As Ark pondered, his stomach suddenly started to loudly grumble. Ark hadn't eaten in a couple of days to be completely honest. But there was just so much stuff going on that he couldn't find the time to think about food. As this loud rumble suddenly broke the silence, Thufrat burst out into laughter. Ark was a bit embarrassed, but he still stood up, and he was about to leave when he suddenly turned around and shot a glance at the dwarf.
"You're going to hunt right? Is it okay if I join you?"
As Thafrut said this, his stomach rumbled as well. Like it was making some sort of statement by doing so. Ark smiled a little as he nodded his head at the dwarf, it would be kind of awkward to just leave him here after all. As Thafrut saw this, he got up to leave as well. He didn't really feel like staying all alone inside of a tree with nothing better to do.
As they went about their hunting, the atmosphere was a little awkward at first, but they slowly grew more comfortable around each other. Thufrat didn't really know if he was supposed to speak or not, but since they were hunting, he decided against it, what if he scared away the prey after all? As they were on the hunt, Ark suddenly caught a whiff of blood. As soon as he felt it, he suddenly stopped for a second, and exaggerated a sniff, to show the dwarf that he had caught a scent.
"You find something?"
Ark just nodded his head as he started following the scent. Thafrut followed quietly behind him, as he controlled his breathing. Ark just did it naturally at this point, and he didn't activate his stealth skill, it did consume Mana after all, and he didn't really believe it to be necessary since it didn't matter if he used it right now. Because if Thafrut was found out, he would naturally be found out as well.
As they went on along their path, the scent got stronger, and they soon ended up alongside the same stream that was flowing outside of the tree. Drinking from the stream was a huge silver-grey boar. The boar had obviously been in a fierce battle, as it had a lot of bloody scars crisscrossing over its entire body. There was an arrow stuck in its left eye, and it didn't seem to be far from death's door.
As Ark saw this, he instantly shot out from the underbrush and went in for a killing strike, as he charged out, he activated his stealth skill and managed to stay undetected as he slit the boar's throat in one swift motion. Since there was nothing for him to do, Thufrat just went along with him and gave him a pat on the head as to commend him for his good work. Ark was weirded out by this, he wasn't some normal animal, but it did feel pretty good, and he didn't really care too much, so he just let it slide.
As they were about to haul the spoils back to the tree. They suddenly heard a lot of footsteps, unfortunately, they didn't get the opportunity to get out of there before the footsteps arrived.
A group of five hunters emerged from behind some trees, obviously on the lookout for something. As they spotted Ark and Thufrat standing by the stream, they grew vigilant, but as they saw the dead boar, they instead turned angry. They had been chasing this boar for hours after all and fought a fierce battle in order to kill it. Only to find it in the hands of some random dwarf and his mount.
"Hey, you!"
One of the experienced hunters stepped forward to talk.
"Me?"
Thufrat was a bit surprised by this series of events, but he could guess what was about to come.
"Who else?"
[No need to be so rude] Thafrut thought to himself as he answered a bit snappily this time.
"What do you want?"
"We've been hunting that boar for hours, and we were the ones who injured it!"
"And?"
"What do you mean [And?], hand it over"
"You have no evidence that you did, in fact, hunt this boar, so the answer is no."
Thufrat didn't show any weakness in front of people like these, even if he was pretty sure they were telling the truth, they were way too rude, and they should have at least offered them some benefits in exchange, or at the very least asked nicely.
"Just because you have a nice mount, don't think that you can fight as by yourself, just hand it over!"
As Ark heard this, he was infuriated! He didn't want some random nobodies to randomly come here and act like they owned the place, and then call him a mount. As he thought this, he let out a snort. Accompanying this snort was an incredible amount of ice Mana that swept through the surroundings. The ground was suddenly completely frozen, and the hunters could feel chills run down their spines.
"I'm so sorry, we didn't mean to disturb you at all!"
One of the hunters bowed down and said before he started to quickly run away. The rest of the hunters were dumbfounded before they abruptly turned around and followed him as quickly as they could, this wolf was trouble after all, and something they couldn't deal with.
As Thufrat saw this, he started to feel a little better and started to laugh loudly as he watched them run away in horror. He gave the wolf a thumbs up before they went on their way back to the tree again.
It didn't take them long to get back to the tree, but they stopped outside of it since they had to skin the boar as well as process the meat and make it ready for cooking. As Thufrat was about to take a step forward and do all the work, the boar suddenly started to float as the ice Mana in the surroundings went to work. Ark was finished in less than a minute, and the meat had a glossy look to it as Ark started to light a fire. Thufrat secretly wished that he could do something like that since it would be very convenient in his opinion.
Even though the boar had been through a tough battle, Ark still managed to make the skin into something you could use as a blanket or a quilt. Ark made this for Thufrat since it didn't seem like he would be leaving for the time being, and Ark was quite glad to have some company, it was actually a lot more pleasant than being all alone by himself. Thufrat didn't seem to mind that he was a wolf either, and Ark commended his character. At least the parts that he had seen.
Thufrat didn't have fur like Ark, and even if he slept right next to a campfire, he would still feel cold, therefore he was really happy when he got something to cover himself with, he was also a bit moved by the thoughts of this wolf that he had encountered in the dungeon. If he could, he would definitely want to adventure the world with this wolf, if only it could speak with him, he was sure they would become good friends.
For now, though, he intended to stay here for a while and ask if the wolf would want to explore the dungeon with him since the wolf was very powerful after all, and he liked the company it provided. They were both loners and had been loners for quite a while. Ark's thoughts were pretty similar, if he could have company, then he would be very glad, he could also use someone who is originally from this world since he had no idea about practically anything when it came to this place, he didn't even know where he was right now.
Thinking similar thoughts, they both enjoyed the smell of cooked food that wafted through the air as the meat was barbequed over the small campfire...
Maybe a bit short, but oh well.
After filling their stomach with a simple meal, they both went to sleep. They had been through a lot today, and rest was essential to a healthy lifestyle. Thufrat slept under the beast skin they had just harvested, and Ark just slept next to the campfire. It didn't take long for either of them to fall asleep, and the next day was quickly upon them.
Ark's plan today was to revisit the dungeon and continue to explore it and level up. Thufrat had similar thoughts, but he also wanted to test out his new strength. He didn't notice it yesterday, but this morning, he noticed a plethora of changes to his status. Which all stemmed from his bloodline awakening, of course, Thufrat didn't know what kind of bloodline he had awakened, but from the looks of things, it wasn't weak at all.
And bloodlines were very strong in general, even if it was a weaker one, it was still something to be excited over. The only annoying part about bloodlines was that you couldn't see what they were if they were self-awakened, unless you knew a lot about bloodlines, and knew what kind of skills you got from them. Thufrat had also leveled up to level 38 from the fight they had. If Ark knew this, he would be a little dumbfounded, since it implied that Ark got less experience than other people did. Or at least less than Thufrat did.
There were some simple reasons behind this, of course, Ark wouldn't find out until later, but still. The biggest reason was his growth skill since it was so strong, it needed more experience for the host to level up. Another reason was just that different people needed more experience than others to level up.
Since the wolf couldn't talk, Thufrat decided that he would take the initiative.
"I was wondering, do you want to go back into the dungeon?"
Ark nodded his head enthusiastically as he stood up and got ready to leave. But just as he was about to, Thufrats stomach growled a little. Therefore Ark decided to just hunt him a rabbit before they left for the dungeon. After that was done, they bore off on their journey towards the dungeon. Thufrat had no idea where this tree of Ark's was, and he, therefore, needed the wolf to show him the way to the dungeon.
As they arrived at the cemetery once more, Thufrat was just about to take out his prized Warhammer when Ark suddenly shot out from in front of him. While he was moving, Ark accumulated a massive amount of ice Mana in his left claws and got himself ready for a devastating move. As he arrived in front of the big amount of enemies, he unleashed the Mana he had been accumulating and sent it towards the undead. This time around, it was a lot easier than last time, his magic was a lot stronger after all.
As he slashed out, a big tornado made out of ice was sent out, its sole objective to utterly destroy, and it delivered. The undead didn't even get the chance to resist before they were torn to pieces by the ice shards flying around at tremendous speed. Thufrat was always surprised when this wolf used magic, it was always so extravagant, and such advanced magic. Most people just condensed their elements into a slash or a ball or something similar. Ark could of course also do this, but more often than not, it wasn't as effective.
As the undead were decimated, they both entered the dungeon quickly. Since it was a bit cramped in the stairs, Ark walked in the back. The reason was simple, if Thufrat walked in the back, he wouldn't be able to see past Ark at all, and in case something happened, that wasn't really anything good. As they arrived at the bottom, they were greeted by the sight of the caves system once again.
After a while, they entered the space were the caves branched out into three different paths. As Ark was about to walk to the right one, Thufrat walked towards the one in the middle. AS they both saw what the other was doing, they were both a bit surprised, they had just both assumed that the other took the same path to get to the jungle. It seemed like the three paths led to the same place, just that some held more danger than others. As he thought about this, Thufrat decided to ask a question.
"Are there any monsters in that path?"
Ark nodded quickly.
"Then we should take the one in the middle, there are strong ghouls in the left one, but there are no monsters in the middle one."
As Ark heard this, he was a bit surprised, he was almost sure that there would be monsters in all the paths, and in the beginning, he even thought that they led to different places. But since there were no enemies in the middle one, they chose to take that path.
It took them a couple of minutes to arrive at the entrance of the jungle once more, but this time, Ark didn't hesitate like last time and just spread out light Mana to protect them from the fog, since it could mess with their heads. And that would drastically affect their combat strength. Thufrat was pleasantly surprised by this since he had just used determination and perseverance the last time.
As they entered the jungle, Ark started to ponder, that horde of skeletons they had fought with, where did they come from? And why did they seem like an organized combat force? This dungeon didn't seem as simple as it used to when Ark first entered it.
As they ventured around in the jungle, they decided to avoid most of the monsters they ran into, this turned out to be a good move since Thufrat harvested a lot of magical herbs, that were worth a lot of money, at least according to him. It looked a little comical though, a wolf and a dwarf running around in a jungle and fervently picking up herbs.
As they had ventured around for a couple of hours, they both suddenly stopped. In front of them, the jungle suddenly ended. And in front of them, there was a large plain, upon which stood a castle. Compared to the castles he had seen in his past life, this one was a lot more magnificent, but that was only because the castles he had seen were from backwater places.
Out from this castle, came another squadron of skeletons, led by a high skeleton in scarlet armor. As Ark and Thufrat saw this, plans started to form in both of their minds. Ark wanted to conquer this castle since it seemed to be the boss of the first floor, that would lead them to the second floor, and he would surely get some levels if he were to take over it. Thufrat also wanted to level up, but he was more excited for the treasure they would inevitably find in this castle.
Since they didn't know the exact numbers of enemies, it would be stupid to just run in like some buffoons and end up dying. There was surely a strong boss monster in the castle as well, therefore, it was best to take out the underlings. Before Thufrat was able to voice his opinion, Ark made a noise to grab his attention. As Thufrat shot him an inquisitive glance, Ark started to draw on the ground.
His plan was to wait for some squadrons to go on patrol, like the one from yesterday, and ambush them until the castle couldn't send out any more. When that happened they would swiftly attack, and this time around, Ark would handle the big boss, while Thufrat would handle the small fry. As Thufrat saw this plan drawn on the ground, he started to grin, as he gave his assent to the plan.
And like this, the plan to conquer the first floor had officially started!
Due to some severe pain in my neck, I couldn't write anything yesterday, therefore you get double chapters today instead, hope you'll like it!
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