After analyzing the staff for a bit of time. He calmly placed the staff within his ring. His current mood made him unable to fully engage with the item like he normally would.
With his thoughts still preoccupied, his hand instinctively reached for the next item, one of the two that he could immediately recognize from the loot. Resting in his palm was a glowing sphere, identical to the attribute orbs he was accustomed to receiving. However, unlike the previous ones that radiated a singular color tied to a specific attribute, this particular orb glowed in a variety of colors, embodying every attribute Noah possessed. It didn’t take a genius to realize what it meant, it was a universal attribute orb.
His palms strongly gripped the sphere before the glow intensified, leading towards the orb silently shattering in his hands while the energy flowed into his body. The feeling was comparatively as invigorating as when he used his wrathful fury on himself. He checked his stats out of curiosity, his mind slightly alleviating from his earlier worries at the prospect of getting good rewards. Follow current novᴇls on novel✶fire.net
"Wow..." He muttered to himself. He knew that all of his stats were going to be affected, but he didn’t know that each attribute would be increased by fifty points. The equivalence of that was akin to him having to level up fifteen times at his current rank!
The revelation brought about a positive improvement to his mood that to Ailetta, she had to resist the urge to shake her head, but her smile was bright as ever. The drastic change from the stifling tension to his now childlike enthusiasm was something she would always find endearing.
Noah’s body was a bit livelier than before as he leaned back over into the chest. He didn’t realize how therapeutic receiving loot was until now.
He paused before reaching for the last object. This object may be the last, but it also held the second most amount of emitted mana out of all the other loot. He was sure that this item was going to be something almost as good as the vial of blood.
When he laid eyes on the item, his heart rate went insane. His hands gripped the item softly as he pulled it out with extreme care.
The item was a heart, the resemblance was uncanny to the dungeons core that he believed to be a treasure amongst treasures. He didn’t know what this could mean, his hope was that it was another dungeon. The thought of two dungeons affecting working in tandem would be a game changer. All he would need was time and his home would be a fortress.
But as he held the heart in his hand, his eyes narrowed in scrutiny. The heart was warm, that wouldn’t have been the problem, but in his hand, he could feel a part of the heart pulsating. Each pulse occurred within three seconds from each other, and each one was so subtle that one wouldn’t notice it unless they were physically touching it.
His hand slowly opened towards him as he inspected it in wonder. He didn’t believe that the item was the same anymore. Unlike the dungeon’s core where only the veins of energy felt alive, the entirety of the heart in his hand felt real...At least half of it did.
As he looked upon the item, he noticed that one half of the heart was a living beating heart, but one that was made up of more veins and muscles than what a normal heart would have. And then there was the other half, the other side was completely fossilized. Twisted roots of muscle and veins twisted around the stone’s half.
Like the past, Noah tried inputting his mana into the heart, and no change. His brows furrowed in contemplation. Trying to understand its functions was almost impossible if he didn’t have the system to tell him what it was.
"Don’t tell me this has to be eaten?" he muttered, his inhibitions coming from the visuals of the fossilized half. He hesitated, wondering if he should consume it. Unlike the past, he didn’t necessarily have to physically eat anymore. With just his slime, he could assimilate it into his body, the same way he devoured the zombie from before.
But just to be sure, he wanted to get his creatures opinion, just like the vial of blood, he figured that they might have a reaction similar to Eve.
"What do you all think of thi-"
The moment his hands revealed the heart to the others, a sudden shadow landed in front of him. Fenrir was quick, a little too quick that in his rush he had destroyed the ground under him.
He was learning, he saw how Eve was able to get something good from Noah just because she had taken the approach of trying to take it from him. He wasn’t even aware what was in Noah’s hand, but it didn’t matter. From his experience, anything that Noah would give them would make them stronger, and majority of the time, that something could be eaten.
Fenrir’s maw was already open, it was too large to attempt to eat the object in Noah’s hand, but that didn’t stop his tongue.
For the first time, Fenrir’s mind wasn’t set on just food. He had always taken pride in being Noah’s strongest shield, the one who could face any threat head-on. But now, he was forced to sit out a battle, and he didn’t need Noah to explain why, he already knew.
He was no longer strong enough.
He was always one step ahead of Arachne, even if it was by a small margin, but now he wasn’t even on her level. He would’ve accepted it if it was due to her own efforts. However, just like Eve, she had become much stronger because Noah gave her something to eat. This time he couldn’t let anyone else take his opportunity, he couldn’t allow his place as Noah’s sole protector to be usurped by anyone else.
"Why??" His betrayal surged in his voice as his tongue met nothing but air. His eyes locked on to Noah, whose body was now further than before out of his reach.
Normally Noah would have been understanding, but when his mood was finally improving, he wasn’t expecting Fenrir’s selfish antics. His expression was stern, his eyes frustratingly narrowed, observing Fenrir’s expression to see if maybe the wolf was induced into behaving in such a way because of the item just as Eve was.
His hardened expression after his observation made it clear that he didn’t find an ounce of influence over Fenrir, making his mood even worse than before.
"We were first! Why?? Why won’t you make me stronger too?" Fenrir’s growls turned into desperate, broken howls, his massive frame trembling as his claws dug furiously into the ground. The bitter sting of betrayal gnawed at his chest, his feelings of being cast aside only growing stronger.
Noah’s body loosened, his expression softened, but his eye still reflected his irritation. He understood, he knew that jealousy would come with the territory when it came to having a lot of creatures. But it was because he tried his best not to show favoritism to everyone that made him upset even though he understood.
"Fenrir..." Noah’s voice was heavy, cold, and that single utterance alone made Fenrir freeze. The pressure that followed wasn’t magical, nor was it physical, but it weighed heavier than anything Fenrir had ever experienced. It was the sheer weight of Noah’s disappointment.
"Do you believe you’re stronger than Eve?" His question made the simple beast confused, but Fenrir still silently thought about the question, looking over to the little vampire that could fit between its teeth.
Fenrir’s body trembled under the weight of Noah’s gaze. His large, clawed hands twitched as his mind scrambled to find an answer. The comparison itself felt insulting. Eve? The fragile little vampire who clung to Noah like a lifeline, the one he could kill with a single bite, the one he was ordered to protect not even a few minutes ago? stronger than him?
"...I am stronger," Fenrir answered, but his answer lacked the confidence from before when he laid eyes on the other two creatures around her. Diablo’s aura spiked, his awareness was more intuitive than before, he saw Fenrir’s lack of respect for Eve as a challenge. And then there was Ava, her presence was less responsive but seeing her caused Fenrir to recollect the powerful aura before she was created. Now he wasn’t so sure anymore.
"I want to be stronger; you made her stronger instead," Fenrir bitterly admitted. "I wanted to get stronger; you made Arachne stronger. You made Eve stronger; you made "them" stronger," Fenrir’s eyes pandered towards both Diablo and Eve. "And now you still won’t mak-"
Fenrir was still speaking with a small but heavy hand landed at the top of his nose. The presence was too fast to register who did it. With Noah still in front of him, Fenrir’s eyes began to glow with unfathomable rage, but the voice that suddenly appeared on Fenrir’s side extinguished the thought of retaliating.
"This is why I call you stupid..Stupid Fenrir." Another distinguishable cold tone spoke towards him, a voice that Fenrir respected just underneath Noah. Normally Fenrir would be quick to argue, but experience told him that whenever Arachne called him stupid then that means he was usually in the wrong.