Chereads / Reborn as a fox in a game like world / Chapter 15 - Limits of sneak.

Chapter 15 - Limits of sneak.

I slumped to the ground mentally exhausted, the level up might have healed my body but my brain still feels worn out. I should be feeling proud with myself for killing an enemy that was clearly above my level, but I can't help but feel frustrated. I put my self in a situation in which I should never had even been in. I subconsciously went back to treating this world as a game even after all the near death experiences that I've had.

Feeling depressed I decide to check my status, even though it was stupid of me to get in that situation, I did manage to gain from it.

 [status]

Species: fox beast cub

Level: 5

HP: 60

MP: 70

Strength: 12

Agility: 12

Vitality: 12

Inteligence: 14

Stat points: 2

Skill points: 50

Titels: None

Skills: Bite level 2

 Scratch level 2

 Dash level 1

 Night vision level 1

 Shadow magic level 3

 Dig level 2

 Sneak level 1

I put my 2 skill points straight into intelligence, bring it to 16 and my mp to 80. Most of the skills I use cost mp and I don't ever want to run out again. I'm a bit disappointed that none of my skills other than shadow magic managed to level up. I used dash, bite and scratch quite a bit in that fight, especially dash. I had it active for nearly the whole fight and it's still only level 1!

I suppose different skills level up at different speeds.

I'm extremely happy with shadow magic though. Being able to materialise my own shadows makes things a lot easier, I might even be able to use it in the dark now! I'm going to have to experiment more when I get back to my den. I also need to find out the cost of using the sneak skill, I ran out of mp way too fast earlier.

I should have nearly have done my quest as well. I should only need to level up 1 more skill. I quickly check and confirm that I was right.

Damn! I can't believe I've nearly finished it already, it hasn't even been a day yet and I'm already so close.

Deciding that I've had enough excitement today I decide to go back to my den, not forgetting to drag the forest rats body along with me. I worked hard killing this thing and very nearly lost my life in the process, there's no way I'm leaving it behind. I take the magic crystal as well, storing it in my mouth.

It takes me a good while to get back, the forest rat as is about the same size as me and dragging it back was no easy feat. Strangely enough I didn't see a single moss rat either, I thought they might have came after me for killing it boss but for some reason they didn't. I'm not complaining, but I am curious to why.

Once back I quickly store the forest rats corpse and magic crystal, before heading back outside. It's time to test out my stealth skill.

Bringing up my status, I activate stealth. Keeping an eye on my status, the first thing I notice is that it doesn't cost anything to activate. I keep waiting and after 10 seconds my mp drops by 1. So far the consumption rate doesn't seem bad, in fact I would say that the consumption rate is good! But this doesn't explain why I suddenly ran out of mp. I keep waiting and after another 10 seconds it drops by 1 again.

It defiantly only costs 1 mp every 10 seconds. I had 50 mp before I levelled up, I used about half my mp using dash and shadow magic, but with 25 mp I should have been able to keep stealth active for at least 4 whole minutes.

 I know I kept using it when I was following the groups of moss rats, but I didn't have it continuously activated. I only activated it when I felt I was too close them, and considering it doesn't cost anything for the first 10 seconds, I should have been fine!

This doesn't make any sense!

I start pacing up and down, racking my brain for anything I might have missed but fair to come up with anything. I glance back at my status and freeze.

My mp is at 69!

It's only been about 30 seconds since I last checked it, how has my mp gone down by 9 points?

I continue watching for another 10 seconds and again my mp drops by 1.

"Argh!"

I feel like the system is playing a trick on me. Does it decrease more when I'm not looking at it or something?

I start pacing again, trying to relieve my frustration, still staring at my mp, making sure I don't miss anything. After another 10 seconds it drops again but this time by 3! I stop pacing. Finally having an idea as to what is, I wait another 10 seconds and sure enough it drops by 1 again.

I think the cost triples when I move!

Just to make sure I stat pacing again for another 10 seconds, and just as I thought it drops by 3 this time.

That explains it!

Every time I used it whilst I was moving around, it cost me 3 times the amount of mp. This means that instead of 4 minutes, I actually only had just over 1 minute.

No wonder my mp ran out so fast! I feel kind of embarrassed that it took me so long to realise.

Forgetting my embarrassment I sit now and stop moving, I keep stealth active because I need to find out if there's a limit for how long I can use it. I still have 61 mp so as long as I don't move, I should be able to keep it active for just over 10 minutes.

After 5 minutes, stealth is still going. I feel as if it's going to keep going until I run out of mp but I keep going anyways, just incase I'm wrong. Just as I thought, it didn't deactivate until I ran out of mp. I'm glad it doesn't have a time limit but I wish I didn't have to use all my mp just to figure it out, I wanted to test my shadow magic but can't now.

I'm also a bit disappointed that it didn't level up but at the same time I'm not too surprised. I think it can only level up by using it near an enemy, that's how it is in most games otherwise everyone would have the sneak skill at max level just by sneaking around in circles.

Unable to do much more I decide to eat half the forest rat and just go to sleep, tomorrow I think I'll try levelling up my dash skill before practising with my shadow magic. its going to be a busy and hopefully productive day.