The Rise of the Winter Wolf - Book 7 - Chapter 40 - A Progenitor’s Curse

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Wolf

It doesn’t take me long to figure out who Sponsored me this time.

The first item on the left is a bracelet. One made of some sort of pitch black metal with some silver chains wrapped around it.

I narrow my eyes slightly as I see who the Sponsorship is from.

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Item | End and Beginning of Night | Tier 10

This item allows the wearer to place a barrier made out of darkness around themselves. The barrier is absolute and will defend against every attack used against the user until the energy in the bracelet runs out.

Additionally, the energy of the bracelet will regenerate over time through absorbing the darkness energy of the wearer’s surroundings.

System Favor: This item is safe to use and was carefully made by the Progenitor of Darkness and Wraiths herself. Furthermore, the item has a note from the Progenitor of Darkness and Wraiths for the user:

Apollo and I have made a bet on who can give you a better Sponsorship. So you should take my side, alright? Ignore that cheating bastard’s Sponsorship when you receive it later.

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Huh.

Right. I remember now.

Fenrir said that Nyx and Apollo don’t actually care about the war. Or rather, that Nyx doesn’t care about the war.

The only reason Nyx joined the war is because Apollo joined Titania’s side of the war. And the only reason Apollo joined the war in the first place was because of the evil things Grim did.

Although now Apollo is fighting more to compete with Nyx than anything else.

As for Nyx? She just hates Apollo yet cares for him at the same time.

They used to date for a long time but broke up over the course of that time due to having a near endless number of arguments. So they’re always competing against each other without actually trying to kill the other.

It’s almost sweet in a way.

And more importantly, their competition is going to get me a lot of free items. Which I have no complaints about.

After putting that item on, I turn my attention towards the second item on the list. Which is some sort of star-shaped mass of rainbows.

I blink at it before reading its description.

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Item | Star of Fortune | Tier 10

This item increases the holder’s luck by a large magnitude for a period of three months after use.

System Favor: This item is safe to use and was carefully made by the Progenitor of Luck herself. Furthermore, the item has a note from the Progenitor of Luck for the user:

Here’s a little gift for the young pup of Fenrir.

You will need it soon for the next Progenitor.

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I will… need it for the next Progenitor? Does Fortuna know who the next Progenitor will be?

I’ve heard she has incredible intuition thanks to her luck. So pretty much all her guesses are correct. But still.

I hope this doesn’t mean that Phoenix will be the next Progenitor I face.

With that thought in mind, I grab the star and place it into my storage ring. Then I turn my attention towards the third and final item of this round of Sponsorships.

Only grimace when I read it.

Well, I was bound to get something like this eventually considering my enemies.

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Item | Phoenix Core | Tier 10

This item grants other Progenitors the ability to use and manipulate fire energy.

They may also absorb fire energy to increase their own physical strength and can unleash a powerful blast of fire energy to devour their surroundings.

System Favor: This item is not safe to use and was made by the Progenitor of Fire and Birds herself.

Using this item will build a connection between the user and the Progenitor of Fire and Birds that can be used to burn the user whenever the Progenitor of Fire and Birds wishes.

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Yeah, no thank you.

Honestly, it’s to be expected that she of all bird brains would send me something cursed.

From what Fenrir said, Phoenix really hates anything related to ice. And on top of that, she is a musclehead who attacks everything she hates without any thoughts about the potential consequences from it.

Fenrir said that most of the Progenitors wouldn’t bother with sending cursed things like this because it hurts their reputation in the eyes of the other Progenitors.

But Phoenix just doesn’t care.

[So many Tier 10 items…]

[just how many is he going to get?!]

[that’s a lot…]

[I want those!]

[How many Tier 10 items does he have now?!]

I leave the Phoenix Core behind before leaving the hall and reentering the dungeon. Confusing the hell out of the chat since they can’t see System Favor and therefore don’t know why I ignored the Phoenix Core. But I ignore them entirely as I proceed to move through the next dungeon floors. Clearing each one of them one after another.

And after that I clear one floor theme after another. Spending entire months on each floor theme to focus on expanding my Domain as much as possible.

After all, this next one is going to be the five hundredth floor. Not to mention the warning Fortuna gave me about the next Progenitor.

Something tells me I need to be careful for the next Centurion Floor.

Really careful.

And that suspicion is confirmed when, after an entire year passes, I finally reach the next Centurion Floor Theme.

Where I find myself in a large ocean of lava.

Just an endless ocean of lava in every direction I look.

I frown as I sense the enormous amounts of fire elemental energy filling the four hundred and ninety-first floor of the Beta Dungeon.

Yep. It’s just as I thought.

I take a deep breath before letting it out.

Then I look down below me from my place flying high in the sky above the lava ocean as massive fish made of molten lava and rock jump out of the lava ocean before landing back into it again.

The next Progenitor I’m to face is Phoenix.