The Rise of the Winter Wolf - Book 2 - Chapter 32 - Awakening (Patreon)

Wolf

The first thing I feel as I wake up is a stabbing pain resonating throughout my entire body.

I groan as I briefly wonder what could be making me feel so much pain despite my pain resistance skill before I remember the events that occurred at the end of the event boss battle and my eyes shoot open.

As soon as they do, some sort of cracking noise finally registers in my mind along with the stabbing pain.

I also find that I can’t move an inch right now.

The hell?

Why am I only able to move my eyes?

I look around the room as I try to distract myself from the pain before noticing Ariana and Crystal both standing near the bed that I am laying on with Sapphire freaking out next to me.

“You’re finally awake!” Crystal says with a smile, all while a relieved expression crosses Ariana’s face.

I try to open my mouth to speak, only to remember that I can’t move.

The two seem to realize something is wrong pretty quickly as a frown replaces Crystal’s smile.

Crystal then opens her mouth to say something, but before I can hear her, a sudden wave of pain radiates from my chest before I regain the ability to move, only to end up using it to scream.

Seconds later, loud cracking noises, different from the ones that I am used to, begin to echo through my body as my bones begin visibly shifting positions.

I repeatedly swear in my head in an attempt to shift my attention away from the pain, only release another scream as more pain begins to radiate throughout me as my body begins to grow.

Ariana and Crystal quickly take several steps back as startled expressions fill their faces before I vaguely notice strange white… fur? Strange white fur with a texture similar to ice sprouting throughout my body as my armaments begin to shift to adjust to the changes to my body. After that, an uncomfortable feeling mixed with even more pain radiates from my head as I feel it begin to change shape.

Soon enough, I begin to lose conscious during the process as more and more unnatural noised continue to fill the room.

I groan as I regain consciousness, only for the noise that comes out to sound more like a mixture of a growl and a whine that you would hear from a canine.

The hell?

I slowly open my eyes to find myself seeing with a slightly different angle to my eyes.

Are my eyes at different locations…

I pause mid-thought as I think about the unnatural sounds coming from my body and the obvious shapeshifting involved before I shoot up to my feet on the bed. Or to be more accurate, I shoot upwards, crashing into the ceiling, before falling back down onto the bed in an awkward landing as a whine comes from my throat.

I look around with a strange feeling, as if my head isn’t as it usually is, before noticing the rest of my body.

‘Am I a wolf?’ I think in surprise.

“Did he just…” I hear Crystal ask with a gasp before I look up to see Crystal and Ariana looking at me from the same place they were at earlier.

“Yes, I think he just used some sort of telepathy on us,” Ariana says while crossing her arms with an intrigued look on her face.

Telepathy? Does that mean that they can hear my thoughts?

Neither of them responds to me, so I’m guessing it had to do with how I made the one that they apparently did hear.

Anyways, I can deal with that later. For now, I attempt to climb up to my feet before wobbling at the strange feeling of standing on four unused before legs. I then try to climb down the bed, only to realize that it looks a lot smaller than it was before now.

Or maybe I’m just larger?

I automatically create ice element before pushing it out and creating a perfectly clear slate of ice to use as a mirror.

It isn’t until after I am already looking at my new form in the mirror that I realized what I had just done.

Did my control over my ice increase after this transformation…?

Actually, never mind that, but what the fuck am I looking at?

The image that I see looking back at me in the mirror is of a two-meter-tall wolf with white fur, strange looking eyes, and what looks like sharp blue crystals for claws. Along with that, the wolf has on the armaments that I normally wear in generally the same places, except adjusted to fit a wolf instead, along with my gauntlets covering its front two paws.

I guess I did turn into a wolf, but this is not what I was expecting.

Not to mention, why are my eyes the color that they are?

I turn my head with a look of confusion towards the girls before they look into my now pale blue eyes with a golden ring in the center around the pupils of each eye.

They both just shrug in confusion before I turn my attention to the bed.

Where did the rest of my clothes go? They don’t seem to be ripped up on the bed or anything, and I don’t see them laying around in the room…

Wait a second, maybe they went into my inventory?

Although, before I check that, I should check my species name.

‘Status.’

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

Name: Wolf Adler

Class: Harbinger of Eternal Winter

Privileges: Competitor

Soul-bound Ability: Ice Reaper

Species: Harbinger Lycanthrope

Level: 241

EXP: 2626/24100

System Points: 21.47

Skills List

Inventory

System Communications

Administrator Dungeon

Administrator Dungeon Competitor

System Terminal

Player Auctions

System Map

System GUI

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

Lycanthrope? Not werewolf?

I ignore the species name for a moment to check my inventory before finding everything there except for the coat.

Okay, not sure where my coat went, but it looks like my items move to my inventory when I shift. Except for the items that can shift with me, like my armaments and gauntlets.

I guess only Tier 7 or higher items can shift with me? Or is that just a coincidence?

Either way, I return to the status screen before attempting to identify my species name, only to get nothing.

‘Well, this is annoying,’ I think before noticing a few notifications on the side of my interface.

Before I can focus on the notifications, Crystal suddenly says, “He spoke again!”

Oh? That’s interesting.

I repeatedly try to repeat what I just apparently did.

‘Hello?’ I say to them after several minutes of failed attempts.

“Hi,” Crystal says in response as Ariana just nods her head.

I give what probably passes for a smile as a wolf now that I have figured that out before focusing on the notifications.

That one was to be expected. It disappears after I read it before I move on to the next notification.

Oh? So that’s how that skill levels up!

I will check out the skill later, for now I should finish reading these notifications.

The strange message is replaced by a menu screen similar to the class description.

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

Harbinger Lycanthrope

Benefits:

All of your ice related abilities have been amplified by an undetermined amount, along with your control.

Your physical capabilities have increased by an undetermined amount in neutral form, while your senses have increased by an undetermined amount in any form.

You have been granted the ability to shapeshift into either wolf form or hunter form from your neutral form. While in any form, your claws will gain a liquid-ice venom, your fangs will be able to infect other creatures with lycanthropy, and your fur will have a limited effect of your eternal ice. This effect will block attacks from beings at your level or below but can be enhanced through the absorption of your ice element to regain the full effect of your eternal ice.

While in wolf form, your speed, agility, and maneuverability will be increased by an undetermined amount from your neutral form.

While in hunter form, all of your physical abilities will be increased by an undetermined amount from your neutral form.

While in neutral form, you will be able to shapeshift any specific part of your body with practice to match what it would be in your hunter form.

Drawbacks:

The damage taken from fire-based attacks has been increased by 5% more damage, with the amount still decreasing by 0.003% each level until it reaches 5% more damage from fire-based attacks overall.

When in hunter form, you will have a light fog covering your thoughts, making it more difficult to think as clearly, but you will not have a bloodlust like a werewolf. You will also be blocked from wearing rings, amulets, necklaces, or any other form of accessory while in hunter form.

When in wolf form, the items that you can wear will be limited to Tier 7 or above.

Any locked items in either of these forms will be transferred to your inventory upon transformation, and transferred back to your body when you return to a form that they are no longer locked.

While in any form, you are extremely sensitive to sounds, and you will have a slight desire to transform under a full moon.

Note: There may or may not be more benefits or drawbacks that the System missed.

Close

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

My canine mouth drops open after reading the menu before I close both my mouth and the menu.

That’s a lot of information to take in.

I wish I could turn back to my, as the System is calling it, neutral form to think-

My thoughts are interrupted as I feel a severe pain radiate through my body, causing me to lose my footing with a yelp as the sounds of shifting bones echoes through the room again, startling the other occupants of the room.

Fortunately, it doesn’t last as long this time as I soon find myself laying on the floor with my clothes back on under my armor.

“Fuck, that hurt,” I mutter before struggling to pull myself back up.

Did I transform back just because I wished to do it? If so, then transforming between forms shouldn’t be very difficult.

I suddenly feel someone’s hands move under both of my armpits before helping me up to the bed. As I look at who it was, I find Crystal standing next to me with a worried expression as she lets go of me.

“Thanks,” I mutter to her before focusing my thoughts on everything I was just told by the System.

First, apparently I’m a lycanthrope and not a werewolf now… Although I’m not really sure what the difference is. That said, the System seemed to make it sound like a lycanthrope was superior to a werewolf.

Second, that’s a lot of benefits, and a lot of drawbacks… That line about being sensitive to sound in particular makes me a little bit nervous. The part about me having a desire to transform on a full moon shouldn’t be much a problem, seeing as it only said a slight desire, but it’s possible that I might need to find some earplugs or something depending on how strong my new sensitivity to sound is…

Lastly, what did the System mean by adding a new species to the System records?

What are the System records anyways?

Not to mention that note at the end of the menu.

Wasn’t the System supposed to be this omnipotent thing that controlled everything within its boundaries?

I sit down on the bed for a few minutes in silence as the others look between me and themselves before I finally look up at my self-made mirror across from me to see if there were any changes to my appearance in my neutral form.

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If you see any glaring issues with the balance of his new species, please point them out in the comments and I will think about it and try to fix any balancing issues.