When Leo woke up, he could hardly make out where he was. He felt dizzy.
"Fuck, my head hurts."
He felt like he was having a hangover, the worst one he had had in years.
As his vision cleared, Leo started looking around.
He didn't move; he just lay there while his body adjusted.
The ceiling of the place had jagged rocks protruding from it. He could also hear the sound of heavy rain from afar, and the air inside felt damp.
'I should be inside the cave if I'm not wrong. How nice of them.'
To be honest, Leo couldn't make out his relationship with the wolves.
'At this point, I can't keep ignoring their existence. It would be kind of stupid to do that.'
As his dizziness subsided, he could now see everything clearly.
The first thing he saw was the wolves. They were a few meters away, surrounding a dead wolf's bodies.
'That should be the one who got killed in the fight,' He noted, 'but what exactly are they doing?'
Then something extraordinary happened, one that completely changed how Leo viewed the wolves.
To him, they were just animals who only followed their instincts, but his view was now shattered.
The wolves were letting out soft whimpers as they looked at the body.
Wannabe was also there. His expression, if wolves had any, was the same as he remembered, but Leo could feel the sadness radiating from its eyes.
As if sensing his gaze, Wannabe turned its gaze towards him.
It stared at him for a little while, then turned its gaze back towards the body. They kept staring and whimpering for about five more minutes, then Wannabe moved.
It got closer to the body, then looked out towards the cave opening and let out a loud howl. The other followed. Their howls echoed throughout the cave.
Leo just watched all this, feeling a bit out of place.
The howls continued for a few minutes, then slowly died out. Wannabe then turned towards the body.
Flames suddenly erupted from its mouth as it formed a small ball of red flames. The ball floated gently towards the body.
When the flame touched the body, it spread rapidly until it covered the whole body.
The body started fracturing as cracks spread all over it. Then it broke into fine red fragments that slowly dispersed into the air.
'This feels straight out of an anime.'
Leo couldn't help but be mesmerized by the scene.
The only thing left was a small red orb the size of a strawberry.
Wannabe picked up the orb with its mouth, then turned towards Leo.
'Why are they looking at me?'
Wannabe then walked towards him and placed the orb on the ground right in front of him.
"Thank you, druid."
The sudden voice surprised Leo. It was deep but calm.
"You can talk?"Leo was mildly surprised.
"Yes, Father taught me, he said it would make it easier to communicate with you. But I can't do it for long since it takes too much energy."
Leo then turned his gaze towards the orb as he sat up.
"What is this?"
Wannabe looked at him like he was an idiot.
Leo's mouth twitched.
"It seems you really are a newborn druid."
He turned towards the orb.
"This is a soul crystal belonging to one of our brethren. It amplifies our power, but Father said it may be different for you."
Although the description was kinda vague, Leo could already tell that this thing was pretty valuable.
"Why are you giving it to me?"
Yes, that was what Leo was wondering. From what he'd heard, the orb would benefit their pack. So why would they offer it to him, an outsider?
Wannabe looked at him, then scoffed.
"Consider it as thanks, druid, though I still think you're too weak to lead us."
Then, without explaining further, he turned and walked away, leaving Leo baffled.
'Wow, that's some alpha male aura.'Leo couldn't help but chuckle to himself.
He then picked up the orb, which was surprisingly cool.
'I thought it would be a bit hot considering the flame ability.'
He then started turning it around while observing it.
'What should I do with this. Do I meditate near it like people in cultivation novels? Nah, that can't be it. Maybe it works like a pill, so I should probably eat it.'
After thinking for a while, Leo just gave up on overthinking it.
'Let's just eat it, what's the worst that could happen?'
Leo's thought suddenly froze.
'Wait, did I just raise a flag?'
Leo sighed as he continued looking at the orb. After a while of contemplating, he made his choice.
'Well, here goes nothing.'
He then put the orb in his mouth and swallowed it.
The orb seemed to melt in his mouth.
'That was a little spicy.'
After a few seconds, Leo suddenly started feeling hot.
He watched in horror as his once pale skin started turning bright red.
'Maybe this wasn't the best idea.'
Leo thought nervously.
Then came the pain.
He felt something violent stirring in his entire body as his body was engulfed in flames.
Leo, however, gritted his teeth. He felt it. A chaotic foreign energy was running rampant inside his body.
'Come on, just a bit more.'
Leo tried to tame the energy, but it seemed impossible.
'What is this?'
His organs were starting to rupture as blood flowed out of his nose and ears.
'Okay, fucus, this energy seems to be moving in every direction as if... it doesn't have a path to follow.'
The idea seemed a bit crude, but he really didn't have a choice here.
Leo redirected the energy towards his heart through his bloodstream.
He didn't know exactly how to move the energy efficiently through his body, so he just decided to use his bloodstream as a blueprint.
Leo was completely absorbed in the process that he couldn't make out his surroundings.
Wannabe who was watching all this was shocked.
'He's absorbing all the mana in the area. Is this what you saw in him, father?'
Wannabe couldn't help but recall the first time he saw the druid.
It had been doing a normal lap around their territory when he came across the druid sleeping on top of a tree.
It was at first surprised to see a creature as careless as it, and was ready to devour it when his father spoke to him.
'You shouldn't attack him.'
At first, he was startled. His father hadn't spoken to him since he told him to escape from their previous territory.
'Why father?'
He had been pretty angry. He hadn't spoken to his father in months, and the first thing he says when they meet is a command, not a hello or how have you been.
'He is a druid, a creature of nature itself. We made a pact with their kind to offer protection to one another.'
His father didn't even seem to notice his anger, or he just ignored it completely.
'Is that all, Father?'
There was a bit of silence.
'You should follow him; he will lead you to great heights.'
Wannabe was disgusted by the thought. The creature before him was weaker than anything he'd ever seen. But he didn't argue.
'Anything else?'
His fury was barely restrained.
There was silence for a moment, then his father spoke.
'I'm sorry, son.'
That was the last he heard of him.
His father also implanted knowledge into his mind with information about druids.
Although he was furious and disgusted by the thought of following someone weaker than him. He still followed his father's orders.
He observed the druid from the shadows. He watched as it ran through the forest.
Its fight against the lizard shocked him. The lizard itself was weak, but what surprised him was the druid's regeneration. From the knowledge his father had given him, this was not one of his abilities. Druids could heal, but they usually went into deep slumber inside trees.
The druid shocked him even more when it was able to command his pack members.
And now, after the battle with the bear. He wasn't sure if the creature before it was even a druid.
Wannabe continued watching Leo as the flames engulfing him started stabilizing.
As Wannabe was having his melodramatic flashback, Leo was struggling to compress the chaotic energy.
'This is harder than I thought.'
At first, he had thought of just letting the energy run through his bloodstream, but he had realized that the energy was increasing and building up. So he changed his plans and decided to build something resembling a second heart to regulate the energy and then merge both of the hearts.
He had already created the second heart, but merging it with his heart was taking a while.
'The energy has already stabilized, so I can take my time with this.'
With the second heart created, the chaotic energy calmed down.
Leo stayed lying down for hours as the two hearts merged.
After a while, Leo opened his eyes and exhaled slowly.
'status'