Ai Yui laid within the forest, his body snuggled as he hid inside of a tree"s trunk. After eating food from the little girl, Ai had tactfully hurried off while the girl was rus.h.i.+ng off to get her parents. He had no idea why she had fed him, but it mattered not to him. Now with a full belly, he just wanted to nap ah! This was a few days ago.He wasn"t sure why, but after eating, Ai Yui felt as if he didn"t need to worry so much about food. The meal he had seemed to last him a til now at least. He just lazed about, sleeping and every once in a while heading out to try to practice hunting for himself.
The thought of having somewhere to go to eat gave him a feeling of security as he attempted to train himself. Maybe this wouldn"t be so hard if his parents hadn"t just left him to fend for himself. So hateful! He didn"t know where they went, nor how to find them. But shouldn"t they have at least tried to teach him how to hunt before running off?
Well, then again he didn"t remember anything from that day he woke up in the whole. Maybe his parents had taught him, and he just forgot...
Slowing opening his eyes, Ai pushed himself up and made his way out of the tree before hurrying off to try to hunt again. Throughout this time, he felt like he was getting stronger, and well he was. Just he wasn"t sure how it was happening. Though he practiced as much as he could. That didn"t seem to be the reason. It was more like when he slept, he was getting stronger? But that couldn"t be it, right?
Pus.h.i.+ng the thought away, Ai caught onto the smell of something tasty and hurried after it. After a while of playing another round of chase, Ai finally caught his first meal! Sure...it was just a field mouse...But still! Be proud!
And so, Ai continued his days like this, his level slowly increasing as the days went by. The odd thing was, within the real world, only a few hours had pa.s.sed. The time seemed to be much faster in this glitched area.
Even worse, through the hard work of many fanatics, several players managed to find the glitch and post it to a blog. Now a great deal of the servers hardcore players was now standing before the array. Each trying to figure out how to "trigger" the glitch. None really knew what would happen. After much trial and error, a group of them managed to break the array, opening up the tunnel. Thus, this new world was soon flooded with new "beings"! Most of which blacked out, only a few players were able to stay alert and reserved a decrease in their levels.
It wasn"t until a few weeks had pa.s.sed in the "Glitched" world that the server for the game finally restarted, hoping to wipe out the glitch due to several reports coming in from players seemingly dying while playing...
Ai Yui all this while was having a blast in the forest, starting to get a firm standing on how to fight and catch his prey. His small fox form soon had a breakthrough, where he was able to s.h.i.+ft between a small fox and a slightly larger one. Though It wasn"t too great of a change.
He could switch from the size of a kitten to the size of a fully grown cat. Not that great right? But he felt as if he were the king of the forest! Sadly it was a very small forest, with only little beasts of weak ranks... Though, who"d have the heart to tell him ah?
Along with his ability to adjust his size, Ai was now able to speak through his thoughts, often going to bother the town folk as its new "ruler" that he proclaimed himself as. They thought he was cute, and he"d often bring them interesting things he found like herbs. So the humored him. In his mind he ruled, in theirs, he was like a neighborhood pet...
"Niani!" Ai said as he hurried over to the little girl busy with her ch.o.r.es. The little girl looked up from sweeping the shop her father ran before smiling. "Ah, Xiao Xiao, did you bring something good today?" the little girl asked heading over to pat the little foxes head.
Ai tugged the bag over to her, having stuffed some herbs that smelt nice inside. Niani"s father often sold the things he brought to her, and in turn, Niani would give him some tasty snacks. He could hunt for himself now, but cooked food was so much better ah!
As Ai sat there, his tails swaying in pleasure while he waited for Niani to return with his reward, a loud thud sounded from behind him. Ai tilted his head before standing up to go and look at what was happening.
When he peaked outside, he saw one of the older folks from the village on the ground, staring up at a strange man who was laughing while his hands rested on his hips. The rest of the town folk huddled around, watching with a hint of fear.
"Saito Village is now mine!" he said while seeming rather pleased with himself. His outfit was rather elegant as if he were some young lord. Well he might be, behind him was a group of what looked like servants, also dressed in nice clothing, but they all wore the same, unlike the arrogant male laughing.
The village elder shuddered as he stepped out. "Young lord, we"ve done nothing so why attack ah? This village is a peaceful one, we don"t have any pract.i.tioners," he said while bowing with his hands clasped together.
The young lord gave a sneer. "I am Ling Miao, I said this place belongs to me now, so just give it up ah! If you want to stay you must pay the fee!" He obviously was used to getting his way. Ling Miao was one of the "NPCs" made through the glitch. A willful young lord that went around to small villages and took them over. Forcing them to pay to remain in their own homes while getting rid of anyone who refused.
Ai frowned before heading over and letting out a growl. He adjusted his size to that of his larger form, his expression dark. "This is my village, ah! Shoo shoo! I won"t share!" he huffed, his fur sticking up while he tried to look intimidating.
Ling looked around for where the sound came from before glancing down at the little fox. He seemed to be slightly confused before he beamed a bright smile. "Ayo! Look at this! It"s a white seven-tailed fox! What more he still looks really young! Ah! and those colors! Purple?! It"s a royal bloodline too! Such a good find." he seemed rather pleased while hurrying over to get a better look.
"Ne! Heavenly Xiao, I was told you guys no longer excited! You"ll be mine now!" he said while reaching out to grab the little fox.
Ai gave a strange look at the male before quickly swatting at the male"s hand, his sharp claws left a deep cut on his hand. The young lord pulled his hand back with a hiss before glaring at the fox. "Hey now! Don"t do that! Stop fighting, It"s your privilege to be bound to me. I"m the best there is!" he said with a smug look.
Ai shook his head as he stayed just out of reach. "This is my area. Shoo shoo! I won"t bind. Nope!" he said with a huff.
Before Ai could jump out of the way again, he was suddenly lifted up by his scruff by the young lord"s servant who had used the distraction to grab him. Ai struggled as he flailed his body around, trying to get free. Why did this guy have to grab him by his scruff ah! He can"t reach his hand to bite him!
Finally giving up, Ai hung there panting. How cruel fate was, he thought he"d finally managed to get strong enough to fight ah! Why was it that he couldn"t bite these sn.o.bs to pieces huh?!
"Now, let us try this again," the young lord said clearing his throat. He reached out his hand, moving to start the binding process. Before his hand was able to touch the little fox"s forehead though, the puffball was no longer in the servant"s hand.