It was like a fire whose flames he could feel but did not burn. There was something in this ring that called to him but he lacked the ability to perceive it, which frustrated David.

The cloaked man whose corpse was before him used some fire magic ability, probably the ring’s power. If it was magic then David probably needed ‘mana’ to use the ring. David wasn’t clear about the supernatural nature of this world other than there being monsters and species of fantasy.

None of the villagers exhibited the ability to use magic in any form so David assumed mages and wizards were a rarity. A sort of cliché in most fantasy settings. If that truly was the case than finding an opportunity to learn magic was going to be hard.

David wasn’t worried about whether he did or did not possess the ability to wield mana as he was confident and even if it turned out he couldn’t, the [Nightmare Shop] could help him and he could use the teachings he learned in this mission.

The [Nightmare Realm] did allow objects to be brought outside from missions so David could use the ring in other missions. David checked the corpse again, maybe the man had some books on magic but there was nothing else, sighing he looked around and after seeing no one in the vicinity he fled the scenes.

David hunted for some goblins in another part of the forest which closer to the village, he didn’t want to fight against higher level goblins with combat training and armour. That would make for a more complicated fight which he didn’t desire, so after deciding he had enough goblin years he went back to the village.

He went to the mayor’s office and exchanged the ears for money and while there he remembered about the mayor’s wife, Giselle who was said to have the blood of elves. Elves were always closely associated with magic so there was a chance Giselle might know something.

Still he had no excuse to talk or even meet with Giselle. The village wasn’t a place of importance but it was still decently sized and was situated near trade routes. Hierarchy was important in such places. While he was making a name for himself as a warrior among the villagers he was nowhere near qualified to interact with Giselle.

If he couldn’t go to her then he had to make her come to him, how he was going to do that though was something to think about, for now David decided to just relax in the village.

The sun was setting and after a hard day at work most of the villagers could be found at the inn for drinks and others chatting it up at their homes. The atmosphere felt really cozy and David was enjoying a slow walk through the village.

As he was going to make his way to the inn he found a rather fancy carriage near the tailor’s shop. David recognized that carriage as the mayors and wondered if it was him or maybe his wife Giselle.

Since a man like the mayor would normally have no business or interest in clothes it was probably Giselle. Seeing as this was a chance to meet Giselle, David headed inside the shop.

David could see Giselle talking with the tailor with a frown on her face. She seemed angry but that only made her seem more beautiful. The poor tailor on the other hand was sweating buckets trying to appease her,

“… The last shipment never arrived, my lady. The goblins or bandits must be responsible. It will take at least another 3 weeks before the next shipment.”

‘Poor dude, there are things worse than bandits and goblins like giant walking ugly wannabe hulks. Sektal doing work I guess.’

Listening for a while longer David decided he heard enough, striking while the iron was hot, David approached them,

“If it’s only the hide of the grey wolves, I could easily get them for you Lady Giselle.”

As he made himself known, the two turned to look at him, and Giselle spoke up,

“You… you’re the one my husband told me about, killing some goblins here and there, but could you take on wolves though?”

The tailor added on,

“That’s right young man, the goblins here are much weaker compared to true goblin tribe members. The wolves also travel in packs and are much more aggressive.”

David assured them that he was more than capable of the wolves and the tailor and Giselle agreed to hire him,

“We only need five hides. Don’t be brave and kill yourself alright. Try to get them within a week.”

The tailor was telling him where he might find wolves in the forest when Giselle interrupted,

“You have three days to return the hides, otherwise don’t bother.”

‘Pretty haughty tone when you’re only the wife of an old geezer in a village.’

David smiled and assured her,

“I will bring the hides by tomorrow my Lady.”

She scoffed at what was an obvious brag and sauntered out of the shop. The tailor though was worried for him and told David to take his time. After talking to the tailor for a bit too find out more about the wolves as well as how he lost his shipment David took off and headed to the inn to call it a day.

Getting up early in the morning, David got ready and headed out towards the location where the wolves are usually found, which happened to be quite far away from the village. It took him two hours to reach the spot and David found himself wishing for a mount.

David searched the area for any signs of wolves and was about to head further when his [Enhanced intuition] worked it’s magic in the form of an uncomfortable itch on his skin.

In a flash David made his way up a tree and surveyed the surroundings. Straining his ears David heard the sounds footsteps or pawsteps…?

Making his way through treeline David saw a few wolves moving together, they seemed to be hunting for something,

‘Which poor creature are they sniffing for?’

David got his answer when one of the wolves turned in his direction and slowly came to the tree he was perched upon, slowly sniffing the ground for hints of tasty human.

The wolf hadn’t realized David was up in the tree yet and after seeing the other wolves weren’t looking at this direction, he used the [Eldritch arm] too grab the wolf and pull it up into the tree.

Focussing all of the arm’s might into strangling the wolf, it took a while before the arm snapped the wolf’s neck. David could have pierced or sliced the wolf but the smell of blood would have attracted the other wolves.

‘I’m becoming smarter by the day. Maybe killing was my real talent all along.”

There was no blood but the commotion and shaking of the tree attracted two more wolves. Knowing he was about to be discovered David risked it and fell on top of one of the wolves piercing its neck with his sword killing it one swift move, the [Eldritch arm] punching and crushing the other wolf’s head.

Seeing the other wolf still moving, David finished it off and looked ahead cautiously at the other wolves that were approaching,

‘Damn they are big.’

David knew wolves weren’t the size of dogs but no one ever talked about how much bigger than dogs wolves really were, which made it much more intimidating when four of them were staring at you,

‘Too many, can’t let them get the first move.’

Seeing their fellow wolf’s bodies, they growled at David but none of them approached him instead opting to try to surround him, David for his part held his back towards the tree and readied his sword and brought the arm in front of him as a shield.

The wolves were cautious bunch and just when he thought they were going to attack one of the wolves howled.

“Shit.”

David sent his arm like an arrow towards the howling wolf. It pierced its throat and then headed towards another wolf. The wolves were mindful of the arm now and two of them went after the arm leaving David to deal with the remaining wolf.

Letting the arm act on its own, David rushed towards the other wolf. These weren’t some sort of supernatural bullshit species of wolves, so David was confident in finishing this one out.

David was unfamiliar with close combat much less combat with beasts and was caught unaware when the wolf jumped towards his throat from a figurative mile away, still he reacted quickly and swung his sword at its sides.

Not relenting he pounced on the wolf and stabbed towards its throat. Before he could relish his kill, a massive force collided into him and David desperately tried to fight of the wolf going for his throat. The wolf knocked the sword out of his hand with collision and David kept the wolf’s jaws at bay with his hands.

While doing his best to make sure his face doesn’t get bitten off, David grunted in pain as he felt the wolf’s claws piercing through leather armour.

The arm came to its master’s aid and pushed the wolf of David and he made dived towards his sword. Panting hard, David held the blade in front of him and watched the remaining wolf coming at him while the arm finished the other one off,

“Fuck you!”

David bashed the wolf away with his sword and hacked at its head. The wolf tried to run but the arm blocked it off and punched it towards David who executed it with a stab towards its neck.

He didn’t have time to rest though as he heard howls echoing through the air. He tossed all the corpses using the arm on top of a tree and made a dash for it to safety. He prayed to the Nightmare Realm that the corpses would still be there when he came back.

After David was sure he was far away from the wolves he sat down and rested. Checking under the armour he found cuts and bruises from the wolf’s claws but they were all superficial wounds.

‘Dammit what sort of idiot doesn’t bring medical supplies when out hunting.’

He tore clothe from his shirt and wrapped it around his chest. It was the most he could do for now, when David finished he stood up and walked back to the location of the battle.

There were fresh wolf tracks and one of the corpses he flung to the trees was missing,

“Kill him.”

The [Eldritch arm] obeyed and rushed towards the wolf which was dragging its pack mate’s corpse away, piercing it chest and ripping its out heart out.

‘Damn this arm likes heart ripping.’

Driving his thoughts away from his summons gory habits, David surveyed the surroundings for more wolfs. The others in the pack must have gone in search of the perpetrator aka David.

Knowing there wasn’t much time, David got the corpses down from the tree and started skinning them, which was basically him ordering the [Eldritch arm] to rip the hides of the corpses. It was messy but the hides for the most part were in good condition.

‘Should probably learn how to skin the future. Hope the tailor doesn’t mind this….’

After finishing David headed for the village while making sure the wolves weren’t on his tail. Of course he wasn’t so lucky and two wolves were dashing in his direction.

David though was more prepared now and finished them off quickly with arm’s help, skinning them and hastening his pace. He started running after hearing a few more howls.

‘Holy Nightmare’s there so many of them.’  

The wolf’s howls stopped after a while but David didn’t stop running till he saw the village’s walls. David was grateful to [Enhanced Virility] for its stamina boost because there was no way he could have made such long run otherwise, David headed to the inn first for a meal.

All that fighting made him hungry and he could use a bit of a clean-up before meeting up with tailor. After lunch, David headed to the tailor when he met someone on the way,

“Ah what a coincidence..”