The Rise of the Winter Wolf - Book 2 - Chapter 46 - Training and A Surprise Meeting (Patreon)

Arcadian Live
One week later

Mikaela grimaces as Hurok Griffon – an orc Competitor closer to the back of the pack – screams in pain due to the bluish-black venom spreading through his veins. Despite this, he still slams his axe straight into the neck of the arctic lycanthrope bear that bit him.

“And that makes a second Competitor to be turned on the twenty-third floor,” he says with a slightly grim tone. “Although I’m not entirely certain if I should call this bad luck or not, considering the large benefits that they are getting from the species change.”

‘Assuming they are turned by one of the purer arctic lycanthropes…’ Mikaela thinks to himself with a frown.

Various shouts of agreement ring from the audience mixed in with a few dissenters who believe that Wolf should have been more careful.

“Look at it this way,” Mikaela begins, “The Winter Wolf is in the Administrator Dungeon, where the most important thing is your own survival. Sure, he could have ordered the bear to not turn anything, but you have to remember that he is still relatively new to the System. Would you have thought about it if you were in his shoes? Stuck in a dungeon that is trying to kill you at every moment, with a brand new ability due to an abrupt – and un-willing – change in your species?”

This shuts down most of the dissenters as the audience begins to grow silent.

Mikaela pushes forwards and continues, “No, you likely wouldn’t. And you also have to remember that the dungeon is a place where worrying about other Competitors could lead to your own death.”

The rest of the dissenters all stop complaining, especially after the screen switches to show Mark Kirkeby – a halfling who was turned three days prior to this by one of the purest arctic lycanthropes on the floor – as he takes advantage of his new ice manipulation to slow down a darkheart bear before cutting into it with his new claws.

This makes a light smile spread across Mikaela’s face as he watches the screen and thinks, ‘There might even be some people that would want to be turned, considering how not a single person has died due to turning so far. Assuming they are okay with being beholden to The Winter Wolf’s every word that is.’

The screen suddenly changes to show Wolf as he sits back with an icy mist leaking out of him that Sapphire immediately puts to use in freezing and killing the darkfire witch in front of them.

‘Speaking of The Winter Wolf…’ Mikaela thinks before focusing on the two-meter-long Sapphire and saying out loud, “That’s one big spider.”

His comment completely distracts the audience from their previous source of discussion as many people begin shouting that they wanted the cute version of Sapphire back.

Mikaela chuckles at this before he reassures them, “Oh, don’t worry. Most soul-bound companions get a shrinking skill whenever they sync up with their master, so I get the feeling she will be back to her original size within a month or so.”

Ear-shattering cheers raise from the Sapphire fans in the audience at this declaration.

‘At this rate, The Winter Wolf is going to have an advantage over the other Competitors for drawing followers just because of Sapphire,’ Mikaela thinks to himself with another chuckle as he watches Sapphire walk up to Wolf before getting its head rubbed by him.

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Wolf

I glance at the corner of my interface as I rub Sapphire’s head to reward her for her work.

My Info:

Level: 261

EXP: 3/26100

System Points: 3351.28

Viewing Room Profits: 5109

Sapphire’s Info:

Level: 213

EXP: 4190/21300

Interestingly enough, my profits started to slow down a bit over the past week.

I guess people aren’t as interested in watching me going around and having Sapphire kill everything as they were in watching me actually progress through the floors.

At this point, I am already lagging behind when it comes to actual progress within the dungeon, but I think I should be able to catch up when I finish training Sapphire.

Not only because I have already adjusted enough to my strength that I only need the limiter to limit 43% of my physical capabilities, but also because I will have Sapphire actually helping me in combat once she syncs with me.

Over the past week, I have been constantly doing exercises to adjust to my new body while slowly lowering the limiter, all while letting Sapphire use my eternal ice to fight the monsters we run into. Not to mention the daily therapy sessions with the old man. Which are not pleasant.

It’s been a pretty damn efficient method of moving forward though, so I am probably going to continue doing this until Sapphire finally syncs with me.

That said…

It’s boring as hell.

Doing nothing but physical therapy for days on end with nothing but a few breaks for meals and a short nap like once every couple of days is not doing much for my sanity.

Although the occasional call from Aegis has been nice.

I finally stop rubbing Sapphire’s head, causing her to let out a light screech in disappointment before I start walking through the forest again. As I am walking, I begin to look through the forums again for any more news about the arctic lycanthropes on the twenty-third floor.

From what I can find on the forums, the floor has practically been flooded with them, so at least a third of the monsters the Competitors are running into are arctic lycanthropes.

Once again, oops.

That said, I haven’t turned a single monster on this floor. So, there is that.

Although, that’s mostly because I don’t want Sapphire training against arctic lycanthropes. Because that might not end as well as I would like.

My thoughts are interrupted as a notification appears in the corner of my interface.

“Oh?” I utter in surprise.

Well, that’s a nice surprise.

Before I can think any more about the level-up, my ears pick up the sound of something stepping on a leaf from somewhere several dozen meters to my left.

I glance at Sapphire before muttering, “Get ready.”

Sapphire looks back at me with a strange knowing look as if questioning my need to say it before we both sprint off towards the noise while using our stealth skills.

After a few dozen meters, I begin to smell the familiar smell of a human being, except mixed with the smell of alcohol.

The heck? Is a Competitor drunk or something?

I glance at Sapphire mid-run and say, “Get into my shadow. This one is likely a Competitor.”

Sapphire makes her usual screech of disappointment before going into my shadow as I continue sprinting towards the sound of footsteps. Soon enough, I break into a clearing to see a short, stocky woman as she swings a large, two-handed hammer around to smash a dark sprite shooter into the ground.

She looks at her hammer in disgust for a few seconds before putting it into her inventory. After that, she turns around and takes a step, only for her eyes to go wide and her mouth to drop open at the sight of me.

I raise an eyebrow at her reaction before identifying her.

_-| Karunn Kegale – Dwarf – Level 260 |-_

A dwarf? Well, I guess that explains the alcohol smell. If games are to be believed at least.

“The Winter Wolf?!” she mutters with actual fear on her face, and in her voice. “What the hell are you doing here?!”

Huh, so dwarves really do have an accent similar to the Scottish from earth.

Then again, Mikaela is a vampire with an accent that sounds pretty damn similar to a British accent, so maybe earth wasn’t all that wrong with their stereotyping of monsters and fantasy creatures.

Anyways, why exactly does she seem afraid of me?

“Am I not allowed to be here?” I ask with an eyebrow raised.

She actually stutters as she says, “Y-yes, you are! My apologies, Mr. Adler!”

I don’t lower my eyebrow as I ask, “You wouldn’t happen to be – by any chance – that dwarf that I remember seeing a while back on the competitor list that gave themselves the title of their forge, are you?”

Karunn looks surprised for a second before she says, in a calmer tone this time, “Yeah, that would be me.”

A brief smile stretches across my face as I clap my hands, “Good! In that case, would you like to trade with me? I have several crafting items that I have no use for, and that apparently can’t be sold in the Player Auction for some stupid reason!”

The surprise only grows on Karunn’s face before it’s eventually replaced with a smile as she says, “Sure!”