1 The Mysterious Wolf in the Gardens

June 16th, 2518

The town of Alma, Empire of Clypeum.

The gentle sunrise could be seen over the edge of the eastern wall, signaling the guards of the small town to begin their work day and wash the smell of booze from their breath. Most of the towns residents, on the other hand, were returning from their night of work hoping for a couple hours rest before heading back at noon. Those who were unfortunate enough not to have made it back inside the city walls by the time the guardsmen reached their posts suffered from the guard's morning 'games'. This typically involved a one sided beating as the residents did not have any energy to fight back after working for at least 12 hours if they were lucky. One such poor soul was usually Alastor Walker.

The Walker family was fairly popular among the residents of Alma. They were in charge of a large portion of the town's fields and were known for producing the largest amount of produce in the region. Not only did the Walkers cover 80% of the towns crop quota for the capital, but they also handed out food to every family every Saturday morning. This lead to the family being considered to be the heart of Alma by the poor residents of the town.

Alastor was making his way back from his families field when he notice a strange white animal laying near the edge of the field. The creature had the appearance of a snowy wolf pup about the size of a shoe box. What really caught Alastor's attention was that the pup had golden eyes with a purple tint to it's pupil. As he approached the wolf to try and scare it back to it's den, the pup walked towards him and sat down a couple of feet in front of him.

"Easy there," Alastor whispered, "I just need you to find somewhere else to sunbath so that I can go home."

Ever since the emergence of the World Tree animals have been able to draw strength from the earth to grow into their next stage similar to how humans learned to draw mana from the air. And the Walker's farm was a prime spot for animals to evolve from ordinary animals to savage beasts because it had an environment rich in earth energy and mana due to his family's bloodline power. The Walker family had a rare bloodline that greatly increased the likelihood that its members would awaken to the variant aptitude for plant magic. Many of the people in Alma believed that if the Walker family had anyone of a 3 star aptitude or higher then they would have been able to be recruited into the capital or even marry into a highborn family and leave these cursed lands near the Wilderness. Unfortunately whether it was due to the poor mana density or just bad genes, there hasn't been a single 3 star mage in the Walker family's 200 year history.

"Please just leave, I can't hurt you and I also don't want to have to get one of those worthless drunkards to take care of you. I really hate having to get involved with those highborn bastards." Alastor said while pleading with the little pup. If he had to ask for help not only would they charge him a fee despite the fact that eliminating potential threats near the town being their job, the guardsmen would abuse their status as 3 star mages to beat him as they really had no reason to fear him even after he awakens later today since there hasn't even been a 2 star mage born in Alma in a decade.

Just as Alastor was thinking about which guard he though he could bribe into helping while getting the least injuries since he still had his graduation ceremony to go to, the little wolf started walking towards him again. Alastor couldn't help but gulp seeing the mischievous glint in its eyes. He could have sworn he saw the makings of a smile on it's face before it suddenly disappeared.

Alastor looked around, but couldn't find a single trace of the wolf anywhere.

Just as he turned around to run towards a low section in the wall hoping to climb over it to avoid an encounters with the guards, he felt a sudden pain on his right arm. When he glanced down he was shocked to see a clear bite mark outlined by his blood. In the time it took him to realize that he was bitten, the wound strangely healed leaving a white scar with golden flakes before even that faded. If not for the blood along his arm, Alastor would have though that he simply spent to much time cultivating the plants in the mental herb section of the farm again and was suffering from illusions due to their vapors.

Alastor shrugged his shoulders and ran off to sneak back into town. He could think about this later, after all today was the day that could change his life. He was finally graduating from his middle school and that meant he could finally be awakened!