Novice Reincarnator

Dirt pressed against me from all angles. I could barely move. My vision was reduced to a small opening of light at the entrance to my burrow. I desperately wanted to make myself comfortable, but I didn’t dare.

A pack of monsters, wolves from the sound of their howls, prowled around my half-baked shelter. They had rushed over here the moment their keen ears picked up the sound of my digging. I would have already been spotted if it wasn’t for my two stealth skills and the great presence of the massive tree above my burrow.

The strength of my enemies was unknown, but the fact that they heard me long before I heard them was bad news. I was only level 1. Like the other small critters in the area, I had no choice but to wait out this sudden calamity.

“Arooo!”

I suppressed my flinch at the howl that came from somewhere very close to me. Angry snarls padded around the area. Seconds turned to minutes. Much to my horror, the monster’s weren’t leaving my vicinity. They knew I was nearby and they were adamant in finding me. I would be dead several times over again if it wasn’t for [Presence Concealment] helping hide my scent and tracks.

There was one silver lining to my sudden crisis. My proficiency with [Presence Concealment] and [Disguise] grew by leaps and bounds under the pressure of this deadly crisis. My understanding of how to manipulate my presence reached new heights.

Unfortunately, my explosive growth ended the moment I became adept with my skills and lost the support of my Adept class. I called up my status in my mind to distract me from my worries.

Name: Fang

Class: Adept

Level: 1/20

Personal Skills (5/5): [Ash Demon Princess], [Fox Fire I], [Presence Concealment II], [Disguise II], [Ki I]

Racial Skills: [Instinct II], [Agility I]

Class Skills: [Adept], [Growth II]

As I suspected, I was now rather adept with my two stealth skills, as signified by the II in their name. A skill with Novice mastery had a ‘I’ at the end, Adept II, Expert III, Master IV, and Grandmaster was denoted by a V.

The only three skills my class would help me rapidly gain proficiency in were [Fox Fire I], [Ki I], and [Agility I]. Alas, I was in no position to be practicing any of them at the moment.

The angry movements outside my burrow stopped and a sudden hush fell over the forest. I would have thought I was safe if not for the fact that the surrounding little critters still didn’t dare to utter a peep.

I heard small movements from time to time, but it was mostly quiet. A thought struck me. No way, was I being camped by these monsters?

They planned to wait for me since they couldn’t find me. Eventually, I would need to come out of my hiding spot for food and water or else I would die a miserable death. Panic accelerated my heart and I almost cursed out loud. Doing so would have resulted in certain death with how close these monsters were to me.

Shit. Shit. Shit. Either I died a miserable death from dehydration or I died a quick death at the hands of these monsters. No, I mentally told myself, I needed to calm down.

These monsters would eventually have to leave. This was a battle of wills between predator and prey. The more patient one would win. I closed my eyes and recalled the faces of my loved ones.

I reaffirmed my resolve. I would survive and return to them, no matter what it took.

—

I hit my limit first. I wasn’t sure if it was because of my [Ash Demon Princess]’ [Gluttony] or if it was because of my reincarnation, but it wasn’t long until hunger clawed at my belly. That wasn’t a big deal on its own, but it would all be over the moment my stomach growled in protest.

My hunger wasn’t without a solution, it was just that my solution carried risks that I wasn’t willing to take until now. [Ki] was a concentrated form of life force. Hence, it was no surprise that circulating [Ki] in one’s body could supplement the usual life activities one needed to partake in.

Those adept with their [Ki] could reduce the number of times they needed to eat, drink, and sleep to a few times a week. Those that were experts with their [Ki] could remove the need for those activities all together.

That was to say, I was pushed into a situation where I had no choice but to reach [Ki III] or die trying. [Ki II] was the furthest I ever made it even with [Gluttony] and [Health] helping to supply me with more ki than normal.

Now that I couldn’t abuse [Gluttony], I had to resort to what everyone else did to gather [Ki]. I adjusted my breathing to gather ki and entered a meditative state. These two techniques weren’t nearly as effective now that I didn’t have the skills, but I had thankfully become rather adept at them in one of my past reincarnations.

I breathed in and the life force of the world rushed into my lungs. Ki circulated around my body, helping improve the various functions of my body. I exhaled and dirty, impure ki left my body.

I half expected a swarm of monsters to come tearing into my little hidey-hole, but there was no change in the situation. The pack of monsters nearby remained uncertain of my position. My [Disguise] and [Presence Concealment] skills continued to be effective even while I worked on gathering and refining ki within my body.

Emboldened by my success, I returned to my meditative state and continued to refine my ki. Life threatening danger had a certain way of pushing a person to focus far more than they would have thought possible.

The light faded from the small entrance of my shelter. The pack of monsters settled down and the noises in the forest quieted. Eventually, morning came and they were still around.

My throat was parched and my stomach felt like it was consuming itself. Thick, juicy desires swirled around in my belly. I dreamed of drinking an ocean dry. I dreamed of sinking my fangs into a fat, juicy steak.

Memories of the mouthwatering meals I had at Elizabeth and Cecilia’s places drove me crazy. It didn’t help that I was beginning to think of the pack of monsters outside as an all you can eat buffet of meat.

Meditation was the only thing that allowed me to remain calm in front of my maddening desires. Under my steadfast efforts, I reached [Ki II] in the afternoon. The sudden, qualitative improvement in my ki did wonders for easing my hunger and thirst, but it did not eliminate them entirely.

My basic, human needs were a constant presence lurking in the back of my mind. The pack of monsters hadn’t left yet and so, I had no choice but to aim for reaching [Ki III]. Unfortunately, my speedy progress due to my Adept class had come to an end. All I could rely on now was my own efforts.

The second day passed with me trapped in my little burrow and the pack of wolves resting outside.

I found myself losing hope on the third day. It had been three whole days and those damned wolves were still camping outside of my hiding spot. It had been three whole days and I had yet to hear any sign of a rescue team looking for me.

My mind was thrown into chaos and I found it hard to meditate. Doubts swirled in my heart. I couldn’t help but question why I was trapped in a small hole instead of sitting at a warm table with my friends.

It shouldn’t be too hard for the elite of Saint Mikhael Explorer Academy to figure out where I was teleported to and send out a rescue team. I was certain that Cecilia, Byleth, and even Elizabeth would not sit quietly while I was missing.

Even so, my situation remained the same. It was as if everyone I thought of as a friend had abandoned me. No, no, no. That was crazy. It was far more likely that they either couldn’t find me, or they couldn’t enter this dungeon for some reason.

During the lunch break of the intermediate explorer’s exam, one of the exam takers had mentioned a dungeon that only allowed one explorer party at a time to enter. If I remembered correctly, the name of that dungeon was Beast Trial, a dungeon for level 40 explorers. It was possible I was in a similar dungeon to Beast Trial.

It was time I faced the unpleasant truth. Three days had given me a lot of time to think about what had happened. Elizabeth had said that an Angel messed with my explorer’s license when I first reincarnated as Ash.

I didn’t know many Angels, but there was certainly one Angel in particular that I had angered. Aurelius Snowlight, Cecilia’s father, had warned me that I would disappear if I didn’t return to my homeworld.

That was exactly what happened. I had disappeared in the middle of my intermediate explorer's exam. I was almost certain that he was the one who sent me to my death. Since this was a deliberate sabotage meant to make me disappear, it was very likely that I was indeed in a dungeon that only allowed one group of explorers at a time.

Only time would tell, but I had to mentally prepare myself for the idea that I would have to fight my way out of this dungeon.

The fourth day found me drowning in loneliness. It was strange. I thought I had gotten used to the idea of being by myself during my time as Ash. Even so, I often found my mind wandering to those happy times I spent with Byleth and Cecilia.

I reexamined every conversation and pondered over what my life would be like if I had made a different decision. For example, I imagined what would have happened if I reincarnated as Ash like Byleth wished. Strangely, I wasn’t opposed to becoming something more than friends with her.

I thought of Leah and the craziness that sparked my escape to the Upper Realm. I thought of the hero party and the Novice Club. I thought of my family back home. My mind drifted from topic to topic, desperate to escape the dark reality of my situation.

A large portion of the pack left on the fifth day, but a small number of monsters remained behind. Even if their numbers had dwindled, I still stood no chance of defeating them as a level 1. I was stuck in my little burrow, cursing my own foolishness.

I threw myself straight into danger day after day by entering dungeons, and for what? I only entered dungeons to try to raise my own low self-esteem. It wasn’t worth dying to feel better about myself.

Cecilia, Byleth, and Leah all accepted me, even when I was weak. I was the only one that thought I needed to prove myself. This whole life as Fang was one big mistake.

Death was an inevitable end to over 50% of all explorers. I knew that, but somehow I thought I would be an exception. My success as Ash had blinded me to the cold, hard truth of my life. I was only an ordinary person. An ordinary person couldn’t do anything but cower in fear when surrounded by powerful monsters.

It poured down rain on the sixth day. That proved to be both a blessing and a curse.  On one hand, I finally managed to quench my thirst. On the other hand, my cramped shelter was flooding. The entrance to my burrow was located at a low point in the ground, causing it to collect far more rain water than usual.

There was nothing I could do. The few monsters left were still waiting around outside. The pouring rain showed no sign of stopping. Muddy water steadily accumulated. At first, it was only to my knees. Then it rose to my hips. Then, my chest.

The water reached my neck and I realized that I had to make a choice.  I could either leave my burrow or I could try to do something about the water. There was one skill I hadn’t dared to touch, partly due to the fact it nearly killed me and partly due to the fear of being detected.

My sudden 1 Tailed Fox Beastman reincarnation and [Fox Fire] skill were both presents from the Six-tailed Red Fox that killed me once. That skill was proof of the wounds it had carved into my body.

Leaving my burrow would get me killed. That meant I only had one real choice. I waited until the last possible moment. When I ran out of time and the muddy water covered my nose, I activated [Fox Fire].