It was getting late when the list of questions was finally exhausted. Max checked his character sheet and noticed that Greater Enhance Regeneration was no longer part of his status effects and his regeneration rates had dropped back to their baseline. Even if Greater Enhance Regeneration was still active, his natural limits were fast approaching. He had once again woken up at dawn and now it was already deep into the night. This was only his second day in this new world and he wasn’t used to the high-stress levels nor the lack of sleep.

Looking at Ma Erk, Max could see the little wolf was still fairly energetic. The little guy had slept most of the day and on top of that, he was nocturnal, to begin with. Even knowing all that, Max still somewhat felt old when he announced that he was going to retire for the night. It was as if he was an old man going to bed while the kids stayed up. But in this case, the bed was a dirt hole and the kid was a two’ish’ year-old wolf.

Going down his hole, Max checked on his collection bowl, there were eight drops of dew. He took a second to debate if he should take it now or later, and decided to save it for later. Since the effects were almost instantaneous, there was no reason to take it immediately unless he was able to break through or was already injured. Aside from that, the plan was to save it for emergencies.

…

Ma Erk watched as the boss went down into the hole to sleep. He had noticed the hole when he first came into the cave but didn’t know what the hole was for. He thought that was the boss’s poop hole. Ma Erk was going to poop there as well, but seeing that it was too clean he had decided not to. And it was a good thing too. He had remembered when he was harshly beaten when he had pooped all over the pack’s sleeping area.

He didn’t know humans also like sleeping in holes like rabbits. Thinking of rabbits, he couldn’t wait for the boss to wake up so they could go hunting. The boss was so strong, he didn’t need to worry about going hungry ever again. The boss was also nice, much nicer than the old pack leader. Today was the first time he had gotten such good meat, in the past he would only get scraps and leftovers. But there was something wrong with the boss’s head, he seemed to not know things that were common knowledge. The boss had asked Ma Erk so many easy questions. Maybe the boss was just testing Ma Erk to see how smart Ma Erk is.

‘Yes, yes Ma Erk smart wolf. Answer all of the boss questions.’

Ma Erk settled down next to what the boss had called “fire”. It was bright, not that he needed it to see, but it was also warm which was a welcome feeling.

The day's events had not been kind to his fur, it was all matted from the blood and dirt. Leaning into the warmth of the fire, Ma Erk started grooming himself. Hours had passed and Ma Erk was almost done with getting his fur back to the pristine white again. He suddenly heard rustling coming from outside the cave. Carefully, he got up from his position next to the fire, by this point, the fire was mostly out but was still radiating small amounts of heat. Ma Erk quietly moved to the hole where the boss was.

…

Feeling something wet and slimy on his face, Max woke up. He was going to instinctively throw up his arms to protect his face, but before he could, he heard Ma Erk in a low tone.

“Boss. Something outside.”

That instantly put him on high alert. He perked up his ears and could hear the soft pats mixed with the occasional grunts. There was definitely something coming and it sounded like they were coming up the path. At most, Max might have a few minutes before it reaches the cave’s entrances.

Ma Erk's voice sounded next to him again “ Ma Erk think ugly lackey and dumb lackey.”

From his talks with the little guy, he knew that those were the nicknames that Ma Erk had given the two wolves that had attacked him the night before. In that same conversation, Max also learned that the third wolf, the “boss” the lackeys were referring to wasn’t the pack leader of Ma Erk’s tribe, but instead was one of the offspring of the pack leader.

Hearing that Max gave Ma Erk a nod. It was good information, he now had a rough idea of what he was facing.

Over the last two days, Max would often find himself zoning out while he ran through his exercise routine. Realizing that that wasn’t a productive way of utilizing his time, Max had decided to allocate some brainpower to devising different plans for fighting. Fortunately, one of the plans he came up with was exactly what was happening now. With all the tracks that he left behind, it was just a matter of time before something came sniffing. This was sooner than he anticipated.

A lot of things could go wrong if a plan was overly complicated. So this plan was as simple as possible. The plan basically boiled down to leverage the momentary distraction that comes from entering the formation to launch a surprise attack.

Even with his plan nervousness still overcame him. In terms of cultivation, the two lackeys were likely around the 3rd stage of Body Tempering, the same as him. He did have a few extra points in Constitution from his leveling, which gave him more HP, but would that be enough? There were two wolves outside and possibly a third that was stronger than both of those two.

There was one more advantage, and that was the Midnight Dew. Before he had fallen asleep, there were eight drops, now there were ten, meaning he had only been asleep for roughly four hours.

Putting the bowl to his lips, Max tried to take a small sip. He only wanted to take half of it now and in case he needed more later. Even if this fight took more than an hour or anything close to that, something must have seriously gone wrong. His sip was a little bigger than intended and ended up taking six drops instead.

Status effect - Greater Enhance Regeneration

For consuming the Midnight Dew (x6), gain a 500% increase in health, stamina, and chi regeneration for the next 24 hours.

Max checked over his character sheet to make sure everything was in place.

Name:

Max Oxford

Level:

4

Cultivation:

Body Tempering 3rd Stage

Age:

23

Progress:

84/86

Progress:

78/150

Status:

Weakened Body

Greater Enhance Regeneration

Titles:

System Pioneer

Realm Walker

Cultivator

Traits:

Quick Learner

Cultivation Body

Skills:

Analyze

Common Tongue

HP:

54/54

SP:

58/58

CHI:

NA

HP Regen:

70/hr

SP Regen:

85/hr

CHI Regen:

NA

Stats (Multiplier:1.3x)

Strength:

10

Perception

14

Constitution:

22

Intelligence:

22

Dexterity:

13

Spirit:

1

Endurance

14

Vitality:

10

Free Stat Points:

0

Quickly looking over his character sheet, Max noticed that his stats seem to be a bit higher than what he had initially expected. He had a hunch but didn’t have the time to verify. He planned on checking it after the fight, but for now, he just counted this as a small blessing.

At first, he was only sure that the Formation didn’t block sound from coming into the cave, but he wasn’t sure if the opposite was true. But today, Max was able to call out to Ma Erk to come into the cave when he was building the fire. Knowing that sound travels both ways, Max quietly got up from his hole and slowly walked to the cave entrance. He couldn’t see much, just vague outlines. He was sure that if he hadn’t spent the last two nights in this cave, he would have likely made a lot more sound. He did find that the outlines seem to be a bit more detailed compared to the night before. Max attributed this to the slightly higher Perception stat.

He made his way to the Formation. Given the width of the entrance, only one wolf would pass through it at a time. Max stood there holding the larger Chi-Infused Rock with both his hands. It was pointing downwards and he was ready to strike. He stood there waiting, each second felt more like minutes. He could feel his heart pounding in his ear. The rustling got louder and louder but all of sudden stopped.

From just the outside of the cave, the wolves were talking to each other. He knew they were close, maybe even right outside.

“Puny smell cave”

“Yes. Puny and something”

“Yes something”

“You look”

“No you look”

This went on for a while then a third voice came from the distance.

“Hurry!”

Max swore in his mind, he was pretty certain that he would lose if he had to fight all three of them at the same time. Thankfully, the third one, the “boss”, seems to be still down by the clearing.

Hearing their boss, the one that was closer to the entrance began walking forward. The footsteps pick back up and it moved slowly towards the cave.

‘Any moment now.’

As soon as the outline of the snout appeared, Max wanted to act. But it was too soon. To not give himself away, he needed to wait just a tiny bit longer. Although that fraction of a second went back fast, it was a testament to his willpower for not being too hasty. Finally, when he saw the outline of the entire snout and right before the wolf’s eyes exited the Formation, Max made his move.

Max brought the Chi-Infused rock over his head and with one smooth motion drove it down as hard and as fast as he could. The Chi-Infused rock was used like the head of an axe. The sharp end came crashing down and made contact with the top of the wolf’s head. It was wedged two inches into the wolf’s skull.

Pulling the Chi-Infused rock out, he heard a wet squelch but didn’t get the familiar sensation of a new notification. He knew that the wolf was not dead, but it was certainly dazed. Shooting his left hand out, he grabbed ahold of one of its front legs and yanked it into the cave. There wan’t any resistance aside from the wolf’s natural body weight. He easily pulled the limbed body inside. The still dazed wolf collapsed to one side in front of him with half its body still outside.

Max quickly knelt down and brought the Chi-Infused rock overhead again. He aimed for the head. After the second head bash, he finally got the notification. Max was too focused on the cave entrance to read the notification.

Max waited, but there was nothing, not even footsteps. After a few seconds, Max started to get antsy, he had so much adrenaline coursing through his veins but no release valve. All his attention was directed at the Formation, waiting to see if the second wolf would come in.

Unbeknownst to Max, the remaining wolf was petrified. It had seen its packmate collapse as soon as it entered the cave. Something had also pulled the body half into the cave. Half the body was missing. There were also several squelching sounds accompanied by twitches of his packmate’s hind leg. After a second of hesitation, it decided to turn tail and run.

Suddenly there was the unmistakable sound of paws hitting the ground, it sounded frantic. But at the same time, his nerves were on a hairpin trigger, before his brain could register what he was doing he had already jumped through the Formation and out of the cave.

His jump brought him right on top of the fleeing wolf. When Max landed, he did so by pinning the wolf below his relatively large body mass. His right forearm was in the perfect position to push the wolf’s neck into the ground. Max transferred the Chi-Infused rock into his other hand. He tried to bring the Chi-Infused rock down on the second wolf’s head, but because of his position, he couldn’t put enough force into his strikes.

Seeing that, he carefully pivoted and sat up. He made sure to keep the majority of his body weight on top of the wolf. In his new position, he was sitting right on top of the wolf’s back with one forearm still pinning it to the ground. Max tried using the Chi-Infused rock again, but again he wasn’t able to put any actual strength behind his hits. Taking a risk, he discarded the Chi-Infused rock.

His forearm was removed momentarily, just as the wolf was about to lift its head, Max clasped onto its neck with both his hands. Grabbing the wolf’s neck, he pushed it back down to the ground and squeezed for all he was worth. There was a crack, something gave way, and the struggles and whimpering intensified.

While all this was happening, the third wolf was hollering in the distance and demanded to know what was happening.

Eventually, the wolf under him stopped moving and a new notification was made known to him.

The last wolf was still in the clearing, seemingly having trouble deciding if it should come up. This gave him the chance to drag both the wolves into the cave. Once that was done, he held his original ambush position and waited.