Hero of Darkness
chapter-11

Kahn heard all the notifications inside his head. He already expected something like this to happen when he killed the red wolf and heard the Ding sound in his head.

To his surprise, Kahn not only learned how to activate War Dominance aura and Berserk God Mode, but he also broke through the current threshold of his capacity & already went past his limits to meet the conditions to unlock his War Deity Body. This means he will be twice stronger when he recovered his strength again.

The very first encounter Kahn had in Vantrea as soon as he entered was a life or death battle and he barely managed to survive. Who knew if he ended up dying here, would anyone ever know or care? He'd die just a nameless death.. AGAIN.

Kahn tried to focus his mind again on these notifications in his mind. There was no system panel or screen board for him to check these notifications in a list or scroll through them one by one. It was as if this system was part of his consciousness itself and somehow acted like his mind when he thought about it.

"Tell me more." he tried commanding it.

[3 dead bodies found near the host. The host is advised to use Ability Absorption Divine Ability and raise his strength. Also, the host can use Synthesis Divine Ability to merge 2 of these entities to create a subordinate.

The host must salvage & eat the cores situated near the hearts of these 3 entities.]

The robot-like voice stopped, informing Kahn about his accomplishments & what he could do to recover & get strong.

"Cool. At least I have some sort of guide for at least basic stuff & reminders." Kahn said as he went to sleep due to exhaustion.

6 hours later.

Khan opened his eyes and looked around. He was still in that same place & the bodies of the 3 wolves were lying in the same places where they died. Kahn finally felt like he had the strength enough to get up.

He stood up from the ground and walked towards the Red Wolf. He remembered the notifications he had before he fell asleep. He looked towards the body of the red wolf, he still could not believe that happened just this morning. He glanced at the body with a look of exacting his revenge.

"Well, well, well. How the turntables..." he smirked & gloated about his victory which he barely achieved by a hair's breadth.

"Well then. Time to eat."

He was going to use Ability Absorption on the Red wolf because it felt like the leader of the pack and was obviously much stronger than the others.

"Absorb!" Kahn commanded as he mentally thought about acquiring its abilities.

[Host needs to touch the specimen first] the voice in his mind replied.

"Ah, my bad." He touched the body of the red wolf and imagined absorbing its abilities.

Suddenly, some sort of suction force was exerted from his hand which was touching the red wolf and in just a matter of seconds, the body of the red wolf looked drained out of the blood and the claws and fangs it had were reduced to nothing as if they were sucked inside something.

Ding!

[ Ability Absorption Divine Ability unlocked.

The host has acquired the following abilities :

Alpha Wolf's Claw

Alpha Wolf's Howl

Long stride

Hunt Perception

Predator's Eyes

Synthesis Divine Ability unlocked

Predator's Eyes ability synthesized and merged under War Dominance to increase its effectiveness. The host will be able to exude a Predatory Intent towards the target when using War Dominance aura.]

Kahn was truly surprised. Not only did he learn physical abilities like the first 3 mentioned, but he also acquired the innate skills of a wolf like Hunt Perception & Predator's Eyes. Which would prove useful for him to survive inside this jungle for the time being.

By now, there was nothing left inside the body of the red wolf but its bones. All the meat and blood was gone. Only its hide was left completely untouched and a red orb-like thing which according to the inner system inside Kahn's head was the Core.

Kahn thought of using Wolf's claw and both his hands turned pitch black. His nails started growing from his fingers at a fast pace, they were no longer just nails but claws at this point. Kahn felt like he indeed turned into something else than just human.

He saw this coming and didn't waste any more time overthinking about it. He tore through the hide from various places to use it to cover up enough parts of his body for now. It was already around evening so he needed something to cover himself up. And since these three wolves were very big to begin with, just this red wolf's hide was enough to cover his waist like a towel and also something he could use to cover his shoulders.

Kahn took the Core out of the body, it was completely clean; not even a single drop of blood on it. He remembered the system voice telling him to must eat it to get stronger. Currently, he barely had the strength to walk because he used Berserk God Mode earlier so he had to regain his strength and prepare for the night. He had to keep himself safe so having more strength was a must.

He gulped down the reddish orb-like thing which sized around a thumb of a grown man. Suddenly he heard more sounds in his mind.

[Monster core absorbed and assimilated with Host's body.

Mana Capacity increased by 5 points.

All Physical Attributes raised by 1 point.]

Kahn felt a bit of his strength recovered, just very minute at the moment because he was in a weakened state. He wrapped the hide around his waist and leftover around his shoulders like a scarf.

He walked towards the bodies of the other two wolves and dragged them towards each other.

"How do I merge them?" He asked the system in his mind.

[Host must place his hands on both specimens. Host is advised to keep at least one Core intact in the original bodies to get a better success rate and stronger specimen.]

"What if I keep both of the cores during the procedure ?" Kahn asked.

[In such case, the resultant creature will unlock Evolution ability. And such subordinate can be further merged with another subordinate which also has unlocked Evolution. Both these entities can be used to create a higher variant species and a more powerful subordinate.] The system replied to his queries.

"Understood. By the way, will the resultant creature of Synthesis be loyal to me or at least won't attack me ?"

[Yes. Since subordinates are created for the sole purpose of aiding and protecting the host, they will be programmed to obey the host and will always be ready to die to protect & serve the host.] Kahn got more information about Synthesis Divine Ability now. He needed to learn & know about every advantage he had so he could stay alive in this forest for now.

"Can the system interact with outside things & aid me in any way?" Kahn asked out his final question as he needed to understand the full capacities of the guide system he was given.

[No. The system cannot act outside of the host's body. It's only created to help the Host to understand the working of his Divine Abilities & Blessings. The system has no control over anything the Host doesn't have physical contact with.

The host is advised to rely on himself to become stronger and survive in the world. The system is only an interface created to guide the host through normal procedures & inform the workings of the abilities & skills.]

Kahn now fully understood the extent of his inner system. Unlike some OP systems in the Novels & Mangas, his system was more of an Assistant than some formidable external entity that could create stuff out of nowhere, help him copy knowledge just by touching a book or had a shop to buy stuff from using some sort of point system.

This was nothing but a programme left inside his Soul to help him gain a better understanding of his abilities & use them in the most efficient way. He had to rely on his brain & body while wandering in the world.

Kahn came close to both the dead wolves bodies, placed his hands on both of them and said,

"Merge!"

Unlike what Kahn expected, nothing happened for the next few seconds. Kahn wondered if he gave some wrong command or something. Just as he was about to speak again, a black shadow appeared under his palms and covered both bodies. And in the next few seconds, both these shadows stretched out and converged together. The bodies of the wolves were completely engulfed inside the shadow and disappeared as if the bodies were absorbed by the shadow.

For over a minute, the shadow kept wriggling around and finally, a four-legged creature started appearing. This creature was 7 feet tall, had complete black fur over its body and eyes completely red with black pupils in them.

[Congratulations to host for creating the first Subordinate.

The results of the Synthesis are as follows.

Name : Unnamed

Species : Dire Wolf

Abilities : Sonic Howl, Predator's Eyes, Hunt Perception, Sprinter, Dire Wolf claws, Shadow merge.

Subordinate has inherited all the physical & mental traits of the specimens used during Synthesis.

Subordinate has unlocked Evolution skill. It can be evolved further or merged with another subordinate.

Host is advised to give it a fitting name.]

"Great! Finally, I don't have to worry about something attacking me during the night." Kahn said as he sighed in relief. Then he asked the system again,

"System, can you create an interface or panel to compare me and this wolf based on our strength levels and attributes ?"

[Yes. Commanded adjustments can be made. But comparison can only be done between the Host & the subordinate. To create comparisons between external beings, the host must touch them or form physical contact.

Here are the following Statistics as requested by the host.

Name : Kahn (Host)

Species : Human

Level : 1

Strength : 2

Agility : 2

Dexterity : 3

Defense : 2

Mana : 5

Name : Unnamed

Species : Dire Wolf (Variant)

Level : 10

Strength : 25

Agility : 20

Dexterity : 20

Defense : 10

Mana : 15

Comparison made based on the physical state before the Host underwent weakened state.]

Kahn was left speechless. Only now did he fully understood how close he was to death. If not for War Dominance aura suppressing the wolves & his Berserk God Mode giving him the strength to kill them, he would be dead for sure. Because all the 3 wolves were at least Level 5 compared to him.

And the new Synthesized wolf was created using 2 complete bodies & their cores so it was twice stronger than them and even a higher version of Wolves called the Dire Wolves.

Just imagining what would happen if Kahn had fought against the wolf standing in front of him instead. This gave him goosebumps with just the thought of it. He was lucky that this wolf was his underling instead.

He came close to the giant Dire Wolf, placed his palm on its head and spoke, "Since I already killed that alpha wolf and I'm not an idiot to call you Kuro, Wolfy or Feru just because you're black and are a wolf; from now on your name shall be Omega."

Ding!

[Congratulations to the Host for naming his first Subordinate. The loyalty of the subordinate towards the host increased by 50%] The system voice rang and informed Kahn.

"What's this Loyalty increase about? Aren't they already loyal to me?" he asked.

[It's a specific condition to unlock a special skill between the host and the Subordinates.] replied the system.

"Good. If naming them helps raise their loyalty, then I'll have to be creative & thoughtful." Kahn said and patted Omega's head like petting a dog.

Omega sat down in front of Kahn & bowed his head without looking Kahn in the eyes. It felt as if Omega was submitting himself & acknowledged Kahn as its master.

The next moment, Kahn felt a sort of connection towards Omega as if the wolf was an extension of his own body & consciousness.

"Do you understand what I'm saying ?" Kahn asked Omega to check whether his guess was right.

Omega nodded in response and stood back up.

"Good. Now go and Hunt something I could eat. Not too big and meat shouldn't be too hard to chew." Kahn commanded Omega. Since he was under the weakened state as a repercussion of using the Berserk God Mode, he barely had the strength to walk and could not go to find something to eat.

He thought about having something to eat first because he had no energy left in him and meat was the best source to regain strength.

After Omega ran off towards the bushes & completely disappeared out of his sight, Kahn called to the system again.

"System, can you help me create fire?" Kahn asked curiously.

[What am I, your mother? Do it yourself.] System replied with banter instead.

"Wait, say that again?"

[Host is advised to rely on himself. System cannot help the host in such tasks.] The robotic voice was back again. This made Kahn doubt if System was a living being as well. But he didn't dwell on the matter and walked towards the close by tree and broke their branches. He found a thin but sturdy branch which he could use to rub on other thick branches.

This was basically Bear Grylls from Man Vs Wild.

After failing for an hour and barely managing to generate enough heat on the wood to create smoke and then using dry leaves to fan it out to create fire, finally Kahn managed to create his campfire. It was already evening and the night was beginning. He judged that it would be around 6 PM based on the position of the sun. Thankfully he had a way to keep himself warm and protected for the night.

In half an hour, Omega finally returned with four Rabbit-like things in its mouth. These things looked more like a combination between Rabbits and Mongoose with red & green stripes on their bodies. This was the first unfamiliar creature Kahn saw in Vantrea.

Kahn could see that these little things had a lot of meat on them so he found that sufficient for the night. Kahn activated his Wolf Claws and dissected these little creatures. He had to dirty his hands if he wanted to eat.

After cutting out the flesh & throwing away the entrails, he walked towards the nearby stream to wash it clean. Omega being on guard duty & keeping an eye around. After they got back, Kahn poked in some thin branches inside the meat parts and grilled them on the campfire.

Smelling the scent of freshly grilled meat, even Omega started salivating and started using puppy eyes towards Kahn.

Kahn was stunned. This thing was a damn Wolf, an apex Predator.. But now it was acting like a cute little doggy as soon as there was grilled meat in front of it. Wasn't this supposed to be some magical creature he created? Did it really need to eat? Kahn sighed and continued grilling.

When he was finally done, he took the meat of two rabbit-like animals and gave the rest left from the remaining two to Omega. They both needed the food to have enough strength for tomorrow. After filling his stomach till he was completely full, Kahn went back to the stream and drank the water from the current. He could only hope that the meat he ate was edible and won't cause him food poisoning instead.

Kahn returned to their campsite and rested his back against the tree. He finally felt the tiredness wash over his body and felt like falling asleep soon.

Omega was resting near him and had its ears perked up, ready to react if something approached them during the night.

Kahn gazed towards the night sky, looking at the clear and bright stars. This was his first day in Vantrea. He already had a near-death experience, made an ally and now enjoying the view of the night he barely saw in his previous life. The whole forest under the Moonlight looked very serene.

Resting his eyes, Kahn said to himself.

"Let's see what tomorrow has in the store for me."