Crimson liquid spilled from my lips. A cough wracked my body which in turn made more blood spill out. Anyone could tell why I was in such a wretched situation from a glance. My guts were hanging half out of a long slash across my stomach. The blood pouring from my stomach had already dyed my shirt red and slowly seeped into my pitch-black wings. Why? Why would she do this to me? We were friends. Sisters even! Why?

A woman stood just a few feet from me, smiling like she had won the lottery. Her smile reflected pure rapture as she watched me slowly bleed out. She licked the blade of her sword, still fresh with my blood, and laughed. "This is perfect! Now that you're gone, he'll only be with me! I won't have to worry about master leaving me for your hag-like body ever again!"

A low buzz drowned out the rest of the woman's voice. The buzz grew louder and louder, but I didn't care. If anything, I was appreciative of it. The sound was loud enough to drown out the woman and whatever bat-shit insane thing she said, yet quiet enough not to cause me discomfort.

I was caused discomfort by the reason she had slashed me open like a pinata more than the actual pain. She had killed me purely through fanatical jealousy. I don't even know why she would be jealous of me in the first place. Because I spent so much time with our master? But that time spent was anything other than good. Most of the time he was around me, he would only hit and call me names.

The buzzing sound faded along with my vision. A black void of complete silence surrounded me. As I sank deeper into the void, I realized that it wasn't scary as I had been told. Instead, the void wrapped around me like a blanket on a cold day. The ‘blanket’ wrapped around me, allowing me to rest peacefully.

A voice entered my head.

[Activation of Item:[Creator’s Phoenix Feather]]

[Initializing Effects… ERROR…]

[ERROR... requesting administrator help…]

[Administrator detected]

A man showed up in the void. My vision was blurred so that I couldn’t see anything except a glowing radiance around him. The man's appearance woke me up just enough to remain conscious of what was happening.

[Error Cause: Item sends user five years into past]

{Why is that a problem?} A high-pitched voice came from the radiant man.

[Answer: Two of the same souls cannot coexist at one point]

{But why is that a problem? Don’t you usually just insta-kill time travelers? Do it this time too.}

[Attempting suggestion… ERROR]

[Error Cause: The item: [Creator’s Phoenix Feather] is above the Record’s permission to affect… suggested solution deemed impossible… The item effect involves a complete resurrection...]

{What the heck? Since when is something above your permissions? Wait… it can’t be.}

[The item resonates with the creator's power.]

{Wait… this is one of his items? I thought we had reclaimed all of them... I've got a new solution; give me the feather and let this one die.} Just before the glowing radiance could continue to speak, he was sent away, returning just me to the void.

[Administrator dismissed… Effects of [Creator's Phoenix Feather] initializing… ERROR… Overruled…]

I still floated gently in the void, mostly ignoring the voice trying to ruin my sleep. I felt like I could just sleep forever. Thankfully that wish seemed to come true as my consciousness faded away...

My consciousness, unfortunately, returned along with messages from the Records.

[Retrieving soul... SUCCESS!]

[Reconstructing body… ERROR… can not reconstruct body since records were removed...]

[Processing problem…]

[Solution: Creating a new body…]

Where am I? Didn’t I die? Then why is it so bright in death? I distinctly remembered falling into a comfy void. Wait... Faint memories began to return to me. They were mostly nonsense dreams that I had while floating in the void, but one stood out. It was of a man arguing with the records about the effects of an item.

I propped my eyes open, revealing that I was lying down in the middle of a forest. The surrounding trees reached far into the sky like giants trying to play with the clouds. The grass around me was soft and gently caressed my skin due to the wind. The grass was an untainted dark green. A creek rolled over its bed far away.

A yap sounded off from nearby. The single bark was repeated until a cacophony of noise surrounded me. The noise finally got to me. I moved into a sitting position to take in a spine-chilling sight.

There were dozens of adult wolves surrounding me. The yapping I heard came from a group of pups playing around between the wolves and me. The pups stumbled around blindly searching for their playmates while the adults watched on with predatory glints in their eyes.

The pups slowly eased towards me as the play fought with each other, causing my spine to be as tense as a loaded bow. All things considered, my anxiety was well warranted. Getting eaten alive hurts hella bad. These wolves would bring that pain to me in a heartbeat if they thought the pups were in danger.

I was so terrified of being eaten alive that even watching one of the pups knock itself out by running into a tree didn’t release the tension. This overwhelming fear kept me from enjoying the moment that one of the pups separated from the others and came closer to me. It sniffed the ground before slowly sniffing my legs. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the pup then climbed onto my leg and fell asleep like I was some kind of dog bed.

No matter how soft and fluffy the cut creature was, my attention was almost entirely on the surrounding group. Surprisingly, none of the pack looked at me with even a trace of hostility. Most of the wolves appeared utterly calm as they watched the pups fighting around. I didn’t know why I could read their posture well, but it helped me settle down for a moment as I started to think about why they weren't attacking.

I don’t remember ever having an item on me that made me peaceful with wolves, so that wasn’t it. I also never had any skills or anything that would make that kind of effect. Wait… none of that mattered. Any items I had would've disappeared when I died. Maybe a skill?

With a simple thought, a box showed up in my vision. It was a black semi-transparent board with words written across it. The box was a visual representation of the Records, which was the system that governed all of existence. Nobody knew what exactly the Records were, but they recorded everything that happened, no matter how small. An effect of these recordings was the Status, aka the box that appeared in my vision, which displayed all of my records.

[Kali Vexia - Wolfkin - Level: 1

Titles: None

Strength-12

Intelligence- 11

Dexterity- 14

Endurance 10

Charisma- 15

Unique Abilities: Gambler

Racial Abilities: Luna, Shift

Divinity:

C̷̞ͮtͫ̾̏ͤ͜͜͏͚͚͡ ̷̛͈̣͉͖ͫͫ̉̒͒̀̕͞ͅp̔͌̓͑̍͠҉̶̰͈͕̝̭́͘ō̵̷̶͓̠̣̫̞̙ͯ̆̏̈͌͘̕͞ ̸̢̛͂͗̉̾ͦ̀͌͞͠҉͏̟̞̯̬̦̦̭ņ̴̶̦͉͔̹̦̜̫͕͊̊̇̇̉̎͋͋͜͢͞͞͡t̶̡̨̓̈́ͧ͒̑̍ͨ̿̔҉̵̶̷̧̬͓͎̖͔͍̥̦͎͟

Time- 2 years]

The first thing I noticed was my name change to Kali Vexia. This marked the second time that my name had been forcibly changed. The first time was when my master changed my name from Experiment-013 to Wyx Olfen… Anyway, the new name wasn't bad. It was easy to pronounce and had an excellent ring to it.

Why did I change races, though? I've never heard of anything like this happening before… granted, I was a slave, so it's not like I was super knowledgeable to begin with. There aren't many times for an enslaved person to get an education, so my level of education could be considered third-grade at best.

So what is a wolfkin? Does that mean I am half-wolf? Is this why the wolves surrounding me are so passive?

Also, what was this time thing? The Records said something about being sent into the past, right? So am I in the pre-cataclysm galaxy now? Assuming that the two years refer to the cataclysm, I got sent back... five years? I wish I was paying better attention to the Records while in the void...

The rest of my Status was really good for a level one. Level ones were typically super weak since only newborns were level one; newborns usually only had one point in every stat with geniuses having three. Since my lowest stat was a ten, then did that make me a super genius?

I also had three abilities, which was rare. Level ones usually only had two abilities. They had a race ability and a personal ability. Race ability was an ability that was shared across all members of a given race.

In my previous life, I was an artificial fallen angel, so my race ability was to be able to hide and show my wings. While my wings were out, I had a boost to my dark magic. A more straightforward example of racial abilities was the human racial ability. Theirs was called [Indomitable Will], and it allowed them to keep high morale as long as there was even the smallest fragment of hope for victory.

Personal abilities were completely different than racial abilities. They were randomized by the person and could be anything. In my past life, my personal ability was to turn curses into blessings, which was why my master kept me. I could turn a -50% stats curse into a blessing of +50% stats. Not everyone had a personal ability; I just seemed to have gotten lucky to have one both times.

My abilities were different than what I previously had. With just a single focus of my mind, information on my three abilities showed up in my vision.

{Ability: Luna(Racial): All members of the Canidae family and those related will feel comforted in your presence. They will not attack you unless provoked. You can also easily read the intentions, feelings, and body language of the previously stated creatures like it is another language.}

So was this what made the wolves not attack? Or is it because they sense I am also part wolf like I initially thought? Either way, [Luna] was quite nice to have. Sure it was useless around the non-Canidae, but it could be beneficial among the right group. I wonder if it would work on the dog-like species in space? Would gnolls be kind to me now?

{Ability: Shift(Racial): Can shift between your two forms at will.}

So it is kind of like my old racial ability? Quite shocking, actually. Abilities that could allow someone to change shape were rare in the galaxy. I wonder what my other form is like?

{Ability: Gambler(Unique): Gives a completely random item to the user. Also increases luck slightly. Cool Down: 24 hours.}

The ability to get a random item was a double-edged sword. On one paw, I could get a spear that pierces the heavens; on the other, I could get a teacup without any tea. Gambling wasn't my cup of tea since it heavily relies on luck. If there is anything my life has taught me, it is that luck was a fickle lady. Fortunately, this ability also increased my luck.

Not that I'm thinking about it, my master did a couple of research projects on luck while I was with him. Maybe I could try to use some of my knowledge to increase my luck even further? I can't think of any ways off the top of my head, but I know there are a couple of items and abilities that can raise luck.

The bottom of my Status caught my attention. Mainly because of how corrupted the data looked. It was covered in ever-changing text that completely blocked what the Status said. The only thing I could make out through the corruption was the word 'divinity.'

I had heard of divinity before. I think my master had looked into it during my previous lifetime. If I was right, then it was the power of the gods. Gods were mighty beings that had breached past the firmament of mortality. They tended to be extremely strong and could crush mortal like bugs.

The reason I know a bit about gods was because my master wanted to become one. He had reached the peak of tier ten, the capacity for a mortal, and sought to break through to tier eleven by becoming a god. My master- No... I'm free now. I can't keep thinking of him like that... Terry seemed to believe that the path of godhood was through divinity.

No matter what it was, I couldn't gain any more details on it since its very presence seemed to glitch out. Is the glitching normal for divinity? I don’t know since Terry never reached a point where he had divinity.

After looking through my status, I had a few questions. Namely, if my race was a monster or sapient type. It wouldn’t be the first time that a humanoid was a monster, so I wasn’t a hundred percent sure. It might help if I knew what I looked like so I could see if I had anything that starkly stood out as monstrous.

The difference between a monster race and a sapient race was that sapient creatures had classes. They were like jobs, in a way. By leveling up the class, the creature would gain more potent abilities to help out in their ‘job.’ On the other paw, monsters had evolutions, but not classes. Once the beast gained enough experience and hit its threshold, it gained the ability to evolve, becoming bigger and stronger.

Sitting there for a moment as a pup slept peacefully in my lap, I finally had enough time for it to hit me that I had really died. I’m never going to see my… my what?

My family? I was an artificial creature made from alchemy, soul magic, and the accumulation of hundreds of experiments.

My friends? It was pretty much just my mas- Terry and Rebecca, my best friend that killed me out of jealousy. I had no other friends or even acquaintances to miss.

Pets? Why would a slave own a pet? The closest thing to a pet I had was when Terry would let me play with his familiar, though I’m not sure that that counts since the familiar was bound to him.

Would I miss my power? I didn’t have much power. Terry forcibly capped my level at three hundred so I wouldn’t grow stronger and escape my enslavement.

Now that I think about it, Terry was a terrible person. I don’t know why I never realized it before... Was it because of the slavery magic he had cast on me? I guess he did free me from the lab, but that was about the only kindness he showed me. He capped my level at three hundred and kept me around just so I could support him. Well, maybe not just for my ability. He seemed to find great joy in hurting me, whether physically or mentally.

As the sad thoughts of me being forever alone entered my head, a large gray wolf licked my arm, drawing me from my thoughts. The wolf laid down next to me, wrapping his bulky body around my legs. My hand casually reached out and stroked his head. He leaned into the head scratches as his tail rose and fell next to me.

Wait… if the wolf was gray, and his tail was wagging over there, whose tail is laying across my lap? The tail was completely black and fluffy, standing out against my smooth skin. I don’t know how I didn’t notice it earlier, considering how easy it was to see. I pulled the tail slightly, about to shift it off my lap when I froze. A slight pain raced through my back when I pulled on it. What the hell?

I instinctively flexed up my non-existent wings, but only the tail started to wag gently over my lap. Focusing in, I realized that I wasn't actually flexing my wings but the muscles in the tail. I had just thought that it was my wings through force of habit.

It didn't take long after to grow accustomed to my tail. Controlling it was highly similar to how I used to control my wings. Like how I would move my arm or leg, the tail simply followed my will. Once I was confident in handling the odd limb, I laid it down on the large wolf next to me.

I needed to find a mirror or something to look at myself. I wonder if I have any other new attributes? Quickly running my hands over my body, I found out a couple of things. I was completely naked, just sitting in the middle of the woods. I was also a lot more sensitive than I used to be. Especially my tail and head. The increase in sensitivity made sense. I was hatched and grown purely to be a weapon in my previous life, so the scientists had dampened my nerves and sensitivity to touch.

My skin was completely white, different from the grayish hue it was before I died. I had fairly long black hair that reached just above the middle of my back. I also had two floppy wolf ears on my head. Getting used to the ears was weird, especially when I learned that I no longer had ears on the side of my head.

The wolf pup in my lap snorted loudly at my self-inspection before standing up and walking towards where its siblings were sleeping, leaving my lap empty and bare. Almost as if sensing my slight discomfort at having nothing cover me yet again, the giant wolf next to me wrapped his tail around me and set it on my lap. It was so fluffy that I couldn’t help but rub it gently. A glance at his expression revealed an ecstatic face that seemed to say, “Yes! Praise me more!”

I looked around at the rest of the wolves around me as I gave the wolf attention. Most of them were laying down on the grass in small groups, but there were a few who were sitting around, watching our surroundings like haw- errr, wolves. About half of the non-guard wolves were watching the pups sleeping peacefully. The second half watched the large gray wolf and me by my side.

Looking around, I realized that the gray wolf was the largest of the wolves. Something instinctually told me that it meant he was the pack's alpha. I was pretty honored to have the alpha of the pack personally come and lay down next to me. To put it into perspective, the alpha was like a war chief or royalty.

I took the opportunity that presented itself to use my [Inspect] ability on the wolves around me… only to fail terribly as nothing happened. I'm not going to lie; it took me way longer than I would want to admit to realize why the inspection ability wasn’t working.

The problem was that I no longer had the ability. After my death - and subsequent revival - all of my abilities, skills, titles, and classes had been reset. To get [Inspect] again, I would have to relearn it, which would be a massive pain in the rear. The only way to learn [Inspect] was to use inspection stones repeatedly. The problem was that it took around fifty inspections to learn the lowest level of the ability, while most stones could only be used five times. The problem expanded depending on what planet I was in. If I were on a low-tech world, the stones would probably be costly compared to a high-tech planet.

Even without [Inspect] though, I could hazard a guess on what the wolves were. Judging by their size, most of them bigger than me, I could safely assume they were Dire Wolves. Dire Wolves were a species found throughout the galaxy, so I couldn’t narrow down what planet I was on based on the wolves alone.

Alright then! Surrounded by wolves is the perfect time to test out [Shift]. It seemed very intriguing, but I had never heard of it or my current race, so I wasn’t sure how it all worked. Would it be a small change or a significant change? Would I even notice the change at all?

With a single thought, I activated my ability. I immediately felt a deep sense of regret upon my hasty decision to test an ability I had never heard of…