The day was spent killing lizards. None of their stats had increased further, and Cyan had recieved no new notifications, but he had suspected this. The amount of beasts they would have to kill to increase a single stat by 1 had grown to be rather large. This is why he had come up with this method. The pack made easy work of their current prey, it made little difference if he helped or not. If this method worked, which it was, he could have them slowly grind these beasts for stats while he hunted solo.
Cyan was not under any sort of delusion that he was stronger than the pack. If they wanted between the four of them he was most likely die, or at least cause him to flee. He would be hunting these beasts that they saw as fodder alone. He would not kill nearly as fast as the pack did, but he needed the experience of fighting alone. Deep down he feared that he would not always have the pack, and he had grown far to used to having them around.
The rested that night in their makeshift home. It was a cave that had previously been inhabited by a bear. They had lured the bear out and slowly widdled away at its life. It had been a long fight, it took them a total of 3 days before the bear eventually bleed to death.
The cave was an amazing find for the pack, it was rather deep and had taken them a week to explore the entire thing. It was also shared with various other forms of life, but there seemed to be a sort of tactic understanding that the cave was a safe zone. The safe zone came to be because at the rear of the cave was a natural spring. Water had formed a small lake by absorbing the water from under the sand. As one of the only water sources the beasts had come to an unspoken agreement that this was a safe zone. The cave was rather comfortable, and they had carved themselves out a little home by the underground lake.
The next morning they again went out to fight the sun bathing lizards. Chica led the group with much more confidence than the day before. Cyan hunted as well, his progress was much slower than the group, managing to defeat roughly half the amount they did. Still, the progress was faster than if they had all hunted together.
On the third day the four wolves had grown comfortable in their roles, and the progress for the day gave an additional point in strength for all of them. Cyan leveled up as well. Hunting by himself gave him the same amount of experience that he had earned while leading the pack, so the numbers for their growth were about the same.
With that point Daisy had maxed out her strength, so she would no longer receive any benefit from killing these creatures. Cyan made the decision for the pack to start hunting the sand foxes. They were clever and fast, their cores equally raising dexterity and wisdom. However the gains for each were slower than grinding the stats individually. Cyan had made this decision because their was little threat to these beasts and they were rather cowardly, and the truly crafty beasts that could individually raise wisdom were far too dangerous for them to fight alone.
Cyan gave them the order to hunt the foxes until they had gained 2 stat points in each stat. That should happen at roughly the same time. In the meantime he would continue to hunt these lizards, until he gained the last point he needed to max out his strength.
A month passed just like that. The pack had reached their goal slightly before he did, and returned to help him finish. He had maxed out all of his stats except for constitution, but luckily he knew exactly where to find the cores for that stat.
Daisy and bloopers had maxed out their core stat as well, and when they finished hunting the sand gators pugsly would also finish. Chica was destined to not max out her main stat, which was intelligence, however an 8 was incredibly high, only human geniuses were smarter than her. It was impossible to raise this stat through cores, Her wisdom had reached a 9.
As these thoughts ran through his mind, a plan began to form in his mind. They had avoided fighting the wisdom type beasts, as they last time they had tried they ended up being led into a trap. They had encountered a massive spider. The spider ran from them on first sight. Disappearing over a hill. When they reached the place the spider had disappeared it was gone. They were soon ambushed by said spider who had hidden itself under the sand. They had managed to run away, but it took them several days to heal from their injuries. They had avoided that part of the desert ever since.
They were coming to return now. His plan was rather simple. He would have the pack attack using its usual formation. Pugsly would tank, while bloopers and daisy attacked. Chica would act as the squad leader, watching the situation and having them change positions as things changed. Cyan would move independently, launching a sneak attack at the opportune time to turn the tide of battle.
It took them two days to reach the sand trap spiders territory, and soon the pack was greeted by the familiar sight of the giant eight legged predator. The four wolves advanced slowly as the spider ran off, once again over a hill. Cyan watched from a distance, as he circled around, coming in from another side.
The group was once again ambushed, though they managed to avoid serious injuries. The pack began to counter attack, using their usual triangular formation to keep the spider unbalanced. The spider soon became infuriated, lashing out with one of it's long legs at what it perceived as the weakest link. Chica dodged the attack, and countered by sinking her teeth into the leg of the beast. Blood began to flow from its wound.
The triangular attack became a square as Cyan ordered chica from the shadows to join the fray. She became the focus of the spider, as she had been the first to injure it. She was barely able to dodge its attacks, having revieved several mild wounds in the process. The other wolves used this opportunity to grow more aggressive, their bites sinking into its spidery legs. Blood poured onto the sand, a mixture of wolf and spider blood.
Daisy lunged in to attack, her teeth ripping off one of the legs. The spider lost balance and fell, all four wolves rushing in and fiercely biting at its body. Corrosive blood splattered over the wolves, causing a burning sensation which forced them back. Cyan sent the order for them to quickly roll in the sand to get rid of the blood, which used up all of the time it took the spider to stand up.
The spider entered into a state of rage, its body bulging with adrenaline it moved much faster as it attacked whichever wolf was closest. Cyan sent the order for bloopers to distract it, the other wolves were to use hit and run tactics.
Bloopers's maxed out speed came into effect as he was barely able to dodged the attacks of the enraged spider. His body forming a slight blur as he moved. Cyan ordered the wolves to focus on a single leg, and it did not take long before daisy once again ripped off a leg. The spider did not fall, but unsteadily turned face the pack, having forgotten about bloopers. Chica used the opportunity to springboard off of puglsy, onto the back of the spider, tearing into its carapiece, sending blood splattering over her body. Eith a whimper she dove into the sand, rolling around. The spider seeing her state dashed towards her. Its fangs dripping in saliva at finally catching its prey.
The spider was merely feet away from its prey, already tasting its delicious flesh as a blur crossed its vision. It did not have time to register it before several chunks were taken out of it's back legs, it ignored the pain as it sent to take a bite from its prey. As it lowered its head the blur returned, and large teeth sank into its neck. With a crunk its carapace was broken. And blood spurted into the offending wolf's mouth. The bite did not stop, Cyan ignored the pain as he ripped the spiders head from its body. The eight eyes of the spider blinked as its head rolled on the floor. It watched as its body tumbled to the ground. The last thing it saw was a wolf looking down at it, with far too much intelligence in its eyes.
A series of notifications popped up before Cyan, but he ignored them as he checked on the members of his pack. The worst injured was chica, who had been severely scorched by the spiders blood. She looked horrible, but it was all cosmetic. Her fur that had fallen off in patches would grow back. She was most definitely the mvp of this battle.
The spiders core rolled out of its disintraged head. As expected it was the grey color of a wisdom core. As a reward he let Chica absorb it. Finally he looked at the notifications he recieved.
Increases the benefits from absorbing cores
His stats were now maxed, and it was time to go see the dragon. Their stats were now: Name: Cyan Wolfbane Clan: wolf Age: 8 months Level: 0 Evolution points: 0 Strength: 12 Dexterity: 12 Constitution: 10 Intellect: 15 Wisdom: 16 Cunning: 10 1) Daisy Str 10 DeX 10 Con 6 Int 5 Wisdom 7 2) Pugsly Str 9 Dex 7 Con 10 Int 6 Wisdom 7 3) Bloopers Str 8 DeX 10 Con 6 Int 6 Wisdom 9 Chica Str 8 DeX 7 Con 5 Int 9 Wisdom 10