The Rise of the Winter Wolf - Book 2 - Chapter 34 - ECHO (Patreon)

Wolf
One hour later

I finally manage to open the bedroom door and stumble my way through the hall with my ears frozen in literal blocks of ice to dampen the noise as I get closer to the two girls as they talk.

Unfortunately, despite the ice, their voices still hurt to hear as I finally reach the door to the main room.

I glare at the doorknob for a few seconds before reaching out as slowly as I possibly can to touch the knob.

If it weren’t for the fact that the System structures within the dungeon are unbreakable, I am pretty sure that there would be holes everywhere within this little cabin. That said, the furniture isn’t so fortunate and has plenty of damage.

I focus all of my control on my hand to slowly grab the doorknob before turning, despite still using too much force in my grip.

The second the two girls hear the light grinding noise of my hand pressuring the doorknob, they stop talking, giving my head a brief respite from their conversation.

Now if only those pesky dark sprite brutes outside would shut up as well.

I let out a sigh before trying to pull the door open as lightly as possible.

Both of the girls gasp in surprise as the door suddenly swings open into me, knocking me backwards before my arm catches me due to it still gripping the doorknob.

Seriously?

How freaking long is it going to take for me to get a handle on this new strength…

Amusement flashes in Crystal’s eyes before she says, “Having fun over there?”

I wince slightly at her voice before grimacing at her.

Please have some noise canceling headphones in the store…

Crystal seems to remember my hearing issue right now and sends me an apologetic look as I slowly climb back to my feet while being careful not to send myself flying into the ceiling.

I send a brief glance at the info on the corner of my screen as Sapphire goes around me into the main room.

My Info:

Level: 241

EXP: 2626/24100

System Points: 354.41

Viewing Room Profits: 1012

Sapphire’s Info:

Level: 86

EXP: 8000/8600

That should probably be enough to buy some soundproof headphones… I just hope that there are soundproof headphones in the store. Not to mention that – if there are any – I hope they can withstand battle.

Because it would suck to get some really good ones only for them to break from an enemy attack…

I slowly begin to make my way across the threshold of the main room as Crystal begins to whisper behind her hands, “I think I found some good soundproof headphones in the System Store if you’re interested.”

My eyes widen in surprise at this before I stumble slightly in surprise, ending up with me flying halfway across the room towards the totem and landing on my back whilst wincing at the sound my landing made.

After a brief daze, I look across my body towards the totem at my feet before smiling.

Certainly not a conventional method of getting here, but it worked!

I carefully stretch my foot towards the totem before opening the Expanded System Store the second it reaches it.

“One of the items I found was Tier 6, while the other was Tier 7,” I hear Crystal carefully say from behind me as I navigate to the items store. “The Tier 6 item was about 800 SP and the Tier 7 item was about 1400 SP.”

Shit, 1400? I only have a little over 1300 SP!

I move to go select the Tier 6 items menu before remembering something.

Initiator! When it improved a while back, it raised to 10% off System Store purchases!

I can’t believe I almost forgot that!

A bright smile engulfs my face as I select the Tier 7 items menu before glancing at Crystal and whispering, “What is the name of the Tier 7 item?”

Crystal smiles as she whispers, “Arcadian ECHO.”

Another Arcadian item? That’s interesting…

I enter the name into the search sub-menu before selecting the item to see its description.

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

Arcadian ECHO | Tier 7 | 1420 SP

This pair of headphones is unbreakable by anyone below level 2500, and magically locks itself onto the head of the wearer until someone removes them. They will also adjust to fit the wearer’s head comfortably no matter the form.

It has three functions including soundproof, call, and read.

The soundproof function allows the wearer to adjust the headphones to allow only an adjustable level of sound to pass through to the wearer.

The call function allows the wearer to link a System Call to the headphones. This makes it so that all of the noise from the call will go through the headphones for only the wearer to hear. It also allows the wearer to adjust the volume of the call however they would like.

The read function allows the wearer to read the mind of a single being once for one minute every month.

Purchase

Close

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

My smile widens as I read the item’s description before I select purchase.

When I first decided to buy some soundproof headphones, I didn’t think about the fact that they could have more than just the soundproof option! Although I will have to lower the volume of everything quite a bit…

The indestructible to anything below level 2500 aspect of it is also pretty good, but I think that’s just a generic trait of any Tier 7 item. If I remember correctly, Tier 7 items generally are designed with people between levels 2500 to 5000 in mind, and it would suck if a level 10 managed to break a level 2750’s Tier 7 headphones.

Although I doubt the level 2750 would allow that to happen even if it was possible.

Anyways, as soon as I select confirm, a pair of black headphones that go over the ears appears in front of the totem. They have a crescent symbol on both ears, with a couple of thin red streaks going across the top.

I carefully reach out to grab the headphones before accidentally using too much force on them, making a strange grinding noise in the process.

It’s a good thing I can’t break them…

With a brief glance towards the girls, I unfreeze the ice covering my ears before wincing as I carefully move the headphones to place them comfortably over my ears.

Surprisingly, the second they are on, an instinctual feeling enters my mind telling me how to use the headphones.

Oh? Well, that’s convenient.

I immediately turn on the soundproofing mode before adjusting it to block 80% of all sounds. As soon as this is done, I sigh in relief after finally feeling my hearing return to what I can almost consider as normal.

Sure, I can still hear some of the sounds that are coming from outside, but it’s not bad enough to actually hurt me or anything. In fact, it could help to have hearing this acute!

Crystal faintly whispers something that I can barely make out before I point to the headphones and say, “Don’t worry, my hearing is almost back to what it was before now that I have these on.”

That said, has she really been whispering that quietly this entire time…?

“That’s good,” she says, interrupting my thoughts before she continues, “I couldn’t find anything in the store that might help you adjust to your new strength, but that should at least come with practice.”

Ariana nods in agreement before I say, “That’s true. It’s getting annoying not even being able to stand up without having to make sure that I don’t send myself flying into the ceiling.”

My comment makes Crystal snicker in amusement before I raise an eyebrow at her.

Sapphire suddenly makes a sad sounding screech from her place a couple of meters away from me that makes me want to go pet her. Unfortunately, I would rather not accidentally crush her head or something, so that will have to wait till I get more used to my new strength.

I turn my head towards Ariana before saying, “Thank you for your help. You no longer owe me anything.”

This surprises her before she briefly nods her head and begins to leave the store.

My eyes widen briefly in surprise before I shake my head and turn towards Crystal.

“Oh, don’t worry,” she begins before I even have to say anything, “I was planning to head out anyways. I only came back to check on you one last time before taking on a mini boss for this floor.”

I grimly smile at her mention of mini bosses before I take a moment to identify her.

_-| Crystal Leblanc – Human – Level 250 |-_

I wince at the newly formed level gap between us before looking up at the ceiling from my place on the floor.

This change in species is going to drastically hurt my place in the dungeon… and that’s not just the time it took for the infection to turn me, but it’s also the adjustment period that I will be going through to get used to my new strength!

Although at least things should be easier after I get used to it. I am a hell of a lot stronger now after all!

“Well, not that I know you’re okay, I will be heading out as well,” she says with a smile before starting towards the store entrance with a wave, “I’ll see ya when I see ya!”

After a brief moment of hesitation, I call out to her, “Thank you.”

She doesn’t stop walking as she leaves the store and closes the door behind her.

I stare at the door for several seconds before turning to Sapphire and muttering, “Now I have to get adjusted to my new body as quickly as possible if I am going to reclaim my lead.”