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It’s been four days since they started hunting wolves at the edge of the southern forest. They considered venturing deeper, but with no suitable spot to spend the night, they made the first clearing their base and worked from there.
Thanks to that, the pitch-black area on the 〈Map〉 lit up, letting them grasp the terrain, but nothing else stood out. All they found was a narrow little stream.
They’d wake up, hunt wolves, eat in a decent spot, and return to the clearing. That’s been the routine for four days.
When the moon rose, Yuda suggested Tia sleep first. For the past four days, she’d stayed up late and woken early for his sake, so he wanted to return the favor. Although she didn’t say it, she must’ve been exhausted, thanking him before slipping into her sleeping bag. Within moments, she was snoring softly, fast asleep.
Watching her toss and turn, Yuda added wood to the campfire. The flames licked up with a snap, burning fiercer. Listening to the crackle crackle, he checked his status window.
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*Summary
[You displayed remarkable combat skill hunting black wolf packs. Strength and Agility increased by 1.]
[You pushed your wounded body to its limits in battle. Stamina increased by 2.]
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「Status Window」
[Name: Yuda Arshe]
[Title: None]
[Level: 15]
[Class: Black Claw _ Shadow Magic Swordsman(Hidden_A)]
[Revival Count: 1]
[Strength: 36(D) / Potential A]
[Stamina: 37(D) / Potential S]
[Agility: 31(D) / Potential SS]
[Mana: 41(C) / Potential B]
[Mana Resistance: 51(C) / Potential S]
[Knowledge: 17(F) / Potential B] ◀ Special
[Luck: 84(A) / Potential S] ◀ Special
[Remaining Points: 14]
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Nothing beats real combat, it seems. The risk paid off. Months of grinding wouldn’t yield a single point, but four days of life-or-death wolf hunting bumped him up by 4 total points.
Just looking at the status window was enough to fill him with pride. More than anything, the fact that he still had 14 points left brought a satisfied smile to his face. Because of that, the increase in mana remained unchanged, but on the flip side, he had pushed his body quite hard, which seemed to have significantly boosted his stamina. As for the remaining points, he figured he could allocate them later depending on the situation.
If this keeps up, things could get pretty good, right?
At thirteen, no one else would have stats like this. A few names popped into mind as he thought it, but contact with them was far off, so he dismissed it. Anyway, it was satisfying enough, but far from his target tier. Grabbing some fragments could naturally push key stats like Strength or Agility to 100, but without them, it felt lacking.
It’s fine. Just keep doing what I’ve been doing.
He didn’t know why the black wolves were flocking to the eastern forest in packs, but it worked out well. They’d skinned nearly 120 pelts, and with the magic stones extracted, they might rake in a few gold coins.
If not for the early grunt work, even this would’ve fallen short. He needed to raise all stats evenly, except Knowledge and Luck. High Strength and Agility were useless if Stamina lagged; he’d collapse fast in prolonged fights.
So it all comes down to balancing them…
With high potential, allocating points early felt wasteful. But delaying forever was just a loss. There’s a reason they say hoarding turns to crap. Whether now or later, the outcome’s the same, but he preferred waiting for the right moment.
Closing the status window, Yuda tossed another log onto the fire and opened his 〈Records〉. To others, he might look zoned out, but a holographic notepad floated before his eyes.
At the top of the hologram, marked in red, was a memo with just a title, no content.
「The Twenty-Four Hearts of Ferlnen.」
The game’s title and the reason he ended up in this world. He had written it down to never forget. Every time he opened 〈Records〉, it was the first thing he saw, without fail.
He still had no idea how he had ended up in his own game.
Yuda stared blankly at the title-only memo before shifting his gaze. He’d stayed up all night recording critical details in the system notepad, things he couldn’t forget. Whenever he had time, he’d review and tweak anything that felt off or add sudden insights.
Time flew by. Sitting still so long stiffened his body. A slight move made his bones creak with a crack. Stretching to loosen up, he looked up at the night sky, where stars twinkled beautifully. Between them, a full moon cast a faint glow over the darkened forest, though the trees blocked most of its light, leaving the woods dim.
Then, faint rustling sounds came from afar, all at once. It wasn’t a mistake. He’d caught it by chance, but they were footsteps. Direction unclear, something was approaching through the forest. When he turned to wake Tia, she was already awake in her sleeping bag.
Shh
She raised a finger to her lips, signaling silence.
A faint green glow shimmered in her eyes. Tia slowly lowered her finger. Understanding it as “stay still,” Yuda sat back naturally, pretending to watch the fire while scanning around.
The forest lived up to its name, pitch-black, but moonlight revealed patches here and there. Near them, red glints like Tia’s flickered on and off.
Black wolves…
But they’d never come at night like this. And the sheer number of glints flashing in the dark was staggering. Factoring in the killing intent from all sides, it felt like four or five packs had descended at once. Sensing the gravity, Tia seemed tense too. She silently unzipped her sleeping bag, ready to spring out.
Should I use shadow sorcery?
Activating shadow sorcery would reveal their exact numbers and positions. He couldn’t share the minimap, but rough counts and locations would help her. It just felt odd to reveal what he’d hidden so far. Still, this wasn’t the time to keep it under wraps.
─Shadow Sorcery
──Form 1: Shadow Spread
The moment he whispered it, shadows dancing with the flickering campfire surged outward. In an instant, they stained the ground black across the area, startling Tia, who flinched while keeping watch.
As the shadow spread out, it relayed information about the wolves within its range. Red markers popped up on the map displaying the surrounding area, almost like a radar — pop pop pop was the only way to describe it. Yuda’s mouth fell open in awe.
The numbers were insane. He’d thought four or five packs at most. He was dead wrong.
This is nuts. Did they come for revenge?
Roughly sensed, there were at least 100. Tia could escape alone, no problem, but he doubted she could get him out safely too. She seemed to feel it as well; her face had been stiff for a while.
His palms started sweating. When will they attack? he wondered. Suddenly, one of the encircling black wolves approached. Confirming its spot on the minimap, Yuda drew his sword and stood.
"Wait…!"
He moved faster than Tia could stop him. Clicking her tongue, she slipped out of the sleeping bag, joined his side, and stayed vigilant. Then she saw it too: a black wolf slowly stepping from the darkness into the campfire’s light.
Why would these guys, who loved coordinated assaults, show themselves in plain sight?
"Back."
Tia shielded Yuda behind her. She held a small, sharp dagger, smaller than his, ready to throw if needed. But the wolf didn’t attack. It glanced between Yuda and Tia, then turned away.
Woof!
It jerked its head, as if saying, “Follow me.”
"…?"
A first-time behavior. They stood there, dazed, trying to figure it out.
"Tia, is it what I’m thinking?"
"Dunno, it’s my first time seeing this too."
A trick to lower their guard? Didn’t feel like it. Yuda pondered: follow the wolf or flee here?
"Roughly 100 wolves are surrounding us. Can we escape?"
Tia wondered how Yuda knew that but didn’t sense a lie. Probably the effect of the shadows spread across the ground, she’d ask later. For now, she considered his question.
"Want an honest answer?"
"Yes."
"It’s quite tough. I thought forty-ish was doable, but 100, twice that? No way out."
Tia’s stealth erased sound, scent, and presence from her body, but not footsteps. Silent movement was her specialty, but carrying Yuda might make faint noises despite her skill.
If it was her alone, it would have been easy. She could slip through their encirclement with a smirk, hide in the dark, and kill them all. But with Yuda, everything got complicated. Escaping with him was hard; fighting while protecting him was harder.
Yuda knew it too. If Tia had hesitated even a bit, he might’ve thought there was a chance, but her instant reply left only one option.
"Then, no choice, huh."
"Fight?"
"No, let’s follow. It’s waiting for us."
Kindly enough, the black wolf sat down to wait when they didn’t follow right away. The wolves surrounding the area stayed still, watching. But if they didn’t go, that wolf would likely kick off an attack.
"…"
Tia looked deep in thought. She took a big breath, then suddenly sheathed her dagger and started undressing.
"Tia?"
"Gotta talk to them."
She neatly folded her clothes and handed them to Yuda. While he stuffed them into the 〈Inventory〉, fur sprouted over her body, turning her into a massive black tiger. The wolves on the deployed shadows stirred, sensing her beastkin transformation.
Grrrr…
The wolf, sitting arrogantly watching them, stood at the sight of beastkin Tia, eyes wary. The black tiger Tia and the black wolf growled back and forth like a conversation. After a bit, Tia let out an incredulous chuckle and looked at Yuda.
"Yuda. These guys want a duel. What do you wanna do?"
"A duel?"
"Yeah. Win, and they’ll let us go safe. Lose, and no guarantees on our lives."
"Arrogant bastards," Tia muttered.
At that moment, a quest window like the tutorial message from his first day in this world popped up.
[A sudden quest has begun.]
[Recently, the black wolves realized something in the forest was hunting them, finding the skinned corpses of their kin.]
[They ignored it when one or two packs vanished, but as more returned as cold corpses, they reported to their leader, ‘Korkan.’]
[Leader wolf ‘Korkan’ led the pack to kill you for slaying their kin but realized from the bodies you’d hunted alone, deciding on a 1:1 duel.]
[This was reported to the king of all black wolves, 〈Requiem〉, and approved.]
[You must decide: follow them and accept a duel with leader wolf ‘Korkan,’ or fight desperately here.]
[Victory means survival; defeat offers no survival guarantee.]
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***Author’s Note***
Ugh, everyone, it’s too hot.
Stay cool. I can’t even sit in a room corner.
Sitting on a chair turns me into a wreck… insane.
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