The she-wolf had a talent of light, but it seemed to use that talent to find prey for the pack by focusing light energy around its eyes and seeing through illusions or other tricks.
That was the conclusion Ren had reached after thinking about it for so long. Still, the question remained—what should he do with the Light Wolf cub?
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Ren looked at the shivering, sleeping Light Wolf cub and then at his remaining points: 490,000.
It seemed the damage from the thorny clouds had done a number on the suit, despite the short time he had been wrapped in them.
Turning his attention back to the cub and the Unlucky Roulette, he still couldn't decide, though he was leaning toward silencing the cub. First, there was no advantage in keeping it or doing whatever he could with it. Second, from the moment he had laid eyes on the cub, his Whole Blood had been pushing out another bloodline—one that seemed to thirst for the cub, or rather it energy.
Unknown to Ren, his eyes had started glowing golden, hiding his iris behind the glow. His body began moving instinctively toward the cub, his hand rising slowly to claim the energy inside it.
When his hand made contact with the cub's fur, his Whole Blood went violent, racing through his body and damaging it. Behind the violent surge, his bloodline—reacting with the light energy from the wolf—followed, repairing the damage.
His whole body was being broken and rebuilt again and again. The cub remained unconscious through the ordeal, unaware of the energy and legacy of the she-wolf being erased from its body.
When the last of the light energy was absorbed, the Whole Blood inside Ren's body slowed and flowed calmly, allowing the light bloodline to catch up and be absorbed.
Ren was sweating buckets and out of breath, almost about to lose consciousness. However, his Whole Blood and the light bloodline kicked in and began relieving the pressure on his body. Mental energy also spread from the center of his glabella, covering his head in cool air that slowly cooled his overheated brain. Smoke rose from his head.
Ren looked toward the cub and was shocked: it was surrounded by some kind of fog and wind. He had a pretty good guess—the cub was awakening its father, the alpha's talent. The Whole Blood that had just slowed suddenly turned violent again.
Before Ren could control his body, his hand moved over to touch the cub's fur. This time, his Whole Blood did not leave the reacting bloodline behind; instead, it seemed to invite the energy of wind and cloud inside and absorb it directly.
Ren thought it would be much easier than before. However, he was counting his blessings too soon. Multiple bloodlines were reacting: some part of thunder and lightning, wind, water, and ice. Ren could no longer maintain consciousness, and he was wrapped in a cocoon of his Whole Blood that enveloped the cub along with him.
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Back in the cities—after the new rules—
Originally expecting to be banned forever, Olivia and the others were easily accepted back into City 1, since there was no longer an entry charge after the city leadership was taken from Slade and the whole system was turned to trash.
However, Slade did not seem to react much to the change. He was working on finding a sharp stone and something like a stick to tie to the end to make a spear.
Olivia was not interested in talking with the ex-leader who had kicked them out, and Slade did not have them on his mind. All his thoughts were occupied with, "I gotta get out of this city and get stronger as soon as possible."
Slade's feelings were shaky despite the calm exterior he showed to the world, because only he knew what secrets the cities held. He had learned them during the election period of leaders, when he wiped out his city's population.