Wolf

By the time I come to, I find myself back under my dome of ice in the dungeon. However, before I can turn my attention towards the next new feature, a faint tapping noise attracts my attention.

I turn around, only to find something tapping its knuckles against the ice to no avail. The creature has dozens of layers of orangish-brown cloth covering its body, with no places exposed to the sun. It has a strange looking black and gray mask covering where its face would be, and what look like sharp claws poking out from beneath the cloth. The mask itself is hard to make out, as if it were slightly blurred from my sight.

“The hell…?” I mutter with a frown.

_-| Unnamed – Ralcan – Level 460 |-_

It must be one of the monsters of the open sands, considering its high level when compared with the other monsters of the floor. Which means that there are more than just the small monsters out in the sands.

The ralcan tilts its head in a creepy manner before turning around and leaving without making a sound.

I silently watch it slowly limp away from me, constantly swaying in different directions as it makes its way across the sandstone floored teleport hub towards the sand sea. As soon as it reaches the open sand, the creature suddenly falls apart into particles of sand, joining the sea itself.

“Okay, what the ever-loving hell was that…” I mutter as a slight shiver runs through my body at the thought of what would have happened if I didn’t have my ice orb up.

I stare out at the sand sea for several seconds with the only noise being that of the weak wind in the area blowing little bits of sand through the air.

Note to self. Make sure to research ralcans at some point.

I turn back towards the totem before selecting the System Restriction Break option.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

System Restrictions have been partially lifted.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Alright, now to go to a viewing room.

I wince slightly as the loud cheers enter my ears before remembering that it doesn’t actually hurt, regardless of the volume level. Seconds after I appear in the bleachers, the regular notification begins to appear in front of me, only to cut off mid-way.

Administrator Dungeon Notification

As a competitor, you may only stay in a Viewing Room for a total of five minutes a day.

After the countdown is complete, you-

The hell…?

Not even a full second later, the notification is replaced by another one.

Administrator Dungeon Notification

As a competitor with your System Restrictions partially lifted, you may stay in the Viewing Room for a total of thirty minutes.

After the countdown is complete, you will be forcefully evicted from the Viewing Room and placed back into the Administrator Dungeon.

“And it looks like The Winter Wolf has come back for another visit!” I hear Mikaela’s voice resonate throughout the stadium.

I look away from the notification as hundreds of voices reach my ears from the viewers around my location.

“He’s here!” “The Winter Wolf is standing right there!” “It’s the forerunner!!!” “CAN I HAVE YOUR AUTOGRAPH!!!”

My face twists in confusion at that last one.

How the hell could I possibly give an autograph? It’s not like I can sign anything here or give you anything…

Soon enough, I find myself floating upwards, away from the crowd towards Mikaela, who is hovering next to the largest screen. One that is completely blacked out and has my information displayed above it.

“Welcome back, Winter Wolf!” the man says with a grin before glancing upwards at the notification hovering in the sky, closely resembling the one in front of me except with red text instead of black. “And it looks like you can stay here for a bit longer this time!”

I give him a nod before looking around the enormous stadium. The stadium itself has several million people spread throughout the bleachers, with eleven large screens floating above the center of the stadium. Meanwhile, the ground below my feet is – for some reason – filled with water and fish.

Not really sure what’s up with that. It definitely wasn’t like that the last time I was here.

Pretty sure I would remember seeing a large pool of water that spans several football fields in length.

“Oh?” I hear Mikaela mutter before turning to see him looking between me and the enormous pool of water. “If you’re curious about the body of water, then don’t be. It doesn’t really have a purpose other than symbolizing the Chairman of the Arcadian Magic Association.”

My eyebrows raise at that statement before I look down again at the water.

That’s a pretty big symbol.

Then again, if I remember correctly, their chairman is a water variant harbinger. So it at least makes some sense.

Although that doesn’t take away how out of place the body of water looks in such a large stadium…

I turn my attention towards one of the floating screens as cheers continue to echo throughout the stadium. The screen shows Crystal as she fights against one of those annoying frost troll mini bosses from the thirty-eighth floor.

A grimace covers my face at the sight of the creature.

The creature was completely immune to my ice element, and it had an extremely high regenerative ability! If it weren’t for its inherently weak physique – which is odd considering that it’s a troll – it would have been a lot more annoying to deal with.

Not to mention that the ice trolls serving under it were very small in comparison with its two-meter-tall height.

“How are the other Competitors doing?” I ask Mikaela, causing the noise within the stadium to increase another level in volume as my fans react to the first thing I have said since entering the viewing room.

The commentator chuckles at the viewers’ reactions before saying, “Well, first let me show you the current standings for the top ten!”

I glance at him before seeing him wave his hand, causing a large menu to appear in front of us, near the forerunner screen.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Total Competitors: 97

Wolf Adler | The Winter Wolf | 46,683,750 Followers | 0 Current Sponsors | Harbinger Lycanthrope

Crystal Leblanc | Deadshot |38,492,805 Followers| 0 Current Sponsors | Human

Ariana Silverheart | Silver Siren |33,515,074 Followers | 0 Current Sponsors | Siren

Lily Veldon | Crimson Rose | 30,757,550 Followers | 0 Current Sponsors | Human

Norbert Heinrich | Nosferatu | 29,254,365 Followers | 0 Current Sponsors | Dhampir

Christopher Sinclair | Unbreakable | 28,958,870 Follower | 0 Current Sponsors | Human

Ruth Maci | Thorn | 28,195,624 Followers | 0 Current Sponsors | Forsaken

Adriana Heath | Adriana | 17,005,761 Followers | 0 Current Sponsors | Elf

Ahxul Kinich | Lucky Lizard | 16,908,643 Followers | 0 Current Sponsors | Lizardman

Dewey Hobbs | Dark Shadow | 15,334,594 Followers | 0 Current Sponsors | Shadow Panterra

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

My eyes widen for a moment at the massive spike in followers since the last time I checked before I focus on the other Competitors.

Most of them haven’t really changed in their positioning on the rankings, but there have been a couple of changes. Like how Lily has shot up past the dhampir, and how the thief that stole from Crystal has gotten a massive spike in followers.

It’s unfortunate that the viewing rooms don’t give anywhere near as much profit as they used to, despite the large increase in followers.

I guess the ‘trial stages’ for the dungeon really were a little bit handicapped in that aspect.

“That’s a pretty large spike,” I mutter, trying my best to ignore some of the strange cheers I’m hearing from the audience.

“Uh huh,” Mikaela says, floating towards the menu a little bit, “it’s normally around the first sponsorship period that the majority of the players within the System begin to follow Competitors. After all, they can only follow one Competitor during the run, so it would suck if they died early on.”

Wait… what?

People can only follow one person during the run?

The commentator doesn’t seem to notice my confusion as he sends me a telepathic message, ‘Of course, the other reason is because of those who know about the large amounts of profits that the Competitors make at the beginning of the dungeon. There are a lot of people who don’t like the idea of having more Administrators, so they don’t follow anyone until the profits plummet.’

My mouth opens slightly at this revelation before I close it again and give him a nod in thanks.

That certainly explains a lot.

I watch Crystal’s fight with the large troll with greenish-blue skin for a few more seconds before turning my attention towards the thief’s screen.

Thorn is rushing through a blizzard at a surprisingly quick speed on the thirty-ninth floor. She is wearing the same gear as she was when she stole from Crystal, and still doesn’t seem to feel even the slightest bit sorry for what she did.

Although her stealing Crystal’s EXP Orb doesn’t really affect me at all, so it doesn’t actually bother me that much. I’m mostly just worried that she might try to do the same to me at some point.

Assuming she can actually catch up with me that is.

“The duo of Crimson Rose and Unbreakable are doing rather well for themselves…” Mikaela begins giving me the rundown on the various Competitors. As he speaks, I turn my attention towards Christopher’s screen to see them working together against an ice troll pack on the thirty-eighth floor.

I’m honestly a little bit surprised that those two have managed to stick together as a team throughout the entire dungeon so far.

Putting my thoughts aside, I focus on Mikaela’s words for the duration of my stay within the viewing room.