[You have defeated a Corrupted Beast, King of The Dire Wolves, Raijin].
[You have received a tool].
The familiar voice brought a subconscious smile to the young man's face. A soft chuckle escaping his lips, Kaito let go of the beast's neck. Falling to the ground alongside the corpse of the Wolf King. Kaito's mind was tired, his body was weak, and the pain was unbearable. Even with all these things the young man's smile never dimmed.
'I'm alive...? ...Yes... I won...'
Clenching his teeth and holding onto his sides, the young man lifted his upper body off the ground. Kaito sat up with a pained grimace, but he ignored the pain. His mind was focused on one single thing.
'The item I received... What is it...?'
A familiar blue panel materialized before him, extending vertically. Kaito's gaze fell a specific row, he read slowly, his eyes slowly widening.
Tools: [Crown Of The Alpha].
[Crown Of The Alpha] Tool Description: "The King of the Dire Wolves carried a heavy burden. It was tasked with protecting all members of his pack. Each time a member of his pack was killed, an immeasurable amount of pain and sorrow would wash over the Wolf King. Then a spark of anger would ignite within his heart, clouding his judgement."
[Crown Of The Alpha] Attributes: [King's Burden], [Wolf King], [King's Pact].
Kaito's eyes widened and his smile quickly formed into a grin, however a grimace of pain struck the young man, causing him to grimace and focus on reading once more.
[King's Burden] Attribute Description: "For every friend that perishes you're the spark of anger within your heart will grow, forcing its user to relinquish all thoughts except revenge."
[Wolf King] Attribute Description: "Wolves will change their perspective of the wearer of this crown and eradicate all thoughts of hurting them. They will be granted with a great increase in speed and a small increase in strength. Wolves will be more inclined to assist the wearer."
'Wait..? Does that mean wolves won't see me as their enemies anymore? Can I turn them into my subordinates, or maybe even minions?'
With a small sigh followed by a yelp of pain, Kaito gritted his teeth and kept reading.
[King's Pact] Attribute Description: "The wearer of this crown is allowed to create a pact with others, turning them into his subordinates after defeating or making them submit willingly. The subordinates can be forced into obeying a command based on the difference in strength between the master and subordinate. The amount of subordinates allowed is dependent on the wearer's mana cores."
[Subordinates: 0/3]
[Master's Mana Core Rank: Latent]
[Subordinate's Mana Core Rank: ?]
Ignoring the pain the frail young man lifted himself off the ground with vigor, a wide grin forming on his face. Kaito was in the mood to start dancing, this was simply amazing!
However the excitement didn't last long as he fell onto his back and grimaced, the pain becoming more than unbearable after his careless actions. His frail and battered body was spent, unable to endure anymore abuse.
"..Argh!.. Damn it!.. It hurts so much!"
His yelps and screams soon died down as the night slowly descended onto the world, obstructing Kaito's vision. The young man was now sitting up against a tree, multiple sticks were besides him, each one had a sharpened end. Kaito did not want to let his guard down, especially not at night, so he had to prepare.
A serious expression was plastered onto the young man's face, he was fighting sleep as best he could. There was also something different about the frail young man, a silver crown rested on Kaito's head, contrasting with his black hair quite nicely.
Kaito listened intently to each sound made during the quiet and dreadful night, his eyes darted towards the direction of each sound. A branch snapped in half, Kaito's gaze swiftly darted towards the direction of the noise, his hand gripping onto one of the sharpened sticks. He expected something to lunge out from the darkness and try to maul him. But nothing did.
His gaze averted to a different place, following the sound of rustling leaves. His expression remained the same and wary as before. But once more, nothing happened. It was just him and the silence of the eerie night. Even so the young man wouldn't close his eyes.
'Come at me bastards... Well... Preferably stay far away.'
With a sigh the Kaito looked around, his stomach growling, begging for food. But that did not stop him, instead he gritted his teeth and pinched himself in an attempt to stay awake. His body was too weak to climb atop one of the trees. Even if they didn't provide complete safety it was better than being out in the open.
The frail youth was clearly still on edge after being ambushed by many beasts including that wretched Wolf King. The thought of that wolf made him shudder, the memories seeing that beast brought back was already too much for him but the Wolf King even brought him to the sorry state he was in now.
'If only it wasn't for that stupid wolf... Well who's laughing now? Yeah, he's dead and I'm alive! I even took his crown!'
Kaito forced out a laugh, not because he wanted to, or because he felt like mocking the already dead beast. It was because of the embarrassment it would bring to sit there awkwardly after thinking all of that. But all he managed to do was embarrass himself further.
A sigh escaped his lips as he leaned back against the tree, he had to survive, he had to. He didn't have a specific reason to stay alive, he merely wanted to. He didn't want to die, he never wanted to feel its embrace.
The familiar blue panel materialized before him once more, displaying his mission. The dreadful mission he had no solution to, not yet at the very least. But he would think of something eventually, right?
[Mission: Bring the spirit of the Great ElderWood Forest to rest, eliminate the Distorted Monarch, GrymWake].
[Remaining time: 24 hours].