Claw wasn't necessarily the best. He wasn't really the fastest, like Brother Blood, nor was he the best at combat, like his father, Tear. In general, he was just....average in the clan despite his ease with hunting, he supposed. The only thing he had going for him was his better tracking capabilities, but before the massacre that wasn't really all that rare in his clan. He was a respectable member and he participated in a lot of hunting, enough to prove he was worth keeping around. He spent his days hunting, and his nights licking his wounds and sleeping. Unfortunately, that peaceful slumber had been disturbed.

When he woke up, it was from a somewhat gentle rest. It was basically him dreaming about a nice roll around in grass with him wondering why the grass smelled off at some point, or perhaps there was something other than the sound of sleep and stone that woke him up. Either way, he opened his eyes to find.....something. He wasn't sure if there was still sleep in his eyes or not, but he saw a pale creature. Almost as pale as the moon with how it stood out in the darkness. Claw didn't know if that was natural or not, but he was certain this thing wasn't prey. It had the forward facing eyes of a predator. It wasn't snarling though. Just standing there. Claw couldn't tell if it was going to try and fight him or not. He was the one who watched the entrance after all. There could be more of them, but something felt off. He could see its eyes. It was scared. Probably just wandered in, looking for shelter. Claw snuffed and motioned towards the entrance before heading back to sleep.

With any luck, whatever this thing was, it would tell its brethren that this was clan territory. And not to hunt around it. Knowing its size, it was probably just a carrion eater or something, so it might have that appearance because it was sickly. Better to let it leave than try to eat it. That was the first time he awoke that night.

Unfortunately, there was a second time that his rest was disturbed, and it was a lot more unpleasant than the first. The reason behind this second occurrence was that his sister, Moon, was awake the first time Claw had woken up. She saw him let 'prey' get away. So, she went and woke up their father, to state he let potential food get away, so, in the end, they both approached him and woke him up quite roughly. When Claw came back from his shortened dreams, imagining his place as top of the clan with cubs of his own, Tear had put his mouth around his throat and was squeezing, hard. Claw could feel the fangs piercing him, and he stopped breathing for a couple seconds before he finally starting giving voice to his concerns.

"Father?"

"Moon told me what you did.", he growled. "You let prey get away from the clan. You have anything to say?" Tear slowly released some pressure on his son's throat.

"..It was sickly. It could've caused the clan to catch illness." Claw rebuked. It was a fairly weak rebuttal though. Most of the clan wasn't cubs anymore, even if they were on the younger side, considering most of the heardened hunters had died due to the betrayal. No longer would they get sick from a single piece of meat. They were strong now. Claw knew that. Tear knew that as well.

"Do you question the strength of the clan?"

"Yeah, do you?" Claw turned his head to see Moon domineering him, chiming in with a sass-filled tone.

"I only was thinking about the clan's health. Not about its strength. My purpose was for caring, not questioning." Claw turned his head to look back at his father. Tear looked into his son's eyes, trying to find falsehood. Seeing none. He released Claw's throat. Claw noticed that Moon looked slightly sad about that.

"But father...."

"Look, he had reasons for doing so. I respect his decision. I am Clan Leader. You have to at least respect that, or do you want to end up like Tuft?" Moon winced at his rebuttal. Even Claw winced. Tuft was no longer mentioned in the Clan, with good reason. He had decided that Clan ways weren't enough for him and decided to join something they called Greens. The Clan did not know if this was a rival clan or not, but they wished him the best. After a couple moons went by, Tuft came back with his new Clan. The resulting battle nearly tore half of the Clan apart and Tuft was assumed to have died in the battle at Tear's paws. After that, no one spoke of Tuft, and Tear saw to that. For him to bring it up so suddenly in private conversation, sudden monsoon drowning all the prey. In other words, disheartening.

"Alright Dad...I'll see you in the morning", Moon huffed. She then turned around and went back to sleep at the far side of the home. Claw tried to settle back down to sleep, but Tear stopped him with a touch to his shoulders. "Is there something else?"

Claw moved his head to meet his father's gaze. Tear's face....there was something in there. Some kind of sadness Claw hadn't seen before, or thought he had ever seen from his father. "....Son, you have to leave."

"......why.."

"You know how the ceremony's coming up?"

Claw knew about the ceremony. Hufus was probably one of the more celebrated moments in Clan history. It was basically the only thing they ever celebrated besides good hunts. When the moon was its biggest, every wolf had a chance to become leader. It lasted for three days, each with some fights and large scale hunts, albeit probably in a smaller size this year considering all that had occurred. "Yeah..what does that have to do with-"

"I think Moon is trying to kill you." His father's words held a grain of truth, but the suddenness of it put Claw on edge. His sister made no mistake as to the distaste she held for him, but outright harming him beyond the simple fights they had seemed a tad further than she was willing to go before.

".....how do you think?"

"..If you're not there to fight, she can win without much effort. All that's mostly left of our clan are cubs anyway, and the ones that could fight are mostly dead or injured, unable to enter the ceremony. We must recover from our losses, and I don't think now's the time for ceremonial infighting. I'm soon going to give everyone notice, she's probably not going to like that, and I want you to leave before then. I do not want my children to fight, and for her to catch you unawares." Claw scoffed at his father's explanation. To him, almost everyone was a cub, even if they had finally grown out their claws or soft tuffs of youth.

"I can do it though. I can bea-"

"I know you can. That's why I'm letting you go. Just as my father let my brother go." Claw was confused. He had never heard of an uncle in his entire life. But he could tell that Tear wanted to continue, so he went quiet.

"My brother was the best of my father's children. And I think everyone knew it. And when the time came to have him sent into the ceremony. He was not there. My father claimed he was arrogant and went to fight the greatest predator in a new area and establish a new clan by himself. But I remember waking in the night before and seeing father send him away. I think that this is a secret tradition for any Clan leader to do, as before he died he had told me the truth of that night. I must send my strongest out into the world, otherwise the clan does not grow. Just as it might with you." Tear was silent for awhile, only noticing that his son was staring at him.

"Claw, you must go and start your own clan. Grow our traditions. Grow our people. Now, this is going to be the final conversation I have with you. Goodbye son." And with that Tear leaned down, licked an ear, and went back to his sleeping spot, leaving Claw alone. Without anyone nearby to hear of his departure.

Claw....Claw didn't really know what to think. Most of his life, he thought that he would be in the clan till he was too old and his children would end him, thus absorbing his essence into their bodies. Leading their clan into further greatness through wisdom. Now.....now he was alone. The only thing that would accompany him now would be nature itself. The dripping water of the cave almost seemed to laugh at him. He growled softly at it, wishing it might stay silent.

He may have hated his father's decision, but.....he could see the wisdom in it. His sister, had always fought against him when they were young. She was too much like her mother. Not enough like their father. She might not even save the clan like he felt he was supposed to, but.....something in him said this was freeing. He wouldn't be stuck trying to bring his clan back to greatness from the brink they had been thrust into. That responsibility would be laid upon his sister, not him. Now, he was his own leader. A proud member of a pack of one. A lone wolf. And with that last thought in his mind, he left home.

His travels took him along the well trodden rocky passages that many of his ancestors took before them. Many paths often led into darkness and death pits. The massive caverns bid goodbye to him, like an old friend, but he wasn't ready to leave. Not yet. He couldn't leave out the regular way. Most likely any activity outside that area, might warn the other clans that this was their home, and they barely got away from the other fight to begin with. He may not have been a part of the clan anymore, but he still did not want his family harmed. He thought back on what he knew about the caverns. If he went right, he would pass through no more than one or two other caverns. That way was filled with a freshwater lake, with lizards and nice fish near it. But, that was the way to the entrance. It had no split paths that led away that didn't either join back in or lead to dead ends. He needed a new way.

With that thought, he remembered something from awhile ago. Some warnings about purple lights. He didn't necessarily think clan tradition wasn't true, but maybe if he went that way, nobody would go after him, not even rival clans. So, with hope in his heart, he went off the beaten path and followed the light. It brought him through some unfamiliar terrain. Big cliffs with jagged edges, crumbling walkways that barely supported his width, and some of insects that he happily crunched before seeing the source of the light and a familiar face. Apparently, the purple light came from some cap plants that grew in a spacious cave. He'd never remembered seeing these kind of plants glow before, but this was nothing new. Just a simple thing that some trees he saw already could do when it was dark. What was interesting though, was the familiar face.

It was the creature from the night before! It looked different though. It was lying against the central pillar where they grew, but the thing was lying on his side, with a floor rock just laid out next to it. Where before it had looked pale as the moon, now it looked even paler, almost as grey as a fluffbird, and it wasn't that hard to see why. It had some capped plants in its mouth, and it was frothing like some who had the sickness awhile ago. Now, he didn't actually know what was happening to this thing, but he felt the need to at least do something for it. Parts of it were turning grey and almost rotten looking. Without that creature, he probably wouldn't be here, making it out on his own, hunting for himself. So, remembering what their clan did for members that had sickness, he pawed the central pillar where the capped plants grew to collect some moss that was hiding among them. They usually got the moss around regular capped plants or growing among trees, but he figured this moss is just as good. He then put the moss in its mouth and on its head. After which, he surrounded it, like he would a pup. He only hoped that with this, even if it didn't work, he did right by Ounder, leader of all. With luck, this thing might lead it to others of its kind, and then it could have a feast, as long as they aren't as bad as this one. And with that, Claw once again fell asleep.

Once again, I was waking up into darkness. This time, however, I was a slew to a couple different sensations than there were before. There was something leaking from my mouth, I was shaking uncontrollably, there was a log of things that occurred, and I was wrapped in something furry. One at a time Dave. Slowly, I felt around me, to discover that, yes, I was surrounded in fur.

Ok. Worry about other things first. Like, am I surrounded by fur because I was forced to eat that mushroom? Like a growth from my back? Is there like a history log that I can look at? Log....History. Oh, that brought up something. And, it's a long ass list. From when I first got here. Great. How do I...I just imagine scrolling and it does it. Sweet. And there's a little timer there to judge how long ago things happened. Nice. Now I won't ever forget when something important happened. And.....here we go!

History: (6 hours ago)

Event: You have ingested a magical agent.

Since this is your first encounter with this specific agent, you are undergoing an Awakening Event.

There's a chance of death if you do not abort now. . . . .

No known obstruction stated. Commencing Body Modification.

No .,;'] found. Creation commencing.

Creation finished. Body Modification finished.

Congratulations on the acclimation of a new Affinity and surviving your Awakening.

For surviving your first awakening, you receive +1 CON.

Congratulations on unlocking your magical capabilities. For that, you earn +1 INT.

Warning: Bodily processes shutting down due to Affinity influence. Estimating time of death....

Time of Death: 1:59:53

Time of Death: 59:23

Time of Death: 30:00

Time of Death: 15:00

Event: You have ingested a magical agent.

Since this is your first encounter with this specific agent, but also not your first encounter with a magical agent, you have a lower chance of gaining another Awakening Event. . . . Success

Warning: If you undergo this Awakening Event, there is a slight chance your existing affinity will be erased because of the magical agent's nature.

Abort the acquisition of a new affinity? . . .

No known obstruction stated.

Commencing Body Modification.

Body Modification finished. . . .

Congratulations on the acclimation of a new Affinity.

Congratulations on fixing your imminent demise by acquiring a beneficial Affinity by chance. For that, you receive +1 LCK.

Congratulations on unlocking new magical capabilities. For that, you earn +1 INT.

Congratulations on unlocking two Affinities. For that, you earn +1 WIS.

Congratulations on unlocking conflicting Affinities, without their cancellation occurring. For that, you earn +1 WIS.

Congratulations on surviving several hours near a deadly predator without dying. For that, you earn 10 levels.

For gaining a LCK of 25, you have gained the skill: Stacked in Your Favor

For gaining a LCK of 50, you have gained the skill: Lucky Influence

For gaining an INT of 25, you have gained the skill: Remembrance

Congratulations on surviving long enough to earn a level. For that, you receive 5 additional stat points.

Congratulations on making it to level 10. At this point in time, you receive the ability to pick a class, based on your current skills.

Alright, here we go. In short order. First, I ate something and that gave me magic powers in some kind of....body modification I guess. Then I was dying because of an Affinity or something? Anyway, after that, I somehow ate another thing which stopped me dying, and also gave me more magical capabilities. Also, plus side, I get to use magic, or at least something like it if the translation's anything to go by. I earned a lot of things, like increases in my stats, as well as a few levels and...glitched skills? Guess I got them because my base states weren't updated with the cloud or something until I leveled? Anyway, I'm also near a predator. Wait....I'm near a predator! Shit! Is that what all this fur around me is?!?! I need to keep calm. Don't want to let it know I'm awake. I wait a bit to see if my sudden movement woke it up, but it appears I'm safe for now, as this thing's breathing hasn't changed much. Judging from that, I think it might just be asleep at the moment. I think that what I'm hearing is snoring and that the movements its making is just it breathing. Also, from how I'm still alive, and not being eaten, I can safely say that I might be alright.

Ok. Now that I'm more calm about this situation, what even is this thing anyway? Observe. Ok. It's a Lone Dire-Wolf. Crap. If it's got a special title like the others, I'm seriously screwed. It can easily kill me, so....why doesn't it? Well, it could be just trying to save me for a later meal. Then again, it could've killed me when it found me and just threw me down a hole for safe keeping. Plus....I'm not too sure, but maybe it helped me survive? It's the only reasonable explanation besides......bugs crawling into my mouth. Ehhh.

Gently, I poke the thing. It stirs before it lifts its head. Ok, yeah. It's a direwolf. It's just looking at me right now. Or at least it looks like one. To me, it looks more like a giant husky, but I'm not gonna argue with the system's designation....It doesn't look like its hungry or anything. We both stare at each other for a bit, before it starts unwrapping itself from me. That's when I realize how massive it truly is. I was sleeping nearly all on top of it. No sorry, him. Uuuuh. Turning my attention away from...that. I look up. My previous estimation was about right. The dire wolves here are about the size of a horse and....wait. If it's the size of a horse, could I ride it? Maybe, but I don't think I should try that, considering I haven't exactly...tamed it I guess. Can it even be tamed? I don't have any food on me, nor do I have the time to last its generations, so I guess not right now.

Anyway, it seems to be just staring at me and sometimes shifting its ears around at the slightest hint of noise. It seemed....a little on edge. Besides, why would it be coming this way alone anyway? Surely if it had its entire pack following it, it might be heading out, but it's....alone. Why is that? Wait....do they work like lions do? I remember a documentary from awhile ago saying that males who leave a pack in the African savanna are usually forced to form their own pack. So do dire wolves work like lions? For now, I'll assume yes.

That means that this one is all alone and probably will be for awhile. And judging from how he chose to come this way, that means that this must be the way out! Haha. I've purely lucked out on the exit. Guess that explains why my luck stat is 50, well 51 now. Although I don't even have a basis for whether my stats are at a good level or not. I know single digits probably aren't but what's the average if it can go as high as 30, if I remember right? A question for when I probably have a higher level in observe and someone to actually talk to I suppose. That way I might be able to look at something's stats and talk with them about it. For now though, the only proper path is forward.

I get up on my feet, or at least try to, as I roll off of the top of the wolf. I hit the ground, a little hard, but it doesn't seem to hurt all that much. That's good. That means I don't have to walk on a sprained ankle or something. I stretch a little bit and look around. Nothing seems to be changed. Then again, it's a cave, and I have a wolf near me. It's only natural most things would probably just leave us the hell alone. Looking at the wolf, I say, "Guess we're by ourselves, huh boy?"

The wolf looks at me curiously. Guess wherever here is, animals are a lot smarter than I give them credit for. Dang though, I already miss the feeling of his fur on my skin. It was surprisingly smooth, so he must take good care of himself. Maybe if I.......Carefully, I approach him while looking for any outward signs of hostility. Seeing none when I'm at least five feet from him, I put my hand closer to him. I remember that some animals need to get a sense of your smell before allowing you to touch them, so this is probably for the best to get him adjusted to me. I wait a bit, before he actively moves his head closer to my hand and gives a tentative sniff with his muzzle before backing off a bit. Without a moment's hesitation, I put my hand on his head, to scratch behind his ears, before he raises his head back up. The moment comes and....

The moment that I start to scratch, something changes about the wolf. Whereas before he was alert and cautious of me, now he leaned into my touch with visible pleasure, softly twitching his nose. I started scratching him in other places, like under his chin and his back, where I could reach. He seemed to like all the places, but eventually I had to stop. I remembered something again from awhile ago, that dogs twitching can sometimes mean they're in pain. Like you're scratching too hard into their muscles, or something along those lines. However, when I stopped scratching, his face seemed to be content, as his mou-er, muzzle was held in a noticeable grin. After a moment, he seemed to regain his senses, looked at me, and began to walk closer to me. He proceeded to nuzzle the side of my face, before heading further into the cave. I debated on whether or not to follow him, when I remembered what was behind me. Quickly, I managed to scrape some of the mushrooms off the wall and put them...I don't have pockets, do I? But instant poison on hand is kind of a necessity when I don't know what kind of things are lying in wait around here. I'll just have to...alright. You did it. Now don't think about it, at all. I turned me head away from the pillar towards the far away outline of my first friend and starting heading towards him.

"You know you need a name if we're going to be hanging out." I quickly put out as I tried to keep up with him, with his longer gait. "......How about Stein....like in Wolfenstein?" I received no input, as I suspected, but I think this is probably the best name I could come up with for him. I mean....it's a pun too, so it just works you know? Anyway, while I'm following him, I need to check up on the things that I need to do and also maybe level up observe a couple times. Hopefully with it constantly on, when I could do it, will make it work better? Don't particularly know. But while that's happening, I'll pull up stats and see what's changed between now and then.

Name: Dave Race: Human Class: Unknown Level: 11 (1000/1100%) HP: 121/121 MP: 187/187 AP: 25/25 Strength: 7 [STR] Dexterity: 9 [DEX] Constitution: 11 [CON] Intelligence: 34 [INT] Wisdom: 17 [WIS] Charisma: 6 [CHA] Luck: 51 [LCK] Available Stat Points: 25

Ok, so for each level up I gain 2 stat points, 1 AP, 11.1 HP, and I need 100 more experience to properly level up each time? The numbers are real weird, but it's nice that they're kind of going up. And how do I allocate those points? Do I just think of moving one to...yep, that's how it works. Now I have 8 strength. I don't really feel any different though. Maybe sleep helped me with the changes? I don't really feel or think different than before though...Maybe I have slightly less fat on my body, but it's hard to tell in this weird light. Alright, fuck it. I'll allocate all my points to have 10 in any category below that. Ten is usually baseline for some of the games I play anyway, plus I still have 17 points left to spend after spending them. How do I use them though? I don't even know what the stats represent. Well, I do, but I don't know if what it says on the tin is exactly what it changes. Wait, I have a help function. Help Stats.

Stats: Stats represent your basic traits in numerical form, as well as some basic information that some people might have access to if they have the necessary skill. Some stats may be invisible until you unlock specific requirements to view them.

That didn't help much, like at all. Maybe I need to do an individual basis kind of thing for all the things I don't know. Well, I guess I should start trying.

Class: The job/hobby/skill archetype that a person resonates the most with.

Level: A classification system that allows you and others to see how well you stack up against them. Gaining them allows you to upgrade your body, and also upgrades stats you can not improve through regular means through various calculations.

HP: Health Points (The amount of health/healing power you have in response to injury)

MP: Magic Points (The amount of magic you contain/safely use that can cast spells or be put towards skills)

AP: Action Points (The amount of stamina that you can use for various skills)

Strength: A stat that describes how physically fit you are. It is also used to calculate how much damage is dealt to someone physically along with how much carrying capacity that you have and the natural regeneration that your body can take.

Dexterity: A stat that describes how well you can perform articulated movement. Basically, how much control you have over your own body, as well as, how much you can use the muscles in it.

Constitution: A stat that describes how much you are resistant to various diseases, curses, and other body debilitating effects. Also describes how well you can recover from them and, via a matter of calculations, determines your total health.

Intelligence: Stat that describes how well you are able to learn and maintain a variety of information. Also calculates how much magic you can safely handle without various bad effects, as well as, number of spells you can remember.

Wisdom: Stat that describes how well you can use the information that you're given at a specific instance, as well as, the information that you recall from your experiences. Also calculates how much experience you can gain to level skills, yourself, and how fast mana recovers.

Charisma: Stat that describes how well you interact with other beings. Without appropriate skills, can only be used for basic conversations.

Luck: Stat that describes how well that events go for you that you have no control over. Also, if anything fails using any previous stats or other skills, can be used to calculate success of certain actions. Cannot be added to with stat points. Must be earned through events based on luck. Only stat that can't be lost with age.

....Alright. Guess if I get older, all these stats might degrade? Makes sense I guess. Plus, it's helpful to know what each of these things do, even if they're not giving me an exact description of what they do. Now I know what kind of things that I could base myself to do. The way it says calculates is also a bit interesting. If I'm right that must mean that my total health is basically my constitution time my level and my total magic is intelligence divided by two times level.

For figuring out how your health and mana are calculated within your stat sheet, you have received +1 INT and +1 WIS.

Huh...that was kind of easy. All I had to do was think on my basic mathematics knowledge. Wait....Before I do anything else that will change me, I should also probably check my affinities now. I don't necessarilly know what I've got, or what I can do in terms of spells, so that's a rather important matter to know. Magic.

Magic Affinities: Decay Life Known Spells: N/A

....Huh, those affinities seem....pretty weird to get. How do I find out what they do? Oh right. Help Affinities.

Affinities: Affinities are domains of magic in which your body has achieved through various means. Affinities can affect what kind of magic your body can naturally handle. That doesn't mean you can't handle other types of spells, it's just that these come more naturally to you and have their abilities amplified. Affinities can also affect how your body looks, and sometimes can cause other effects to occur, with some being beneficial, while others are not. For example, if you had an affinity of fire, you would've an easier time using fire spells, as well as, have them be more powerful. However, they would also have a negative modifier to using water magic and maybe also be slightly made of fire, depending on the strength of the affinity. All in all, getting an affinity is seen as a generally good thing to get, as affinities cause unknown bonuses to people's growth.

Your Affinities:

Decay: Decay is an affinity not many can have without physical harm coming to them swiftly. This comes from a curse that all holders of decay hold, as any who hold it will eventually have their flesh and bones decay to rot and dust. Not much is known about this affinity, due to those who acquire it often not having enough constitution to survive long enough to research it.

Life: Life is an affinity none can have for long. This isn't due to its rarity, or requirements to obtain it, as its specific nature makes it easier to track down, but rather how the ones who hold this affinity eventually become no better than dumb Beasts, thus making them unfit to have them in the first place in the opinions of many. This is mainly because of the false advertising that it gets, as those who obtain this ability are filled with life energy. This isn't necessarily a good thing, as being filled with life usually means that growths begin to form on the users. Eventually, these growths become so big or numerous, that the owner will lose all higher brain function, and their existence transforms from one of complications to one of simplicity. More times often than not, those who have this affinity will eventually become creatures of life itself, mainly plants, gnomes, or other types of forest folk, if their bodies are pliable enough. The reason that this kind of reaction is known to be caused by the Life affinity itself, is because it was recorded that Groud, the Life god, gave apology for his affinity's powers only once.

....huh. Guess that explains why I haven't died yet. Got two opposing affinities. Cancelled each other's bad effects out. Also, there's mentions of gods again, as well as, gnomes? I guess that ain't too far fetched considering that I ate magic mushrooms awhile ago. Note to self though. Never again eat magical glowing mushrooms. Then again, never had a choice in the matter considering mind controlling chemicals or something. Also, nice to know what affinities actually do. So, if I get any spells relating to them, It'll be easier to use em. Nice. It also means that I won't just be limited to those kinds of spells. Also, don't know if my body's going to change at all considering my affinity's basically cancel each other out while giving me the benefits still.

So, we've been walking a long time, and I finally realize that Stein keeps looking back at me. I think he's trying to judge me or something. For a dog, he seems remarkably expressive.....should I be doing something? Oh! He waved his head in front of him. He wants me to lead! Great idea! That way you could be in the back protecting us, while I'm in the front. Nice. I walk in front while he slows to a pace in the back. At that point, I had finally gotten out of the world of introspection and I finally notice what's happening around us. The cave has gotten unnaturally dark. I can only tell what's at least five feet ahead of me, but beyond that I can't tell-Wait. I do notice something. There are eyes in the darkness.