Vol. 1-Chapter Fourteen: The Second Stage_Silent Waves

The realm of Jorenheim was preparing for a funeral. Daciana and Calder were making arrangements and setting up the temple. Wraith was nowhere nearby. He had walked back with Daciana to Jorenheim, but upon arriving they parted ways. No matter how many times she called out to him, he silently kept on walking away from her.

It wasn't to ignore her on purpose, but rather because he couldn't hear her. He couldn't hear anything at all. His mind was frozen, held by the grief and anger of loss.

Sarin and Vangar went with him into the desert, knowing and understanding what he needed to do. He couldn't tear into the throat of Fenella's killer, but he still needed to sate his bloodlust. It was nighttime and the monsters he faced would all be stronger than him, but his rage and bloodthirst more than made up for this difference.

“Information: Cloak of Wrath.”

Cloak of Wrath

Active

Cloaks the summoner in flames of wrath and fury.

Mana consumption: 15 Mp/sec

* Attack power is amplified. +10 attack

* Fire resistance rises to seventy percent.

* Killing Intent multiplied by two.

* Movement speed multiplied by 1.2

* Automatically applied to pack members

“Information: Shroud of Despair.”

Shroud of Despair

Active

Shrouds the user in the darkness of their hearts.

Mana consumption: 100

* Lasts for three minutes.

* Has a fifteen minute cool-down.

* Each kill made while active steals 1% of the life-force of the enemy.

* Each kill extends the time while active by two minutes.

* Black magic resistance rises to 100%.

* Automatically applied to pack members.

He wasn't completely suicidal so he looked at his new skills to maximize his chances of survival. Using the Shroud of Despair skill, he slaughtered all those who stood before him. For an entire day and night, he did nothing but kill and feast on the fallen remains of monsters. If a player or NPC had chanced upon him in this state, there would have been no doubt in their minds that he was a monster instead of a person.

He couldn't fully expel the darkness that had taken root in him. Even after taking dozens of lives, all he managed to do was to take the edge off of his rage. He was still simmering with fury and thirsting for vengeance. His grief no longer overwhelmed him, which let him think clearly for the first time in several hours.

Realizing that he wasn't going to get peace of mind by continuing to slaughter monsters, he logged out after giving Sarin and Vangar instructions on what to do during his absence.

Normally he would take a five minute break to eat and then dive back in. This time he just lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling. His emotions were under control now, so he had to deal with the aftermath. He realized how naive he had been. He came to this dormitory to get a capsule and have some fun.

He thought he was different, but just like everyone else, he treated it as a game. It turned out to be more real than he could have ever imagined. He had never realized what kind of pain it would bring him.

For him, getting a capsule free of charge was a dream. It had been the thing that put a bounce in his step and lit a fire in his heart.

Now there was no meaning to it. He felt empty, since a piece of his heart was gone now. After staring at the ceiling for a while with his thoughts, his pain started to return to him. With no other way to deal with the tragedy by himself, he called home. It was the first time he had done so since he arrived.

He listened to the phone ring on the other end. After a few seconds he heard the phone being picked up. “Hello, sweetheart?”

His mother had answered the phone. He expected it, but he didn't know what to say to her exactly. “Hi mom.”

“...Is everything okay?” He couldn't keep all the emotion out of his voice, letting his mother know that something had happened.

“Everything...no, it's not fine. It's all gone to hell mom, and I don't know what to do.” His voice broke down. He tried to avoid the issue, but his emotions broke through like a dam and he spilled out his heart to his mother. She listened silently to him as he told her about everything that had happened to him up to that point.

“So tell me, what do you plan to do now?”

“I don't know. I was a fool to come here thinking of it as just a game. There's no point, no reason, in continuing with this anymore. I just feel empty.”

His mother was silent for a while. “You said that this woman was like me, that she was a maternal figure to you. Then I think I can speak on her behalf. She wouldn't want you to throw away all you've worked for.”

“But-”

She cut him off. “Let me finish. All a mother wants is for their son to succeed, regardless of what happens to them. After all, wasn't her last action to warn you of the people that were after you? I know that it's hard right now, but you'll she that she isn't your only reason to stay in Royal Road. From what you've told me, you have people relying on you. So answer me again, what do you plan to do now?”

She was right. He was so consumed by anger that he had forgotten about what he was to Sarin and Vangar. He wasn't just family to them, he was a leader as well. They depended on him for survival. He thought about it and came to a decision.

“I'm going to protect my pack, and to do that I need to pass the test.” To take care of his pack, he needed to be in Royal Road as many hours of the day as possible. The only way this could happen would be if he got a job in-game and actually had a capsule and subscription.

“Thanks mom, I needed that.” Thanks to his mother he was able to sort out his emotions and deal with the tragedy that had happened.

“You're welcome dear. Do your best.” With those words of encouragement, he ended the call and dove back in to Royal Road.

He had been gone for four hours in-game, but his pack had stayed in the same area. They had hunted and rested in his absence. When they saw him they perked up immediately and ran over to him. They showered him with affection, sensing that his heart and mind were calmer and clearer.

He returned their affection, hugging and petting their fur. Thanks to his mom he had found his reason for being Wraith. He would live to protect them and to take care of them.

What he didn't tell her was that he was still bent on getting revenge. It wouldn't be his reason for living, but it would be one of his goals in Royal Road. One way or another he would get even.

He knew that it wouldn't bring Fenella back. He didn't have any foolish notions of justice either. The only thing he did want was to spill her blood and shatter her spirit. He wanted to do was to make her feel the same pain she inflicted on others. It would be long, slow and oh so satisfying.

He did want payback, but he wasn't the type of fool to charge out immediately and throw all caution to the wind in order to kill her. He didn't know where she was by now, and even if he did, it wasn't the time for him to make his move.

He was a hunter, a predator. He would wait for the right moment, lulling her into a sense of security, then he would strike. In Royal Road, killing her wouldn't solve anything. Instead, he had to break her heart and soul. He would see where she went in this world. He would let her gain power, magical and otherwise. He would make sure her dreams came true and that she was the happiest that she had ever been.

Of course this happiness wouldn't last. He bring everything down, destroying all she had worked so hard for. He would let her fly high with joy, only to bring her crashing down into the deepest, darkest abyss. It would take a while, perhaps even a few years in-game, but he would do it.

Before he could do all that, the first thing he had to do was to pass the test. There was only one way to do that. For the next few days he would throw himself into battle. He was about to go deeper into the desert, when he saw a figure coming towards him. It was Calder.

“I've been looking for you ever since I heard about Fenella. I thought you would need my help or advice, but you seem to have figured things out by yourself. We're holding her funeral in a few hours. I know it would be hard, but it would be nice if you came.”

“I'll go, I should pay my respects to her properly.” He and his pack followed Calder back to the city. The streets were quieter and less populated than usual. It seemed even the citizens were in mourning. He dropped off his things at the temple and then went to the tailor's shop.

He bought a traditional mourning attire. It was a hooded robe that reached his ankles. It was pure white with pale blue markings. It was expensive and didn't offer any stat bonuses, but it was for Fenella's funeral so it was worth it. While he waited for the funeral to start, he walked around the temple, looking at the places he spent time with her. It wasn't so he could purposefully cause himself even more pain, but rather so he could remember the short amount of time he had with her.

When the time came, Calder came and guided him to the palace. It was going to be a big funeral, so that the entire city could bear witness. Thousands of people were already there, they had come from every corner of the city and had crowded the streets. Wraith and Calder went around them to the front, where the actual funeral would take place.

The funerals here were different. The Children of Loki believed in returning to nature, so there were no graveyards to bury the dead in. What they had instead were ceremonies to send off the spirits to the next world.

The priestesses he saw during the ritual to become one of the Children of Loki stood in the front. Instead of a temple or an altar, the funeral was outside on top of a flat field. They started singing a hymn. It was a song that cycled through highs and lows. It had an uplifting, hopeful melody one moment, and was sad and heart-wrenching the next.

There were five priestesses there. Two of them turned around and raised their hands. While singing, they cast magic over the field, making black roses sprout and cover the fields. The other three sent ice magic from their hands to form the image of Fenella. The ice sculpture was two metres tall. The other priestesses turned towards the sculpture, and as a group they made the sculpture levitate five metres in the air.

They continued chanting in a subdued, quieter voice, while several people came up and talked about Fenella. After a few people and two hours of listening, a man went up. He was different from the others, with an air of nobility and a trim beard.

Something about him reminded Wraith about Fenella. He soon started speaking. “To all of you, I am first and foremost a King. To Fenella I was a father first and a King second. Had she remained a princess, she would have been a queen who captured our hearts. Even as a priestess she was warm and loving. We have lost more than her strength and her love, in losing her we lost a part of our hearts.”

It was a short speech, but it had impact. It roused the crowd, making them shout in rage and grief. As the chanting of the priestess picked up, the crowd quieted down. The ice sculpture started glowing, breaking apart into snowflakes. Layer by layer it shrunk in size while keeping the same proportions. The snow danced in the wind, picking up speed.

The petals of the black roses were all swept up by the wind and engulfed the city. The black petals and the glowing snowflakes fell on the faces of the mourners, sweeping through the streets. He didn't know why, but this was the moment that caused Wraith to break down in tears. He wasn't alone. There wasn't a dry eye in the crowd.

Even the priestesses had tears streaming down their face while they chanted, the ice sculpture soon disappeared and the song came to an end. As the last of the petals fell to ground and the snowflakes melted away in the desert heat, the funeral came to a close.

The crowd departed and went back to their homes, but Wraith stayed behind. Fenella's father, the King, met his eyes and signalled that he wanted to talk to him. He walked towards the king and kneeled before him.

“Stand, my grandson does not need to kneel before me.” Wraith did as the King asked. He looked into his glowing orange eyes, the same color as Fenella's. Like other members of his race, he retained his youthfulness. His hair was thick and black, a sharp contrast to his pale skin.

“Had fate been kinder, my daughter would have introduced you to me. First off, lets discuss the matter of inheritance.”

“I don't understand, what's there for me to inherit?”

“My daughter, while being a priestess, had a small amount of wealth saved up. Now it, and the rest of her belongings are yours.”

He thought about what to do with it. “Donate it to the temple, in memory of her.”

The king smiled at him, seemingly proud of his decision. “That's an honourable thing to do. In that case why don't you come and serve on my council?”

You have received a job offer!If you accept it, you will take a military position of Hunt-Master in the Jorenheim army. As commander of an independent unit, you will command fifty elite warriors. You will be completely outside the chain of command, free to take any action you see fit and will receive a monthly income of fifty gold. Will you accept his job offer?

It was a very attractive offer. It was the sort of job one could only dream of getting. However, Wraith had bigger dreams than this. He couldn't afford to be tied down just yet. Even a supposedly independent unit had strings attached. “I must say that such an offer is too good for me. I will earn my own place in this kingdom.”

Instead of being angry at refusing his goodwill, the king chuckled. “Very well then. You seem to have your reasons. In that case I'll grant you access to the armory. Take as much as you can carry.”

This was what Wraith was looking for. Specialized armour for his class and race wasn't likely to be found in any other place in Versailles. Any rare items that he could get would either be in Jorenheim or be crafted by him. “Thank you my liege.”

“I was also considering sending out a hunting party to find those responsible for my daughter's death. Would you like to take part?”

“No thank you your majesty, I would prefer that you do not send anyone after them and let me take care of it in my own way.”

The king seemed baffled by his request. “Why would you ask that? It would be considerably easier to join the party.”

“Sending a party would alert the Church of Freya about our presence. With just me they won't find out about the rest of us. Besides that, it's personal. It shouldn't be done by people who didn't know Fenella as I did.”

The king looked at him with compassion in his eyes. “I understand. I'll leave it to you then. Teach them what it means to incur our wrath.” He motioned to one of his guards to take Wraith to the armory.

When he arrived he was stunned at the mountain of treasure that lay before him. He turned to the guard and asked him, “how long do I have?”

“As long as you need.”

It was a good opportunity to raise his identification skill. With the hundreds of items that lay before him, he raced to each item and used the skill, and drank a Mana potion whenever it was low.

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It took him almost an hour to identify each item, but he did it. Doing so rapidly raised his identification skill, bringing it to beginner level eight. Most of the items weren't useful to him, but there were several that caught his eye.

Giant Ring of Life

Durability: 20/20

Magical ring that increases total Hp and Hp regen. Built for enormous warriors and monsters.

Equip: +200 HP, +10% HP Regen

Restriction: Level 50, large size to wear it.

Great Armband of Might

Durability:20/20

A giant magically imbued armband to infuse the body with strength and power.

Equip: +15 STR

Restriction: +200 STR, Level 50, suitable size

Great Armband of Quickness

Durability:20/20

A giant magically imbued armband to make the wearer faster and lighter, able to dodge attacks and move like the wind.

Equip: +15 AGI, +5% movement speed

Restriction: +250 AGI, Level 50, suitable size

Mammoth Steel Shin Guards

Durability:55/55

Defense: 20

Basic armor specially made to reinforce and strengthen kicks. Lighter than plate armor, it provides decent protection without giving too much of a burden. Not small enough for most races.

Equip: +5 STR

Restriction: Must have Unarmed Combat Mastery skill, suitable size to wear it

Large Fingerless Steel Gauntlets

Durability:60/60

Defense: 20

An type of gauntlet specially made so that they do not restrict the wearer's claws. Made with good-quality steel, it is durable and reasonably light. Considerably larger than gloves made for mortal races, only certain monsters can equip it.

Equip: +15 STR

Restriction: Suitable size

Though the armory was filled with items, the vast majority were swords, bows and heavy armor. Because of his class, these items were useless. After scouring the room, he found a few items that suited him, though he would need to gain a few levels first.

What was most impressive were the armbands and the rings he found. These accessories were not that commonplace, and the fact he had four rings of life was a pleasant surprise. With the new gear he had, he left the armory and went deep into the desert.

For the next few days and nights, he threw himself into battle, raising and honing his skills. The levels he gained were secondary to the skills he had raised. He continually stayed in the Form of the Wolf-King, since having it activated even out of combat raised the skill proficiency. He cut down on sleep and fought day and night, tearing through enemies and turning the sands red with blood.

By the end of it all, he had undergone a rapid and almost unprecedented growth owing to his fights during nighttime. Sarin and Vangar also gained gained several levels and new skills. They appeared after his Leader of the Pack skill reached level five.

Pack learned Hunter's Dash and Nature's Blessing

Hunter's Dash

Raises movement speed and strength.

Mana consumption: 30 Mp

* Movement speed +50%

* +15 AGI for 10 minutes

* +20 STR for 5 minutes

* 2% chance of stunning enemy

Nature's Blessing

Absorbs power from nature to heal and bless oneself or an ally.

Mana consumption: 50 Mp

* Heals 5% total life

* Damage taken reduced by 2% for 3 minutes

* All magic resistances (except fire) rises by 5% for 5 minutes

His Form of the Wolf-King skill had reached the intermediate level, which let him equip additional armor.

Form of the Wolf-King has reached intermediate level 1

Can now equip specialized gloves/gauntlets, certain accessories will remain equipped

Since his body grew in size after changing forms, he would have to equip the gloves and leg armor after changing. He saw that the structure of his body changed quite significantly as compared to at beginner level one. The fur covering his body was thicker and longer, and he had a thick bushy tail as well.

It wasn't all for aesthetics either. The bone structure of his legs changed, his feet elongated and changed to become more wolf-like. It took some getting used to, but after a while he found that he could run more smoothly and efficiently.

His senses all heightened and sharpened. Vision and hearing were expected and weren't too difficult to get used to, but his sense of smell was the hardest to adjust. It was more than the smell just getting stronger, it was sharper and fuller.

It would take a while to master his senses, but once he did he would be able to sense and track prey better than before. When he first got these heightened senses, he was assaulted by the many scents and sounds. It was disorienting to say the least.

Unlike the difference in size and mass, the heightened senses carried over to his normal form for the most part. This was to avoid having to get used to his senses over and over again. To avoid too much of a dissonance between his senses in real life and Royal Road, the heightened senses were well above that of a normal human, but less than that of a real wolf or dog.

Now he stood in his werewolf form, fully armored. “Stat window.”

Status WindowNameWraithAlignmentDarkLevel52ClassAvatar of the Chaos BeastTitleNoneReputation0Health3410Mana720Strength210Agility268Stamina157Vitality153Wisdom34Intellect37Luck0Leadership21Attack79-86Defence78Charisma1Killing Intent106Endurance52Magic ResistanceFire0%Water0%Earth30%Black Magic50%

* All stats increase by 20% at night

* Holy weapons and magic do twice as much damage

* Gained the ability to equip class specific items

* All NPCs will look upon you with caution, and will be less likely to give you quests. Cities with a strong Church of Freya presence might be openly hostile

* Restricted from gaining fame or land with other mortal races

* Relationship with wolves at maximum

* Relationship with other churches at minimum value, might be considered an enemy by paladins and priests

* Will not be attacked by werewolves unless provoked

* Can understand the speech of other monsters

* Prohibited from using any form of weaponry

* Can learn Tailoring and Alchemy skill to the level of a Master

* Can learn secret skills related to class

He checked the results of his hard work. He looked at his stats, so very different from his fellow players. Most people would have been thrilled and started singing and dancing in glee. Wraith felt a cold satisfaction instead, since now he was one step closer to his goal.

Now that he knew what his stats looked like, he turned his attention to his skills. He had gained several skills in a short period of time. Though he raised many to a decent level, it would take some time to master them fully.

“Skill window.”

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* Identification (Lvl.8 24%)Enables you to learn the true value of unidentified items. Mana consumption: 30 Mp.

* Unarmed Combat Mastery (Intermediate Lvl.3 17%) Increases attack power and speed while fighting unarmed, as well as decreasing damage taken.

* Claws of the Beast (Intermediate Lvl.1 58%) Summons claws to the fingertips, increasing attack power and speed when active. Mana consumption: 20 Mp

* Form of the Wolf-King (Intermediate Lvl.1 23%) Shape-shifts to a wolf-like form. Various effects applied. Mana consumption: 150

* Loki's blessing (Intermediate Lvl.2 11%) While in the Form of the Wolf-King, the chains that used to bind you will become your armor

* True Insight (Lvl.5 8%) Enables you to see the true uses of a material. Mana consumption: 15 Mp

* Skinning and Butchering (Lvl.7 48%) Increases the amount of viable material extracted from a corpse manually

* Alchemical Transmutation (Lvl.3 96%) Advanced alchemy skill, allowing for transmutation and magically imbued potions and items

* Herbology (Lvl.8 46%) Allows proper identification, harvesting and cultivation of plants and herbs.

* Tailoring (Lvl.9 23%) Allows clothes to be crafted from cloth and leather

* Wolf's Howl (Lvl.3 38%) A howl filled with aggression towards enemies and reassurance towards pack members

* Silent Steps (Lvl.1 87%) Masks your killing intent and camouflages you. Mana consumption: 10 Mp/sec

* Leader of the Pack (Lvl.5 34%) Enables you to lead and manage your own pack

* Cloak of Wrath (Lvl.3 11%) Covers the bodies of you and your pack in flames born from fury, increasing attack power and speed. Mana consumption: 15 Mp/sec

* Shroud of Despair (Lvl.4 23%) Covers the bodies of you and your pack in darkness and shadows to steal the life from enemies. Mana consumption: 94 Mp