The Divine Wolf... or?

The next day, Ark woke up feeling very refreshed. The day before, his mana body had managed to level up to level 2. The increase in physical stats was more than he had imagined, and he felt amazing, all his hard work had paid off. The reason why it was so hard to level up his mana body was naturally because of how strong it was, and the reward was just as great as the hard work he had put in.

With that said, his magic circles had also levelled up once, which naturally improved Ark's mood even more. The unease from the day before was still there, but at least it had subsided a little, and wasn't as prominent as it had felt before.

No one likes feeling on edge, and that naturally goes for Ark too, sure, he could probably handle it better than most, but when it came to his family, he felt like there was no room for error, which was why he put a lot of pressure on himself.

The others had practically already forgotten about what happened the day before, since they didn't really know what it was about in the first place, it wasn't like they had personally felt a presence watching them, they had only heard Ark mention it, which was why it didn't really feel real to them.

With no plans for the day, they decided to head to the dungeon as usual. An opportunity to grow stronger was something that Ark would naturally throw himself at, and everyone else had been influenced by him to a certain degree, and they all wanted to grow stronger if they could. They were all actually considered fairly strong in this world, but it wasn't enough.

Compared to most people they were strong, but they were far from becoming able to influence the world on their own.

Ark's goal was to become an existence that could decide his own fate, he wanted to become someone that could battle entire nations for those he cared about if he had to. Most people in this world weren't that high level, since you had to risk your life to go into dungeons and grow stronger.

Who would actively put themselves at risk when they could just get a job and family in a big city, and get protected by their kingdom?

Ark didn't have much faith in others, especially not humans, and he would never leave his fate in their hands. He'd rather forge his own destiny through his own hard work and determination.

As they walked through the town, a piece of rather alarming news reached their ears, the demons had officially declared war on humanity! Recently the tension had been high between the two races, and skirmishes happened frequently, but Ark didn't expect for an all-out war to begin. To Ark, this news wasn't that bad though, at least it would serve as a good motivator for Ephine, Atar and Thufrat.

All he really wanted was for them to get stronger.

Whether or not humans or demons perished didn't matter all too much to Ark. Although he didn't enjoy watching people die, especially not if they were just normal innocent people, there was nothing he could do to stop this war.

Besides, it isn't like he likes humans or anything, quite the opposite, humans are hypocritical creatures that have no problems with not only killing and torturing others, but even doing so just for the sake of profit.

He could understand if someone decided to kill someone else in self-defence or in a war, since they wouldn't have much of a choice in that case. But to hurt others for the sake of personal profit is something that Ark could never wrap his head around, nor something he could ever condone for that matter.

As they left the city, Ark also noticed Kanan and his group. Since they were pretty far away he didn't bother to go say hi, but he noticed that they had an extra companion. This companion of theirs looked a little… shady. Maybe Ark was just imagining things, but he didn't really like the guy's aura, it felt peculiar, like he didn't really fit in with them.

Since they weren't too close, Ark didn't really feel like asking Kanan about it either, so he just continued towards the dungeon with the rest. As per usual, the trip there was uneventful as well as boring, but at least it was pretty quick. After they had entered the dungeon, Ark released a sigh.

He had been a little on edge, waiting for something out of the ordinary to happen, but luckily, everything was still fine.

Since that was the case, he was just going to spend the day like normal and try to level up a bit. Although he felt uneasy about splitting up inside the dungeon, he couldn't really force everyone to stay as a group either, since it would just hinder their progress, all he could do was tell them to be on their toes and stay vigilant.

Ark knew that he couldn't protect everyone at all times, which was why he wanted them to grow stronger themselves too. If he hindered their progress because he was being paranoid, and it came back to bite them, he would never be able to forgive himself. Sometimes, you can't have everything.

With more determination than usual, Ark let himself hunt with more ferocity than ever in the dungeon. He felt like he needed to release some stress, and the easiest way to that right now was for him to take it out on the spirits in the dungeon, it was like killing two birds with one stone.

...

About half an hour away from Moonhill, there was an abandoned house. This house once belonged to an ancient noble family, but after they passed away, it had been empty for generations. What no one knew, was that this house had been occupied for close to a hundred years already, without anyone actually knowing.

Currently, a notorious group of bandits were merrily enjoying a banquet in the dining hall. While they were eating, someone entered the house, and they all instinctively reached for their weapons, but after recognising the aura, they all calmed down.

Soon, a sleazy-looking guy entered the hall with gusto, he seemed to be in a great mood, but if Ark had been here, he would've realised that this was the man who had hung out with Kanan earlier!

"Hey Stanton, I was right wasn't I? Admit that they were top-quality goods."

"Shut the fuck up, I don't know how you found them, but you did a good job for once, don't ruin my newfound impression of you."

The hall became even more merry hearing the two banter with each other, and since Stanton said they had found top-quality goods, they would probably have a new job soon. As they were chatting, a gloomy aura suddenly ruined the mood, and the bandits could feel a chill run down their spine. The merry dining hall became deathly quiet, and they could hear footsteps slowly approaching.

The door soon opened, and a figure clad in a long black robe entered the room.

"Have you found one yet?"

"We found one earlier, we can probably set out soon."

"Good, make sure you get him to me in one piece."

"Of course, as long as you pay the price, we'll do just about anything."

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