World Seed

Author’s Corner: Wow! I never thought that the poll in the last chapter would be so close! While I do have an option I’m personally rooting for, I’ll do my best to do justice for whatever choice is voted for the top. That being said, I think I should again remind people that whatever option wins, he’ll be starting out at the bottom level for it! A lot of the things people are expecting him to be able to do with these types of magic wouldn’t be possible until he’s had considerable practice.

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After parting with Jacobs, I had Celeste lead me back to the grove to resume my training. Rather than flying back there, I decided to test the armor out and walk. Of course, I still had my shiny new dagger ready to strike at anything that decided to eat me. For some reason, this didn’t happen as often as I had expected it to, and the first attack wasn’t until I was nearly halfway there.

Though, that means that something did attack me. And it was even a familiar wolf, too. The first time Rita had brought me through here, I had seen this wolf guarding its pups. But now, those pups had grown quite large, far faster than they normally should have. Together with their mother, they decided to block my path and invite me over for lunch. Sadly, I was to be the lunch. And of course, my ‘shy’ birds had long since abandoned me to fight on my own.

Altogether, there were three wolves, the mother and its two pups. The mother stood in the center, and the pup on the right was the first to charge at me, after emitting a series of threatening snarls. Perhaps a bit too overconfident in my new armor, I raised one arm to intercept its bite. It was then that I learned the primary flaw of flexible armor…. They don’t resist force very well. Sure, my arm wasn’t torn to shreds by the wolf, and I thought I even heard it chip its teeth on me, but the crushing power of its jaws were fully applied to my arm, making me curse under my breath.

Thanks to the first wolf blocking my view, I wasn’t able to see as the second ‘pup’ charged up. Instead, I was busy pushing mana into my new dagger to activate the chainsaw function, then driving it into the throat of the first wolf before it could remove itself from my arm. Surprisingly, I was able to control my body much more effectively now thanks to the large dexterity buff.

As the body of the wolf latched onto me became lifeless, I heard a growl off to my left. Unfortunately, that was the arm holding up the wolf, so I was not able to clearly see what was coming. I did, however, feel a strong impact against my side that launched me away and made me crash into a nearby tree.