As Thufrat heard this cheesy line, even he was a bit embarrassed. But he was still happy nonetheless, it turned out that this wolf seemed to care for him a lot. And if he were to be completely honest, this was his first friend as well.
"Oh, by the way, I can only stay in this form for half an hour, then I will go back to being a wolf again" Ark decided to say this now before he forgot to do it since he wouldn't get the chance to explain until the next day.
"Will you be a wolf forever then?" Thufrat was astounded once more, was this gonna be their only conversation?
"Oh, let me rephrase that a little, I will only have half an hour in this form each day until the skill levels up"
Hearing this, Thufrat let out a sigh, and then he started to smile. He was a little scared of the possibility of this being their one and only conversation. He didn't have any friends after all, and he didn't really know if he would be able to hang out with a wolf at all times, and how would they keep in contact if they were to separate someday? There was a lot of things that had been troubling Thufrat, but now, most of his worries were gone.
As their conversation progressed, they started to talk about a lot of stuff, and just had a good time. Neither of them had held a conversation for this long in ages, especially Ark since he wasn't even human right now. But the more they talked, the less time Ark had left in his human form. What was a little funny, was that both Ark and Thufrat had completely forgotten the fact that Ark was currently naked, they both looked at each other's faces when they talked, and didn't think much of it. It didn't really matter anyway if Ark wore clothes since they would just be wasted when he transformed back.
After a little longer, Ark started to shine in a splendid white light once more, and they both got ready to regroup at the tree, before doing anything else. Just as Ark turned back to a wolf, he also heard the system once again. His "Shapeshift" became level 2, and the next day, he would be able to keep a human form for an hour instead. This made Ark very excited since the conversation they had just then was one of the best things to happen to him since coming to this world.
Ark needed to recuperate before doing anything else at the moment. Running around and fighting whilst being injured would only make matters worse. The second floor of the dungeon wouldn't go anywhere, so they could just return tomorrow to explore it.
They didn't want to wait too long though, lest someone else came along and discovered the dungeon as well since that could be troublesome for the both of them. If the person was greedy and wanted everything for themselves, they would have to fight, and if the person wasn't alone, but came with a large party of people, then Ark and Thufrat would be screwed.
Both of them naturally knew this, and they gathered their belongings before heading back towards the surface. The journey out of the dungeon was quite smooth, they only ran into a minimal amount of enemies, and Thufrat could deal with them all by himself, whilst spending a minimal amount of Mana and energy.
The problems started to arise once they got to the surface though. As they were leaving the cemetery, Ark caught a whiff off a human. Of course, this would spell trouble, since they didn't want anyone else to find out about the dungeon since that would mean that they wouldn't have it to themselves anymore. Ark wasn't the type to kill someone just to silence them though, it wasn't that bad if someone else found out after all. It would almost only be problematic if the person that found out was problematic. But that would be a different problem in itself.
As Ark caught this whiff, he instantly headed towards it. Thufrat noticed Ark's exaggerated whiff and assumed that it was important, so he followed him closely. As they neared the scent, they could both hear the sound of crying. It sounded like a little child, but the sound was accompanied by the sounds of fighting as well. Hearing these sounds, Thufrat and Ark both looked at each other for a moment, before they instantly sped off.
If there was one thing that Ark did like in his previous life when it came to humans, it would have to be children. Children were innocent when it came to worldly matters, and most of them wouldn't discriminate without a clear reason. This was something which Ark valued greatly since he had been discriminated and bullied for most parts of his life. They were like pure little beings who meant no harm, and they were cute as well, what was there to not like?
Thufrat shared similar beliefs, even if other children discriminated against him as a child since some of them didn't. The biggest reason as to why the other kids bullied and discriminated him was because of their parents since they held a large amount of influence over how and what they thought. How a child is brought up is one of the biggest contributing factors to how they turn out when they grow up into adults.
As Ark and Thufrat arrived in a small clearing, they could see a small boy sitting against a tree. He was crying hysterically as he bled a lot from his right leg. In front of this little boy, stood a small girl. This small girl was currently fighting with a small green creature. Both Ark and Thufrat could instantly recognize this creature as a goblin, and as they both saw this fight, they both grew angry.
There was almost no time for the little girl to react before the goblin suddenly disappeared from her view. All she could hear was a loud thud, and a miserable shriek as it completely vanished in a split-second. The little girl was obviously dumbfounded, as she looked around her to find the goblin. But as she looked around, her eyes spotted a big wolf, accompanied by a dwarf. The little girl didn't let her guard down, quite the opposite actually, as she raised the dagger in her hands against them.
But who could blame her? She was a child, as soon as she saw the large wolf, she was sure they were doomed, which kid had not heard stories of the monsters that lurked in the forest? But she did not give up, she had to protect her little brother after all. None of this escaped Ark's or Thufrats eyes, as they both let out a sigh, and approached the little girl. The girl started to get a little scared as they walked closer, but she didn't have much time to think before Thufrat tried to calm her down a little.
"Calm down little girl, we won't hurt you ok?"
As Thufrat said this, Ark let out a large amount of light Mana from his body. The girl assumed this to be an attack and put her dagger in front of her to resist. Of course, Ark wouldn't attack a little kid, and the light easily went past her and headed towards her little brother. The girl, seeing this, panicked as she thought she had failed to save her brother, and a tear slid down her face.
The tear didn't have enough time to hit the ground before the light arrived before the little boy, and as it did, it instantly enveloped him inside. As this happened, the little boy stopped crying as well and looked at his leg. The wound was healing at a visible speed, and the bleeding had already stopped.
Both kids had no idea what just happened and were dumbfounded.
"Don't worry, this wolf is a friend of mine, and he is a healer!"
As Thufrat said this, both kids looked towards the wolf with doubt, and as they did, Ark smiled gently. As Ark smiled, a gentle and holy air seemed to radiate from him, calming both of the kids down. Of course, Ark wasn't some healer wolf, but he knew Thufrat just said that to calm down the kids, and he didn't really mind. There was some truth to it after all.
Now there was one question that was digging at both of their minds, however. Who were these kids, and what were they doing out here?