'He's following well,' thought Kim Sae-Jin as he took a glance
at the overly cautious male Hunter behind him.
It was a bit of a waste to leave behind the carcass of that dead
Brown Wolf, but Sae-Jin figured that little guy wouldn't be
worth much as a material seeing how weak and famished it was.
At most, the Korean government's reimbursement would be
worth less than $440 US. He would have to derive satisfaction
from knowing that he was able to help these two Hunters today
instead.
After walking for an unknown amount of time, the exit from
the mountainous regions' border could be seen in the distance.
A signboard near it said, "From here on, the number of Monster
encounters will increase."
Confirming their location, Sae-Jin lowered the unconscious
Hunter, who had a faint pulse, to the ground and glanced back.
"Heup!!"
The Hunter following Sae-Jin made a funny noise as he
hurriedly held his breath in fear. Feeling rather mischievous
after seeing that nervous appearance, Sae-Jin decided to pull a
prank at the scared man.
– Krrrrng.
"Eeeeeeek!!"
Sae-Jin found the panicky reaction of the Hunter falling on
his b**t absolutely priceless.
'Have a less dangerous life, Mister.'
The funny reaction caused Sae-Jin's lips to twist upwards. He
then lightly patted the shoulder of the sacred and sweaty
Hunter with his front paw, and stepping past, he leisurely
headed back towards the forest.
Left alone, Kim Tae-Jo remained there utterly dazed for a long
time. The massive Brown Wolf had long disappeared into the
thicket, but he failed to understand what had just happened....
this maddeningly weird experience.
Somehow recovering from the shock, he recounted the events
from several moments ago. That big Brown Wolf.... That
Monster.... It rescued him.
Unsure of whether he was dreaming or not, Tae-Jo sharply
slapped his face.
"Ouch."
It hurt. Therefore, it was definitely not a dream. Still dazed,
Tae-Jo's stares fixed on the direction where the mystery Brown
Wolf had gone off to.
"...Cough, cough."
"Ah, Sang-Yun!! Can you hear me?!"
The wounded comrade, Sang-Yun, coughed weakly, breaking
Tae-Jo's dazed state. He quickly shouldered the fellow Hunter
and stood up.
"Heeeey, over here!!"
Tae-Jo shouted out aloud and soon, he could see some sort of
stirring by the guard post building over yonder by the exit.
"Please help!!"
After determining the location of the desperate voice, soldiers
hurriedly ran towards his direction. A relieved smile broke out
on Tae-Jo's face as he realised that he'd be able to live for
another day, all the while momentarily forgetting about the
dream-like event of a Wolf saving him.
*
"A Spirit Beast?"
"That's right. That's the only fitting explanation for what
happened. That massive size, that display of human-like
intelligence...."
Once more, Tae-Jo's expression became profoundly moved
after recalling the event as he sipped some warm tea.
"But, can a Monster evolve into a Spirit Beast?"
A soldier manning the border exit guard post tilted his head in
puzzlement and asked, unconvinced.
Spirit Beasts were creatures seemingly blessed by Divine
Spirits. They were unfathomably mysterious beings; their
physical abilities and mental prowess were greatly enhanced as
they accepted the aura of Mother Nature. They were essentially
different from the vicious beasts with Mana that ran amok, and
so, were treated differently as well.
"If it's a Wolf, then there's a good possibility. Right now,
Wolves are treated like Monsters because of their vicious nature
but, originally, they were wild animals to begin with."
"...If that's true, then, wow...that's some mystery."
The soldier couldn't fully believe Tae-Jo's words. That was
because, a Spirit Beast wasn't some common existence. For
instance, the legendary creature, Nine Tailed Fox, was included
in the category of Spirit Beasts.
Facing the sceptical attitude of the soldier, Tae-Jo creased his
forehead while opening his mouth.
"There is no ifs. It's the honest truth. I really did encounter...
Ah, that's right!!"
Suddenly remembering something really important, Tae-Jo
shouted out and shot up from his seats.
"The Recording Lens!! I was wearing the Recording Lens at
the time!!"
A Recording Lens did what its name implied – it recorded
images reflected on the retina. Dirt-poor hunters like Tae-Jo,
who could only survive day to day by earning his keep the hard
way, wore this lens every now and then when going out on a
Monster hunt. It was for that off chance of seeing a rare
Monster that could be worth something. That, or if there
happened to be a particularly detailed recording of a hunt, he
could sell it off to make extra cash on the side, calling it
"educational material."
"...Eh?"
"Just wait a dang moment!! I'll definitely show you!!"
The soldier worried about seeing blood pour out for a moment
as Tae-Jo hurriedly began digging into his eyeball, fishing out a
single lens.
"Here, here, take a good look!!"
****
"Achoo!!"
Around the same time, in a nearby cavern Kim Sae-Jin in his
Goblin Form suddenly sneezed out during the middle of
dismantling a Monster corpse.
"...*sniff*"
He wiped his itchy nose with the bloodied hand and finished
organising the extracted Monster materials before putting them
away, then took a seat on a stone chair.
"Keuheng."
One of the Goblin's traits was "unable to stay still." It was
practically impossible to remain still in the Goblin Form as a
result. Blowing his nose, rubbing his hands for no reason,
making weird noises – they were instinctual habits and Sae-Jin
ended up doing them involuntarily.
Sae-Jin deeply hated this side of the Goblin Form so he
promptly changed back into the Brown Wolf Form. Lying
snugly on the flat stone bed, he willed the Status Window to
appear before him.
►Trait ⸢Monster⸥
⸢Rank: Rare⸥
⸢Trait Level: 3⸥
– Species changed from Human to Monster. Once per 24 hours
the host can maintain the Human Form for 70 Minutes,
calculated from the numerical value of [Energy Manipulation]
stat.
– Stats of the Monster Forms will be reduced during the
Human Form.
– Desire to sleep has been lost.
– Currently maintaining the Brown Wolf* Form.
► Status
[Physical Strength 16]
[Endurance 15]
[Agility 19]
[Energy Manipulation 7]
[Mana Affinity 1]
[Magic Strength 1]
[Luck 3]
[*Brown Wolf: Strength and Defense increase by 5, Agility
increases by 8. During the Human Form, the effects will be
reduced by 1⁄3.]
===
The results of a month's effort was his Trait level increasing
by a whopping 2.
–Krrrrng.
Sae-Jin growled. He was dissatisfied and angry at the slow
rate of his progress.
It was almost a month ago when he resolved to become a
Lycanthrope. He packed all his meager belongings together and
set off to the Gangwon Province. It was like doing a Time Attack
in a video game – his previous home in the suburbs of Songpagu
was 30 minutes away from the mountains of Gangwon, a feat
impossible if it weren't for the advent of the Mana Trains.
(Songpagu is a suburb in the capital Seoul and its defo much
further than 30 minutes from Gangwon.)
Cutting it fairly close, Sae-Jin cautiously evaded the eyes of
the military and the Knights Orders, and successfully sneaked
past the borders of the mountain region undetected.
At first, he had no idea what he should do. Suddenly barging
into the land of Monsters, Sae-Jin had to repeatedly suffer
through confusion and chaos. And when Monsters challenged
him, he fought them off by turning into either the Orc Form or
the Wolf Form and survived.
It was a painful experience. The smell of raw flesh stuck
between his teeth nauseated him, the unpleasant sensation of
pummeling the life out of his victims with a blunt weapon – all
these experiences were something he just couldn't really get
used to. He even cried himself to sleep every night thanks to the
anxiety of steadily losing his humanity gnawing at him.
But the feeling of disgust lessened as time passed, and even
though he couldn't readily accept them, just like that, Sae-Jin
was progressing step by step towards achieving his goal.
The first thing he did after entering the mountains was to find
and secure a nice cave that couldn't be located by the Hunters.
He turned it into his base of operations. Then naturally, he
started living there for good.
Utilising the Goblin Form's surprisingly deft hands, he
remodeled the interior of the cave, and to withstand the cold
weather, he lined up the fur of several Monsters around the
place.
There was a stream nearby so that was drinking water taken
care of; he also roasted the meat of wild animals he caught for
sustenance.
After that, all he did was a nonstop hunting.
When he was at a level 1, pretty much every single Monster he
fought posed a serious threat to his life. That was even
including the other, common-variety Brown Wolves.
So he used his head a little. Sae-Jin only picked on those poor
wolves that were rejected from its own pack or were too dull-
witted, and by relying the Orc Form's much greater physical
strength over that of his victims, he smashed their skulls in.
After smashing 10 heads, his Trait had its very first "level-up."
But the changes he went through were slightly different than
expected. Sure, both the bodies of the Orc Form and the
Brown Wolf Form became a lot bigger and his stats became just
that stronger, but weirdly, the Goblin Form stayed the same.
However, what he wanted wasn't this type of "growth." What
he came here for was to "evolve."
Such as to become the higher-ranked Monster in the Wolf
species after the Brown Wolf, the Grey Wolf. For the Orc Form,
it was the Orc Warrior. For the Goblin Form.... uh, whatever
was higher up.
Instead of evolving, his Forms remained the same and
only the "stats" improved.
Sae-Jin didn't lose heart though and just poured in more
effort. He thought that maybe he just needed to level up once
more.
It was disappointing but at least the hunting became easier
with his Trait Level being 2 now.
Even if he fought against other Brown Wolves, he was over 1.5
times larger, and it was evident that the disparity in strength
was greater still. In other words, he became the top predator in
this neighborhood almost in an instant.
But leveling up became increasingly difficult. From Level 1 to
Level 2, he only had to spend 3 days and kill 10 preys. However,
for Level 3, even nearly 30 days and 100 kills proved to be
insufficient.
Frustrated, Sae-Jin thought about heading to a hunting
ground with higher-tier Monsters only to give up on that idea.
That was because, in the world of Monsters, the difference in
power between two tiers was like heaven and earth. It was
actually that enormous.
The easiest example was to compare a Brown Wolf to a Grey
Wolf.
The Brown Wolves were ranked lowest tier and the Grey
Wolves were also ranked as a low tier, just one place above
them. That was it.
But if Brown Wolves wanted to hunt down one Grey Wolf,
then at least a single package consisting of over 12 individuals were
needed.
That's why without any other choice he had to repeatedly
grind away like crazy in this lowest-level hunting ground for the
past 31 days. Finally, he was able to level up one more time.
But perhaps inevitably, what awaited him was the growth
of his stats and not the evolution of his Forms. His size and
overall power might have grown to a point where he could rival
a Grey Wolf, a creature that could easily contend with a full-size
tiger, but in the end, he still couldn't become one.
'Just what is it that I need to do?'
An unexpectedly cute sound escaped his nostrils as he sighed
in his Wolf Form. None of the hapless Hunters would've
thought he was cute though as they would be too busy running
away like scalded cats after encountering his massive Brown
Wolf Form.
As he was sinking deeper into his worries, suddenly, strange
texts popped out in front of his eyes.
⸢Condition Complete: Minimum Reputation.⸥
– The minimum of 100 people have engraved the existence of
"The Brown Wolf" into their minds. All stats rise by 1.
– The Grey Wolf Form is available for the host instead of the
Brown Wolf. All stats related to the Wolf Form will be adjusted
accordingly.
– "The Grey Wolf's Sense of Smell" will be available during
Human Form. (Active Skill)
► Status
[Physical Strength 22]
[Endurance 21]
[Agility 28]
[Energy Manipulation 8]
[Mana Affinity 2]
[Magic Strength 2]
[Luck 4]
[*Grey Wolf: Strength and Defense increase by 10, Agility
increases by 16. During the Human Form, the effects will be
reduced by 1⁄3.]
"....Fuuheng??"
This inexplicable change was so out of nowhere, Sae-Jin was
momentarily at a loss for words.
But after recovering quickly, using the pair of inquisitive,
excessively round eyes he ascertained the condition of his new
body.
Definitely, he had changed.
His previously doggy-brown fur had completely morphed into
a new shiny, grey coat.