The Rise of the Winter Wolf - Book 2 - Chapter 21 - Advice (Patreon)

Executive Stream

“He got pretty lucky that the nerscillus didn’t spot him,” Leo says before taking a sip of his wine and adding, “it probably would have torn him apart without much trouble.”

“That’s true, but a nerscillus isn’t all that fast, so if he tried then he should be able to get away from it,” Diane says, defending Wolf.

Leo glances at her before commenting, “Defending your pup, are you?”

He then chuckles at this as he turns to look at a different screen showing Ruth as she fights a mini boss on the seventeenth floor.

Diane scoffs as she sees this before saying, “You’re one to talk, you would do the same for your little pet!”

Leo grunts in affirmation before the two fall silent for several minutes as they each watch different screens.

Suddenly, both of the Administrators turn to look at the door to the room before the door opens to reveal the ex-megalokin, now harbinger, Administrator and current Chairman of the Arcadian Magic Association as he steps into the room.

“Arianais,” Leo mutters with a nod in greeting.

Diane tilts her head for a moment before asking, “You wanted to speak about something?”

The blue skinned man nods his head while closing the door behind him before he says, “Yes, seeing as we have a shared interest in a certain harbinger.”

His words don’t seem to surprise either Leo or Diane as they just sit still on the couch while waiting for him to continue.

Arianais continues further into the room before looking up at Wolf’s screen.

It isn’t until a few minutes later that he finally says, “As you can probably surmise, I am interested in him because he is a harbinger. But I also feel a little bit indebted to him for the amount of SP he has been making me through his brief appearances on Arcadian Live.”

He then turns to the other two Administrators and adds, “Now, there are many people that seem to be entering Arcadian Live in the hopes that he might show up, and it’s become rather profitable for both me and my association.”

“Which brings me to why I came here in the first place,” Arianais furrows his brows and sends a dark look towards Diane as he finishes his statement, “I will not allow you to force Wolf into doing anything he doesn’t want to do. Not while he is making me so much profit.”

This statement surprises Diane a little bit before she raises an eyebrow and says, “Don’t worry, I wasn’t planning on forcing him into anything. After all, he wouldn’t make a very good heir to my empire if he wasn’t willingly in the position.”

Arianais stares at her for several seconds before slowly nodding and turning to the door. Before he opens it though, he says over his shoulder, “I will also be sponsoring the harbinger, and, if he were to make a few more appearances on Arcadian Live, I might even be willing to convince a few other people to sponsor him as well.”

He then opens the door and leaves the room.

A few seconds of silence pass as Diane and Leo stare at the closed door before they both turn to each other.

“Well, I guess I should tell Wolf about that last comment,” Diane says as a hint of a smile emerges on her face.

Leo just nods in agreement before they both turn back to their respective screens.

Wolf
One day later

Screams of excitement fill my ears before I can even see again as I enter Arcadian Live.

It was a little bit surprising to hear Diane tell me to visit the Arcadian Live viewing room a few times, but it made perfect sense after she explained why. I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised that the Chairman of the Arcadian Magic Association took an interest in me, considering that Arcadian Live is really the only show that I have showed up on as of yet. Even if that’s only because it was one of the first shows that I saw viewing me.

Maybe I should start showing up on some other shows? It might be interesting.

By the time I can see again, I find myself surrounded by people looking at me with joy covering their faces.

Uh, this still feels a little strange. I’m not used to being so popular.

Gasps of surprise echo around my location as Sapphire jumps out of my shadow and warily stands in front of me.

She isn’t used to being close to this many people either. Especially considering that the only things she has met so far are monsters and Crystal. Aside from me of course.

I am interrupted from my thoughts as someone from the audience tries to approach me while saying, “Winter Wolf, I am a huge-”

Amusingly enough, before he can finish, I find myself floating next to Mikaela in the center of the stadium with Sapphire floating next to me while swinging her legs around in a panic.

I reach out and pet her to calm her down as Mikaela begins speaking, “Welcome back, Winter Wolf!”

He pauses for a moment as the audience roars in greeting before continuing after seeing me nod while looking down at Sapphire with a smile, “And welcome to you too, little Sapphire!”

“Sapphire!!!!” “We love you, Sapphire!” “Stay cute forever Sapphire!”

My mouth drops open for a second in surprise before I catch myself and close it while turning to look down at Sapphire.

Who would have thought that she would have gotten such a large fanbase so quickly…

Although I would rather her continue getting stronger instead of staying cute…

“Now, as you well know, we have been watching all of your amazing exploits thus far and we are all thoroughly convinced that you are the strongest Competitor in this run, but what are you planning on doing when you lose your place as forerunner while training little Sapphire here?” Mikaela asks a rather surprising question.

And considering the audience’s reaction to it – or at least a few voices in the audience’s reaction – not everyone seems to agree.

“That is not true! Vulcan is absolutely the strongest!” “Deadshot for life!” “Nosferatu may not look for fights, but he is still a dhampir!”

I decide to ignore the other Competitor’s fans as I answer Mikaela’s question, “The same as I have always done. Survive and kill monsters.”

The audience goes crazy over my answer despite it not really being all that much as a smile covers Mikaela’s face.

“That’s just what I was expecting to hear,” Mikaela says before turning to the audience with his arms spread out, “let’s hear it for The Winter Wolf and his companion, Sapphire! The record-breaker and current strongest within the dungeon!”

Ear-piercing screams echo throughout the stadium for a few minutes as I look over at the main screen which was at first just a black screen to see it showing Vulcan on the twentieth floor shooting a wave of flames out of his palm towards a nesting arachnid’s nest, burning it down to the ground along with a few of the spiders within.

I frown at his fire magic.

Considering that his ability upgraded, I wonder how long it will take for mine to upgrade as well?

Now that I think about it, I wonder what Tier my ability even is?

Maybe Diane will be able to answer that.

“Now, Winter Wolf, how do you feel about that boss?” Mikaela suddenly asks me, breaking me out of my thoughts.

I turn towards him from the screen before tilting my head in thought.

What did I think of it?

I don’t say anything for a few seconds as the audience goes silent while they wait for me before I answer, “Aside from its overall size, it’s about what I was expecting for the boss of the twentieth floor.”

Dozens of conversations spring up in an instant throughout the stadium before stopping as I continue speaking, “That said, do you know anything about that monster in particular that might help me?”

Mikaela looks surprised for a second before his smile widens from ear to ear and he exclaims, “I do, actually!”

He then raises his hand to make a little screen appear next to him before he begins explaining some details about the boss.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Nerscillus

A nerscillus is a six-meter-long and three-meter-tall spider monster. It has a full black body, with two red, blade-like front legs that excrete a powerful acid. These two legs are twice the size of the rest of its limbs.

The nerscillus is a non-venomous spider, and therefore uses its blade-like front legs as its main weapon when attacking. It has very little resistance to magic, with a particular weakness to both extreme heat and extreme cold, but it has an extremely powerful exoskeleton that protects it well against any physical damage, both blunt and piercing.

A nerscillus’s webbing is made up of a substance that dries extremely fast and can be used for the enormous nests that a nerscillus can usually be found living in by itself.

Level of intelligence: D – Above the level of intelligence of a primitive primate, but below the intelligence of a dominant species.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

I almost gape at the description before focusing on what Mikaela has to say.

“Outside of the information here,” he says with a wave at the description, “a nerscillus is a lone wolf. It doesn’t work with any other monster and will generally scare off most monsters just by the sound and shockwaves of its footsteps. And, despite their size, they love to pounce at their prey from a distance with their two large blade-like legs. They also tend to sometimes pin you down with their incisors to cut you with their blade-like legs, since their incisors aren’t as powerful as other spiders’ incisors might be in comparison to its size.”

My eyes widen in surprise at just how much information he is giving me.

This will make fighting that boss a lot easier than it would have been before now!

I stand back to listen to his advice as conversations break out throughout the audience.