The Awakening of the Interspecies Hunter

I woke up to a heavy, substantial weight pressing against my chest. Miho was sprawled out on top of me. "Uhehehe..." I pushed her to the side, but she just giggled like a fool, not even waking from her slumber. I checked the status window that had been occupying the corner of my vision since a moment ago.

"Oh." Finally, a real awakening. I pulled up my status.

The Interspecies ability listed on the status window was indeed SSS-rank, and a skill had been added—something I thought would remain blank for the rest of my life. Well, it had made it possible for me to lure a perfectly healthy Ho-jok and ravish her, so it would be stranger if it weren't the maximum SSS-rank. When I opened the Interspecies Shop, there was such an overwhelming amount of skills and items that it would take days just to check them all.

A minus sign? The currency used for the shop had a negative sign attached to it. It seemed like the coins I received during the process of accepting the quest and awakening were being treated as an advance, so I didn't have any particular complaints. Next, I clicked on Interspecies Management and saw Miho's profile.

So, whether I break her with force or take a normal, healthy route, the dominance increases steadily. Fortunately, the arrogant fox next to me had a killer SSS-rank item around her neck. Was 12 dominance a sign that she had opened her heart about 10%? Well, even with the help of skills, it's hard to be completely submissive after just one time.

"Uheng... zzZ." I looked over to see Miho still lying spread-eagled, scratching her belly. She was, naturally, completely naked.

SLAP!

"Kyaa?!" I smacked her water-drop-shaped breasts, making a loud sound, and Miho woke up in a panic. Her dominance remained at 12. 'I guess a free ride like that isn't possible.' Still, even though not even a full day had passed, I could feel the infinite potential of my awakened Interspecies ability. I checked her status again, and since I had the ability to peek at others' status windows, I could see hers.

I doubted my own eyes. 'Stamina is C?' And that was only because of the Pendant of Submission I gave her, having just risen from D. According to public internet information, even the lowest stat of an S-rank hunter should be at least B-rank. Or perhaps the internet information was false... but D was just too low.

"Why are you hitting me!" Miho, glaring at me, started to look a bit dim-witted. '...So she just hit S-rank because of her unique ability.' Still, I felt relieved to see a status window that was far too pathetic for an S-rank hunter. She wasn't some veteran Ho-jok with a life ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠expectancy of over 300 years; she was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a fresh 22-year-old, which is why she ended up wearing a slave collar and getting countered by me. And now that she was bound to me, I intended to use the items in the Interspecies Shop to make her stronger.

"Quiet. Come here." I hugged my living aromatherapy from behind and buried my nose in the crown ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of her head.

"W-what are you... Hkyah?!" Surprisingly, even though she had just woken up, a subtle peach scent wafted from her body. Miho realized I was sniffing her enthusiastically and tried to wriggle away, but I didn't let go.

"Sniff... haa..."

"Ugh..."

Sniffing her hair... I could die like this and have no regrets. I could have raised her dominance through coercion, but I felt like I would be tied to this fox for the rest of my life. Besides, I had no intention of letting her go first. In that sense, I decided to choose a slightly softer method. As long as the Pendant of Submission existed, it was fundamentally forced, but I believed attitude mattered. It depended on how the person accepted it. In that sense, we needed to build physical intimacy first.

"I smell, so at least let me shower..."

"No. It's fine. Sun Fox? Explain this, along with Fireplay, Jutsu, and your race traits."

"H-how do you know that?"

Sniff, haa. I exaggerated my sniffing and touched Miho's twitching ears. The ears connected to her hair felt like high-end microfiber. And I'd felt it since yesterday, but Miho didn't have the animal smell typical of beast-kin. Even now, drenched in sweat after sex, her body didn't have that typical sweat odor. ...Was the Ho-jok race actually a species perfectly specialized for sex?

"Ugh... Sun Fox increases all stats and skills by one rank while the sun is up, and most wounds are, in an in... stant... ugh..."

I grabbed the tail that had slipped between her thighs with one hand, and she flinched minutely.

"Fireplay is... you're listening, right?"

"Yeah. Don't mind me, keep talking."

"Haa... Fireplay literally allows me to handle the element of fire."

"Hmm... my Jutsu is still lacking, so I can't use it for combat, eek!"

Found it! When I touched the root of her tail, her reaction became intense. It felt like I had discovered a Ho-jok strategy guide that wasn't on the internet. No, it wasn't ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a feeling—maybe I was a pioneer?

"Oh." Her dominance had gone up by 1, and my coins had changed to -990. If I gained 10 coins for every 1 dominance point, and I had 87 points left to go... that was a lot of debt. It hadn't been long since I escaped being a debtor, and now I was in debt to my own ability. Thinking about it only put me in a bad mood, so I decided to touch Miho's soft body instead.

"Haaaa..." Enjoying the faint pleasure, I fondled her breasts with my remaining hand as she gasped, her upper body lifting. I discovered a new fact: touching a woman's breasts while she's lying on her side feels heavier than usual.

"Hng... the race traits aren't much."

"The efficiency of Jutsu like barriers and talismans increases by 2x, and the consumption is halved."

"Physical ability increases a little, but only by about 20%, so... you don't really need to worry about it."

"Ah, but as a penalty, my instincts get stronger and my intelligence drops, but I don't believe that."

I was speechless and stopped my hand. 'What? 2x efficiency and half consumption? Physical ability increase is only 20%?' The penalty was absurdly negligible.

"Well, isn't it true? Where else in the world is there a fox as smart as me..."

Seeing her claim to be smart while being completely reversed by a human and having her breasts fondled, it seemed the intelligence-drop penalty was definitely real. But the scenes of her rolling around in gates, unable to receive unique abilities, skills, or even race traits like other species, flashed through my mind. I thought about human race traits. We have arms and legs, we can speak, we have eyes... Ah, we can consume all foods unless we have allergies? At least our reproductive speed is top-tier? I saw it on the internet. That the only thing humans are better at than other races is being omnivorous. In many senses of the word.

...Damn it!

"Take the sexual desire of a human who's been discriminated against all this time!"

"Kyaaang! Why do I have to...!"