Chapter 5: 5: The White Fox Explains
Sue stepped back. With widened eyes, she pointed her finger to the floating three-tailed small white fox in front of her. "You... You are the System?"
The palm-size white fox puffed its ball-like body. "In the flesh, ladies and gentlemen! It is I, Lord System, in the flesh! Ho-ho-ho-ho!"
"How?" A frown etched on Sue's face as she stared at the white fur ball, laughing maniacally in a childish voice of a little boy. The voice was familiar to Sue. Yes! It was the same voice she heard every time the window of the System showed up before! "Hey, System! Stop laughing and explain it to me clearly!"
When the three-tailed white fox did not stop its laughing frenzy, Sue swatted the little fur ball like a fly. This sent the System down in a thud.
Sue crossed her arms as she loomed over the System beside her bare feet. Her obsidian eyes met a pair of aggrieved aqua ones. "Why did you do that to this Lord? Impudent human!"
"I asked you what is happening, but all you got to do is laugh like a newborn villain! Have you forgotten that the beastmen from the Vampire City is still hot in our trails?"
As if their pursuers heard Sue, a series of howls echoed within Fangs Ridge. And the way the howls were in sequence, Sue could tell they were communicating as they were scattered all over Fangs Ridge!
The white fox scoffed before it patted its protruding belly. "Fine! This Lord will understand your poor behavior because of the dire situation." The three-tailed fox immediately jumped on Sue. It slumped atop her head comfortably as it wagged its tails.
"Speak. What is happening?" Sue wanted to understand the System. She knew damn well that to grasp this dog-eat-dog world, she needed to understand everything about the System. That would include the arrogant fur ball atop her head.
"This Lord had synchronized with you when you finally accepted me and trusted me! By syncing with you, both of us gained something important! It is a win-win situation, I tell you. You must praise this Lord!" Arrogance filled the System's childlike voice, making Sue roll her eyes.
"Yes, yes, the Lord System is omnipotent. But what are those gains? The Chain Missions stuff mentioned earlier?"
The System immediately jumped down from her head. It floated before her while pointing its tiny paw toward her with a smug grin. "Of course! By trusting me, I gain this magnificent corporeal body. And by giving you my absolute loyalty, you earned the Chain Missions! The Chain Missions will give you lots and lots of benefits by completing them! If you are lucky, it can shorten the span of your leveling up! Quick! Quick! Praise this Lord!"
A pair of obsidian eyes sparkled upon the mention of leveling up quickly. Sue took the fur ball to her chest as she hugged the System. "Then let us begin the Chain Missions so I can collect those Healing Booster Pills! I reckon that the omnipotent Lord System has many of those, right?"
The Lord System wanted to open its tiny mouth and say: 'But Chain Missions will not give you reward unless you complete them all! And... there will be no more Healing Booster Pill.'
But the Lord System, who was being hugged and revered by Sue, wanted to relish the moment longer — so it decided not to tell Sue about that matter. It had been a hundred years since the Lord System received this kind of pampering anyway!
The so-called 'omnipotent' Lord System snapped its tiny paw.
Ping!
[INITIATING CHAIN MISSIONS!]
A blue-colored window appeared before them. Unlike before, the voice of the fur ball was no longer there.
Sue's grip around the plushy body of the fur ball tightened as her heart rammed her ribcage from the building anticipation!
Ping!
[SCANNING...]
Ping!
[FIRST CHAIN MISSION! ARRIVE AT THE TERIN HOUSEHOLD SAFELY!]
"This is the mission? To arrive at my home safely?" Sue looked down at the fur ball in her arms. A frown made its way to her face. She was not expecting the chain mission to be like that! Arriving at the Terin Household safely was the plan for Sue even when the chain mission was not there to begin with!
The fur ball merely curled her body against Sue's warm body before it yawned. "That is the major mission. It will be later on divided into mini missions with one goal alone, to arrive at your household with your body and life intact. Hence, the chain missions."
Ping!
[AWARD: YELLOW LEVEL BASE STAGE UPGRADE TO YELLOW LEVEL FOUNDATION STAGE!]
Ping!
[AWARD: SKILL DEFAULT SELECTION!]
Ping!
[AWARD: THIRD-GRADE PILL!]
Sue, who was frowning a good moment ago, had a one-hundred-eighty turn on her countenance when the series of awards appeared before her. Her breathing escalated upon reading every word displayed on the window before her!
A level up in her ranking! A chance to select a skill! And a third-grade pill! A third-grade one at that! It was way better than the Healing Booster Pill, which was only a second-grade pill!
"Wow. What are some rewards you got there, huh." Sue was tongue-tied, yet her heart showed no signs of calming down. Her palms were sweating and she could not stop herself from grinning — only to freeze when the next window appeared.
Ping!
[CONSEQUENCE: DEATH]
Ping!
[WILL YOU PROCEED TO THE MISSION ONE, HOST SUE TERIN?]
[YES] [NO]
"D-Death?" She looked down at the napping fur ball in her arms. Death again?
As if it could hear her frantic thoughts just by the mere thought of death once more, the white fox opened one of its aqua-colored eyes. "Strength has a corresponding risk. If you want to become strong, then the path you are taking will be full of peril. Whether you immerse victoriously or not will depend on your capabilities, Sue Terin. The question is, how far will you be able to take risks for your goals?"
Upon hearing the fur ball's question, a malicious smile spread on her face.
How far would she take risks for her goals? No need to ask that! She had climbed from hell just to be here and exact her revenge for those who had wronged her and all the members of the Human Race. She had already crossed the point of no return.
"Yes, I will proceed." Her words were devoid of any emotion, but her obsidian eyes were like the mirror of the abyss — a calm and bottomless ocean, deceivingly serene yet dangerous.
Ping!
[MISSION ONE: ESCAPE FROM THE FOREST ALIVE IN 3... 2 ... 1!]
On cue, a howl pierced the silence of the cliff before a pair of golden-eyed wolves immerged from the thick bushes.
A two-meter tall, fully transformed wolf stalked its prey. It was salivating and growling as its deadly gaze was now transfixed on its target — Sue Terin.
"So this is what the mission said about escaping from the forest alive, huh? Now I see. The chain missions are all relevant to my current situations." Sue grabbed the fur ball's neck and placed it atop her head. "Be still."
The Lord System barely opened its eyes before it continued to sleep atop Sue's head, curling its tails around its palm-size body.
"Golden eyes. You are a member of the Lupine Clan, I believe." Instead of stepping back, Sue stepped forward with a gentle smile.
There was no other beastman tribe that had the golden eyes but the royalties, also known as the Lupine Clan, the special household within the Wolf Tribe. The Lupine Pack was the household that produced the strongest beastmen wolves. All the kings and most of the Elders of the Beastman Kingdom were from the Lupine Clan. The previous king of beastmen was also from the Lupine Pack, that bastard's great grand uncle.
The fully transformed beastman before her howled, calling its brethren that he had found their target. Its howl rang like warning bells for Sue.
"World View," Sue whispered. A comprehensive map appeared before her. "Find the locations of the other pursuers."
Twelve red dots appeared, all moving to the bright green dot at the center. Including the red dot nearest to the bright green one, there were thirteen pursuers that Sue needed to handle.
"You brought a pack of nuisance, I see." Sue cocked her head to the side, giving the nearing wolf a frown. She read the information of the wolf beastman before her.
[NAME: RUSO | AGE: 98 | RACE: WOLF TRIBE BEASTMAN | SKILLS: ALCHEMY | STRENGTH: YELLOW LEVEL FOUNDATION STAGE]
"Killer Slash!"
The distance between Sue and the growling beastman from the Lupine Pack was only five meters long. When Sue called her skill, her spiritual energy rushed from her core to her meridians down to her hands and feet like she intended to.
The spiritual energy converted into a wind since a Killer Slash was a skill with a wind attribute. The swirling wind surrounding her bare feet increased her speed and agility as she met the leap of the beastman. Meanwhile, her hands grew some transparent half a meter claw.
"Take this!" The wolf beastman's growl met the sound of the air being cut by a whooshing noise.
The wolf beastman had an excellent reflex as it dodged the clawed hands of Sue. It landed prematurely one step away from Sue's next target, making him avoid a new set of claw-like wind blades.
"You are really worthy to be a part of the Lupine Pack. Unfortunately for you, I cannot let you capture me." Sue did not step forward to chase the wolf beastman anymore. She raised her right hand and released a set of killer slashes in the form of claw-like wind blades toward the wolf beastman, who was caught off guard.
The wolf beastman was not caught off guard because of her unique skill. In fact, Killer Slash Skill was quite an ordinary skill, and he had seen it being used many times. But this skill was exclusive only to the feline tribes like leopards, cats, jaguars, lions, tigers, and panthers. He could not fathom why a mere human waste gained such ability!
The wolf beastman released a second howl before he transformed back to his human form. His wolf ears twitched when the howls of his comrades answered his while his tail was straightened as he was on full alert in front of a human — a mere useless human!
"How can a trash like you know that skill?" The wolf beastman took a threatening step only to be rained by killer slashes again, making him run around for his dear life! He did not like this at all! If his comrades learned of this, he could imagine the shame he would face from being pushed around by mere human trash! He was livid. "Answer me, or I will skin you alive, human!"
Another series of howls resonated within the forest of Fangs Ridge. This time, the howls were much closer to where they were.
Sue looked at the map in front of her. The twelve red dots were getting near the bright green one! No!
"I will spare your life, but I need something of yours in exchange." Sue eyed the details beside the wolf beastman named Ruso.
A burst of sarcastic laughter erupted from the young man before her. His golden eyes were filled with mirth as he stared at her as if she was some delusional garbage.
Sue interrupted his laughter. "Stop acting so smug when you are only a Foundation Level Yellow Rank." Sue's turn was to offer her mockery to the frowning wolf beastman. "Plunder."
Sue barely whispered the word. She did not have the plan to broadcast her heaven-defying skill since she still could not protect herself if the big bosses of this world learned from it.
Ping!
[PLUNDER SKILL ACTIVATES!]
[SCANNING...]
While the System was scanning if the target and the host met the requirements for plundering, Sue darted her eyes from the frowning wolf beastman to her map. She did not see Ruso as a potential threat, but she worried he had an alpha or a beta within his team!
Ping!
[SYSTEM RECOGNIZES RUSO AS A VALID TARGET! SYSTEM INITIATING PLUNDER SKILL!]
Sue could barely stop herself from jumping up and down from sheer joy! She was able to test two hypotheses in this second plunder.
First, even when the target was higher, as long as the target was only a level higher than her, she would still be able to use the Plunder Skill.
Second, regardless if the target had a unique skill like Alchemy or an ordinary skill like Killer Slash, as long as the target and the host met the requirements, she could still use the Plunder Skill.
This was a good harvest of information for her!
[SYSTEM DEMANDS THE HOST TO TOUCH THE TARGET, RUSO, TO INITIATE PLUNDER SKILL! TARGET SKILL ALCHEMY.]
Grinning, Sue cracked her joints as she stepped forward once more. She momentarily forgot that she had to touch the target to steal a skill! She glanced at the map and saw the twelve red dots growing very close to her location!
"Killer Slash," Sue muttered under her breath before she closed the distance between her and Ruso.
Because of the innate agility of the wolf beastman, Sue failed her first try touching Ruso.
"Behave like a good dog you are, Ruso!" Sue bellowed. She had no time to play tag with this young beastman! The reinforcement of the enemy was closing in.
"You dare!" Ruso kept the hovering fear away from him. He wondered why the human who he had never met before knew his name!
Because of a momentary lapse, the wolf beastman failed to have the appropriate reaction time when a calloused hand touched the tip of his hair.
Ping!
[ALCHEMY SKILL SUCCESSFULLY PLUNDERED! BEGINNER STAGE ALCHEMY SKILL ACQUIRED!]
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone