The invading fox was different from the normal fox; its fur was spiked and filled with dangerous colors of black and red, and most of all, its eyes were demonic, radiating killing intent and weird miasma. Its mouth was wider than normal, almost resembling the mouth of some kind of demon. Sharp fangs looked not that tall, but they were sharp.

This struggle—where the fox was trying to bite through the egg—went on and on without any success. It struggled, growling and upset by its failure. It tried to claw its way into it, but it was futile. Its fangs were much tougher and sharper than its claws.

“Serves you! Forget this egg, you damn animal!” Murai shouted in his mind, but quacks echoed into reality. His quacking wasn't that loud, or this demonic fox didn't hear him amidst its problems.

Murai wasn't fearful, but glad he remained inside his egg. He knew how powerful this eggshell was, so there was no point in being afraid.

However, what he didn't expect was something completely different. Fox could grab this egg above the ground and travel with it. Sure enough, that was what this demonic fox did, and Murai soon discovered the receding water and cliff from his line of vision, disappearing into the lush forest.

Well... This was bound to happen one way or another. It was either me leaving, or this, so why should I be upset or afraid? Murai wondered as he snuggled in his egg, watching the world move from the small hole.

Soon, he noticed a lack of light when his kidnapper entered an unfamiliar cave. The fox was quite a fast traveler, traversing the lush forest for half an hour until it was deep in this forest. This cave was its home, or something else.

Upon entering the cave, Murai tried to glance from the egg, but it was rather dark for him to see something. He could tell this was the fox's home since they preferred caves, or they would dig a hole, or find some empty dens.

Well... Into the maw of the monster, I suppose. How deep is this cave? The last moment of the sun was a minute or so before. That's bad... I doubt I will be able to travel out of the cave system with the body of a duckling. For now, let's focus on the survival aspect since I am in a den of a monster. Murai decided, and a good thing he did, since the demonic fox went as deep as it could get, before tossing the egg to a bunch of bones, rattling them.

The fox did consider this egg to be food, but what kind? Maybe this place was its secret stash; away from the potential foes or other enemies in that forest. But bones weren't the source of food that foxes liked. It was a strange thing, considering the hole in the egg that the fox must have noticed, or perhaps it was stupid and didn't think whatever was inside was dead or alive.

Heh. This stupid cat doesn't know what it is dealing with. I will eat my fill in your pantry and cherish my first kill in this Battleworld by beating you when I can. Take no offense. I will shamelessly do it in a heartbeat. Thank you for the meal you stupid animal. Murai thought in a good mood, and couldn't help but notice the vast amount of food in this place. Beside bones—with some leftover meat on them—were even chunks of bigger best corpses. Mostly already eaten, yet nothing was rotting.

What kind of thing were bones and eggshells? They should be similar to each other and filled with nutrients. Everything here was fine for him to eat for sure.

Soon upon his toss, the fox grabbed some old-looking bones that were almost breaking apart in juices, and traveled back to the surface, or some other part of the cave. Either way, it was soon gone, but Murai remained in a hiding position regardless of the fox's disappearance. It went well since the fox lost interest in his egg, the moment it let go of it.

Murai kept hiding for at least an hour before going out of it. Noticing his surroundings through his senses and general pokes of his beak, he was in the graveyard of bones and meat. He had trouble moving around; the deep cave had no light source.

The pokes of his beak and feet were enough to gain some footing after he got used to small steps and movement. There were some other things besides the bones, but they weren't that interesting. Chests, coins, and weapons of all sorts were beside the bones on the ground. There were also some tattered clothes, indicating the fox ate people.

This didn't surprise Murai, as his eyes adjusted to the lack of light in some weird manner. He didn't know how it happened, considering there was no source of light. Perhaps it had something to do with the Wisdom, or Vitality which were his highest attributes? He wasn't sure, nor would he dare to give his mind his guesses.

The fact was, that he was looking at this cave with surprisingly good eyesight, enabling him to see the most important things. The food!

Eat... Right? What is the world of monsters and animals? A place where the strong eat the weak. This should be a world of that caliber. I like this. Murai thought, seeing the world in a muffed vision that went for a couple of his steps. It was better than nothing.

Looking and walking around, he considered his ideas and came to a simple decision. First, confirmed his size with the hilt of a sword. His height—if he didn't stretch his beak too much upwards—amounted to around 17 centimeters, which is at least twice the height of regular ducklings.

This sword is about right though. I am indeed bigger than fresh ducklings that just emerged from their eggs. That, or I am some freak of their species? Class E beast, huh? What A joke of a monster. Murai sighed and clumsily walked from one thing to another.

There was nothing much in this cave, but his exploration caused some hunger, so he suppressed it by munching the eggshell around the hole like before. While he was at it, he also tried some bones and residual meat that was around it. It was kind of old, not spoiled, and some were weirdly fresh, soft, and juicy. Some meat around the bones resembled cured meat more than anything.

Murai did what he could and noticed that the humidity in this place was very high. His smell provided nothing terrible, while his taste buds were alright. Bones were mostly tasteless, but the food was food, and the meat was tender, yet bland in taste unless some fat and texture wiped the taste.

Eating his fill, Murai was satisfied, and even his beak chirped in pleasure when he gnawed at some long and older bones with leftover fat and meat. “What is this? Why is the taste so elevated? I did taste the raw meat before but it was never like this!” He cried out, munching the bone alongside the meat.

He found this abnormally satisfying, and it was a simple bone that came from the leg of some beast. It was too thick and irregular to be from humans and if there was something Murai knew, then that was how the skeleton of the human body looked like.

With a filled stomach and a nice hunt behind, he went back to his egg through the hole, which wasn't much bigger even though he ate the part around it. The eggshell itself tasted alright, but considering the meat, it was way like eating paper.

Then, there was the surprise. Those were some bones, which had juicy and tasty bone marrow coming out of them. It was like meat, but elevated to another level, making Murai almost dance and scream in delight. He also discovered some bones were softer than others, but he didn't know why. Some also had tastier marrow than others.

But it was all food—a thing that living beings always had to consume.

Disregarding his worries, Murai went to sleep, and upon waking up, he went back to eat some more, repeating this cycle that wasn't half bad from true Bliss.

He did this simple cycle a dozen times in the upcoming days, and no fox came back to check this cave. It appeared this wasn't its primary home, or it could be its treasury. Murai thought it was likely, but what kind of animal would even consider this sort of thing a treasury? Were foxes keen on herding their food like beavers or squirrels?

An intelligent demonic beast could make such choices? I met them countless times in my lives. If this world is how I think it is, it shouldn't be any different. Hell... I am even a beast clever beast myself. Why can't there be others? He explained his logic, resting surrounded by bones he so loved. Anyhow, what's the problem with seeing other intelligent monsters?” He contemplated, munching a piece of bone as if it was a candy.

Right as he was almost done with this one, a sudden sound of dragging and steps echoed in this quiet cave.

Something was entering this part of the cave, and it wasn't that fast. It was slow, allowing Murai to hide back into his egg, even though his hunger was yet to be satisfied.

These days, he noticed a few things about the bigger picture, and something else... His body as a duckling was getting bigger, but it was still fit enough to get into his egg. And after some more chipping of those layers, he had no problems whatsoever.

How long can it last? Maybe another 10 days was most he guessed, but only if he wouldn't eat that much. Another possibility was much simpler. It was natural for a fresh newborn of any animal to grow up fast. Murai wasn't familiar with the growth of the ducks. It would be strange if he would know too much about it.

Screw this... Dogs can eat like a freak and grow up even faster, making a few weeks seem like years. That was quite a well-thought-out excuse for his growth.

Another thing that he discovered was that the meat around the bones was indeed going bad over time, yet it wasn't rotting. It was more like... cooking.

Those bones that were fresh upon his arrival turned softer, that even his beak was able to work with them. If they were fresh, he had some troubles with them.

Unsurprisingly—and after working around the hole—Murai was wide open in his egg if someone would glance at it. Half of his body was visible. It was his fault; he had problems withholding his urges, so the forfeiting of his egg was bound to happen sooner rather than later. What than? Leaving this egg was undeniable.

Thankfully, in the past few days, his body got stronger. It could be because of some additional attributes that emerged every other day through his rest and eating. He got quite a few points for his Body Attributes, reaching 10 points in Strength and Dexterity, and under considerable gluttony and eating. That was a substantial help.

He assumed the numbers didn't go up that fast, but days ago, the voice mentioned they were important enough to let them grow in many ways. How, or when, it didn't say. It just mentioned that they could reach thousands, though there were details omitted. They shouldn't grow very quickly when young, or far too quickly, but he ate like a maniac and his body took it well enough.

Will of the Battleworld did the same thing, giving him due attributes with waves of force that came from the ground.

In the past, when he hatched, it was simple to assume attributes as negligible because he was far too weak. Back then, without any body function, he couldn't be considered as any threat or even worthy to have many Body Attributes.

It was another story right now. His prevalent bodily functions improved, and even his familiarity with movement was greater than ever. Now, he looked at the upcoming visitor from the perspective of a hunter, but a cautious one. Unwilling to hunt yet. He was an intruder too, yet why would he care about it? He was hungry, and if he could, he might as well deal with this Fox who wanted his egg.

Hmph! I will make you wish that you would have never taken this egg at all! He thought to himself. The sounds revealed the same demonic fox that didn't change at all, apart from some additional wounds on its sides. There were claw marks and bite marks. This fox went through rough times of hunting to get new bones that it carried in its mouth.

They cluttered down and behind it, looking like a bunch of bloody bones belonging to some sort of boar beast. There were a lot of long ribcage bones and other thick bones with some meat hanging from them. Murai noticed there were no organs. It should become well preserved here, in this cave that had an unnatural moist atmosphere that he considered as preservation and the reason why nothing was rotting.

There were no intestines that could go bad much sooner, or they wouldn't get bad even here? It was curious. Perhaps they would turn tastier, but the fox ate them before storing them here. Most of the meat around these new bones was long gone, suggesting the fox had its fill.

It was a nice storage for bones. Murai had yet to think about it too much, but he tasted the results of his time and research. Spending those days eating here did enough.

This cave as a whole was filled with nice air and humidity, yet it wasn't a problem for him. He wasn't sure about the temperature at all. He wasn't feeling much about it. It could be very hot, and some condensation on the walls gave him some explanations. Water vapor, moistness... or the ground was the cause?

Such an environment shouldn't be great for meat preservation at all, but that was incorrect. Why, Murai thought. Nothing important. For bones, it was near perfect. Crisp and firm bones turned softer in a couple of days, becoming easier to digest, and bone marrow from the insides was an utter delicacy.

The fox brought these bones here for that reason, as it discovered this cave first, and left some residual meat simply because it was a pain to remove it.

To his luck, the demonic fox didn't notice the portion of the bones missing, so it dropped the new ones beside the old ones. Then it took a few old bones to eat out of the cave. It left this cave again without any trouble.

Leaving Murai alone, which was great, but not the best thing for him. The best news was the notion of new food, which was a bigger pile than many that had already gone through some cooking. All he had to do was wait for them to get softer, causing the marrow to become softer, moist, and leaking.

According to his few experiments with new bones and old bones, it didn't take long until they got softer. When he smashed them apart with his beak, he could lower that time by a day or two.

“What a great day this is! No danger, and plenty of food with very little effort. This is a paradise!” Murai cheerfully quacked, going back to munching some bones that were much bigger than him, so it would take a long time for him to eat everything.

Though the time limit was his biggest enemy and—considering his size—it was becoming apparent that he was getting too comfortable with how much he ate.

I am not getting fatter. Digesting... It's a problem. Or not. Yeah. It's not one at all. He reckoned as he chewed, breaking a rib. Right. I have a fast, monstrous metabolism. He thought, flopping aside, lying and laying on his back as if he ate too much.

Bones made quite a good chair, and he was right. He ate a lot of stuff in the past days, and he could tell it was a lot more than this body could take.

His attributes were the following: Strength at 10, Dexterity at 10, and Vitality at 18. Wisdom remained the same, but Murai didn't care for it. Vitality improved by 3 points alone, leaving him kind of bummed after he ate for so many days. At least the rest of the Body Attributes moved closer toward it, creating a tighter balance.

Yeah. He closed his eyes. I am indeed good at wasting time, am I not? He thought, opening his eyes and a certain decision was on his face. It's time to change this!

Murai reignited his confidence for a couple of reasons.

The starting principle was simple. How easily he ate the bones gave his body considerable growth, and his beak and teeth became quite sharper in a short amount of time.

Another was his comfort. Living like this was too good for him and his standards. It was true he liked it in some ways, but this life wasn't the kind he wished to take in this direction. The world seemed interesting for some exploration. That was enough for him to disregard his discomfort over being a duck.

The last reason was important and included one of the few rules about his Cursed Living. He had yet to uncover anything about this world or move somewhere with his power besides some simplicity. Laziness was fine in pieces. And more importantly, his Living went against the Laws. Thus, it was better to change his outlook by thinking further about evolution, while his overall hopes were separate like his soul, memories, or what he was.

This life was similar. Some things didn't matter.

He needed information.

Remembering the voice, it was about 250 days since his New Beginning. It could be more, but he didn't care for days of his sleeping, or eating. Nothing much changed in his act since he arrived in this cave. His movement in the dark improved as he ate the bones, moved, or trained on the ground.

At least he had various targets for his experiments. His beak attacks grew steadily like his teeth, feathers, and bones. The natural order of his physical growth did the rest. It seemed to be quick enough to call it some progression, or maybe he was too lazy. He could be so much more, or were there some limits? At least he was no longer so small, and his neck and flexibility increased

Was eating too much a bad choice? If so, what was he supposed to be doing in this life of bizarre monstrosity? There was supposed to be help from some form of life companionship, or so he heard when Will of the Battleworld gave him its welcoming words. There was also some World Soul or something like that. What was that about, Murai wondered. It was nowhere like his evolution, so it must be unique to this world.

Sighting on top of the bones, he figured his time wasn't closing on anything, yet his body was what it was.

In the upcoming days, Murai was beginning his plan to get deadly. His training against the stones and bones with his beak was a great way to form some attacks, but what it could do against that large fox? Murai's beak wasn't as big as its head, but it should manage to reach deep enough to cause some wounds. Considering strategies for using it as a weapon felt right, as it felt like a small sword or a dagger that was part of his body. It was also close to his eyesight, so his accuracy might be perfect.

But his overall flesh or neck might be a problem.

An ambush should work the best in his opinion.

Later, the moment he feared came sooner. His upper body could no longer get into his egg, even though his head could. It was a funny sight since the egg wasn't meant to be some form of bunker for protecting Anatidaes. It was meant for their birth and to give them food, yet he hadn't eaten it all because he had so much better choices.

He got what he deserved. Murai didn't care. A quick and rather laughable idea to make armor out of it came to his mind. He figured it would be rather clumsy, considering the lack of crafting methods with his body and nonexistent hands, so he forgot about it soon afterward.

Maybe he will consider it later since he let go of his urge to eat it. He rather ate the bones, leaving half of this egg for another time. For now, he had a greater task, and it wasn't like it did any harm.

It was quite the opposite. He found his body more energetic, and he no longer needed to sleep too long.