A hungry pack of wolves moves only by wild instinct.
Even if the opponent is a twelve-year-old boy.
But unfortunately for the wolves, the boy they met today was no ordinary boy.
He was certainly not an easy prey that could be killed by biting his neck if they put their minds to it.
Was it because of that?
The wolves were greatly flustered.
"Back off quietly when I'm asking nicely."
The boy stood proudly on the dead elk and lectured the beasts.
"Even if you are monsters! You should at least have some courtesy between fellow hunters! I caught this one first! Can't you see here?"
Julian pointed to the hole in the elk's neck.
"I made this hole."
Grrrrr—!
As the wolves did not back down and bared their fangs, Julian also furrowed his brow.
"You ill-mannered mutts!"
Julian had once seen a hound wagging its tail in front of a butcher shop when he went to the plaza with his mother, Eleanor.
It was a dog with a yellow coat, and Eleanor had affectionately called it 'Goldie'.
This time, Julian called the timber wolves 'Goldie'.
"You guys go look somewhere else."
The wolves, who knew from instinct and experience that it was not easy to find prey in the harsh winter weather, had no intention of leaving the elk and Julian alone.
One step, then another.
The wolves, who were carefully closing the distance, rushed in one by one.
"So you really want to fight, is that it!?"
Julian jumped high into the air and telekinetically shot the wooden blade he was holding.
Ping—!
The wooden blade, flying at high speed, struck the leading wolf's nape.
Yelp—!!
One by one, the wolves collapsed from the pain they had never felt before, and Julian, who had landed on the snow, kicked up a wolf that was rushing in late with the tip of his boot.
"Hah!"
The wolf that was kicked struggled and collapsed.
No matter how ferocious a beast was, it was no match for an aura user.
Moreover, Julian, who had been semi-forcibly trained in martial conditioning by Kaelen Vaelor, one of the Five Grand Swordmasters of the Empire, was not a human that mere timber wolves could handle.
"Give up now!"
As Julian also bared his teeth and claimed ownership of the dead elk, the wolves whined and backed away.
It was then.
A wolf that had been quietly watching the situation finally stepped forward.
That wolf had a physique that was on a different level from ordinary wolves, a true direwolf.
Julian noticed that the beast in front of him was the alpha of the pack.
"You're the leader."
The direwolf silently bared its fangs and put strength into its massive paws.
Noticing this, Julian frowned.
At that moment, the alpha rushed in.
The swift movements of the alpha, which had never missed its prey.
The beast, which rushed at Julian with the speed of a winter gale, opened its jaws wide.
And Julian, who was watching it calmly, lifted a rock the size of his face with the top of his boot.
"You eat this!"
He then shoved the rock straight into the direwolf's mouth.
Thwack—!
Keck— kekekek—! Keck!
The wolf, which had unexpectedly bitten a solid rock, collapsed on the snow and began to struggle, choking.
Startled by their alpha's fall, the rest of the pack hesitated and backed away.
"See, who told you to covet what belongs to others?"
Julian was about to sling the elk over his shoulder and turn away.
But the movements of the alpha, which was struggling as if it couldn't breathe properly, gradually slowed down.
As the direwolf's breathing grew fainter, Julian put down the elk he was holding and pulled out the rock that was stuck in its jaws.
"Phew... yeah, what did you do wrong?"
As the alpha, which had come back from the brink of death, quickly backed away, small wolf pups appeared by its side.
The pups licked the alpha's paws, making whining sounds.
"Eek...! Hey! That's cheating!"
Julian felt wronged.
To bring children to a battlefield so cowardly!
Torn between the annoyance of having to find prey again and sympathy for the starving pups, Julian had no choice but to infuse his aura into his wooden dagger and cut the elk.
"Here, take this. Let's split it in half."
Julian cut the elk in half and threw a large portion to the pack of wolves, showing off.
"I'll give you the entrails too. They're amazing."
In fact, he had never eaten the entrails because of the gamey smell, but for the wolves, there was no delicacy like it.
At first, the wolves, who were hesitating while watching Julian's expression, retreated with the meat he had thrown them.
Seeing them take the entrails without fail, Julian smiled with satisfaction.
"You guys... next time, hunt for yourselves."
It was when Julian, his heart warmed, was about to turn away.
The alpha approached Julian.
"This is mine."
As Julian glared while packing his half of the elk, the alpha lowered its posture and approached very slowly.
And then it began to lick the top of Julian's leather boot.
"Oh? You know how to act cute too?"
Julian carefully stroked the head of the massive direwolf, which was licking his leg, as if it were a neighborhood hound.
"Good boy, my mountain Goldie."
As he was stroking the beast, a thought suddenly flashed through Julian's mind.
'Wait a minute?'
It didn't seem easy for the pack of wolves to survive this harsh winter.
Moreover, the alpha had two pups, and even they were very thin, as if they hadn't eaten much.
"Hey. Goldie."
The alpha, which of course couldn't understand human words, tilted its head at Julian's call.
"You, want to do a job with me?"
****
"He's a genius! This child will one day become the supreme overlord of the continent."
The Vanguard Commander of the Abyssal Covenant, Malakor, said with a voice full of excitement, spitting as he spoke.
"How long has he been training in aura?"
"He'll be twelve soon... so it's been exactly five years."
The Sovereign of the Abyssal Covenant, Lord Vane, rose from his obsidian throne.
He stood in front of the boy, who had a small but sturdy build.
"I like you. Especially your eyes captivate me."
Vane liked the boy's gaze as he looked at him.
The boy's black eyes, which seemed to have obsidian embedded in them, did not waver even when facing the Sovereign.
Moreover, the boy's gaze was like seeing the edge of a cursed blade that a dark blacksmith had dedicated his entire life to forging.
"Tell me what you want. What do you desire?"
At Vane's question, the boy said, "Power."
"Power... what kind of power do you want."
"I want to have as many and as varied aura techniques as possible. Give me all the martial grimoires that the Abyssal Covenant has. If possible, please also obtain grimoires that the Covenant does not have."
"What are you going to do with so many aura manuals?"
"I will learn them and master them with my body."
"Even if you learn many techniques, it doesn't mean you will become that much stronger. What's more important is how strong the core art you learn is."
"It's fine. Please give me all the martial knowledge that the Sovereign can obtain."
At the boy's defiance of the Sovereign's words, Commander Malakor felt as if his heart would drop.
But fortunately, Vane was looking at the boy with a face as if he were seeing something interesting.
"Interesting. Commander!"
"Yes, Sovereign! Please give your command."
"Give this child access to all the martial grimoires that the Covenant possesses. Also, as soon as you obtain any usable aura manuals from the outside, give them to this child."
"As you command."
While Commander Malakor left to carry out the Sovereign's order, Vane asked the boy.
"What is your name?"
"Lucius Thorne."
"A good name. Yes, Lucius. I heard your talent is extraordinary. If you continue to grow like this, you will succeed me and become the next Sovereign of the Abyssal Covenant."
"..."
"I will have high expectations of you."
The boy bowed his head slightly.
There was no emotion in the eyes of the boy who bowed his head.
After finishing his meeting with the Sovereign, Lucius returned to his cold and dark stone chamber, lay down on the iron bed, and closed his eyes.
As darkness fell, the memories of the past once again engulfed the boy.
It was the last memory of his past life.
A man with ten floating aetheric blades approached him.
Lucius, who had thought he had risen to the pinnacle of the Empire on his own, was no match for him no matter what he did.
All the dark arts and aura techniques he possessed were useless in front of that man.
With a sense of powerlessness at being able to do nothing, an aetheric blade flew in and destroyed everything Lucius had.
A man approached Lucius, who had lost everything and was even losing his life.
The man looked down at Lucius.
Boredom or weariness.
The moment he read the emotion in those eyes, Lucius realized that he was not a threat to him in any way.
"Ugh!"
Lucius, who snapped his eyes open, stared straight into the darkness with obsidian-like eyes that contained an abyss.
"The heavens have given me a second chance."
Regression.
Lucius, who had returned to the past from the future, clenched his fist as he fumbled through the memories before his regression.
"This life will be different..."
In the deep darkness, Lucius quietly muttered the name of the man he could never forget.
"...Julian Sterling."