Chapter 8: 6. First Harvest

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Name: None

Age: 2 | Level: 10

Race: Nine Tailed Wolf (Cub)

Attributes:

Strength: 10 | Endurance: 7

Speed: 8 | Dexterity: 4

Intelligence: 9 | Luck: 4

Statistics:

Stamina: 36 | MP: 90

Swiftness: 34 | Agility: 16

Senses: 42 | Atr Cap: 42

Attack: 55.5 | Defense: 31

Magic Attack: 27 | MP Regen: 0.54/min

Proficiencies:

- Bite (Lv. 8): +80% Attack when biting.

- Tracking (Lv.4): +20% Senses while tracking.

Magic Skills:

- Fire (Lv.3): +30% Magic Attack

- Mystic Fire (Lv.1): ??? (Appraisal Level Insufficient.)

Cognitive Skills (Passive):

- Smell of the Wolf God (Lv-)

Spontaneous Skills (Active):

- Shadow Step (Lv.3): Cooldown – 80s

Nirvana Skills:

- Tailed Pearl: ???

Cooldown – 48h

Unique or Racial Traits:

- Sharp Fangs: +100% Attack when using fangs

- Nine-Tailed Wolf’s Nose: +50% to Senses

- Nine-Tailed Clan’s Blessing: ???

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Rakna analyzed every single detail of the status in front of him while keeping eye contact with the wolf as they circled around each other.

The wolf was awfully silent and Rakna believed that it was planning to attack as soon as its skill, Shadow Step, was available again. That was probably the ability that had cost him his arm earlier.

‘It also means that the more I wait, the more chances it has to kill me,’ Rakna thought. ‘I can sense Pronos’ intention to sneak attack. It might work. This beast has a significant sense value so I can only trust Pronos to be able to stay undetected.’

 

As he was thinking that, Rakna’s vision blurred for a second. His injury was getting the best of him in the end. It wasn’t only his arm that had been affected, he had been hit in the ribs and he could only hope that he didn’t have internal bleeding.

The wolf wasn’t stupid and instantly noticed its opponent’s fragile stance. It leaped toward Rakna at a speed drastically lower than earlier without Shadow Step.

 

Rakna shook his head and tightly gripped his spear before deflecting the wolf’s claws before avoiding the bite that followed. The creature landed behind its prey and waved its nine tails. Then, the same number of crimson flames appeared in the air.

Rakna’s eyes narrowed as he jumped away. He swung Sonata once and cut through three of the flames before they exploded. A cloud of smoke shrouded the wolf but it apparently did nothing to it as the six remaining flames emerged from the smoke like missiles and flew toward Rakna as if they were guided.

He clicked his tongue and ran toward a tree before slashing at its trunk. The tree easily fell under the blade and collided with the missile-like flames. An explosion occurred and although it was small, the tree was turned into ashes very quickly.

Rakna gazed at the wolf through the fire that was separating them. ‘The gap in firepower is evident but Sonata is more than enough for me to kill it as long as I land a good hit. Without my arm, I can’t use the bow form though it wouldn’t do enough damage anyway. I can only wait for Pronos and hope that this wolf doesn’t use its Nirvana Skill. My Appraisal couldn’t show what it was but if the cooldown is anything to go by, I don’t want to bet. For that, I need it to feel unthreatened but I also need to survive… No choice; four points to speed.’

 

He instructed inwardly and he felt his mind getting clearer and his body getting lighter. Speed and dexterity came in a shared bundle. The latter increased agility drastically, in other words, body control. But the former was raw velocity and the mental ability to cope with fast movements.

Considering he needed to survive, it was the most rational choice for Rakna. And it was confirmed when he barely dodged the wolf’s swipe after it had been shrouded in shadows.

‘Shadow Step… probably a speed burst kind of skill,’ Rakna commented inwardly as he moved out of the way. At the same time, he heard the notification of Appraisal leveling up. If it wasn’t for the situation, he would have come to the conclusion that this level up was due to him analyzing the properties of a skill.

He then whirled Sonata and left a deep gash on the wolf’s back. Although he had only one arm left, his mastery of the spear hadn’t been set at level eight for nothing.

The nine-tailed beast roared in pain and used its rear legs to hit Rakna who merely used his weapon to shield himself and retreat with the knockback. When he landed, he looked up to see the wolf’s open mouth blazing and seemingly charging something.

Rakna furrowed his eyebrows with a taciturn look. ‘This seems stronger than the previous ones. I might not be able to stop it with just a few trees,’ he thought, then felt something nudging his mind. It was as if someone or something was talking to him. ‘Pronos… he wants me to stop its movements.’

Rakna instantly made his decision. He anchored his legs and hoisted Sonata above his shoulder before throwing it with all of his strength.

The azure spear made its way through the air at an impressive speed but the wolf easily avoided it although it had been forced to stop the casting of its fire magic. The creature glanced at the spear which had just pierced the ground next to it before looking back at its opponent. Then, it heard the sound of the wind and immediately jerked back in fright when it saw the human barely a meter away.

Rakna was unbelievably focused as he rushed toward the wolf. As planned, it hadn’t expected him to charge so recklessly and the only counter it gave was a sweep of its claws. Rakna ducked under it and grabbed Sonata again. He pulled it out of the ground and used his hand and his foot to twist it and revert it to its scarf form.

With the scarf in his hand, Rakna continued on his momentum and positioned himself behind the wolf. He grabbed both ends of the scarf and put it around the beast’s neck before pulling with everything he had.

“Pronos!”

When he shouted, the little snake swiftly slithered out of the bushes; he also had put the rest of his points into speed for this.

The moment Pronos made himself known, the wolf noticed him right away but it couldn’t do anything as the snake bit its leg, releasing a glowing poison in its veins.

When the beast realized what was going on, it released a noise that sounded like the mix of a howl and a rage-induced roar. Immediately after, its entire body was immolated in blue fire.

Rakna and Pronos couldn’t get away in time before the fire shined and produced a massive shockwave. The trees around them were deracinated before burning in midair.

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Pronos had high defense so the blow hadn’t done much damage to him but the blunt force had almost incapacitated him. On the other hand, Rakna crashed on the ground after being flung like a ragdoll. Every part of his body was hurt in some way and a random branch had managed to puncture his stomach.

Rakna couldn’t move at all and his consciousness was slowly fading away as he heard Pronos make sounds of anguish as he nudged him. He gritted his teeth and his nails scraped the soil until it bled.

One of his eyes started turning bloodshot and a prompt from the System flickered into existence along with an emotionless voice that wasn’t Alexa’s.

|| Anomaly detected. Analysis of Host’s mental state in progress... Lapsed. Detection of Unknown Unique Trait. Adaptation of Host’s Attributes… Lapsed. ||

These words were echoing in Rakna’s head as Pronos hissed in the direction of the wolf which was walking toward them with blue flames surrounding it.

Then, Rakna suddenly started laughing. It was loud and eerie. The nine-tailed beast abruptly froze in place and almost took a step backward. In its perspective, the human who had not shown any bloodlust whatsoever until now had suddenly released one even higher than its own.

Pronos was also scared. His connection to his owner allowed him to know of his state at any moment and also to feel his presence, and that presence had suddenly been warped.

The two creatures gazed at Rakna who was now getting up. His bleeding had stopped and he was already holding Sonata in its Guandao form. His expression was shadowed until he finally was standing straight. Pronos cowered slightly and the wolf growled; instinctively trying to intimidate an opponent that it felt it couldn’t defeat.

Rakna’s expression was the very description of insanity and joyfulness put together. He sported a wide grin and his bloodshot eyes perfectly matched its intensity. His chuckle resounded and the wolf acted out of pure urgency.

Its nine tails wagged and conjured a large blue fireball. The magic projectile was shot at its target and Rakna’s eyes flashed as he thrust Sonata at the fireball before it exploded.

The wolf watched the flames spread with heightened alertness; the bloodlust hadn’t disappeared in the slightest. The blue light was reflected by its eyes which widened in shock when a silhouette emerged.

Rakna ran toward the wolf with an unbreakable smirk. When he was close enough, he swung Sonata vertically.

The beast noted that its opponent was considerably slower than before. It easily sidestepped the spear strike but when the azure blade hit the ground, the earth literally cracked open. A wave of dread immediately invaded the lupine's mind.

It was about to use Shadow Step to flee when Rakna let go of Sonata and directly grabbed it behind its neck. The beast was shockingly overpowered for a brief moment and Rakna ruthlessly kneed its muzzle. After that, he punched its throat and kicked one of its legs.

The wolf had been put into a daze by the first strike and its leg breaking was the thing that pulled him out of it. It snarled and instead of using Shadow Step to get away used it to bite into Rakna’s shoulder at an incredible speed.

The wolf expected him to let go but instead, Rakna laughed again and followed by hitting it with his knee a second time. The one who was forced to let go was the beast. It was slowly going crazy because of the pain and the fact that it didn’t understand how its opponent had gotten so much stronger physically wasn’t helping.

In the end, the nine-tailed being decided to throw the remainder of its mana into its strongest skill. A wave of power shoved Rakna away and a sphere of blue and black energy appeared above the wolf.

“So, that’s the might of a Nirvana Skill, huh?” Rakna’s voice sounded amused. “Looks like you’re using a lot of mana...” He grinned. “Are you sure that it’s a good idea, mutt?” He cackled darkly and the wolf was confused at first before it suddenly felt its strength wear out. The Tailed Pearl was forcefully dispelled and it staggered on its feet.

The beast desperately tried to muster its magic or even to just move, but it was to no avail. It was then that it finally noticed that the left half of its body had blue glowing lines all over it.

“Looks like I was right,” the human uttered. “Eion Poison isn’t your regular type of toxin. It’s an energy-based venom. When it is injected inside the body, it will spread through the blood vessels and burn through them to carbonize the nerves and muscle tissues. As far as I know, the only way to stop it is to use another source of energy to counter it. Magnetic fields can do the trick usually."

As Rakna continued to talk, the wolf was losing more and more strength and awareness. It barely could listen to what was being said much less understand it.

“But, evidently, there was something that was protecting you from it,” Rakna squinted. “That thing was probably your magic power; your mana. But you went ahead and expended all of it.”

He sneered and approached the immobile wolf with Sonata in hand. No matter how much it struggled, its body wasn’t responding in the slightest. Rakna stopped in front of it and lifted Sonata.

“You were fucking annoying. I’ll give you that.”

The azure blade of Sonata pierced the head of the wolf and that was it.

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Lv.10 Nine-Tailed Wolf killed.

Congratulations! You killed a creature two times your level! The experience has been doubled!

Congratulations! You killed a Legendary Rank creature! The experience has been tripled!

Congratulations! You killed a Legendary Rank creature! You acquired a new title!

Congratulations! Your reward for the Initiation was increased by 9000 Talys!

Level up!

+1 Free Point.

Current progress: 57/60

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Rakna looked at the notification before collapsing on the ground without warning. His eyes and expression returned to normal. He started panting heavily and Pronos slithered toward him. He glanced at him and before he could say anything, his injuries’ toll finally overwhelmed him. The last thing he heard before fainting was Alexa trying to say something to him.

* * *

Rakna’s consciousness was waning. He wasn’t sure of what was happening to him but after he killed the nine-tailed wolf and fainted, he would suddenly wake up every few minutes or so. But he could never open his eyes or even hear anything other than the mechanical voice of the System telling him the time remaining before the Initiation was over and if he wanted to leave or not.

His mind had been drowned and pulled back more than a dozen times already, and the more the countdown continued, the more he was sure that the System was nonstop asking him if he wanted to leave because he would probably die before the timer reached zero.

He wanted to answer but he couldn’t do anything. He couldn’t speak nor could he even think clearly. It was then that he felt something reacting deep inside him. His heart began to beat faster and louder and for the first time, the System said something else other than the time left.

|| Anomaly detected. ||

Another one. This time, even Rakna himself knew it wasn’t referring to what happened against the wolf.

|| The Host’s critical state has triggered a change. Congratulations, Rakna Xiorra, your innate Nirvana Skill, The Harvester, has been awakened. ||

* * *

Pronos was continuously attempting to wake his owner up since he had fainted. Alexa, which he shared with Rakna as their personal AI, had told him what would happen if he couldn’t wake up.

There was an hour left on the clock when Pronos finally saw movement from Rakna. He was happy and relieved.

Rakna slowly stood up but strangely, his eyes were still closed and there was no indication that he was aware of his surroundings. Pronos hissed softly in worry and watched perplexed as his human owner walked to the corpse of the wolf.

The little snake was dumbfounded when Rakna spear-handed the beast’s carcass and took out a very gory heart along with a few pieces of organs. He was even more lost and shocked when Rakna started eating it.

|| The Harvester has been activated. The heart has been assimilated. Core gene established; Nine-Tailed Werewolf. ||

These words resounded in Rakna’s head but he couldn’t hear them because what was moving his body was nothing more than instinct.

Pronos watched stunned as his owner yelled like a genuine beast after eating the heart before falling on the ground again. Then, something even more shocking befell Rakna’s body and the little snake was now questioning his own sanity.

An hour later, a global message from the System was communicated to every Host currently going through the Initiation.

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|| Pay Attention! This is a Global Missive! We repeat! This is a Global Missive! ||

|| The initiation period is officially over. The number of survivors from the original 29 864 of this batch is 15 298. Congratulations to all of you! ||

|| Within forty-eight hours, the System will give out the tutorial mission. ||

|| Survive well, Hosts. ||

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