Chapter 1
Title [https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img923/1103/2n7EXe.png]
The red blazing summer sun slowly swam over a dark forest canopy. Songs of birds and animals were the only thing that disturbed the peace in the wide greens of the Westelwoods forest.
A careful listener might even hear the voices of forest spirits and dryads or the angry roars of predators fighting with one another. It was a day like any other in the Westelwoods. Forest was as normal as an ancient magical forest can be.
Suddenly everything changed.
Finger of Divine touched the fabric of Rosmorre.
Mana exploded in the air above Westelwoods in a flurry of wild chaotic ancient magic. A vortex of wind picked up leaves in a crazy majestic dance and void mana colored air in a dreadful black shade. Day turned into night in a blink of an eye as magic sang its dangerous melody.
The sky opened up.
Void itself brushed treetops of Westelwoods and from Void came human. Void lowered the unconscious traveler as gently as a mother would lower her newborn child. The human was gently placed on the forest floor with a tender and gentle hand.
All it took was a single moment and Void retreated as if it had never been here. Forest fell in deathly silence, no beast or spirit dared to move. The wrath of the magic was terrifying. The power of it was even more so.
This day was not a normal day anymore.
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Status Class: Wind Wolf Lvl: 24 Xp: 47% Mana: 12 _ Core: Wind core Race talent: Enhanced smell Tier I talent: Iron Fangs Tier II talent: Wind apprentice _ CON 0 END 0 STR 20 PER 0 INT 4 WIS 4 _ Perks:
* Light pawns
* Lesser hunger resistance
* Swipe
‘Smell of prey!’
Wind Wolf stalked through underbrush following the smell of his soon-to-be meal. He hasn’t eaten in a week and his mouth was salivating from the smell in front of him. Hunter was malnourished because all of his prey went towards his mate and pups back in a cozy cave he slept in. He was a caretaker, a father of the greatest litter ever seen in this forest. His daughters and sons were his pride.
But this hunt was for him. And yet this new scent he caught was not one he would wish for. Wolf was familiar with this particular smell. It was not a scent of rabbit or elk, fox or fairy. It was the scent of humans.
Dangerous, smart beasts, all awakened except the smallest pups. Usually, even a single human would be too tough to hunt for a lone hunter like him, but this smell was different.
‘His trail has no essence’
‘No essence, no levels’
‘Human didn’t smell like a pup’
‘How can it be?’
‘Human must be defected’
‘Abandoned by his pack’
‘Easy prey’
Wolf’s hunger took over and he forgot about the caution learned through long years of hunting. He ran after the strange human's trail, picking up speed with unnatural ease. His paws lightly touched the ground as he ran with the speed of an arrow. His enchanted body allowed him to move swiftly over the green forest floor. The wind whistled in his fur and wolf felt happy. Trill of the hunt and speed was what he lived for.
The sweet smell of food was getting stronger.
He was getting closer to the human.
Wolf dived through thick brushes with no hesitation and finally met his prey face to face.
Human - unawakened
A human simply stood in the middle of the forest clearing watching his surroundings with bewilderment.
Usually, most humans love to adorn themselves with skins and bark. Perverse tradition, if you asked any wolf. Why would you need second skin, if you already had your own?
This particular human seemed too weak to hunt anything, as he had no skins on him. Only his own pink skin.
Wind Wolf hesitated and halted for a moment. He had never seen a human with no skins or bark on him. He seemed... pink? The Human slowly turned towards the wolf and finally noticed the dangerous predator in front of him. His eyes widened in surprise and his mouth opened slightly in shock.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
‘Time to feast’
Wind Wolf growled and pounced toward the human with all his might. Distance didn’t matter as he used mana to power his Air Core in his body. The wind picked up wolf's body and threw him towards human.
Wolf's jump transformed into the flight of a bird and human watched as wolf flew through the air toward him with incredible speed. Wolf’s jaw was open and his sharp teeth reflected sunlight with a metallic shine, almost mesmerizing in a way.
First to reach human was the wind.
Then came Wind Wolf.
When they were a breath away from each other, the wolf looked into the man’s eyes and what he saw there made his blood stop. Those weren’t the eyes of prey. Those weren’t the eyes of a hunter either. Those were the eyes of a killer. Man's cold green eyes didn’t show even a hint of fear, they were happy and excited. The untold promise of violence made them brim with energy. Wolf's instincts screamed to run, but it was already too late. There was no time to retreat anymore. Not now.
When they were about to collide wolf bite the man, but human wasn’t waiting for the wolf to bite his head off. Right before the collision human bent his knees and gracefully dived below the wolf. He grabbed the wolf’s torso and twisted it using the beast’s momentum against him.
Wolf's trajectory changed. His concentration broke. He lost control of the air mana and with help of human's throw, he crashed into the ground hard. Pain flared through the wolf's body, but there was no time to whine as his opponent already launched his attack. Human was on him and swung his fist with a heavy rock toward the wolf’s head.
Wolf entered a state of concentration once more and pushed air mana toward man's hand. A push of air stopped the hand with the rock from reaching wolf's head, but it didn’t matter. Human's leg kicked forward and landed on side of wolf’s head with a heavy thud.
Wolf's concentration broke again and this time there was nothing left to resist a man anymore. A rock landed on wolf’s skull with the weight of a mountain. And again! And again! And again!
“Hahaha!” human laughed in a crazy twisted manner as he did his best to pulverize wolf’s head under him.
There was no glory in wolf’s death as his skull caved in and his mind faded away. All he thought about in the last moments of his life was his pups. Wolf hoped they will be more careful in their hunt than their father was.
It was the end of his story.
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And start of a new one.
Congratulations! You have slain Lvl 24 Wind wolf
Unawakened – Exp distribution impossible
Human reached adulthood
Awakening
Choose a Tier I class
“Well, this is new. That’s for sure,” Jack said while still smiling from the fight he just enjoyed.
Jack Mors had never heard about magical wolfs and glowing words in the air, but he welcomed it with open arms. All of this was completely new and unknown to him. Strange journey through the darkness, mysterious forest, deadly magical beasts. A lesser man would succumb to the sudden stress, but not Jack Mors. He was different from them. He was different from the rest.
“It must be my sanity! I finally lost the last bits of it!” he chuckled and examined the corpse more closely.
On the ground laid the biggest wolf he had ever seen. What was even more incredible, in their fight wolf used some sort of sorcery. There was no other way to explain how it jumped so far. It looked like it flew towards him like a bird, not a wolf. Wolf also stopped his hand just by looking at it. Jack grinned happily about unexpected resistance from his opponent.
Wolf's corpse had shiny teeth, they looked more like metallic daggers than teeth from the bone. They were as sharp as daggers too. Bite from them would go through his flesh like a knife through butter.
“Never have I killed a creature as beautiful as you, sweetie. What a joyful day!” Jack sat down beside the caved-in head of the wolf and started slowly petting it. He smiled a bright smile like a happy child who just got a nice Christmas gift from his parents.
With adrenaline settling down he finally addressed burning words in his vision. They were there right in front of him and at the same time they were somewhere else. The blue box with words was transparent, only slightly impairing his vision.
Jack Mors reached out, but his hand went through windows like they even weren't there.
Congratulations! You have slain Lvl 22 Wind wolf
“Wind Wolf, huh? That explains a bit,” Jack said, ”Wind Wolf definitely has a ring to it. Haha!”
He looked at his next few notifications with confusion.
Unawakened – Exp distribution impossible
Human reached adulthood
Awakening
“Weird,” Jack brushed notifications off with a mental flick and they disappeared as if they had never been there in the first place.
Now there was only one notification left.
Choose a Tier I class
When Jack focused on the last notification still lingering in front of him, a screen changed. Countless numbers and words flashed and instantly disappeared, leaving Jack with a completely new screen to look at.
A new blue window listed every class available to him. It was a long list mentioning many terms, he was not familiar with, but descriptions were more than enough.
Jack read through his options with interest and what he saw made him smile. A small chuckle slowly became louder and louder, until Jack was laughing from all his heart.
“Haha!” a dark, twisted laugh sounded through Westelwoods.