Chapter 247: Something Big for the Glimmer Pack

Tera was not the only person the cubs started gravitating towards, especially the little wolves.

Calis had been crossing the clearing when three cubs detached from the group and followed him in a neat little line like ducklings who had collectively decided on a new mother.

Calis, baffled by this, decided to ignore them until one of the cubs bit his ankle.

He stopped and saw three cubs staring up at him with round, expectant eyes.

The little badger cub was still attached to his ankle. His tiny teeth hadn’t even broken the skin, but he was grinding away with the determination of someone who intended to finish what he’d started.

Calis was very confused.

But apparently, word had gotten around that Calis was now Tera’s mate, and the cubs that had initially, at times, lingered around Xavi and Ermin, had decided to tail after Calis. And this was all for the sole reason of wanting to be around the beasts closest to their beautiful and powerful leader.

For the third time in his life, Calis was completely baffled. He had been shocked by Tera’s existence, then by his feelings for her, and now he did not know how to act around these cubs.

Cubs usually avoided or stayed away from him, so this change was pretty jarring.

And to make matters worse, even the wolf pups from his pack had joined the others in oppressing him.

When he tried to speak with some of his wolves about departure preparations, a wolf cub would scale his back like a cliff face and settle on his shoulders, their tiny legs dangling on either side of his neck.

Calis carried the cub like that for the next two hours while the females laughed at his predicament.

Faelynn jokingly commented that the cubs were preparing him for fatherhood.

Calis didn’t know when he had become so approachable, but he didn’t particularly mind it anymore.

After a few days, the time had finally come for the wolves to make the journey back to their territory.

And Tera had been helping Calis with organising the rest of their plans.

They had agreed on Tera’s clan keeping their animals for them until she used her portal to bring the animals over.

But what had stunned the wolves the most was Tera’s plan for the territory.

Apparently, she was planning something very big for their shelters.

The grin on her face, coupled with how she emphasized the word, scared the wolves. They still felt they didn’t need a shelter, and the fact that she planned something "big" meant their shelters would be larger than what her clan members had.

Her clan members had pouted regarding this reveal, but Tera had promised to create the same thing in their territory.

Her clan members rejoiced while the wolves looked scared.

It didn’t take much to ease their fears.

She promised them it would be something they would like and if anything, it would still feel as if they were out in the open.

This made the wolves curious, but their efforts to envision a shelter like that failed. Tera was sadly reminded at that moment of how she would need to teach these beasts how to read and understand building designs.

She had her work cut out for her.

- ※ - ※ - ※ -

The day the wolves left was oddly sad.

The goodbyes were louder and messier than anyone expected. The wolf cubs chased the other cubs in one last chaotic lap, yipping and tumbling and colliding with every adult leg in their path.

A few of them were even in tears.

The wolf elders kept to themselves like the group of shy kids at the back of the classroom while the younger wolves clasped arms with the Dow clan members and looked like they were holding back a few tears.

Tera caught more than one teary-eyed wolf male blinking too fast and discovering a sudden interest in the sky.

Calis, on the other hand, was even more reluctant to leave, but understood the situation.

Tera had parted ways with him with a series of tender kisses on the face, which had left the wolves staring in a daze.

She was left standing and watching as the wolves vanished beyond her line of sight.

Her clan members were also going to take the long route.

Tera needed to conserve as many passes as she could.

It was necessary.

- ※ - ※ - ※ -

Tera was lying in the shelter between her mates who were fast asleep.

But her mind had been running.

[Construct Permanent Shelters for the Glimmer Pack]

[Design and build weather-resistant, wolf-appropriate shelters suited to the pack’s terrain, climate, and behavioural needs]

[Shelters must accommodate all pack members, including cubs and pregnant females]

[This task will formally activate upon completion of the current task bundle]

[Rewards: Construction +30, Influence +20, Nipples +1000, Tips +1000, Charm +1, Legacy Points +45,000]

[Time Limit: Eight months]

[Penalty: Every shelter Tera has already built (including the ones in her own clan) will develop mysterious structural problems for 90 days. Walls will lean, roofs will leak in specific spots, support beams will creak loudly at night, and doors will refuse to stay closed. Nothing will remain functional, and this system will keep sending passive-aggressive notifications about "substandard construction." Every minute of the day]

She closed her eyes with a sigh.

The penalty never failed to make her laugh in misery. It was such an overkill.

And it didn’t help that nearly three weeks were already gone from the 8 months.

Last week had been the week she had deducted passes from to face the beast, and now she was waiting till this week’s end before most of her clan moved to the Glimmer pack territory.

Which was tomorrow.

She would use the passes for the week to move as many bamboo stalks as possible to the site, and when the new week rolled by the day after, her passes would have reset for any other thing she needed them for.

Like a few clan members checking in on their territory and bringing back food and necessary materials that Tera hadn’t already packed in her system storage.

The new environment would be unfamiliar and uncomfortable for their cubs since there were no shelters in the wolf territory yet. So, Tera was going to leave with a little over half of her clan.

The rest would stay behind to manage things and care for the cubs.

She would have liked for the wolf cubs to also remain here, as the site would be a bit more dangerous with the large scale of construction she was about to carry out. But she had a solution for that.

She would build a makeshift shelter for the cubs to remain protected while she focused on the real deal.

It had taken her days to come up with the structure that would not only suit the wolves, but also their humid environment.

It was fairly new territory to Tera if she was being honest, but she was grateful to have done a little research here and there outside her field.

A minka house would be the perfect shelter.

Note:

A minka is a traditional Japanese house. I will be taking inspiration from their construction styles while also implementing other concepts.