The Rise of the Winter Wolf - Book 2 - Chapter 37 - System Call (Patreon)

Executive Stream

Diane sits on the couch as she constantly taps her finger on her other arm with a look of irritation on her face without taking her eyes off of the screen projected on the other side of the room. The screen itself shows Wolf as he continues attempting to adjust to his new physical abilities by fighting dark sprite brutes with very little success, often crashing into trees in the process.

“Damn it, I’ve had enough of this!” she suddenly shouts before begins messing with her menus.

Leo raises an eyebrow at her in amusement from his place next to her before he focuses on the other screen next to Wolf’s showing Ruth.

Several seconds pass in silence before a screen appears in front of Diane with an old man’s face on it.

“Old man, I need you to help my heir adjust to his new body,” she says before the old man can even greet her.

Leo turns to her again with an eyebrow at her use of the word ‘heir’ before shaking his head with a smile at the sight of the old man.

‘I guess she can’t stand watching him bumble about like a buffoon anymore,’ he thinks to himself before giving the old man a brief nod and turning his attention back to the screen.

Meanwhile, the old man doesn’t question her, nor her use of the honorific as he just simply says, “When should I meet him?”

Diane doesn’t waste any time as she says, “I will ask him to come here twenty-four hours from now. Make sure you’re here.”

The old man turns to look at something off-screen for a second before turning back, bowing, and saying, “As you wish, Your Majesty.”

Without giving him any sort of reply, the Empress closes the call and turns her attention back to the screen showing Wolf.

“Even if it’s only a fifteen minute session a day, he should be able to adjust at a much faster pace with his help,” Diane says, almost to herself before she grimaces at the sight of Wolf accidentally launching himself through several trees again.

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In another room of the Executive Stream

A tense atmosphere fills the room belonging to Wilhelm as he stares unmoving at the screen showcasing Ludric’s livestream.

One of his subordinate Moderators finally gathers up the courage to speak after several long hours of silence, “Ruler, perhaps we should shift our support to the-”

Before the Moderator can finish speaking, the Ruler turns to look at him with a cold glare that sends shivers down the spine of all of the Moderators, making the speaker stop speaking out of fear.

The Ruler stares at him for a few more seconds, causing the Moderator to visibly sweat as he attempts to keep himself from trembling in fear, before he finally turns back to the screen.

A quiet sigh of relief runs through the Moderator in question before he tenses up again at the sound of the Ruler’s voice.

“I will continue to support Ludric, but I am also going to give that disgusting bug a sponsorship as well,” Wilhelm declares in a no-nonsensical tone of voice, causing the three watching Moderators to gasp in surprise.

‘He’s going to support the anthrovespid?!’ the same Moderator who spoke earlier thinks in shock.

The Ruler ignores their reactions as another screen appears next to the ones of Wolf and Ludric. One showcasing the anthrovespid’s livestream.

‘If Vulcan can’t regain the use of his arm, he will be practically worthless. Especially with The Winter Wolf’s new boost in strength,’ Wilhelm thinks to himself as silence returns to the room. ‘The anthrovespid might be the only one who would be able and willing to kill him now.’

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Wolf
The next day

As soon as the blinding flash of light fades, I find myself in the same VIP clubroom-like room within the Executive Livestream. The difference this time though is that there is an old man with Diane instead of Leo.

“I’m guessing this is the guy?” I ask her without wasting any time, seeing as we only have fifteen minutes.

Diane nods before waving her hand towards the old man.

The old man surprisingly bows to me before he begins introducing himself, “I am the Grand Healer of Her Majesty’s council of elders, Albold Fitzralph, at your service, Your Hi-”

“He will be assisting you in adjusting to your new body’s capabilities to the best of his ability during the time you can be here,” Diane cuts him off with a glare before he can finish.

A brief flash of fear emerges on his face before it disappears to be replaced with his previous calm.

I squint my eyes at the two before shaking my head.

It was obvious what he was about to say, and I don’t think I like that her subordinates are apparently already categorizing me as her heir without my agreement.

That said, I can complain to her about it later. I only have fifteen minutes to be in here every day, so it would be best to make as much use of it as I can.

I grimace as I reappear in the store after finishing the first of what will likely be a lot of ‘physical therapy’ sessions.

The grimace stays with me at the thought of doing that another twenty times…

That old man determined around the end of our first session that it would take me twenty more sessions to get fully adjusted to my new body.

And that’s with the item he suggested I buy to help me adjust!

One that I won’t be able to afford for at least another day…

I slowly walk to the totem to get my dinner before walking as carefully as possible with it towards the table.

The old man showed me several ways to relax my body to use less force in my actions so that I will at least be able to move without sending myself flying from the exertion, but I’m still by no means able to control my body past the bare minimum force. Which is practically a snail’s pace at this point.

Fortunately, I should still be able to progress through the floors after I buy the item from the store that he suggested. Apparently it’s some sort of limiter that decreases the physical abilities of the wearer by an adjustable level.

I should be able to use it to lower my physical capabilities back down to a little bit above how they were before I was bitten. After that, I will be able to slowly release more of my physical strength as time goes on so that I will be able to slowly adjust to it.

My thoughts are interrupted as I hear a ringing sound through my headphones.

“The hell…?” I mutter in confusion before a message appears in front of me.

Dad’s calling…?

I carefully get up before moving to the bathroom at a slow pace and shutting the door after entering.

Diane mentioned that the calls are video calls, so it would probably be best not to show everyone watching my livestream what dad looks like…

After bringing out a chair and carefully sitting in it, I select yes on the notification.

As soon as I do, a screen showing dad in the middle of some sort of wooden building.

“Hello, Wolf,” he says with a straight face.

A warm feeling spreads through me as mom, Katie, Aidan and Lexi all move behind him to get in the screen.

“Hey Wolf!” “How are you?” “Are you doing okay?”

Surprisingly, other voices begin coming from their side of the call before several other faces appear behind my family and friends.

I’m going to go ahead and guess that they are the council that dad and the others have told me about.

“Hello,” I say with a short salute, “I could be better, but I’m still alive at least.”

A sad smile flashes on their faces before vanishing just as quickly.

“Yeah, we’ve seen you flailing about like a newborn calf over the past couple of days,” Katie jokes with a smirk.

“Like you’re one to talk.” I say back to her with an eyebrow raised before turning to mom and saying, “do you remember the time she went through dad’s obstacle course after saying that ‘if I could do it, then she could too?’”

Katie’s eyes widen before she says, “Aanywaayss, what is it like? Being a werewolf?”

A wave of chuckles comes from everyone before I decide to let her get away with the change of subject.

“Actually, I am a harbinger lycanthrope. Which is quite a bit different from a werewolf,” I correct her with a smirk.

“Actually,” dad suddenly speaks up, “about that. What is a lycanthrope anyways?”

The others begin to leave the room to let me talk to my family and friends in peace without them butting in.

I turn my attention back to him before beginning to repeat what I read in the System’s description.