When the sun finally rose in the sky, it was the 10th day that Alden had been away from his home.
The memories of the soldiers that had come and raided the village were still fresh. Alden had a small hope but that was quickly dashed. There was no building that still stood, they had burned everything to the ground.
Instead of going towards his home, Alden headed towards the center of town. When he last spoke with them, they went to buy some supplies.
When Alden approached the center, a number of howls rang through the air.
"Wolves." Alden frowned as he was quickly surrounded on all sides by the pack.
<(Demonic) Gluttony:
Consumes percentage of enemy hp and convert it to hp for self (Life steal: 0.25% of total enemy hp)
Cost: 25 Stamina
((Demonic) Gluttony and (Heavenly) Gluttony cannot be used at the same time)>
<(Heavenly) Gluttony: (Passive) (Inactive)
Reduce enemy damage resistance by 1% and another 1% after 1 hour(s)
Cost: 25 Mana Initial cost, +5 Mana cost to Initial cost for each hour after the first
((Demonic) Gluttony and (Heavenly) Gluttony cannot be used at the same time>
"Dammit! I don't have a good weapon!" Alden started to run as the wolves started to bite and claw at him ferociously. It looked like they had been picking at the dead around the village for a while now.
Burned meat was edible, but fresh meat was the best even if it was a little skinny.
"I can help with that, but my powers come at a cost." Daiyu said as she floated overhead, unseen by the wolves.
"My powers need to grow first! Though, I must say you need me! Why are you being stingy!?" Alden complained as scrambled away from the wolves through the burnt homes in the village.
"They are … special, not everyone can handle them. I must ask again, will you pay the cost?" Daiyu asked once more in a serious tone, seemingly ignoring Alden's comment.
There was certainly something off from the way she mentioned things, but Alden didn't have the time to think about that.
"Yes! I agree! Now get me something-"
Before Alden could finish his sentence, Daiyu took immediate action after she heard his consent.
"Aaaaaarrghhh!" Alden screamed in agony for a second before he could get a grip of himself again. He fell down when he had experienced the sudden wave of pain, that's when he noticed blood dripping from his left hand.
"I took a small piece, so you can still fight."
Daiyu had suddenly grabbed Alden's right pinky and tore it off his hand. It was something Alden could not have possibly imagined to happen. Now he was incredibly wary of Daiyu, she had taken two of his body parts now.
A light shined in Alden's right and his wish was granted.
An intricate looking dagger had appeared out of nowhere, Alden had a strange feeling about it as it was oddly bone colored.
Filled with adrenaline, Alden wielded the Bone Dagger and started to slash at the wolves.
Alden managed to successfully land significant damage on the wolves attacking him, the dagger was a lot sharper than it looked.
"Anymore!?"
Alden threateningly brandished the Bone Dagger at the remaining wolves who were silently judging the situation.
The wolves that had fallen were the smaller and younger ones. Their aggression was coupled with inexperience and that was what led to their downfall. The bigger and more experienced of the pack knew to hang back and let the young wear Alden out.
They began circling Alden, waiting until the last moment to pounce on him. They had decided an all out attack was the best move against Alden.
"Die!" Alden ran towards the charging wolves and targeted the nearest one.
<(Demonic) Gluttony>
He activated his skill which caused a black shadow to spring forth from his body and chomp on the wolf. It didn't seem to do any damage at all, but the wolf was surprised.
<+1 HP>
The Life Steal was a pitiful amount, but Alden took advantage of the wolf's hesitation. <(Demonic) Gluttony> didn't have a lot of damage but it did have a certain amount of force behind it.
Perplexed by his mysterious power, the wolves didn't know how to react. As a result, Alden repeated the same thing to more of the wolves as fast as he could.
"Arooooo!" A loud resounding roar echoed throughout the area, Alden could feel it shake his body. There was something different about this wolf, something bad for Alden.
Wolves were already quite large, but the one approaching the area was enormous! It definitely had the ability to maul a horse by itself!
Unfortunately, now Alden was breathing heavily and the Bone Dagger was cracking. He had used a lot of his stamina in defeating the wolves.
The remaining members of the pack all started to flee the area when the Alpha appeared. It looked like it wanted to kill Alden by itself.
"Hey, Daiyu?" Alden said with gasping breaths.
"…I must admit, you do require some help until you get stronger."
As soon as Daiyu said those words, a bright light started to fill the area.
The Alpha wolf stopped in its tracks as Daiyu descended to the ground and reached out to it with her hands.
A dark energy covered the Alpha until it dropped to the ground, almost as if it were bowing.
"I give you your first companion, the honor of naming him is also yours." Daiyu smiled with a satisfied look at her work.
Alden looked at the large wolf for a second, thinking about its name. Its black eyes still had fight in them, as if it were unfazed by Alden. Its large claws and fangs seemed ready to tear at any moment, and yet it didn't react when Alden got closer.
In a battle of domination, Alden looked the Alpha directly in its eyes.
"Geri, "the greedy one"." Alden said with unblinking eyes as the wolf bared its fangs.