As he was walking through the forest Atticus realized he had not the faintest idea how to fight with a two handed weapon, As his body was so frail in the real world he only used small one handed items like a short sword and a buckler.As this thought passed through his mind he heard a shout.”THERE HE IS!”

Atticus flinched as his Bloodlust ability detected four people nearby who were hostile, He spun around to see not only the two men he killed yesterday but two more men, while the first two were clearly Strength class users the two new men seemed to be Dexterity users judging by the fact that they were carrying two small knives each.

Atticus’ battleaxe was hidden thanks to his cloak so when he turned it was to be assumed he was unarmed, he knew it had now been over 24 hours since he killed them but he didn't think they would grind non-stop and come to kill him”Oh come on, you pricks deserved to die, now you're just reinforcing my point of being weak!”

The two flinched remembering the way they died so easily yesterday. But now that they had met up with their friends they had grinded to level three, bought some better weapons from the smith in town, and bought gloves and a leather chest piece. They felt certain that he was still level two as they did not know how much EXP was gained from killing another player and that by his new armor he had sold all of their previous gear and his own knife as they didn't see it on his belt and their friends had been watching him and knew he had not left town in four days

“Shut up you little bastard!”The one he stabbed in the forehead charged him wildly like a bull, His friends were close behind while at the same time fanning out to try and surround him.

Atticus sighed and pulled the armor segments down from the pauldrons and tightened the gauntlets around them, The sudden appearance of more armor caused a look of confusion on all of their faces as did the fact that Atticus pulled out a large battleaxe seemingly from nowhere.

Atticus wished he could have fought a few wolves to get a feel for the weapon but he figured that he may as well take the chances given to him, As the first man got close he let out the loudest shout he could and swung the axe as hard as he could in a downward, diagonal swing. He was met with a gruesome sight and the all too familiar sound of bones breaking. as the ax slammed into the man's right arm which was holding a steel war axe, shattering the bones in the arm and cutting it deeply enough that it was left dangling by a few pieces of flesh.

WingKing looked shocked and afraid as he lost all feeling in his arm and could not tell why until he looked, having turned pain off. When he saw his arm hanging by a few strands of flesh he dropped to his knees and began to vomit.

While this happened the two new members had circled behind Atticus and were charging to attack him while DeezNutz charged him as well, though they saw their friend vomiting and his arm dangling they forced themselves to keep going as they didn't want to give Atticus the chance to attack again.

As they got close Atticus let out another shout and swung his axe again, deciding to move towards the Dexterity users as he knew his cloak would be able to take being hit with the large studded mace, but he didn't want to chance the four sharp blades. But as he swung the first Dexterity user dropped to his knees in a slide and held one of the daggers up, slicing into Atticus’ side.

He grit his teeth and put, even more, force into his swing as he cleaved the second Dexterity user across his hip, having angled lower to stop him from sliding as well. He then felt a hard thud across his back as the mace connected with him.

Atticus winced but he jumped forward with the impact to help him get away from them, He then turned around, panting a bit as blood ran down his side. Seeing his pain DeezNutz started laughing.”Get a load of this, This idiot left the Pain enabled!”

WhiteShadow started laughing with him but WingKing and BlackLight were clearly not amused as they couldn't really move, WingKing was now standing and had his axe in his other hand and was running a bit lopsidedly to catch up with his friends while Blacklight couldn't move anymore.

Atticus laughed with them.”What do you mean? you're the idiots, I can at least tell when I'm hurt and react properly!” He began to charge them as he held his axe closer to the head with one hand, treating it like a war axe with a long handle as he soon got close to DeezNutz who swung his mace down at him. Atticus swung his left arm up to knock the mace to the side as he slammed the axe into his opponent's neck.

Atticus then turned right in time to have WhiteShadow stab him in the left shoulder with one of his daggers while the other went into his right side, barely missing his organs as Atticus knee'd WhiteShadow between the legs making him stumble back and turn white as a sheet as he was thankful for the fact of turning pain off just now

With only 85 health left Atticus grew a bit panicked and swung his axe at WhiteShadow, chopping off his right leg at the knee below his kilt.

Atticus then spun with his axe as Bloodlust alerted him to WingKing being behind him, His axe biting into his side which sent him flying to the ground. Panting raggedly he stood up and moved to stand over WhiteShadow before swinging his axe down into his head.

He then walked over to BlackLight who was desperately trying to crawl away from him. He pressed his foot down in the middle of his shoulders and panted hard.”Ill tell you this one time and one time only, You and your three idiot friends had better stay away, Because if you attack me again i will kill you again. But i wont stop there, I will kill you every time i see you, whether we're in the village or not. Do you understand me?” His voice was clear and serious, he applied Bloodlust as he said this to make the man feel more fear.

“I..ii.I understand!” he managed to grunt out as he could hardly breathe from the weight pressing down on him. Atticus nodded.”Good, Now i hope you understand but i need you to tell your friends quickly so die!” Atticus then swung his axe down and loped off Blacklights head.

As Blacklight died a familiar banner popped up across his field of vision announcing that he had reached level 4 but he ignored that for now. As he was still bleeding her ripped Blacklights cloth shirt off and cut strips out of it to bind his wounds.

Spoiler :

You have gained the Work Skill First Aid!

You have survived a battle with heavy wounds against multiple enemies. +3 Endurance.

Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:First AidBeginner20%Your quick thinking on the battlefield has allowed you to learn how to apply triage.You may now use cloth and leather to bind wounds and stop bleeding, doing so increases health regeneration by 10 when out of combat. Higher quality materials will give higher EXP but lower quality

Atticus sighed in relief as his health began to steadily climb up as he rested, looting the rest of the bodies and while he wanted to put on one of the leather chest pieces he didn't want to take his cloak and pauldrons off in the field so for now they went in his bag. While he was sore all over and wanted to do nothing more than take a nap he had to forge onward, and so he got up, placed his axe in its holster and began running towards the wolves den.

As he got closer to the den he noticed something that disturbed him, In the clearing where he found Lucian and killed the wolves there was a lone wolf, While this is nothing to fear in itself, It was the fact that this wolf had steel armor! Some nutjob had made a damn full set of steel plated armor for the wolf.

Atticus came to a screeching halt and dropped on all fours to watch the wolf, It was chewing on the bones of its dead brethren, This made him come to a frightening revelation. The reason for the wolves increase in numbers and viciousness was because of whoever made the armor that was on the wolf.

Atticus then looked around and saw no other wolves, To be sure he began sneaking around the area and letting Bloodlust sense if there were any hiding. He was clear for now the only one around was the armored wolf. Atticus then took a deep breath and prepared himself as he checked to make sure his health was topped off. He then drew his axe and charged the armored wolf, Letting out a fierce shout as he did which caused the wolf to flinch as it saw not only the massive man charging it but the fact he was wearing the pelt of another wolf.

Atticus took advantage of this and swung his axe as hard as he could while aiming for the wolf's belly with the bottom of the axe, hoping to cut the armor off of it to give him a better attack.

As he attacked the wolf he saw its level and HP remaining, Not having seen it before as he was too concerned with the fact that he was fighting more than one enemy.

Atticus growled as the armor didn't fall off and the wolf shook off its state of fear, It then leapt at Atticus and bit down violently on his forearm and tried to shake its head as it tackled Atticus to the ground. But luckily Atticus had kept his armored sleeves down and it blocked its teeth from penetrating.

Seeing this Atticus grabbed his battleaxe in a close grip and slammed it into the wolf's stomach again, widening the original wound and making a loud snap as the wolf’s ribcage cracked.

As it was struck again the wolf growled and began thrashing its head, clawing Atticus across the chest. The pain was like a white hot fire, spreading through his chest as he could already tell if he didn't hurry the wolf would get the better of him.

Atticus kicked up between the wolfs back legs and kicked it square in the jewels which caused it to yelp and fly over his head and slam down on its back. Atticus got up panting as he swung the axe with his full force, Slamming into the wolfs front right shoulder and shattering it though the armor prevented him from cutting the wolfs leg off he had broken the leg.

As the beast lunged at him again Atticus threw his arm to the side and bashed it hard against the wolfs head. This small blow threw the wolf off and sent it to the ground as Atticus swung his axe one last time, slamming down as hard as he could on the wolfs spine and shattering it.

You have barely survived a battle with a foe a level higher than yourself +2 Endurance.

Atticus let the wolf fall to the ground he hurried to apply another set of improvised bandages before he bled out. He stopped the bleeding with only 20 hp left. Breathing a sigh of relief as his Hp began to rise he began removing the armor from the wolf, noticing that the armor was held on with only two straps which was why he couldn't cut it off easily. As he removed the armor he noticed runes etched in the inside of the armor. As he did he got a message.

Quest Update: While on your way to the wolf den you find an Armored Battle Wolf, Upon inspecting its armor you have found runes etched into the armor. Return to the village and ask the Village Chief about the armor and its runes.

Atticus sighed a bit and skinned and butchered the wolf before he began running back to the village, He arrived just a few hours before sunset and went to the grand hall in the south portion of the village. While he passed Sasha he held up a hand as a sign to wait for a bit as he was still working with his quest and didn't want to risk failing after all this work.

When he opened the door he was greeted with the sight of a familiar man sitting on the throne with a young girl in his lap who was smiling happily when she saw him.”Uncle Atticus!” Little Elena jumped from her father's lap and charged at him and leapt up into his arms and hugging his neck, kissing his cheek as she kept smiling.

Atticus was confused which was clear to Lucian who was grinning from ear to ear. seeing Atticus covered in black improvised bandages”Back from the den so soon warrior?”

Atticus sighed and held Elena as he walked to Lucain, pulling the battered wolf armor from his bag and throwing it on the floor in front of him."Yeah, you didn't tell me the wolves had armor!, Bloody mutt nearly killed me. And who the hell in their right mind would give wolves armor!"

Lucian started laughing more at Atticus little outburst."Sorry sorry, I thought it would be more fun for you to find out for yourself. But all joking asside the madman in question is the holds former Enchanter, Floki. When I refused to allow him to experiment with the beasts he ran out to the woods to do his own experimenting and this is the result, He puts them to sleep with magic and puts this armor on them, it has been etched with runes of obediance, like the ones used on the slave collars we use on our warships."

Atticus rubbed his left temple in annoyance." Isn't this a little ironic, The man named after the god of lies and mischief and father of Fenrir is out forcing wolves under his control.." Atticus sat on a table as he grabbed a flagon of mead and began drinking, letting Elena sit on his lap as she smiled and poked his wounds, He winced a bit but ignored her otherwise as his right hand stroked her hair.

"Aye, but I hope you can see why I left you in the dark on as much as i can, If the people were to figure out that nut is behind this and not out on a trip to the next hold over to get supplies they would fall into madness and i cant risk it." Lucain bowed his head in apology as he then looked up."I sorry for making you keep this secret for this long but can i ask you to hold on a little longer and keep the beasts at bay my friend, Another day and ill be able to join you in battle."

Atticus shook his head."No apolgies are nessicary friend, But I would appreciate it if you would allow me to bring my friend into this, She may not look like much but she can make quick work of wolves and I would like to have the den cleared by dusk tomorrow. She will not speak to anyone of this and she is already in my debt so she will not need anything in return save what I can give her from the loot in the den."

Lucian pondered this, clearly worried about this but he nodded."Alright, but can I meet her before anything is said?"Atticus nodded and set little Elena down and smiled."Elena be a dear and go to the door, just outside a lovely auntie should be waiting for me, she will have bright red hair, Tell her that the Chief needs to speak with her.."

She smiled and nodded before running off and coming back with Sasha in tow, Elena then went and jumped back into Atticus' lap and hugged him, This made Sasha look shocked which made Elena stick her tongue out at her before burying her face in Atticus' chest as Lucian caught Sasha up on what has happened and then she got the same quest he did though her reward was simply the title Thane. A position of power which would allow her some influence around the village and even discounts and increased sell prices.

"Now that Sasha has been caught up I want to ask about this armor on the beasts, How exactly do the runes work?"

Atticus wanted to know if perhaps there was an alpha wolf that had been taken control of and the other wolves follow its commands while it follows Flokis or if Floki was the only one calling the shots.

Lucian shook his head sadly."Aye, there is an Alpha. A bitch we have named Lilim." As he heard this name Atticus' mind flashed back to The Room where he met the beautiful young woman, Surely they were not the same.

Atticus though caught onto something more surprising."A bitch as the alpha? What happened to the male?" While there was usually an alpha female they were never the ones in charge, it was always in the hands of a Male Alpha.

Lucian smiled at the question."We all thought the same but Lilim killed the last male alpha and became the sole Alpha, that was one year ago now. But when Floki heard about this he was outraged and it was around this time he began begging to go and experiment on the wolves and see what was so special about this bitch, I guess he had this in mind all along."

Quest Update!: You and your ally Sasha have learned the cause of the increase in wolf activity and about an odd wolf.

Atticus rubbed his chin, almost as if he was stroking his now shaved beard."I now must know, If must kill Floki are you going to have any problems with it?" He didn't want to screw up and ruin the relationship he had made so far by killing someone he didn't have the ability to detain.

Lucian shook his head."If he does not listen to your warnings to stand down then you habe permission to use my authority to kill him."Lucian motioned to his wife who went into the back room and came back after a moment and handed Lucian a box."As an apology for lying to you so far and to reward you propperly for saving my life i name you Thane of Black Rock Hold.." He stood up and walked over to Atticus and took a small gold hoop style earring that had a small black wolf claw dangling from it, The claw had a small rune etched into it.

He was about to ask what the rune would do and he soon found out as when Lucian got close he grabbed Atticus' left ear and forced the earring through his ear and clasped it shut. He growled a bit at the sudden pain not from the earring being rammed into his ear that he had felt long ago when his mother wanted to pierce his ear,

What hurt was the rune on the earring began to glow and soon the earring was burning hot as it wielded itself shut."What the hell was that?"

Lucian smiled abit."While we dont understand why the Valkyries refuse to take you and the other travllers to Valhalla we have noticed when you show up suddenly in the village you have none of the armor or weapons you did before, So the runes were added to the earring to make it bind itself to you permenantly...I think it will anyway, we won't actually know until you die."

Atticus shook his head abit as he heard this but he then recieved a notification

You have gained a title!You have been named Thane by Lucian, Jarl of Black Rock Hold.The guards of the hold will ignore your infamy and treat you as one of their own, as by extention you are now able to pass judgement on criminals as you see fit with the Jarls authority.It also allows a small discount from all stores in the hold and they will also now offer you slightly more coin for your itemsYou have earned 100 fame for being named a Thane!You have gained +5 Charisma from your title.You have gained an Earring. Earrings cannot have an armor value and dont quallify as armor and as such are now under the Accessories tab, you may wear as many accessories as you wish though keep in mind that the more items people can see the more of a target you will become.You have gained an item you cannot loose through death!

Atticus decided to look at the item and so he opened the accessories window by muttering its name

Gold Wolf Claw EarringType:Earring - AccessoryDurability:IndestructibleQuality:HeirloomA golden earring with a black wolfs claw, It is the chosen mark of the Black Rock Jarl Lucian Frost.It cannot be taken when you die.

Atticus smiled as he realized he had the perfect plan for when those idiots attack him next, He would just imprison them for a few days instead of killing them, After all, there had to be a mine full of prisoners somewhere in the hold. He then stood up and clasped right arm up to his left shoulder."I will do my best not to bring shame to the hold Jarl Lucian.."

Lucian waved his hand a bit as he began looking over the wolf armor Atticus had brought with him, Shaking his head seeing the massive dents in the right foreleg and the spine."Enough of that friend, I don't like to stand on formalities with one who is has fought with me, Now back on topic of this armor. What are you a monster? this is no thick armor but still it's not easy to deform armor this much with an axe."

Atticus grinned."The little bastard almost killed me, I didn't want to risk taking my time so, I just began wailing on him I broke the leg and spine before he finally died.." He then walked over to the armor, crouching down and looking it over again and now noticed a variation in the runes, seeing there were three in all."Hey, what is the difference between these three runes?"

He pointed to the three and Lucian pointed them out as he explained."The first rune is to bind the wolves to the will of the owner, usually marked by someone wearing a ring with a matching a rune that looks like this but inverted. The second increases the wolfs fertility which is why there seems to be no end to them. The third is a rune to increase their movement speed, A nasty combination with the increased numbers. And while the males only have three I have a feeling the females have a fourth which will make it so the pregnancy period is sped up dramatically.."

Atticus shook his head softly as he grabbed his hunting knife and scratched away the fertility rune while leaving the others in place as he put it in his bag again."Such things should not exist, it's unnatural..."He genuinely felt that way as he thought of the puppy mills in the real world. He then stood up and clasped his arm to his chest."I have decided that I will attack the den immediately.."

Lucian stood up and grabbed a small box from beside his throne, inside it was eight health potions, four each in a small belt attachment that held the vials for quick use.handing one to each of them"Take these with you, you will need all the help you can get going in there at night." He then turned to Sasha."Now, do you know how to use a bow and arrow?"

Sashas eyes lit up at this."I do!, I wanted to buy one but your bowyer tried to charge me three hundred gold for a simple oak bow that looked like it would break if I used it." In the real world, Sasha was an avid archer, doing a lot of competitions with her college club and team.

Seeing her excitement Lucien went into the store room and came back with a simple oak short bow, but it was thick and had curves blades along the recurves so she could use it in close combat should it come to that, He also had a simple cloth quiver with fifty armor piercing bodkin points.."Now then, these should do well with you then, try not to shoot Atticus in the ass as he gets the attention of the wolves. I know terribly well how bad these things hurt when you get shot with one...."He then looked back to his wife who was trying her hardest not to burst out laughing as she was the one who shot him in the ass when they were younger and just starting out as hunter and warrior.

As Sasha got so very excited about her new bow and began checking the damage on it and the arrows she actually squealed in delight. Atticus shook his head a bit and began removing his shoulders and cloak, letting them slide off onto the ground as he began to pull on one of the leather chest pieces he got from the four idiots earlier and strapped it on, though it fit fine it felt odd to have it on, so much so that Lucian noticed his discomfort but merely smiled as he had an idea of how to reward his thane if he succeeds in this quest.

As Atticus worked to pull on the chest piece he checked its stats, As he did Lucian got up and picked up the pauldrons and looked them over, very interested in the design with how it could do so much at once, and how his smith and leather worker never even considered the possibility of making something like this.

Seeing Lucian's interest in the pauldrons Atticus sighed inwardly."If you like Lucian I can draw up the design I used and give it to your craftsman to make, though it was a family secret i would like to help the hold in any way I can.."

Lucian who had been playing with the segmented sleeves looked like a child as he heard this."That would be wonderful my friend, It would allow for us to get away from the clunky sets they make while offering the same protection! I can give you 500 gold coins for the design upon your return, though it's not much it is double what either of those two old goats put together would pay."

Atticus felt that it was fair, being over what he was hoping for by two hundred gold."Agreed.." The two clasped hands to seal the deal , Atticus then pulled on his armor before he clasped his hand to his chest again and bowed lightly."If all goes well I will return in the morning with Floki's head in tow."

As Atticus took Sasha and began walking to the door Lucian smiled and settled back into his throne, the two of them reminding him of how he and his wife had been so long ago.

For the next two hours hey ran towards the den, hearing howls coming from the direction of the den as he added her to his party. Atticus pulled out his axe as they ran and Sasha took out her bow and nocked an arrow while holding three more in her off hand. They passed the clearing and as they pushed on they found their first wolves, two of the large armored battle wolves.

Atticus took a deep breath and let out as loud of a battle cry as he could, Feeling a drain on his mana as he did and noticed the two wolves cowering for a moment. Atticus then slammed into them, bowling them over as he fell ontop of one, slamming his knee into its throat as he swung his battleaxe and slammed it into the side of the others head.

By using mana with your battle cry you have unlocked an additional ability for Bloodlust, Roar.

As she saw his fighting style Sasha was taken back, seeing a mighty berserker out of one of the sagas of old, she would never have thought he was capable of this from what he told her about the real world but at the same time she understood, He was unable to move as he wished and was forced to hold back his entire life, But in here he was reborn, He could break every limit from before with a reckless abandon.

She shook her head and began shooting at the wolves, Focusing on the one he hit with his axe as the other was pinned down for now.

Atticus was about to shout for her to begin attacking when the first arrow slammed into the wolfs side, His eyes bulging as he saw 75 damage fall off of its health bar leaving it at ! He knew she was a higher level but what the hell was this!

But as he thought it over while fending the wolf off with the haft of his axe and waiting for an opening he remembered that Long Bodkin Point Arrows in the real world were made to penetrate armor so that meant it was ignoring its defense and going straight to the flesh.

But that could not be all, He looked back to is side as the next arrow slammed into the wolves side dealing another 75 damage."What the hell did you spend your points on!" he swung his axe and caught the wolf on the other side than what her arrows were on, not wanting to break them.

Sasha laughed a bit as she nocked the next arrow and killed the wolf."I spent 15 points in Dexterity, and 5 in Luck!" Atticus shook his head hearing this"What the hell, are you going for a glass cannon build!"He then stood up off of the second wolf and jumped back from it

A member of your party has killed Armored Black Wolf!

You have gained 275 EXP. (Sasha has gained 275 EXP)

Atticus was glad it was a 50/50 split as with the way she does damage his exp would be crap if it was based on his damage. But he swallowed his pride and slammed his axe into the last wolfs side as it leapt at him, bashing it to the side and cracking some of its ribs as his axe hit, As it flew through the air one of Sashas arrows slammed into its eye and killed it

Sasha grinned as she stood over Atticus as he began skinning and cleaning the wolves of all he could before he stood up and charged on."Sorry, i wanted to be able to beat Lily, she went with an archer set up as well though elves have it easier because her bow only cost 30 gold."

Atticus sighed and handed Sasha the armors from the wolves and her arrows, having told her his plans of melting the armors down and making weapons and armor from them when he got the blacksmithing skill.."Why is it that I feel like you girls are going to leave me in the dust.."

He grabbed a thick dead stick and wrapped a few of his extra strips of cloth around it, having run it through the wax he used when making the armor as they ran, knowing he would need some torches, He managed to make four small torches which he inspected.

Simple TorchType:ToolDurability:100/100Quality:commonA simple torch made from dead lumber and waxed cloth.Provides light for thirty meters for twenty minutes

Atticus took his hunting knife and with the back of it began striking the back of the axe to light the first torch. He then sheathed the knife on his belt and took his axe in a close grip and took the torch in his other as the two of them pressed on into the darkness of the den.