[Companion Information

Name: Inari

Titles:

Level: 2

Experience: 0/20

Age: Child

Race: Twin-Tailed Fox

Rank: G

Class: None

Specialization: None

Profession: Unemployed]

[Stats

Health: 10/10

Mana: 10/10

Stamina: 5/5

Mana Regen per minute: 10

Health Regen per hour: 10

Strength: 1

Vitality: 1

Endurance: 1

Dexterity: 1

Agility: 3

Intelligence: 2

Wisdom: 1

Perception: 1

Charisma: 1

Willpower: 3

Luck: 3

Aura: .5

Attack Rating: 5

Defense Rating: .5]

Once she finished devouring the nine mana-cores, Inari was once again enveloped in that dazzling radiance, and Michael had been given a stat-point to invest. Instead of continuing to bolster her Vitality and Endurance, he picked Agility, but didn’t particularly notice any difference to her physique.

Since the majority of the rabbit carcasses were still fairly intact, he stored them back into bag-slot four, and shoved the field-mouse into the second slot. Then the adorable white-fox stood on her hind legs, while scratching with her paws against his right thigh; she made some high-pitched whining noises, while licking his hand. The look in her crimson, vulpine eyes, made him say “Okay, okay, calm down, heh-heh… Aww, so cute~! Hmm, I only have seven more level-one, rank-G cores left. I wonder if I can dismiss you?”

The moment that he thought about it, the tiny vixen suddenly vanished into thin-air, as if he put her into his bag-space. However, there was notification that read “Inari has entered Companion-Slot One.”

When he tried to release her, there were a few seconds of lag-time before her body materialized in-front of him. She seemed extremely confused at first, but didn’t worry about it too much and ran up to him again, begging for more mana-cores.

Then he finally remembered something that he was trying to find out about the day before. He turned his right-hand facing upwards, and pulled the red sock-eyed salmon out of his inventory.

As soon as it appeared, the fish flapped its body around and escaped from his grasp, falling onto the startled fox, but dealing no visible damage to her health. Even after smacking against the smooth stones, it didn’t stop wiggling around violently as its HP dropped down to 1/3 very quickly.

It still had freshly bleeding wounds from when the ‘Hare-Bear’ caught it, so even if he had released it into the stream, it definitely wasn’t going to survive. Angry at the salmon that attacked her, Inari quickly pressed the slimy creature against the ground with her right paw, and used her tiny fangs to furiously chew its head off.

Michael sighed as he easily snatched the still twitching and bloody carcass away from the fox, while she growled loudly. Then he walked over to the stream and continued to rinse off the slippery remains.

Compared to the level-one rank-G rabbits, that rank-less level-zero salmon’s body seemed a lot more fragile to him. WIth his long fingernails, the naked man was actually able to peel away the outer layer of scales: Though it did take nearly ten minutes.

In his original world, he had always bought fish that were already filleted and frozen, but he had seen sushi-chefs in action many times. Once it was properly rinsed off and scaled, he started casually using his teeth to remove chunks of delicious, but bloody, meat.

After he finished, Michael smirked and muttered “It’s been so damn long since the last time I was able to afford sashimi… Now, it’s time to power-level.”

Most people would probably choose to find a nearby village or town, at least create some sort of shelter for a base-camp. However, he didn’t have to worry about safety or even survival, so he didn’t feel that there was a need to deal with anything like that.

Right when he was about to leave the riverbed, the naked man finally remembered “Oh yea! I should probably figure out how magic works first…” Since the little fox didn’t understand what he was talking to himself about, she just ran around his body and tried to get his attention.

After finding a large smooth stone to sit upon, Michael began by gazing into the adorable vixen’s scarlet eyes and trying to reproduce the effect of ‘Enthral’. He calmly and gently told her “Inari, go play in the field over there, but be careful…”

In every direction from that small stream was grasslands, for as far as he could see; there were plenty of colorful flowers, wild berries, vegetables, and even some small trees. He could clearly see that there were no humanoids or magical-beasts wandering around, but there were some herds of wild cattle, horses, and other rather large animals grazing. It was much more peaceful than ‘Ariel’s Meadow’, so he wasn’t too worried about the fox getting into trouble.

Inari gazed into his brown eyes as he spoke, and listened to his voice… but had no idea what he was asking her to do. Michael didn’t properly activate the skill, because he didn’t understand how to utilize mana.

She just tilted her head and then yawned while stretching. The vixen eventually did wander off into the field. However, it wasn’t because he told her to; she was simply bored and wanted to run around over there.

After sighing dramatically, he started thinking about all the different types of magic and kinds of spells that he had used in video-games or read about in novels. Rather than creating a ball of fire, or a wind-blade, he was much more interested in pure telekinesis.

Michael snickered for a few seconds, then muttered “I can’t imagine it costing more mana to pick up a little pebble with my mind, than to make one from scratch… Hmmm, okay, move… Go damn it! Float in the air! For fuck’s sake, what the hell is mana anyway?! Urg, ugh, uhmmm~, sigh, it would be easier to just pick it up by hand…” He was obviously not a very patient person.

Most mages required years of practice, before they were able to actually utilize their spells in combat. However, that had more to do with the fact that people and animals weren’t born with a mana-core. Therefore, they needed to either create their own through training, or consume one that had already been formed.

Once a person or beast had a mana-core in their brain, activating magic was as simple as imagining it. Even a random field-mouse could figure out how to channel mana into their claws and create a deadly skill.

Michael finally gave up on telekinesis and made a “Yiii~!” sound, which was so loud and powerful that it actually made the pebble he was targeting explode. It was that same AoE spell ‘Deafening Noise Level 2’, but he focused it towards a specific location that was only a foot or two away.

He immediately started laughing hysterically, because it was the same kind of attack that practically made his whole head explode when used by a level-two grasshopper. Then he muttered “So that’s how it is… It’s kinda like breathing, or at least exhaling. I guess it’s better not to think about it, just do it.” while reaching out his right hand, towards a small stone that he could almost touch.

Michael smirked as he took a deep breath, and then he felt a slight tug on his whole body. It wasn’t enough to move him; the green rock rock lifted off the ground and smacked into the tip of his index finger instead, tearing off the nail and continued flying towards his face. However, just when it was about to punch a hole through his head, an invisible barrier appeared, followed by an emotionless female voice.

“Friendly Fire has been averted.”

The stone didn’t receive any damage. It just stopped an inch away from his left eye, before dropping down into his left hand. Staring at the mutilated finger, he couldn't help but wonder “Is there a lag-time, or maybe it only stops severe injuries?” Then he grimaced, while smacking the rock against his face lightly; there was no intervention.

He continued to bite his lip until it bled, strangulate himself, and scratched at the skin on his left leg intensely. However, no matter what he did, the maximum amount of damage he received was only one or two; considering that he had thirty-five health, and his regen was forty-per-hour, all the wounds were negligible. Of course, the horrible pain and agony was still there, so he definitely wasn’t willing to test the theory of whether or not he could keep giving himself tiny injuries until he died.

Once he lost interest in that, and his mana had completely recovered, Michael picked a stone the size of his fist and let it rest on his right palm. He took a deep breath, then glared at the surface of the river. The naked man imagined himself throwing the rock with all of his strength.

When he breathed out, the stone flew a dozen meters before smacking into the water and causing a rather large splash. He yelled “Holy shit!” because he was surprised at how simple and easy it was. The only problem was that it consumed all of his mana in one shot.

It was also impossible to tell how much damage an attack like that would actually do. After the momentary excitement passed, Michael complained “It would probably be easier to just stack strength and throw the fucking rock the old fashioned way.”

[Spellbook

Deafening Noise Level 2: Create a high-pitched and extremely loud sound, infused with mana. Potency is dependent on the Aura stat.

Scan Level 1: Identifies the object and gives detailed information. Only effective on items below the Common quality and the player’s current level.

Intimidation Level 1: Instill fear into the target by releasing killing intent and using threatening language, infused with mana. Effectiveness is dependent on the level difference between the caster and the target. Potency is dependent on the Charisma stat.

Enthrall Level 1: Charm the target by speaking in a calm and gentle voice, infused with mana. Effectiveness is dependent on the level difference between the caster and the target. Potency is dependent on the Charisma stat.

Telekinesis Level 1: Manipulate objects by infusing them with mana. Potency is dependent on the Aura stat.]