Eric was baffled by the creature.
He didn’t know what to do with it, and the fox didn’t seem willing to leave his cave either.
With a sigh, Eric stood up and walked out of the cave.
To his annoyance, the fox followed him.
“What is wrong with you?
Don’t you have a life of your own?” he shouted at the furry creature.
The fox simply stared at him without moving an inch.
“And why are you looking at me like that with those cute eyes?
Stop doing that!” Eric snapped, realizing that the fox’s appearance was starting to affect him.
“Seriously, stop doing that.
The more you do it, the less I want to be around you.” The fox looked visibly offended.
Its ears drooped, and its eyes dimmed slightly.
Then it did something Eric had grown accustomed to after being kidnapped by Hunter.
It spoke.
“That’s not the right way to talk to a lady, you know.” Eric’s eyebrows shot up.
“A lady?” he asked.
“I am a fox demoness, you dummy.
Didn’t you notice the signs?” she scolded.
“Oh.
Awakened beasts can talk now?” Eric asked, slightly confused.
“What?!
For your information, I am a child of the Beast Goddess—a favored one at that.
Don’t compare me to those brainless creatures!” she snapped, pride evident in her voice.
“What’s the difference?” Eric asked, genuinely intrigued.
The fox demoness stared at him with a baffled expression.
A pang of shame struck Eric’s heart.
“Turn around,” she said abruptly.
Eric didn’t trust the fox lady, but he did as she asked.
If she attacked him from behind, he could heal himself.
Besides, he didn’t want to listen to her annoying complaints.
After about thirty seconds, she spoke again.
“Turn back.” Eric turned around.
Where there had once been a fox now stood a beautiful young woman with cat-like eyes and two pointed ears protruding from her hair.
Eric wanted to ask why she had made him look away before transforming, but he noticed that her body was covered with plants.
He decided it was better not to ask the awkward question.
“I don’t understand what your transformation proves, though.
I’ve already seen a dragon and a wolf shift forms before.” Eric was pretty sure ordinary awakened beasts didn’t possess the ability to take human forms, but perhaps she was an exception.
“You are the most ignorant human I’ve ever seen pass through this forest.
How did you even survive this long?” she asked.
“Uh…
luck.” “Tch.” She clicked her tongue.
“There’s no way that’s true.
In case you weren’t aware, I can smell that vile wolf on you.” Eric froze.
“Smell him on me?” “What are you, an animal?” “Good job, genius.
Nobody would have guessed,” she replied mockingly.
Then she sighed.
“Just gaze into my soul, life kin.
I’m getting tired of this.” I changed it to “little kin” because I interpreted Eric wanted to retort that she was the one who had delayed him with her strange powers, but he decided to keep quiet and do as she asked.
Eric enveloped her with his soul sense.
At first, the waves of his soul sense seemed to meet resistance.
He was surprised by what he discovered.
It seemed that her body constantly emitted a strange energy that protected her.
As his senses gradually enveloped her body, her soul finally became visible to him.
It was the soul of a being that was neither entirely human nor entirely beast—a mixture of the two.
It wasn’t the same type of soul he had encountered before, but there was no doubt about it.
She was their kin.
Before Eric could dig deeper and understand the intricacies of being a hybrid, a pulse of energy was emitted from her body, interrupting his probing.
After confirming that she was indeed a hybrid, Eric realized something.
“So, what do you want with me?” he asked in a serious tone.
Eric had realized that everything that had happened up to this moment might have been part of a carefully laid plan.
He even suspected that the snake was one of her allies.
“You don’t have to be so serious.
I’m just a messenger of the Beast Goddess.
A month ago, I received a message from my goddess that a certain cultivator of the Life Element would pass through our settlement to repay a dragon’s debt.
My orders were to intercept that cultivator and guide him to his destination.
I didn’t know when you would arrive, so I tasked all the villagers with reporting to me if they found any clue about such a cultivator.” Of everything the Oracle of the Goddess had said, Eric was most interested in one particular detail.
Judging by the timing of the message, the Beast Goddess must have noticed me around the time I awakened.
And she already knew what the Mistress was going to task me with.
Eric’s expression changed.
Wait…
does that mean the other gods interested in the Life Element have also noticed my awakening?
Both the Life God’s allies and his enemies?
Eric shivered at the thought of being watched by hostile deities.
He had never imagined that his awakening would draw the attention of the gods.
“But if the gods want me dead—or rather, destroyed—it should take them less than a thought to make me cease to exist.
Unless other gods are preventing them from destroying my fragile soul.” Eric decided to go over the existences he knew about and see if he could pinpoint his potential enemies.
“The obvious suspect would be the God of Death, since life and death are in constant opposition,” Eric thought.
But he quickly shook his head in disagreement.
“That theory is flawed.
Life and death might seem like enemies on the surface, but they are actually allies if you dig deeper.
If death were to cease to exist, perhaps life would eventually become meaningless, and the world might fall into chaos.
And if life were to cease to exist, there would be no one left to die.” Eric knew he was looking at it from a mortal perspective.
The God of Life was dead, yet people were still being born.
So it was possible that his domain had simply been left unclaimed.
Eric suddenly turned toward the fox.
“Do you know what request the Mistress is going to make?” The fox shook her head.
“I thought you were supposed to know?” she asked.
“I guess we’ll just have to wait for Hunter, then.”