Red Fox

Biodata

Power Progression

Appearance

• Size: Initially measures well over one meter long; after receiving Life Essence, grows beyond one and a half meters and becomes comparable to a young calf 7 8.
• Eyes: Ruby-like, crystalline red eyes that appear to contain burning flames 7 8.
• Fur: Glossy, warm, and soft; becomes increasingly lustrous and flame-like as she evolves 7 13.
• Tail: Trails behind her like a crimson flame, sometimes brushing loosely along the ground 42 43.
• Claws: Lengthen during her transformations and serve as lethal close-combat weapons 8 13 15.

Personality

Red Fox is cautious but intensely curious. During her first encounter with Yu Ziyu, she hesitates for half an hour before approaching, drawn onward by his fragrance. Once captured, she recognizes the danger and refrains from resisting when escape becomes impossible 7.

After receiving Life Essence, she becomes openly affectionate, licking Yu Ziyu’s branches and seeking his touch. She is also mischievous: she repeatedly howls beneath him and climbs his trunk to tease the Peregrine Falcon nestlings, though she understands that they are not prey 8 9 42.

Her gentleness toward Yu Ziyu contrasts with her aggression toward challengers. She intimidates the canyon’s other mutated beasts and immediately subdues Honey Badger when he challenges her, then returns to enjoying Yu Ziyu’s petting 42.

Abilities & Skills

Bewitching Eyes

Her status panel describes her dazzling eyes as possessing the power to bewilder 8.

• Dazes Yu Ziyu during her capture, causing his root to loosen and briefly allowing her to escape its grip 7.
• Recognizes Yu Ziyu through his newly acquired fog and Hallucination effects after a red glow appears in her eyes 18.
• Does not grant unrestricted supernatural sight: she cannot see He Qing’er’s soul when it rests on Yu Ziyu’s roots 22.

Physical Strength and Claws

Her enlarged body and sharpened claws make her a powerful close-range hunter 8 15.

• Gouges deep grooves into the ground while undergoing her first recorded evolution 8.
• Kills a wild boar with a swift claw strike during the Beast Tide 15.
• Slams Honey Badger into the ground and pins him beneath a single paw 42.

Speed and Agility

Red Fox moves in rapid bursts, repeatedly appearing as a streak of red light 15 42 43.

• Leaps four meters into the air even before receiving Yu Ziyu’s Life Essence 7.
• Uses sudden rushes to close on prey and challengers 15 42 43.

Intimidation

By Entry-Level 6, her presence commands submission from several of Yu Ziyu’s other beasts 42.

• Wind Wolf and the crescent-horned black wild ox lower their heads beneath her gaze.
• Her howl and imposing presence force nearby mutated beasts to retreat several steps 42.

History

Capture and Taming

Red Fox approaches Yu Ziyu after his root enhancement disturbs the surrounding forest. Attracted by a faint fragrance, she enters his reach and is caught by an underground root. Her unusual eyes briefly daze him, but his branches block her escape. Rather than kill her, Yu Ziyu gently strokes her and decides to attempt taming her 6 7.

Yu Ziyu gives the injured fox a drop of essence from a broken branch, initially unsure whether it will help or poison her. It triggers an evolution, and within hours she is affectionately licking his branch. He later creates a root-lined den that provides warmth and appears to contain a greater concentration of the energy supporting animal evolution; she promptly settles inside 8 10.

Defense of the Canyon

Initially terrified by the circling Golden Eagle, Red Fox later benefits from the spiritual-energy surge produced by Yu Ziyu’s breakthrough after he kills it. She takes up watch on a boulder while the Peregrine Falcons patrol overhead, reassuring Yu Ziyu that his companions will protect him during his transformation 11 13 14.

During the ensuing Beast Tide, she hunts the attackers alongside the falcons. Yu Ziyu rewards their defense with the Golden Giant Eagle and Mutated Wild Boar carcasses. Eating the eagle contributes to her eventual advancement to Entry-Level 6 15 17 42.

Naming as Nine-Tails

After Red Fox defeats Honey Badger’s challenge, Yu Ziyu names her Nine-Tails. He chooses the name of a legendary fox associated with extraordinary power, mystery, and auspiciousness, expressing his regard for her intelligence and hopes for her future evolution—not a transformation she has already achieved 42.

She subsequently continues hunting near the lake and is seen stationed at the canyon entrance 43 44.

Relationships

• Yu Ziyu — Captor turned master and benefactor. He supplies the Life Essence that accelerates her evolution, builds her den, and gives her the name Nine-Tails. She reciprocates with affection and active protection 7 8 10 14 42.
• Eight Peregrine Falcons — Fellow companions and defenders of Yu Ziyu. She teases them as nestlings but knows not to eat them; they later fight together against the Beast Tide 9 15.
• Honey Badger — Challenger among the canyon’s mutated beasts. She decisively defeats and pins him when he confronts her 42.