The squirrel seemed to have a very different opinion on Oliver’s hand reaching towards it.

The moment Oliver took a step forward, the little creature became visibly alert and it’s golden eyes locked onto him, and despite its injuries, it immediately began trying to retreat.

It seemed that even in its weakened state, it could tell that Oliver’s intentions weren’t exactly pure.

"Hey, hey."

Oliver raised his hands innocently as he asked,

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

The squirrel ignored his question and continued backing away.

"This is honestly a little hurtful."

Then, before it could escape any further, Oliver lunged forward and caught it and the tiny beast began struggling in his grasp.

"Now, now. No need to be so jumpy."

Oliver carefully held it still as he looked at the beast’s face, It really was quite adorable.

"We’re soon going to be the bestest of friends."

The squirrel looked unconvinced and continued to resist. Oliver meanwhile, ignored it’s silent protest and instead, focused on the Sigil inheritance.

Almost instantly, a strange sensation spread through his arm and a tattoo slowly began appearing across his skin.

At first glance, it just looked bizarre, but on second glance, it looked downright horrifying.

The sigil consisted of a large circle. Within it rested a horizontal crescent moon, and floating above that crescent was a smaller circle.

Beneath the crescent, three thin lines extended downward, passing beyond the boundaries of the larger circle.

Hanging from the left line was an eye.

From the right line hung another crescent moon, this one vertical, positioned in such a way that it resembled a second eye.

And suspended from the central line was a single raindrop-shaped mark, forming something akin to a nose.

Together, the symbols resembled a crude face.

A face that seemed to stare back at whoever looked at it.

For a brief moment, Oliver felt strangely uncomfortable looking at the tattoo, and then that feeling vanished and suddenly the squirrel in his hands froze as all of it’s injuries and burn marks disappeared one by one.

"It seems that it heals you as a bonus too."

The squirrel immediately nodded its head in a reply, seeing which, Oliver raised an eyebrow.

The beast then looked back at him with its golden eyes and remained still for a few moments.

For some reason, Oliver felt as though it was trying to judge whether Oliver was a good guy or bad.

The squirrel appeared to think for a few more seconds before eventually nodding again, this time with much more certainty.

It seemed that it had reached a conclusion that Oliver wasn’t all that bad.

Just then, the system’s cool voice echoed inside his mind once more and a new screen appeared before him.

[Ratatoskr’s Heir]

[Rank: Feral]

The information provided by the Sigil was disappointingly brief and all it told him was the beast’s name and rank.

Oliver stared at the tiny creature for a moment before looking back at the absurdly long name floating in front of him.

"Ra-tato-skr?...Isn’t that a bit of a mouthful?"

He looked back at the squirrel.

"Mate, your name is bigger than you are."

The little beast completely ignored him and instead, it remained sitting on his hands, staring at Oliver with its large golden eyes as though trying to figure something out.

A few seconds later, it cautiously moved closer and then sniffed his arm, then his hand and then finally the front of his shirt.

Suddenly, its eyes lit up as a delighted squeal escaped its mouth.

This change was so abrupt that Oliver blinked in surprise.

The little beast then immediately got out of his hands and jumped to the ground and began circling around him excitedly, letting out several more happy chirps as if it had finally discovered the answer to whatever had been confusing it.

"What?"

Oliver frowned as he questioned,

"What did you figure out?"

The squirrel, naturally, offered no explanation and simply continued looking unusually pleased with itself.

Oliver just sighed to himself and decided he would deal with the rest later.

As he picked up the little squirrel again, he looked into its golden eyes and said,

"Let’s give you a name... a smaller one."

The squirrel looked up at him as if asking ’what name?’.

"Since you have such beautiful golden eyes... let’s name you Goldie, okay?"

The squirrel stared at Oliver for a few moments, then it looked toward the sky and then back at Oliver.

After a moment of consideration, it nodded thoughtfully seeing which Oliver couldn’t help but laugh.

"Hahaha...Good. Goldie it is."

Taking Goldie in his arms, he headed back toward his camp.

Before sleeping, there were still a few things left to do. He carefully controlled the campfire, making sure it wouldn’t spread again. After today’s incident, he wasn’t exactly eager to accidentally burn something else too.

Throughout all of this, Goldie simply sat nearby and watched. once he was finally done, Oliver glanced toward the squirrel and asked,

"You aren’t hungry, are you?"

Goldie just shook his head and then, before Oliver could say anything else, the little beast climbed up his leg, onto his shoulder, and eventually settled itself on top of his head.

"..."

Oliver chose not to question it and instead, he pointed at the squirrel sitting above him.

"How do you even understand me?"

Goldie blinked as if was unsure how to answer it.

"Actually, more importantly... is there a human shelter nearby? You must have met humans before, right?"

At those words, Goldie looked genuinely confused. It then tilted it’s head slightly before it shook it from side to side.

Seeing that response, Oliver sighed.

"Yeah... I figured."

Since this clearly wasn’t going anywhere, he decided he should finally get some sleep.

With Goldie still perched on top of his head, Oliver climbed up to his makeshift bed between the two trees and carefully laid down.

The branches creaked slightly beneath his weight, but thankfully held.

Looking up at the unfamiliar sky and the four strange moons hanging above it, he let out a long breath.

"Haah."

Today had been absurd.

He had died, then somehow ended up here and then almost died again. But, somehow, despite all of that, he had survived.

"First day complete."

A tired smile appeared on his face as he remembered everything that had happened, and then he slowly closed his eyes.

Then after a moment, he opened one again and looked toward Goldie.

"Good night, Goldie."

The squirrel nodded and then, for some reason, immediately jumped up.

"Ouch!"

Its tiny feet landed right on Oliver’s face.

Seemingly satisfied with this achievement, Goldie climbed over him and then leaped onto a branch slightly higher than the bed.

The squirrel curled itself into a ball and let out a few soft chirps as if it was saying, ’the branch is more comfortable’.

"Fine then."

"Sleep there."

Goldie happily flicked its tail, once it got Oliver’s approval.

Soon afterward, beneath the glow of the four moons, silence finally returned and for the first time since arriving in this strange world, Oliver allowed himself to sleep.