Noah fell onto his back upon seeing a gigantic wolf, surrounded by an intense blue light as beautiful as the blue of a starry sky. As he slowly got to his feet, adjusting his clothes and recovering from the shock, Noah whispered to the system,
— What kind of damn creature is that?! Why didn't you warn me it was coming?
His voice laced with anger.
`[This is not a little wolf like those howling in the distance.]`
`[This is a Stellar Demonic Wolf!]`
`[This beast is on the verge of evolving into a Lunar Demonic Wolf – the most powerful of all wolves!]`
`[And don't be fooled into thinking it didn't hear what you said – this wolf's strengths lie in its speed, hearing, and sense of smell!]`
"Damn... thanks for the heads up. Always punctual," Noah thought, glancing briefly behind him toward the waterfall.
`[You're welcome!]`
"Don't get too cocky, you bastard!!"
The system wasn't wrong: the wolf had clearly heard everything Noah had said, yet it didn't care in the slightest and prevented Noah from dying by saying,
— I wouldn't do that if I were you, kid.
This happened after the wolf saw Noah sneak a glance at the waterfall.
"He won't even give me a chance to try to escape? Is he so furious that he's going to devour me all at once?!" Noah thought, trembling with fear.
The wolf slowly approached, its fur and silvery eyes gleaming, and said,
— If you jump down this waterfall, you won't even reach the ground.
This occurred as the wolf reached the edge of the spot they occupied.
Noticing the wolf's approach, Noah quickly closed his eyes and stood frozen, waiting for the worst to pass. But upon hearing the wolf's words, Noah automatically thought,
'Huh...? He's not going to eat me, is he?'
And, slowly, he opened his tear-filled eyes.
"See what would happen if you tried to cross this place," the wolf said, as it gently nudged a stone beside it toward the waterfall.
Still trembling, Noah cautiously moved toward the edge and peered down. As he clearly saw the stone fall toward the water, he wondered,
'What could be so bad as to be comparable to... facing you head-on?!'
The moment the stone touched the water, it immediately froze, and a few seconds later, while the frozen stone was slowly descending, a huge, dark blue fish leapt high and swallowed the stone whole.
Seeing Noah paralyzed, he murmured,
— ...Thank you...
While taking a small step back from the edge, the wolf closed its eyes and said,
— You're welcome.
After reopening its eyes, the wolf stepped three paces forward and said,
— "But now, kid, let's get down to business."
Then the wolf sat down on the ground.
"...All right..., but what is it you want...?"
"Wait! That sword you're holding—is it...", the wolf said, looking rather frightened as it beheld the sword in its entirety.
"Do you know that sword?" Noah asked, curious.
"...No..., I think I got confused," the wolf replied, its eyes showing clear apprehension.
As it looked at Noah, the wolf thought,
*If that really is the sword... then this kid will... no, that's impossible; legend has it that it was destroyed thousands of years ago. It can't be the same sword; it must be just a coincidence...*
"...Then, what do you want me to do for you?" asked Noah, sitting on the ground.
The wolf looked at him and, hesitantly, thought,
'No, it's impossible that it is that sword. But, if it is...'
"The way you change your stance is truly remarkable, human," the wolf smiled. "I want you to refine a pill for me."
"A pill..? But what do you need it for?"
`[It is extremely difficult for anyone to advance to higher levels, but for demonic beasts it is even more challenging.]`
`[Although beasts absorb much more Qi than humans, their cultivation progress is considerably slower compared to that of humans.]`
`[Beasts can take tens of thousands, even millions, of years to reach the pinnacle of their power, whereas humans evolve much faster—taking only centuries or a few millennia to attain the limits of their abilities.]`
Noah thought,
'Some millennia...? And that's fast?'
He was left dumbfounded.
He still couldn't believe that for cultivators, centuries—even millennia—are nothing more than superfluous time.
The wolf ignored Noah's question and said,
— The pill I want you to make is a Moon Pill... Do you believe you're capable?
"...Ah, of course not, I get it, I'll do it... (After all, I don't want to die—he thought) But how much time do I have for this?" Noah asked as he got to his feet.
"You need not worry about that. When you manage to concoct or acquire this pill, I'll owe you a huge favor," the wolf replied, tilting its head toward Noah.
"You don't have to do that. But I promise that once I have the pill, I'll bring it to you," Noah said, trying to sound confident.
"...But now, how am I supposed to reach the city?" Noah whispered as he looked in the direction of the city. "It's 20,000 kilometers away, right...?"
The forest is vast, and Noah finds himself right in its midst. Based on what he saw when he emerged from the serpent's hole and surveyed the surroundings, he estimates that at least a quarter of that journey is simply through forest territory.
The wolf heard Noah's words and said,
— As one form of payment, I'll safely take you to your desired destination, as it took a few steps toward the trees and lowered its giant body to the ground.
Noah felt fear, yet faced with his options—a long, lonely trek through a deadly forest, leaping into a waterfall that freezes everything, or riding on that dependable wolf—he chose the latter.
He grabbed his sword and ordered the system to store it in the special slot. Soon after, he slowly walked toward the wolf and, despite his apprehension, climbed onto its back. When the wolf reared up, Noah found himself just above the shortest trees of the forest—trees almost five times taller than those from his old world.
"Where were you headed, human?" asked the wolf.
"I was going to the nearest city in the north," replied Noah, as he clutched the wolf's soft yet chilly fur.
The wolf's fur was as soft as the finest cushions Noah had ever used in his previous world. So enchanted by the plushness, he became so relaxed that he nearly fell off when the wolf started running.
Lost in the gentle sensation, Noah forgot what the system had said earlier and simply surrendered to it. But as he enjoyed that feeling, a chill ran through him followed by a strong wind that made his body feel increasingly light. Sensing the cold, he gripped the wolf's soft fur as if it were his life, and a second later, an even stronger gust—courtesy of the wolf's mounting speed—swept over him.
Realizing that at this pace, it would take less than a minute to reach the forest's edge, Noah caught a glimpse of the trees at the base of a cliff drawing ever closer. Curious about the sensation of weightlessness, he looked down at himself and realized he wasn't even leaning on the wolf at all; his body appeared to be floating above it. Realizing that a careless release of that grasp could spell doom, he looked ahead, trying to gauge how much further remained, and observed that the wolf had begun to slow, nearly reaching its destination.
Glancing back, the forest now looked like a mere clump of trees—nothing as grand as what he'd witnessed before.
"Go on, kid, now you're on human soil and, from here, you're safe," said the wolf, lowering its huge body so Noah could dismount.
"Thank you so much for that. And I promise I'll bring you a pill," Noah said as he slid off the wolf's back.
"Don't rush, kid. But let me give you a word of advice: don't wander around with the blood of a high-level creature in your body. Even though you tried cleaning it off, from what I see, it might scare off some weak beasts, but for the stronger ones it'll just act as a giant magnet."
After hearing this, Noah mused,
'Beast blood? What kind of blood... oh, I get it.'
"...Thanks for the advice, and know that I'll try to come back as soon as possible," said Noah as he headed toward the great canyon up ahead—where two enormous mountains appeared to meet, though separated by some unknown force.