No one seemed to have noticed Uruk’s awkwardness. Despite being in despair, the leader of the pack continued to chat with his old acquaintance. Hao Ren still remembered the first time he entered the Plane of Dreams, where he wandered about aimlessly. Due to that, he had some fondness for the alpha wolf, the first being he met in the area. After a while, Hao Ren understood why the alpha wolf had moved from the great plains to the snowy mountains. These places were not nearby, and the difference in the environment was like heaven and earth. If not for necessity, the wolf pack would not have moved.
Basically, the climate in the steppe had changed.
The collapse of Dragonspine Ridge had a more pronounced effect than initially thought. After the collapse of the range, the western side of the mountain had lost its barrier and humidity flooded straight into the Sacred Mountains and coastal area around it. At the same time, the seasonal ocean wind also came blowing unimpeded into the plains, bringing lower temperature and salinity into the area. Many of the plant life along the western coast of the plain could not adapt to the changes and the shortage of grazing options forced the herbivores to move into the Northern Kingdom to look for fresh grazing grounds. Thus, the hunters on the plains had to move in order to hunt too, and they went northwards or eastwards after their prey. The alpha wolf however, led his kin in the other direction. He came directly to the Sacred Mountain. As the alpha wolf had intelligence beyond most animals, he concluded that trying to get a piece of a pie in an already reduced herd of preys was not a good idea. Plus, with the arduous journey to the north, his pack may not fare as well as others. Thus, it decided to come to the west.
While the number of prey were also reduced on the western plains, it was not to the point where it would cause starvation. Many more resilient preys still remained, and comparatively, the situation was better than that of the north. Furthermore, the werewolves also lived in these lands. While distinctly different, everyone knew that the two distant kins were close. The alpha wolf had pondered hard for a place where his pack could stay and after a good while, he decided to bring his pack to Uruk’s tribe.
And after scaring the hide out of the local werewolf tribe, the intelligent, talking wolves joined them.
Hao Ren never thought that while he was out saving worlds, the wolf pack had an adventure of their own as well. He gave the alpha wolf a weird look. “I understand what you’re on about, but aren’t you plain wolves? Can you adapt to life here?”
“Why not?” The confusion was apparent on the alpha wolf’s face. “We just happened to live in the plains, but our kind lives in the mountains too.”
Hao Ren immediately realized that he was working under the assumption that the wolves there operated the same as the ones on Earth.
The pack of talking wolves had shocked their humanoid kin as the alpha wolf had led his pack in relative seclusion. Even when they met humans, they had never shown that special ability of theirs. Everyone knew that the mages of yore had created many animals, but no one had seen such engineered offsprings; the werewolves included. But it did not take too long for them to gain each other’s trust, and the path the alpha wolf took was right, as communicating with the werewolves was much easier than humans.
Hao Ren and the alpha wolf chatted for a while before it got on Uruk’s nerves. He stuck his neck out with a weird expression before blurting out, “Are you two done?”
The alpha wolf looked back at Uruk. “What hurry are you in? It’s been a while since I’ve met an acquaintance…”
Uruk was speechless. Whatever Uruk had meant to say was now stuck in his throat as his pumped-up soldiers gathered around him. Seeing the situation, Hao Ren waved his hand to save face. “Alright, alright, time to work, time to work.”
The alpha wolf let out a grunt as Uruk lowered himself to his mount. “So… let’s go?”
As the werewolf cavalry turned to leave, Hao Ren and the rest followed from behind. Nangong Wudi was impressed. “Never in my life have I seen someone having to discuss with his mount before taking off…”
Hao Ren looked at the MDT, which was lying on his shoulder before quipping, “Have you seen someone having to discuss with his own PDA before tuning into a channel?”
Ophra looked dumbfounded throughout the whole process and felt that Hao Ren as well as his crew were the most remarkable group she had ever seen in her life. “You sure have many interesting things happening around you, eh?”
Hao Ren sighed. “Next time, don’t believe the job ads by the roadside when you’re out looking for a job.”
Ophra was utterly confused. “Huh?”
With the werewolf cavalry leading the way, the Hollettan soldiers carefully marched into the sacred yet mysterious ancient mountain, following a winding mountain path deep into the heart of the mountain. The mountain path was treacherous and many places did not have a path so to speak. The foot soldiers could only trudge on slowly, and even the cavalry moved at a slow pace. Hao Ren walked next to Uruk, surveying the area as he asked, “How does it feel, having a war wolf who can talk?”
Hao Ren’s prior impression of Uruk was that he was not approachable, but he was actually not someone who shied away from talking. After pondering for a bit, he replied, sounding slightly dejected. “It was a fresh experience, and having such an intelligent war wolf as a partner is pretty great.”
Hao Ren immediately knew a pivot was coming. “So you found out belatedly that things were not that rosy?”
Uruk’s face stiffened. “… It could talk better than me, and to anyone within sight…”
The werewolf was not even done complaining yet. There was aplenty after all. His mount had better oratory skills than him, it even knew astrology, geomancy, history and current happenings (at least by the standard of a wolf). It will give thanks to nature for every meal. It demanded that it sleeps north facing south. Even before going out on a hunt it would insist on performing its morning aerobics, but most fascinatingly, this wolf READS! Like its life depended on it! It had actually took the chieftain’s mark without Uruk noticing to the library to get itself a lifetime pass. If not for the library only accepting signatures and not paw marks, it might have succeeded!
At this point, even a chieftain of Uruk’s stature had some grumbles of his own. Sighing deeply he continued. “It even argued with the tribe’s shaman a few days ago and the shaman has locked himself in to rethink life .”
Hao Ren did not pretend to know what life was in a werewolf tribal nation, but he could totally imagine what the alpha wolf did. It was plain obvious from Uruk’s expression. He looked sympathetically at Uruk, knowing that ‘having a mount that has a sharper wit than you’ is something rather depressing. He grinned in reply. “I know. I know. But you need to take this into account. It is smart, and willing to be your mount. That’s not a common thing to encounter.”
Uruk look at Hao Ren. “You may be right, but I don’t think any normal person would understand me. Have you lost an argument to your horse before?”
Hao Ren sighed as he picked up his MDT. “You see… this is my.. hmmm… notebook. Something similar to your recording stones. MDT, play a tune or two, get the mood going.”
“You silly sod. Go select it yourself. How do I know what you want to listen.”
Hao Ren shrugged. “There you go.”
Uruk gave the MDT a perplexed look before his expression changed. “You and I can be good friends.”
Hao Ren was surprised to find that the werewolf chieftain actually had a sense of humor.
The rest looked on as Hao Ren and Uruk chatted away and were all rather surprised as well. Lily nudged Ophra by the arm. ” I realized that Mr. Landlord is really good at socializing. Uruk and I are the same kind and I’ve not found the opportunity to speak to him yet.”
Becky extended her neck to have a look at the two. “What are they talking to excitedly about?”
Y’zaks summarised it succinctly. “Perspective.”
Nangong Sanba looked at the demon. “How did you know?”
“The only thing that one can talk so excitedly to him is perspective.”
As Uruk and Hao Ren chatted as the walked, the group was nearing the area that was designated as a ‘Mind Control Danger Zone’.
In the fork in front of them, Hao Ren saw a tribal flag standing solitarily by the side of the mountain path. On it was a very obvious red mark. Uruk immediately stopped the chatter as his face turned serious. “Before us is the danger zone. Be alert.”