Chapter 15: Wolf King (1/2)
The moon was halfway through its cycle when Rakna woke up. He first looked at Flavia who was leaning against his shoulder then saw his tail unhidden by the illusion. Without making a single noise, he slowly got up from his position and guided the sleeping Flavia to lie down. He took out his scarf and put it under her head so that she wouldn't have to sleep on the hard ground. Next to her was Pronos who also hadn't woken up.
Rakna's high dexterity had made him incredibly good at handling small movements. He could probably carry her and run a few kilometers without disturbing her sleep in the slightest. When he was done with that, he glanced at Allan, who was borderline snoring and exited the cave.
When he came out, his attention was pulled by the moon. He squinted and started thinking. If he was a werewolf now, what would the full moon do to him? He was tempted to ask Alexa but that wasn't his current objective.
Just like earlier, he once again reached for the feeling in his chest and triggered his shapeshift. His canines grew, his eyes didn't glow this time but instead slowly became those of a wolf. Midnight fur grew on his skin and his spatial ring flickered to store his clothes. He gradually got on all fours and eight new appendages suddenly grew near his already grown tail.
Rakna immediately felt a weird and instinctive urge to howl but held it in. It wouldn't do any good to wake up everyone around. When he was done with his shapeshift, he tried to take a step forward only to fall on his side.
”…nice,” he muttered, confirming at the same time that he could still speak, although it was unrecognizable. He looked at himself and raised an eyebrow. To start off, he wasn't as big as the wolf he fought but he certainly wasn't small. One could say that he was simply human-sized; just a bit bigger than normal wolves.
Then, the second thing that bemused him was his tails. For some reason, he had now nine of them but a quick check of his status showed him that the only difference was his speed going from nine to fifteen.
'Alexa, why are my tails all unlocked?'
[They are not unlocked, Rakna. To be exact, they are just manifestations. I cannot affirm with confidence, but I would presume that the form you're currently in has the full structure of the Nine-Tailed Wolf genome without a human half. So, the tails are there because it is as your current race should be but they in fact don't carry any power.]
'You're starting to be useful. Thanks.'
[…You are welcome.]
Rakna stood up again and tried to regain balance with his new physiology. Since his dexterity was still as high as ever, it only took him a few tries to be perfectly in tune with his limbs.
”All right,” a growl-like voice came out of his mouth. He hunched forward and kicked the ground at full strength. His paws left an imprint on the soil and within the next few seconds, he had already traveled at least a hundred meters.
His vision almost seemed to slow down as he jumped over the bushes and even over the branches of the trees that were at least three meters high. He continued to run for at least ten minutes before he finally put a brake on his sprint.
”Hm,” he voiced and sat down just like any other lupine would. ”This speed is very nice. The werewolf form gives me a 50% boost to everything except luck but I can't overlook this one. The additional 20% to speed are not to be underestimated.”
As he was ruminating, Rakna unconsciously lifted his paw to lick it only to freeze halfway and stare at his leg. ”…I guess this comes with animal instincts as well,” he commented before opening his status and finally taking a look at the title he gained from killing the nine-tailed wolf.
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Legendary Slayer
There are very few beasts that deserve the nomination of Legendary. They are powerful, domineering, and rulers of their brethren. This title is a medal for those who have managed to subjugate such leaders of nature.
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Title Effect: Attack, Magic Attack, and Defense +10% against Legendary Creatures and above.
Note: Certain titles can have effects on the relationship with dwellers of the System.
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”I see… this probably won't be useful in the near future,” Rakna remarked to himself. He was about to go back to the cave and sleep when his ear twitched and his nose picked up something.
He stopped in his tracks then looked at his left with sharp eyes. As soon as he did so, a wolf with gray fur and a scar over one of its eyes came out from a bush. Compared to Rakna, the animal was actually quite small but it didn't seem to be fearful. Afterward, following it, many others came out one after the other. An entire pack of wolves had abruptly appeared and the only thing they did was stare in complete silence.
Rakna wouldn't have been as puzzled as he was if it wasn't for one thing. He could guess that they had looked for him after his little stunt in his werewolf form but what he couldn't understand was their motive. He always had full trust in his instincts and this System had only served to strengthen that trust. And, right now, he knew for sure that these wolves weren't hostile.
He frowned at them and his new bestial automatisms made him growl, flashing his fangs. ”What do you want?”
Then, completely out of his expectations, every single one of these predators of nature lowered their head to him and even somewhat kneeled by bending their front legs.
It was at that moment that the System made itself known.
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Through meeting several conditions, you have learned a new skill; Intimidation!
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Intimidation (Lv.1): By flaring your magic energy, you can ethereally release the weight of your full power on your targets. Those who are weaker than you and are not higher leveled than you will be dealt a psychological blow.
The higher the skill level, the more people will get affected and the more damage will be done to their mental.
Cost: 1 MP per minute.
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Rakna was already surprised enough but another prompt appeared afterward.
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The wolves are in awe of your appearance. They revere the Nine-Tailed Wolf and have acknowledged you as their leader.
Congratulations! You have acquired a new title; Wolf King!