“Yes,”

His word made the smile on Carl’s face grow even brighter. He was not optimistic about a 9th tier mage travelling with a group of adventurers. Still, he will have all the available help.

Westwood Village was not some common village. All the men here are at least around 6th tier warriors. Therefore, the disappearances were not something to disregard.

Another thing that Carl could feel was the weird sense of superiority coming from this mysterious man. He has to say he hated it because they were warriors. The Crimson empire had the least number of Magicians, assassins and even well-trained arches. Because they loved to rely on their strength. In the military, Magicians didn’t receive the same respect as a magic warrior who knew how to fight.

 “I will check the surroundings first,” Adam didn’t wait for his response.

He wanted to get away from this awkward position. Also, he needed to get the system reward. Adam turned to the jungle, looking for a secluded place.

Looking at his departing back, Carl’s mouth curled into a smile. 

“Two of you keep track of him, I need to know what he is doing,” he immediately ordered two of his men.

… 

Adam walked into the thick forest to make sure no one was looking at him. 

‘System, what is an optional mission?’ he called out the devious system

- Optional mission is not necessary to complete

‘But this one will affect my future missions?’ Adam started to frown.

- Host is known as a man of the god, if the host failed to protect innocence it is to be count as a failure of the god

‘What kind of theory is that?’ he complained, but the system made no reply to him.

After walking in his slow phase for more than an hour, he finally saw a good place, a small stream with thick bushes surrounding it. He didn’t hesitate to hide and collect his reward. Especially since he had a feeling of being followed.

He finally called the system out to get his reward

- Wolf Transformation (Basic) (Receive?)

He took a deep breath and finally decided.

‘Receive.’

A new set of lines started to appear in the blue light and he felt bone-crushing pain

- Wolf Transformation (Basic), merging with host

- Host’s condition too weak to use the ability (Authentication failure)

- Detecting as system first mission – Forceful adjustment of the host body for merging of the bloodline

- Strength (G -> F+)

- Agility (G -> F+)

- Intuition (F+ -> E-)

- Preliminary Conditions complete – Merging bloodline

- Merging complete

- New passive title received – Awakened Wolf (Wolf hearing and sense of smell will be working on human form), note – passive titles are always in-active condition.

- Congratulations to Host, for receiving the first reward

Adam gritted his teeth and endured the urge to scream. His bones and skin felt like melting.

 ‘What kind of reward is this?’ he cried in his heart.

… 

After an unknown amount of time, he finally opened his eyes. His body was covered in sweat, and he was lying down among the bushes.

However, after regaining his consciousness, he felt amazed. His body was still like a skeleton, but now he felt strong, strong as never before. Then Adam looked through the lines that appeared in the system, and he got a rough idea about what happened.

‘So, the system values affect me,’ he felt happy and worried. 

He could get strong with the help of the system, but also, the system can affect his body. And the next thing he noticed was the merging of the bloodline part. 

‘Do I have wolf blood inside me now?’ he wondered. 

Adam finally looked at the status panel,

-Host Name                    -                 Adam

-Attributes

Strength                          -                 F+

Agility                              -                 F+

Spirit                               -                 F+

Intuition                           -                 E-

Attribute points – 2     Skill Points – 3       Ability points – 2              General points – 3000

- Attribute point detected please select an attribute to level up

‘System how strong am I now?’

- The host’s assessment – stronger than a normal human (Still not a warrior)

‘At least I am not as weak as before,’ Adam felt happy. 

The sudden realisation made him more baffled. He could hear almost everything around him and even pinpoint the location of each different insect. And he smelled Humans. 

‘Two humans, I am being followed,’

‘Is this the effect of wolf blood?’ he wondered and checked in the ability panel

- Wolf Transformation (Basic) - The host has the ability to transform into a wolf maintaining consciousness (no time duration - no side effects)

He noticed there was no upgrade notice for this. And to learn the ability he has to have fulfilled certain requirements. 

‘System if I want to learn abilities or skills higher than my statutes will it be adjusted?’

- No, this is the first reward. To learn the abilities and Skills host’s attributes have to be at the required level. Once the ability or skill is upgraded, if possible, attributes will be upgraded within the host’s body limits.

This was the longest answer he got from the system, and there are many things he learned. However, now was not the time to try out the wolf transformation. Two idiots were stalking him. And more than that, he could feel they are stronger, stronger than him.

He decided to wait for now and carry on with the mission. Still, the second phase of the original mission was not active. He suspected that it would be active after three days when the optional mission ends. However, now he was determined to try to complete the optional mission because the reward would make him strong.

‘How to do this?’ he looked at the eye-catching blue light and wondered.

‘Yes,’ he finally had an idea of what he should do.

- Mission target – Find the clues about missing people (within 3 days)

- Mission Reward – Depending on the performance, extra rewards will be added

- Mission Failure – Losing the prestige of God will affect future missions

He just had to find one of the missing people, and his wolf’s instinct and tracking will help. 

‘System,’ he finally decided to upgrade his tracking.

Tracking (Basic) – Host is able to track and analyse fresh tracks (Upgradable – General points – 800 Skill points – 2)

‘Upgrade tracking,’

- Authenticating success (Upgrade)

- Tracking (Basic) -> Tracking (intermediate)

Related attribute check – Intuition - initiating upgrade – Within body limit (Authenticating success)

- Intuition (E- -> E)

- Intuition (E -> E+)

Tracking (intermediate) - Host is better than a wolf on the hunt (Upgradable – General points – 2000 Skill points – 5)

Attribute points – 2     Skill Points – 1       Ability points – 2              General points – 2200

Although his improvement was not like the previous one, he could feel his hearing and sense of smell got much better.

‘Five skill points?’ He felt bitter, but also tracking alone improved his intuition to E+, so he felt tracking must be an important skill.

‘Let’s try,’ sensing that his stalkers have moved past him, he moved out from the bushes.

Now he could move faster, and the broken feeling of his body was gone. Adam felt like he was reborn.

… 

While Adam was gone, the Westwood village was in a state of panic. Four young girls were missing, and there was no trace of them. The most troublesome thing was the trackers arriving with the adventurers also failed to find any clues about the missing people.

Carl and Karina finally arrived at the last house where the disappearance happened. They had nothing much to ask from the parents. However, they both felt the urge to check the house as even their people failed to find anything from the village.

When they arrived at the house, there were several people gathered in and out of the house. Still, they naturally gave the space for two powerful warriors.

“Captain Carl,” the moment he entered the house, a dignified, mature voice greeted them. 

Carl looked at the elderly man sitting inside the house. He immediately smiled and bowed to him. The village head and 9th tier warrior, by no means he was weak. Still, they summoned the calvary. Carl could understand the panic.

“Lord Joran,” he greeted back

“This is Karina, 8th tier warrior,” he introduced the other.

“We are here to check on the house,” he was worried and confused about the situation.

“Of course,” Joran didn’t hesitate to introduce the owner of the house and the family of the missing girl. 

They learn that yesterday the girl’s mother also fell ill.

“Sir, do not enter that girl’s room, it is cursed,” suddenly man sitting next to village head grabbed their attention

‘Cursed, yeah right?’ He wanted to say it out loud to the village priest. 

However, this man had a high status, and they simply can’t disrespect him.

“I, I understand Sir,” he wanted to yell at this man, but he only could find a way to compromise and later get in there and see.

“Good, everyone who entered that room is already fallen ill,” Joran was the one to speak this time.

Carl dismissed his thought of sneaking in because the other party was once a respected warrior who held his words in high regards.

Joran also was not a man who believed in god's much. However, the old priest was his friend, and also, he witnessed people falling ill.

While Carl was in a sticky situation, one of the adventurers ran into them.

“Leader, Master Adam has arrived,” he immediately reported to Karina

“Master?” the village head showed some interest, “Who is he?”

“He is just a magician,” Carl was not in a good mood, anyway. 

This immediately affected the mood of others. They were also people who believed in strength.

‘Just a mage?’ Karina felt baffled

“Actually,” she immediately captured everyone’s attention.

“Master Adam does know magic, but He said he is a follower of the Wolf God,”

“A man of the gods?” The priest showed great interest.

And out of Carl’s expectations, even the village head go up 

“Let’s go and greet him, maybe he will be able to help,” Joran’s voice had a great respect