After extensive nothings I have made a discovery: plants are a type of creature!

Or rather, it’s more like plants are a type of creature for people who are not me…

But, within the dirt, they say. Roots are also within the dirt, they say. Nutrients(?) too.

No, I’m getting side-tracked. The point is that this had to be the thing I’ve been missing. Actually, if I keep focusing on the dirt after the Dungeon Network’s info thingy comes up, then I can make it… larger. It seems the dirt is blatantly unaffected by this, as it does not truly change size. What changes is the viewing method.

In other words, another technique.

I’m clearly some sort of genius, clearly, for finding another one so quickly.

However, this viewing method does take mana because it is a special technique, which is different from the normal viewing.

Focusing in on a single point, I start to zoom in.

First, dirt becomes unexpectedly grainy if you really look at it.

Yes, truly. This is the critical information needed to save my life and conquer the universe!

Okay, it’s not.

In reality I haven’t lost yet, because what I needed was within the dirt. You see? That is why I am a genius.

I try moving just the topmost grains, and to my surprise I am able to do so. Effortlessly, in fact.

Underneath the first grain is another grain, and underneath that is a third one of course. Keep going and you will enter the expansive universe that is a tunnel, I guess. It makes it feel like I’m surrounded by some uncountable amount of little planets or something.

….

…...Um?

Could it be that I, myself, was the one who was unexpectedly huge?

Aaahhhh, it feels like I’m really pushing it with the mana cost, but let’s fully explore here.

The grain is similar to a rock. No, it really is a rock. If these are all rocks, then why in the world is dirt considered to be something different from rocks?

…

Somehow, it feels like the Dungeon Network doesn’t have an answer for me here.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

I’m kind of annoyed that I’m suddenly back to rock viewing when I was supposed to be making progress.

I start throwing rocks here and throwing rocks there, and after a few minutes of these greatest of rocks, I see something move.

!! The tail-end of something is definitely slipping between the rocks, this is no joke!

I see. Within the rocks(dirt).

As the master of this place, I can send any number of these rocks flying. So even if this newly found creature wishes to escape, resistance is futile. Within seconds, I’ve uncovered the target.

It seems confused by my actions, so I take this opportunity to surround it with mana. Or so I thought, but the instant I thought about sending my mana to the creature, it was already absorbed, and the creature was already mine. No surrounding it with mana, no time for struggles, no resistance.

It was weird.

I guess Great Dunes didn’t say whether it would struggle or not, but he did say you had to surround it. Not just sending it directly like I wound up doing.

Hmm, oh well. It’s mine now.

My first creature is…. I don’t know what this is!

Nothing is jumping to mind.

[Unknown Creature]

Really, nothing is jumping to mind somehow.

Ah, why is the Dungeon Network suddenly useless?!

I have to do everything myself here, seriously.

Well, I guess all I can do is analyse it trait by trait then.

It goes without saying that the main feature of our creature is its oval shape! It’s… very round. I’m not sure what my mental image of creatures was, but it feels like I was expecting it to be less round than this.

The second feature is that it’s covered with something like… hairs? I guess these are hairs. If there’s a lot of hairs, it becomes fur, but these hairs are evenly spaced out. Meaning, it’s hairy rather than furry.

And then, our third and final feature! The tails. There’s a long main tail that is slightly longer than the oval body. This is followed by two middle length tails on either side of the main tail. They are about half the length of the main tail. Under the middle length tails are the small length tails, about a third of the main tail. This makes a total of 5 tails.

According to the Dungeon Network, it seems that the average creature only has one tail, with only some famous notable exceptions such the kitsune.

How many tails does a kitsune have? One to nine. Is this not clearly a kitsune then? Stupid Network.

….

Alright! I’ve decided to waste extra mana on this! To find out what other notable features a kitsune has!

[One of the most important features of the kitsune are their adorable triangular ears!]

Useless?!

Who wrote this?! Isn’t this some sort of biased opinion?! I don’t even know what ears are!

Hah.

Okay, okay. What I have before me is like that. An earless creature.

When I look really carefully, this creature is actually semi-transparent too. There is a shadowy mass in the center of it that looks all squiggly and stuff. Hm. This leads me to conclude… nothing. I guess the only option is to observe the creature in action?

I give my first ever command: continue as normal!

The creature instantly vanishes into the rocks!

I see!

The answer is that my first creature is some sort of coward!

I’m glad I was able to solve that mystery.