After the level up his health was restored to full but he kept shaking. The feelings he experienced were still living and burning inside him; adrenaline has powerful addicting properties for a reason, Noah had experienced a rush for his first time ever. His worries when looking at the decreasing HP bar and the look of trust in Dominik’s eyes was still vivid in his mind. The sensation of having achieved what he strived hard to do was satisfying; he decided to sit down near the bear carcass for a minute and enjoy this exotic state, ordering Wolfie to come near, he took out some meat from his inventory and began to feed it, the poor pet got almost done in too.

“ You did it, boy! Good job, I saw your burning desire to succeed when you looked into my eyes. I got really moved “.

Dominik said while putting a hand on the resting Noah. He experienced the feelings of a first adventure again thanks to this battle between the bear and Pestilence. Dominik felt that he made a good choice when he told this promising disciple to come and join the expedition; truly an adventurer sent by the gods, he thought.

Dominik always looked at Noah with different eyes, he was his first contact with an adventurer from the prophecies. They were people bound to become a famous warrior, explorers or legendary craftsmen in due time, he wanted to see with his own eyes what were their real abilities and potential. There was also his desire to live a new adventure after a long time and he found in this predicament a chance to realize his desires.

“ Get ready Noah, when you have skinned the bear we will return. After a break for lunch, I think that the expedition will depart”.

Noah got to work while paying his utmost attention to this carcass, after all, it was special. This bear allowed Noah to experience his first hurdle, to taste defeat but refusing and overcoming it. After 5 slow and delicate minutes, he was done, a blue panel stood in front of him informing that his skinning level increased by one.

On the way back they didn’t encounter any difficulty, Dominik was able to guide them back through the forest without a problem. The occasional encounter was avoided or quickly resolved by the instructor; after 20 minutes of walking between bushes, sidestepping low hanging branches and breaking some small wood that laid on the ground, they came out in the open. High walls of stone were visible in the distance, they were so big that a strong and imposing aura was perceived even by far away.

They came out in a different point and faced another part of the wall, Noah thought that they would make a beeline for the city and then reach the right gate but Dominik surprised him by saying: “ Since we are out in the green, let’s make our way to the gathering point slowly. It’s important to enjoy free moments such as these, there should be enough time after all “.

It was a much-welcomed phrase to hear, Noah could enjoy a bit of sightseeing; it wasn’t anything special but it was relaxing. A huge plain of green grass with random bushes separated the forest from the city, small horned rabbit stood on it, they looked cute now to him.

Turning to Dominik he expressed his thanks, he really enjoyed his time with him, there were also all the benefits he got and the help that the Instructor always gave out. Truly a profitable relationship, under many aspects. While still speaking he got interrupted by the recurrent laughter of Dominik.

“ Seeing you thanking me, let’s go at the gates while running! Since you are so energic it’s better to constantly and diligently train”.

the instructor was easy to embarrass it seemed. With a smile on his lips, the big man started to jog right away, he felt happy and in a good mood thanks to the new wave of life that he was experiencing, on the other hand, Noah was feeling puzzled by these sudden strange behaviors of Dominik, still he enjoyed the moment and rushed to chase him.

Soon they were at the gates, unexpectedly Noah gained a level in Enduring Body; probably Dominik was right, it was better to train in every moment he could: there were stats to gain!

On their way to town, Dominik had time to explain what awaited them in the expedition. An undead plague appeared far away south, after the forest; Divel was the southernmost city of the Reign, after it, only wilderness with some bandit cities could be found before the ocean. These cities gave refuge to numerous outlaws, criminal companies and the occasional person that didn’t like to mingle in the society of the Southern Reign. There weren’t many of those and every single one was independent of the others, until today only one single time in history the bandits united to raid the Reign: civil war almost broke out as a result. Dominik gained a lot of popularity ten years ago when he repelled numerous raiders alone in many villages.

Hearing him narrate about that past war made Noah picture the slaughter caused by his instructor, he almost felt pity for those poor bandits. He also was in awe of that person that Dominik described as unmatched in strength and charisma, able to unite every independent rogue city. That figure didn’t ever made an appearance causing the raids and pillages to stop and ultimately, the superior organization and unshakable strength of the Reign pillars repelled the bandits. It was unknown why this leader didn’t interfere until the end and his identity wasn’t discovered either, there was only a title when people referred to him: “Mountain Lord”.

Noah was fascinated by this personage, being strong enough to unite many rebellious people was admirable by itself and the mystery that permeated his appearance was a strong fuel for his interest.

That war, Dominik’s explained, caused the Reign to intensify the military presence at the borders and the control of the surroundings. This was the reason for the expedition, the army higher-ups didn’t want the undead outbreak to afflict the border security in any way; they feared to show any weakness to the bandits, such was the scar left by the Mountain Lord.

When Noah and Dominik arrived at the city gates accompanied by Wolfie, the guards almost ganged on him before seeing Dominik and stopping. They still approached in order to follow the rules, their duty supreme. Noah discovered that Wolfie wasn’t allowed to enter the city, tamer had to either register a companion or momentary pet or leave them at the city gates in an apposite stable. There were limits to the creature’s dimension allowed inside the walls for security reasons, registration was a simple process only a collar with a nametag of the owner was required and some papers to be compiled, seeing Dominik presence with him, the guards even offered to take care of every procedure right away but their proposal got dismissed instantly, after all, Noah didn’t need to enter the city.

“Pestilence, let’s meet again here in 1 hour. The expedition will start to assemble by that time.”

Noah nodded in response and activated the logout procedure but, amidst great shock, was interrupted by an unexpected panel.

Alert!

You have a tamed creature following you, before logging out chose what you want to do with it.

He got presented with two choices, dismiss his tame or suspends the logout procedure. A suggestion was made before the option to exit log out: he could deposit Wolfie at some stable in order to keep it when he logged back.

He really liked his first wolf, thinking that probably there wouldn’t be time for many occasions to tame another in the near future, Noah decided to suspend the log out procedure and asked the guards for directions. This resolved, he logged out.