NOVEL NEXT Chapter 75: Group is Individual
"Master."
"They are the most outstanding descendants of our clan!"
Under the Direwolf Leader's careful selection, eighteen of the strongest and youngest Direwolves walked before Rin.
Among them was Ranga from the original work, and also individuals whose names were not mentioned in other novels.
Interestingly, the eighteen Direwolves were exactly nine males and nine females.
Rin had no intention of pairing them up.
Once a monster evolved, breeding offspring would become difficult, and could even endanger the parents' lives.
Of course, Rin would not interfere with the Direwolves' free choices.
They could pair up, or they could remain single. This was the Direwolves' choice.
"Including you, there are nineteen Direwolves in total."
Rin had his own plans. He did not choose Rimuru's method of holistic Direwolf naming.
The eighteen Direwolves represented the eighteen types of Pokémon attributes.
Each Direwolf would inherit one of them, and they would develop their respective clans.
And Hoshiga would be the leader of the entire wolf clan.
"From now on, you shall be called Hoshiga!"
Besides the Direwolf leader Hoshiga, the other eighteen Direwolves were:
Males: Ranga (Flying), Shiroga (Normal), Iwao (Rock), Kurogane (Steel), Daichi (Ground), Raiga (Electric), Tatsuya (Dragon), Kagega (Dark), Gekko (Fighting)
Females: Homura (Fire), Mizuki (Water), Midoriha (Grass), Ayakashi (Ghost), Satori (Psychic), Yukina (Ice), Tsukuyo (Fairy), Hachiyo (Bug), Dokuga (Poison)
Among them, Hoshiga inherited some of Rin's characteristics as the Star King Dragon.
Although he could not control star particles, he gained control over space-time and the power of the stars.
Additionally, named after Hoshiga, the entire Direwolf Clan evolved into the Starfang Wolf Clan.
And beneath the Starfang Wolf Clan, eighteen sub-tribes were formed.
"Hmm…"
As soon as the naming was complete, Rin immediately felt a large amount of magicules drain away.
For the first time, Rin felt a dizzy spell.
This was the result of the rapid consumption of magicules.
"It seems I need to rest for a while."
Rin had not expected that he would also have an experience like Rimuru's. He immediately summoned Violet. "I'll leave the rest to you, Violet."
"Ah, please rest well."
Without needing to say more, Violet, who was connected to Rin's heart, embraced the collapsing Rin.
However, this scene inexplicably aroused feelings of dissatisfaction in Snow Empress, who was standing by.
She did not understand what this feeling meant.
It was simply an inability to suppress the vexation in her heart.
"Who are you?"
Snow Empress took a step forward, wary of this suddenly appearing girl.
"Violet."
Violet said calmly, "I am Rin's other half."
"!!!"
The sudden declaration instantly left Snow Empress and the other Ogre Clan members present at a loss.
"Other half?"
"Doesn't that mean she's the mistress?"
"What a bold declaration."
"Nonsense!"
Snow Empress reprimanded coldly, "I don't know when someone like you appeared by his side."
Logically speaking, Snow Empress was not one to get angry easily.
But when it concerned Rin's safety, and a certain emotion that Snow Empress herself didn't understand, she couldn't tolerate Violet's absurd words.
"You'll know if you ask Rin about this."
"But right now, we should be protecting him, not arguing here, shouldn't we?"
Violet's words left Snow Empress unable to retort.
Having no choice, Snow Empress could only stand guard nearby.
She had to protect Rin, and also guard against Violet, while her heart was guessing the other party's identity.
Leaving aside Snow Empress and Violet's silent vigil.
The transformation of the Direwolf Clan immediately attracted the attention of the Hobgoblin, Goblin, and Ogre.
The originally ordinary giant wolves, which were merely a bit larger than normal beasts, were now, one after another, emitting various colored lights.
Red, blue, green.
For a moment, the grassland, illuminated only by moonlight, seemed to become a dazzling stage under neon lights, drawing exclamations of awe from Sakurako and others.
[Individual evolution successful, calculating total magicules of followers]
[Calculation complete, this individual is a namer, sharing 15% magicules]
[Obtained 900 magicules]
[Individual evolution successful...]
[Obtained 950 magicules]
[Obtained 1100 magicules]
[Obtained...]
As the Direwolf Clan evolved into the Starfang Wolf, and due to the power radiation of the eighteen clan leaders,
500 Direwolves, based on their own affinities, evolved into corresponding clans.
This time, Rin almost exhausted all his magicules for the naming.
A full 200,000 magicules was instantly depleted.
In its place was the simultaneous evolution of nineteen Direwolves, including Hoshiga.
Among them, Hoshiga received the most magicules.
It obtained over 50,000 magicules from Rin in one go.
Even with Violet's backdoor, Rin still expended 25,000 magicules.
Adding the original magicules, the wolf clan leader Hoshiga directly evolved from its original C+ individual rank to high-tier A rank.
Then, the remaining 18 Direwolves all broke through the 14,000 magicules mark, becoming true A-rank monsters.
This was a full 180,000, or 90,000 after the discount, magicules.
According to racial characteristics, the Starfang Wolf Clan, in terms of classification, should belong to Beastmen, not the original Wolf Beasts.
Beastmen in the Cardinal World possess the ability to beastify, able to freely transform between beast and beastman states.
Hoshiga, and the other eighteen leaders, all gained this ability.
Humanoid form, Werewolf form, and the original Giant Wolf form.
Depending on their needs, they can choose their preferred lifestyle among these three states at will.
By this point, Rin's magicules had dropped from 145,000 to 30,000.
As for the remaining Direwolves.
Originally, they were merely C-rank monsters, only able to increase their overall strength to rival B-rank monsters based on their intrinsic characteristics when in groups.
Group is individual, individual is group.
The B-rank monster here doesn't mean 500 Direwolves attacking together and defeating 1 B-rank monster.
Instead, it means that as the number of Direwolves continuously increases, each Direwolf will rise from C-rank to B-rank.
Yes, 500 B-rank monsters.
This is the terrifying aspect of the Direwolf monster group.
(To be continued.)