“Fang! No. Stop!”
Fang froze mid-bite, staring up at me like I had just insulted his mother. I rushed over, stepping gingerly over the shattered cage bars. I gently took the half-eaten wolf steak out of the pup’s mouth and, much to his chagrin, took his big head in my hands.
“No, Fang. We don’t eat wolves. They are your parents,” I admonished again. Fang whined and tried to take back the meat, but I didn’t let him. I gave him my forearm instead. He took it in his mouth, chewing on it half-heartedly without piercing my skin. “I know you’re hungry, little one, but some things are more important than filling your belly. Wolves are your family.”
Fang whined mournfully, slobbering all over my forearm as if my suggestion was silly.
“My dude,” I frowned. “Come on. There is plenty of meat in the chunk. You can so get by without resorting to cannibalism. The silverbacks are juicy tier-3s. You like them a lot don’t you?”
Fang harrumphed, spitting out my forearm and turning away. He rested his snout on his paws dejectedly.
“Ok, fine. You’re right. That fat pig only spawns once an hour. I get it. Well, how about this? The snufflers respawn much faster, and I can help you flush those fast buggers out of their hiding spots. What do you think?”
Fang mewled softly, but his ears swiveled towards me in interest.
“You like that?” I grinned.
Fang mewled again, raising his head and staring soulfully into my eyes.
“Want to do it together?”
Fang hopped to his feet, his mouth breaking into a lopsided grin as his tail nearly knocked his rear end over with the force of its wagging. I burst out laughing, giving the big softy a hug.
“Come on, big boy, let’s go hunting.”
Together, we left the hemogris fort and went out to cull the snuffler population. Fang had leveled again all the way to 26 while I wasn’t looking. Even before, having his help to hunt the snufflers was a godsend. Now, he barely needed me to chase down the horned creatures.
Snufflers also had a relatively long respawn time, so in the interim, I sat with Fang around a maple campfire and told him stories while my hands gently ran through his fur. Fang seemed to enjoy it even if he didn’t understand the words. I took the time to explore my frayed memories carefully. Some things were dangerous to recall, while others were innocuously safe.
After an hour, we took down the spined silverback. It wasn’t any challenge at all, but we had fun messing around with the huge creature. The hunt devolved into a session of dancing and an impromptu game of tag that I was glad made Fang completely forget about the boar meat dropped by the defeated silverback.
It was good fun and took hunger off of Fang’s mind. For some reason, likely the system’s fault, my little pup was endlessly hungry. It didn’t much matter what food he was eating, so much as there was something going down his gullet at all times. Rat meat was the most plentiful and easiest to harvest, so I made a game of collecting bucket loads over the afternoon and evening.
After several hours of this, we both found ourselves once again beside a campfire watching the sunset. I took the time to review my notifications.
I’d been close to several levels, and the evening of debauchery had pushed those stats over the edge. I was close to gaining another health level, but my attack now required 13,387 experience to hit level 59. That would likely take days, and I itched to go up and challenge Iroth Grimskull again.
“Hey, Fang,” I shook my snoozing companion. “This was fun, but I’m going to head up to the hemogris fort while there is still light.”
Fang turned to me and whined piteously. I pursed my lips, but before I could tell him no, the little rascal rolled to his feet and wagged his tail as if he was ready to go when I was.
“Nah, man,” I chuckled, patting his head. “Iroth will rip you a new one. He is level 50. Almost twice your level. You’re going to need to get many more levels before you can come help me fight him. Besides, I don’t think you can climb the ladders between the floors.”
Fang flopped onto his belly, looking up at me with huge, imploring eyes. I hesitated. I wanted to go do the boss now, but it wasn’t like there was a time limit associated with it. It wouldn’t hurt to hang out with Fang for the rest of the night. I hadn’t slept much the previous night anyway and was due for a recharge.
Fang nudged me, leaving a damp spot where his cold nose touched my skin. I chuckled, then settled back beside the campfire. It wouldn’t hurt.
The sun set slowly over the horizon. It was always a strange sight seeing the sun continue to descend beneath the horizon. The melting colors of the evening sky melded slowly with the darkness of the void. It brought upon me a strange sense of silent contemplation. Without realizing it, I started humming.
The tune was a forgotten one. Literally. I couldn’t recall where or when I’d first heard it. The words of the song danced at the tip of my tongue. I knew they existed but couldn’t place them for the life of me. And so, I hummed. My voice slowly rose until it filled the cool forest air with my melody.
Fang listened quietly in the beginning. This wasn’t the first time I’d made noises he couldn’t understand. Usually, I stopped after a while, though. This song continued. The simple, catchy tune was easy to follow and replicate. So...he attempted to join in. First, making soft whining noises, then rising to yip along with me.
“Wolves howl, Fang,” I chuckled at him, pausing my song. “Here, like this.”
I raised my head to the moonless night sky and howled. Fang cocked his head, then released a stuttering growl. I giggled and howled again, urging him to join me. It took several more attempts, but eventually, we both fell asleep, having sung the song of the wolves.
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I awoke the following day with none of the melancholy that had beset me the day prior. I hopped to my feet, excited and looking forward to finally solving the chunk objectives. Of course, I made sure to spend some quality time with Fang, but not too long. Before the sun crossed its zenith, I stood once more before the boss arena with all my supplies at hand.
The first phase of the fight was trivial and passed in seconds. I’d mastered the art of destroying the undead thralls with iron throwing knives a while ago. Iroth then succumbed swiftly to my new moonstone technology. It was rejuvenating to feel just how far I’d come, and that last level I’d gained the day before with Fang felt like it made all the difference.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
The second phase was trickier. A maple fire cast harsh light upon our dancing forms as I bobbed and weaved in between the attacks. My adze flashed every four seconds, and either Iroth or his undead behemoth were subject to the titanic blow from my weapon. With an effective attack level of 73, every strike shattered bone and staggered my foes.
I made every effort to even out my strikes. When Iroth began to flag, I switched focus to the behemoth and vice versa. Slowly. Ever so slowly, the pair inched closer to death in unison as I burned through my limited food supply.
Then, in an instant, Iroth fell. The red mist rose shot toward the behemoth, and I realized I was out of food. My high attack had shortened the fight enough for my high recovery to carry me through the second phase, but now I was out.
The behemoth roared, a sanguine aura buzzing around it and accelerating its movements. Cracks lined its skeleton, and more than a couple of bones were outright missing from its body.
I lunged under its first accelerated ground slam and whipped my adze in a vicious uppercut right into the creature’s solar plexus. The moonstone flashed, and I felt a subsonic detonation vibrate up my arm and down the length of the huge bone creature. The behemoth twitched as if it wanted to move but hadn’t yet figured out that it was dead.
With a creak of ancient bones, it sagged and melted into a massive pile of evaporating gel.
Panting, I stared dumbstruck for a second at the notification as the massive corpse slowly vanished. Then, a massive grin split my face, and I cheered. Without knowing exactly where the impulse came from, I lifted my head and howled up at the sky, dumping all my excitement and relief into the sound.
An answering howl ripped through the forest, and I rushed to the bottom of the fort to celebrate with Fang. He pranced happily with me, not sure exactly what had happened but all too eager to share in my victory. Only later did I realize that the huge boss hadn't dropped any loot, nor did the chunk objectives mention anything related to Iroth Grimskull.
“Imagine a boss not dropping any loot,” I huffed to Fang. He growled knowingly at my side. “I wonder if it's because I died to force a change in the system. I mean, I suppose I did rush the whole boss thing, but still. I guess it’s a blessing in disguise ‘cause if it did have a rare drop, I think it would take me a whole year to grind out enough kills for it. Either way, let’s finish the objectives, and we can see what else the system has in store for us.”
Fang yipped, and I knelt beside the wooden chest beside spawn. I double-checked that I had two spare sets of everything I could possibly need inside, then pulled out one of the many hemogris fangs that the ravagers dropped. Combining the fang with my iron kite shield yielded a fanged buckler, which I quickly tossed into the chest and slammed the lid before my world went dark.
I relaxed in the void, vaguely wishing that Fang could join me in here. He was probably reduced to bytes at this point, though. Or maybe, as an intelligent NPC, the system pulled Fang into his own liminal void space? Hmm...I wish I could play with the fanged buckler while I waited...
Such thoughts bounced around my head as I idly analyzed how the system changed the world. I was starting to get a pretty good feeling for it, and this was another big update. Another skill was being introduced, and a whole new chunk. This one was even bigger than the hemogris fort, which was surprising to me since in my mind, I hadn’t yet completed the fort.
The world opened up, and I instantly popped open my stats.
Combat level:36 Health:47/47 Attack:58/58 Defense:49/49 Recovery:53/53 Magic:1/1 Woodcutting:52/52 Firemaking:48/48 Crafting:33/33 Mining:44/44 Smithing:44/44 Cooking:51/51 Hunter:47/47 Farming:1/1
My gaze narrowed in on my stats. My combat level had dipped by a huge factor, and there were two new skills instead of one. Farming seemed...boring, honestly, but I'd judge it later. Magic, on the other hand, brought up a burble of anticipation that sparkled through my chest like holiday fireworks.
It could be anything. Magic embodied so many forms in games that I didn’t have a hope of guessing what it was. Perhaps the chunk objectives could enlighten me.
1. Chop an Item_0x636872
2. Smelt an Item_0x73746C
3. Cook an Item_0x737477
4. Harvest an Item_0x61706C
5. Create and cast all spells in a spellbook
There were five items on the list. The first three were fairly straightforward upgrades to woodcutting, smithing, and cooking. The notable lack of a mining requirement was telling and meant that either the next tier of ore was created from ores that already existed or was an exclusive drop from a monster.
The last two objectives were far more interesting. Harvesting almost certainly referred to farming, and the more I thought about it, the less boring the skill seemed. Magic though...It implied that not only would I cast real spells, but I would be able to create custom spells. The wording wasn't exactly clear, but if I could create custom spells...
Oh, I couldn’t wait!
Regearing took barely a moment as all I had to do was pull out the best in slot gear that’d stashed. The fanged buckler was a tier 3 shield with an open gem slot like the adze was. I took a second to charge it with a spare moonstone, but I needed to test that out since I didn’t exactly attack with my shield.
Freeing Fang was next, and in moments, we were off. Almost immediately, we came across the new chunk to the south. Unlike the hemogris fort, there wasn’t anything particularly special in this chunk. Several trees dotted the chunk, and the small stream gurgled across the north half of the chunk. There was another spined silverback spawn and a few more snufflers, but that was hardly worth mentioning really.
It was Fang who located the anomaly first. Located near the southwestern corner of the seemingly empty grasslands lay a dark cave sunken into the ground. An inky veil of darkness blocked light from illuminating the insides. I recognized it instantly as a fantasy dungeon. What else would require that stereotypical veil to ominously hide the internals?
Fang rushed in first but crashed head-first into the black veil as if it was made of stone. He jerked in surprise, yowling in pain before he vanished abruptly. I frowned, approaching less enthusiastically, and found that the darkness was almost-solid in that squishy way that gel was. The veil prevented casual entrance, and it was only when I pushed hard did my hand slip through.
My vision cut out, and I found myself floating in the void.
I barely had time to acknowledge the notification before I appeared in a large cavern. Stalactites coated liberally in a glowing cyan moss hung menacingly from the ceiling. The moss illuminated the chamber with a gentle light, which was good since I didn't have a torch. Moss crept down from the ceiling along the far wall and illuminated an incredibly detailed bas-relief featuring an armored figure holding back a horde of monsters. A second look revealed that the intricate carving was actually a pair of massive, crumbling stone gates leading to who knew where.
I turned, taking in the pieces of quarried brick jutting from the crumbling walls. They gave the impression that this place used to be a great entrance hall but had since been buried and lost to time. Behind me, another smaller stone door was inset in the stone. Turning the handle revealed a swirling portal of inky darkness floated passively against the rock.
Of Fang, there was no sign.
I cursed quietly. Pushing into the portal dropped me back into the overworld. I still didn’t see any sign of Fang, but that was expected. The overzealous pup didn’t have thumbs to turn the handle of the door in his instance of the dungeon. He was most likely still inside.
I could reset the world by dying to get him out, but that caused unexpected problems last time. Iroth Grimskull was birthed from resetting like that, but he didn’t drop any items. I had a funny feeling that the system didn’t fully recognize him yet.
That wolf is nothing but trouble, the cool, calculating voice in the back of my head whispered. I shook my head and stepped back into the dungeon. It wasn’t that I disagreed with my intuition. It was just that I thought the company Fang provided was worth the trouble. Taking a solid fifteen minutes to explore the main room revealed nothing, so I cautiously approached the huge gates.
As soon as I stepped within five tiles of them, they swung open on immense, silent hinges.