Looking from a distance, I saw an orange fur on top of the hole, I wasn't sure what it was, but from the long tail, I knew it wasn't a rabbit.
Wielding my sword, I approached slowly while trying not to make any noise, but the dry leaves on the ground made this impossible. When I got within a few feet of it, the animal that had its back to me turned its gaze in my direction.
It was a fox, but unlike the others I saw in the forest, this one didn't run. Or rather, this one couldn't run.
Unlike the rabbits that fit entirely in the hole, the fox is bigger. So somehow, I don't know, it got through the trap and got its four legs and part of its body stuck in the hole.
In order not to agitate the fox, I tried to approach it slowly, but my caution turned out to be in vain. The fox began to struggle fiercely, but his attempt to escape was to no avail.
While the fox was agitated, it occurred to me that this was a good opportunity to test the effectiveness of the Calm Down sub-skill.
Besides it, I also had another skill to test, Monster Tamer. I didn't use it before because taming a rabbit is practically useless, right? But a fox is totally different.
Stopping about a meter from the hole, I sat on my heels. While waiting for the results of my sub-skill, I used Glossary and Status to get some information, but besides being level 3, the fox was pretty common.
***
I can't say exactly how long it took, but I had been waiting at least an hour. Although I didn't have to wait all that long with the rabbits, I preferred not to risk getting bitten for being careless.
Besides, I also wanted to increase the chances of the fox accepting to become my tamed monster. I don't know exactly how an irrational animal would accept, but I think it would probably be like a pet accepting me as its owner.
Considering that enough time had passed, I slowly approached the fox, this time it didn't struggle and just stood there looking at me. Even when I ran my hand over its soft fur, it still didn't move an inch.
"It's time to see how this main skill works," I muttered to myself as I activated the skill.
At that moment I felt a connection forming between the two of us and a message appeared before my eyes.
---
Red Fox level 3 successfully tamed!
---
Opening the system interface, just below my level, a new tab called Tamed Monsters was added. In the new function was the name, Red Fox.
Since it seemed that I could find out more information, I tried, and the image before my eyes changed.
---
Name: Red Fox
Age: 2
Race: red fox(animal)
Gender: Male
Level: 3
Affinity: N\A
Skills: Sprint
---
This is much more detailed than what the Status sub-skill shows, I even get to see his experience bar when I try to look deeper into his level.
Since it was already my tamed monster and wouldn't harm me, I put both hands around the fox's torso and pulled him out of the hole. I don't know how it fell in there, but it was very well attached.
To make my day even better, just below the fox was a rabbit. Looks like today is my lucky day.
Looking at the fox closely, the area from the chest to the belly to the tip of the tail was white. The ears and paws were black and the rest of the fur was orange. Not counting the tail, he was at most 45 in length and 30 in height.
Out of curiosity, I don't understand why the name is Red Fox when it is actually orange. Well, it's not like I'm going to leave that name anyway.
Since it was a fox, my otaku heart was beating to name it after a certain famous fox, Kurama.
As I rejoiced in my new tamed monster, I noticed that the name on the system had changed, it was now written Kurama.
Quite convenient.
Looking at the fox sitting in front of me, I tried to order it.
"On your feet."
Doing as I said, he stood. Trying to see the limit of what he could do, I tried to give him various orders, from simple things to complicated ones.
In the end, with the exception of complicated tasks or very long orders, he managed to carry out most of them.
I don't know how the communication between us works, but although I don't understand his intentions, he can understand mine.
Since I was eager to get to level 2 later today, I left it until later and went to examine the remaining traps.
Today was a tremendous success, into one of the holes had fallen two rabbits. If I count Kurama, today's hunt was 12/10.
With a smile that went from ear to ear, I distributed the essence between strength and magic. Even if I could share it with Kurama, it was not time for that yet.
With my eyes fixed on the experience bar, I watched it slowly rise to 87.3%, which means that the eleven rabbits gave me 28.5% xp. If I can get about five more, I can probably get to level 2.
Since I was excited and wanted to try something, I ignored my exploration plans. I immediately started to look around for more rabbits. As this place was infested with them, it didn't take long before I found one.
"All right, little boy, time for you to get to work."
I pointed to a rabbit that was a few feet away and said, "Bring me that rabbit."
Hearing my order, Kurama took off running-or rather, he shot off at breakneck speed! Even if I tried to catch up with him, I probably couldn't even reach half of his speed.
Although it tried to run away, the rabbit didn't stand a chance. A few meters after it started running, Kurama managed to sink his sharp teeth into its neck.
As if it was something he did habitually, Kurama swung the rabbit by the neck until it died and brought it to me.
At the same time, the system warning that the magic essence has been collected sounded.
"That's interesting," a smile immediately broke out on my face.
It's like the skill description said, even if I'm not the person to kill, as long as it's done by my tamed monster, the magic essence will still come to me. That means that even if I don't do anything and just let Kurama hunt for me, I will still level up.
Testing the limits of the range of this skill, I stuck a piece of twig in the ground and ordered Kurama to go hunt more rabbits and bring them to that place. While he was doing this, I distanced myself at least hundreds of meters from that place, but even after a few minutes, I received no notification.
Curious to see if Kurama had managed to catch more rabbits or not, I returned to the place I had marked. Around the branch I had stuck in the ground were three dead rabbits, but despite this, no warning came.
A short time later, Kurama came up with another rabbit in his mouth and at the same moment I heard a notification from the system.
---
The magical essence collected by the tamed monster, Kurama, has been absorbed.
---
"That's even better than expected!"
This means that when we are very far away from each other, Kurama will store the essence until he finds me.
Leaving the possibilities of what I could do aside, I distributed the essence between magic and strength as usual.
*Ding*
---
You have risen to level 2!
---
"That's it!" I jumped for joy. "I finally moved up a level!"
With euphoria emanating from every pore of my body, I immediately sent Kurama out to hunt more prey. Unfortunately, after a few more rabbits, he seemed tired and I realized that climbing to level 3 would not be that easy.
The rabbits were only giving about 0.5 xp, that was about a fifth compared to before. If I were to put that into required rabbits, it would be at least a couple of hundred by the time I leveled up again.
Unfortunately, as I had no better option at the moment, I could only continue to hunt the rabbits.
As a reward for his hard work, I gave Kurama a rabbit to eat and let him rest. Meanwhile, I built ten more traps and went back to exploring the surroundings.