I can evolve everything

Warren's words undoubtedly confirmed his suspicions.

The final evolutionary condition for that sphere—the [War Wolf King's Fang]—is something whose owner roams somewhere in the wasteland beyond the border.

Moreover, this target was more dangerous than he had anticipated.

A dire wolf king capable of driving away packs of jackals and triggering small beast tides simply by driving away other monsters.

This undoubtedly shut down Raine's challenge to hunt the Warg King alone. Even if he could defeat the Warg King, he couldn't possibly face the entire Warg pack alone.

This is no longer a matter of ordinary hunting; it is war.

Raine lowered his eyes, staring blankly at the water pouch in his hand.

"Greed is the original sin," he told himself.

Although he has already evolved in the [Heart] and [Skeletal] stages, and will be able to evolve in the [Organs] stage in another month, he is still as fragile as a small biscuit in front of monsters of that level and at least dozens of dire wolves.

To obtain that tooth, he not only needs to continuously improve himself, but at the very least, he needs to wait until his strength is comparable to that of a formal knight before he can find a way to get help from the soldiers of the Northern Fortress.

"Don't overthink it." Valen patted Renn on the shoulder. "You're still just a novice knight, there's no need to worry too much about this. The main force of the Northern Knights is still there, it's not your place as novice knights to concern yourselves with the War Wolf King. Your task now is to live up to Teacher Karen's expectations, learn slowly, and grow stronger slowly."

"Thank you, I understand," Ryan replied firmly.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

For the next four or five days, nothing unusual was found outside the border, and life was quite peaceful.

Ryan does almost the same thing every day.

If Karen doesn't come to him, he trains, eats, meditates, and sleeps.

He could sense that even without the evolution of the Misty Corridor, although his sword skills were improving slowly, he could feel that he was indeed making steady progress every day.

The afternoon of the fifth day.

The continuous overcast sky finally dissipated for a while, and some rare sunshine peeked out from behind the thick clouds.

Ryan had just finished weighted squats and was wiping the sweat off his body.

Ella sat on the wooden railing, idly slicing her dessert, an apple, with a dagger.

This half-elf girl couldn't get used to the food inside the fortress, so she would often spend a few silver coins to buy some fruit at the market in the gray area.

"Raine, have you grown taller recently?"

Ella took a bite of her apple and asked indistinctly, "And I feel your aura is getting deeper and deeper."

Then she made a tearful face and teased Renn, "Sure enough, you've gotten a lot stronger, leaving me far behind."

Half-elves always have a remarkably sharp intuition.

"If you put in a little more effort and stop being so lazy all the time, you might already be better than me." Ryan put on his shirt, covering his upper body.

Just then, a familiar figure appeared at the entrance to the training ground.

Karen wasn't carrying the greatsword behind her; instead, she was leaning on a black cane.

But the expression on his face was so serious that it seemed as if he were about to go out of the city to fight the monsters.

"Put your clothes on and take your swords."

The old knight walked up to the two men, his gaze sweeping over Ryan and Ella.

"You guys don't need to train today."

"Teacher? Where are we going?" Ella jumped off the railing and swallowed the apple in a few bites.

Karen turned around and looked into the depths of the fortress—the black tower whose doors were usually closed and which even Valen rarely set foot in.

"I'll take you to see the real Knights of the North."

Karen's voice echoed in the cold wind.

"Go and see those who have dedicated their lives to this fortress."

"The Knights of the North, Inner Ring Base".

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

A few minutes later, Karen led Ryan and the others to the entrance of the black tower.

When Karen pushed open the door, a completely different atmosphere from the outside rushed out.

It was quite quiet here, with a serious atmosphere permeating the air. Renn could even feel a strange sense of oppression.

Unlike the Knights of Dawnburg, Renn instinctively felt that this place was quite dangerous.

The moment he stepped across the threshold, a warning signal, born of his biological instinct to fear the strong, rang out. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end involuntarily.

The corridor was quite spacious, with a thick carpet covering the floor, which absorbed all the sound of footsteps.

"Follow me, and don't look around." Karen spoke slowly. "The people living here are all official members of the Northern Knights. Every single one of them is a knight who has crawled out of countless monsters."

As they were talking, two tall men walked towards them.

They were dressed in very heavy plate armor. One of them had a hideous scar across his face that almost severed his nose, but he still chatted and laughed with his companions as if it were some kind of medal.

When they saw Karen, their expressions instantly turned respectful, and their smiles vanished.

"Sir Karen".

The two stopped, clenched their right fists, and placed them on their left chests.

"Rolf, Bjorn." Karen nodded slightly, her gaze sweeping over the man's scars. "Looks like the souvenir that snow ape left you last time hasn't fully healed yet."

"That was the last time it scratched anyone," the knight named Rolf grinned. "Its skin is right under my bed now."

Their gazes then swept over Ryan and Ella, who were following behind Karen.

The gaze wasn't malicious, but it was still chilling.

Raine felt as if countless needles were piercing half of his skin, but he did not flinch; he simply looked back calmly.

"Not bad eyesight," Rolf commented.

The invisible pressure only dissipated slightly after the two had walked away.

"A formal knight..." Renn silently assessed in his mind.

Even though those two weren't wearing armor, they gave him a far greater sense of danger than the fully armed Valen.

"Is this what a proper knight is?" Renn clenched his fist, feeling the gap, but also a sense of longing.

That's exactly the direction that Renne is striving to evolve in.

The three of them climbed the spiral stone steps and finally arrived at the top of the Blackrock Tower.

There is only one door here.

Only a shield hung on the door, depicting the head of a white dire wolf howling in the wind and snow—the emblem of the Knights of the North.

"The current commander of the Northern Knights is inside. He's my contemporary," Karen suddenly said, then knocked on the door.

"Thump, thump."

"Enter."

A deep voice came from inside the door.

Karen pushed open the door and entered.

The room was very large, with huge maps hanging on all four walls.

The fire in the fireplace was burning brightly. Behind a large wooden table in the center of the room sat a man.