[Name: Alice - Class: None - Race: Human Soul - Body: Iron Bleeding Uchigatana - R2]
[Level: 01/20 EXP: 0000/1565]
[HP: 41/41 MP: 45/45]
[STR: 23]
[DEX: 20]
[INT: 19]
[WIS: 10]
[CHA: 1]
[LCK: -2]
I was looking way better than when I began! That upgrade gave me a few levels. Charisma and luck were still low, though.
Sigh…
At least, I kept my stat progression-
[You gained a new skill!: Permanent Bleeding Edge!]
-Body Rank Skill - Passive/Slot - The edge of your body is much more prone to cause intense bleeding. 10% chance per each Rank.
Body Rank skills increased with the rank of my body, and now I was Rank 2, meaning a 20% more chance to inflict intense bleeding.
And if there were some kind of builds I enjoyed on RPGs were DoT (Damage over Time) character types that made their enemies suffer from multiple status effects. This skill was my jam!
<[Soul Sense] please!>
My sight activated and… why were all the wolves outside of my burrow?
I was given a burrow where I could rest. I was glad they cared about privacy because I prefer to sleep alone.
I slowly made my way out to see why everyone was reunited.
“Okay, everyone!” a big wolf, who looked older than the rest, but not as old as Fir, was standing in front of the entrance of my personal home. I seemed to recognize that one, but I was not sure why, “I know some of you heard that something weird happened to our new master, but fret not! We will try to see what is going on with her!”
Something weird happened to me?
[Fir came in and checked on you earlier, and he saw you mid transformation]
[I would be embarrassed]
I left the burrow and showed myself to the crows. Many gasped, and whispered. I could hear them talking about my new form.
“Is that you, elder Alice?” The big wolf asked.
“Huh? M-master Alice! You gave me a name yesterday!”
Then I took a better look at him…
“Haha! After I went to sleep, I woke up like this! I have not felt this well since my youth as part of the main wolf couple of the pack!”
Fir, who looked way younger than before, began to run from side to side, showcasing his new youth.
Erika?!
[Analysing… warning… Elder Fir evolved thanks to your influence. Now, he is a Moonless Ice Rage Dark Wolf. This kind has a longer life span, so he is younger]
Yeah… he seemed to have lost a few… centuries.
“And what about you, elder Alice. Did you really transform?” one wolf asked.
[Transforming into Short Sword]
Thanks, Erika!
In less than a second, I was surrounded by light and then turned into my previous form. But this time, I had a clean iron body, and a beautiful finish! Too different from when I was made of copper.
“Woooah! Now she looks so majestic!”
Hehe…
“And master Alice!” Fir, who was still running around, “now I can do this! [Elemental mode]!”
While acting like a damn overly excited dog with the zoomies, he bursted in light and his body was surrounded by a light that was half orange and half blue, while his fur, dark and shiny, let out tiny sparks of the same colors.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Everyone reacted and took distance from him, while I was stunned at the sight of the old wolf suddenly being too young and having a power like that. What the hell was going on?!
[Warning… as a bonus for evolving to a Rank 1 species, he received the Unique Skill [Elemental Mode] thanks to your choice of title after naming him. He also had met the requirements for evolution years ago]
So… the reason he evolved was because I gave him a name? Like on those light novels I have read?!
[Correction… no, you naming things will not make them stronger or have them evolve. I assumed that because you had named only him and Aspen so far, they were going to be your closer companions, so I assigned them automatically in your Important Ally slot]
Yeah, well, that made sense. Maybe I should help them get names, but I didn’t want to name them all by myself. And if I wanted to keep the tree theme with the names, I was not sure I knew enough of them.
And what were those Ally Slots anyway?
[Warning… As you collect ether from your surroundings and kills, I also get to use it. I will evolve with you and do so based on your choice. However, my power is still limited, so I can only fully share the benefits of your power with a few members until you attain more Ether]
[Right now, I can only empower 3 other people at max. With Aspen and Fir you have 2 already. However, other people that made a pact with you will still gain from you, but not in the same way as you or your close companions will]
Okay, that was a good explanation! Thankfully, I didn’t have a complete need to figure out everything myself. And that Erika evolved with me would explain how she gained her personality. Maybe.
She was not around us, which made me kind of worried.
“Ah, she is resting right now.” One of the warrior wolves, who was in the multitude, answered, “helped to keep guard and we let her rest a couple of cycles ago.”
I wanted to see if she evolved.
She was given a burrow not so far away from mine. The rest of the wolves returned to their normal work day.
She was with her belly up, paws twitching, tongue out, and snoring like she was on the most comfortable bed of her life, when she was sleeping over a set of purple leaves.
And I could notice something different about her. She was a bit bigger, although barely noticeable, and her fur seemed to be more shiny and prettier.
“M-master Alice… behind the ear…” she muttered in her sleep.
[Analysing… most likely dreaming about you petting her]
“She better rest, it seemed like she needed a good safe night for a while.” Fir explained behind me, “but I have to inform you, Master Alice, the rest of the pack are unsure about her presence. She was part of the fake king’s clan.”
“Well, that leaves me at ease, knowing that she is not part of it anymore. But what would lead her to do that?”
“Oh… that is… I get it now. That mad king… I knew he was going to be trouble. Aspen should rest as long as she needs to. She is your follower, and we serve you, so she is more than welcome here.”
Aspen whimpered as we left.
The wolves returned into their usual lifestyle. Their society was a bit more advanced than I anticipated.
If they knew how to, I am sure they would be making banners and other decorations, but the lack of thumbs did not allow them to develop tools. They carried everything on their mouth, be it resources, food, or even the younger ones.
What impressed me was that they were always building and maintaining the burrows. They were made of different plants, twigs, and were dug on the dirt. It was impressive how well built and kept they were.
There were a couple of wolves that cared about the construction and maintenance, and they were constantly moving around in search of damage and anything that required to get repaired.
It was rudimentary, like very rudimentary, but it worked.
Some took charge of raising the youngest generation. This task was mostly overseen by the respective mothers of the cubs, making sure to feed them and teaching them how to hunt.
That is why a few were not categorized as warriors at that point. They gave birth recently to a fresh batch of cubs, and they had to stay and make sure they were safe. Once the children were ready to be left alone without constant supervision, they would go back into hunting.
At the end of the day, it was a weird mix of more advanced tribal civilization and wolf customs. The biggest clue that they functioned differently than normal not evolved wolf packs was the existence of the elder figure, who was the oldest and wisest of the pack.
That was Fir’s job.
Normally, wolves that were not in captivity formed with a main couple or family that led the rest. The mother and father of the pack were the leaders and they would decide the actions during the day. Most likely, when they evolved they noticed the need to change a bit their usual behaviors and saw importance on a leader figure that had experienced more than just strong and young.
Sadly, crafting had not developed, so they were stunned on what to do with the carcass of the Drakelings. So we went to take a look.
When we were arriving with Fir, we found two wolves talking.
“Maybe we should just throw it away. We already stored all the meat on these two.”
“I am still impressed that our new elder could kill them… Fir was thinking the clan was finished after that attack.”
“We are basically done for… the other clans have more wolves than we do, especially that king has a bigger group of wolves! We have no chance.”
Fir approached.
“Something the matter?” he asked the two wolves.
“Ah! Elder Fir… we were seeing what to do with these two things…”
Fir didn’t hear them, I did thanks to my [Soul Sense], so I knew they were skipping a part of their dialogue.
“I don’t know if these will go back to the elements any time soon…” Fir said.
I saw them and immediately thought about what use we could give it. They were big scales, hard as steel, and no wolf could get through them. They could make great armor, but we didn’t have any way to craft it.
I approached the carcass and swung at it with my Uchigatana form.
CLANK!
Barely a dent! My blade bounced, it was still impossible for me to cut through.
One of the wolves' ears perked up.
“Make armor? I think there is a mage on the West Clan that knows how to make stuff with wood, plants and discarded animal parts. If we could get their help, maybe they could teach us how.”
Then, another wolf came to us, running. It was one of the maintenance workers.
“Ah! Finally found you! Elder Fir, Elder Alice! I have news!”
He stopped to take a breath. He came in running like demons were chasing him.
“I-I think we found what stirred the monsters to attack us yesterday! You need to come see this, it is an emergency!”
Fir looked at me, and I nodded. We moved behind the wolf, who guided us to their discovery.