Days before we set off with Aspen, I asked Adela about the plants nearby. Anything that could be used for medicine. Shin was working on making pouches and bags to carry stuff. I wanted every wolf to carry them to have medicine and food at hand.

  She brought them to me using her wind magic.

  “This plant heals wounds.” Adela said while she presented me a few blades of a grass with a blue color. It was one I saw from time to time, “it is plentiful, and makes the injury hurt less and heal better.”

  [Analysing… Grass of Kerote. An underground plant that has antibiotic and analgesic properties.]

  Good thing Erika had a database of plans with her.

  “And this is good for stomach aches and stings. You eat this one.” She showed me a green mushroom.

  [Analysing… Mushroom of Nervio. Antitoxin, antioxidant, and good to numb sensations of nausea. Also, can help with internal bleeding.]

  What a versatile mushroom. Adela did not mention it, maybe she didn’t know.

  “Thanks! I will have gatherers learn these and tell them to gather as much as they can. These will come in handy to keep nearby.”

  “Based on Ella’s teachings, there are ways to make these herbs much more effective. I believe she called them potions.”

  “Yeah, but we don’t have the materials to make them, and I highly doubt we can make glass. Although… I could come up with something in the future.”

  [Exactly. None of your wolves has the capacity or knowledge to work glass or make potions. I don’t have a crafting module for glass working and alchemy either.]

  So Erika had modules, good to know. Bad that we don’t have any.

  I told Fir later to have the gatherers find those plants, and to begin to carry them.

  Then I asked Shin to work on stone, as I wanted to make a mortar. I told him what I needed, and he got to work.

  }------------------------------------------o~o------------------------------------------{

  A few days later, Aspen was carrying me in her mouth, while we cruised through the fields at impossible speeds.

  “These pouches are amazing for carrying food!” She commented, clearly thinking more about food than the more practical use..

  She had a couple hanging on her side, held on one of the knots of her armor. I could carry anything we needed in my inventory, but she had to get used to me not being around. Those pouches were made by Shin, and he had fun while making them, as always.

  “Good thing he enjoys this.”

  We were running for what could have taken days for others. Aspen’s speed was insurmountable.

  Then she braked and stopped right by the entrance of another room.

  “We are here.”

  I left her mouth and looked around.

  Spider web. Covering the entrance. The ropes were thick, and I could see the sticky liquid they had trying to drip, but it was too dense.

  The other side was dark.

  [Anxiety level increase detected.]

  “I don’t like spiders…” I shuddered.

  “I have never seen one of these ones, actually.” She approached the webs, reaching with her nose to sniff them.

  “Wait!”

  I expanded my [Soul Sense], and I was right on doing so.

  There were a couple of them there, waiting for us.

  They were nasty to look at. Eight legs, a big lower body, a torso with two pairs of thin arms. Antennae, spider-like eyes, and fangs in their mouth.

  They had spears in their hands. Rustic, but the points were made of metal.

  They were not nice to look at, and I could tell they knew we were in there, waiting for us.

  That was an ambush for anything that attempted to pass by, meant to trap on the webs and catch by surprise in case they avoided it.

  “[Fire ball]!”

  My attack burned the cobwebs, which turned on with complete ease.

  We had one advantage, they didn’t know about magic. Their Ether reading was quite low, the lowest I had seen so far.

  They rushed from the darkness, and attacked. They looked at me in confusion, tilting their heads from side to side, until one of them focused on me and the other on Aspen.

  “Don’t bite them, Aspen!” I ordered.

  “Huh? Okay!” She obeyed.

  The one that attacked Aspen tried to stab her, but Aspen moved so its spear deflected its attack.

  The second one spit something green at me. I dodged most of it, and a few drops coated my handle.

  “Ew ew ew!” Gross!

  [Analysing… not acidic poison detected. It will not harm you, but it can be a threat for your companion.]

  I gave her the order to not bite for the same reason. Their blood could be poison for her too.

  [That is also a correct assessment.]

  Aspen threw herself at the one she was fighting, hitting it with the armor and pushing him against the wall.

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  I, on the other hand, dodged the spear of my attacker, who ran towards me like it was horse riding.

  Spears had advantage against swords because of range, but once you dodged an attack and the enemy could not reset its position in time, it was time to counter.

  Oh, and I had no body, so nothing to protect other than my metallic frame with the pointy stick I aim at people.

  I cut the shaft of its spear, disarming it. It screeched in surprise.

  “Protect… protect queen!” It yelled, then spit at me again, and continued repeating it, so did the one fighting Aspen.

  “Hah!” I yelled, dodging and countering, cutting its neck.

  There was an exoskeleton that took a bit of force to go through, but my blade was capable of cutting with ease, and I severed the flesh.

  One down.

  Aspen took her chance to lunge herself again, kicking it in the head, but the Arakin spit on her. Luckily, it hit her in the armor as she turned around to land her attack against its head, knocking it out!

  “Haha! Observe me, Aspen! The first destroyer of the Arakin!” She gloated.

  The fight was so easy that I completely forgot these monsters were a threat that were stopping the wolves to go further. It seems we became more than capable of dealing with them.

  [You gained a Greater Ether stone!]

  [You got a new passive skill: Poison resistance!]

  Good, a skill I could not use.

  “You got spit on, destroyer. Check that you are okay.”

  “Of course I’m fine! I have never… ow!”

  She lifted her back paw.

  There was a small injury on her right back page. It wasn’t big or threatening, but there was one.

  “Meh, it's nothing… maybe I hit the claw of that thing when I hit it with my paw.”

  All my alerts fired in that instant.

  “Sit, now!”

  Like an obedient dog, she did it.

  “Wait… why did I…?” She was confused for a second after following my order.

  With air magic I pulled out the Kerote grass and placed it on top of the injury. Also, there was a piece of cloth I had cleaned and pasteurized, which I taught them how to do with some old pots that we found on the ruins, with which I secured the herbs.

  “Hey, is not that big of a deal, what has gotten into… hmph!”

  I shoved the Nervio Mushroom into her mouth, which she huffed while eating.

  “Drama queen…” she huffed while eating.

  “I am not risking you getting poisoned!”

  Erika! Any way to give her the skill I got?

  [There is a way, but I will require you to use a couple of your Lesser Ether stones.]

  Do it!

  [...done! I consumed 3 Lesser Ether Stones! Skill Share System complete! Now you can give some of your skills to your allies!]

  That was easier than I thought.

  [Don’t expect me to be able to do anything your mind comes up with. I do have certain level of power requirements based on you]

  It made sense there was a limit.

  Under my stats, there was a new option.

  [Inventory - Skills - Titles - >Allies<]

  [Allies]

  >Aspen - Silver Quick Mountain Wolf<

  Level 10/10

  Fir - Moonless Ice Rage Dark Wolf

  Level 09/10

  Luna - Shadow Moonless Wolf

  Level 07/10

  I chose Aspen.

  [Share skill Poison Resistance?]

  Yes, please!

  “Hmmm?” She said, eyes wide and ears perked, body tensed. A small light surrounded her and then it was gone. “What did just happen to me?”

  “Good! That worked!” I celebrated.

  [I am amazing, I know]

  “What did you do?”

  “Now the poison these guys throw won’t be as harsh on you! Might not even do anything to you!”

  “Cool… how? Can you give me the fireball skill?” She began to wag her tail.

  “Will you use it with responsibility and not run out of magic?”

  [I don’t recommend it. Aspen doesn’t have the best magic capacity to cast spells, even when her Ether signal is big.]

  “I promise I won’t…”

  “When you grow stronger.” I answered and turned around to return to our path.

  “Hey! Not fair! I want to use magic too!” Aspen followed me.

  I found the spear tips before we left, though. They were made of normal iron, not that pure, but I could use to heal myself in case of an emergency.

  The lack of fauna and flora around that part of the caves was completely jarring. Like everything that once lived there got wiped out.

  [The Arakins we encountered presented signs of a corrupted queen. On their most feral state, the Arakins try to expand their territory and consume without stop]

  What I needed, an ever growing hive mind.

  “There is an odd smell in the air…” Aspen covered her nose with her paw.

  “Smell? What kind?”

  “Cannot tell, never smelled anything similar… I think it comes from there.” she pointed towards one of the many entrances that were around us.

  [Analysis… Arakins have two forms of communication. One is vocal, evolved to speak with other species. The second is a pheromone secretion that gives information and orders. Aspen is most likely detecting the pheromone.]

  I did not feel jealous of Aspen.

  But if that was information and orders, if we followed towards the start of the trail, we could find…

  “Okay Aspen, be a good girl and guide us!”

  “Stop saying embarrassing things in situations like this!”

  }------------------------------------------o~o------------------------------------------{

  Cobwebs everywhere. We had to burn and cut them to progress.

  We found 3 more lurking above us, walking through the ceiling of the cave and staring down at us.

  “Stop.” I said when I saw them.

  “Huh? What?” Aspen scanned the area and looked everywhere.

  She was confused, and could not see them. Maybe her sight in the dark did not reach that high, but what about the smell? Maybe the pheromone they used to communicate was blocking their normal scent.

  So, even if Aspen was strong enough to fight them, even more with the poison resistance on her side, they had weapons, were good at traps, and setting up ambushes seemed to be their tactic for hunting. That counted the fact that they were on the perfect distance to see what was approaching before being seen.

  They were the perfect predator for these wolves. For anything that lived there, even the Drakelings might have not been a match. My advantage was that I could see in the dark and avoid their traps.

  “[Fire ball]!” I swung my sword and fired 3 fireballs in their direction.

  They screeched and jumped down. Only one was hit and burned to death, its body falling in flames and burning more cobwebs on its way.

  “Protect… queen…” one said, and repeated it over and over.

  Aspen ran and took a bite at the one on the left. I followed by swinging at the other.

  They dodged. The one Aspen attacked countered with its spear, but the armor protected her, the weapon snapping and making the Arakin angry.

  Aspen then went for the neck and, with a strong bite, snapped the creature’s spine, killing it almost immediately.

  I parried the sword, dodging and, the same as before, cutting it and then countering. But the Arakin moved back. I cut its chest, but the death was not instant. Its green blood poured fast from its chest, and it lost strength on its legs. The creature squealed.

  “Queen… danger… protect…” it said.

  The back of its body opened, like wings, as it slowly died.

  “Damn!” Aspen covered her nose, “that is a nasty smell! What the hell?”

  I slowly realized what had happened. I increased [Soul Sense]. But before I could see anything, the answer of how I just messed up came immediately.

  A screech, then another, then a complete cacophony like a symphony of hell came down the cave. Aspen ears perked up, and her hair pointed to the ceiling.

  They came fast into my vision, a horde of Arakins was running towards us. What that one released was a threat warning, and called the rest of the creatures towards us.