Chương 133: Chapter 128. Frenzy

As soon as he focused, notifications appeared one after another inside his mind, stacking cleanly. You have slain Lycan x12. You have contributed to slay lycan x10. You have gained adequate experience. You have levelled up. Level 32 reached. +4 points in Vitality. +4 points in Arcane. For a moment, Rayne stayed still, reading through them one by one before the last notification he had been waiting for finally appeared. Skill Stealer Activated. +2 points in Strength. +1 point in Agility.

You have stolen the skill Wolf Frenzy (Uncommon). The skill had been registered as a new skill. Rayne's breath slowed as he read it. For the first time since they had started their march to Haven City, he felt something loosen inside his chest. A tension he hadn't even fully acknowledged until now simply… eased. He had almost expected to go into the truthsayer's trial thinking it would be his execution. But now, things were different. He had gotten the skill. It didn't mean everything was solved.

Knowing his luck, things would still go wrong, and probably in ways he couldn't even predict. But at the very least, he wouldn't walk in with a blade on his neck waiting to be pressed deeper into his flesh. He now had all the skills the army thought he possessed. Taking a slow breath, he focused again and opened the new skill description.

Wolf Frenzy (Uncommon) - Level 1 A human needs to shed his skin sometimes and realise the ferociousness of their inner animal, and now it's possible with this skill. The skill allows you to go in a state of frenzy where you move and attack like a wolf who only sees flesh to carve. Gives a ten percent boost in Agility and Strength stat with heightened senses at the cost of loss of reason, control and fueled aggression.

Rayne read through the description once, then again more carefully. It was… better than he had expected. The stat boost alone made it valuable, especially in drawn-out fights, but the rest of it made his brows pull together slightly, particularly the part about aggression and loss of reason and control. For a moment, he wondered if the skill had come from the alpha instead of the common lycans.

From what he knew, lycans enhanced their physical abilities, especially their speed, but they didn't lose themselves completely. Even in a frenzy, they still fought with some level of awareness. The alpha also hasn't been in such a state, at least not till the end where it had been looking at him with those bloodthirsty eyes. If the skill had come from it, then it was closer to a skill that maybe an actual werefolk might have. In that case, he had been both lucky and unlucky.

He had gotten exactly what he needed, and even something stronger than he had hoped for, but at the same time, the drawback wasn't small. Rayne exhaled slowly, his head resting back against the cave wall. In the right situation, this skill could turn a fight around completely. It could push him past his limits and give him the edge he needed. But if he lost control… He opened his eyes and let his gaze shift slightly towards where his party sat resting.

That wasn't a risk he could ignore since he could very well harm them in the frenzied state too. For now, he let the notifications fade. He had what he came for. Time passed quietly after that as Rayne rested against the cave wall, letting his body recover from the strain of the battle. He took out a small vial and drank a sip of a health potion, feeling the faint warmth spread through him as the lingering aches in his muscles dulled slightly. It didn't take long before the break came to an end.

Once the ten minutes were up, Rayne pushed himself off the wall and gave a short nod, signaling it was time to move. The group gathered their things without complaint, and soon enough, they began their march back toward Haven City. The journey back was uneventful. At first, Rayne found that strange. After everything they had just gone through, he had expected at least a few monsters to try their luck, but none came. The forest remained quiet, almost unnaturally so.

It didn't take long for him to understand why though. The scent of lycan blood clung to them. Stronger creatures might ignore it, but smaller monsters would not risk approaching something that carried the mark of predators like that. It made their return easier, though not faster. The dense forest still took time to cross, and their pace remained steady rather than rushed. Hours passed before the trees began to thin out, eventually giving way to open land. Once they stepped out of the forest, Haven City wasn't far.

They crossed paths with a few carriages heading toward the gates, but none of them stopped. The drivers took one look at their blood-stained armor and the corpses they carried on their back and chose to move on without a word. No one wanted the smell of death near their cargo. So they walked. By the time they reached the city gates, the sun had already set, and night had taken over. Torches burned along the walls, casting flickering light over the entrance as guards stood watch. You could be reading stolen content.

Head to the original site for the genuine story. After a brief exchange at the gate, Rayne separated from the rest of the group and headed straight toward the guild. The others needed rest and there was no need for them in the guild. Two city guards also agreed to help carry the bodies for one silver each. With their assistance, the corpses were moved and placed at the back of the guild, away from the main entrance. Once that was done, Rayne stepped inside.

The familiar interior of the guild greeted him, filled with low chatter and the smell of food and drink, though he paid none of it any attention. Instead, he walked straight toward the reception area, pulling out the pouch of lycan ears as he prepared to hand them in. Even as he did that, one thought stayed at the front of his mind—That after this, they would be heading to the capital. In just a few days, he would be sitting in a trial that might very well decide his place in the army, and in the kingdom itself.

As Rayne left with the corpses toward the guild, Bran and the rest of the party did not immediately head back to the longhouse. Honestly, Bran wanted to. The day had been long, far longer than he preferred. The march, the fight, and then the return had drained more from him than he liked to admit. His shoulders still felt heavy, and his fingers carried a dull ache from the constant draw of the bowstring. Rest would have been the sensible choice. But the others did not share that thought.

Jason and Nate, especially, were in no mood to sleep after a victory like that. There was a certain energy still running through them, the kind that only came after surviving something that could have easily gone wrong. Kesh and Heins didn't argue much either, and in the end, Bran simply went along with them. He could have left on his own, but his mind wasn't quiet enough for rest anyway. There were too many thoughts lingering from the fight, from Rayne to the way everything had played out.

A drink would help settle that, or at least dull it enough for him to think clearly. So, instead of the longhouse, they made their way toward one of the taverns Jason insisted on checking out. As Bran had expected, the place was full. The air inside was thick with noise and the smell of ale. Half the room was made up of regulars, men who looked like they had spent years in this place, while the other half was filled with Valerian soldiers already deep into their drinks.

Some of them were loud, others barely aware of their surroundings. None of them paid Bran's group much attention. It took time to find a table, longer than he liked, but eventually they managed to claim one near the side. The moment they sat down, ale was ordered, and it didn't take long before mugs were placed in front of them. Bran took his first sip slowly. The cold drink cut through the dryness in his throat, and for a moment, he simply let himself breathe. But the quiet didn't last.

Kesh leaned forward slightly, resting his elbows on the table as he looked around before speaking.

"So," he began, his tone casual, "did anyone here actually move past the first wall? Or was Rayne just making things up?" The question made Bran straighten just a little. Kesh's gaze moved between him, Nate, and Jason, waiting for an answer. The burly man was the first to respond, letting out a snort as he lifted his mug.

"If any of us broke past it, you would have heard about it already," he said.

"Nate would have been singing about it the entire way back." Nate clicked his tongue at that.

"As if you wouldn't," he shot back. Jason shrugged.

"I would at least confirm it in the church first," he replied, then took a drink before adding, "But I know for a fact I didn't even come close. I took on as many lycans as I could, and still nothing." Nate nodded slightly.

"Same here," he said.

"Though I didn't try to smash through everything like you did." That earned a faint smirk from Jason, but neither of them argued further. Then Nate turned his head toward Bran.

"What about you, Bran?" At once, the attention shifted, and all eyes settled on him. Bran didn't answer immediately. Instead, he took another slow sip of his ale, letting the cold settle him as he considered his words. The answer wasn't simple. It wasn't a clean no, but it wasn't a yes either. And more than that, he wasn't sure how much he should share. They had worked well together. They had fought well together. But trust, at least for Bran, was never something given easily.

Years in the army had made sure of that. Still, after a moment, he decided he could give them something.

"I didn't break past the first wall," he said finally, setting his mug down, but then he added, "But I did feel like I got a little closer during the battle." Heins frowned almost immediately, his brows pulling together as he leaned forward slightly.

"What do you mean?" Bran let out a slow breath, his fingers tightening slightly around the mug in his hand. It wasn't an easy thing to explain. Killing lycans had changed nothing for him. He had fought, shot, and survived just like he had done countless times before. But that one moment… that single instant when he had released the arrow that saved Rayne, something had shifted. Like a weight easing, like a barrier loosening.

For just a fraction of a second, it had felt like he had stepped closer to something he had been stuck beneath for years. But he couldn't explain that to them. Saying it out loud would only raise more questions, and Bran had no intention of opening a box of dark spirits. Some things were better kept to himself, at least until he understood them better. So he gave them a simpler answer.

"During the battle," he said after a moment, his tone calm, "there was one moment where I felt like I got over one of my long-standing fears." He paused briefly before continuing.

"That made me feel like I'm closer to level 31 than anything else I've done in the last decade or so." Nate let out a low whistle, leaning back slightly in his chair.

"So what Rayne said about mental and physical barriers," he said slowly, "that's actually true." Bran gave a small nod, taking another sip of his ale before answering.

"Evidently so." He rested his mug down lightly and added, "His example of Fredrick made sense even before." Before taking on the quest, Rayne had shared his thoughts on why Fredrick hadn't broken past the first wall despite being a noble. He had said it wasn't just about strength or training, but the mind. Too many doubts, too many restrictions placed by himself or others could hold someone back. Fredrick, in that sense, had been the perfect example.

His family hadn't pushed him directly toward the wall because they knew he wouldn't be able to break past. Instead, they had sent him into the army, into a place where pressure, struggle, and experience might shape him naturally. Rayne had compared it to putting metal into a forge instead of trying to force it into shape too early. Bran had agreed with that. Fredrick had never lacked effort, but his mind had always seemed… cluttered. He was also extremely delusional, and gods didn't appreciate delusions.

Around the table, the conversation picked up quickly after that. Nate leaned forward again, already speaking about what his own barriers might be, while Kesh joined in with his own thoughts. Even Jason added a few blunt observations that somehow still made sense, and talked about how fighting the alpha head on might have let him break past. Bran listened more than he spoke. He gave a few responses here and there, but mostly, he let them talk while he focused on his drink.

The ale helped dull the noise in his mind, but it didn't silence it completely. Because even now, that moment replayed itself when he shot down that lycan. He already had ideas about what his own barrier might be. But knowing it and breaking through it were two very different things. Bran took another slow sip of his ale, his gaze drifting briefly toward the entrance of the tavern before settling back down. The capital would be the best place to figure it out.

He hadn't been there in seven years, and a lot had changed since then. If there was anywhere he could test himself properly, it would be there. For now though, he waited. The stew he had ordered earlier would arrive soon, and until then, he let the conversation flow around him while his thoughts stayed on the path ahead.

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