Novels2Search
The Sphere By exorcist
Chapter 4 : The Weakest Pet

Chapter 4 : The Weakest Pet

Sana almost didn’t believe that there were more than 1.5 million people between her and the top ranked player. It was surprising as when Linxx was level 16, the second ranked player was at level 13. However, she didn’t know that Linxx had signed a deal with Colors TV. The signing process took more than 5 hours even though representatives of the media channel had come all the way to New York to sign a deal with Linxx. That had given Linxx a loss of 15 hours of game time and later, he didn’t earn enough experience to level up in the fox quest with difficulty of level 3. And he had to share the experience with more than 100 members. As if that was not enough, the experience required to level up to 21 was unbelievably large.

To think that there would be this many people at just 3 level difference. However, none of them was at level 20 except Linxx. Sana wanted to level up quickly. She didn’t accept the reason she was so obsessed all of a sudden but inside her heart, she knew. Moreover, she is a model in real life and she knew how hard it is in the modelling business. And she had always been competitive. She hated losing.

She had already heard of the Fierce Warrior alliance in the Nahur Kingdom. Forum on The Sphere’s website revealed such news as if it was an international calamity. Linxx had started the alliance and the procurement of a dungeon with monsters suitable to fight up to level 60 was an added benefit. She almost regretted not starting in Nahur city.

But she quickly regained her composure and she knew such games all too well. When she wasn’t shooting for advertisements or modelling, she had nothing to do. Thus she was introduced to the games when she used to chat as an ‘Anon’ on various websites just to pass time. After that, she didn’t need to go to chatting websites anymore. Whenever she was at home, she would play these games and after a year or so, she knew exactly how to play such games. She had been leader of alliances in such games. She knew how much alliances help in procuring lands but she didn’t dare form one in this game. She was so excited to enter the game that she didn’t bother to change her appearance. And now only used a cotton cloth to wrap it around her face in order to not let anyone see her. She didn’t want to stand out because she knew that media companies would haunt her in real life if her identity is exposed this early.

Because of her experience, she knew what she had to do in order to level up fast and alone. Well, everyone knew, but not everyone dared to take such risks. However, she knew that without risks, one won’t get good results. She walked towards the city’s square.

After finding the shop that she was looking for, she entered it. An old lady welcomed her inside.

“Hello adventurer, are you here to look to buy a pet?”

Sana looked around. There wasn’t a single pet inside the shop. Forget about being caged, there wasn’t even one who was free. She wondered whether she had entered the right shop but the old lady’s words cleared her doubt.

“Yes, I am. But I don’t know anything about pets and I want to know about them in detail before purchasing one. Can you please explain about them to me?”

“Sure, why not? There are many types of pets but for adventurers, fighter types are more common. Merchants use transport type, while others also use home-pet types. As you can guess, home-pet types are usually small and cute creatures that are adored and are not for battles or transportation and are also very weak. They are quite famous among young pretty ladies like you and are very cheap as compared to fighter and transport type. Would you like one?”

“No, I am interested in fighter type pet only.”

“Ohh, I thought a pretty lady like you would want home-pet type. Anyway, now that I look at you, you seem strong indeed. Since you want fighter type, do you mind showing me your character window so that I can determine the best type of pet for you?”

“I don’t mind but first can you explain more about pets please?”

“Umm, let’s see. Pets live in their regions. They are safe in their respective regions. That are their homes. However, there homes can be encroached upon by different monsters or humans. We shopkeepers who raise them, give them new home. To be frank, we need to buy land and we take all these pets there. However, once in this land, all the pets are friendly and they don’t fight amongst each other even if they are sworn enemies by birth. This is because they recognize us shopkeepers as the ones who raise them and provide them with everything and they respect that.

The land is also a summoning area. They can be summoned from the area as many times as you wish. You can also purchase lands from Department of Land for your pet however, one should be careful enough to buy a land that is free of monsters attack or from other invading races like us humans. Such lands cost a fortune. Sure, you can use ordinary lands as a home for your pets but the pet could be killed by other monsters or even humans. And the pet wouldn’t revive for another 24 hours. Pet lose their stats too when they are killed.

Also, the pets cannot be easily controlled. Weak pets, more often than not, obey their master’s orders. However, strong pets or pet with high intelligence, won’t obey the orders of the master unless they are willing to. That’s why pets have the luxury to choose their master. Some masters don’t get the pet that they desire the most if the pet makes up its mind about it. That’s why it’s good to take a weak pet who would help instead of choosing a pet that is strong and won’t listen to you in middle of a battle. Once, the pet approves of you, it accepts you as your master but even then it’s loyalty depends on its nature or its liking towards the master.

The pets grow under their master. If properly trained, they can become a formidable foe for the opponent. Pets should properly be taken care of.”

“I understand. Please suggest me a fighter type pet.”

Sana showed her character window to the old lady. The old lady looked surprised.

“You are strong indeed. I have these pets for you. However, whether or not they choose you as their master would completely depend upon them.”

A window popped up in front of Sana.

Pet : Fox

Level : 19

Cost : 700 gold

Description : Foxes are considered as the weakest battle type pets. They, however, show high loyalty towards their master. All amateur adventurers tend to go with foxes.

Pet : Wolf pup

Level : 10

Cost : 1000 gold

Description : With high intelligence, wolves becomes hard to tame and they usually hate all species other than their own. The loyalty is very low because of their nature but they are quite stronger than a group of foxes.

Pet : Cheetah’s cub

Level : 1

Cost : 1600 gold

Description : Cheetah’s the fastest animal on land. With its high agility, it is quite good in battles. Doesn’t accept a master easily. Low loyalty.

Sana was baffled after seeing the prices.

‘What’s wrong with this game?’

She thought for a while. She didn’t want to reveal herself this early in the game as it would bring her more troubles than benefits. Less game time and everything. She couldn’t afford wasting time at the starting stages of the game otherwise she would get left behind and it would be hard to catch up later. She had money in the real life too. The current transfer rate was around 25$ or 1250 rupees for a gold. She decided that she would use her own real money. She thought of logging out to transfer money but then suddenly had an idea.

*

When worm came back, he was still at the base of the mountain. He checked the time. It was 1 p.m. He logged out for only 40 minutes but in the game, 2 hours had passed.

'I still need to increase my game time. I am already sleeping in real life when I am here and all the positive workouts from the game affect my real body somehow so I don't have to worry about body getting weak either. I will leave the game only to take care of my daily necessities.'

He figured that he would need to start going back around 3 p.m. if he wants to reach before 10 p.m. since it will take him 7 hours while going back. So, he had 2 hours. He decided that he would climb the mountain for an hour, take rest and eat in 15 minutes and be back at the base in 45 minutes since he would need to start going back around 3 p.m. Worm looked up towards the mountain and he couldn't see the top. Clouds were floating beneath the top.

'5300 meters?! Damn, isn't that too high?'

He was still tired but he decided not to rest since that would be wasting time and he only had two months to finish this quest.

He started going up and it was quite easy at the base. The gradient was gentle and he was able to go up without much effort. However, after 30 minutes or so, the slope became little steeper and once he had to use his axe to lodge it into a tree firmly and use it to go upwards. The trees started getting thicker and it felt like dark even though it was after noon. Soon, he saw a rock and decided that he will eat near it and head back after that.

He felt like his body would break. He hadn't eaten since morning. He still vaguely recalls that Sanderp had given him two breads in the morning. He wasn't hungry then but thank god he had eaten it. Otherwise, he would have died from hunger by now. It was cool near the mountain but still he was thirsty.

Worm sat on the rock comfortably and let his body rest under the shade of a tree. He enjoyed the cool breeze that was flowing in the area. He looked down towards the base but it couldn't be seen due to the trees that were blocking his view. He took out his bread, started eating it. While he was eating, he felt being watched. He looked towards his left and between two bushes, he saw a pair of eyes looking at him directly. The eyes passed shivers down his spine. But, after looking at them for a little longer, Worm noticed something odd.

The eyes weren't yellowish. They were completely white like human eyes except the center of the eyes that was dark red. That wasn't all. The eyes were hardly at 20 centimeters from the ground. As if the monster was crouching down to jump with all its might towards Worm. Worm kept looking towards the eyes. There wasn't much he could do. With his weak body and 0 level, he would be killed even by a low level rabbit when he is this tired. He awaited his death by the limbs of this unknown monster.

The eyes came closer to him and then he saw it. It was a pup of a wolf. But unlike normal pups, this one was pure white. Worm couldn't believe it. The pup was only a little larger than his palm, it didn't look scary at all. To Worm, it looked cute rather than scary. But the eyes of the wolf were frightening. The dark red eyes gave the impression that they were made of blood itself. Even though the wolf was just a pup, Worm knew that it was a wolf. Worm would be killed ruthlessly without even getting the time to blink his eyes.

The pup took two more steps towards Worm. The pup looked ready to attack Worm. Just then, the pup's eyes went blank and the pup fell down. The pup stood up again and stared at Worm. Then Worm noticed that it wasn't staring at him but his bread. The pup was hardly standing up. It was completely exhausted. It hardly had the energy to stand up.

This was perfect for Worm. He could easily kill the pup and earn experience. He estimated the wolf's level around 10 since it was a pup and the level difference will give him tons of experience if he kills it. Worm ate one bread and put the second bread back in inventory and took out his dagger.

He walked towards him. The pup wasn't afraid. May be because of the pride of being a wolf, but the pup didn't even look away. Worm brought down his dagger with full force towards the pup's head. At the last moment, Worm understood that the pup wanted to be relieved of this world. Perhaps the suffering had been too much for it. He stopped his dagger hardly millimeters away from the pup's head. The pup hadn't even closed its eyes.

'Some nerve you have for someone who was about to die.'

Pitying the pup, he put his dagger back in the inventory and took out the remaining bread. Worm sat down beside it, considering that it was weak and that it wouldn't harm him. He raised his hand and gestured the pup to eat that bread.

The pup was a wolf. It had its own pride. As much as he wanted to eat that bread, it wouldn't accept courtesy of a human. It stood straight and with as much attitude as it can pull off in its weakened state, it closed its eyes and turned its head 45 degrees skyward. Worm got irritated at this gesture by the pup.

'This little shit! I didn't kill it and its showing attitude and rejecting the food that I offered.'

Worm knew that it was rejecting the food because of its pride. Not even blinking when a dagger was in its face tells everything. But Worm was pissed nevertheless. Irritated, he himself didn't know what he was doing but he lifted the pup in his hand and held it tightly between his legs. Thus, making the pup unable to run away. The pup was scared of the sudden change in Worm. It hasn't been scared of death until now but somehow this sudden uncalled action made it shake in fear.

Worm then forced the bread in the pup's mouth. The pup, being scared, didn't oppose it and ate it silently. After eating the bread, the pup gained some of its strength back. But it didn't attack Worm. Even though it was uncomfortable being held by Worm's legs, it didn't try and break itself free. The pup had already decided that it would die but this human gave him food and made it eat the bread against its wishes. For the pup, this generosity was a first. After a long time, it was happy despite being caught up in between a human's legs and being force fed almost to the point of choking.

Worm had no idea why he did what he did but he was satisfied after feeding the pup his only remaining bread. He took out his water bottle, drank some water and looked at the pup.

"I am going to give you some water now, don't crush the bottle's mouth and also don't drink everything. Try to save one sip for me. I need a little water because I have a long journey to make."

The pup nodded as if it understood. Worm wasn't surprised because he was kind of expecting it, though he didn't know why he was expecting it. He put the bottle in its mouth and the pup not only finished the water but also crushed the mouth of the bottle and didn't let go of the bottle until it was crushed completely. Finally, it threw the bottle out of its mouth.

Worm couldn’t believe this pup. He treated it nicely. Even gave it food and water although he was himself short of them in the first place. Worm tried to control his anger but couldn’t. He voice was louder than a dragon’s roar.

“Didn’t you nod when I explained things to you?”

To make the matter worse, the pup closed its eyes and did the attitude 45 degrees head again.

‘You little shit!’

Worm kept the pup aside, stood up and started walking back. He had wasted 30 minutes on this stupid pup. He needed to hurry in order to reach Sanderp’s castle before 10 p.m. as he was already running 15 minutes late. He didn’t look back.

The pup had its share of fun. Now, seeing Worm leave him alone again, the pup felt sad. After months and months of being alone and finally finding someone to have fun with, being sad so soon wasn’t what the pup wanted. It wanted to feel alive again and it started following Worm.

*

Johnson was happy with the game’s pace. As if he had completely forgotten about his own company FutureGadgets, he only went once there to tell his assistant to take care of the as much decision as she can and only disturb him once a week at his home. He knew he could her trust her assistant. Her assistant was more reliable than many other people holding high positions in his company.

He sat with his hands intertwined behind his head and legs on the table and his eyes were on screen 1. One of his brothers had put up the rankings on screen 1 and with a satisfied view, he was happy. Now, gaining experience for just one level will require 20 hours for most of the high ranked players. Hunting had become difficult and if the players hunted weak animals, the experience bar wouldn’t increase much and slowly even raising one level would take 15 days in about six months’ time. The toughness of the game starts now. Haha, this wasn’t an easy game as top gamers would believe. Almost, all top gamers from all countries were playing this game. As if they were fighting for the honor of their countries. He then wondered what would be the lowest ranked player’s rank.

He was shocked to see that the last ranked player was still level 0 while the second last ranked player was at level 8. He immediately ordered character window of the player. He couldn’t believe what he saw. The experience he had accumulated by being online for more than 25 hours in the game amounted to total experience of 0. He was angry because one precious unit had been wasted on this boy. Suddenly, one of the subordinates screamed.

“Sir, you’ve got to see this. Screen 17.”

He immediately shifted his gaze to screen 17 and a girl was shown talking to an old lady in a shop. The window of the pets appeared on the screen and he noticed that the girl was almost cursing under her breath when she saw the prices of the pets. Surely, this isn’t what the subordinate would have wanted him to see as it was pretty normal. Johnson quietly continued to watch.

*

“Internet access.”

A browser window appeared in front of Sana. She was surprised that her nail hit on the mark. Seeing how advanced the game was, she had her doubts whether she would need to log out every time she needed to use the net to check out forums or rankings. Her doubt had been cleared. To check further, she said google.com and the website’s home page appeared within milliseconds. The access was so fast, even for google.com that Sana almost went collapsed.

‘Who are these game developers? I suspected something with the real time update of 50+ million people rankings but definitely, it’s like all the players are being watched.’

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

She didn’t care about being watched as every admin has the right to do what he wants. But this wasn’t normal. Providing 50+ million such fast internet anywhere in this world. The technology has already surpassed the current world’s technology by at least 50 years.

She got back to business. She opened her bank account and transferred 30,000$ in her CityBank’s account. Usually this would require her bank’s moderation but as she was a model, high amount trades happened a lot with her account, though this was the first case where the amount was debited instead of being credited.

She changed all her money to gold and her game account now showed that she had 1607 gold. She turned to the old lady.

“I will take the cheetah’s pup.”

*

Johnson was flabbergasted. He smiled within his heart. Someone figured this out on the second day itself. He asked his subordinates to put up the girl’s details on screen 20. He was not surprised this time that the girl was amongst the top 1.5 million people. To be honest, he was disappointed. A person this smart and even spending 30,000$ from her real life account’s to buy a strong pet must mean that she understands the increasing difficulty of the game. Even though she was level 17, she still spent that much money. Then, it dawned upon Johnson.

’30,000$? Isn’t she just a kid?’

Johnson saw the character name and asked one of the subordinates to find anything about the girl in real life. Within seconds, the screen with her name and level went black and was changed with a Wikipedia page of Sana Faris, a young model who is getting more famous in India day by day ever since she was crowned as Miss Teen India around a year ago. Famous enough to spend 30,000$ in a game.

Even Johnson realized by seeing her photo that this young girl was extremely talented and her looks were better than most of the well-known beauties around the world. He saw her name being linked by many companies as their ambassador. No wonder she became that rich in such a short amount of time. He didn’t know why he became interested in such a girl. Probably because of her spending money while cursing to obtain the pet that may not obey her.

“Enter her name in favorites.”

All favorites were being monitored to see their growth. Sana was the latest addition. He saw her information on screen 17 and shifted his gaze towards screen 1 where Worm’s window was displayed. He sighed.

‘What huge differences between the two!’

Mr. 87 had made sure that they could not see stats, location and current quest information without player’s consent. They could only see the character name and level. He glanced towards the seat in which Mr. 87 was still sleeping.

‘What is that bastard still doing in the game?’

*

Worm reached the base of the mountain and checked the time. It was 3:10 p.m. He was running 10 minutes late but that wasn’t haunting him. He was thirsty. And within hours, he knew he would get hungry too. The damn pup’s doing now angered him even more. He found the tree by which the leather strips were placed. He went there and sat on the ground.

He saw the pup reach the base too as if it was following him. The pup came closer to him and sat on the ground near him, without meeting his eyes. Worm wanted to kick it but then decided not to as doing that would only make him thirstier due to tiredness. He ignored the pup and thought whether he would be able to reach before 10 p.m. in his condition. He glanced at the leather strips. His condition was about get worse.

With just a touch of his hand, the two leather straps automatically tied his right arm and leg. The wolf heard something and turned to look at the human figure beside it. The wolf was surprised to see the condition of the person who had fed it food and even gave it water. The wolf now understood why he was so furious when it had crushed the water. Worm stood up and started hopping on his left leg and started heading back to the castle. Wolf checked the direction in which the human was going. Seeing nothing but unending big grassy plain, the wolf gulped. It understood that his mocking the human had brought great hardship to the person who had helped him. The pup stood up too and started following him.

Worm noticed the shadow that was following him. He was already angry and the hopping made him angrier. As if that was not enough, the one thing that he has started hating was following him. He turned around and yelled in rage.

“Why the hell are you following me?”

The pup closed its eyes and did the attitude 45 degrees head yet again.

‘This….!’

He didn’t even have words in his mouth because the anger was filling him from head to toe. If the pup had been in Worm’s range, he would definitely have killed it. But he didn’t want to hop 5 times backwards. He ignored the pup and as soon as he turned, he fell face first. He picked himself up and started hopping again.

He fell once in every 200 meters. Sometimes, twice. He was getting used to hopping with his left leg but the tired body couldn’t support his weight some times. Those times, he fell and bruised his knee, elbows and even face. His palm had become bloodshot red. The pup pitied the human but he was amazed by the fragile human body. Every time he fell down, it looked like he won’t be able to get up but within seconds, the tired body would be struggling to get itself up.

It wasn’t hard for the pup to understand that the human was doing this to make himself stronger. Otherwise, there would be no one who would tie up his own arm and leg and walk with such difficulty only to fall down every now and then. Every time the human picked himself up after falling, the pup admired him even more.

Soon, it got dark and it was difficult for whom to see where he was heading. With only his sense of direction, he was hopping without knowing whether he was going forward in the right direction or not. After hours and hours of struggling, a faint darker outline could be seen in the dark. He was relieved to see the outline. After about 50 minutes of more hopping and even more falling, he reached the castle. He checked the time. He shouted the command and a system message showed him the time. 9:57 p.m. He hadn’t bothered to check time all this time. He hopped as fast as he could towards the gate to cover the remaining distance.

‘Got to hurry up, only 3 minutes left.’

Within two minutes, he reached the door and banged the circular ring against the door 3 times with all the force he could muster. After banging, he literally had no energy left and fell down.

Sanderp opened the door. Even though he had known that Worm was approaching him since a long time ago, he was happy that Worm had made it back in the nick of time. He had sensed a wolf pup following him too but was surprised that the pup was just following him and not attacking. Now after opening the door, he was the wolf and was astonished at the sight. He didn’t expect such an animal. The rare sight left him speechless. He helped Worm inside the castle supporting his weight himself instead of using magic and with a glance, invited the pup too.

The pup sensed that the person inviting him was a lot stronger than anything the pup had seen before. Even 50 full grown wolves wouldn’t be enough to make this person bleed a single drop of flood. However, it didn’t want to abandon the human who had suffered because of its fooling around. Besides, the person himself knocked on the door. The pup quietly entered the castle and behind it, the door closed by itself.

*

Linxx didn’t even think of defeating 22 wolves by himself. However, the quest wasn’t a part quest. He would first get stronger before attempting it. The 100 participants had been worried about him since he wasn’t among them when they returned however he called the person in his alliance who was an employee at Colors TV.

“I want you to log out and tell your director of a level 11 difficulty quest with a month time limit that I just accepted. Tell them if he wants to broadcast it, I demand a fee of 40,000$ but I won’t let the world know of the reward from the quest. I know the fee is high but wouldn’t he gain much more from the advertisements? Tell him to decide whether he wants the rights to broadcast the quest or not. I am telling him first because of the contract. If he declines, I will offer the rights to some other media. You have 10 minutes of real world time.”

The person logged out immediately and within 5 minutes, he came back and said that the money has been transferred to his account.

Linxx smiled, logged out and changed all his money to gold. He didn’t have time. He logged back in and headed directly to the pet shop.

*

Sanderp sprayed some water on Worm’s face to wake him up. Worm noticed that he was back inside the castle and it was warm because of firewood burning in the fireplace. There was meat on the table and Worm started eating the meat like a glutton. The food restored his strength and even made the strength stat increase by 5 for the next hour. While eating, he checked his skill window.

Skill : Weak Foot Ability

Type : Passive

Stage : Beginner

Level : 0(94.72%)

This skill helps in controlling your weak foot strongly. When it reaches intermediate, you'll be able to use your weak foot in much more appropriate ways. When it reaches advanced, your weak foot would become just as strong as your strong foot and the weak foot can also become stronger than your strong foot.

Using only your left arm for sense of balance continuously has created a skill Weak Arm Ability.

Skill : Weak Arm Ability

Type : Passive

Stage : Beginner

Level : 0(91.48%)

This skill helps in controlling your weak arm strongly. When it reaches intermediate, you'll be able to use your weak arm in much more appropriate ways. When it reaches advanced, your weak arm would become just as strong as your strong foot and the weak foot can also become stronger than your strong foot.

He was happy that his two passive skills had almost levelled up. He looked around and saw the pulp eating meat as well. He was extremely irritated by this.

“What the hell are you doing here?”

But it seemed that the pup was enjoying the meat too much to bother doing its traditional 45 degrees head to irritate Worm even more. Upon seeing the uncalled tone of Worm, Sanderp was surprised.

“You shouldn’t talk in that tone with the white wolf. They are legendary. Only one in millions are born with complete white fur. They often lead the wolf packs. Every wolves follow the commands of the white wolf.”

“What wolf? He is just a pup…”

Then it registered in Worm’s mind.

‘Legendary? Leader of wolves?’

He looked at the pup. The pup was listening to the conversation and from its reaction, it looked like the pup understood clearly what was being said about it, as it did its trademark 45 degrees head routine when Worm looked at it. Worm didn’t mind the arrogance this time. He turned towards Sanderp who understood from Worm’s expression that he wanted more information.

“Since the pup followed you all the way here, I think he has developed quite a liking to you. Did you do something?”

Worm explained everything and focused more on how irritating the pup was. But Sanderp knew, that the one-in-million wolf hasn’t ever accepted a master until this very day. He didn’t know whether it just liked Worm or whether it would accept Worm as his master. Moreover, the pup was still young. Hardly 5-6 months old. They are more arrogant when they are young so accepting a master was not possible. He turned to Worm.

“Why don’t you accept it as a pet? Wouldn’t that help you? If I am to say the price of this pet in the market, it wouldn’t be less that 50,000 gold at the very minimum. That’s the price range of dragons though dragons aren’t found easily. But hey, the odds of finding a white wolf is even lower than that of a dragon.”

’50,000 gold?! Are you kidding me?! That’s 1,250,000$.’

Greed could be seen in Worm’s eyes, “What do I need to do to make it my pet?”

“Just ask it whether it accepts you as its master?”

“Umm.. Oh bastard pup, do you accept me as your master?”

Sanderp couldn’t believe the tone in which he was addressing the white wolf. The pup, again did its 45 degrees head routine but still nodded.

A message window appeared in front of Worm.

The wolf pup has accepted you as his master. What would you like to name it?

“Adalwolf.”

Due to accepting you as its master in a family manner, you won’t lose mana in summoning it. Since it’s without any home, this castle’s yard would be its home from now on. If it dies, it’ll lose stats and experience and loyalty would decrease depending on its mood.

Due to its very high intelligence, the loyalty is low. It won’t follow your commands and wishes.

Worm didn’t worry about the loyalty but he was extremely happy because he had just gained a million dollar pet to himself. The wolf must be helluva strong and that will help him a lot. He turned to Sanderp.

“Since, it’s costly, wouldn’t he grow to be a strong pet? Hehehhe, I am looking forward to the day when he is fully grown.”

“What are you talking about? When did I say that white wolves are strong? They don’t walk, the black wolves carry them. They don’t ever hunt, the black wolves hunt for them. They don’t fight, the black wolves fight for them. You understand what that means? They are even weaker than rabbits. The most common rumor about them is that they are the smartest but the weakest animals.”

“Then why are they that costly?”

“Because they are rare. Didn’t I tell you? It’s even rarer than a dragon. And it’s believed that the intelligence of white wolves even surpasses that of a dragons. That’s why they are leaders. It’s said that the wolves lead by white wolves can never be defeated unless they are faced by high level intelligence monsters in a pack. Even then, the defeat chances are low. And they are agile. The number of white wolves is so less that it can be counted on one hand, though that was said earlier. I think this young pup is the last white wolf that is alive. Very few people have seen them and even fewer people have seen them running. That’s why not much is known about them. Even their high intelligence and agility are just rumors.”

With this talk, Worm knew two things. First, there exist dragons in this world and they are very, very strong. Second, the pet he just earned was a useless being to him since Worm himself was smart but he needed power to fight someone. He had hoped that the pup would be the brawn and he would be the brain but everything was destroyed. To confirm his doubts, he checked the stats of the pup.

“Adalwolf character window.”

[quart=Name,Level]Adalwolf,2[/quart][quart=Health,Mana]1860,3780[/quart][quart=strength,Agility]17,41[/quart][quart=Stamina,Intelligence]10,37[/quart][quart=Willpower,Wisdom]25,34[/quart]

Luck

16

‘What the hell? These are the stats of a level 2 pup? The strength and stamina is weak but is that really weak? And what the hell is wrong with its intelligence and agility? Aren’t they off the charts? But with these stats, won’t its intelligence increase as it levels up while strength and stamina remain almost constant? Damn! I wanted someone with strength.’

Wolf looked at the pup and shouted.

“Why the hell a legendary creature like you so damn weak? I wanted someone with strength and all you got is intelligence, the same as me plus the ability to run. You are useless to a powerless guy like me. You’ll be killed like me if we enter a fight together, unless of course, you use your high agility to run away. Shit!”

He was sulking when he saw that despite the insults, the pup showed pride as it did its 45 degrees head sequence again. Worm was too shocked by this weak creature. His voice was almost inaudible.

“I wanted someone with strength...”

The wolf watched Worm. Being an intelligent creature, he could understand what the other people were saying. As per the wolf, the strong person(Sanderp) was right about one thing. Not many things are known about white wolves but at the same time, it was wrong about another. White wolves aren’t weak. It’s just that white wolves never needed to fight because of their cleverness that they didn’t bother getting strong. Its mother had told the young pup everything. How white wolves have pride, how they never accept someone as their master, how they never walk on their own feet and let wolves carry them, never hunt and hence never bother to get strong. But since its birth, the young pup has felt that he has unlimited growth potential. Its high intelligence had told it time after time again that it could be more, much more strong than it currently was.

It saw the sulking figure of its master. Even though the pup showed pride every time his master looked at him, it had deep affection for its master. He recollected his mother words in its mind. Seeing as how it had already walked unmeasurable distance, hunted little rabbits to feed itself, accepted a timid, kind, dual personality master, the pup thought about the master’s words and the future.

‘May be I will get stronger for my weak master.’

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