As the three start to walk back to camp, loud footsteps trampling the ground can be heard in the distance, followed by a howl. All of them stop in their tracks, both Xu Hao and Elder Fu legs start trembling from fear.

  [Warning! The system is detecting movement of 5 medium-sized beings and 1 rger-sized being following behind, heading directly towards host's current location. Be advised, the rger-sized being is likely some kind of direwolf based on the previous howl. It is advised the host proceeds with caution.]

  Xu Hao looks at Han Xi, and back at Elder Fu, with a horrified expression. “T-That’s the direwolf’s howl, isn't it? We need to run! Now!” he says in a panic-stricken voice.

  ‘System, is a direwolf strong?’ Han Xi asks her system, hoping to get an indication of the strength level of her potential opponent.

  [Direwolves are generally more strength focused than foxes, making them an inherently strong opponent. While we do not know what grade it is, it will likely pose a formidable threat.]

  Elder Fu takes in a deep breath, and rexes his body, trying to regain his composure. He faces towards where the howl came from and wields his spear, ready to face the danger head on. “That is indeed the direwolf’s howl. It’s too strong and too fast to run away from. We must face it head on.” He takes another deep breath and focuses his Qi onto his spear, enhancing it.

  Xu Hao’s eyes widened after noticing the Qi enhanced spear. “Elder Fu… you finally formed a dantian?”

  “That’s right, my countless days spent circuting Qi through my body has finally paid off. But at my current level, I can not maintain this very long, so we must make haste.” Elder Fu starts running towards where the stampede of beings can be heard running from the direwolf. ”Come, little fox! I will need your assistance if we are to make it out of this alive!”

  Xu Hao looks down at Han Xi, who is ready to dash into action. Before she could take off, he decides to warn her. “Miss Han Xi, wait a second! Be very careful when fighting this direwolf. It's not animal grade anymore, this one is a savage beast! It’s known as a Snowdrift Direwolf, and it has been a threat to our vilge for a while. Not only that, but it is also able to use ice abilities!” he warns Han Xi with great worry on his face, his body still trembling with fear.

  Han Xi’s eyes widened at his warning. ‘A savage beast that can use ice abilities?! SYSTEM, you said this would be medium difficulty!!!’

  Her system does not respond to her compints.

  ‘You never seem to respond when I’m asking important questions, but you’ll respond to literally anything else!!! Whatever.’ She scoffs at her system and then looks back at Xu Hao and nods confidently before taking off using her [Sprint] skill towards where the direwolf is.

  As she's running towards the direwolf, she realizes something. ‘Wait, ice abilities? Didn’t System say that in order to use ice abilities, you need a frost seed…? Didn’t System also say that you can steal seed’s from other beasts? No way…can I steal its frost seed?!?!’

  [That is correct, host. You are able to steal the snowdrift direwolf’s frost seed, once it has been defeated.]

  Han Xi sprints faster and finally catches up to, and then passes, Elder Fu, now feeling more motivated than ever. ‘I need to get this seed, no matter what! But I'm just animal grade…, how am I going to compete with a savage beast? I need to put all of my points into strength, like, yesterday!’

  She puts all of her remaining stat points she’s accumuted into her strength stat, now reaching 42. ‘There! I’ve done what I can do for now. All that's left is to confront it.’

  The 5 beings and direwolf finally come into view as she reaches a small clearing in the trees. Approaching her quickly are 5 frost boars being chased by a rge white-furred direwolf with icy blue fangs and a frosty aura emanating from around it as its bloodlust seeps out.

  Han Xi runs around to the side, trying to line herself up to confront all the frost boars at once, using a simir strategy she employed previously. The snowdrift direwolf notices this, but chooses to not pay attention to her, as it's busy hunting its prey. It's not like a fox cub is capable of stealing its prey to begin with.

  [Skill [Sprint] has leveled up to level 5!]

  She lunges at the frost boars from the side, spinning her body and smming them on the head using her [Tail Whip] skill. Doing this, she manages to knock out 3 of the 5 frost boar that were running. The other two, now heading straight for Elder Fu, who has now reached the battlefield.

  Midair, Han Xi looks back and notices that 2 of the frost boars got away, and once she hits the ground, changes direction to chase after them. Meanwhile, the snowdrift direwolf stops running and looks at Han Xi with a surprised expression, not expecting her to pack such a punch.

  ‘Holy crap! I completely knocked them out with a single sp of my tail! That title I got, along with my increased strength, feels really OP! Maybe, I can take the direwolf down using a simir strategy. But first-’ In front of her, one of the frost boars ran the other direction. She looks at Elder Fu and determines he should be fine to take the frost boar down on his own, and chases after the other one.

  Jumping into the air once again, she sms her tail down into the frost boar's head at full power, crushing its skull and killing it instantly. ‘Holy fuck! I made its head explode! I guess the other ones survived with brain damage because I wasn't focusing on a single point.’

  [EXP gained!][Level Up! You have reached Level 15! +1 to all stats.][You have gained 5 stat points and 2 skill points.][Skill [Tail Whip] has leveled up to level 5!]

  Looking back at Elder Fu, he plunges his spear into the frost boar, dispatching it in one smooth motion. Han Xi runs next to Elder Fu, standing next to him, on guard against the snowdrift direwolf in front of them.

  Finally coming out of its stupefied daze, it quickly dispatches the 3 frost boars in front of it by ripping out their throats, and tossing them to the side. After, it gres at Han Xi, emitting a thick bloodlust, now taking her as a serious threat.

  Angry, she uses [Growl] to intimidate the snowdrift direwolf into submitting. Had this been a rabbit, this would have worked quite well. But seeing her current size and skill level, it went about as well as you'd expect it to.

  ‘You shitty dog, I needed those for my quest! I swear, I will sughter you!’ Right after she thinks this, like clockwork.

  [EXP gained!][Level Up! You have reached Level 16! +1 to all stats.][EXP gained!][EXP gained!][Level Up! You have reached Level 17! +1 to all stats.][You have gained 10 stat points and 4 skill points.][Requirements fulfilled for quest: “Shock all the humans in the vilge with your might!”][Rewards will be distributed at the vilge.]

  ‘So even though I didn't deal the finishing blow, it still counted?!’ she asks her system in shock.

  [As long as you py a significant role in the death of the boars, the system will count it.]

  Not giving Han Xi an opportunity to take the first move, the snowdrift direwolf manifests sharp icicles floating around its body and lunges them at both Han Xi and Elder Fu.

  Elder Fu focused his Qi on his body to enhance his speed, charging at the direwolf at full speed. He barely dodged most of the icicles; some of them scraping his skin. Han Xi, however, dodged most of them with some difficulty, jumping from side to side as they crashed into the ground below her.

  Noticing his attacks are not posing much of a risk to Han Xi, the direwolf decides to ramp up the intensity of its attacks, increasing the speed and quantity of the icicles it's unching.

  One of the icicles unched goes straight for Elder Fu and pierces his right thigh deeply, rendering him barely able to move. He switches strategy and changes into a defensive position, prepared to defend himself from oncoming attacks. The way he sees it, he knows he can not win against the direwolf, and is now putting his faith in Han Xi.

  “Little fox, I am so sorry, but with this wound, I'm afraid I stand no reasonable chance against this opponent. I will back you up as much as I can, so please, give it everything you’ve got!” Elder Fu says, resolving himself to do whatever he can to support her. He uses his spear to hit the incoming icicles, shattering them midair as they rapidly shoot out towards him.

  Han Xi gres at Elder Fu for his incompetence. ‘Seriously, one injury and you’re out? So useless!’

  While Han Xi was gring at Elder Fu, the direwolf finally nds a hit on Han Xi, the icicle deeply cutting into her front leg.

  [-60 HP]

  ‘Ouch! Fuck! That hurts!! Shit!’ she curses the direwolf in her mind, her anger starting to boil over. ‘That took nearly half of my HP, I can’t make the same mistake again. System, is there some skill I can buy to help with this situation? How many stat points do I have?’

  [You currently have 15 stat points. The following skills would be beneficial given your current situation.]

  [Enhanced Reflexes]A passive skill that improves the user’s reaction time.Cost: 5 Skill Points

  [Pounce]This skill improved the distance and speed of the user's lunges.Cost: 5 Skill Points

  [Minor Regeneration]A passive skill that restores 1% of the user's HP every 60 seconds. Cooldown improves with skill level.Cost: 10 Skill Points

  ‘These skills are all amazing! Why didn’t you tell me about them before! Please get them for me!’ She yells in her mind while struggling to dodge all the incoming icicles, her movements even more hindered due to her injury. ‘Also, put 10 into strength and 5 into agility!’

  [Thank you for your purchase. I have allocated 5 for strength and 5 for agility. I am unable to put the remaining 5 into strength, as you have reached the limit for your beast grade, which is 50.]

  Han Xi suddenly feels lighter on her feet as she starts dodging the direwolf’s attack with ease. Now equipped with the [Enhanced Reflexes] skill, the icicles that were speeding at her before, now appear much slower and easier to dodge.

  ‘Woah, this skill is incredible, I can totally react to every attack without issue!’ She dodges several more icicles and then uses her new [Pounce] skill to lunge towards the direwolf. She speeds forward at a rapid rate, quickly closing the distance between them.

  [Skill [Pounce] has leveled up to level 2!][Skill [Enhanced Reflexes] has leveled up to level 2!]

  Noticing her closing the distance, the direwolf lifts the front of its body and stomps its front paws against the ground, ice forming on the ground and extending forward, erecting a wall of ice in front of it. At the top of the wall, a ptform extends where the direwolf jumps onto effortlessly. It howls loudly and increases the number of icicles flying towards Han Xi, who is making good use of her new skills to evade every attack. Each time she reaches the ground, she lunges a different direction to make herself a difficult target.

  Growing irritated, the direwolf decides to go all out, summoning as many icicles as it can specifically towards Han Xi, saturating the field with countless spikes of ice raining down from above.

  [Skill [Enhanced Reflexes] has leveled up to level 3!][Skill [Minor Regeneration] has leveled up to level 2!]Elder Fu moves backwards to avoid the icicles mainly aimed at Han Xi and sighs deeply once he is out of its general range. ‘She's not doing a terrible job at avoiding the icicles so far, but she won't be able to keep this up forever. We need to come up with some kind of pn…’

  As she approaches the base of the wall, she makes contact with the ground, and jumps towards and onto the wall, scaling it with her cws and [Pounce] skill. She takes each step briskly, her cws digging deep into the ice, leaving marks behind. ‘If you use this skill right, it looks like you can even use it to scale a small wall!’

  [Skill [Pounce] has leveled up to level 3!]

  The wolf looks at Han Xi dumbstruck as she reaches the top and then jumps into the air, now directly above it. As she falls down, she sms her tail on its head using [Tail Whip], causing the direwolf to fall off of the wall and onto the ground.

  Han Xi nds on the top of the wall and looks down at the direwolf, who has still not recovered, ying on the ground. ‘That's what you deserve for trying to kill me! Stupid, stupid dog!’

  As the direwolf begins to stand, its legs tremble, still trying to shake off her attack, some snow stuck to its fur falling onto the ground. Before it could fully stand, Han Xi jumped off of the wall and spun her body again, aiming to use her new favorite skill, [Tail Whip] and nd a critical blow on its head. The direwolf notices this and quickly evades her attack, dodging to the right. This causes Han Xi to sm her tail into the ground instead of its head, causing the surrounding snow on the ground to scatter like dust at the impact.

  ‘That was such a good attack too, what a wasted opportunity. I need to finish this soon; my stamina isn't going to hold up much longer at this rate. My wound has healed somewhat, but not enough. System, put the remaining 5 stat points into stamina!’ She decides to raise her stamina, since it may slow down her exhaustion somewhat. ‘What should I do now…’

  AnDwHaT5