The sound arrived gently, like a bell in a quiet room.
[New Quest: Assist your younger sisters.]
Ray's eyes blinked slowly. The voice was calm—clear, without urgency—but it carried a certain weight. It was the VirtueForce System. Again. It never spoke without purpose.
He lay still for a moment on the grass, letting the early morning quiet settle on his chest.
"…My sisters?" he repeated in a whisper.
He sat up. There was no rush in his movements, only thoughtfulness. Stretching once to work out the sleep in his limbs.
The system had never involved his sisters before in something it called an important quest.
He took a slow breath, grounding himself, and began walking.
Step by step.
And then, as he walked on the path leading to the garden, the breeze met him—cool and tinged with dew. He stepped out into the morning sun.
The family garden was not large, but it was alive. The air was filled with the scent of soil, of wet grass and petals. Each leaf shimmered in the light. Each stone along the cobbled path had a story etched into its surface by wind and time.
Ray's eyes found them.
Two small figures, crouched near the far corner by the garden wall. Lila and Mira. Nine years old. Identical in face, mismatched in temperament. Lila, bold and stubborn. Mira, gentle and thoughtful.
They were huddled over something—whispering.
Ray approached without calling out, letting his footsteps speak first.
As he neared, Mira turned. Her expression was troubled.
"Ray," she whispered. "She's hurt."
Lila didn't look up. "We found her in the bush. She couldn't run."
Between them, nestled in a small pocket of shade beneath the flowering lilies, was a fox.
Tiny.
Its fur was matted and torn near the back leg. One eye barely open, the other shut tight. Its chest rose and fell—shallow, uneven. Its left leg… twisted. Unnatural.
Ray's heart skipped.
The system responded.
[Analyzing target.]
A shimmer passed over the fox's form. Not visible—felt.
Ray's eyes narrowed. A new message bloomed in his vision.
[Name: ???]
[Title: Heir to the Foxkin]
He stopped breathing.
"…What?"
The words felt unreal. He blinked, hoping it would vanish, hoping it would change.
But it didn't.
Heir to the Foxkin.
He didn't even know what the Foxkin were—but somehow, that made it worse. Ray didn't want to deal with any strong people. The Heir to the foxkin sounded scary what if he helped the foxkin but her people wouldn't think the same. His family was quite weak he wasn't sure if it was okay to help someone who was a heir. Or maybe the people would think his family were the ones to cause the harm. Then another thought came to him how did a foxkin heir even get here.
The system buzzed again.
[Quest Updated.]
[Objective: Save the Young Princess.]
[Reward: Eternal Gratitude.]
[Failure: Divine Smite.]
Ray's throat tightened.
Divine Smite.
He didn't want to know what that meant. Not truly. But something deep in his instincts—the part honed by warnings, stories, and the quiet gravity of the world—told him he did not want to fail.
A shiver passed down his spine. He felt it in his hands, which had gone cold.
"How do I…" he began to think, not even finishing the sentence.
The system answered.
[The system will offer assistance once.]
[Place your hand on the young fox's left leg. The system will inject controlled aura to assist the subject's restoration.]
His eyes moved down, tracing every line of the fox's body. The torn fur. The slight tremble in its breath. The small form, curled protectively.
Left leg.
He hesitated.
A part of him wanted to act immediately. But the other part—the larger part—knew this was delicate. Sacred, even.
He sat down slowly beside them. Mira shifted to give him space, her hands folded nervously in her lap. Lila watched him closely.
Ray extended his hand.
Stopped.
[Reasure the princess] the system said
He looked at the fox again. "I'm going to help," he murmured aloud. "If you can hear me… I won't hurt you."
His hand hovered over the injured leg.
The fur was soft—dirtied and tangled, but soft. His palm made contact.
Nothing happened.
Then everything did.
Warmth surged from his hand—not a heat like fire, but a pressure. Like standing in a stream. It flowed from him, and into her. Into the leg.
Into something deeper than the leg.
He gasped softly.
The fox's body shuddered.
Light—not bright, but firm, like the glow of golden mist—wrapped around her limbs. The injury began to straighten, realign. But more than that—her shape changed.
He felt it beneath his hand.
Bones shifted.
The fox's form elongated.
Fur receded. Limbs stretched. Ears shortened.
And then, lying in the same bed of crushed flowers, was a girl.
No older than ten.
Her skin pale, her hair a waterfall of amber, falling in waves down her back and shoulders. Her eyes remained closed. A tail appeared behind her and she had fluffy fox like ears with the appearance of a human.
Mira's mouth fell open.
Lila whispered, "Is she… a spirit?"
Ray couldn't answer.
He didn't know. He assumed she was a beastkin like he had read on novels and so on but he wasn't taught that here, maybe wasn't yet anyways. He knew there were other races though mainly just elves and dwarfs. Who were apparently more prominent in the capital city.
He withdrew his hand, slowly. It trembled.
He had done what the system asked. But he felt like he had done something which will affect him a lot in the future.
He looked again at the girl's face—peaceful now, but marked with some hidden depth, something waiting beneath the surface.
The system did not speak again.
Not yet.
Ray sat there a short while.
Just watching her breathe.
Mira then asked "what do we do."
Ray's younger sisters glanced at each other before looking at him.
"Let's help take her inside, even if it looks like she's calmly sleeping on the ground." Ray said