Surprisingly, I woke up hours later feeling refreshed. I didn't have nightmares or weird memory dreams. Not a single soul–especially an ancient monster–bothered me.

I stared at the ceiling of the pavilion and shifted my head so that Freki's horns didn't obscure my vision.

It felt weird, wrong even, to be able to rest without thinking of what I needed to do that day. For once, it looked like I could enjoy peace if I really wanted to.

But it felt wrong. And I flipped over and buried my face in Freki's fur. It tickled my skin like a nice, cool pillow.

"Time to get up," I groaned.

He booped my cheek, and I scratched his ears. The massive wolf took up more space on the bed than I did, and he still demanded to be around me. As he stood up, he knocked me over, and I rolled to my feet.

"Come on. Let's see if Volto can cook these steaks."

"Wuuulf," he growled lazily.

He stepped between my legs and sank into my shadow as I stripped and walked to where the river flowed. Somehow, enchanted magical rooms meant giving up civilized comforts. And I was back to bathing in rivers.

As I reached the water's edge, I stared and took in the change. My eyes were brighter, almost glowing emeralds with gold flecks flowing inside the iris. That was something I was used to, but the different colors of my hair I was not.

Before, the white had spread in a small section, infecting the front part of my bangs and not much else. But that wasn't the case anymore. After the change to my lore matrix, it decided to do more than just split my soul.

Half of my hair was white, like snow. The other half was dark black, like coal. Split down the middle, with my eyebrows as the dividing line—thankfully, those were symmetrical and black.

It looked anime as hell, but that was my life now.

I pinched some strands that had fallen down my face. It nearly reached my chin.

"I think it's time for a haircut. What do you think?"

Freki stuck his head out and stared at the reflection before returning to his spot.

I chuckled and unhooked my axe. What little memories I had revealed nothing much, but I knew I had never cut my hair before.

Oh well. I couldn't mess up too badly, right? It was just hair.

My axe easily sliced through the first clump, and I kept carving.

—----------

"Volto!" I roared at seeing the big man.

Volto's eyes widened, and he cocked his head. "Do I know you?"

My smile dropped. "Uh, yeah. I'm Cain. Last time I was here, you fed me an amazing meal."

He crossed his arms. "All my meals are amazing."

It wasn't becoming the reunion I thought it'd be. Instead, I hefted the sack filled with meats and held it out.

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"Hate to make a request, but do you think you can do these justice?"

Volto emerged from his extended kitchen. Sometime between the last time I saw him and now, he had added another island to where he stood and had a massive pot of something delicious boiling away.

He grabbed the blood-stained sack and sniffed. His eyes widened, and he opened the sack and pulled out one of the steaks. He even took a chunk and ripped it off before tossing it into his mouth. For a while, he chewed as his eyes narrowed.

The meat went down, and he crossed his arms. "This is mana-infused meat, pup. You shouldn't be eating this."

"I already did. It was a gift from, uh, somebody. It didn't taste too bad; the mana was a surprise."

"You had one of the steaks?" he asked slowly.

"Yeah. No seasoning, though; I didn't have any on me."

He harumphed and walked back to his station. "Sit down, and I'll whip something up. But I'm taking a couple as payment."

"Sounds perfect," I smiled as I took in an empty table near the back.

We weren't alone in the mess hall. Four other tables were packed with other hunters, some with cloaks, some without. I recognized some of the younger teens, the uninitiated, but I didn't know their names and barely remembered their faces.

Even with all the snippets of conversation I had with Devon and Alice throughout our travels to the capital, I still felt like an outsider.

More than a few stole glances my way. Two of the boys were whispering with their heads down, but I still heard them.

"That's him!"

"Can't be, doesn't look like him."

"I'm telling you it is. I recognize his face. Ignore the weird hair. Nobody else has green eyes!"

"Fine. If it's him, ask him like you said you would!"

"Shut up. He's looking this way."

I sighed and closed my eyes. A part of me wanted to talk to the people in Warren, but not today.

Freki, come out.

Freki rose from my shadow, his horns jutting from beneath my chair. As he rose, the boys at the table gasped, and I resisted the urge to smile. I had to admit that Freki was a scary boy. The other Grimms in the room stared, some tense and others curious.

An older lady with her hood down but her cloak wrapped around her shoulders shook her head and returned to eating.

It felt edgy, but it got the boys to freeze in their place. Freki stretched and flopped to the ground, easily clearing the chair despite being on his belly. Volto glared from across the station, but he nodded at Freki and grabbed a second, larger plate.

I passed the time by staring at my status sheet. I had earned myself a decent amount of stat points, but I needed to put them somewhere.

Name: Cain Veldman

Title: Crimson Hunter

Auxiliary Title: Nexus Guardian

Level: 4+

Stats:

* STR: 17 (+1)

* AGI: 15 (+1)

* CON: 24 (+1)

* INT: 16 (+2)

* WIS: 16 (+2)

* LUK: 18 (+2)

Skills Unlocked:

* Summon Familiar (Freki)

Passive Skills:

* Ember Soul

* Umbral Soul

* Split Soul

* Bones of the Keeper

The old title stats were still factored in, so instead of four intelligence, I received an extra two. It wasn't too bad. An overall increase helped, especially for someone like Alice.

Not that she can complain.

I knew I had a modifier, but her receiving four levels while I only getting three stung. Then again, my stats were easily double of hers.

I mentally selected the plus and stared at the hefty fifteen stat points for me to distribute. There had been little time to plan things out but I had already decided a path I wanted to take. And one thing for certain was that I needed to raise my constitution.

Werewolf or not. A dead Grimm stayed dead.

Five points went to Con, while two went to Str, Wis, and Int. The remaining four I dumped into Agi, balancing out my stats.

The distribution might have helped me better focus on one thing over the other, but other than staying alive, I used everything in my toolset, from incantations to my axe and claws. Every stat helped me complete the hunt and live to tell the tale.

A meaty fist slammed a plate of steaming meat onto the table, jarring me out of my thoughts. I stared at the piles of cut steak and brown sauce next to sauteed potatoes and some kind of herbal soup.

Volto slid over several tankards before slamming another larger plate at Freki's feet.

"Eat up. Don't let the meat go to waste," he threatened before walking away.

The food smelled delicious, and Freki had already started to chow down.

I grabbed the hot meat with my bare hands and raised it up, only for it to slip back onto the plate as my jaw dropped.

Alice sat down across the table and stared with a straight face.

I couldn't look away from her hair.

"Alice. What did you do?"