The Lupine System-Chapter 135: You’re Not Mad?

You’re Not Mad?

At the entrance of the cave Mike and the others had been using as their base, Theresa leaned against the wall with her arms folded, her expression unreadable.

Despite it being only a few days, she looked a bit more rugged compared to when she was in the Academy, even with the shower.

It couldn’t be helped, the constant battles and heat of the surroundings always bore on whoever decided to traverse Naraka. Granted, that didn’t mean she looked bad. There was a certain air to her now, almost more mature.

It was a bit too early to tell, but the changes were indeed happening.

"Do you think he’s fine?" A voice came from behind her, and Theresa turned to see Kris coming over with two thermos flasks.

He handed one to Theresa, and she nodded gratefully, taking a sip from it and savoring the taste of warm chocolate.

After a bit, she answered.

"Honestly? I don’t know. Part of me trusts him, but another part of me still worries. I know he can handle himself, but that’s only if he focuses on staying safe knowing him, he’s probably out there picking fights with things he shouldn’t be fighting." She sighed slightly, and Kris gave a small nod.

"That’s fair," He tilted his head. "I wonder why they didn’t allow us to communicate with each other with our watches. After all, we can transfer our points and allow flags to distribute their points between people." He mused, and Theresa just shrugged.

"Maybe they didn’t want things to be so simple." After this, the two of them fell silent for a while.

Mike wasn’t the only one who had been very active. Kris and Theresa had continued to venture out, killing creatures, acquiring supplies, and capturing flags.

Their efficiency was most likely lower than that of the larger groups. After all, they were only two people. But that meant they had to share fewer points for the same reason.

As a result, they were steadily increasing the number of points they owned. Moreover, they were getting stronger much faster.

They would head out soon again, but they decided to just calm down in the mornings before they fully ventured out.

But just as they were about to start moving, Kris paused and narrowed his eyes. Theresa noticed immediately and turned to him.

"What’s wrong?" Kris didn’t reply immediately. Instead, he moved closer to the entrance of the cave.

That’s also when Theresa saw that the wolves in the cave had suddenly become restless. The main hunting group had gone out to, well, hunt, but the females and pups remained, and right now, the pups were moving towards their mothers, while said mothers bristled for whatever reason.

’Something is wrong.’ Theresa immediately realized and turned to Kris who had a hand stretched out, and she immediately knew that he was controlling the chains he’d set beneath the area as a contingency plan.

Then, she felt it.

A presence washed over her, and she couldn’t help but shudder slightly.

It was like she’d suddenly come under the attention of a powerful creature, and it made her feel very uncomfortable.

Without hesitation, she summoned her bow and came up to Kris’s side.

They didn’t say anything and simply shared a look. Then, Theresa activated her Thermal Vision, and what she saw made her pause.

A humanoid figure was moving through the forest in their direction rapidly. But what caught her attention were two things.

First, the heat signature they gave off was... a lot.

Depending on the creature, the heat they gave off varied, and in most cases, humans only gave off a heat of about 37 degrees Celsius.

However, this person was giving off a LOT of heat. Not enough to affect the surroundings negatively, but enough to wonder if they had a serious fever.

The second thing she realized, was that the outline of the figure was familiar.

Her lip curled, and without hesitation, she pulled her bowstring back and fired an arrow flee into the greenery.

Kris stared at her with surprise, but Theresa ignored him as she watched the figure dodge the arrow with apparent ease.

"Hey!" A familiar voice echoed out called before a figure jumped out of the greenery. Theresa was just about to say something snarky and potentially biting when she paused, and her brows furrowed.

Kris also saw something that made him pause.

Mike, who had been about to let Theresa have a piece of his mind after she attacked him, paused when he saw their expressions, and he could feel their shock and confusion.

’... Here goes.’ He sighed and walked forward.

As he did, the surprise on the faces of the others grew, and when Mike was close enough for them not to need to shout, Theresa spoke.

"... Care to explain?" She said, gesturing to the ears, tail, and claws.

Mike pursed his lips, and his ears pressed flat against his head.

He was silent for a moment, then he spoke.

"This is related to what I was telling you guys about." He explained, sounding oddly subdued. They stared at him, and he explained further.

"My aura is an extension. It’s not my ’true’ ability, so to speak." Hearing this, realization dawned on Theresa and Kris’s faces.

’That... makes a lot of sense, actually.’ Kris rubbed his chin as he thought about it.

"Is that why you... wait, damn. That explains so much!" Theresa facepalmed.

The animalistic sensation he’d given her when they met, how he acted out the first time they fought, his instincts and incredible senses, his regeneration, things that wouldn’t make sense to have if he only had an Aura-type ability.

It was all just an extension.

"So your true ability is...?" Kris trailed off.

"A wolf-related ability, or something of that category." As he said that, he activated his partial transformation slightly, allowing the fur to crawl up his arms.

Seeing this, Kris and Theresa once more revealed looks of surprise.

’Now for the anger.’ Mike thought as he stared at them nervously, but to his surprised, they didn’t seem mad. Just... taken aback.

Theresa seemed to read through him and shook her head.

"There’s no way we’d be mad at you for hiding something like that," She explained. "Heck, I’d be more mad if you went around explaining the full details of your ability." Mike looked perplexed at this, and Kris, sensing this, followed up.

"It’s kind of an unspoken rule," He continued. "Ability users don’t just lay out everything unless they have to. Half the time, the difference between winning and dying is whether the other guy knows what you can do." He shrugged.

"Keeping information isn’t lying. It’s just... smart." Theresa nodded in agreement.

"Yeah. Just like how you don’t know everything I’m capable of, or everything Kris is capable of. We all have certain things we choose to keep secret simply because it’s smarter, not out of malice. You have no reason to feel guilty for not telling us anything. It’s normal." Hearing this, the guilt and fear Mike had been feeling bled out of him.

"... I guess that makes sense." He sighed with relief.

"That said," Theresa continued. "Something tells me you aren’t showing this off because you felt too guilty." She raised a brow.

"It has to do with what you spoke to us about, right?" Hearing this, Mike’s expression turned somber.

"... Yeah. The closer the time comes, the more... unstable I feel myself becoming." He said as he stared at his claws.

"Is that why you’re releasing so much bloodlust?" The question caught Mike off guard, and he stared at Kris.

"What?" He stared at him.

"When you started approaching, we thought it was an enemy because we felt your intense bloodlust. Though, now that I think about it, it’s too dispersed to be directed at anyone." Theresa added, but Mike just looked confused.

"You guys can feel bloodlust?" He asked.

"Can’t you?" Kris raised a brow.

"Well, yeah, but that’s because I have good instincts. You guys are..." He trailed off, realizing he almost said something probably insulting.

"Our senses and instincts may not be as good as yours, but they are still more potent than those of normal people," Theresa pointed out. "Haven’t you noticed how stronger monsters seem to be able to react to attacks they can’t see or notice bloodlust?" Hearing this, Mike blinked.

That was indeed the case. He recalled many of his past fights, specifically against the chieftain and the panther. While not as good as his, there were multiple instances where they reacted to his attacks based purely on intuition rather than conventional senses.

"As we get stronger, we don’t just become better at dishing out damage, we also become more perceptive. That’s how that works." Mike nodded slowly at this.

’They don’t have a system like me... but if they did, they would probably have the same types of stats as me.’ He realized.

"... So you said I’m releasing bloodlust?" He asked.

"Yeah, the wolves noticed it first." Theresa pointed back, and Mike grimaced when he saw the wolves huddled in a corner.

"... I didn’t realize." He mumbled, but then again, with his ferocity so high, was it that surprising?

He closed his eyes and exhaled, and slowly, the invisible bloodlust he’d been releasing was reeled back in.

When he opened his eyes, he saw that Kris and Theresa seemed less tense than before.

"That’s a lot better." Theresa sighed.

There was silence for a moment, then Kris spoke.

"Let’s go back inside. I wanna hear what you were up to." He said and stepped inside.