"You've gotten stronger." He noted.
Lotus smirked, "Haven't I always been so?"
"Hmph…" The alpha scoffed in dismay, "I see that you have not lost your sense of sarcasm despite this. However, it has only been a week…"
"I've been working really hard gathering spiritual qi, but I end up have to spend them as quickly as I gather them. How can I keep cultivating at this rate? Naturally, I can only start gathering experience and knowledge now." Lotus explained.
"Logical…" The alpha grumbled as it still left him in confusion with her fast pace in cultivating. He grumbled, "Beware… Fast cultivation can lead to risks of qi deviation…"
"Of course." Lotus nodded, "Then, the assassins have been dealt with. The others will naturally come next. Therefore, I will have to hurry back. This is not my best moments. However, you and your pack has risked your lives to keep him contained. It's brought convenience to you. So, I must thank you for your help."
"Forget it." The alpha growled and turned around, "This time, you saved us… you're free to enter our territory as you please… Come, my pack…"
"There's still that needle in the back of your neck." She responded with a sigh, "Leave it there and you'll end up piercing something else in your body. At least, let me remove it. One wrong move and you will really fall again. For my appreciation, I'll remove that needle for you."
Hearing this, the alpha hesitated in deep thoughts when one of the wolves spoke up, "You stupid human! Did you really think we'll let your dirty hands on our leader?!"
The alpha snarled, "Shut up!"
The small wolf gave a sharp yelp as he could feel the powerful fraction of his leader's strength on him and huddled onto the ground as he whimpered reluctantly, "B-b-but…"
"You dare raise your voice?" The alpha growled as he glared at him.
The wolf did not dare to speak again as he simply shook his head and stepped back quickly with a tail between his legs. It was then that one of the wolves stepped up and the alpha stared at him unhappily before he huffed in displeasure, "Dirk…"
"With all due respect, leader." The wolf began with a frown, "I do agree with his point of view. The human cultivator treated our kind as filth showing that they are unworthy of our trust. However, this student here have saved our lives and have grown considerably in a matter of a few days. Although I do not want anything terrible to happen on you, we also cannot neglect the fact that you have been wounded by that other human's weapons. I suggest that we listen to her words and accept her offer. If she does mean harm onto you, I shall bear responsibility for bringing up this advice to you with my life."
"You're that confident?" The alpha grumbled in dismay.
"She's risked much by coming here, leader. And…" Dirk grumbled, "We know that we can not continue this pack without your leadership… I'd rather suffer for my mistake than let the same thing in the past happen twice."
"But, that wasn't your fault!" One of the elder wolves spoke up in disbelief, "Your father was the one who came up with the idea when you were still a blind and deaf pup!"
Everyone in the pack knew of the disaster that occurred twenty-five years ago. Back then, the alpha's father was just about to give the full control of the pack to his son, the current alpha, and stand aside to watch as his son lead the pack. However, he accidentally came across a pandemic that originated from one of the sickened students of this dorm. When the cure arrived and was distributed worldwide, Dirk's father stumbled across the pills and decided to bring it back for the old alpha. However, the pill ended up causing the death of the alpha, himself, and everyone in their generation that had been ill!
It was a massacre!
Dirk who had still been a deaf and blind pup lost his mother. He and his siblings suffered under the discrimination of the other wolves, including the mothers of their pack who reluctantly fed them under the orders of the alpha. All of this suffering caused by the actions of his father!
As the wolf grew older, he naturally displayed amazing talent for careful thinking just as that wolf had. Making others hate him more!
However, the alpha saw this as hope and kept a close eye on him before he slowly rose in ranks. Finally, he was now the alpha's right hand. However, no matter what, he could not forget the err of his father.
"That wolf's decision costed the lives of everyone in his generation. My siblings and I will never forget that." The wolf scowled, "If there's one thing I've held gratitude for then it's that his action taught us a lesson on what not to do, what to be aware of, and that life is also about luck. Now, here we are again… This time, I've personally witnessed this female cultivator save us, kept her promise, and displayed respect to our kind. Can I still say that we have no reason to trust her?"
Lotus had been watching them exchange from the sidelines with a look of confusion when she heard of the speak of such matters in the past. The other wolves who seemed younger than the one that bursted out talking seemed to be communicating through growls and signals as she watched on. So, it would seem that some lacked the strength to take on human speech. For her, it didn't matter whether or not that the alpha was dead or alive, but it was the truth that they risked their lives to protect this dorm and Idia in it.
After some thoughts, the alpha turned to her, "How long would it take to take the needle out of me?"
"I will have to take a look to see." Lotus responded, "However, I can guess from how he threw it and where it went into, it shouldn't have gone into the muscles yet. So, my assumption is less than five minutes."
As she said this, he nodded and laid down, "Then, take it out right now."
Lotus nodded. She went onto finding the needle with her eyes before she finally found it and pulled it out with careful precision. She then took the needle into her ring and turned to him, "It's done. If it starts burning up or swelling, don't hesitate eat this pill down. However, the likelihood of that happening shouldn't be more than 50 as long as you keep it that area clean."
"A pill?" One of the elders growled.
Lotus raised a brow, "That's right. I've created it to specifically cater the beast race. Is something the matter?"
"Twenty five years ago, my father brought back pills from the humans and it killed many of our pack." Dirk responded with great hesitation.
"Pill from the humans?" Lotus frowned, "Tell me. Is it round and white? Or is it light and makes noise when you shake it? No bother telling me the size since they're all small."
"I remember…" The alpha grumbled as he sat up, "It's round and white. After my father ate it, he had a pain in the stomach before he died."
Lotus sighed, "I see… My condolences. Looks like there was no chances of living from that pill. Since you had that encounter, then I'll just hand you the raw herbs instead. However, I will cut it up and you can have it one piece at a time with water. Eat it all up at once and you will be making trips more often."
"It sounds like you know of that pill…" The eldest elder muttered suspiciously.
"Not just that one, but most human pills in this world are in either of those shapes and are made specifically for humans and no other species. When another species consumes it, there is no telling how severe the consequences maybe." Lotus explained, "Because humans have more immunity to illness and changes in the environment or what they eat, their medication must be stronger compared to pills made specifically for other races. I've seen normal dogs have ones that are of smaller doses and, though they treat humans' maladies. They are capable of killing beasts to crippling them."
"There's such a thing!" The elder gasped in horror.
Lotus nodded, "It also depends on the size of the beasts. The larger the beasts and the minimal the changes from the pill can lessen the effects of the pill. The larger and healthier the beast, the stronger the pill needs to be for it to take any effect."
She took out the herbs and cut them up before handing them to the alpha, "A small piece a day if it starts to swell. Carnivores can't stomach herbs very well. So, keep it at a minimum is the best, but you can't not have any. If something does happen, the puppet is currently grown blue fire spider lilies."
"Very well…" The elder quietly muttered before turning away with the bag of herbs in his mouth.
The alpha wolf huffed as he had his right hand and eldest elder accompany them and dismissed the rest back into their den, "Let us go to the entrance…"