Chapter 18 - The Power Of Ranks

[The required Data has been compiled.] The screen before Mian switched with another. This new screen was slightly different from the others, in the fact that it had a realistic image of himself in it!

Mian tilted his head as he examined the miniature version of himself that was spinning on its axis within the screen. His black fur, along with the random splotches of white were streaked with lines of wavy blue fur. His slightly raised head fur was still the same, the tuft of fur remaining stubbornly upright. He looked at the replication of his multicolored eyes, one was blue and the other was brown. Three streaks of pink, raised skin could be seen, just atop his short snout, a reminder of why he should never stand up to a pack member that was of higher rank than himself. Omegas should remain at the bottom.

His hand drifted to the scar, and remained there as he let his eyes move on to the lines of information that was beside the image of himself.

[User Pack Ranking.]

Name: Mian

Rank: Lower Rank

Rank Privileges: Slightly Enhanced Toxins.

---

The differences were stark. Previously, before his first ever boost from the Evolution System, and his very recent first Evolution, Mian had been a simple, weak omega. Now, after all he had gone through, he had finally left that measly rank behind!

He was now a Lower Rank!

Although that did not sound like much, Mian was still incredibly happy and proud of himself. He was the only omega in the pack, but there were already several lower ranks in the pack. Now, he was no longer the only one, the odd one out.

He clenched his fists as he exhaled, looking upon his slightly sharper claws. The difference was negligible to some, but to him, it was spectacular! He had also noted the other line of information in his ranking page. It had mentioned that his toxins were now slightly enhanced. To him, even a slight enhancement was great news.

Before, he could barely affect a squirrel or bird with his toxins, and the few that had managed to escape after hs had scratched them never experience any problems after a couple of hours. Now, with stronger toxins, he was sure that his scratches would have some extra effects.

'This is incredible...' He thought to himself. All in all, this was a great improvement. Although he still resembled the same weak, cat-like demi-human, he was stronger.

"Hey, you okay?" A voice jerked him back to the present. Mian jumped up and turned, barring his claws and fangs in a vicious snarl. He might have been weak, but he was not helpless!

"Whoa! Whoa!" Dion stumbled back with his arms help up in surrender. "Take it easy, I didn't mean to startle you." He apologized as he slowly let his arms down.

Mian swallowed down a lump of fear, his hackles lowering slowly. His tail had gone rigid, and was still taking its time to relax. He sent a sharp glare Dion's way before huffing and collapsing back down onto his thin cot.

"You scared me. Try not to do that again." He sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. His heart was beating so quickly in his chest that he thought it might jump out through his throat.

"Sorry. I'll do that next time." Dion grinned and scratched the back of his head. He walked back over to Mian's cot and sat down beside the multicolored boy.

"You don't look so good. Is something bothering you?" He asked, peering down at the older, but smaller boy. "Ah, sorry. Of course something is bothering you. We are being held captive." He palmed his forehead when he realized how stupid his question sounded.

Mian chuckled quietly before turning to face Dion, donning a serious expression.

"I want to find a way to escape." He looked up solemnly at Dion, his multicolored eyes serious. Right now, it just looked like a child was trying to intimidate his senior. The size difference between Mian and Dion was quite large, as Dion was roughly two heads taller than Mian. Dion was not a cat-like demi-human, but was a wolf-like demi-human. His snout was longer than Mian's and he resembled a massive wolf that walked on two legs.

The moment he heard Mian's words, his eyes immediately bulged outwards. "Are you serious?!" His voice let Mian know what Dion thought about his suggestion. Mian was faintly disappointed, but he didn't let that change his mind.

"Yes, I am. We can not stay here and play their games. We are not animals!" Mian whisper-yelled at Dion, his anger flaring. He truly felt insulted by the sick games the humans were conducting here. And the fact that so many of their kind was here, trapped, also greatly irritated him.

Dion sighed deeply, his hand nursing his forehead.

"Mian, I know how you feel." He took hold of Mian's forearms. "But we can not act recklessly. We haven't even been here for up to a week. Think about it. They will be expecting us to do something stupid. They probably have guards stationed everywhere, keeping an eye out for anything suspicious. The moment we try to escape, we will be captured!"

"If we get caught, then I have a pretty good feeling we will never get out. Let's wait for a couple weeks. By then, they would have let down their guard, and then we make our move." He nodded with a firm gaze.

Mian sat down, looking at him for a few moments as he let the words sink in. They made sense.

"You're right. I'm in too much of a hurry." He rubbed at his forehead. "I just don't like being here."

"It's okay, we'll make it out okay."