The Divine Wolf... or?

Chapter 192: A nice day for doing nothing.

Since he couldn't be bothered to go looking for the others in the middle of the town, Ark decided to return back to the house, and wait for them there. They were bound to go back there at some point, and whilst he waited, he could practice a bit on his magic circles. Although that was his original plan, he was surprised to notice that everyone was already back at the house when he arrived.

"Why is everyone back already, did something happen?" He asked as soon as he was back.

"We're just tired, so we decided to rest for a while."

"Oh, let me get you some snacks then."

Since they were all tired, and had nothing better to do, they had all gathered in the great hall. Although there wasn't much to actually do, with some good snacks and some company, they still had a pleasant time. Although it was nice to just talk, Ark had bought a card game at the market earlier, and they all tried it out together.

Although the card game was a bit slow at first, the pace started to pick up after they had been playing for a while.

Even Atar, who usually wasn't interested, played the game with interest. The game was mostly based on chance, so there wasn't much of an advantage to being smart, otherwise the game probably wouldn't be that fun, since Ark and Ephine would just dominate the game. Although Ark didn't really see himself as smart, he was great at calculations, and he had always had great grades in school.

Of course, the grading system in school didn't take everything into account.

Ark knew that he was lacking in several areas when it came to intelligence, but he was still smarter than most. Both Atar and Thufrat were honest and pretty simple-minded, that didn't necessarily mean they were dumb or anything, but they were bad at lying and scheming as it wasn't in their nature to do so.

The game went on for a while, and with no clear winner being declared any time soon, they decided to take a break.

In this world, there wasn't much in the form of entertainment, but luckily, Ark had great company. Even though he had been here for a while, and felt like he was a part of this world now, it still felt foreign to him. Even though he wasn't obsessed with the internet or anything in his past life, it was still kind of hard to live without when you were used to having it.

Even though he didn't have internet, he currently had something that he never had in his last life, a family.

Could they really be called a family? In Ark's mind, yes. He couldn't be completely sure, as he never had a family before, but he liked to imagine that this was how it was like to have one. As Ark was pondering, he soon noticed that both Thufrat and Atar had fallen asleep in a matter of minutes whilst he was looking away.

Just from this, it was obvious that hunting in the dungeon was tiring for them, and he let them sleep.

Whilst they were sleeping, he could start practising his magic circles, and who knows, maybe he would be able to use them soon? Ephine noticed that Ark had begun training his mana manipulation, and she decided to do the same. Her instincts told her that she needed to be stronger, and she had noticed that Ark was anxiously seeking strength, as for the reason?

She had no idea, but that only made her even more eager, as he seemed to be hiding something from them.

She knew that Ark cared for them, and she really appreciated him, but his anxiousness made her anxious too. Ark had no idea that Ephine had noticed something out of order, but even if he did, he wouldn't tell her what it was about, he wasn't sure himself after all. Why was he so anxiously seeking strength? The real reason was fear, the fear of losing what he cared about.

This fear stemmed from a vision he had seen a while ago, and he had no way of knowing if this was a vision of the future, or just a hallucination.

What he did know, however, was that the enemy in the vision was an angel of some sort, and just a while ago, he had faced off against a fallen angel... maybe these angels were related? Ark couldn't help but doubt, which had only made his fear grow stronger for each day that passed. He might be strong, he might have immense potential, but in the end, he was still scared of death.

Maybe not his own death as much as others, since he had already experienced it once after all. Having said that, he was still scared of dying. Compared to his old life, there was a lot more at stake if he died during this life, since he would lose all that he cared for if he did, whilst there was nothing he really cared for in his old life.

Currently, Ark was busying himself with magic circles. He really wanted to try creating one, but before he could do that, he needed to practice his mana manipulation. Although his raw mana manipulation was really good, and he could basically manipulate it however he wanted to, he needed to manipulate it in a certain way, a certain pattern so to speak, if he wanted it to work.

After trying it out multiple times in his head, Ark decided to actually try it once.

The construction of a glowing green magic circle. Complex lines and formations started forming in the air in front of him as he slowly built his magic circle. Although the magic contained within the circle would be as elementary as it could possibly get, the magic circle was still hard to make, and it looked complicated just hovering quietly in the air.

When the magic circle was in the midst of forming, it suddenly started trembling, before it eventually dissolved into the air.

Ark was a little disappointed, but he expected this result, so he quickly got over it, before he slowly started forming another magic circle. The magic circle he was in the midst of making was introduced in the book he had read in the library.

Even though it was introduced as a very rudimentary and basic magic circle, it was also explained as very hard to get the grasp of, since magic circles were very complex in nature.

With his recent failure stuck in his mind, Ark made sure to not make the same mistake again. After a while, the mesmerising green magic circle once again dissolved into the air, and Ark sighed. He was sure he didn't make the same mistake this time, but because he was so focused on his last mistake, he made a new one instead...

A bit dejected, Ark kept trying, over and over again, he was sure that he would get the hang of it soon.

Like this, the scene of a rather large wolf staring into space whilst a green magic circle kept forming and dissolving in front of its face stood out in the large great hall.