(Please read the Author's thoughts at the end of this chapter. Thanks!)
The dagger stab was both quick and precise as it aimed toward Mike's neck, but before the strike could connect Mike quickly ducks his head as a wolf just came out of the cave and started sniffing around. That move probably saved his life as the dagger just passed above his head and did not kill him. (For those who don't know or have not yet guessed it already Mike's skill [Small Luck] is showing some of its effects right now)
The assassin confused at how lucky Mike is and trying to understand how they failed their first strike sees a wolf looking right at them. Of course, the assassin could deal with a single wolf on their own quite easily but Mike was right by them so if they happened to make their presence known Mike would probably run away. If he got away then he would know that someone is watching on him to keep tabs on him or kill him resulting in a wary and more defensive target. There were a lot of uncertainties that could happen so the assassin does the most sensible thing they can think of which is to do a tactical retreat back into a shadow.
The shadow then proceeds to leave Mike alone and exit the forest.
'Did that shadow just move?' Mike thinks
He had seen a glimpse of a shadow moving away from him but considering that the thing was leaving him alone he would not think about it too much and just focus on the task at hand.
After waiting for a bit Mike takes a peak from his hiding spot within the bushes to see that the wolf is no longer there. Since that is the case, Mike stealthily moves towards the cave.
'Ding'
Skill [Beginnners Stealth] learned
...
[Beginnners Stealth] - Passive
Increases the users hiding and sneaking abilities
+2 stealth
...
Mike only read the notification for a second since he already guessed what the skill did since he was able to gain skills similarly. Still, Mike walks towards the cave entrance and takes a look at where the wolf was standing when it came out of the cave to see where it went from any tracks left behind. Unfortunately, the place where the wolf was standing was where all the foot traffic of the pack was so everything was jumbled up so Mike has no idea if it left the cave and went into the forest of decided to go back into the cave. Seeing as he would not get anywhere with checking the tracks he decides to just go on into the cave to see what he is dealing with and hopefully make some traps and gain more exp.
Going in Mike realizes that this place is dark and getting darker the further he went in and he did not have a torch so Mike decides to do the next best thing. He goes to the side of the cave and sits down for a bit and lets his eyes get used to the darkness. Now, this might not be that useful but it was better than nothing else. Some races are born with innate darkvision such as Goblins, Elves, Dwarves, and other various races while humans are a race that does not have darkvision. There are ways that humans can gain traits of other races through magical means whether through a spell or a magical item. The one downside of this world is that it might rely too heavily on magic to complete and do tasks.
If for some reason magic was gone from this world life might become a lot harder for people and maybe as a result of that monsters and other beings could take advantage of that to get rid of most humanoid races on the planet. However, making magic disappear is a pretty arduous and impossible task plus nothing on this planet could do something like that with the limited means available and lack of ingenuity.
Brushing away those end of the world thoughts Mike opens his eyes to see that he can see a bit better in the darkness than before. It was not perfect but he could avoid falling on the uneven ground if he takes it slowly and he does that. Traversing through the cave at this speed takes a lot of time that is slowly approaching 6 p.m. as Mike moves slowly and attempts to hack every nook and cranny he goes by to see if he finds anything. Eventually, mike can enter a wide-open area of the cave so he decides to find someplace to sit and rest since his whole body is sore from walking through the cave at a snail's pace and having to check everything that he found. Mike was not going to sit in the middle of the area since anything could appear from any direction so he takes a spot on the walls of the cavern and sits down.
Sitting down Mike rummages through his sack and the system space to see if he had anything to eat at least. Looking through Mike has nothing to eat so all he can do is put up with the hunger and toughen through it until he was done here. Suddenly the tiredness and sleepiness of the day hit him like a truck and he has to rely on his long nights of staying up playing video games to stay awake since falling asleep in a literal wolf's den was not the best idea. So Mike rests at his little spot for what he assumes to be half an hour before standing back up and stretching a bit to alleviate the stiff joints and muscles.
"Aroow!"
Mike stops stretching as he hears a pitiful cry coming deeper from within the cave. Curious as to what it could be Mike tries to identify the direction of the cry (Okay I get it what could be inside a wolf den huh? Get off my back on this you guys and just let me write). Still, he does want to take some precautions and has his shortsword at the ready and keeping an eye behind him to make sure nothing attacks him from behind like in horror movies. Mike listens to the pitiful cries and whimpers of the thing and determines the general direction after a few seconds. Moving forward slowly causes Mike to take a bit longer than if he had a torch or better yet a spell to give him temporary darkvision. Still, it is not that long only taking about 10 to 15 minutes before he ends up finding the source of the sound.
It was a wolf pup or that was Mike could guess about it off of the size of the thing and the fact that it was whimpering and could barely move. From what Mike could see this guy had probably been born a few hours ago because it was struggling so much to move and could not stand on its legs. Feeling pity for it Mike tenderly picks the little fella up and bundles him up in his shirt for warmth. The little guy stops whining and calls down before seemingly falling asleep in the bundle of Mike's shirt. Seeing this little guy Mike decides to call it a day and return to the surface with the wolf pup.
Getting back was a lot faster since he is not checking the entire place inch by inch in the dark, so by the time Mike does get out of the cave, it would be around 8:30 p.m. Thankfully the wolves of the den were out hunting so Mike would not have to worry about them for now. In fact, the reason the wolves of this den were out hunting so early was because of him and Rogen killing a bunch of wolves that belonged to a different pack. Due to that this wolf den decided to send most of their hunters to try and take over that territory since it was nearby and a lot bigger than the territory that they had. As for why the wolf pup was all alone and in the middle of a cavern was that he was the runt of a recently birthed litter and as a result of all of sudden the wolf den losing power it was forgotten about while the other wolves were going to come up with who would take care of the little fella.
'Ding'
The skill [Small Luck] has leveled up
Surprised at this sudden notification Mike stops in the middle of walking through the forest and asks Abbey why this happened and continues on his trek back to the city.
"Hmm what exactly do you want to know," Abbey asks
'What exactly caused the skill to level up?'
"Well skills in general level up based on specific actions that they affect but in the case of the [Small Luck] skill it leveled up because you were extremely lucky"
'How so?'
"Beats me I may be knowledgeable but I am not all-knowing," Abbey says
'Alright can you at least tell me if there was a change to the skill though I am kind of busy right now'
"The skill didn't change and it won't until it upgrades into a better version of itself due to the grade of skill"
'Wait skills have grades?'
"Yes they do but you don't need to worry about that for now since you can't see a skill grade until you get to a higher level" Abbey replies
With that answer, Mike just ends the conversation there and continues his journey back to the city.
***
Meanwhile in the city Dike was sitting on the floor of his room in a meditative position. If Mike were here he would be able to see that Dike was in the process of absorbing mana from his surroundings like in the book he had. After a few more minutes Dike opens his eyes and gets up to do some stretches and exercises. Most Royal wizards and wizards, in general, are frail and old since the full pursuit of magic takes a toll on the body and can take away the years from the learner in the blink of an eye. Still, power and knowledge are great incentives for people to attempt to learn magic as anyone who can successfully do so will be able to receive the resources and knowledge needed from powerful kingdoms.
As for Dike he was not that of an avid learner of the arcane arts but still put in the work when necessary to do so and unlike regular wizards who shunned their body's needs and wants he followed them when needed. That was why he looked so young and fit unlike the old coots who lived back at the capital in their towers trying to increase their life span and magic power.
After done with his work out Dike wipes the sweat off of his forehead and walks downstairs into the tavern area of the inn. Once their Dike looks around and starts asking the few patrons there if they had seen Mike since it was getting pretty late. Seeing as no one had seen him since this morning Mike starts to worry just a bit about his safety but considering Mike's talents and intelligence he should be able to handle most situations if need be. Still, Dike could help but worry as time went on and there was no sign of Mike from where he sat looking at the door. Just as he was about to go look for Mike a man sits down at his table.
The man was dressed in regular clothing of brown breeches and shirt with ordinary facial features that made him look like a common NPC [1] if there ever was one. Seeing as this man was here for a reason Dike sits back down at the table.
"I see I got your attention," The man says
"..."
"What's wrong cat got your tongue?" the man jeers at that
"What do you want?" Dike asks
"I want you out of town by tomorrow and if you aren't your precious apprentice will never be seen again" The man replies
"..." Dike does not respond to this but is visibly getting angry at the fact he is being blackmailed into failing to complete a mission given by his highness the king
"Well then I will take your silence as a yes then," The man says
Dike slowly nods his head at that confirming that he will do as they say
"Good, then I guess I will be go-"
"Heya Dike look what I found today," Mike says
Mike had just gotten back in town before the gates to the city closed but since he was technically an adventurer he was allowed through the gates even without his shirt on. He immediately returned to the inn to get this little fella bundled in his shirt something to eat as it just woke up and was probably crying for food. When he got through the door of the inn he was able to see Dike sitting at a table having a conversation with someone so he went over there.
Back to the present, the man sitting at the table was in an awkward situation seeing that Mike was still alive, and lord and behold Mike was once again lucky enough to get back into town without anyone wanting to harm him meet him in the streets.
Once Dike saw Mike was safe he acted and quickly cast's a binding spell to prevent the man from escaping the inn. The man did not have enough time to react as he was distracted by Mike's appearance and was caught in the spell causing his body to be glued to the chair. Seeing how he was stuck firmly in the chair the man's eyes rolled up into his skull and he passes out.
Mike was confused at what happened as it was too sudden but he had felt something in the air moving around which made him even more confused as to what happened.
Dike had acted quickly but when the man's eyes rolled up and he passed out he realized that this poor man had been caught up in this ordeal by accident and was just really unlucky. So he undoes the spell and hand's the man over to the innkeeper giving him the excuse that the man passed out drunk. With that out of the way Dike's attention goes to Mike and he is a little confused as to why Mike is shirtless.
So they both sit down at the table and Mike recounts what he did after leaving the inn. He left nothing out about how Rogen was pretty reckless with the spray that attracted the wolves and how he had to deal with so many of them at a time. Dike said nothing during the entire time and just let Mike talk about what happened and when done he sighs in relief. Yes, Dike was worried for Mike but not because he cared for him in a classical master and student relationship but he was more worried about a brilliant once-a-thousand-year student that he can use to brag about to the other older wizards who have only mediocre and above-average students and apprentices. Essentially Dike wanted to gain bragging rights amongst the other members of the wizarding community.
Mike did not know that but still felt something was wrong with what Dike was saying but could not put his finger on it. Now when it came to Dike's turn to tell what happened to him Dike told him that he had spent a majority of the day meditating to increase his mana pool and recovering the lost mana from the day before that he used. As for the part with the guy threatening Dike out of the city with his 'hostage' he decided to keep that to himself as Mike did not need to know about it in his opinion.
Mike got the feeling that Dike was not telling him everything and certain things did not add up like how did that man pass out drunk when there was no liquor on the table, why did Dike cast a spell on him when he tried to get up, and why did Dike look so angry before Mike went over to the table. There were a lot of why's and no answers from Dike so Mike would shelve this off into an ask again later section. Dike then ordered some food for Mike and leaves him at the table before going upstairs into his own room.
Mike was actually really hungry and when the serving girl brought over the food Mike could not help but want to just eat until he was stuffed like a turkey on Thanksgiving. However, the bundle of fur in his shirt had other thoughts as it started squirming around in the clothes attempting to break free from its constraints like when someone accidentally binds their body in their blankets while sleeping. So Mike seeing the little wolf cry and trying to get out Mike loosens the shirt around the wolf pup's body.
The little guy still had his eyes shut and would probably not be able to use them for another couple of days at least. Still, right now he was practically rolling around on the table trying to get to Mike's meal. Now the pup could not eat regular food just yet so Mike has to pick him up put his shirt back on and ask one of the serving girls for some goat's milk or something like that. As Mike is restraining in his arms, the puppy seems to be a bit mad that it can't reach the delicious smelling food so it attempts to bite Mike's hand with its underdeveloped teeth. The end result though is that Mike starts giggling at the funny sensation.
Eventually, the serving lady returned with a bowl of goat's milk and a spoon so Mike starts by feeding the little guy through that since it can't drink out of a bowl just yet. It was a bit awkward for the wolf pup to drink from a spoon because babies usually have to suck milk from their mothers and spoon-feeding it was a bit awkward but eventually the puppy is satisfied with the meal. So Mike takes his milk drenched shirt and shakes it a bit before wrapping the puppy in it once more and then Mike wolf's down his now room temperature food.
Once done he heads back upstairs and enters his room. There he takes one of the spare blankets that he received and wraps the wolf pup in that instead of his shirt so that it won't freeze at night. Mike takes out his spare shirt and puts that on while leaving the milk-soaked one out to dry. Now that things are done and this wolf pup has been satisfied Mike takes a look at him just to make sure he seems comfortable in his new wrappings.
Let's just say that he looks really cute snuggled up in his blanket as he lightly snores.
(Alright puppy description time: As per usual wolves this puppy has black, greyish, brown fur color as of now as it is a newborn technically. The pup has a white mark of fur on the bridge of his nose right between his eyes that is shaped like a rhombus/diamond. No eye color yet because the puppy is not old enough to actually see anything and open his eyes)
Seeing the little guy sleeping reminds Mike how tired he is as well so he carries the pup into bed with him and snuggles up to it before falling asleep.
***Dike's room***
"So that is my daily report sir," Dike says
"Hmm... this is troubling indeed Daniel," a voice says
The voice was coming in through Dike's wizard badge but unlike last time when there was an image being projected, the badge is only transmitting voice this time. In this case, it would be Grand Wizard Grosso speaking at the moment.
"How many times have I told you not to call me by my real name while on a mission," Daniel asks in an annoyed tone
"Come now Daniel you must not let the rambling's of a 300-year-old man trouble that much" Wizard Grosso retorts
"Now back to a more serious matter are you sure it is them? Cause if so then there may really be something else afoot in that city" Wizard Grosso says in a worried tone
"I am afraid so sir I witnessed for myself that they used that kind of spell" Daniel confirms
"Mind highjacking spells are indeed their specialty so you and your new apprentice must take certain measures to ward off against those effects and until you can get some sort of concrete evidence they the kingdom will not help you with this matter," Wizard Grosso says
"Understood sir," Daniel says before shutting off the badge
Daniel gets into bed as well but not before casting some spells around the entrances into the room. Once in bed, he falls asleep quite quickly but not before mumbling a few words, "The Mystic Mind"
***Inside an abandoned house on the outskirts of the city***
Three black-robed individuals are seen in the house one is playing with a silver dagger while sitting on the old table, another is sitting on an old chair with his head down seemingly asleep and another is leaning against the wall near the closed door to the house. Each of their faces is not visible at first glance as they are wearing masks that cover the lower half of their faces. It is deathly quiet in the house that is until the door opens and a seemingly old man with a hunch back walks into the house.
"Hm... your late," the seemingly asleep figure says
"Well I am sorry to inform you that the plan failed and I had to find a new body," the old man says while standing upright a bit
"Really now? Three you have anything to say about this" The figure in the chair says while looking towards the dagger-wielding individual
"Well you see I was going to kill the kid but I had to retreat cause he noticed me," The knife-wielding figure says while for some reason letting out a soft chuckle
"Really three you had one job and that was to kill the kid and you can't even do that" The individual leaning against the wall gets off the wall and starts walking towards the knife-wielding man
"Gentlemen, might I remind you to whom I represent?" The old man says causing the room to descend into silence
"Remember the mission that we were given if you three can complete this mission with limited help from me then you will be allowed to enter the organization if not well I don't think I need to tell you what happens," The old man says as he looks at all the figures in the room
"Good now then I shall leave this body with you here for now in case you ever need to contact me just use the token you have number one" The old man says before just as the plain-looking man did before his eyes roll up into his head and the old man falls to the floor
The old man is caught by the person who was sitting on the chair and the scary thing was that there was no sound or movement that was visible to the naked eye. If anyone saw this they would think that the man had teleported from across the room.
The figure lays the old man on the floor before standing back up.
They look at the other two figures before saying, "We need to make more persuasive measures against that Royal Wizard"
The two figures look at each other and then back at the other one before both nodding their heads in agreement before they all sinking into shadows and wiz off into the night.
***Morning Mike's room***
Mike woke up to the sound of whimpering and licks on his face. When his eyes fully opened he saw that somehow the wolf pup got out of the blanket that Mike and had rolled over to Mike's face before it started licking him in the face to wake him up. Seeing as how Mike will be a slave to this wolf pup's needs he decides to just get up and head down stairs. Once there he meets up with the inn keeper and asks where he gets the goat milk and explains the situation of getting a pup.
Now Mike did not say that it was a wolf pup but said that he got the little guy at a breeder for a cheap price and now needed to care for it. The innkeeper helped Mike out and told him about how he got the goats milk at a nearby market in the city square. With that information Mike thanks him and heads out to the market to see if he can buy what he needs for the puppy.
Now Mike of course could buy the milk from the inn but Mike was not going there for milk he was going there to see if there was something in this world that could be used as a baby bottle or teething toys in the market. The chances were slim but Mike was optimistic about it.
Entering the city square it was pretty early around 6 or 7 in the morning so not many people were out in the market so Mike had some time to look to see if the market had what he needed. There were many stalls selling all sorts of goods and items. There were a lot of items that Mike liked such as some leather armor, bows, and other equipment that would be very useful for him but he lacked the funds to buy such gear as a result of his near poverty.
Still eventually Mike found what he was looking for the best part is it was only 5 silver coins from the stall of a man. He said that it used to be his children's but now that they are grown up he decided to sell it but after awhile he found out that the cost he set was a bit to high and has been continuously lowering it hoping that someone would buy it and thank goodness Mike came along before the price dropped further than it already was.
Mike payed for the baby bottle which was a metal container with a rubber top so it would work perfectly for the wolf pup. So Mike returns back to the inn and asks is someone in the kitchen can wash it and fill it with goat's milk so that it could be usable for the wolf pup. Someone was kind enough to do that and Mike payed them the 5 extra silver that he had on had as a tip for their troubles. With that done Mike takes the wolf back into his room and starts feeding the hungry pup.
Soon enough it is full as it lets out a cute burp and falls back asleep in his arms. Seeing this little guy fall asleep Mike just rocks it back and forth like a mother would do to its baby.
(The wolf pup has already been named and thanks for the suggestions from all those who participated)
___________
1. NPC is the term non-player character and they are the ones who usually hand out tasks, missions, and all sorts of stuff in games