It was already late in the morning when I was gently woken by the nearby foxes’ vivid dreams. Two of the fire foxes were purring, obviously having very enjoyable dreams, the other one was softly barking in its dreams. It was the earth fox, however, who had woken me up. It was chasing something in its sleep, something it couldn’t quite catch as it seemed. For minutes I watched the brown fox’s earthy paws scratching on the ground in rhythmic movements, tossing dust here and there, only then did I rise to my feet, still a bit reluctant to let go of my sleep just yet.
But there were things to do, especially now that I was sitting at full mana. I needed more foxes to defend myself, and I needed them now!
First, I needed a fox to take care of my other foxes by healing them. The only choice I had for that was the water fox, which obviously had some issues. I just couldn’t imagine water magic working on my fire foxes. If anything, it would hurt them instead!
Still, I had to summon at least a few of them, so as to heal the earth fox who would likely be receiving hits left and right very soon. And for all I knew the fire foxes were fighting from a distance in the first place, which meant they were very unlikely to be injured in most situations. Sure, there was still the danger of the invaders having mages on their own, but that was a problem for the future me to deal with.
I slowly made my way towards the wall opposite of the dungeon’s entrance, so as to not wake up my sleeping foxes by the noise summoning additional ones would cause. The ‘ritual’ for lack of a better word was almost silent, but the foxes themselves would never be - not that I minded it. Who wouldn’t be excited about being born?
Once I had reached the rocky walls, I searched for a comfortable spot to sit down, which wasn’t exactly hard given that the whole ground was just the same grass everywhere. Soon, I had sat down at a random spot and prepared to summon the first of hopefully many foxes today.
“Summon Water Fox!”
A faint feeling of coldness rushed over my skin as thirteen points of mana left my body as a faint blue mist. The mist quickly spread out, surrounding me to all sides before slowly beginning to spin with me still at its center. Seconds passed by as the cloud rotated faster and faster before giving birth to a faint, ball-shaped silhouette. The ball of mana grew denser and denser until it had swallowed all of the mist that had once surrounded me.
Four legs, a head, and a long tail now grew out of the ball, slowly giving it a fox-like shape. Before long, the soon-to-be fox dropped to the ground with a faint splash, to then finally gain an azure blue color - a new fox was born.
I stared at the water fox in awe. It was smaller than the earth fox, giving it a size roughly the same as the fire foxes, but the two couldn’t look any more different if you were to compare them. Where the flame fox seemed to have some kind of soft but unchanging body under its endlessly burning flames, the water fox was both ever-changing and still somehow managing to portray a deep feeling of calmness.
The tail of the water fox gently waved from one side to the other, spreading tiny droplets on the uneven ground below. It lacked the white tip I myself had, much like the fire and earth foxes did, but in exchange, its ever-moving water looked a lot more transparent towards the end of its tail. Its ears on the contrary were much darker in color, making it seem as if they were painted using the deep sea itself.
Two aquamarine eyes stared at me, both of them portraying a soothing, almost motherly gentleness. I immediately knew this fox couldn’t hurt a soul unless really forced to.
I couldn’t help but reach out for my new monster, placing my palm gently against the side of its head. The water fox leaned into the touch, causing its wet ‘fur’ to swallow my hand. Soon enough, it was massaged by never-ending currents. It was as if the fox’s body was made out of rapids that tried to push me away, much contrary to the fire fox’s which wasn’t touchable in the least.
After spending a few moments exploring the weird sensation of petting the fox, I quickly summoned two more, just to be on the safe side. It wouldn’t do for invaders to simply defeat the sole healer and win that way!
The two new foxes were pretty much the same as the first one. One was a little bit smaller than the others, but other than that you couldn’t really tell them apart. It was only when they walked off, after having been petted to their satisfaction, that I could see some differences.
The smallest of the foxes dashed around from one side to the other, splashing water everywhere, while the two larger ones looked far more elegant in their every movement. It seemed like I had summoned a young, hyper fox for a change. I could only hope it would stay that way forever. It would make the dungeon a lot more livelier!
With a smile on my face, I watched the foxes explore their new home. It was only when my gaze fell on the ones at my nest - which were now wide awake and eager to greet their new friends - that I remembered I still had work to do.
“Summon three earth foxes!”
As soon as I had said those few words, a cold shiver ran over my body, stealing away almost all of my remaining mana. Once again it gathered as a spinning cloud, to then create three round shapes. Before long, legs, heads, and tails were growing out of the balls of mana, slowly forming brown foxes. An audible thud could be heard as they dropped to the ground, finally revealing their final shape.
The resulting foxes looked much like my existing one. They were bigger and much heavier than the water foxes I had summoned before. Six eyes stared at me, each of them looking as if they were carved from pure amber. The newly born foxes looked way more than confident enough to do their job and protect me. They looked like guards, with only their happily waving, dusty tails revealing they were enjoying my attention as much as the other foxes had.
I couldn’t help but reward the three for doing their noble task starting from today. Soon enough my hands were restlessly wandering over their rough, furless bodies. The foxes seemed to already like this quite a bit, but it was only when I went to scratch them behind their ears instead that their tails started to wag much faster than before. I couldn’t help but smile.
After a few minutes, I reluctantly send the foxes away to instead concentrate on my next and last summon for now. I needed at least one more of the two-tailed lava foxes, knowing they were superior in strength and endurance compared to all other of my foxes. It wouldn’t do to forsake one-tailed foxes altogether, though, as there was still strength in numbers, but it would be the lava foxes who would hopefully prove to be a real challenge to the invaders.
“Summon Lava Fox,” I commanded, while already bracing myself against the cold that would soon follow.
Seconds later, I was indeed assaulted by an icy grasp, but I did my best to endure it. Instead, I made myself comfortable so as not to make the summoned fox feel guilty about giving me shivers.
I didn’t have to wait for long. Just after a minute or so of the cloud of mana spreading around me, I was greeted by a ball of energy that slowly changed its color from a pale blue to a deep red instead, before growing both legs, a head, and two long tails. The finished fox soon dropped to the ground, just to shake itself, spreading droplets of liquid rock everywhere.
The new lava fox was just like the older one, albeit it almost completely lacked the black spots its sibling had, instead having much brighter colors of red, orange, and yellow.
Much like the other foxes, the newly born lava fox eagerly greeted me, licking my hand with its supposedly blazing hot tongue. But instead of being burned, it felt like a series of warm and soft touches. Naturally, I did my best to repay my fox for its greeting, spending some precious time petting its head, back, and sides. It was only after minutes that the fox somewhat reluctantly left my side to run off and greet the older ones.
Soon enough excited yelps and barks filled the room, making for a very lively atmosphere. All the foxes were running about, chasing and chatting to each other. Only the water foxes seemed to be a little bit reluctant to join. Knowing what I had read about them, they probably were too afraid of hurting their new friends, so instead they stayed with the earth foxes who didn’t seem to have the feared weakness against water.
Now that I had emptied out all of my mana, I couldn’t do anything but rest, so I made my way over to my nest, which for now was all empty except for a single earth fox who had decided to rest instead of participating in the party the other monsters had going on.
With a shrug, I snuggled against the rough body of the earth fox. I gave it a few scratches, before closing my eyes and taking a nap, the excited noise surrounding me not nearly enough to keep me awake for long. A nap sounded dreamy right now…
- - - - -
Somewhat cute Water Fox [collapse] Far less friendly looking AI Water Fox [collapse]
It was already late in the morning when I was gently woken by the nearby foxes’ vivid dreams. Two of the fire foxes were purring, obviously having very enjoyable dreams, the other one was softly barking in its dreams. It was the earth fox, however, who had woken me up. It was chasing something in its sleep, something it couldn’t quite catch as it seemed. For minutes I watched the brown fox’s earthy paws scratching on the ground in rhythmic movements, tossing dust here and there, only then did I rise to my feet, still a bit reluctant to let go of my sleep just yet.
But there were things to do, especially now that I was sitting at full mana. I needed more foxes to defend myself, and I needed them now!
First, I needed a fox to take care of my other foxes by healing them. The only choice I had for that was the water fox, which obviously had some issues. I just couldn’t imagine water magic working on my fire foxes. If anything, it would hurt them instead!
Still, I had to summon at least a few of them, so as to heal the earth fox who would likely be receiving hits left and right very soon. And for all I knew the fire foxes were fighting from a distance in the first place, which meant they were very unlikely to be injured in most situations. Sure, there was still the danger of the invaders having mages on their own, but that was a problem for the future me to deal with.
I slowly made my way towards the wall opposite of the dungeon’s entrance, so as to not wake up my sleeping foxes by the noise summoning additional ones would cause. The ‘ritual’ for lack of a better word was almost silent, but the foxes themselves would never be - not that I minded it. Who wouldn’t be excited about being born?
Once I had reached the rocky walls, I searched for a comfortable spot to sit down, which wasn’t exactly hard given that the whole ground was just the same grass everywhere. Soon, I had sat down at a random spot and prepared to summon the first of hopefully many foxes today.
“Summon Water Fox!”
A faint feeling of coldness rushed over my skin as thirteen points of mana left my body as a faint blue mist. The mist quickly spread out, surrounding me to all sides before slowly beginning to spin with me still at its center. Seconds passed by as the cloud rotated faster and faster before giving birth to a faint, ball-shaped silhouette. The ball of mana grew denser and denser until it had swallowed all of the mist that had once surrounded me.
Four legs, a head, and a long tail now grew out of the ball, slowly giving it a fox-like shape. Before long, the soon-to-be fox dropped to the ground with a faint splash, to then finally gain an azure blue color - a new fox was born.
I stared at the water fox in awe. It was smaller than the earth fox, giving it a size roughly the same as the fire foxes, but the two couldn’t look any more different if you were to compare them. Where the flame fox seemed to have some kind of soft but unchanging body under its endlessly burning flames, the water fox was both ever-changing and still somehow managing to portray a deep feeling of calmness.
The tail of the water fox gently waved from one side to the other, spreading tiny droplets on the uneven ground below. It lacked the white tip I myself had, much like the fire and earth foxes did, but in exchange, its ever-moving water looked a lot more transparent towards the end of its tail. Its ears on the contrary were much darker in color, making it seem as if they were painted using the deep sea itself.
Two aquamarine eyes stared at me, both of them portraying a soothing, almost motherly gentleness. I immediately knew this fox couldn’t hurt a soul unless really forced to.
I couldn’t help but reach out for my new monster, placing my palm gently against the side of its head. The water fox leaned into the touch, causing its wet ‘fur’ to swallow my hand. Soon enough, it was massaged by never-ending currents. It was as if the fox’s body was made out of rapids that tried to push me away, much contrary to the fire fox’s which wasn’t touchable in the least.
After spending a few moments exploring the weird sensation of petting the fox, I quickly summoned two more, just to be on the safe side. It wouldn’t do for invaders to simply defeat the sole healer and win that way!
The two new foxes were pretty much the same as the first one. One was a little bit smaller than the others, but other than that you couldn’t really tell them apart. It was only when they walked off, after having been petted to their satisfaction, that I could see some differences.
The smallest of the foxes dashed around from one side to the other, splashing water everywhere, while the two larger ones looked far more elegant in their every movement. It seemed like I had summoned a young, hyper fox for a change. I could only hope it would stay that way forever. It would make the dungeon a lot more livelier!
With a smile on my face, I watched the foxes explore their new home. It was only when my gaze fell on the ones at my nest - which were now wide awake and eager to greet their new friends - that I remembered I still had work to do.
“Summon three earth foxes!”
As soon as I had said those few words, a cold shiver ran over my body, stealing away almost all of my remaining mana. Once again it gathered as a spinning cloud, to then create three round shapes. Before long, legs, heads, and tails were growing out of the balls of mana, slowly forming brown foxes. An audible thud could be heard as they dropped to the ground, finally revealing their final shape.
The resulting foxes looked much like my existing one. They were bigger and much heavier than the water foxes I had summoned before. Six eyes stared at me, each of them looking as if they were carved from pure amber. The newly born foxes looked way more than confident enough to do their job and protect me. They looked like guards, with only their happily waving, dusty tails revealing they were enjoying my attention as much as the other foxes had.
I couldn’t help but reward the three for doing their noble task starting from today. Soon enough my hands were restlessly wandering over their rough, furless bodies. The foxes seemed to already like this quite a bit, but it was only when I went to scratch them behind their ears instead that their tails started to wag much faster than before. I couldn’t help but smile.
After a few minutes, I reluctantly send the foxes away to instead concentrate on my next and last summon for now. I needed at least one more of the two-tailed lava foxes, knowing they were superior in strength and endurance compared to all other of my foxes. It wouldn’t do to forsake one-tailed foxes altogether, though, as there was still strength in numbers, but it would be the lava foxes who would hopefully prove to be a real challenge to the invaders.
“Summon Lava Fox,” I commanded, while already bracing myself against the cold that would soon follow.
Seconds later, I was indeed assaulted by an icy grasp, but I did my best to endure it. Instead, I made myself comfortable so as not to make the summoned fox feel guilty about giving me shivers.
I didn’t have to wait for long. Just after a minute or so of the cloud of mana spreading around me, I was greeted by a ball of energy that slowly changed its color from a pale blue to a deep red instead, before growing both legs, a head, and two long tails. The finished fox soon dropped to the ground, just to shake itself, spreading droplets of liquid rock everywhere.
The new lava fox was just like the older one, albeit it almost completely lacked the black spots its sibling had, instead having much brighter colors of red, orange, and yellow.
Much like the other foxes, the newly born lava fox eagerly greeted me, licking my hand with its supposedly blazing hot tongue. But instead of being burned, it felt like a series of warm and soft touches. Naturally, I did my best to repay my fox for its greeting, spending some precious time petting its head, back, and sides. It was only after minutes that the fox somewhat reluctantly left my side to run off and greet the older ones.
Soon enough excited yelps and barks filled the room, making for a very lively atmosphere. All the foxes were running about, chasing and chatting to each other. Only the water foxes seemed to be a little bit reluctant to join. Knowing what I had read about them, they probably were too afraid of hurting their new friends, so instead they stayed with the earth foxes who didn’t seem to have the feared weakness against water.
Now that I had emptied out all of my mana, I couldn’t do anything but rest, so I made my way over to my nest, which for now was all empty except for a single earth fox who had decided to rest instead of participating in the party the other monsters had going on.
With a shrug, I snuggled against the rough body of the earth fox. I gave it a few scratches, before closing my eyes and taking a nap, the excited noise surrounding me not nearly enough to keep me awake for long. A nap sounded dreamy right now…
- - - - -
Somewhat cute Water Fox [collapse] Far less friendly looking AI Water Fox [collapse]