This was the first time Rick actually defeated an opponent on his own. He checked his stats

[RICK HANIQUE]

[Strength: 12

Stamina: 11.8

Perception: 7

Vitality: 2.3

Agility: 12]

Rick's [Perception] stat had steadily increased ever since he started working on the runes. He now also possessed five skills, [Tranquil Heart], [Stealth Walk], [Negotiator], [Weapon Enhancer] and [Rune Craftsmanship].

Removing the stat screen, Rick looked around to make sure there was no one around. The entire block felt eerily empty, with empty roads and empty business buildings all around. There was no one around anywhere.

The air around had a salty taste and the smell of blood.

All the Red Foxes were dead and now Rick stood alone again.

Pack hunting beasts always moved with their entire packs and they rarely travelled solo. Each pack would mark their own territories and would generally keep their distance from other packs of the same species.

But to have five Red Foxes fight with each other to death? It was extremely improbable for five foxes of different packs to have suddenly stumbled across one another.

Rick instantly caught on to the fact that the Red Foxes that slaughtered each other must have been a part of the same pack.

'For Foxes of the same pack to go at each other like that, something must have truly triggered them.' Rick reasoned.

He walked down the empty street to find what the Red Foxes so desperately fought over.

The buildings on both sides were dark and gloomy. A wind picked up rustling through the trees on the sidewalks. The two-way street was completely empty apart from the four Red Foxes that laid there dead.

The mutation's effects on the foxes were very exceedingly visual. These were not the otherwise small sized animals. They were nearly five feet in length and had a coat of lustrous red fur on them.

Rick bent down and gazed over the fallen Red Fox. He ran his hand over its red fur. The fur was short and thick and still warm to the touch.

The fur of the Red Fox is 'boiling hot' while it is alive, but after its death, the heat would soon dissipate.

He then moved on to check the other bodies but found nothing precious to cause to fight over each other either.

'Could it be over a mate?' Rick deliberated but then chuckled at the notion. Pack animals had a strict hierarchy that they would observe. Fight over mates would be solved by a small show of power at best.

He walked around the place again, checking if he missed anything the first time.

"There is nothing around! What were they fighting over in here of all placed? Maybe there is something about the buildings!' Rick had a sudden idea,

He walked to the nearest office building and pressed his eyes against the glass to see if he could make anything inside. The insides of the building looked completely dark and empty.

Rick turned around to leave when he noticed that alongside the edge of the building was an egg tray. There was nothing special about the fact of there being an egg tray there after all it had been days since the streets were cleaned.

But the thing that caught Rick's eye was that on the tray was only a single white egg.

Rick at once sprinted to check the egg out. Even on careful inspection, the egg looked completely ordinary. He picked it up carefully and only then did he inspect the egg well.

"Wow! This is amazing!" Rick gasped in shock.

On the entirety of the eggshell were exquisite markings which Rick could immediately make out to be a rune.

There was a rune engraved over an egg!

Rick carefully held the egg in his hands afraid he would somehow drop and break it.

The rune on the egg abruptly lit up and throbbed with a beautiful red hue. After half a minute, the rune again dimmed down and died out.

"This is what you were after, right?" Rick turned around and smiled gleefully at the Red Foxes.

His work here was done. He was worried that if he stayed much longer, there might be other beasts that would follow the scent and come over to investigate. If such a thing were to happen, it would be disastrous for him.

Rick carefully placed the egg in his backpack. He took out a bottle of water and drank the water and filled it up with the blood of the Red Fox to check it out later. Next, he unsheathed his knife and cut off a large chunk of the Red Fox's fur.

In the next ten minutes, he hopped back into his bike and started cycling back to his home.

Although a lot had happened, since the moment of Rick heard the first howl, to the moment he cycled back took less than fifteen minutes.

Rick raced his way away from the street.

It was good that Rick left so soon. Two hours later, the street with the dead Red Foxes was visited by a flock of disfigured crows. The flock of fifteen mutated crows gathered around and removed all traces that the Red Foxes were even there.

---

Rick did not immediately cycle back home. He stopped at the sight of an abandoned car in the middle of the street and right away got off his bicycle and hopped into the backseat.

He opened his back and pulled out the little egg in his hand. He wanted to draw the rune right away if he could rather than wait to reach home first. He was wary of the egg breaking or hatching before he even reached home. If that happened, he would not even have the chance to record the rune on the Lemegeton.

It was not even noon right now. Rick estimated that he could work for at least another four hours and still make it to his home before sun-down.

Rick took out his notebook and pen he had carried with him from his home.

"It was a good idea to get these after all," he beamed

He started with his trial and error process of figuring out the rune once again.

Painstakingly Rick drew again and again repeatedly. The general shape of the rune soon appeared. It was the shape of a three petal lotus. Although the symbol looked very easy, the more Rick looked into it, the more intricate designs appeared.

On his sixty-second attempt nearly three hours later, Rick finally heard the sound he had been so hoping for.

Ding

[Congratulation!]

[You have successfully discovered a Fire Core Rune.]