Chương 11: Chapter 10: Observe

[Ice Resistance EXP has been obtained. Ice Resistance EXP has been obtained. Ice Resistance EXP has been obtained...]

Subtle notifications sounded off inside mind as Miles burrowed himself into the snow, slowly treading along it until he reached the forest's edge. It was now the flock of Geese were now in close view in his radius. Because he remained cloaked in the snow, the Geese didn't spot Miles oncesoever. They continued to frolic around happily, beating their wings to rinse off their bodies, while some tried to extend their beaks down into the water in hopes to catch some fish. It's not like the entire lake's rim was frozen, only partially.

It could allow Miles to walk across it, snatch one Geese in rapid succession, take it by the neck, and burrow himself back in the snow again.

'There's just one slight problem though...I don't think I'll be able to kill all ten and their leader like this. Geese, and especially Canadian Geese are really smart animals. They'll be able to memorize me. No doubt about that...', Miles thought to himself, thinking of an attack plan with the Geese now in sight. Thankfully Geese were known to settle down for a while once they've picked a spot, so Miles didn't need to worry about them suddenly leaving or anything.

'Plus foxes don't really attack head on unless they know they can get the kill. They're cunning creatures. They like to attack stealthily, like what I'm doing now by burrowing myself in the snow here...', Miles continued. Right now, his current appearance made him goofy. Most of his body was tucked away inside the snow, but his head peaked out ever so slightly, leaving only his snout and ears visible. His tail stuck out at the other end of his body. Just like that, he inched ever so closer to where the snow met the ice.

'Hmm. How should I go about this?', Miles wondered. One of the nearest Geese was now within reach for him to claim. Miles took a moment to observe the Geese's behavior. The Goose was currently distracted, and didn't seem to be aware of Miles's presence nearby. It was nestling its beak inside its feathers, likely cleaning its body. Every so often, it would even hide its head, leaving the Goose defenseless.

Or perhaps the Geese knew Miles already came within reach, and they just don't care about him?

Either way, it was an opportunity to attack. Miles was deciding on his attack plan when he heard a couple notifications.

[Ding! Host has threaded through the snow for a period of time. Ice Resistance EXP 100/100 reached. Ice Resistance has leveled up.]

[Ding - Ice Resistance - Level 2 - (0/200). Reduces Ice-type Damage by 2%]

[Ding! Due to the Host being in a state of observation to discern the target's abilities, a new SKill has been created. [Observe] has been created.]

[Observe](+)

-Special Effect 1: Consume 5 Stamina to observe details of a sarget. Spend more stamina to observe more than target. Skill can evolve after a certain amount of uses.

'Neat. Ice Resistance leveled up, and Observe will come in handy. In fact, let's try that now. 'Observe'', Miles thought. His eyes seemed to flash for a split second to observe the closest Goose before him.

[Canadian Goose - Level 2]

-HP: 50/50 STR: 5 END: 3 AGI: 4

-Don't stare at Geese directly in the eyes. They take that as a challenge. They will welcome danger as long as they don't feel threatened. Take them by surprise before they have a chance to react.

'Sheesh, it's only Level 2 and it's already at 50 HP? But it looks like it gave me some of their behavioral patterns, which is nice. If I get a chance to evolve [Observe], it will likely give me even more details of a target.', Miles mused.

'Either way, right now my Strength is 8. If I decided to attack this Goose as-is without any other Skills of mine, it would do 15 damage. That would mean it would take three hits before it gets killed...', Miles continued. 'But that is not factoring any of my Skills. If I were just doing the raw calculation...', Miles thought.

'As long as I don't look them right in the eye and don't intimidate them, do I even need to hide?', Miles pondered, especially after seeing the details of the Goose before him.

Miles looked forward again, and saw the Level 2 Goose now nestled into its own body. Its entire head was now hiding.

Resolving himself, Miles studded out of the snow, and decided to approach the Geese based off of the information given to him. He didn't go for a surprise attack. Instead, Miles just acted himself, and didn't give any sort of intention that he was going to attack. The nearby Geese cocked their heads upward seeing a black fox come into their view. But they soon went back to their own devices.

As for Miles though, he had another dilemma. The moment he took a step forward onto the ice, his paw almost gave out on him!

'Fuck. I can't even move properly. Curse you, paws!', Miles inwardly retorted, trying to balance himself on the ice. He didn't have any traction as his human feet once did. And even worse, a fox's paws were just as squishy and delicate as a cat or dog's!

It was unfortunate that Miles didn't start out as an Arctic Fox. They were much more adaptable and capable of treading through ice like it was nothing. Red Foxes also had their paws covered mostly in fur, which protected them from ice as well. Trying to gain his balance while the Geese honked nearby, Miles brought one of his paws to him, taking a moment to observe it.

Sure enough he saw the squishy pad, and the little bean of a tow. It was only partially covered in fur, which gave him less traction on the ice. That was why he almost slipped and fell over the moment Miles stepped onto it.

As if the system had sensed Miles's new dilemma, he heard another notification sound off inside his mind, drawing his attention to it.

[Ding! Host has successfully tread on ice for the first time. A new Skill has been created. [Ice-Walk](+)] is now available to Host.]

[Ice-Walk](+)

-Allows Host to tread on ice with lessened chance to slip or fall. Continued use will allow the Host to make it easier to run while treading through ice.

'So the system can work even like that eh? It must have sensed my intention or something...', Miles mused, seeing [Ice-Walk] appear on his Skill List.

Either way, it was a boon, and Miles gratefully accepted it. As if it soothed his paws directly, he felt a sensation wrap around them. Miles felt more confident he could tread on this ice now.

Thankfully there was nothing nearby to watch Miles make a fool of himself apart from the Geese. It was a good thing Miles approached them with the intent to take a drink of water from the lake, which didn't make him appear threatening to them. The Geese stopped caring about Miles altogether after spending a good moment on the ice now.

'Looks like it was right to do it like this. If I did it haphazardly just a bit ago, I might have not even come out with any prey. Now I can focus on the closest Goose again...', Miles mused.

And to his surprise, the Geese allowed Miles to just walk right up to them as he got used to [Ice-Walk]. They didn't have a care in the world that a predator was waiting nearby. Miles was so close that he could see the Goose's long black neck coming out from under its feathers.

'Now!', Miles immediately thought. Just as he did it previously, Miles imagined flames cloaking his fangs. Wooosh!

[Fire Fang has been activated. Remaining Stamina: 82/105.]

Miles's fangs tucked away inside his mouth were suddenly lit ablaze.

"Yip!", Miles exclaimed, doing one giant leap at the closest Goose before him. Since its neck popped out at the opportune time, it didn't even have a chance to react to Miles's sudden attack before Miles lunged right at its neck. Kussshaaa!

Miles did a chomping motion, biting fervently onto the Goose's neck in one go. The Goose couldn't even honk in response before Miles's feet landed on the ice again, and made a mad dash toward the snow again. The other Geese became startled at the sudden attack, but it was just the one Goose out of the couple that remained on the icy edge. Seeing Miles's retreating figure, the Geese simply did nothing in response, going back to their own devices.

[-44!]

A single number appeared over the Goose's head as it barely felt any strength left in its body. The Goose tried to muster enough strength to flap its wings, but didn't find any remaining energy to do so. Blood splattered out onto the ice, and as Miles dragged the Goose from the neck back into the snow, it left a blood-red trail. Regardless, Miles's tail started to wag seeing as he caught his first successful prey.

Fire still wrapped around his fangs as he continued to hold the Goose by the mouth. In the next moment, it lit ablaze again, causing the Goose even more pain.

[Ding! Goose - Level 2 got inflicted with Burn.]

[-8!]

Another damage figure appeared above the Goose's head, signaling that it became burned with the attack Miles just inflicted on it. 'Lucky', Miles thought, seeing as he only has a 5% chance to activate burn right now. His tail started thumping again in response. The scent of blood mixed with iron was now striking against his nostrils, but for some strange reason, he didn't feel bothered by it. In fact, he found it welcoming, perhaps even a bit exciting? Miles could only assume this was his new animal instincts at play here.

Either way, Miles hunted his first game, and he decided to go over the new notifications he received after killing his first Goose.

******

Just in case anyone wanted the calculation:

8x3 (Miles's Attack Damage)) - 3x3 (Goose's Toughness) = 15.

15+15%(Fire Affinity)+30%(Twilit Fervor)+150% (Fire Fang) - Miles spent ten stamina for the damage boost. It would do base STR + Passive Skills if no stamina is consumed.

=44.25 (rounded down) = [44]

[Steel Claws] currently does not affect fang strikes, but it potentially can in the future!