Wolf woke up in a trash filled alley. His head hurt. His everything hurt. Especially his bones. He was buck naked, and wrapped in the smelly blanket his big brother used to cover himself when sleeping.

The world was still swaying before Wolf’s eyes as he looked at his arm. It appeared quite strange. It was a dark shade of brown and looked like it belonged to a snowman made out of mud.

It took a bit of time for Wolf’s vision to focus and for him to realize that he was so densely covered in scabs and dried blood that he had become one giant scab.

Wolf touched his head and was horrified to find that his beautiful long hair was gone as well. For a moment he panicked, but then remembered what was going on.

Right, I asked Big brother to help me with Star Body, Wolf thought as he looked around, searching for South. His big brother was in the same place as always, lying atop a heap of garbage, snoring in drunken stupor.

Next to South were Wolf’s clothes. They were neatly folded, but soiled with what looked like splatters of blood. It took another long moment for Wolf to realize that the dark stains were actually from vomited wine. As Wolf realized what the stains were he also realized that the neatly folded was also a relative term. His clothes were neatly folded by a person who didn’t believe in standard geometry, straight lines and right angles.

Wolf groggily stumbled all the way to his clothes and with trembling hands picked up his trousers. Why are my pant legs tied up in a bow? Wolf asked himself after absentmindedly staring at them for a couple of moments.

This wasn’t the only existential question Wolf asked himself while putting on his clothes. For the first time in ages he’d faced the early morning chill without Protection from Elements. His clothes were damp and cold. Feeling uncomfortable Wolf closed his eyes, and while his body shivered he took a couple of moments to prepare Protection from Elements. Then, as soon as he opened them, he cast the spell.

Now the problem of cold clamminess against his skin was solved, but the unbearable stench of caked blood, puke and waste was a completely different matter.

After preparing a couple of Clean spells Wolf tidied up himself, his clothing and the soiled part of the alley. Then he started the long process of waking up his big brother. After expending quite a bit of effort, Wolf finally managed to wake up South, who began drinking as soon as he opened his eyes.

“Hey there Little brother,” South slurred as he spoke in a drunk voice. “You’re finally up. That was a real mean thing you forced your big brother to do. You kept screaming like I was torturing you. Well, technically I was, but seeing you in that state caused a permanent scar on my soul. I wonder how you plan to take responsibility...”

The drunkard acted kind of serious, especially given his standards. Wolf on the other hand had no idea whether his big brother was speaking truthfully or messing around with him.

“How long was I out?” Wolf asked, ignoring South’s comment and scarred soul.

“It’s Friday, if that’s what you want to know,” South kind of answered while stifling a yawn. “The procedure went well. I wrapped it up in a jiffy. Then, since I was there, and you’ve already collected all of the ingredients, I went ahead and wrapped up the next stage as well. I saved you a healing potion that way too. Your old skin is over there by the way.”

South pointed his thumb behind his back. Wolf had a hard time processing those words, he believed he was still drunk and that he had misheard, but he still shifted his gaze to see what his big brother was pointing at.

The third stage of Star Body was focused on making a supposedly impregnable skin. The procedure included being flayed alive and then painting over the whole body with the mixture which would help form an incredibly tough, yet supple skin.

Wolf blankly stared at the wall behind South while recalling this information. A Wolf-sized, Wolf-shaped leather suit was hanging from the wall. Its mouth was smiling, and its right arm was stuck as if waving in greeting. The sight of his own skin waving at him was one of the most disturbing sights Wolf had ever seen. And the fact that it wasn’t the most disturbing thing said a lot about the little guy’s life so far.

“What do you think?” South asked, breaking the silence. “I even stitched the bits I had to cut in order to flay you. Now it looks like a one piece suit! We can fill it with straw and make a scarecrow or if you gave it to a good enough Artificer they could make a golem that looks like you! How neat would that be?”

Wolf looked at his big brother, his groggy eyes filled with confusion. That was his skin! The hole where the mouth should be was arranged into a smile with the help of a couple of sticks!

Big brother can make something like that, but can’t properly fold pants? “Big brother, are you fine?” Wolf finally asked.

“Of course I’m not fine you heartless little idiot! Who do you think had to do all those things to his little brother?! All you had to do was pass out drunk! But did you think about me?! I was processing my little brother as if he were a pig!” South was screaming on the verge of tears. Apparently the whole ordeal was harder on him than on Wolf who remembered nothing.

“If you really think of yourself as my brother, this was the last time you asked me to do something like that,” the drunkard mumbled the last line quietly, but the words hit Wolf with much more weight than if his big brother was screaming at him.

After finishing those words South plucked the skin in one fluid motion and tossed it to Wolf. “Take care of it, it was a part of you! We’ll skip the next lunch. Now piss off, I want to get wasted,” he said, shooing Wolf away.

Wolf was stunned, he wanted to say that South was already wasted, but decided to keep quiet. Instead he picked up his old skin and left the alley. Now wasn’t the time for teasing. Instead Wolf’s thoughts were focused on something else.

What had he gone through for him to react like this? the boy wondered. He just helped me out by cutting me a bit. He shouldn’t have suffered any loss or damage. Fortunately only the first three stages have some kind of intervention and I can do the rest by myself. The fourth, fifth and sixth stages come down to simply drinking tonics.

Next time I should prepare a real feast for Big brother! Wolf decided to make it up to South by hook or by crook.

But for now, he had to respect his big brother’s wishes and leave him alone. He went back to his lair and excitedly tested out the impervious skin. Wolf was kind of disappointed by false advertising. His new skin did offer some protection against bladed weapons and punctures, but it was by no means impervious.

It was plain to see that higher Order maneuvers could cut Wolf just as easily as they could cut through rock. And even when carefully experimenting with his mithril sword Wolf still managed to draw blood after putting enough pressure. His opponents were bound to be more vicious and should be able to inflict cuts upon him even with ordinary weapons.

As for Bones like Bedrock, there was no point testing them out. They would take months to properly form, while complete transformation could even take a number of years.

Wolf wasn’t disheartened by the fact that there was no immediate benefit. Instead he was reassured that in the future his bones wouldn’t break when he exerts the full strength of his enhanced muscles.

Once he was done inspecting his body Wolf felt conflicted about what to do next. His stomach had been growling for a while now and he desperately wanted to soak in hot water. Having come to a decision, Wolf took out a large pail from his Ring of Holding. A couple of spells later Wolf was relaxing in a steaming tub, munching on jerky.

An hour later the bathwater had turned lukewarm, and Wolf had eaten two kilos of jerky. Feeling sated and clean, Wolf started considering his next steps, realizing after a moment that he’d missed one of his chores. Namely feeding the city’s beggars.

If I hurry I should still make it in time for today’s trade! Wolf thought, feeling afraid about the kind of mess that might have happened while he was away.

The boy hurriedly put on his clothes and then dashed towards the meeting place.

Just like Wolf had expected, a mass of beggars was waiting for him. As soon as the people saw him their hollow, despairing eyes became alive. The majority of people appeared happy to see him, but some were angry.

“Where were you!?”

“We were starving!”

“How can you disappear!?”

The dissatisfied bunch demanded explanations. They were most likely members of privileged classes before becoming homeless, otherwise they probably wouldn’t have acted so brazen.

Wolf was shocked. Not just by the way these people acted, but also by the fact that they had apparently forgotten that he had slaughtered a bunch of thugs just a couple of weeks ago. Still, nobody cursed Wolf’s dead parents, so he didn’t really care.

He simply traded with everyone, without saying a word to people trying to stir up trouble. Once done with his chore the boy went back home.

Maybe I should increase the price of food I’m selling? I’m broke now, Wolf thought, but then rejected the idea immediately. He wasn’t doing this, nor supporting Oakwood Freeland, to make a profit.

By the time Wolf got back to his troll lair it was already late in the afternoon. He sat down in his armchair and started reading his big brother’s favorite book.

For some reason committing these words to memory didn’t really work all that well and he was forced to do things the old fashioned way. Wolf had the funny notion that the book resisted being read for some reason.

… what gods require from mortals is Faith. True Faith from the bottom of a believer’s heart. Empty lip service from a believer will be met with divine retribution. Few can have hearts as free of taint in the form of other desires and devote their entire being to their deity.

However, those select few will be blessed and touched by the will of gods. The blessings may be in the form of fulfilling wishes, granting access to magic, empowering their physical bodies or soul.

This pact is two way. Mortals gain power from the god they follow, but in return have to offer everything they have and are. They may become vessels for a fragment of divinity to descend, their senses and bodies may become possessed for short periods of time, or they may be required to relinquish their lives for the glory of their patron…

All in all spreading Faith was the simplest way of getting boons from a deity, which was why Priests did their best to spread the glory of their god. However, conflicts over believers were strictly prohibited for some reason.

Wolf suspected that it was because gods would end up losing more followers than they would gain, even if they emerged victorious.

Other than this information, Wolf also came across a creation myth, which was quite different from the one Archibald had told him.

In the beginning there were the Ten. No other creature with spirituality existed. Each of the Ten was omnipotent and omniscient. They thought of each other as kin and had no concept of envy or rivalry. They also lacked the concept of names, because amongst them there was no need for such frivolity.

They existed for an eternity, encompassing all things. Finally, one day one among their number found that living in such an empty universe had grown boring. Mimicking the lowest lifeforms the god took a chunk of their flesh and molded the first spiritual creature below the gods.

Since the creature was molded from their flesh the creation greatly resembled the creator. And because the flesh used to create the creature was blue, the creature also became blue.

Despite being born of one, the creature was a far cry from a true divinity. Yet, while the creation was weak, the creator still had to pay a huge price. The first creator lost perfection and became flawed. The first flawed deity.

Now they needed a name for the child to use. The god was all-encompassing, like the sky and had just become a mother. So the god named themself Skymother. As for the first creation, the creature was named Azure, for it was born of the bluest patch of sky.

To Skymother Azure was something between a child and a pet. Skymother loved the creation and took care of the one being close to divinity. However, after eons had passed, Azure became lonely.

Seeing and understanding the creation’s loneliness, Skymother created more creatures. They were named Iris, Platinum and Gold. Their names came from the pieces they were born of, the rainbow, the moon and the sun. Out of respect for their creator, the creations called each other differently and never used those true names themselves.

The other gods were naturally aware of the change one of them had experienced. This change, like any other, was good and bad at the same time. The most important thing being that this newly named Skymother was happier now than before and that the once still eternity was now filled with liveliness. Eight of the remaining nine followed Skymother’s example and became flawed while giving birth to creatures which came to be known as the First Generation.

Eons passed and the First Generation created the Second, while the Second created the Third. With each step the distance between the creation and divinity grew greater and greater until finally the creations became fragile and mortal. They could no longer propagate by tearing off their flesh and breathing life into it. Rather they started multiplying in a variety of different ways, eventually creating lifeforms that exist today.

This is the gist of the creation myth from which Wolf could conclude that manlings really were descendants of the gods. This was very much different from what Archibald told Wolf years ago when he spoke about the beliefs of the ten churches. Priests adamantly claimed that gods did not create manlings.

So, is this a myth, or a true story? Wolf wondered while closing the book. He also wondered why the tenth god hadn’t created any life. Instead they breathed life into the recently deceased and used undead as their proxies.

As Wolf went through the remaining books he grew increasingly certain that the one regarding gods was authentic. Unfortunately there was no way for him to confirm whether the myth was true or not.

I shouldn’t obsess about it, nor that book for now. One day, if it’s relevant, I’ll find out anyway, with those thoughts Wolf left the massive book alone after going through less than fifty pages.

Other than The treatise on gods, foundations of religion and belief magic, Wolf read the other books without problems. He could almost instantly memorize the words and needed about an evening per book to digest the information.

As days went by Wolf found some of his father’s unproven hypotheses explained in detail and proven. Not only that, the books on magic even greatly expanded Archibald’s assumptions, while providing deeper insight than what Archibald had when teaching Wolf.

The most shocking fact Wolf found in these volumes was the declaration that the world he lived in was divided in two. The world of manlings and Monster Beasts he lived in and the world of demons. In this other world instead of manlings and Monster Beasts lived demons and Demonic Beasts, with hatred between the sides so great it was instinctive and unresolvable.

Wolf even found a detailed atlas of these demon lands, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t find where those lands actually were. Absorbed in his learning, Wolf only occasionally left his lair to take care of his other business as months passed.