The Wolf of Calamity - Book 1 - Chapter 2 - Survival (Patreon)

There were several edits to the prologue, mostly fixing the dialogue and adding more detailing to the scenes, but there were also a couple of breaker lines that I realized weren't in the chapter when they were supposed to be. They have been added in, separating a couple of time skips that weren't separated when they should have been.

I also changed the statistics menu/screen for Asher's stats. I think this new one looks better.

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Asher

Direwolf Chimera

PHYS: 32.3 | MAGIC: 35.4

DEX: 10.6 |  CTR: 11.4

STR: 9.8 |  PWR: 12.6

CON: 11.9 | CAP: 11.4

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Although, PHYS: 32.3 is colored purple. Or will be when it is eventually moved to Royal Road. And MAGIC: 35.4 will be colored blue. And all of the notes and stuff will be centered on Royal Road as well.

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Year 1396 After Chaos
Month 7

Chaotic Plane

Asher

I end up accidentally damaging the doorknob in my attempt to lock my jaws around it before I eventually manage to open it, only to face a wave of snow and wind as it rushes in through the now-open door from the blizzard going on outside.

Oddly enough, most of the snow seems to melt before it reaches me, and the wind that should be ice cold considering the climate outside doesn’t even feel the slightest bit chilly.

Is this because of the magma lord heart that the man spoke about?

I begin to step outside of the cabin before pausing as I notice a feint purple dome going all the way around the cabin. The dome itself doesn’t seem to be stopping any of the weather, so I’m not entirely sure what it is doing.

If I remember correctly, the man said that he was wanted by the Monarch and all of the other Nobles for his experiments, so shouldn’t he have been trying to hide better? A large purple dome isn’t exactly the most covert of hiding-

My thoughts are interrupted as large cracks begin running through the dome before it shatters and vanishes into thin air.

I yelp in surprise while taking a step backwards before looking around for several seconds.

What just happened…

A loud roar suddenly echoes from behind me, so I travel up to the cabin’s wall outside before slowly making my way around to the corner to peek my head out.

My eyes widen in shock as I barely manage make out what had made the roar through the snowstorm before my legs begin to tremble a little bit in fear.

What the hell is that!

I slowly lower myself down to the ground as I watch a large monster with blue scales and wings fly towards my direction, pushing the storm out of its way as it flies.

It takes me a few seconds, but I eventually remember the thing in the man’s paper talking about the System allowing me to see other being’s statistics if I think ‘ID’ while looking at the being.

ID?

Almost instantly, another flow of text – similar to the info notes and statistics notes – appears in my vision. Except, unlike the previous notes, it isn’t in the center of my vision and is instead clearly visible despite the storm above the monster’s head.

<-| Nameless | Frost Dragon | PHYS - 1006 | MAGIC - 728 |->

Before I can put much thought into the text, I see a blue energy begin to build up from the area of its head while it is facing the cabin.

Shit!!

I quickly rise to my feet before taking off at a sprint in the opposite direction of the cabin from the dragon into the trees surrounding the clearing.

A loud noise rings out from behind me before a shockwave knocks me further into the bushes, out of the clearing. I quickly get back up to my feet and turn back to look at the cabin, only to find it completely destroyed with an enormous shard of ice sticking out of its remains as the blizzard in the immediate area around the cabin begins to reconverge over the area after having been blown away by the frost dragon’s attack.

I look back up from the wrecked cabin to see the monster begin flying off back to its mountain while letting out another loud roar.

Why did it come just to destroy the cabin…?

Wait, could it have had something to do with that purple dome shattering?

The part in the paper about my eyes comes to mind as I realize that I might have been looking at a magical spell that was concealing the cabin from the surrounding monsters.

If that’s the case, then it would make sense. The spell probably fell apart thanks to the man’s death.

Although…

I tilt my head in confusion as I look through the raging snowstorm at the remains of the cabin.

If that was the case, then why did the spell only collapse now, and not right after he died?

My thoughts are interrupted as a loud screech echoes through the blizzard, bouncing around with the wind in a way that makes it difficult for me to tell where it’s coming from.

Another monster?

I try to search through the blizzard for whatever is making the screech, but before I can find anything, a stabbing pain suddenly radiates from my side as I find myself being sent flying into a nearby tree with a whimper of pain.

As soon as I land on the ground next to the tree, I get back to my feet while ignoring the pain as I turn to look at whatever hit me.

Fortunately, my flight melted a brief path through the storm, allowing me to see some sort of cloaked figure in the storm. Whatever it is blends in pretty damn well with the storm and has an appearance similar to what the man described as ghosts in some of the stories he read.

I quickly think ID to see what it is I’m dealing with before I let out a light chuff in irritation.

<-| Nameless | Ice Wraith | PHYS - 76 | MAGIC - 128 |->

Of course, it’s stronger than me as well! Everything in this damn place is too powerful for me!

First the man tortures me for an entire year while changing my body, and now I am stuck in this hellhole?!

As my anger intensifies, smoke once again begins to leak from my mouth, heating up and melting the snow in my immediate area.

This seems to put the ice wraith on edge as it halts its approach before continuing again at a slower pace.

Despite my anger, I notice all of this and decide to use it to my advantage.

Let’s see what happens when I really get pissed off!

Slowly, the smoke turns into actual sparks of fire before changing once again as little droplets of magma begin to spill out of my mouth as I growl at the ice wraith whilst still ignoring the burning pain in my side.

The ice wraith once again slows down, but I don’t give it any time to think as I push at a strange feeling that has been building up in my chest before stumbling backwards a tiny bit as a ball of magma suddenly shoots out of my mouth straight at the ice wraith.

It makes another screech, except this time in a panic instead of as a sign of attack, before the ball of magma suddenly explodes mid-air in front of it, covering it in a layer of magma that quickly causes the ice wraith to freak out.

Unfortunately, I can tell that it isn’t actually doing that much damage – likely due to the difference in our overall power levels – so I take this opportunity to make my exit while it’s still reacting to my magma.

I quickly begin limping away through the snowstorm as the magma making up my blood continues running down my side until I eventually find a hole in the ground with nothing but a single direwolf inside.

Without any hesitation, I snap my brethren’s neck with a quick bite and twist after seeing it try to attack me to defend its den.

After that, I devour its corpse just like I did the man before I go to the back of the den and lay down as a similar info note as when I first devoured the man appears in front of me.

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

You have devoured the being known as Unnamed Direwolf.
One percent of his physical and magical capabilities will now be adapted into your body.

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

I tense up at the expectation of pain before nothing comes – aside from the pain I am already feeling from my wound.

Is it just so little pain that it’s being covered up by my wounds? Or could it be that I only feel pain if it’s a large increase in my stats?

My pondering is interrupted as another info note appears in front of me, followed by another one directly below it.

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

You have gained these stats from the being known as Unnamed Direwolf:

+0.012 DEX

+0.011 STR

+0.01 CON

+0.006 CTR

+0.01 PWR

+0.008 CAP

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

You have devoured more than one being now.

Would you like to have the System minimize these notices from now on?

This will mean that they will no longer cover your entire vision unless you select on a small icon that will appear in the corner of your vision.

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

Minimize the notices? I’m guessing the notices are what I am calling the info notes.

If that’s the case, then yes! It would be annoying to get them every time I devour something!

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

Your System notices will now be minimized.

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

I turn my head to look at the wound on my side again after the info note disappears.

The wound itself seems to have some sort of black energy radiating off of it. One that looks incredibly similar to the black energy that I can see radiating off of my claws.

Is that the curse that the man spoke about in the paper? The one that stops healing for a day?

That was a type of wraith that wounded me after all, so it would make sense if that was the case.

Fortunately, the wound doesn’t appear to be deep enough to be fatal, especially if I lay on my other side so as to keep it from bleeding as badly, so I should only have to wait a day for them all to heal up.

As for the bruises caused by my unfortunate flight earlier that caused by the wraith’s attack? Those aren’t bad enough to worry about at all.

My thoughts pause for a moment as I realize that I am actually using the part of the man’s lectures that I hated when compared with his other lectures. The ones about basic herbalist training.

I chuff in annoyance before laying my head down on the ground whilst still keeping the wound pointing upwards to limit the bleeding as I slowly drift off to sleep.