Chapter 10

The next day we set out early and pushed hard to make it to the redwood forests edge before midday.

We found a good place for a camp and left Grim and the skeletons to set up camp while Aura and I hunted. She had spent most of the day in the back of the main wagon crafting me a crude bow. She assured me that it would suffice for now, but would keep on the lookout for some better wood to make me a regular crossbow.

As we were both novice hunters we didn't have much luck that first evening. Just the one deer who already seemed to have been hurt by some other beast. We also placed a few traps near some rabbit warrens we found, maybe we would get lucky.

We dragged the deer back to the camp, and very quickly decided to bring a few skeletons along the next day to help carry things.

By the time we got back, Grim had everything sorted. Aura's cart was fully extended and all the tents were set up. He made a place downwind of the camp where he could butcher any kills and not attract any big predators. And that evening we had venison for dinner and were a deer-hide richer.

As we had a good camp here we decided to stay for a day or two. Aura wanted to craft some better, ranged weapons for us, and Grim wanted to join me and do some more hunting.

He got some skills from his cleaver class so maybe we would have some more luck tomorrow.

A quick jump into the dreamscape that night gave me a few skill-ups.

Tracking 1/1 (5)

Bow 1/1 (5)

Woodland lore 1/1 (5)

“AI-Me what do I have to do to go up in level? I have hit the cap on a lot of skills now.”

“Just keep doing what you are doing. Don't be in a rush you awakened just over a week ago remember. Just gaining skill points in anything, finishing milestones all of that contribute to gaining levels. Combat and killing things will of course increase it faster as will doing more difficult things. You might need to kill thousands of rabbits compared to say, killing a single dragon.”

“Is there a way to see how close I am to getting a new level?”

“There used to be one where the system spits out values for everything. But it led to a lot more recklessness and lots of boring grinding that the system removed that option. Better to have people gain levels more naturally.”

After thinking about it a bit I did make sense when out that way.

I reconfigured a few things so that if I only gained some skill points I would only get a small notification when I went to sleep instead of coming into the dreamscape. If anything major changed I would still come here.

We had an early breakfast the next morning and after that Grim and I headed out and we took two skeletons with us. We checked the rabbit traps first but found that the few rabbits that we had caught had been eaten by some predator. Looking at the tracks it seemed like dogs or small wolves. As wolf pelts fetched a good price we decided to follow the tracks.

Grim already had a few levels under his belt so with his higher tracking skill he didn't have any issues in following the tracks. It led us to a small dip in the land where a redwood tree had fallen over and its roots had torn out the ground.

We crept up and looked down to see five wolf cubs sitting near their injured mother. She was almost as big as one of our horses. As soon as we saw her, her head went up and I could hear in my mind. “Come closer two legs. You have nothing to fear from me. Just you. The big one has to stay back so he doesn't scare my cubs.”

For some strange reason, my gut told me to trust this magnificent creature, and I motioned Grim to stay put while I went down.

“Sit two legs. The wolves of Odin themselves Geri and Freki appeared to me in a vision a few days ago that a wolf born would be coming to help.”

I wracked my brain to try and figure out what she meant by wolf-born. When I remembered that my dad used to call me that. After he adopted me I became a part of his pack.

“My adoptive father was a werewolf if that is what you mean.”

“All wolves wolfkin and werewolves are sons and daughters of Fenrir and Luna. In your case, it's not the blood that matters but the heart. When your father adopted you, you became wolf born.” Even in her weakened state she couldn't help but give that, mom lecturing vibe.

“Now on to why I need your help. A gigantic snake found its way into this burrow a week ago. But in the battle, it was able to bite me and I was poisoned. I'm too weak to crawl out of here to find the plants I need as an antidote.”

“Just tell me what you need and if you know where I might need to go and look for the plants.”

“The plants are called meadow rue. They can be found in small quantities all over the place. But the best place to harvest them is in a clearing about 15 minutes walk to the west. I will have one of the cubs show you where the place is. The leaves are poisonous for the young cubs, so they couldn't gather them for me. The ones in the clearing have bright pink flowers and are the best for the antidote. I need as many of the flowers as you can find.”

“We will be right back.” and I hurried up back to Grim. One of the cubs followed me up.

After quickly explaining to Grim what was going on, he of course only heard my side of the conversation. We told the cub to quickly show us the way.

It didn't take us too long to find the clearing and between Grim the skeletons and me, we were able to gather almost a kilo of the flowers, before heading back.

“I hope this is enough,” I said while dropping off the pile in front of the wolf-mother.

“So do I. I will eat them after you leave. As the sight of me expelling stuff out of both ends isn't pretty. Come back in the morning. If I survive I will have a reward for you. If I don't, promise me you will take care of my cubs for me.”

“Of course, I promise. I am a wolf born am I not? I will take care of them as if they were my own pack.” With that, I made my way back out. “I know it won't be necessary though. You will take care of them yourself.”

Grim and I spent the rest of the day hunting and were able to take down two more deer. We left one just at the edge of the dip, without looking in. The sounds coming from inside were otherworldly.

I yelled “We brought some food. Leaving it up here.” And the cubs came out and dragged it away.

We made our way back to camp where Grim expertly butchered the other deer. I was hoping that tomorrow we would be able to find some other animals, because as good as venison is, having it every day becomes boring fast.

Falling asleep that night wondering how the wolf-mother was doing I was transported into the dreamscape.

“So I gather there is something new?” I asked AI-Me

“Yes have a look at your milestones. You unlocked a rare one. Remember you can have more than three by finding ones in your adventures. But only if you drop below three total will you automatically get a new one.” And he pointed at one of the boards.

Milestone found:

Save the wolves (rewards will vary depending on success)

“You also unlocked a new perk, and a new path”

Path:

Path of the wolf (2)

Perk:

Wolf-speak. Can talk mentally with wolves. Wolves must be in normal speaking/shouting distance for the ability to work.

“The last one you must have unlocked from talking mentally with the wolf-mother.”

“I guess so. It is a cool ability though. Let's hope she survives so I can thank her.” And with that, I went to sleep.