Chapter 26 - Advancement

The Rabid Alpha Wolf struggled as a sword was literally going right through it. Rynold, however, didn't really fare any better since he practically broke his legs trying to kill the thing. The impact from propelling himself at a high enough speed without his body capable of enduring the power of the attack proved to be painful.

A lot painful.

Regardless, the move seemed to work in their favor. The wolf was struggling, to say the least, since the sword managed to hit critical organs of its body. It struggled to even stay up at this point but the damage wasn't enough to kill it. Immobilize it, sure, but it didn't finish the job.

'I guess there's only one thing left to do,' Rynold thought, trying to keep himself awake.

On top of the wolf, Rynold raised his hand and dispelled the summoning of his Mech Knight.

X shone with light before disappearing to thin air and, along with it, the longsword that's embedded into the wolf's pierced body, leaving a hole in the middle of its upper torso.

When an organ was to be pierced by any sort of sharp weapon, it is important to leave the blade in place when there's no immediate medical attention to tend to the wound. Otherwise, what happened to the wolf would happen to anybody who tried to pull a knife out.

Gaping holes were found inside the wolf's body, not to mention what happened to some of the organs that were originally pierced by the longsword. Blood squirted out from the gigantic stab wound that left a weird taste in Rynold's mouth who was directly next to it. It didn't help that he had his mouth wide open.

Coughing out blood that wasn't his, Rynold hoped that the attack finally did enough to kill the creature before him. Otherwise, it's only going downhill from here.

The Rabid Alpha Wolf finally wobbled uncontrollably from the sudden stabbing and disappearance of the longsword. It swayed recklessly as it tried to maintain the last few remnants of its consciousness before collapsing to the ground, motionless.

The creature's collapse managed to knock Rynold off of the wolf. It was annoying, but he was glad that the plan worked. Oliver, on the other hand, was on the ground since he was kicked in the stomach, unintentionally.

"You alright, man?" Rynold grumbled to Oliver. He was tired, granted they both were.

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

[Class Advancement Available!]

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

Rynold leveled up. 5 times, to his surprise. He was glad but it seemed bittersweet because of the fight that he had with the wolf. Not only was he tired, but injured as well. He could have broken ribs but he was sure he had broken legs.

The 5-time level up must've been due to the massive strength of the wolf. 'I guess power leveling is a thing in this world too.' Rynold thought. 'Wait. Hold up.' Somewhere around the second level up, there was another message.

'Class Advancement?' Rynold wondered when classes are going to show up in his journey. He was glad to find out that Level 10 was the cap.

"What level are you in now?" Oliver approached from behind, still clutching his stomach.

"13. You?"

"10. Lucky bastard, you got the last hit because you kicked me to the side," Oliver said while sitting on the ground beside him.

"It was an accident," Rynold said as he lied down, "I really didn't mean to do that. Besides, you got the class advancement too, right?"

"Yeah, at least I got it," Oliver said while petting the smaller wolf, "otherwise, I'll give you a damned hard time."

"See. Silver lining," Rynold chuckled as he opened his Attribute Window once again and checked what the qualifications were for his class advancement.

He tapped on his window screen that showed the available class advancement that was given to him. Oliver noticed what his friend was trying to do and decided to let him be and leaving his advancement for later. After all, a different window showed up for him.

Rynold read what the classes were and noticed that most of them were what he assumed to be common. He continued to scroll down the list and noticed some common classes he's seen over his experience in different games.

Classes like [Warrior] and [Archer] were there too, but Rynold decided to skip that altogether in the hopes that he would find some class that was relatively rare. He didn't have to scroll for long to reach the end of the list since the list was relatively short.

That was where he found the class that was different from all the rest. And probably the only class among the list that actually made sense to him.

[Technomancer]

Rynold inadvertently smiled and tapped on the class advancement for Technomancer to see what was in store for him. The details popped up as a result.

[Class Advancement: Technomancer]

With your actions so far that resulted in influencing yourself with Mech attributed entities, you are given the chance to advance along the path of a Technomancer.

Intelligence +20, Perception +10, Mech Affinity +25

Learn Passive Skill [Basic Mech Knowledge]

Learn Passive Skill [Basic Engineering]

Learn Active Skill [Mech Boost]

Rynold read the window multiple times to see what else could be in store for him, only to find himself somewhat disappointed at the result.

The bounties he would get from activating this specific class advancement are highly limited in utility skills, even without reading what these skills were capable of doing since they're so absurdly straightforward in their names alone.

He put down his finger as he found conflict inside him as to which class he would pick. He could easily pick those standard ones like [Warrior] since these are more common and, at the very least, had skills that would directly help in combat. However, the [Technomancer] class actually had its benefits as well, even though they were more situational than anything else.

The skills he would get from this particular advancement could help him out, even though, in the future, his combat prowess would be dependent on X and his Mech constructs. Thinking about that, he couldn't help but shiver since the strength he would put up isn't directly him.

Rynold kept pondering on his options while Oliver was actually elated instead. He didn't even pick a class advancement yet.

[Tame Available: Wolf]

Your actions to avenge Wolf's pack have increased his impressions of you. He has offered himself to fight by your side from now on.

Will you accept? [Y/N]

Without even considering the consequences of his decisions, Oliver instantly clicked yes, without a shred of doubt from his mind.

[Name your tame.]

Oliver considered his options with basic dog names but this wolf was different. He could somehow feel that this particular wolf was special and the connection they had was somewhat unique.

"Strider."

Oliver smiled at what he thought was the perfect name for the wolf that was in front of him, especially with its grey fur and steely demeanor, Strider seemed like the perfect name. He confirmed the name of his tame with a satisfied look on his face, completely different from what Rynold was looking like right now.

"Hay..."

Rynold let out a hearty sigh as he chose to give in to the [Technomancer] class since it seemed like the sensible choice. He hoped that his decision wouldn't bite him in the butt now that it was set in stone.

'Now, what do I do with this?'

Rynold looked at his broken legs but it didn't look as bad as he initially thought. He had one broken femur on his right leg while his left calf bone was broken too. All in all, even if his legs weren't completely shattered, he still couldn't walk. Silver linings, right?

"You good to go?" Oliver suddenly asked while he stood up from the ground.

"What do you mean to go? I can't really walk, can I?" Rynold said sarcastically.

"Alright, snippy. Come on, let's get back to the truck." Oliver helped his friend stand up and supported him on his way back to the car.

They've been gone for about a few hours now and the trek back would take even longer since Rynold was injured.

"This is gonna take a long time," Oliver said as he looked at the way back from where they came. It was full of uneven ground with roots and branches on the ground. They couldn't maneuver through that if one was tired while the other was immobile.

"Well, there is one way to do it," Rynold raised his hand once more and summoned his mighty Mech Knight from thin air. This time, however, he didn't need his assistance in fighting but as a "chauffeur" instead.

X acknowledged the command and unequipped the longsword from its hand into thin air. It then let Rynold and Oliver sit on its shoulders as the group, along with their new friend, made their way back to the truck.