[Beep! Oyame Banana ingested. Expected benefits after digestion: +0.003 Strength and agility].
As Drodosis was becoming increasingly stronger after every meal, work out and breathing cycles, he was getting confident.
[Beep! Name: Drodosis Thornfield (8-years-old, 5 months). Strength – 0.68 | Agility – 0.79 | Physique – 0.94 | Status: Slightly Injured. Perks: Noble Charisma, Well-developed Brain (24% improved time reaction, 60% improved memory), Beginner Crossbow Mastery, Beginner Swordsmanship, Thornfield Swordsmanship Chop (Chops and slashes benefit from a 0.4 bonus in strength), Beginner Alchemy Mastery.]
Since he purchased his wolf, he really felt like a child, playing all day long, increasing his friendship with Pyro, since it is how he named it.
If one were to look closer, they would be able to observed a few biting marks on Drodosis' left arm. A magical beast is not easy to tame. Had it been a nebula wolf, Drodosis wouldn't have had difficulty taming it, but a nightmare wolf is a magical beast, savage by nature, but more intelligent.
The first few hours, the cub was wild, and quite hostile to Drodosis. However, as he fed her, Pyro became a bit more docile. And as soon as they started playing, the duo of master and cub became closer than ever. The sight of a purple wolf playing with a young noble child was really mesmerizing.
From the side, Helena and Roland were speaking privately.
"I'm relieved."
"Me too", Roland admitted, "He has always been a weird kid since he was born. In the beginning, I thought he had mental health problem…but young boy definitely plays with pets, right?"
"I just don't understand why he had to pick up a wolf as his first pet!"
"Well, the merchant Iker told us that nebula wolves aren't really wild. It could have been worse"
Later in the day, Drodosis decided to head out with George once again.
"Are we going to the outskirts of the Great Forest again, young master?", George asked in an understanding tone.
Indeed, in the past few days, Drodosis hunted at least once a day. The main reason was polishing his crossbow marksmanship, but after testing out his poison, he only had one thought: gather more and more.
While using poison wasn't exactly honorable, it was really efficient when it came to killing. However, because recipes are almost non-existent, and the process extremely dangerous, there are very few poison masters. However, Drodosis was lucky enough to possess Alpha, which could adapt pieces of information to his devices, which were making the whole alchemy process easier and safer.
"Yes, George", Drodosis replied in a cold voice.
The first forty minutes passed flawlessly. Drodosis was lucky enough to shoot 12 red-fang snakes to death. However, the duo of master and butler encountered something…frightening.
[Beep! Danger! Retreat is not an option.]
[Beep! Name: Oversized Dire Lizard. Strength – 6.7 | Agility – 1.9 | Physique – 6.0 | Status: Healthy. Perks: (?)]
George – "Young master…this is a monster! I can feel danger from it! You must not fight it. Definitely not."
Drodosis – "George, there is no way I leave you to die against a lizard!"
George – "It's not an average lizard. It's a dire lizard! To kill it, we need attacking power of a knight's level. Its regeneration ability enables it to recover wounds at a crazily high speed. Even if I use my trump cards, we will not survive this-"
Unfortunately, George couldn't finish sentence. The lizard was extremely angry for some reasons, and it would definitely not wait for the humans to finish their conversation to attack. It was a wild beast, slave to its own instincts.
The Oversized Dire Lizard was about 4-meters-long, and it possessed tough hide, and scary-looking jaw. George avoided getting bitten by a small margin, but the oversized dire lizard took advantage of George's position in the air to smash him with its tail.
BOOM
George was sent flying and his right arm was bent so badly that it had turned blue.
However, deep determination and fighting spirit could be seen in his eyes. While shouting: "GET AWAY, YOUNG MASTER!", George unsheathed one of his curved dagger and charged to the wild beast's side.
Drodosis had long since climbed a tree, dipping three bolts in Yellow Vein-Bursting Poison. Putting one on his crossbow, he started to aim at the giant lizard, but he knew that it wouldn't be enough for his bolt to successfully pierce its hide.
George nimbly avoided the incoming tail slash and managed to slash the lizard's skin. Blood flow everywhere, but it didn't seem to cause a lot of damage.
From George's point of view, the young master was long since gone.
'It's a relief', he thought, 'But I must not fall. Or else, the dire lizard will pursue young master. Bring it on!'.
As George was bursting from fighting spirit, he started to madly slash at the dire lizard's skin. Over and over again, the oversized lizard cried and tried to bite at George, but the latter was human. And a strong human at that.
The more George hit, the stronger he felt. It was as if there was some sort of a mysterious energy, replenishing his stamina, and increasing his muscles.
"DIE! DIE, DIE! TAKE THAT, BEAST!", he shouted as he slashed the dire lizard's left eye.
However, the beast had baited George. It wasn't a simple unintelligent lizard. It was the king of the forest. It had already lived for 16 years already, and its wisdom was as respected as its strength by other animals. Yet, George had no way of knowing that…and the cost was heavy. As the lizard's fangs entered his shoulder, the mysterious energy burst. He had broken through the knight realm…although he wouldn't survive this ordeal, or so he thought.
As the lizard opened its jaw, it was about to finish off George.
Seeing this, the latter closed his eyes. 'This is where my journey ends', he thought with resolve and pride.
But one second passed…two…and he was still alive. When he opened his eyes again, he saw the dire lizard king, a moment ago in quite a good form, twitching, and quavering. After a quick look, George could see 8 bolts on the oversized dire lizard's body.
Popping sound could be heard, and the oversized dire lizard's veins exploded. Blood splashed everywhere, and it fell on the ground in a mesmerizing sight.
Drodosis was crying at this point.
As soon as he heard the biochip confirming that the oversized dire lizard was dead, Drodosis ran into his loyal butler's embrace.
"I'm sorry you lost you left arm, George! I'm sorry!"
"Haha! What are you saying, young master? Didn't I tell you to run away? Why would you come back?"
As George and Drodosis were hugging each other, the mesmerizing sight of the monster bursting into a blood lotus shape would forever remain engraved in George's memories.
"Blood Lotus. Young master, I can guaranty that you will become known as Blood Lotus!", George exclaimed, before fainting.
The blood loss, excitement and wounds had exhausted whatever remained of energy within him.
[Beep! George's chances of survival: 2%.]
Drodosis – "Alpha, don't let me down now! Tell me what I have to do in order to increase the odds?"
[Beep! An oversized Dire Lizard might possess a life force core in its body. Consuming it will corrupt George's body, but he will inherit part of the dire lizard's regeneration ability.]
Drodosis didn't have to hear that twice. He rushed towards the oversized dire lizard's body, and started to skin it with his cross sword.
Splashing sound could be heard for the following 20 minutes. Drodosis was madly cutting through the oversized dire lizard's organs and thick hide, seeking this so-called life force core. And after twenty stressful minutes, he finally found an oddly shaped cube glowing in a dim red colour. Mixed in blood, it was almost noticeable, which is the reason why Drodosis had to cut the whole body into pieces to get it.
[Beep! It is a Life Force Core. By ingesting it, George might survive, but he will no longer be 100% human!]
Drodosis – "What do you mean, Alpha?"
[Beep! By absorbing a life force core, a human can absorb the life force of the original beast, but it will also change part of their DNA. Beastmen are descendants from humans who in the past, consumed too many life force cores. Life force cores have an addictive molecule, so George will no longer be himself after this experience. Only consuming one will not be irreversible, and it might even be beneficial, but it will depend on his will.]
Drodosis had to take a decision.
Could he really choose to end George's humanity with this action?
But time was of essence, and Drodosis couldn't bear the idea of losing one of the few people he was really close to in this world.
Cutting the life force core into pieces, Drodosis stuffed it in George's mouth. Then, he waited. However, beasts were attracted by the smell of blood. Drodosis couldn't move George's body, since it was in a critical state. Any movement would cause his body to shut down.
A pack of starving wolves approached Drodosis and George. They circled around them, but Drodosis wasn't fearing anything.
[Beep! Name: Wild wolf. Strength – 1.9 | Agility – 1.5 | Physique – 1.0 | Status: Healthy. Perks: Biting Strength (+1 Strength when biting).]
[Beep! Name: Wild wolf. Strength – 1.5 | Agility – 1.4 | Physique – 0.8 | Status: Healthy. Perks: Biting Strength (+1 Strength when biting).]
[Beep! Name: Wild wolf. Strength – 2.0 | Agility – 1.6 | Physique – 1.4 | Status: Healthy. Perks: Biting Strength (+1 Strength when biting).]
[Beep! Name: Wild wolf. Strength – 1.7 | Agility – 1.9 | Physique – 1.1 | Status: Healthy. Perks: Biting Strength (+1 Strength when biting).]
[Beep! Name: Wild wolf. Strength – 1.5 | Agility – 1.4 | Physique – 0.8 | Status: Healthy. Perks: Biting Strength (+1 Strength when biting).]
[Beep! Name: Alpha Wild wolf. Strength – 2.7 | Agility – 1.9 | Physique – 2.0 | Status: Healthy. Perks: Biting Strength (+1 Strength when biting), Tactics...]
However, Drodosis wasn't about to give up.
Using his crossbow, he managed to shoot the Alpha Wolf first, killing it on the spot.
However, after thinking about it, Drodosis realized that it wasn't a smart decision. The other wolves that looked up to their leader, were so infuriated by this loss that they all started to sprint in order to kill Drodosis.
Drodosis took out a vial of poison, and shattered it with his sword. Yellowish liquid was flowing on his cross sword.
Remembering the long hours of training he went through, the harsh beatings he suffered from the spars with George, Drodosis moved his sword as if it was an extension of his arm. As soon as his sword pierced the wolves' fur, they would start quavering and die a few moments later.
Suffering from a claw attacks from one of the wolves, Drodosis suddenly rotated his body, chopping the wolf in half: he had pulled off a trick that couldn't be pulled off with his current body attributes. Halving a wolf which possessed thick fur and one point of physique, with only beginner swordsmanship was utterly impossible. At this moment, Drodosis understood that he had broken through the intermediate swordsmanship realm, putting him on an equal footing with Lara or his father.
However, as his back was open, another wolf tried to bite him. But Drodosis expected that, and jumped in the air, defying the laws of gravity, and thrusting his sword into the wolf's head. The whole thing only took two to three seconds, yet Drodosis was bursting with confidence.
[Beep! Vertical thrust, skill deviation: 0%]
0% of skill deviation was probably the requirement to become an intermediate swordsman, but Drodosis was thinking about something else; he was focusing on a unique task: kill the enemies before they killed him.
The fights between nature and men were ruthless. You can only win when your opponent is dead. After three minutes, loud breathes could be heard. Drodosis had won. And around him, 8 wolf corpses were lying on the ground, along with a disembowelled oversized lizard corpse, or whatever remained from it.
Drodosis was quite hurt though. He couldn't stand up anymore, since he had overused his body.
[Beep! Muscle atrophy detected, Wrist damage and 145 muscles are slightly injured…Requiring immediate aid…]
But Drodosis couldn't move at this point. Instead, he was grinning as a devil. On top of his right shoulder, Pyro, his wolf cub, was looking up to him, licking his cheek.
Drodosis didn't know when it happened, but Pyro seemed to have acknowledged Drodosis' strength. He felt some sort of bond forming between himself and his new companion, and in the darkness of the falling night, Drodosis was struggling against sleep.
For the next two hours, Drodosis defended himself and George from all kind of attacks, from scavenging ravens to lone wolves or even deer. Wherever Drodosis moved, a trail of corpses appeared. Blood shaped in a blood lotus, and a few inedible organs were usually all that remained from their corpses though. After all, be it Drodosis or Pyro, both were gluttons who needed to replenish their energy.
Finally, Drodosis managed to drag George's corpse into a cave, which was empty. Drodosis knew that it was probably the wolf pack's den. The next day, George opened his eyes, his wounds mostly healed.
Both warriors were staring at each other.
After a good ten seconds, George, got up, before actually kneeling in front of Drodosis. There were no words, nothing. George merely knelt in front of Drodosis, a simple yet meaningful gesture.
A few moments later, he issued these words: "In the future, no matter what happens, I swear an oath on my life, my family and my honour to serve you and only you, Drodosis Thornfield. My blades are yours, my body and my loyalty are, from now on, part of yours as well."
At this moment, Drodosis realized that he had earned his first knight-level subordinate.