Chapter 1 Thrown Out Before the Red Moon

"If you throw me out there, I'm coming back as a ghost and haunt your vegetable patch!" I yelled, clawing uselessly at the icy mud as Ronan dragged me by my ankles.   "Shut up, Kaia! You're useless, weak, and a drain on our winter rations," Ronan spat, tossing me over the tribal boundary stone like a sack of damp laundry.   Vera stepped up beside him, wearing my favorite wolf-fur coat. She crossed her arms, smirked, and kicked a spray of slush directly into my face. "Look at her, Ronan. A moon fox who can't even grow a fluffy tail to keep herself warm. Go die in a cave like the trash you are."   "Hey! That's my coat! You didn't even wash your hands before stealing it!" I shouted, pushing myself up onto my elbows.   They didn't listen. Ronan turned his back, Vera flipped her hair, and the two of them marched through the wooden gates of the Silver-Claw Tribe, pulling the heavy timber doors shut with a resounding bang.   "Fine! Keep the coat! It gives you back fat anyway!" I screamed at the closed doors.   Silence answered me, broken only by the howling wind. I slumped back into the snow, groaning loud enough for the trees to hear.   Great job, original Kaia, I thought-well, no, I actually said it out loud to a nearby pinecone: "Great job dying and leaving me in this pathetic, frostbitten body! A food scientist with two degrees, burned to death in her own lab by her shady business partner, only to wake up as a banished, tailless fox woman in a snowy wasteland. Terrific career upgrade!"   I sat up, dusting off my threadbare rags, and looked up at the sky.   "Oh, come on," I muttered.   The sky wasn't blue or black. It looked like someone had smashed a giant jelly jar across the heavens. Deep, angry streaks of crimson bled across the clouds, and hanging right in the middle was a massive, glowing red moon that practically buzzed with bad vibes.   Right on cue, a terrifying, unnatural screech echoed from down the valley.   "Is that a bear? A giant bird? A monstrous demon?" I asked a nearby rock. The rock didn't reply, but another ear-splitting roar echoed closer, followed by the sound of snapping trees. "Right. Not staying out here to be night-time appetizers."   I scrambled backward on my hands and knees, dragging my freezing carcass into the mouth of a nearby shallow cave. I pulled my knees to my chest, shivering so hard my teeth sounded like castanets.   Suddenly, a bright, golden screen popped into existence three inches from my nose.   "Gah! Boundary hazard!" I yelled, slapping at the air. My hand went right through the light.   [Celestial Eden Space System Activated.] [Host Status: Freezing, Starving, Unbelievably Loud.] [Initiating Emergency Binding...]   "Excuse you, I am appropriately loud for someone dumped in a blizzard!" I snapped at the floating letters.   [Current Available Space: 1 Acre Farmland (Locked), Basic Kitchen (Unlocked), Storage Warehouse (Tier 1).] [Newbie Quest: Survive Until Sunrise.] [Reward: Seeds, Clean Water, Emergency Rations.] [Failure Penalty: Becoming wolf poop.]   "Hey! That penalty is way too detailed!" I yelled at the screen. "Fine, give me the food! Open inventory!"   I poked the floating icon marked Storage. Puff! A metal flask of water and a silver foil packet dropped directly onto my lap.   "Now we're talking!" I grabbed the flask, unscrewed the cap, and took a huge gulp. "Oh, wow. That doesn't taste like swamp water at all! Five stars, floating gold screen!"   I ripped open the silver tube and squirted the paste into my mouth. It tasted like pulverized cardboard mixed with oats, but warm energy immediately hit my belly, fanning out to my fingers and toes.   "Not bad. Needs salt, maybe a little honey, but I'll give it a pass-"   THUD.   A giant, dark mass landed right at the cave entrance.   I froze, the foil tube still stuck in my mouth.   A wolf the size of a minivan crawled through the narrow cave opening. Except it wasn't just a wolf. Its fur was matted with black, oozing slime, extra eyes were bulging near its ears, and its jaws were dripping sizzly red spit onto the stone.   "Nice doggy," I squeaked, slowly slipping the paste into my pocket. "Good boy. Do you like oats? I have oats!"   The mutated wolf let out a guttural growl and lunged directly for my throat.   "Woah, personal space!" I shrieked, diving sideways.   My hip slammed against the cave wall, but the burst of system energy kept me moving. The wolf crashed headfirst into the stone where I'd been sitting two seconds ago, shaking the whole cave.   "Ha! Missed me, ugly!" I taunted, scrambling to my feet.   The wolf spun around, eyes glowing bright crimson, and snapped its jaws right next to my ear.   "Okay, rude!" I grabbed a heavy, jagged rock off the ground with both hands, raised it over my head, and brought it down hard on the monster's front paw.   CRUNCH.   The beast let out a high-pitched yelp and reeled back.   "How do you like that, fluff-ball?" I gasped, lunging forward with a sharp, splintered piece of wood left in an old campfire ring. Before the beast could recover, I thrust the wooden spike upward right into the soft spot under its jaw.   The wolf twitched violently, collapsed onto its side, and knocked me flat on my back as it went down.   I lay there under the stink of dark, corrupted blood, panting like a winded pug.   DING!   [Quest Completed: Survive Until Sunrise!] [Rewards Deposited: Basic Crop Seeds x10, Storage Expansion Unlocked.] [System Note: Host survived through sheer, unrefined aggression. Good job.]   "Unrefined?!" I sat up, pushing the heavy wolf leg off my stomach and dusting off my rags. "That was strategic brilliance! I used physics! And a rock!"   I stood up, walked to the cave entrance, and leaned against the stone frame. The sun was just beginning to peer over the horizon, casting pale yellow light over the terrifying red landscape.   I looked back down toward the Silver-Claw Tribe's wooden walls in the distance, wiped a smear of dark wolf goo off my nose, and pointed aggressively at the gates.   "Enjoy my wolf-fur coat while you can, Vera!" I yelled into the morning breeze. "Because I've got a magic system, a cave, and ten seeds, and I'm coming back to ruin your whole life!"