The Systemic Lands

Chapter 36: Day 56 – Wolf Ruins

I woke up to a beep from one of my watches. My eyes snapped open. I turned the watch off and sat up. It was dark and I was in the grasslands. No mini wolves gnawing on my feet, which was nice. I got off the cart and checked the ground. The orange peels were still there from dinner last night.

I stretched a bit and relieved myself. Without a restoration that would be annoying, but I would deal with it. Dammit, I forgot to look for scissors and a razor blade since I was in such a hurry to leave. Also, a toothbrush and toothpaste. I let out a soft groan at that.

I patrolled around the hill and some of the tiny wolves showed up. This time I used my shield since it was dark.

I came to a couple of conclusions, the area around a person or a cart is a no spawn area. Aggro range will avoid that area as long as the person stays put. That appeared to be the rule in this biome. If there were night monsters or monsters with larger patrols, this rule might not hold. There were always exceptions to rules, which in my mind was a secret rule.

Still, this was the beginner area, even if most people didn’t think that. It wouldn’t be a murder fest. It could be hard, but that was different from turning things into a death machine. It was a bit of a gamble, but one that I needed to take and felt was reasonable after seeing the dungeon.

It was difficult and very dangerous in comparison to the slime forest, but it wasn’t impossible or a murder machine, just grinding people up. This place had rules, uncaring, unfair rules, but there were still rules. Praise be to the almighty System.

“Should get a healing skill and the Priest class. Start a religion.” I could be a prophet. I shook my head and looked up.

The sun was coming up and I made my way back to the cart. I thought about giving it a name, but there were no legendary cart names. For ships, I had names for days, but carts, not much.

I began pulling the cart and killing tiny wolves as I made my way towards the ruins or dungeon I had seen before. It was mid-morning when I crested a hill and saw it clearly in front of me.

It appeared to be a ruined stone settlement of some kind. There was a stone wall and a number of stone buildings. The stone wasn’t one piece like the city buildings were made of. The walls were made of cut stone that was mortared together from what I could tell. I couldn’t see the building roofs since they were at a higher elevation.

The grass was also cut down around the entire place, but I didn’t see any movement or monsters inside the ruins. I saw a number of small wolves moving outside of it, but nothing inside. There was a single entrance into the ruins through the wall.

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I got to work clearing out the small wolves. It was mid-day by the time I was done. There had been quite a substantial number, which forced me to be extra careful, not to pull too many at once. I parked the cart at the entrance to the ruins and looked inside.

Nothing, which made me really nervous. I kept my sword out and shield out. I banged them, but no response. “Hey, anyone home?” I yelled out, my shout having a slight echo. Still nothing. No little wolves either since I had cleared them out. Good confirmation to get beforehand if a fight got noisy.

I carefully entered the ruins, checking either side of the wall as I entered. I then began a circuit around the interior of the wall. It was possible to climb it, since it wasn’t smooth like the city’s wall, but I had already circled around the outside and wouldn’t be able to hold a weapon if I was climbing.

I did a full loop and nothing. My cart was still safely there at the entrance as well. I then checked the building closest to the entrance. Nothing but crumbled stone and overgrown grass. I began checking the other buildings and they were in the same state as well.

The only thing that remained after exploring the ruins was a well in the center. It was a large well and hadn’t collapsed either. I tossed a lose piece of rubble into the well and there was only the sound of rock hitting rock, no splash of water.

The slime dungeon had required torches, would this one require rope? A cost to enter each dungeon. I frowned at that. It wouldn’t allow for a quick escape either. Still, a ruin like this meant there was another option based on the only thing that changed in the environment.

I took my cart to a nearby hill and took a long nap. I woke up as the sun was setting. The wolves had not respawned around the ruins. Nighttime respawns, like I thought. Night fell and the ruins were covered with a mist and hidden from view.

“Thank you, almighty System, for that,” I muttered. The dungeon was time based. The well might hold some secret or could just be a hole in the ground to hide in, or die in, depending on the time of day. The mist forming to hide the place from view during the night was a clear sign that something was going on.

I still waited and rested on my cart. The reason I didn’t go down there was the risk of wolves respawning behind me. There was no need to rush and put myself in that position. I was really sensitive to the risk of an attack from the rear.

If that happened, in all likelihood I would be dead shortly afterwards. I closed my eyes and waited on my cart. Every fifteen minutes or so, I would open them and take a look. The mist was there, but no wolves as far as I could tell.

The time slowly ticked by, and I thought about TV shows and books I was missing back on Earth. This place needed more entertainment than a casino and brothel. I say that and then there are death matches. At least that was what it felt like. There were limited ways for humans to entertain each other.

I could only feel sorry for the bards. So maligned, but they could liven up a trip. If I had a musical skill, that might be interesting. But then I thought of a sound-based dungeon and shuddered. That would be a very annoying dungeon, up there with an underwater dungeon.

The night slowly dragged on, and it was incredibly boring, but I had to know before I risked entering the ruins at night. I opened my eyes and saw movement. The wolves were back. I checked my watches. It was just after the middle of the night.

That made sense. I looked up at the sky and the stars giving light. No moon, just lots of stars to give light with the occasional cloud drifting by. It was time to get work. I began clearing out the wolves all over again.

It was a pain in the ass, but I got it done. I then dragged my cart down to the entrance of the ruins. A thick layer of mist was in front of the gate. I swung my sword through the mist, and it was easily pushed away. A few seconds later the mist flooded back.

I waved a hand through, and it was cold and damp. Ghosts, mist elementals, and shadow monsters. Since this was the wolf area, probably wolf themed. Nothing for it. I entered the mist and kept the wall to my left, since this would make it easier to swing my sword.

I banged my shield and waited with my back to the wall. I could barely see a meter in front of me. The mist swirled and I went into a crouch, my shield in front of me. A large monster impacted it and my back pushed against the wall.

I stabbed out in a reflex I had honed over hundreds of wolves. I pierced the monster. It pulled back and I saw it was a large wolf before it disappeared into the mist. I really should have seen what the non-dungeon wolves did after a failed first attack, lesson for the future.

From the left! I spun and braced myself. The wolf hit the shield and I stabbed out. This time the wolf had too much damage to quickly retreat, but it was still going. I blocked its mouth with my shield and stabbed it again.

It finally collapsed. I took a look at it before it turned to dust and it just a large wolf, nothing special. “Not even a boss type,” I muttered when I saw the five-point crystal it dropped.

I kept moving along the wall and drew in another eight of the larger tougher wolves one at a time. It was exhausting fighting them and taking their blows. Especially since I couldn’t see that far. I made it back to the entrance of the ruin with a sigh at how difficult this dungeon was.

I had some water and an apple outside the dungeon, before looping around the wall again, this time only encountering a single large wolf. Back at the entrance I considered the heavy mist and going into the ruin. There wasn’t a huge danger of getting lost due to the wall I could follow along the edge.

The problem was the mist concealing everything. I entered the ruin and went towards the first building I checked during the day. There was no mist inside the buildings, except a thin layer on the ground. It made it hard to trust my footing which was a concern.

I was light enough on my feet, that when I wasn’t wearing a pack, I could keep my balance fairly easily. It was probably some hidden feature of Body, Mind, or Perception.

The starlight was barely enough to see in the building. I was just glad it wasn’t pitch black like the slime dungeon. I began to explore the building, careful to check the ceiling and corners. Nothing on the first floor, I made my way up to the second.

There was no mist. Wait. I could swear something moved. “Come out monster,” I said while trying to ignore my fear. I checked a wall and then put my back to it.

Something burst out of the darkness! I barely got my shield up in time. The impact was quite light, but frost began to spread on my shield. It was a black furred wolf, making it hard to see in the incredibly dim light.

It was smarter and didn’t rush in again, instead choosing to pace back and forth looking for an opening. I rushed forward and stabbed out. The black wolf leapt to the side, dodging my attack. It followed up with another lunge. I slammed my shield into its face, and it stumbled back.

I stepped forward and stabbed at its head. My blade was deflected off the skull and into the shoulder, leave a large gash. The wolf jerked back, the wound quickly freezing over and my blade growing incredibly cold.

I shivered at the change in temperature. The wolf began to pace again. I waved my sword to get the blood flowing. The wolf just kept pacing. After a minute I sheathed my blade, ready to react, but the wolf still kept pacing. That was annoying but exploitable.

“Acid Shot.” The acid hit the wolf on its flank. It didn’t make any noise as it began to thrash about. I drew my sword back out and stabbed it in its gut. The black wolf collapsed into dust and the lingering cold disappeared.

I picked up the crystal, only a 5 point. That fight didn’t feel like a 5 point fight. This place was a nightmare. If this was meant to be the second dungeon, then the difficulty curve was bullshit. Well, a group might have torches and these wolves were all alone, attacking from the shadows.

The freezing ability was fairly weak and more of a hinderance than actual damage. I explored the rest of the second floor, but nothing was discovered. I made my way out of the building and made my way to the exit of the ruins.

I had a sense of the difficulty now and what to expect. Torches were going to become an item I was incredibly annoyed with. I reached my cart and looked back at the mist. At least it had been kind of a shower with the dampness, still it was a terrible location for a spa.

I stayed on my cart and had some food while I thought on my options that I had to clear this dungeon. The large wolves hiding in the mist were easy one at a time. The shadow wolves were tricky, but again one on one I could handle them.

This meant the boss was probably a super wolf of some kind. Possibly ice or shadow attacks. Any larger than the mist wolves, I wouldn’t be able to stand my ground and block a charge. I could try to lure it to a building, but the last dungeon had boss doors.

Or, I would have to go into the well during the night. That was absolutely terrible.

I waited on my cart until right before the sun began to rise. I entered the ruins once more and made my way to another building. I checked the second floor, there was a shadow wolf there. I then waited as the sun began to rise. It kept up its pacing back and forth.

It finally collapsed into dust like a killed monster but did not leave a crystal behind. I left the building, and the mist was already cleared up. That was not unexpected but very anti-climactic. I went back to my cart.

Time to go kill some easy wolves. It was frustrating that I couldn’t safely make progress. I could take a risk, but if I was wounded, I had no good way to heal myself besides going back to the city. Perhaps on my way back here I would risk more of the wolf ruins.