Shin quickly explained to Arlo how he had found him and Lara in a precarious situation, surrounded by three men, and how he had saved them.

"Makes sense. Now I’m starting to remember, you’re the strong boy who appeared out of nowhere," his ears perked up as he frowned, trying to remember. "But my head still hurts..." he complained with a sigh.

"He is telling the truth," Lara confirmed Shin’s story. She then briefly recounted how they had arrived at that castle.

"Do you have any idea what Gut’s intentions are?" Shin finally asked. The two were from the same clan, so perhaps he knew something.

Shin already had an idea of what Gut wanted, but it would be good to have more details.

"That idiot..." Arlo sighed deeply in frustration. "He is a disgrace to our clan, a damn traitor!"

All the hairs on the wolf-boy’s body stood on end, and he punched the air in irritation. Then, for a long 10 minutes, Lara and Shin had to listen to him uselessly curse his former clanmate.

It was only then that he started talking about useful information.

"His plan is to recreate the Ice Wolf Clan. He doesn’t agree with our clan leader; he thinks she’s a stubborn idiot. And because of that, he’s going to betray the clan and do something absolutely stupid. That honorless bastard!" Arlo complained further.

"Focus on what’s important," Shin didn’t let him deviate from the subject this time.

"But what do you mean by recreating the Ice Wolf Clan? As far as I know, your clan still exists perfectly fine."

"I think the more appropriate term for what he wants to do would be to say he wants to replace the Ice Wolf Clan, right?" Shin commented, scratching the back of his neck.

The story was similar to the one he knew from the game. In it, Gut faces his former clan, wanting to exterminate them. And the player had two possible routes: ally with Gut or with the wolf leader.

"It’s impossible to face such a powerful clan," Lara said, confusion clear in her voice.

The beastkin lived in Rimefang Village, where her clan, the Fenrirfang Clan, was based. The village lay on the beastkin floor of the Tower, a level entirely dominated by the ice wolves. Because of that, she knew very well just how powerful they were.

All of them possessed the extremely powerful, legendary Ice-Wolf System; they were practically invincible, especially in the cold climate where they lived.

"It would be possible to defeat them," Shin said calmly, his eyes narrowing slightly, "if you had an army of people with power similar to theirs. This could nullify the climate advantage, and even render most of the clan’s traps useless."

Lara’s breath caught, her eyes widening as the implication settled in.

"Wait... could he be trying to..."

"Yes," Arlo cut in, nodding grimly. His jaw tightened, and his fists clenched at his sides, trembling with barely contained anger. "He wants to create his own clan... with his children."

A heavy silence followed his words. Arlo took a step forward, running a hand through his hair in frustration before continuing.

"The Ice-Wolf clans have strict laws. Bloodlines matter to them more than anything. No one is allowed to have children with outsiders unless that outsider undergoes the entrance ritual."

His expression darkened further, his voice dropping.

"But that guy? He doesn’t care about any of that. He actually already has affairs with many women outside of our clan."

Arlo’s hands curled into fists again, his knuckles whitening. His eyes were filled with rage as he recalled everything he had found out about Gut.

"But this is not the worst." Arlo took a long breath. "Now, he’s planning to capture a hundred women, turn them into slaves, and force them to bear his children. He believes that many of them will inherit his system... or at least something close to it."

"That was probably why he was going after Lara," Shin assumed. Considering her power, she would be a good fit for his plan.

"Yes, but not just her. Because capturing girls inside the Tower would be too risky, he wants to use the entrance test as a way of gathering women."

"No one would care if a dozen newcomers just disappeared. They would assume they got killed and eaten by some monster," Shin commented.

"Still, there is no way this will stay undercover forever. The big clans are forbidden from recruiting newcomers. And even if he is a traitor, the others can use it as an excuse for a legal case against us. I can’t allow it."

So this is why he helped Lara... Shin thought. Arlo was a fun character and was endlessly loyal to his clan. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

He wouldn’t act as a hero unless it was to help his people. And his worries made sense. As brutal as it was, raping and enslaving people wasn’t that big of a deal; inside the Tower, the weak were preyed upon all the time.

However, the big clans still had some laws they agreed upon among themselves. And one of the most important ones was not recruiting newcomers. The new chosen ones received a full year of education before choosing which clan they wanted to join.

And, of course, what Gut was doing would count as recruiting.

"That’s why I need to stop him no matter what," Arlo said. "My clan is already in a precarious position; I can’t allow him to drag us through the mud. I won’t ask you to join me, but I will fight him."

"You and what army?" Shin asked coldly. "Even if you had your system active, would you be able to defeat him?"

Arlo looked down. But his pride wouldn’t allow him to lie, so he told the truth. In 100 practice matches against Gut, he suffered 99 defeats and one draw. It was obvious who was stronger.

"And right now you can’t even use your system. If you want to confront him, you need a plan."

"But..."

"I know you are not good with complicated stuff, so just leave the rest to me," Shin offered. Killing Gut would be good for him. And he could get some great spoils of battle.

Gut had a lot of extremely powerful items with him because he was backed by a very rich figure. His treasure vault would be a real goldmine.

"Will you join me in battle?" Arlo asked, almost crying. Shin simply nodded in response. "Thank you so much."

"If you are going, then I shall go too," Lara said respectfully, eyes full of love.

Shin’s mind immediately went to work. Facing Gut would be hard with their combat power so heavily reduced. Any direct confrontation was practically a death sentence. The ideal angle might be to try using some undercover tactics.

But how?

However, before he could dwell on their terrible odds for too long, a familiar, lightweight settled onto his shoulder. Lilel appeared there.

With a flutter of her delicate wings, the little fairy lifted off his shoulder and floated right into the middle of the trio.

"I see you are all worried!" she chimed, puffing out her chest with pride. "I can probably get your systems working again."

Lara blinked, her eyes widening in pure surprise at the sudden appearance of the tiny, floating creature.

Arlo stared, utterly dumbfounded. "What... what exactly is that?" he asked, pointing a hesitant finger at her.

Lilel crossed her tiny arms. "I’m Lilel! I’m a fairy, and I am part of Shin’s system. Basically, I’m one of his skills."

"Wait, can you really do that?" Shin asked in shock.

"Yes," she said, floating around him. "Aren’t I incredible?"

She began to shimmer with a soft light, and at the exact same time, the marks on both of their backs shimmered in response.

The item Gut was using to suppress them simply made their systems malfunction, but the interference wasn’t too complex. Luckily, it was not written in an arcane language, so Lilel could hack and edit it easily.

It was probably an item created by a regular craftsman inside the Tower, rather than an artifact born of true divine power.

A warm sensation suddenly spread through Arlo and Lara’s bodies as the invisible block was lifted.

Arlo clenched his fists, a fierce grin spreading across his face as he felt the familiar, reassuring surge of his system’s strength coursing through his veins once again. Beside him, Lara let out a long breath of relief, her aura finally stabilizing.

Shin watched them, satisfied that they were back in fighting shape. He crossed his arms and let out a tired sigh.

"Alright, that’s enough for tonight," Shin said, his tone turning serious and focused. "We should all go to sleep. We need to wake up in the morning fully recovered and ready for battle."

"Okay," both of them agreed.

Arlo went to find his own room, and Shin also lay down on the first bed he found. However, not much longer, Lara appeared, wearing absolutely nothing, her absurdly sexy body completely exposed.

And without a world, she climbed into his bed.