Matt kept his distance as he monitored the three sleeping canines. What worried him wasn’t the wolves, it was the location they had chosen to rest in. It wasn’t the greenery surrounding the resort. It wasn’t near the pool or sea where the air should be cooler. And it wasn’t in the shade somewhere. It was at the entrance, directly in front of the door, which led Matt to believe they were guarding the place, and clearly doing an awful job at it.

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  He knew wolves roamed in packs, and the rest of their pack being inside the resort wasn’t completely out of the question. And while Matt wasn’t that worried about taking on the three wolves, an entire pack though was a different matter entirely.

  His read on his current strength was almost nonexistent. The fights against the sand golems had shown him absolutely nothing. He felt stronger, but what if the golems were simply too weak? What if real strength wasn’t based on levels? Was it stats? Experience? Something else entirely?

  That’s why taking on an entire pack worried him. His limited understanding of his own powers and that of others was concerning, and it would probably put him in danger if he’s not careful.

  There were plenty of other luxury hotels around, so finding another one wasn’t really a challenging endeavor. But, in the end, it all boiled down to whether he wanted to run away from a fight or not. Whether he was willing to back away and search for another place or not.

  He could make up all the reasons he wanted, claiming the view was unmatched and that he already had his heart set on this resort that he had never seen before. But, at the end of the day, what he really wanted was a fight that could push him to his limits. Let him know what he lacked and what he needed to work on. If that fight also happened to include a cleanup of the place, then it was just a happy coincidence.

  Also, leaving didn’t mean the other places would be monster-free. And even if they were, what would his response be if a pack of wolves came knocking. Would he run away again?

  It was just a recipe for disaster where he, once again, reverted to his old habits of avoiding conflict. Habits he very much wanted to get rid of. Luckily, there was a pack of wolves that could help him with just that.

  Matt took the scepter out of his ring and started charging it with mana.

  His plan was simple: if he could take one of them out before the fight started in earnest, then he should be able to deal with the other two in quick succession, even if they managed to call for reinforcements. After that, he’d just have to play it by ear, coming up with a plan on the fly.

  Taking a deep breath to calm his nerves and contain his excitement, he slowly let it out. His brows lowered, jaw clenched, and lips tightened as he let the orb go towards the highest level of the three while immediately sprinting towards the other two, another orb already being charged.

  The basketball-sized orb hit the wolf square in the middle, exploding it in a shower of blood and viscera and alerting the other two to the presence of an intruder.

  The wolves sprung into action, but before they could react, a hastily charged mana orb hit one of them in the face, severely damaging, but not killing it.

  Matt expected the wolf to survive, so he followed the mana orb with a jab to the already damaged face, breaking its jaw and teeth, and knocking the wolf into the entrance gate.

  The third wolf, seeing one of its pack dead and the other barely clinging to life, didn’t falter nor backdown, jumping at Matt from the side, claws swiping at his exposed head.

  Matt dove forward, dodging the incoming attack while trying to charge more mana into his scepter.

  The wolf reacted instantly as it landed, bouncing at Matt once more, not giving him any time to react or make a move.

  Matt turned around, putting his scepter between him and the wolf’s claw, blocking the attack before sending a devastating kick towards the canine’s midsection.

  The kick landed with a crunch, surprising the wolf and sending it flying into one of the cars in the parking lot.

  Matt tried to use the reprieve to finish off the other wolf, but as he turned his head towards the entrance, his heart sank. Not because the wolf wasn’t there, but because of what it was about to do.

  A thunderous howl echoed throughout the resort town. Its origin? The badly damaged wolf.

  Matt had feared the howl would alert the others inside, instead, something much worse happened.

  The effect of what could only be considered an attack landed on Matt like a sledgehammer, dropping him to his knees. He raised his hands to cover his ears as a soundless scream of agony tried to escape his throat, but was unable to.

  He could feel the sound waves reverberating throughout his body as the wordless howl caused vessels to pop, bones to creak, and muscles to tear. Numerous signals reached his brain, threatening to fry it, as body parts screamed for impunity.

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  The other wolf, seeing the opening, immediately capitalized on it, lunging at the kneeling Matt, jaw wide open, teeth ready to tear through him.

  Matt wanted to get up, to do something, but he simply couldn’t. He couldn’t move, as if he was utterly frozen. But… he could still control his mana.

  His first thought was to rupture his eardrums, deafening himself, but he didn’t trust his ability to control mana in his current state enough to make sure he didn’t injure something he shouldn’t, or blow his head off. Instead, he chose to go with a different idea.

  With both hands covering his ears, he started directing mana towards a new destination. Mana slowly pushed through his pathways as it made its way towards his palms. Matt followed the same idea as mana wave, but instead of flooding mana, he constrained it, condensing it as much as possible as it coalesced on the palms of his hands.

  The process was agonizing, and his brain was going into overdrive. Trying to control mana while maintaining its sanity in the face of the unrelenting ringing and reverberation it was being subjected to was proving to be too much. Thankfully, it wouldn’t have to endure it for long.

  Matt monitored everything through his soul as the mana came together, turning into a marble-sized orb.

  Not wasting time, he pushed it into his ears before controlling it to expand slightly, effectively blocking his ear canal.

  Instant relief filled Matt, the strain on his brain and body dropping considerably.

  He could still hear the howl and feel the ringing, but to a significantly lower degree. Enough for him to finally be able to move again, which was exactly what he had intended on doing, when a maw descended on his still recovering form, sharp teeth sinking into his shoulder.

  Pain hit Matt’s still reeling brain like a truck, causing him to almost drop to the ground. He gritted his teeth, trying his best to push through the pain as he activated [Repair], pushing in as much mana as he could, while trying to blast mana into the wolf’s face with his other hand.

  The wolf, realizing it couldn’t bite through Matt’s shoulder, jumped off, growling as it slowly started circling around him.

  The howling had stopped, but Matt had no time to check why. He needed to take care of the wolf in front of him, and he needed to do it now.

  Matt pushed more mana into his palm, taking a quick glance at the previously howling wolf as he did.

  Seeing an opening, the wolf in front of him immediately lunged, maw wide open, ready to bite his head off.

  Realizing his trick had worked, Matt released the mana in his palm, summoning a mana wave into the lunging form of the wolf.

  The wave hit the canine head-on, causing it to yelp in surprise before being carried on and pinned against a car in the lot.

  Matt immediately capitalized, running after the mana wave and onto the dangling wolf, sending a side kick into the monster’s head.

  His foot landed with a loud crunch and clank as it sank through the wolf’s skull and into the car it was pinned against.

  The wolf turned lifeless, its body going limp, as a notification alerted Matt that the wolf was indeed dead.

  Not forgetting the second canine, Matt got up and rushed towards its collapsed form. The howl seemed to have drained the last of its energy, as it now lay there on the marble steps of the entrance, unmoving, yet still alive.

  Matt picked up his scepter off the ground and fired two quick mana orbs at the struggling wolf, putting it out of its misery.

  He took a quick look at his notifications just to confirm.

  You have defeated Desert Wolf (level 16)

  [Advanced Mana Control (passive)] (rare 7) → [Advanced Mana Control (passive)] (rare 8)

  You have defeated Desert Wolf (level 15)

  You have defeated Desert Wolf (level 15)

  Level up!

  You are now level 13

  You have 17 free stat points to distribute

  Once he received a system-backed confirmation that the trio of wolves were no longer with us, he allowed himself to relax slightly. He was struggling to catch his breath and his stamina bar had dropped to 40%, which was odd since the entire fight hadn’t lasted that long, and slightly alarming since he didn’t know if he had actually used up this much stamina or if something else was the cause. Maybe even the howl.

  His health, on the other hand, was at 75%, which wasn’t bad considering the gloves and the damage he had sustained from both the howl and the wolf’s bite. He was also glad to see that he could still level up. He had started questioning that fact when nothing happened after killing twelve Sand Golems, so having that fear dispelled was reassuring, even if it took quite a few monsters to get that single level.

  The golems being weak could be an explanation, but it could also be a hundred other things. He’d know more once he dealt with the rest of the wolves, if there was even any.

  Deciding not to overthink it for now, he cast [Revitalize] on himself, reveling in the warmth as the skill replenished his dwindling resources. He needed to be more efficient with his mana. The way he flooded everything with it and hoped for the best was extremely wasteful. It wasn’t an issue now since most fights didn’t last that long, but a drawn out fight might be a problem, especially if he didn’t want to walk around with both hands glued to his body, one recovering his health and the other his mana.

  [Revitalize] was incredible, but even it had its limits. He needed to make better use of the resources he had at his disposal, especially since his ultimate plan was to evolve the skill into something grander than simply being a mana skill, which meant he had to get ahead of the problem.

  Sighing, he added it to his long list of things he wanted to work on. It was honestly ridiculous how issues kept on piling on top of one another, but it wasn’t like he had anything better to do for the coming months, so working on himself didn’t sound all that bad, even if it felt like an endless climb to a non-existent top.

  Once he was back to tip-top condition, he scanned his surroundings. The howl had been incredibly loud, yet no other wolves had shown, which was rather suspicious. Too suspicious.

  He closed his eyes and started focusing inwardly as he activated [Sense Mana] to get a look inside the resort.

  While the hundred foot scan radius wasn’t that large, he was glad to have it at times like this. Times where the skill alerted him of the presence of four different mana signatures right behind the gate.

  Waiting. Unmoving.