The Wolf of Calamity - Book 1 - Chapter 1 - The System Awakening

Year 1396 After Chaos
Month 7

Chaotic Plane

Wolf

I stare at the words in front of me for several seconds before tilting my head in confusion, almost forgetting about the terrifying thing that might be somewhere in my body.

A few seconds pass in the silence of the cabin before the words vanish from my sight.

What… was that?

I look back and forth for a few seconds to see if the words might appear again before giving up and approaching the paper the man was pointing to. The contents of the paper are written in the Chaotic Language of the Chaotic Plane, which means that it’s likely something that the man doesn’t wish others to know.

I lie down on my belly in front of it before reading the paper.

Since you are reading this, then I must be dead, and the experiment must have been a success.

I left this note because there are several things that you should know about your body if you are going to use it properly.

Let’s start with your heart.
You have the heart of a magma lord in you. It not only grants you a much longer initial lifespan, but it increases your overall constitution by an enormous sum and gives you complete immunity to heat and fire. It may also have another hidden effect that I wasn’t able to theorize, but you can figure that out on your own.
You have the eyes of a fae, which allow you to both see magic and see through illusions, the claws of a wraith which have a curse on them that makes anyone cut by your claws unable to heal for a period of one day’s time, and one other part.
The stomach of the Fallen Lord of Chaos, Fenrir.

As you know from our lessons, Fenrir was the strongest being in existence, even stronger than Tiamat, the current Monarch of the Mortal Plane.
The reason he was the most powerful being was due to this very stomach. The one that now belongs to you.
It gives you the ability to absorb a fraction of another being’s physical and magical capabilities by digesting them, albeit with a limit on how many things you can digest in a day. After all, it’s still a stomach. So the things you eat still need to be digested.
This ability allowed the Fallen Lord of Chaos to grow stronger with every enemy he defeated throughout his life until he eventually became the Lord of Chaos. The ruler of the Chaotic Plane.
I will not tell you how I managed to get his stomach, nor will I explain how exactly he died.
All you need to know is that he was taken down by both the Monarch and the Elemental Ruler working together to kill him. And even then, it took hundreds of Ranked sacrifices to take him down.

Now I will begin talking about the System that was implanted within your body and soul.

This System was something that I managed to accidentally create during an experiment slightly over a year ago. Since it was created by accident, I don’t know every last detail about it, but I do know that it will allow you to keep track of your own bodies’ condition, while also giving you a small insight into the condition of the bodies of other beings.

To access the System, think the word ‘Initiate,’ and a flood of words detailing your bodies’ statistics should appear before you.
Meanwhile, to access another being’s statistics, think ‘ID’ when you are looking at another being.

Now, there are two reasons why I probably asked you to kill me in my final moments.
One of them was to unlock the System.
There were two requirements that I learned must be fulfilled in order to unlock the System.
One of them was to have it implanted into your body and soul via the serum that I gave you and your pack a while back that also greatly enhanced your intelligence.
The other requirement was to kill another living being.
But the main reason why I probably had you kill me is so that you can gain a fraction of my strength as a jumpstart once you eat my corpse.

If you’re wondering why I am doing all of this for you, then wipe that disgusting thought from your mind.
I am doing this to achieve my dream.
My dream of creating the perfect monster.

And my dream of removing that damned dragon from her throne.

Now, go, my creation.

Go and bring about another era of Chaos to the three planes!

The paper bursts into flames the second I finish reading it, making me scoot backwards in fright, only to realize that the flames didn’t hurt me at all.

Oh, that’s right. The note said that I should be immune to fire.

Although…

I get to my feet before approaching the man’s corpse and growling.

That bastard! All I was, was a test subject to him! Something for him to forcefully shove his dream into whether I wanted it or not!

The magma flowing through my veins begins to heat up further with my anger before a very small amount of smoke releases from my mouth, snapping me out of my rage.

That… wasn’t mentioned in the note. Unless it was what he meant when he mentioned a possible unknown effect?

I stare down my snout at the smoke in bewilderment before remembering what he said in the note about the System.

All I have to do is think of the word, ‘Initiate?’

I scoot backwards in surprise as another flood of words appears in front of me in a manner quite different from the last time, with no box around them.

|>-------------------------------------<|

No Name

Direwolf Chimera

PHYS: 5.3 | MAGIC: 4.4

DEX: 1.6 |  CTR: 1.4

STR: 1.8 |  PWR: 1.6

CON: 1.9 | CAP: 1.4

|>-------------------------------------<|

What are those numbers for?

Before I can think about it, the words move higher in my vision and more words appear below them with a different appearance than both the numbers and the first time it showed up.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Please choose a name for yourself.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

A… name?

I am reminded of one of the books the man once read to me, centering around a village surrounding a very old ash tree that was foretold to stand for eternity; never falling to the cold hands of death. Within the story, they had a strange tradition of naming one child within their small village a particular name in order to respect the tree.

Both this story, and that name have always stuck with me, throughout all of the pain. It wasn’t the tree itself, or the respect they gave it that held my attention, but how it would stand tall for eternity. Never to fall to the cold clutches of death.

As soon as I make my decision, the flow of text is replaced by another one.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

You have chosen the name Asher.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

A few seconds later, this new one disappears and the number filled one changes slightly.

|>-------------------------------------<|

Asher

Direwolf Chimera

PHYS: 5.3 | MAGIC: 4.4

DEX: 1.6 |  CTR: 1.4

STR: 1.8 |  PWR: 1.6

CON: 1.9 | CAP: 1.4

|>-------------------------------------<|

I read through the text for several seconds before sitting down to wait for it to go away as they usually do.

Surprisingly, I end up sitting down for a few minutes before I finally get sick of it and swipe away at the screen in my impatience, only to stumble forwards in surprise as the text vanishes from my vision.

What?

Why did this set of text disappear when I hit it when the others didn’t?

I sit still for several seconds as I try to think of an answer before deciding to figure it out later.

For now, I should deal with the man’s body.

I step forwards again to the body, stopping right in front of his head and shaking my head at the sight of his still-smiling face.

Even after death he’s still getting the last laugh… if it weren’t for the fact that it would be a complete waste, then I’d probably just not devour his body like he told me to. But that would be petty.

And I’m not petty.

I growl again as I open my mouth to begin the long task of eating him, only for my eyes to widen in shock as a strange black mist shoots out of my mouth and envelops the man before returning back into my mouth. This somehow makes my stomach fill to the point of almost bursting.

Seconds later, more text appears in my vision, except with the third appearance instead of the one for the numbers.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

You have devoured the being known as Lazarus Azger.
One percent of his physical and magical capabilities will now be adapted into your body.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

A searing pain suddenly shoots throughout my entire body as I collapse to the ground at the base of the table with a yelp. Along with the pain is a faint tingling sensation in my stomach as I feel whatever is in it – probably the man’s corpse – shrink ever so slightly, albeit still not enough to make its presence no longer uncomfortable.

More pain?! I thought I was through with that!!

Surprisingly, the pain quickly begins to subside before a very pleasant feeling rushes through me.

Another flow of text with the first appearance, except with a different colored text replaces the last one as I get back up to my feet in confusion.

It takes me a couple of minutes to read the message while also rereading through portions of it to make sure I understand before it disappears on its own to be replaced with another flow of text.

I scrunch up my nose in irritation before deciding to call these flows of texts ‘Info Notes.’

The other ones will be ‘Statistic Notes,’ and ‘Update Notes.’ Since they are just giving me my statistics and new updates.

Anyways, I focus my attention on the new info note.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

You have gained these stats from the being known as Lazarus Azger:

+9 DEX

+8 STR

+8 CON

+10 CTR

+11 PWR

+10 CAP

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

I reread through the info note again after finishing to make sure I read it right.

That’s… impressive. Despite it only being one percent of the man’s stats, it raised my stats by almost ten times what they were before.

A few seconds pass while I stare with my mouth open at the info note before it disappears, snapping me out of my stupor as I remember something that the man told me about before.

Direwolves, such as my former self, are by far one of the weakest monsters in this area. Meaning that there would have been a high likelihood of me dying if I went out of the cabin without this boost in power…

I hold back a whimper of fear before a look of determination spreads across my face.

Remember my namesake.

The ash tree that stands tall for eternity.

I raise my head high, take one last look around the cabin, and start towards the cabin door.

Standing tall for eternity.

That’s what I will do, and nothing in the three planes will stop me!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For those of you who can't view the image:

You   have devoured another being for the first time.

Because   of this, the System will give you a brief rundown of the different   statistics.

All of the stats are in comparison   with the average stats for your former species of direwolf.

This means that a stat of 3 in STR   means that you are 3 times as strong as the average direwolf.

PHYS stands   for your physical capabilities, and it is the sum of the following three   stats.

DEX stands for dexterity, and it is   the measure of your speed, maneuverability, and overall agility.   STR stands for strength, and it is the measure of how much physical force you   are able to apply.   CON stands for constitution, and it is the measure of how much damage your   body can take without dying or getting injured, along with the measure of how   fast you will heal when damaged.

MAGIC stands   for your magical capabilities, and it is the sum of all the following three   stats.

CTR stands for control, and it is the   measure of your control over magic, including the speed and efficiency that   you can manipulate your magic.   PWR stands for power, and it is the measure of how powerful your magic is in   both total possible output at once, and quality.   CAP stands for capacity, and it is the measure of how much magic power you   can hold in your body at one time.