I exit the cave sprinting at full speed. I don't bother looking at my surroundings, I just run as fast as I can away from the cave. Last time the spider chased me, it was faster than me even when I had my dash skill activated, but now I've evolved my agility is more than double what it was before. So I should be able to get a fair distance away from the spider before my dash skill runs out.
A few minutes later my dash skill runs outs. I can no longer hear the spider chasing me but I keep running anyway. Last time when I was fighting the spider, it was merely toying with me, but highly doubt it will toy with me again. Not after I escaped from it like I did.
I end up having to stop when I come to a large river. I frantically look around for a place to hide, before setting my sight on a fallen tree with a small hole in the trunk. I quickly squeeze my self into the hole and activate my stealth skill.
Hiding in the fallen tree, I can't stop my self from shaking. My hearts beating so hard I can hear it banging against my chest. I'm doing everything I possibly can to calm my self down but nothing seems to be working. My last encounter with that spider seems to have traumatised me.
I just hide in the fallen tree listening to all the sounds around me. Since hearing it in the cave, I haven't heard anything since, but still don't risk moving from where I am. A few hours later, I finally start to calm down. My MP run out ages ago, but I still don't dare to move. Eventually I drift off to sleep, still hidden in the little hole of the fallen tree.
I wake up a bit later and slowly poke my head pout of the hole. I look around, making sure there's no monsters about and climb out of the tree.
When I was sleeping, I dreamt I was hanging upside down from the roof of the cave, wrapped in spider web, whilst the giant spider laughed at me using them weird clicking sounds. Remembering my dream, I realise how scared of that spider I truly am.
It's by far the strongest monster that i've had to face since becoming a fox, but that's not what scares me the most. What scares me the most was how it toyed with me and mocked me, like it was enjoying my pathetic attempts of fighting it. It reminds me of them horror movies back on earth where them serial killers do everything they can to make there victims fall into despair, before finally killing them.
I never want to be in any situation like that again. I understand killing to eat or killing in self defence, I even understand killing someone because you want something of just to make your life a bit easier, but I don't understand the need to torture someone when your just going to kill them anyways. Especially when they haven't done anything to justify the need to be tortured.
I do my best to try and forget about the spider for now and take a look at where I am. I'm at a large river, about 15 meters wide. It has a gentle flow and the water is a dark blueish colour. The forest continues on the other side of the river, but it looks a lot less dense than the forest around where my den was.
I don't see any way to cross the river other than teleporting, so I decide to just focus on the side i'm on for now. I travel downstream a bit before seeing what looks like a couple of blue moss rats. I quickly use appraisal.
[level 3 river rat]
[level 2 river rat]
I guess they're just water versions of the moss rats. Neither of them a very strong but I wonder if there is any difference between them and the moss rats other than the colour, and where they live.
It's been a while since I ate them spiders, so I guess I'll find out when I fight them. I activate dash and run straight towards them, I use void claw to quickly decapitate one of them and then I use pounce to jump towards the other, before using bite to finish it off.
[ding!]
[you have killed 2 river rats and gained 60 xp]
They didn't get a chance to attack so I didn't get to see if they could use different moves to the moss rats but they did give me exactly the same amount of xp that the moss rats do. Come to think of it, i'm not to sure how the amount of xp I receive is calculated. It can't be dependent on their levels because they were both different levels but still gave he same xp. I decide to ask the system.
"System, why did they both give me the same amount of xp?"
[The amount of xp host receives is dependent on the rank and stage of the monster.]
Huh? I get the rank part but what's the stage?
"System, what's the stage of a monster mean?"
[Each rank is divided into 3 stages. early stage, middle stage and late stage.]
Hmm, I suppose that makes sense. But it would help if the system was a little more descriptive, like what level is each stage. I try asking, but I get no response. If the levels are 1-10 then I guess early stage would be 1-3, middle stage would be 4-6 and late stage would be 7-9, and at level 10 they evolve, dropping back down to level 1.
But that's under the assumption that they're always going to be 10 levels. It seems like that now but I remember in some web novels and anime's, the level cap rose the more the monster evolved, so I guess i'm just going to have to wait and find out.
I eat both the river rats (they taste just as disgusting as the moss rats) and try to decide what to do now. Seeing as I can't go back to my den I decide I should just make another. I've already found a water source, so I just need to find a safe place to make it.
I start searching for a safe place to make my den when I remember I can request a quest from the system. I haven't requested one since I failed the last one, so I had forgotten all about it. I should start requesting them again so I can get stronger quicker. I expect this quest will be easy, with a small reward like the last time I requested one to build my home.
I open the quest window and select request quest.
[ding!]
[quest received...]
[you lost your home and need to build a new one. Find a safe place and make a new den.]
[time limit: 12 hours]
[difficulty: hard]
[rewards: 1 random level 3 skill and 50 skill points]
[penalty for failure: loss of 1 level]