Defeat...
[Ability Description: Can only be accessed when this ability is gained]
[+1 Hidden quest reward]
'Huh? That's an interesting name. I wonder what it does?' Lyrian thought to himself, noticing the name of the ability for a brief moment before continuing to rest.
The hidden reward was also a mystery. 'I guess I'll just have to find out what it is once I've completed the quest...'
After a few minutes, he jogged back down the mountain and ate a hearty meal full of meat, fruits, and wild vegetables.
He wasn't some 5-star chef, but his food always tasted amazing due to the hard work he put in beforehand. Each meal was like a prize for his efforts.
After eating, his energy went back up to full and he decided that it was time to take on a dire wolf.
This goal that he set for himself about one year ago was very illustrious and always seemed to be too far ahead of him.
However, Lyrian now noticed that he didn't seem to be getting much stronger from his training. At eight years old, his body reached its supposed limit.
He could only wait for puberty now in order to grow quickly in strength, but other than that, there was no point in simply training any longer.
Since he knew this was his temporary limit, he might as well not waste any time and take on a dire wolf.
Why a dire wolf?
Because it was the strongest predator he had ever come across.
He fought and defeated several leopards before. However, they barely weighed 100 lbs and weren't really a match for Lyrian.
Jaguars, on the other hand, were much more powerful, but even they were a sure win to him now, whose strength stat was in the 20s according to the system.
However, he was yet to defeat, or even challenge, a dire wolf yet. It wasn't just for any reason, either.
Usually, wolves were weaker than their big cat counterparts, but dire wolves were like a different species altogether.
Their jaws were stronger–teeth and claws longer and sharper than any other creature Lyrian came across.
After grabbing his trusty dagger, Lyrian left on the hunt for a lone wolf that he could fight.
It didn't take long for him to find dire wolves as they dominated the grounds near him.
As he came upon an opening in the forest, he located a pack of around 15 dire wolves right in the middle of the field through a bush.
Just like he remembered, the wolves looked ferocious, muscles and striations menacingly covering each creature.
Just standing there, over 200 meters away from the pack, was enough to trigger Lyrians body to shake ever so slightly.
The shaking was uncontrollable, a natural instinct of human fear within the brain.
However, it was safe to say Lyrian was just as excited as he was scared.
As he continued to look at the pack, he noticed a commotion going on the side.
A few wolves, all with thick gray fur and dark black eyes, looked to be gathered around a smaller wolf that looked different from the rest.
While the other wolves were large, reaching about 4 feet in height, it was probably closer to 3 feet.
Its limbs seemed smaller, and along with that, its most noticeable features were its white fur and one missing eye with a red scar covering it.
The three normal wolves circled the white one, growling in disdain and anger as they threatened to attack.
They randomly bit and scratched at them as they stalked, causing the wolf to whimper in fear.
'Oh?' Lyrian said in his head as he saw this happen. This seemed like an opportunity arose for him out of sheer luck.
He decided to keep an eye on the situation to see where it escalated to.
'Scan.'
┏━━━Scan━━━┓
Name: Garm
Species: Dire Wolf
Age: 5
Overall Power (OP): 3
Health: 27/33
Stamina: 39/39
Strength: 31
Agility: 35
Defense: 28
Rank: Normal
┗━━━━━━━━━┛
'What… a beast.' Lyrian thought, seeing its beefy stats.
It looked like the OP stat reflected the creature's power in tens. Since most of the white wolf's stats were in the 30s, its OP was 3.
Most of the other wolves appeared to be level 3s as well, with some even being level 4.
Currently, Lyrian had an OP of only 2.
After a few pushes and shoves, the white wolf was kicked out of the pack, and quickly darted out of the open area, happy to leave with its life.
At that exact moment, Lyrian perked up and darted right behind it, his eyes locked on the target.
The wolf was extremely fast, but Lyrian wasn't going to give up so easily.
Jumping over logs and under vines, he soared through the rough terrain he'd been training in for the last two years.
Finally, the wolf ran to a dead end in front of a mountainside before finally stopping and licking some of the wounds that it had previously got from the other wolves.
Without any hesitation, Lyrian jumped out at that exact moment, sprinting towards the wolf at full speed with a focused expression and dagger in hand.
Seeing the young boy, the wolf immediately gained its guard and pounced at Lyrian as well.
The two met at the exact same time as a splatter of blood splashed in the air.
The wolf's sharp claws dug into and sliced through Lyrian's left arm, leaving it limp and useless.
However, Lyrian also managed to deal a blow himself, leaving a deep wound on the chest of the creature.
There was no time to rest, as this wasn't a fight against another human, but a feral beast.
The beast pounced at Lyrian once again with full aggression, intending to tear the boy's head off when Lyrian leaned back to dodge the bite.
With a swift motion, he thrust his dagger toward the wolf's neck, but the wolf quickly moved out of the way before it could land.
Although Lyrian was able to dodge the wolf's attacks, it was merely by a hair, while the wolf seemed to have no problem with Lyrian on the other hand.
This time, he began running around the trees as the wolf continued to chase him, thinking of what to do.
He was in a high-stress scenario, but right now, it looked like he was going to lose.
The beast was too strong and quick for him. It seemed he wasn't ready after all.
Just as he turned around a tree and struck the wolf's shoulder, it quickly turned its head, taking the dagger and breaking it in half with its jaw before pushing the boy down to the ground, completely immobilizing him...