Winston woke, yawning contentedly. For the first time in days, there’d been no nightmares. Looking around, he saw several sleeping wolves around him. Closing his eyes, he prepared to go back to sleep. Then, he shivered. Winston stopped, tilting his head. Before he’d fallen asleep, he’d placed the warm mana stone beside him. Now, it was gone.

  Jumping to his feet, Winston glanced around angrily. Then, he froze. A few nests away from him was the mana stone, and surrounding it were half a dozen pups. While the other pups nested with their mothers, the same ones that he’d played with had stolen his stone.

  Winston moved to take it back, but stopped himself as he watched the sleeping pups piled around it. He could retrieve it later.

  Wandering into the main chamber of the cave, he found several wolves lounging about. It seemed that these were the pack’s early risers, with the rest still fast asleep. Two wolves were sitting at the cave mouth, vigilantly keeping watch. Winston tilted his head. They were different from those who were on guard earlier. How did they decide who would be on guard duty? Would he have to do it too?

  Winston watched as one of them devoured the corpse of a rabbit. Realising he’d never bothered to check the strength of any wolves other than the alpha, he began focusing on them. Most of the wolves were between Initiate 6 and 9. The only exceptions were the pups, with the smallest being Initiate 1 and the largest being Initiate 5.

  Winston yawned and sat down, content to relax for a while. After a few hours, the alpha entered the cave with several other wolves. As he barked, he looked pointedly at Winston. As the other wolves ran up to the alpha, Winston followed suit. After ensuring that he was coming, the wolf turned and waited for the rest to arrive.

  Once there were about a dozen of them, the alpha walked out of the cave. As the rest followed, Winston saw the tiny pup try to run after and join them, only to have its mother pick it up by the scruff and drag it away. Letting out a snort of amusement, Winston turned and chased after the other wolves.

  As they moved through the snow, Winston decided to distribute his free points.

  Race: Corgi

  Class: Relentless Consumer (Unique)

  Rank: Acolyte 1

  Soul Shards (1/?):

  Devour (Unique)

  Titles (3/5):

  Non-Humanoid Progenitor

  [Redacted]

  Modified

  Food Energy: 700/700

  Stats:

  Strength: 27

  Dexterity: 33

  Toughness: 33

  Charisma: 55

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  Stomach: 70

  Mind: 55

  Free Points: 9

  After a brief consideration, Winston decided to put them all into his physical stats, adding three to each. At the back of the line of wolves, it didn’t take much effort to move. Those in front had forged a clear path for him. Still, that didn’t mean he wasn’t cold.

  He stopped for a moment, forming several blobs of maleable energy and sticking his paws into them, forming tiny snowshoes. Then, as he ran to catch up, he formed a thin slab of energy before him, pressing it against his face. With his feet protected from the cold and his eyes safe from the blinding glare of the snow, Winston continued.

  ?? ′?? ? ??` ??

  As the pack approached their first real prey, Winston felt himself quiver in anticipation. He’d yet to see the wolves fight in unison. All the animals they’d encountered on their way here were rabbits, which the wolves hadn’t even bothered to take with them.

  Now, they surrounded two Acolyte-tier beasts. Winston tilted his head as he looked at them. They were like deer, but at the same time, they weren’t.

  [Earthen Moose - Acolyte 3]

  Winston focused on the second beast, finding it to be the same rank. The larger of the two moose had antlers, while the other’s head was unadorned. On both of the moose’s bodies, there wasn’t just fur. Streaks of stone and dirt were interspersed in their brown fur.

  The pair stood in the center of the dozen wolves, holding a stalemate. Winston tilted his head as he read their names once more. ‘Moose’ sounded familiar; he’d probably heard his humans use it. Then, as he was distracted, the trapped beasts made their move.

  The earth itself shook as each moose stomped their hooves into the snow. Earthen spikes began to shoot up out of the ground, stabbing at the surrounding wolves. The snow disguised the movement of the spikes until it was almost too late to dodge. Winston blinked in surprise, barely dodging a spike shooting towards his hind leg. He’d assumed—wrongly—that the two moose would have the exact same abilities as the Ursiterra he’d fought before. The bear had been able to grow spikes from the dirt and stone that made up its armor. He hadn’t realized that the moose might have had different talents.

  Winston formed a shield of energy below the wolf standing beside him, blocking a spike that would’ve pierced its heart.

  The alpha leaped forward, claws extended, and landed on the antlerless moose. As the two fought, the other moose engaged the rest of the pack. As the wolves tried to fight, most of them found themselves blocked by spikes of earth. Still, a few of them managed to get strikes in on its massive body.

  The fight was going well, with the pack working together to slowly whittle down the beast. Winston launched the occasional projectile, but didn’t go all out. He wanted to see how the wolves fought. It was only when the moose lunged forward, about to impale a wolf, that he made a move. A condensed orb of energy struck the side of the beast's head, blasting it to the side.

  Before the moose could recover, Winston launched out a tendril of glowing energy. It wrapped around the leg of the massive beast, tripping it. A spray of snow shot up as it fell to the ground, grunting in pain. Winston moved in, attacking again and again, each strike drawing more blood from the beast.

  Winston looked to the side and found the wolves looking at him with a mix of irritation and confusion. Winston stopped attacking. What had he done wrong? Thinking back to when the wolves were fighting earlier, Winston realized they had been rotating who got to take the openings, never letting the same wolf go twice in a row. They wanted to split the energy gain equally. Embarrassed, Winston whimpered in apology. As the rest of the wolves leaped onto the moose, Winston sat and watched.

  A pang of sadness ran through him. The moose was just like him. It’d been brought here against its will. It hadn’t even chosen to come and fight them. Winston remembered the notification he’d received weeks prior. All Acolyte-tier beasts would automatically target contenders that entered their territory. That was him. The moose and its mate had come running to their deaths because of him. Winston growled and shook his body, trying to clear his head. It didn’t matter. It was natural. The pack had to eat, didn’t it?

  Winston felt another pang as a stream of energy flowed into him. All his life, he’d known he was different from other animals. Smarter. Despite how he hated to admit it, he’d been using that as a justification for when he hunted them. That since they were lesser, it was alright. Now, as they grew stronger, they grew smarter, too. He knew the wolves were nearly or just as smart as he was. Who was he to assume the two moose weren’t intelligent, as well?

  As Winston realized this, the death of the moose began to weigh on him. Just like when he’d killed the Caltherans. Another kill added to the ever-growing count, the weight of it sitting on his shoulders, pressing him down.