1530: Packs

Packs

With Beowulf's arrival, Emery and his new pack of five had spent the last two days under the guidance of the old White Fang chief, who based his teachings on his past experiences leading multiple wolf packs and participating in the Royal Hunt event.

If on the first day they had to demonstrate to him their individual abilities, the second day was when the man decided to take the group into the wilderness and test their hunting skills directly against the wild creatures that roamed outside Silvermane City.

Beowulf's guidance proved to be invaluable as Emery and his pack successfully hunted down several preys, Now, on the morning of the third day, having seen what they could do together as a team, the old chief decided it was time to give the group more direct guidance to make them understand what they had to accomplish.

"Let me hear how much you all know about the Royal Hunt," Beowulf said to Emery and the others.

Emery knew the Royal Hunt was an event that would bring glory to young, talented wolf packs from all over the galaxy and provide a massive platform for thousands of wolf packs to demonstrate what they were capable of. It was evident from the fact that thousands of wolf packs were expected to participate in this event.

However, other than the rules for joining and the rewards, he knew nothing about the hunt itself. He had the feeling that the answer the old chief was looking for was not what he was going to say, but he decided to say it anyway.

"Isn't it basically the same as we did yesterday? To find out who can hunt down the strongest creature the fastest."

Beowulf shook his head slightly, "That's not wrong. For the preliminary round, that is."

The old chief did not reprimand Emery or the others for not knowing the answer. It was understandable, because Emery's pack was mostly filled with individuals born on other planets. As for the only one who did, Yoro, he was someone who was young and barely out of his tribe, so naturally he wouldn't know.

Beowulf went ahead and explained that the preliminary would be a hunting challenge in Planet Silvermane's sacred hunting grounds. They would be given a certain amount of time and, depending on the score, they would be then separated into three categories, namely, puppies, hounds and wolves.

The pups were simply wolf half-blood packs that did not complete their trials with satisfactory scores. As for the hounds and the wolves, the two categories were two distinct grades determined by the final score the packs achieved during the preliminary.

Of course, the one everyone was aiming for and that brought the most glory and rewards was the Wolves category.

"Please note that normally the number of participants in a pack of the hounds' hunts was in the hundreds, whereas for the wolves there were only a dozen packs or so. We are talking about a total of around one hundred half-bloods participating in the wolf challenge."

This meant Emery and his pack had to be in the top 10 highest scores during the preliminary round to have the chance of competing for the top reward. What lay in front of them was an unbelievably difficult challenge.

While Andrei and Yoro seemed anxious upon hearing those words, Emery maintained his calm and asked the most pressing question. "So what do you think about our chances, Senior? After seeing our abilities, are we good enough for Wolf's hunt?"

The old Beowulf shook his head and said, "In your current state, I don't think that's possible."

Nodding his head in understanding, Emery calmly replied, "Then please instruct us."

Even though Emery and Morgana could be considered extraordinary wolf half-bloods, the Royal Hunt was in no way an individual competition. Even if their strength was extraordinary, their pack still lacked the most crucial aspect of teamwork.

You should also know that it is extremely rare for a non magus to compete in the wolves' hunt. Those who manage to do so are all extremely talented and capable of taking on those beyond their realm."

Beowulf then explained to the group the rules for joining in more detail.

There was a 10 point rule in forming the pack, where a non-magus participant was designated one point and two points for a magus. This meant that a pack would be allowed to join the event with either 5 magus realm wolf half-bloods, 10 non-magus realm wolf half-bloods, or an arrangement of both that didn't exceed ten points.

With the people Emery currently had—he and Morgana were magi, while the other three were non-magi—his pack only accounted for 7 of the 10 points.

"Which means you can find another mage and a non-magus to finally fill out your pack."

In truth, such a rule was made up because it was not easy to find many magus realm individuals within the tens of thousands of wolf half-blood packs of the Silvermane Planet. 

But on the other hand, most people knew the combined might of two non-magi was incomparable to that of one magus. Therefore, having non-magi in the pack would already be considered a great disadvantage.

This fact once again made Andrei anxious as he spoke to Emery. "Chief, maybe you should find someone else to join the pack for the event. I can be a reserve member."

Emery really wanted to win the royal hunt and the thought of having more powerful members to add to his pack had indeed crossed his mind. However, after much contemplation, he turned down Andrei's suggestion.

In his eyes, trust was far more important than strength. Besides, he didn't even once think of the three—Yoro, Andrei and Tatyana—as disadvantages.

"No, you are my pack now." "No matter what, we will do this together."

Upon hearing those words from Emery, Beowulf had a smile on his face as he explained that, from his experiences, strength wasn't the most important aspect of the event: it was teamwork. Although they currently don't have that kind of teamwork just yet, their start so far has been quite promising.

The old chief then said, "Alright then." If you all have made up your mind, I suggest making it official." He turned to Emery and said, "You should start the Blood Moon Ritual and accept them as part of your inner pack."2

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