Chapter 34: Chapter 34: Nyolund Wolf Assembly

There was a large, open space in front of the den, which was currently filled to the brim with wolves. Mostly Dire Wolves, but some amount of Shade Wolves as well. No other type that she could spot, and trying to Identify all of them to find out the full level range would take way too long. There had to be at least a couple hundred of them. Definitely more than Merwyn Forest East had, but this was representing an entire zone. Well, three fourths of one, at least, if what she had heard earlier was correct.

All of them turned their heads towards her when she appeared. It was enough to give anyone a bit of stage fright.

She took a deep breath, and wondered how best to address them all.

"Is everyone here?" she raised her voice to ask.

"Most," was the response she got. "Some weren't able to come, and some we didn't find, but everyone who is coming is here."

"Right." So there are even more of them. "Can I count on the rest of you to fill them in after we're done talking here?"

"Yes." "Understood."

Sara looked around, then glanced towards the top of the hill her den was set in. It was probably best to go up there, so everyone could see her. She used Leap to make it to the top, and an "ooohhh~" spread through the crowd.

Are they just very easily impressed? Though I guess I'm the only wolf who can do this. Probably.

She turned around, and had a second of vertigo from looking at the sea of wolves below her, all of whom were watching her with keen interest.

"Right, uh... I asked you all to come here because I have something important to discuss with you all."

Everyone present had Keen Ears, so they should be able to hear her fine without her needing to yell.

"I was contacted by one of the Residents, one of the people of the elf city in the middle of the forest. She asked if we would be willing to stop attacking them when they come into the forest."

"Why?" came the expected first question from the front row.

"If we don't attack them, they'll have an easier time moving around, and may be able to reopen the road going north," Sara replied. "But without our help they wouldn't do so well."

"But they come to hunt us, and it is our role to oppose them."

"Right now, sure, but things can change. I believe it will be more interesting that way," she said, relying on what had worked earlier. "Of course we will demand that they stop attacking us. If they attack, we fight back. If they don't attack, we won't either."

"How will we know they won't attack?" was the next question. "If we always wait for them to attack first, they'll easily win."

"That's a good point," Sara had to concede. "Hm..." She took a bit of time to think. "I think if we ask them to wear some sort of symbol that shows they have friendly intent, that should be enough. I would appreciate it if you helped them out when they came under attack from other mobs as well. I want to build a good relationship between us since I'm interested to see what that could lead to, rather than just living life as it currently is. Though I won't force you to help them. If you don't want to, that's fine. Not attacking them is good enough."

"What's the symbol?"

"I'll work that out when I meet with that person again tomorrow. Do you know the glade near the edge, with the wolf statue?"

"Yes."

"I'm meeting her there tomorrow morning, so please don't attack her if you see her. She's a blonde elf, with white clothing, and green eyes. We'll figure out something regarding what the symbol should be." Hopefully it wasn't going to be too difficult.

"What if they still attack us while wearing it?"

"Then we crush them!" Sara stated definitively.

"Oooohhhh~" came the chorus among the wolves.

"This will only work if both sides respect each other, and if they choose to break their end of the deal, there will be consequences. On that note, I want all of you to change your patrol routines. Everyone should move in packs of three or four, like they do in the south. We need to concentrate our power more. I imagine that when you've gone alone, or in pairs, it hasn't been easy fighting the deer, or standing up to the bears. If you still want to go alone I won't stop you, I'll just ask you to be extra careful. And if you hear any howls, make sure to rush over to see if they need help.
If we truly want to control this forest, and help the elves out, we will need to change how we do things. Maybe eventually we will make a move on the north-west as well, but one step at a time."

"Yes!"

Sara hadn't meant to fire them up that much, but once she had gotten going it had just started rolling out of her.

"I am sure there will still be people who come to attack us. The Adventurers especially. Most of them do not pledge any special allegiance except to themselves, and their friends, so they might still come to fight us. Either to gain strength, or materials, or maybe just for fun. So if anyone without the symbol shows up, treat them with suspicion. Strike first if you deem it necessary, and if you're unsure then come ask me. Actually, I would like reports on any such groups regardless of whether you deal with them yourselves or not. You can just tell me afterwards if need be."

"Okay!"

"Hm..." There was one more thing that came to mind. "Are you able to understand what the people say?"

Silence fell over the group for a moment, until someone said: "No."

"I thought so. I was just thinking what if someone came asking to see me. I will discuss that with the person tomorrow, and I'll inform you all afterwards. Any further questions?"

"No, boss!"

"Alright, then start the new patrol routines immediately. Figure out amongst yourselves who will team up with whom. Came back here tomorrow around the same time if you want an update, otherwise I'll just ask someone to pass it along to you."

"Yes, boss!"

Well, that went better than expected. Wait... did they call me boss? Maybe I got a little too carried away there...

[ Processing. Only 1 of 2 zone boss mob slots in Nyolund - Northern Great Forest of Ildhena are filled. Possible candidate for second slot found. Evaluating.
Achievements... sufficient.
Species: Mystic Wolf... acceptable. ]

Whoa whoa, wait wait wait!

[ Evaluation suspended by order of Overseer. ]

"Are you okay, Sara?"

I... I don't... what the hell just happened?

"Something unprecedented. The system has decided to fill a gap in the world. It is correct that the west, south, and north zones of the forest were all created to house two zone bosses. One wolf, and one other. But in the north the wolf slot was left open to make the zone more approachable than the south, with the intent of adding something at some unspecified 'later' point. I was not even aware the system had the ability to take that upon itself. Then again, you are also unprecedented, so perhaps it saw that as a chance."

But why did it happen now?

"According to the system information the final piece it needed was for the wolves to accept you as their boss. And your little speech accomplished just that. They have been waiting for a boss ever since they were created, after all."

Great...

"Do you not want this? I can shut this process down, but it is too late to stop the wolves seeing you as their boss. Unless you want to leave the forest, it might be better to accept this. Though I understand it will likely attract a significant amount of attention. When there's a boss, inevitably someone will want to defeat it."

Hm...

Sara thought it over. More attention would definitely be annoying. Being hunted by Adventurers was not fun, and she had come here to have somewhere to hide away, and level in peace. On the other hand... attacking the raider camp with all the wolves back in Merwyn had been a lot of fun, even if they had ended up all getting killed. If she thought of it that way, then maybe fighting off raids of players could also be fun, regardless of who wins or loses. Maybe it would be more enjoyable to just embrace it, after all.

Okay. You may continue, Auntie System.

[ Resuming evaluation.
Overall power... within acceptable range.
Skills... interesting. Sufficient.
Skill levels... low. Consulting Overseer for solution... second solution selected.
Granting perk skill Double Skill Experience.
Evaluation complete.
Zone boss accepted.
Making adjustments. Stand by.
Skill Howl changed into skill Pack Leader's Howl.
Granting skill Leadership.
Granting indefinite buff Zone Boss Power Boost: All attributes +20%. Active while boss is inside their zone.
Success.
Process completed. ]

"Oooooohhhhhh~"

Apparently the wolves could somehow tell something had happened. Maybe there had been visual effects or something.

Um, A- er, mother? What did it consult you on, exactly?

"While you have a lot of skills, and they are pretty powerful, in terms of levels a lot of them are still on the low side compared to the other bosses. So the system suggested two solutions.
1) It could instantly boost all of your current skills to the max level of the second tier, to match the others.
2) Since it knows you can level up your skills yourself, it could simply double the amount of skill experience points you earn to help you catch up faster.
I recommended the second option, since it will also speed up any new skills you gain. I think that will help you more in the long run."

Oh...

Sara had a look, since it sounded too good to be true.

[ Double Skill Experience (General): Holder earns double the amount of skill experience points from all sources. ]

It said so, right there, black on pale red.

Huh. Um... thank you. I hope I didn't seem ungrateful, I'm just kinda stunned. It feels like things are snowballing rather quickly. But you're right, it should help a lot in long run.

"You are welcome."

She hopped down from the hill, and landed in front of the cave entrance. There were still a bunch of wolves hanging around, maybe to see if anything else was going to happen.

"Alright, you all. I'm going to get some rest," she told them. "Don't wake me unless there's an emergency, okay?"

"How do we wake you? We can't go inside."

She looked at them, and then back at the cave. Why wouldn't they...

Oh. Right. You've disguised the cave like usual, mother?

"Correct. Should I not?"

It is probably for the best that you do, since I wouldn't want random mobs, or Adventurers wandering inside while I sleep... but is it possible to allow only the wolves to go inside?

"I am able to set their authorisation level accordingly, but are you sure you want to let them?"

It should be fine.

"All right."

The wolves suddenly walked a little closer.

"Oooohhhhh~"

They seemed so impressed at everything. Though maybe that was an appropriate reaction to a cave suddenly opening up in front of them.

"You can come inside, but not too many of you at once, and don't make a mess, okay?"

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"Okay, boss!"

The whole 'boss' thing would definitely take some getting used to. But she had committed now, and she wasn't about to backtrack on it.

She headed inside to her very empty den, with a few of the wolves trotting in behind her.

The first order of business was somewhere to sleep. She had already spoiled herself with a silky bed once, so a large place like this needed one too. Ideally she would like something better than just a hammock, but she didn't really have the dexterity to make a proper bed. Maybe if she secured it enough, it wouldn't swing about too much.

Actually... she had Tree Form now, which gave her hands to work with, even if she couldn't move. But it might be good enough to set up a sort of hanging bed on the wall. A sleeping shelf, or whatever the correct term would be.

She headed over to the most vertical wall, and shifted into Tree Form. The sensation of flesh turning into wood would take a lot of getting used to, but now she could get to work. First would be creating a mattress-like thing to stick to the wall. The shelf itself. And then she could use more threads attached to the outer side to suspend the whole thing from above. Having an extra pair of hands would have been useful. She wondered if she was maybe able to grow extra arm branches, but she had zero idea how to control more than one set of arms. It was hard to hold up the shelf mattress while also hanging up the threads, though...

She half-turned towards the wolves watching her.

"One of you come here, I need some help," she said. "Just one will do," she added when three of them started moving. One of the Dire Wolves came over while the others sat down. "Okay, now go under there so I can rest the mattress on you. Don't worry, it's soft."

The wolf did as she was told, and Sara could worry about getting a sufficient amount of silk to secure the bed in place. It should hold, but she needed to test it.

"You can come out again now. And please get in to see whether or not it will hold." Their weights should be pretty close to one another. A Dire Wolf probably weighed a little more than her, so if she made it work for one of them, it should absolutely work for her. A few more adjustments, and it was ready.

"There we go," she said as she returned to wolf form. "Thank you very much."

"No problem, boss!" Her assistant's tail was wagging furiously.

"Now all of you, shoo. I can't fall asleep if you're watching me."

"Okay, boss..."

They sounded disappointed, but she'd be too self-conscious to fall asleep if she had anyone staring at her.

She slid onto her shelf bed, and sagged down with a content sigh. Some proper piece of luxury in this world at last. The hammock had been good, but it could not compare to this. The final thing to do before going to sleep was to check her status, and skills.

She had 20 bonus points now. Maybe it was time to invest them in something. Her reliance on spells had kept rising as she acquired more of them, so maybe investing in giving them more of an oomph was appropriate. She didn't really have any killer spells a la Ambush, so taking something down always required a bunch of shots. Which was good for skill experience, but not for time or survivability.

She was still using a fair amount of her physical attacks too, and her Strength had started to look a little low. Then... 10 to Intelligence, 5 to Wisdom, and 5 to Strength. That shouldn't be spreading herself too thin.

And now that she was the zone boss, maybe she should update her concealed status to match. Should she edit her species name, and class too? She kinda wanted to fight with all her might should Adventurers show up, but a Druid shouldn't be flinging Fireballs and Frost B- Arrows. A Beast would be more fitting for that. It would be playing into Mirielle's misunderstanding, but maybe that was fine. Just go the whole hog with it.

What do you think, mother? Should I just go wild with editing my status?

"If that is what you wish. I just want you to have fun. It might be worth consulting Mirielle about what she thinks."

Eh? You want me to reveal Conceal Status to her?

"She already knows. Well, to be precise, she knows your shown status is not your real one. She has a skill that allows her to tell, but she is unable to actually see your true status, or skills. She just knows it's false."

Oh... I had no idea. Maybe I'll do that. But is it really okay to trust her that much?

"I believe so. You are already getting yourself into trouble, so what is a little more?"

If I didn't know better, I'd say you're the one who's having fun.

"I have no idea what you mean."

Sure.

She poked at it for a bit, then had a look at her work.

[ Character Status ]

[ Name: Sara ]

[ Species: Nyolund Mystic Wolf (Nyolund Guardian Beast) | Gender: Female ]

[ Genus: Wolf ]

[ Class: Druid (Beast) ]

[ Role: Nyolund - Northern Great Forest of Ildhena Zone Boss ]

[ Level: 24 -> 25 (30) ]

[ HP: 163/163 -> 169/169 +13 (202/202 +16) | SP: 168/168 -> 174/174 +15 (206/206 +17) |
MP: 147/147 -> 161/161 +16 (199/199 +21) ]

[ VIT: 63 -> 65 +13 (80 +16) | END: 73 -> 75 +15 (87 +17) ]

[ STR: 64 -> 71 +14 (84 + 16) | DEF: 51 -> 52 +13 (56 +11) ]

[ AGI: 90 -> 93 +18 (108 +21) | DEX: 60 -> 62 +14 (66 +13) ]

[ INT: 78 -> 92 +18 (105 +21) | WIS: 75 -> 84 +16 (109 +21) ]

[ LUK: 138 -> 144 +28 (60 +12) ]

[ Bonus Attribute Points: 0 ]

Maybe that looked sufficiently beastly. Her actual species name had changed to Nyolund Mystic Wolf, probably due to her new boss status. The guy in the south had been the Sholan Warg, after all. That boss buff was pretty scary, though. She'd probably feel quite weak whenever she went elsewhere. Thankfully it automatically scaled with her fake stats too. And if she was still underselling what her stats should look like... well, who would know? She had mainly winged it, and it was better if they underestimated her.

Wait... what's going to happen to the boss position when I move on to level further? Or become a Resident? ... I'll worry about that later.

Next was her skills. There was more stuff she needed to move into the revealed sections, and then set all of their concealed levels to max like the other boss had, even if she didn't know what their max bonuses were.

[ Skill List ]

[ Active: ]

[ Chomp Lvl 5 -> 7 (Max) | Rend Lvl 3 -> 5 (Max) | Body Slam Lvl Max (Max) | Savage Blow Lvl 2 -> 3 (Max) |
Pack Leader's Howl (Upgraded) Lvl Max (Max) | Sprint Lvl Max (Max) | Thorn Bind Lvl 7 -> 9 (Max) |
Mass Thorn Bind (New) Lvl 1 (Max) | Poison Bolt Lvl 6 -> 8 (Max) | Frost Arrow Lvl 1 (Max) | Fireball Lvl 5 -> 8 (Max) |
Water Needle Lvl 4 -> 7 (Max) | Arcane Blast Lvl 4 (Max) | Growth Lvl 5 -> 6 (Max) | Regrowth Lvl 5 -> 7 (Max) |
Rejuvenate Lvl 5 -> 6 (Max) | Mass Rejuvenate (New) Lvl 1 -> 4 (Max) | Leech Lvl 1 -> 3 (Max) |
Sense Presence Lvl Max (Max) | Bear Form Lvl 1 (Max) | Cat Form Lvl 7 (Max) | Tree Form (New) Lvl 1 -> 4 (Max) ]

[ Concealed Active: ]

[ Charge Lvl 2 -> 4 | Ambush Lvl Max | Throw Lvl 1 | Strong Poison Strike Lvl 5 -> 6 | Death From Above Lvl 4 |
Kick Lvl 3 | Back Attack Lvl 1 -> 2 | Struggle Lvl 1 | Stomp (New) Lvl 1 | Poison Needle (New) Lvl 1 | Leap Lvl Max |
Roar Lvl 1 | Taunt Lvl 1 | Erase Presence Lvl 9 -> 10 | Thermal Vision Lvl 7 | Sense Mana Lvl 3 -> 5 ]

[ Passive: ]

[ Keen Senses Lvl Max (Max) | Danger Sense Lvl 9 -> Max (Max) | Environmental Sense Lvl 7 (Max) |
Insulation Lvl 7 -> 8 (Max) | Firm Grip Lvl 9 -> Max (Max) | Balance Up Lvl 7 -> 9 (Max) | Solid Coat Lvl 3 -> 5 (Max) |
Leadership (Granted) Lvl Max (Max) | Nature Element Up Lvl 6 -> 7 (Max) | Mana Manipulation Lvl 8 -> Max (Max) |
All Attributes Up (Small) Lvl 7 (Max) ]

[ Concealed Passive: ]

[ Trap Sense Lvl 4 | Intuition (New) Lvl 1 | Dig Lvl 3 -> 4 | Spider Climb Max | Spider Silk Lvl 3 -> 6 |
Paralysis Venom Lvl 1 | Cat's Feet Lvl 9 -> Max | Air Control Lvl 8 | Swim Lvl 5 | Dive Lvl 1 | Quick Feet Lvl 4 -> 6 |
Chameleon Lvl 9 -> Max | Pursuit Lvl 1 | Copy Cast (New) Lvl 1 | Fire Element Up Lvl 3 -> 5 | Poison Resistance Lvl 6 -> 7 |
Fire Resistance Lvl 2 | Dark Resistance Lvl 1 | HP Regen (Small) (Gr£n%ed#) Lvl 1 | SP Regen (Small) (Gr£n%ed#) Lvl 1 |
MP Regen (Small) (Gr£n%ed#) Lvl 1 | Skill Gain Lvl Max (Hidden) | Commune With Animals (New) ]

[ General: ]

[ Identify Lvl 8 (Hidden) | Communicate: Family (Hidden) | Conceal Status Lvl Max (Hidden) ]

[ Concealed General: ]

[ Languages (Hidden): Common, Goblin, Elf (New) | Life Magic Lvl 5 | Decryption (New) Lvl 1 |
Double Skill Experience (Granted) (Hidden) ]

[ Disabled (All Hidden): ]

[ Tough Scales | Flight | Spider Net Trap | Logging | Cleave | Chop | Bow Expertise | Woodworking | Power Shot | Glide |
Disarm Trap | Smack (Gr£n%ed#) ]

[ Skill points: 15 ]

Maybe she had gone a little overboard. If she remembered correctly, the Warg down south didn't have that many active skills. She simply wanted the things she was most likely to be seen doing to be visible. Well, if she was going to ask Mirielle about hidden stats anyway, maybe she could get her input on skills as well.

It was interesting to see that Commune With Animals didn't have a skill level at all. It was just a thing. She had only seen that on general skills before. Perhaps it would have been a general skill if it hadn't been Druid exclusive.

There were some of the new things she hadn't had a look at yet. Like she was curious just how much the Regen skills restored.

[ HP Regen (Small) (Passive): Restores (2+(0.04))% of Max HP every 10 seconds. ]

[ SP Regen (Small) (Passive): Restores (1+(0.03))% of Max SP every 12 seconds. ]

[ MP Regen (Small) (Passive): Restores (1+(0.03))% of Max MP every 12 seconds. ]

So HP Regen was a little stronger than the other two. There were probably balance reasons for that.

[ Pack Leader's Howl (Active): Release a howl that has a (50+(2*skill level))% chance to inflict Fear(?) status in enemies for 5 seconds, and will Rally(?) allies within a 20 metre radius for 20 seconds. Effect and duration increase with skill level. Rally buff value: (10+(2*skill level))%. Cost: 5 SP. Refresh: 40 seconds.
Max Level Bonus: Rally also buffs Critical Hit Chance by 15%. ]

It had been a while since she had looked at the skill description for this one, and she wasn't able to see the before version any longer, but she was reasonably certain the new one was stronger. Probably gave a better buff, and had a bigger range, or something.

[ Leadership (Passive): If holder is set as party leader, raid leader, guild leader, or battlefield commander, then all subordinates within a 100 metre radius gain +(10+(1*skill level))% damage dealt, and +(5+(0.5*skill level))% attack speed. They will also be more motivated, with morale more easily going up, and being less likely to drop. Leader's death will cause massive morale loss in subordinates.
Max level bonus: Leader's death has a 20% chance to trigger an Avenge The Leader buff that is double the strength of the regular Leadership buff, and gives a morale boost. Duration: 30 seconds. ]

Morale was a concept she hadn't seen mentioned before. She could see how it would have an effect on mobs, and Residents, but did it really work on Wanderers too? Well, that wasn't relevant for her at the moment.

And Auntie System had been nice enough to make the skill max level right away. A zone boss not having max Leadership was probably not an option.

All of that in just one day. What have I gotten myself into? But I'll save the regrets for when I'm old. Come what may, let's just ride this train, and see where the tracks lead.

Sara stretched herself out. Since she got double skill experience now, maybe it was time for her to start working on levelling up her lesser used skills as well. Maybe they would unlock something interesting, but regardless the skill points would be nice. Maybe she'd have a clearer idea of what to do after sleeping on it.

A friend told me that what Sara did was pretty much a textbook example of tyranny.
So I guess she's a tyrant now. :3

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