I didn’t move and rather soaked up the sound of anything,

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Once the pup was finished, I felt intense hunger, which confused me as I had eaten not too long ago.

Is this because the pup healed me?

My wings didn’t seem to regrow, but I felt better. The ends of my wings felt scorching hot, however, which gave me some hope, but I would have to see.

I looked up into the sky and slightly panicked as the sky was turning orange, the pup confused also looked up and froze.

I quickly twirled around hoping that the signs that Alea gave me would transfer to the pup, yet that seemed hopeless as it didn’t even pay attention to me.

Not wanting to leave the pup alone after it healed me, I gently bit into one of its legs, my hunger spiking, yet not enough to cause my rationality to fall due to me being engulfed in moon light.

I heard a piercing yelp causing an echo in my ears. I squinted but pulled the pup forward before letting go.

I started trotting quickly towards the direction I thought my home was in, I momentarily paused as I didn’t hear the pup following me and looked back. The pup was looking at me once again with its head tilted.

It was only for a moment before it bit into the Hare and quickly came up beside me. I didn’t wait for another moment as I started running through the forest, the sounds of the pup panting sounding close to me.

I was hoping that because we were on a slight incline that we were close to my home, but I wasn’t too sure. I had started looking for creatures towards my home and I did mark a tree every now and then, but I wasn’t sure what tree and unlike before, I did not have the time to check every tree.

I relied on my memory and thankfully it wasn’t wrong as the areas we passed seemed familiar, the terrain was starting to get more steep. I quickly stopped and looked for the pup, it was quieter than before.

It was farther away and seemed to run at a slower pace, which was good for me as I had time to search for the marking.

The pup caught up with me and it was breathing heavily, it seemed thankful for me stopping, but I won't know for sure as it was starting to get dark, and the pup was unreadable.

It took me a bit of searching before I found a marking, I looked at the pup and started trotting upwards and, the pup followed closely.

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Just as the sun left the sky, we finally reached my home, I passed by the broken tree and rushed into the hole below the tree. I didn’t wait for the pup as it should have seen where I went, it would have been its fault if it stayed out there and died.

Not too long I heard the earth give way and the dirty form of the white pup was revealed to me by the glowing moss.

The Hare was not with the pup which confused me, but then it went back into the tunnel for a moment, then came back dragging the Hare into the main room, it had stopped bleeding a long time ago, yet the sight still caused my body to cry out for giving away the Hare.

It dropped the Hare in the middle of the room and looked around. It seemed to lose all interest in the Hare as it explored the now smaller room.

It didn’t explore for long as there was not much to explore, it looked at me before looking at the dead Hare, it once again tilted its head.

We stared at each other until the pup bit into the Hare and chucked it at me.

I looked at the Hare then back at the pup, I didn’t waste another moment and started eating.