In the end, no matter how far he traveled and in whatever direction, he could not escape the forest. The only noticeable difference was after crossing a small field. There, the trees were slightly taller and a more vibrant green. Something that a normal eye would have missed.
He found that in that place, the wolves were at a higher level on average. The lowest being three, and level five wolves were no longer so uncommon.
However, the most threatening thing was that wolves started showing up in pairs. The first time he encountered a pair, they latched onto his neck and his right arm.
With his dominant arm being yanked on, he could not attack the wolves with a sword. The pain was mild at best, so instead he stood in place thinking.
'How do I get this wolf off me?'
Blood was draining out of his body and staining his torn-up shirt. It even wet his hands.
The wolf on his right arm was latched specifically on his wrist, which made moving any part of the arm hard since the wolf had a higher strength than his own.
However, the other wolf was only latched onto his neck, which left his left arm open.
"I guess I can just do that." He grinned.
Cassian quickly knelt on the ground and brought the wolves with him. Both wolves were still resisting, fighting for their lives as animals do, but he was cold-hearted.
He used his left hand to grab the wolf on his right arm and force it under him. Even with this attempt, the wolf did not relinquish.
He forced his knee onto the wolf's stomach and shoved his wrist further inside the wolf's mouth.
He grabbed his sword with his left hand and started stabbing, the blood red numbers ignored as he pushed closer to the wolf. His face was only inches from the wolves.
Cassian did not waver at all through the fight, and suddenly he heard a sob whimper. The wolf was afraid but could not complete its cry because of the foreign object in its throat.
It took a minute to finish off the first wolf, and after confirming its death through the health bar, he turned his attention to the other wolf.
Once it noticed his aggression being pointed at him, it pushed away from his body and started running away. He was able to get one attack on its leg as it retreated.
Cassian gave chase without hesitation, but could only match the speed of the injured wolf.
He chased through the bush and through the forest.
Ten minutes later, while still chasing the wolf, he passed by a group of three people running in the same direction.
"Is that wolf…" One of them started.
"Running away?" The second one's jaw dropped.
"And it's level five…" The last one was added on.
"Who is that? He's soaked in blood."
"Must be the wolf's, otherwise how could he run like that?"
"Nevermind that, we have our own problems." They looked back to see two wolves chasing them.
"If he is that strong, we should get him to help us."
One of the members, a mage, raised a long staff.
Suddenly, a bunch of thorny vines latched onto Cassian's wolf's abdomen, preventing its escape.
Cassian quickly approached the wolf and immediately attacked.
Without his slash skill, his attacks did exactly 19 damage, and the number rose above the wolf's head.
"Holy Shit! How can he do so much damage?"
A normal E-rank was limited to about half as much; right now, his damage was equivalent to a B-rank.
"Why is he alone, though?"
The two were finally close enough to interact,
"Isn't it obvious? He has the power to make a level five monster run away; he can obviously go it solo, it's better for the XP."
"Shut up, Jason… Sir, can you help us? These wolves are going to kill us."
Cassian finished off his wolf quickly, gaining only just over 50 xp, half of what the monster was worth. He was just one hundred forty points away from a level up.
After checking for equipment, there was none, he turned towards the group.
Noticing the wolves, he charged straight towards them.
They dodged back cautiously at his first strike, gnashing their teeth in unison.
One of the wolves rapidly jumped at his neck.
Used to this movement, he was easily able to dodge and retaliate, cutting its body as it passed.
-19
"WATCH O-" The mage yelled.
Just as he attacked the first one, the other wolf jumped at his turned back.
However, Cassian already knew.
'Speed.' The word passed as an understanding rather than a thought through his head.
He activated the sword cut, increasing his speed, just fast enough to turn around and cut the wolf.
-19
"So fast…" One of the boys remarked.
"How did he get so strong? What is his class and rank?"
"Probably B-rank, we know all the A-ranks' faces."
"Yeah."
"Are you just going to stand there?" Cassian turned for a second.
He had the confidence to kill any number of wolves, but doing it without revealing his pseudo skill would be difficult.
"Sorry." All three got into position and started fighting as well.
The mage cast another vine prison, effectively closing the fight into a one-versus-one.
With the addition of a team, they easily killed the remaining two wolves.
Cassian received just 50xp for the two wolves, showing the drawback of a team. If he were going solo, he would have levelled up already.
"Can we hunt with you? In case you didn't know, the wolves in this area usually form pairs, and I think my vine spell could help with taking on multiple wolves at once." The mage suddenly started speaking very quickly.
"I do not want to split the xp I can handle multiple wolves by myself just fine."
The group looked at the ground once they received his response. They surely wanted to get onto his bus for an easy ride.
"Fine, can you at least tell us your name?" The leader of the team, a warrior, asked instead.
He froze for a second. How would they change after hearing his name?
He turned his back and started walking off, "Cassian Locke."
He did not wait to see their reactions.
…
Within ten minutes, he encountered another pair of wolves and slayed them. This caused his level to increase.
Excitement filled Cassian's very bones; his luck here could make him vastly more powerful.
When leveling up, one is guaranteed stat points, but there were a number of various other improvements that could only be left up to chance.
When leveling up, there was a chance to gain a new skill, skill point, specific skill level up, or an increase in certain attributes. The rate was affected by rank, so being F-rank meant that he had a very low chance.