Golden Experience
Chapter 11: “Ice Wolves”

“A lone wolf” might sound cool, but generally they were actually just wolves who had lost a power struggle in a pack. Rare’s group hadn’t encountered any other wolves of this type, but thinking back, this wolf didn’t seem weak enough to be kicked out of a pack. While it had faced off against the girls and the boar, it hadn’t felt at all in disgrace. Although now that it was Rare’s follower, it was hard not to see it as just a big house dog.

“But that’s fine. If you’ve got family, we might as well take them all in. I’m not heartless enough to force you apart, after all.”

At this point in time, Rare wasn’t concerned with the demerits of having more [Subordinated] followers. She’d need increasing amounts of XP to support them all, but she came to a realization from seeing the catkin girls fight: it would drastically reduce the risk whenever they went into battle. Speaking of that last battle, the XP she got from incapacitating a wolf that was about the same or slightly higher in power level was probably about the same as she’d get from defeating an equal enemy solo. Having to split that XP in five was obviously a big decrease, but it also meant the duration of battle decreasing by a corresponding amount. Even still, doing some mental math, while soloing would still be noticeably more efficient, there was still a lot of value in doing things this way where the XP earnings would be more stable.

If the number of her followers increased, then she’d just have to earn that much more XP. While Rare had gotten excited and recklessly splurged when she first discovered the [Subordinate] system, she originally wasn’t planning to proactively participate in raids or PvP; she just wanted to enjoy the game at her own leisure. She was looking forward to the game so much that she signed up for not just the open beta but also the closed beta, which is how she became a tester.

Besides, there were a lot of things she wanted to try out with more followers. There were things she could investigate about the very act of getting more. If she could spec each follower however she liked, then she could build characters who were completely different types from her. She’d have to order the NPC around instead of playing herself, but still, she could have a lot of fun researching and optimizing builds. Like, seeing if increasing Kerry’s INT could elevate her from her idiot status or not.

They followed the wolf deeper into the forest. They technically used an animal trail, but it wasn’t hard to traverse since these animals were so huge that they could just walk the trail normally.

After a short time, they arrived at a cave entrance that was similar to Rare’s current home. Apparently, this was a wolf den. The wolf wanted to go into the cave alone, so she agreed to wait outside. Rare had tamed the alpha wolf, so she figured everything would be fine, but if she had gone inside with it, she couldn’t discount the possibility of some disgruntled packmates deciding to attack her. Having no idea what the state of things were in the pack, that was the one outcome she wanted to avoid.

Eventually, the wolf came back out. Behind it, more of what looked like the same kind of wolf followed it outside. Looks like she really had tamed the largest one, since the next one was slightly smaller, and the other six were about the size of larger breeds of dogs in the real world. Well, they were about as big as real wolves, but their anatomy, like their faces and legs, were a lot thicker. In other words, they were more like giant puppies; that’s what they reminded her of.

“God, they are so adorable…”

The wolves apparently knew what happened since they all came before Rare and bowed their heads.

<<[Ice Wolf], [Wolf Pup], [Wolf Pup], [Wolf Pup], [Wolf Pup], [Wolf Pup], [Wolf Pup] can be tamed.>>

This was probably the same as what happened with the catkin girls. There was no need to activate the skill at all.

“All right, your pack will become my family starting today. I’m your pack leader. Got it?”

After that declaration, the wolves came closer and, after rubbing their noses on her legs, all rolled over, showing their bellies.

“All right, gooood boys and girls, good, good…”

The wolf pups’ tummies were even warmer than the alpha wolf’s was. They were all so big that it took some time to get around to rubbing all their bellies, but Rare stood up satisfied.

The wolves said (though not with words; they couldn’t talk, after all) that they might be one pack, but they apparently weren’t all related by blood. A pack had gotten attacked in the past, and all the wolves had scattered; somehow, these pups all ended up next to the two larger ice wolves, who protected them until they were all able to escape safely. This species of wolf normally lived further north.

“They are ice wolves, after all, so that makes sense. I did wonder why they were in a place like this.”

That said, Rare still didn’t know where this area was in the first place. Based on the air temperature and humidity, she assumed that the latitude wasn’t very high, but that was all she could conclude.

“By the way, we’re planning to return to my base now. But first, do you mind if I take a peek at your den? Is there anything left in there?”

Sensing their permission, Rare decided to explore the cave.

She had left her base in order to replace some furs, but it felt like little by little her objectives kept changing in the wrong direction. Even though Rare just wanted to casually enjoy the game. Well, no worries.

Plus, the alpha wolf was able to match up about evenly with the four catkin girls. Just like with Kerry’s group, if all these wolves had been waiting in the cave together, they would have been a huge threat. It was possible that they together were also a composite unique boss. If this was a boss lair, then she might be able to obtain it as another home. If so, then she wanted to check the interior layout; if it was better, then she could move her home here instead. Fortunately, they hadn’t left anything behind back at the other base.

This cave was bigger than the other one. Rare only remembered this once she entered, but the entrance to the other cave was too narrow, so only the wolf pups could have gotten in. There had been no choice but to abandon the first base as soon as she tamed the alpha wolf.

Aside from the difference in size, the layout was similar; after a short walk, a large cavern opened up, and it continued further in as well. This space was kind of gourd-shaped; there were two spherical chambers that were connected via a gentle slope in the middle, and there was a tunnel entrance high up in the rear wall. Unlike the other cave’s, this wasn’t a crack or fissure, it was an unnatural, round opening. It appeared large enough for something human-sized to crawl through.

“Hm, wonder what that is…”

The wolves had said that there was nothing left inside, but that probably wasn’t true. She should assume there was another resident in the tunnel; it was just way too suspicious. But if she wanted to make this cave her new base, then she couldn’t leave anything suspicious alone.

There was no system message when she had entered the cave informing her of a new personal area, but if they got rid of the unknown resident, that might trigger it for her. Since she had absolutely no idea what defined a personal area, it was entirely possible that some other reason prevented her from making this her home. If that were the case, then she’d just have to give up and figure out a way to expand the old base.

“I want to investigate that hole, but what’s the best way…”

“We just gotta dive in, right? We got no idea if anything’s there, so if someone’s gonna go, then we’ll go take a look first.”

“Vowf!”

“Ah, wait, I hear something!”

Apparently, both the alpha wolf and Remy heard something. Everyone held their breath at the same time and stared up at the hole. No one moved at all; it was so still that her ears started buzzing. After some time, Rare’s ears also made out a faint noise. Like a clacking or clinking of some kind, as though someone were swinging a pickaxe into the ground over and over again. That uniform sound began to get closer and closer, louder and louder—as soon as she thought It’s here!, something black and shiny emerged from the hole.

“An ant. It’s an ant—!”