Chapter 136: Chapter. 121: Interlude: Beginning of Change

Sun missed Blair. She left so suddenly, there were no goodbyes either, he was asleep and when he woke up she wasn’t there anymore. She hoped she’d return the next day, surely he wouldn’t be abandoned. Asking Elasia, Blair’s Patron yielded no results, he was simply patiently explained that she had gone to a trial. But then he promptly got called dumb after asking for another deeper explanation. He didn’t exactly know what a trial was after all.

And now. Sun stood there with a fluttering mane before the great big window on the square hideout. The fluffy beds that Elasia and Blair had once sat on, were empty, the calming presence of the pack leader was gone, and now⁠— he was the leader. Normally, it was a position that filled him with pride, but now it felt empty. He was like a successor whose father died before his very eyes, just without the mood to do anything, he simply barked orders at those of the Moon and at those of the Blood.

That’s all he did, all he did was command to clear the forest. It was slow, in the first few days only about one-fifth of the entire forest had been shaved and cleaned off. All of the wolves worked hard and even the pair of Woodland Elves would help quite a lot, though a lot of the time they seemed to talk in private, muttering and heated discussions. Sun sometimes overheard them, talking about how to get a hold of other Woodland Elves, and⁠—

Torture them for information?

It was a bit odd, but he wasn’t exactly one to judge in the ways of other races. No, who was he lying to, it sounded absolutely mental to him. Nonetheless, as much as he thought the pair of elves were two lunatics, he ignored the thought, dismissed it to the back of his mind never to be heard of again. If they killed their own kin⁠ it wasn’t his concern, even if he felt nothing but disdain for them.

He was the Guardian of Radiance, but also more importantly, the Guardian of their entire nest, the Guardian of the Deep Dark. He was above them, and the elves were beneath them. However, he missed Blair a lot, maybe more than he actually should. He missed helping her work through her problems, smelling the relief within her. It was all fantastic to him, and now that he missed her presence, he had realized what he had lost.

He stared at the fluffy beds once more, and closed his eyes before turning at the setting sun over the horizon.

He could deal with Blair’s absence just fine.

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Sun slammed a stupid Guardian of the whatever Silveria onto the wall. The beast squeaked as its mandibles let out blue blood, its chitin, its body cracked as the lining between the plates of its exoskeleton bled with blue blood. He pushed his mana forward, enhancing himself with all Radiant Enhancements and then, exploding his mana throughout his body he rushed⁠. His agile feet brought him next to the Guardian of the Rock Silveria as he mawed it down.

The plating of its armor cracked as it was flailed once more. The stupid thing had requested assistance, but too bad⁠— he too could request assistance, and that’s what he did. He requested assistance to receive more speed, and with his own enhancements he choke slammed the stupid wriggling guardian. The poor thing had short legs, hundreds of them like a tube. It spewed acid, but he didn’t exactly care.

With a final grunt, he coalesced his mana on his forelegs and ripped it apart from the inside out as he entered a Frenzy⁠— no, who was he lying too. He was already in a frenzy. He roared in anger as he ate its insides, chomping and ripping it apart like a primal beast as it did nothing but squeak in pain.

With a final grunt, he ripped something hard and the Guardian let out a squeak. Soon, the myriad of notifications came.

[You have killed: (D Guardian Grade) Guardian of the Rock Silveria. Lvl 69.]

[Level up: You have achieved level 58. Prophecy Bonus: +2 STR +2 AGI.]

[Level up: You have achieved level 59. Prophecy Bonus: +2 STR +2 AGI.]

[Level up: You have achieved level 60. Prophecy Bonus: +2 STR +2 AGI.]

[You have cleared a nest. D ranked Nest: The Silveria.]

[New Milestone Reached ⁠— Skills Available.]

[Claim your rewards at the chest.]

He really wasn’t dealing well with Blair’s absence.

A deep sigh left Sun as his maw was stained in blue. His piercing yellow eyes looked down at the Guardian of the Rock Silveria. It was way too weak. Weaker than him. Weaker than Blair by a long shot. It didn’t deserve to be called Guardian. It was an insult to his own existence. His eyes wandered over to the chamber he was in, like most nests it was underground, however this one had metal deposits of sparkling colors.

Every little movement would show a myriad of sparkling stars of light across the chamber. Some shone blue, stained with the blood of its previous owner, others shone in white, green, orange. All of the colors were present around him, and he luxuriated on the feeling of the room for a bit before turning to the center, where there was now a wooden construct called a Chest.

He was admittedly surprised he could just barge into another nest and clear it. Well, that was how he had met Blair to begin with. She was an intruder trying to clear his nest. So I guess he was now on Blair’s side? That he was unsure about. He slowly walked to the chest, and with an enhanced paw he broke its top off⁠. Splintering wood filled his vision for a moment as he stared at its contents.

There were some vials that Blair had given him. Which he just ate⁠. At first chewing them was a bit painful for him, but he had grown to like the crunchy texture, and his mouth had stopped bleeding after changing his Calling. He felt the familiar warmth spread through his body, and he also felt some of his mana begin to regenerate at a much quicker pace. They sure were convenient, but he couldn’t exactly take many things.

But there was something else. A small rectangle, one that seemed soft and easy to chew on. Sun stared at it with curiosity and inquired.

[Book of Monsters Metamorphosis: Evolutions of Resia (Epic Item) ⁠— A book containing all evolutions of the monsters of Resia as well as notes from a now defunct Great Alchemist. It is said to hold the secrets of Metamorphosis, able to change any monster’s form.]

A book? He didn’t know what it was, but when he tried to bite it to take it home, he grabbed it and it fell down from his mouth. He broke it? His mind whirred as he let go of the object, and as he looked down he noticed it was split wide. How fragile this book thing was, except⁠ as he looked at the destruction he noticed black patterns. Arranged in a nice manner, and for a brief second, he saw words.

The Great Calamity, a type of wolfe⁠—

Huh. Sun paused as he very carefully grabbed the book and set it in front of him. Its insides were white with contrasting black words, text. It was a language he didn’t recognize, but he could still read it thanks to Universal Understanding. Nonetheless, it was interesting to him.

He read through the entire page and to his surprise he managed to recognize some of the monsters named there. However, soon he ran out of things to read and he found himself lost. Perhaps⁠— at the bottom of the pages there were numbers, so perhaps it was numbered. Sun, using his paw, prodded the book to open elsewhere and it effortlessly flopped with all of its weight towards the side cover.

He frowned, but fiddled with it for a few seconds and finally he got it to split open in a different place. The pages on the last time were 87, and 88. Now it was open on page 11, and 12. It was a curious thing for him, but he decided to try reading it properly.

Hours passed as he read the pages in disorder, mostly because trying to get to the next tab was difficult for him. Finally, with a sigh as he didn’t understand the notes of their content, he closed the thing. He noticed it had a spine where everything was attached to. This time, with more understanding of the object, he bit it there and took it.

It was a great distraction for him, enough for him to stop his slaughtering spree of things. Enough for him to try to not be so… attached, to his pack leader, Blair.

You are reading story Blair: A Non-Human LitRPG at novel35.com

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Where are they?

Sun looked around the forest, and also walked through the caves of Blood, where some of his race members resided. Though most, sadly, were dead. However, he had oddly gotten over that, it was a new pack now. One that consisted of different races too, one that wasn’t solely about the Fangs, or their subdivisions. He missed his kin deeply, but at the same time he felt hopeful for the future.

He wandered until finally, he spotted the two Woodland Elves sitting down on one of the small homes. They seemed to be talking, and perhaps it was his infinite boredom but instead of instantly approaching like he intended to, he decided to listen into their conversation. Well, it was closer to an argument in his opinion, but no one was shouting at each other just yet.

“Princess, you just have to tell me what he did?”

“What didn’t he do?!” She shrieked in anger.

Sun could smell her trauma too. It was… lesser than Blair’s, but it was quite bad nonetheless. And yet, he felt no desire to help the Woodland elf. He didn’t exactly know why this was the case, but he just didn’t care enough to do anything about it. Maybe it was because he felt initially a bit grateful to Blair, he didn’t exactly know. Nonetheless, the two elves continued.

“He fucking.” She cussed. “God, fuck, what didn’t he do? Torture, exploitation, free labor⁠— fucking do you even know how long I spent there?”

The other elf grew quiet. “You, a day?”

“A MONTH.” She screamed. “A month of fucking torture, pain and suffering and things I won’t talk about. Time was skewed in that place…”

“And…” The elf began. “If you agreed to be his Champion, wouldn’t it have been over?”

Sun heard a silence. “Maybe, but there is no fucking way I will agree after a session of just torture.”

The discussion grew a bit heated and Sun sighed around the corner and finally walked out. Both elves froze in unison as they craned their heads to meet his gaze. They knew he was the leader, they knew they had to listen to him. He simply spoke.

“One of you, accompany me.”

The princess, Elei. Faced the white haired one.

“Should I go?”

“I’ll go.” The other elf agreed.

Sun nodded and soon walked out with one of the Woodland elves in tow. As they traversed through the lush forest, heading in the direction of the square base, the elf spoke.

“How much did you hear, Sun?”

“Most of it.” He sighed. “And, I know it’s not my business to prod, but it’s probably best to not mass slaughter your kin.”

There was a silence, now only the rustling of the grass echoed with each of their footsteps. The distant sounds of the felled trees resounded as they walked together. The elf following after Sun.

“I… I’m just her guard.” He finally said. “At the same time, perhaps I care about her too much. It’s her decision, and I am just enabling it.”

“I see.” Sun agreed. That did seem to be the ongoing status quo.

“Why did you request assistance from either of us?” The elf asked after a few more moments of silence.

Sun walked forward in silence, ignoring the elf’s uneasiness. As they reached the hideout he finally spoke.

“I want you to help me read a book.”

“What?” The elf stumbled. “A book? You want to read a book?”

Sun looked back and raised his brow. “Yes, you know what a book is?”

“Of course I know what a book is,” the elf snorted.

Sun nodded, he didn’t know until a few hours ago. Maybe it was just the difference in cultures. Nonetheless, he was looking forward to consuming all of its contents. That said he remembered the description about changing form.

Maybe if he could change form, he’d be able to read more books. His paws weren’t exactly good for deft manipulation after all. But one step at a time, he just found the activity of reading enjoyable, or rather a nice distraction from ongoing problems.

Unfortunately, he still very deeply missed Blair.