The Lupine System-Chapter 146: Boons
Boons
Soon after Mike got dressed, Theresa’s breathing evened out, signaling that she’d fallen asleep.
At the same time, Kris had also stilled. He hadn’t fallen asleep, but he didn’t seem to be trembling anymore.
Mike sighed.
’Somehow, they still feel safe near me.’ He shook his head.
Guilt was an odd thing. Maybe it’s because he never truly had any friends growing up, but he never cared about how his actions affected others. Not anymore, though. Now, he wanted some form of punishment, but Theresa had made herself very clear.
’If you start beating yourself up, that’s when I’ll get mad at you.’
Her words rang in his mind, forcing him to push the guilt down. It didn’t vanish, but at least he didn’t have to confront it.
... Also, he’d be lying if her words hadn’t eased his worries a little.
Exhaling slowly, Mike went to the entrance of the cave and sat down cross-legged. Theresa said he should keep watch, so he would do just that.
After a while, though, his mind wandered back to last night and the fight. He had many questions, but the one that nagged at him at the moment was...
’Why do I remember everything so vividly?’ He frowned.
He remembered the last time he transformed... Well. Not really, but he remembers when it happened. To him, he simply lost consciousness, and when he woke up, there were a bunch of half-eaten Lizardmen corpses around him. He didn’t have a single recollection of what happened.
But this? He remembered everything, from the soul-wrenching pain that was his transformation, the blinding numbness that came from Kris’s lightning.
’... System?’ Mike asked after a moment, and the ever dutiful construct immediately replied.
[You remember everything that happened clearly because, technically, you weren’t unconscious. The first time you transformed, while your instincts were still at the helm, you weren’t awake. So it’s natural that you remember nothing. For this, though, you were awake all the way through.] This made Mike frown.
’That makes no sense. If I was awake, why did I rampage like that?’ There was a brief pause, then the system replied with a question of its own.
[What do you think your wolf side is constituted of?] The question surprised Mike, but he still answered.
’Instinct?’
[Correct. Now, are those instincts still active even while your ferocity is below 50%?]
’Naturally.’
[But are you in control of yourself even then?]
’... Yeah? They just don’t dictate my actions. It doesn’t mean they are muted.’ As soon as Mike answered, it hit him.
’Oh... While I’m below 50%, my rational mind takes the lead while my instinct trails behind. It has less of an influence, but it’s still there and can still do things. It’s the inverse for if I’m above 50%. It’s my instinct that takes the lead, but it doesn’t mean my rational mind no longer exists. It just trails behind, but it’s still there.’ He shuddered.
[Correct. You remember everything that happened because your rational mind was merely muted, not removed. The same way right now, your instincts are muted, but certainly still there.]
The explanation made a lot of sense—and was also a bit terrifying. A stark callback to what the system had told him before.
As a Lupine, he wasn’t part human and part wolf. He was a human AND a wolf. Both sides were him, just different facets of his existence. He’d just never really paid much attention to this particular fact.
’... I guess that means I can’t blame what happened on my wolf side, since my wolf side is still me.’ He scrubbed a hand across his face.
’So... which one is me? How I am or my wolf side? Which one is my real self?’ Mike’s brows furrowed as he stood at the precipice of a very dangerous spiral.
Luckily, the system spoke up at that moment.
[That is a moot point. There is no ’real and fake’ you. You are your human side, and you are your wolf side. Both of them are you, and you are both of them. Trying to divide them will just cause a pointless conflict in your psyche.] The cold words jolted Mike out of his thoughts.
He stared at his hands, and for a moment, the furred paws from last night seemed to overlap with them in his vision.
’... Both are me, and I am both...’ He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. ’Don’t forget that.’
He unclenched his fists, then he smiled slightly.
’... Still, the two of them are incredible.’ He recalled how, despite his tyrannical nature yesterday, the two of them still managed to subdue him.
’... Granted, I was more like a mindless beast than an actual opponent. I find it hard to see myself losing if I had been in my right mind and fought properly... Then again, had I been in my right mind, I wouldn’t have attacked them at all.’ He closed his eyes and moved his head from side to side.
’I wonder, though. What exactly was that lightning Kris used? And that arrow Theresa released near the end. I’ve never seen that before.’ He bit his lip.
’Ah. I really wanna see both of them at their full capacity one day.’ He lamented. How cool would that be?’ He looked up and blew out a breath.
For a moment, he just admired the scenery, then a thought struck him.
’Oh yeah. I have notifications.’ He suddenly sat up straight. It was easy to overlook them, but he just now saw that he indeed had system notifications.
’Seeing as it’s the first time I experienced a full moon, I should have gotten some levels from that, right?’ The thought eased the heaviness in his heart a little. Leveling up was always nice.
Still, he never expected what he saw.
[Ding. Host has leveled up ×10]
[Ding. Hidden conditions have been met. Host can now access the evolution tab.]
Two notifications, but it was enough to make Mike’s jaw drop.
He stared at them blankly, then, he silently pulled up his stats.
STATS
[Name]: Mike
[Age]: 17
[Race]: Lupine
[Level]: 42
---
STATS
Strength: 245.6
Agility: 224.8
Endurance: 258.9
Vitality: 267.3
Perception: 298.5
Allocatable Stat Points: 30
Ferocity: 8% (stable)
Ten. Whole. Levels.
’I– Wha– Now how am I meant to stay mad at myself when I’ve received such a huge boon?!’ Mike didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
It had taken him so long just to get to level 32, and in just one night, he’d gotten a whole ten more levels. Isn’t that just absurd.
’I mean, technically the risk was massive since I engaged in a huge battle with my friends. Then there’s the achievement factor, from what the system was saying, the full moon is a huge thing for every Lupine, so it probably isn’t just some hack. But even then...’ Mike’s brain started to buzz, then he sucked in a cold breath.
’Wait! Since I’m past level 40, doesn’t that mean I have another ability slot?!’ Mike was over the moon and he quickly asked the system. As soon as he got an affirmative answer, he pumped his fist into the air.
’Okay. Okay. Let’s calm down and go over this properly.’ He exhaled.
’System?’
[Host’s conjecture about acquiring ten levels due to experiencing the full moon is correct. Experiencing a full moon is a pivotal moment in each Lupine’s life. That alone is quite an achievement. Moreover, again, you acquire levels based on what you believe is a significant achievement along with the system. The fact that you both survived while managing to go up against two highly skilled combatants with nothing but raw instinct and power is commendable. In truth, you are supposed to acquire more levels, but due to certain directives, such isn’t the case. Instead, you can level up the next few times with considerable ease.
As for the evolution notification. Each evolution is too important to have a simple instruction on how to unlock it. As such, you must accomplish certain special, Lupine-related milestones to unlock each evolution. The first of which was experiencing a full moon and living.]
When the system finished, Mike was surprised.
’Huh? That’s... interesting.’ He rubbed his chin. Oddly enough, he wasn’t angry about not receiving all the levels he was meant to. He’d started to accept that even the system had limits. Still, it was intriguing.
’So if I do something significant enough, the system can’t give me all the levels I deserve and instead reward me in a certain way. I wonder why that is...’ He mused before shaking his head.
Being able to level up more easily for the next few levels was already good enough for him. A small part of him wanted to protest that such a big boon wasn’t deserved since he wasn’t in control of himself, but then he remembered that his wolf side was still him, so it was a moot point.
"Fuu. Alright." Unable to contain his excitement, Mike decided to open up the evolution tab.
’Let’s see what this is all about.’
