Chapter 11: Impudence

Name: Vagabond WolfElement: EarthLevel: 25Race: Wolf+HP: 542/542MP: 42/111STR: 10SPI: 1VIT: 5AGI: 35DEX: 5LUK: 10

Let's see... Someone who relies on speed, hmm? He is way out of my league, but he is my servant now, and it's good.. I hope. I shudder at the thought of how I was helpless against him earlier. His Atk should be around 20 while his critical rate is 4.5%. So was the bite that took 40 HP from me earlier a critical hit or a 2x Atk skill?

["It was a 10x Atk Damage-over-Time non-effect skill that is supposed to do a total of 200 damage and have a chance for critical on each hit. But I released my grip the moment I realized my mistake, so it only had time to deal 2x atk."] The wolf's voice ring in my mind. Telepathic? Wait, you can read my mind too?

["No, you're thinking too loudly."]

Oh...

It seems that after binding the wolf's soul to mine, I can talk to the wolf telepathically if I focus on it. And because I was too focused on the wolf's status, I accidentally "talked" with him. This is handy, but I don't really need it... Did I forget about something?

["Can I eat these human now?"] The wolf asks impatiently with a knight still inside his maw. Right, the human. How long has him been in there? Also, why does he ask when he supposed to "not bound to my order"?

["No... just knock them unconscious. You can eat the two corpse over there though."] Since exp is received once dealing damage, I don't think it's necessary to kill the knight. I had no qualm killing them if they tried to attack me though, but in current situation... it feels weird taking them as sacrifice, even though it's the wolf that took it for me.

The wolf growls at me. It was a meaningless growl but it obviously shows his dissatisfaction. For a second I was afraid he would attack me instead.

The wolf jerks his head and with a gulp, the knight in his maw is sent to doom.

[30 Exp shared from Servant: Vagabond wolf. You're now lv3]

"Wait what?"

["Well, he is corpse now, isn't he?"] The wolf grins at my question. He is obviously happy to go against my order. The two knights don't seem to mind that their comrade became wolf-chow. They probably only care about being my exp.. I mean, being "one with the world".

"No, not that. I thought I could get more exp..." Yep, that's what I care about. The dragon way of thinking probably dwarfed my human sense of morality. Or I have ADHD and couldn't focus on what is important. An ADHD dragon, heh.

["I'm the same lv as them, so the exp is calculated using my level. Then you received half of my share."] The wolf explains.

"Why does a wild monster know so much? Did they have to go through a tutorial before spawning?" My questions were ignored by the impudent wolf and also the knights. Probably there is only one thing in those knights' minds now.

"Me too!" One of the knight kneel in front of the wolf. Hey! Now you're paying respect to my servant but not me? Even though I don't like being worshiped, I still need some degree of respect! You obviously pretend to worship me just for your own goods. Such despicable human! The other knight follows the other's action. You too?

"Kill them!" Now that I have a reason, I order my wolf servant to kill without thinking twice. You want to die, then die please! Not like I would lose anything.

The brown wolf shifts his body forward and both his front legs disappear. Probably because his speed is too much for my perception. When his front legs appear at their original position again, the two knight collapse left and right and died.. or so I thought.

[10 Exp shared from Servant: Vagabond Wolf.]

"What?! Only 10 exp?" How many questions have I asked today? Probably more than the last 12000 combined! (LOL)

["I'm full, so I just knocked them unconscious like you said."] The wolf answers in my mind with a grin on his feral face. How impudent! However I didn't voice that or thinking about that too loudly in my mind. Even though he isn't allowed to hurt me, there is still possibility that he might one-hit me in rage if I get on his bad side. What a troublesome servant I've got... I look at the sky and sigh.

The night has turned a bit to the morning. To my right, the sky is a bit bright as the sun is raising. I don't need to sleep anyway, however...

["I'm sleepy. I'm heading back to my lair. Follow me."] The wolf idly walks toward the north, his belly sways with each step. I want to complain about how bossy my servant is, but since I had nowhere to go, I decide to follow him...

Hours later...

The sun shines directly to a man's face, blinding his eyes and forcing him to wake up. His armor reflects the sunlight and shines brightly like a beacon. He raises a hand to touch his forehead while grunting. A big bruise is visible, he can feel it. He was one of the two knights that the Dragon of Origin's servant knocked out of conscious with the back of its paws. He looks at the other knight who also wakes up at the same time as him, then his eyes is laid on the two bloody corpses of his comrades, barely hidden under a sheet of cloth crudely taken from their backpack.

"Brothers! No!" He tries to sand up but staggered due to the dizziness and ends up crawling to where the two corpses are. "Dragon of Origin my ass!" He curses, his hands clenching into two fists, hitting the ground, his eyes are moist. He looks forward with a determined looks in his eyes and grunts under his breath. "I swear I will make you regret what you did today!"

Chapter 12: Preparation

I'm currently sitting on the ground, laying my back against a huge tree. The tree is bigger than the surrounding trees but not to the point of being abnormal. That tree is the "lair" of my wolf-servant. He lives in a hole under the tree trunk. However it's too small for me so I have to sit outside. It's not like I have to risk myself guarding him; he said the area around his lair is relatively safe due to his scent; so in a way, he's actually guarding me.

I wonder where I should go from now on. My current option is following my wolf. Even though he is an impudent servant, having a lv25 wolf to protect me isn't too bad; in a world like this, a lv10 monster could probably easily one-hit my current self. The stun-slap he used on the knights earlier gave me 10 exp; by my calculation, he dealt 10 damages to each knight of the same lv who are also wearing somewhat sturdy armor. I don't know if knocking on their head would bypass the armor, but he obviously didn't bypass their Def stat. They're knights, so it's nature if they have high Def. I shrug at the thought of how close this world turn into ruin. I don't fear death anyway.

["Why did you stop me from eating the two corpses?"] The wolf's growling voice rang in my mind.

"I thought you're sleeping?" I lean over, looking into the hole where my wolf servant is.

["You're thinking too loudly again. How can I sleep?"]

"Ah.. sorry..." I chuckle, hoping him won't question me about my action further. He seems to understand my intention as he ceases talking.

To be honest, I don't know why I stopped him. I even pulled out a piece (I'm huge!) of cloth from their backpack to cover the corpses. It would take a while for my thinking frame to be completely of a dragon, like any other time when I change my species when body surfing. Not counting the 12000 years long sleep, my previous life is just two or three days ago from now. I close my eyes although I'm not feeling sleepy as I try to forget the past...

In the town on the other side of the vast forest in the north of the Temple of Origin...

The high priest of the Temple is seen ordering a group of knight in shining armor - the Temple's Holy Knights. Each of them has Element of Holy plus being able to cast a spell of other element; the requirement to join the order of Holy Knights. However it's a bit meaningless for their current mission as their target is an element-less dragon...

"The oracle has said he would go by this town in the future. We don't know when, but the oracle has never been proven wrong!" The high priest says. After he heard the information from the oracle, he came to this town in the fastest way possible. Lucky for him, his target hasn't passed by here yet.

The knights raise their arms high and shout in high spirit, in their hands are long and huge chains glowing dimly instead of sword.

"I guess you all know this by now, but I will say it again! Our target is the Lv1 Dragon of Origin, no other weapon is allowed! Use these special chains to capture him alive!"

Although "knights" are usually go with sword, the knights in the Temple were also trained specifically for capturing mission. Their purpose was obvious from the start, but they've never expected the Dragon of Origin would escape during their lifetime.

"Even if he somehow managed to reach higher level and be able to retaliate against us, there is no shame in being the Dragon of Origin's exp! Fear nothing, do your best, there is no loss for us in this mission!"

Even though the Religion of Origin's purpose isn't worshiping the Dragon of Origin, being "part of the world" is their ultimate desire, just like "going to the heaven". In a way, one could say their Heaven is inside the Dragon of Origin...

Northeast of that town, in the capital city of the Northern kingdom...

This world with Neutral Region of Origin (which is more like a Theocracy) in the center and a lot of big to small, independent to satellited nations / kingdoms / regions scattered around. The Northern Kingdom, even though it's bordering the snowy mountain range of Eternal Freezing, the weather here is always chilly and thus perfect for holding festivals. Even in the "summer" when the weather is hotter, it still has a comfortable temperature and they would hold "Warm Festival".

The biggest festival would be in the month of Origin, and its name would obviously be "Origin Festival". This festival celebrates the Creation of the World. This year marks exactly 12000 years since the Dragon of Origin planted the 'seed' that grew up to be this world; so they expect this year festival to be huge.

During the first half of the month, everyone in the city would prepare for the main festival that would happen in the second half of the month. They would decorate their house, both inside and outside, with the Dragon of Origin, from puppets to paintings of him. Of course they won't use the black color, it would be too depressing. Each person would paint their dragon puppet / painting in the color that represents their own element with the meaning that the Dragon of Origin would always be with them; thus the city becomes really colorful.

Those who doesn't know their element can test it using the obvious tool to do so: An Origin Scale. Being the scale of the most protected being in this world, Origin Scales are considered treasure; not many people have the chance to have one or even see one, not to mention touching one. However to celebrate the "Origin Festival", they put one in a well guarded hall and let people test their element for free. People sometime wait in line for the entire day outside of the hall just to touch it even if they'd already known their element...

The day the Dragon of Origin woke up and escaped his Temple is the first day of the Month of Origin...