The Rise of the Winter Wolf - Book 3 - Chapter 28 - System Phantom (Patreon)

                                           Within the Council Chambers at Safe Zone 52
                                               A couple of minutes before Wolf’s arrival

A tense atmosphere fills the council chamber as all of the council members quietly contemplate the situation they have found themselves in.

Not even a full three hours ago, multiple higher leveled hunters were caught trying to force another group of weaker crafters to craft them some equipment within the safe zone for free. During the commotion, one of the crafters managed to slip away and warn the guards. However, by the time the guards arrived at the scene, one of the crafters had already had their arm broken as a threat by the leader of the hunters.

Since the hunters tend to be the strongest individuals within the safe zones, the guards had more difficulty dealing with them than they would like, and a couple of them even got their own injuries during the fight.

None of the council members say anything for nearly an entire minute until Jessica finally asks, with a hint of dread in her voice, “How are we going to deal with this?”

Luke raises his head from his hands and says, “We deal with it the same way we dealt with the other rule-breakers.”

He then turns his head towards Blake and nods.

Blake nods back without much surprise before bringing out several sheets of paper and an expensive looking pen.

“But they are some of the top hunters within the safe zone!” Oscar exclaims with a frown. “Do you really think that they would allow themselves to be subjected to a System bound Contract?”

Luke and Blake both share a look before turning to him with a look that clearly expresses what they feel about his statement.

“Seriously?!” Oscar says with a groan as he leans back in his chair.

“It’s not like we’re going to give them a choice in this,” Luke says with a shrug, “they chose their grave, so they better lie in it.”

Oscar opens his mouth to speak again, but before he can get anything out, a bright blue light shines in the center of the room.

Every member of the council jumps backwards, either knocking their chairs out of the way, or just pushing them backwards as the bright blue light shines even brighter for a few seconds, only to begin fading away again.

“What the hell is going on?!” Avery shouts, a mace appearing in his hand.

The few noncombatants amongst the council members scramble for a weapon whilst the fighters – excluding Luke – all immediately bring theirs out of their inventories.

Manfred – who had already drawn a blade from his walking cane – sends an inquisitive Luke’s way before slowly lowering his blade.

A couple of other council members notice Luke and Manfred’s actions and begin to lower their own weapons as well, if only slightly.

The light begins to fade after a few more seconds, revealing the semi-transparent appearance of a man with snow-white hair, faintly glowing blue and gold eyes, and an ensemble straight out of a fantasy war zone. The man has two red and black, clawed gauntlets on his hands and forearms, with a fancy looking, blue set of armaments scattered throughout his body, connected only by a strange looking ice with equally strange patterns. He has a pair of black and red headphones on his head, vambraces on his elbows, and greaves on his feet.

Without waiting for any of the council members’ reactions, Wolf just waves his gauntleted hand and asks, “What’s up?”

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                                                                                         Wolf

A few seconds pass in silence before Aidan barks a short laugh, followed by Katie and Lexi as they do the same. Mom – on the other hand – just smiles and gives me a nod, the same as dad.

I look around the room for a few seconds, taking note of the wary expressions shown on everyone’s face – excluding my family – before focusing on dad again.

Looks like the System didn’t just make me appear out of nowhere. It probably had some fancy entrance or something that startled them.

My gaze strays to the notification sitting in the corner of my interface, telling me to select leave whenever I wish to return to my body.

This feature is pretty interesting. I don’t feel any different from if I were in my actual body. Despite the obvious transparency of my current form.

“I see that you’ve found some sort of way to meet with us,” dad says as he steps closer towards me and tries to place his hand on my shoulder, only for it to pass straight through. “Although it doesn’t appear to be your real body…”

He frowns slightly at this before looking up at my face and half asking, half stating, “I’m assuming that your body is in a safe place right now?”

I nod my head before turning to look at the other council members, who have all calmed down by now, with several of them even picking up their chairs and retaking their seats.

“Did I interrupt something?” I ask with a small frown.

From the looks of it, they were probably in a council meeting.

Several of the council members tense up slightly at my question. Meanwhile, my family, Lexi, and Aidan all ignore it to walk up to me.

“Nothing of importance,” Luke says, waving his hand to the obvious annoyance of a couple of the council members.

I turn towards one of them in particular who looks like he has something rather unpleasant that he wants to say to dad before raising an eyebrow.

Surprisingly, the man avoids looking me in the eye and backs down.

Are my eyes really that intimidating…? I mean, I know that they are by no means normal anymore, but still.

Or does it just have something to do with the level difference between us…?

I try to identify him, thinking it won’t work, but it surprisingly does.

                                                       _-| Oscar Walsch – Human – Level 101 |-_

The fuck? Why is his level so low?

Also, does that mean that I can use standard skills whilst using this feature? Because none of my other skills are working.

Putting that question aside for now, I turn to the woman I recognize from one of the the first days after we arrived on Aegis – the one that helped me deal with the idiot who had taken the others as hostages – before identifying her.

                                                      _-| Jessica Lowel – Human – Level 231 |-_

What’s with that level gap between those two…?

Wait, it’s possible that the man might just be a crafter or noncombatant.

My thoughts are interrupted as another man – this one sitting next to the man that I recognize as the mayor – says, “We were discussing how to deal with a group of hunters that tried to abuse their power to force a group of crafters to work for them for free.”

I raise an eyebrow at this before looking at the man and saying, “That should be pretty simple. Either make them sign a contract, banish them, or just straight up kill them.”

Lexi’s mouth drops open at my statement before closing again.

I ignore this before scratching my chin with my gauntlet, which is strange considering my current transparent form, and adding, “Although, if they are necessary for the safe zone’s safety, then I would recommend the contract.”

The man who had spoken nods his head with a light smile and says, “Yes, your father and I said the same.” He then turns to look at the first man who I had identified and continues, “Oscar was having issues with this before you arrived, though.”

I raise an eyebrow at that before turning my head to look at the man named Oscar again.

“And what issues might those be?” I ask while staring directly into the man’s eyes.

This time the man stands his ground and says in his thin sounding voice, “They are some of our strongest hunters, so I really don’t think they will accept signing a contract like that.”

“Seriously?” I ask, not lowering my raised brow, “Just force them to sign.”

I then turn to look at the man from before and ask, “The contract will probably be something along the lines of ‘don’t attack other members of safe zone 52 for any reason other than self-defense,’ right?”

After seeing the man nod his head in agreement, I turn back to Oscar, “There you have it. Problem solved.”

I then turn back towards my family, ignoring the man’s sputtering to see Aidan with an amused look on his face. One that is shared by both dad and Katie.

Lexi has a frown on her face, likely not liking how coldblooded I’m acting, and mom doesn’t seem to really care about the situation at all.

“Anyways, I mostly just came to test out this new feature,” I say, crossing my arms as I look at dad, “I should be going back to the dungeon now. There is one other feature that I still want to test out, but I will be sure to come back at another time.”

I look around the room at that before adding, “When you aren’t busy dealing with council stuff.”

Dad nods his head at that and says, “Alright. It was good to see you again.”

“Yep,” I state before looking at Aidan and the others and adding, “See ya next time!”

Without waiting for their response, I select the leave button in the notification before everything goes black again.

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