Only one way to do that.

"I don't have time for this." John growled, and unsurprisingly, many of the warriors around John's tent growled back. Even Lagash, the sister of his Orcish ****, seemed to compose herself enough to voice some kind of warning at John, but it didn't stop him. He just walked past the group of savages and barbarians and shoved his way through the various houses and tents they had staked a claim to. The people inside stood, tensed, and flexed as if to challenge him, but upon seeing who it was that barged through their homes, they hesitated.

John walked through, without stopping, all the way right up to Dullong's own open pavilion and barged inside. His entrance was announced by the shrill, high pitched screams of a handful of different slaves, each of which scattered away from John when he smashed his way through loot piled at the entrance to the room. He growled again and watched as the people inside retreated to the farthest corners of the building... but they weren't the ones he was looking for. Lagash caught up to him after a couple of moments and scowled at the mess he made of her mate's belonging before she grabbed John by the shoulder. She spun him around to face her and all but dragged him back out of the pavilion as she tried talking to him again.

Except John wasn't willing to listen to someone scolding him. He had tried waiting for Dullong to make up his mind. He had tried to look for other ways to train, but there were no sparring arenas open for John. There was no one that was willing to fight with him. If he tried walking up to someone, looking for a chance to challenge or wrestle with them, they either noticed what he wanted and slipped away or Lagash tried to talk him out of it. Unfortunately, she made sense too. If John tried to fight someone and lost some of his health, then Dullong would have taken advantage of the weakness. He had to save his strength for Dullong, otherwise the Alpha would have stabbed him in the back!

Unfortunately, saving his strength meant waiting and exercising to try and push his stats up. It let the small amount of time that John had to train go to waste while almost nothing improved when compared to what he could have done if he had leveled up. When he left Mub's hut, John had almost four hours left to try and train in the barrier. When he finally stopped working out and tried looking for Dullong, he only had one hour left.

+1 Endurance
+1 Endurance
+1 Agility

The last hour had to be used bathing in an open wooden tub and hunting for Dullong. As tempting as the idea was to just stay for his own survival, John wasn't going skip out on meeting Michel for the Marathon. At the very least, perhaps the Golden Rose believed him now that he wasn't a thief, which meant that he just had to convince the Frozen Flame. It meant that, if he couldn't get the levels to fight them, he had to at least try and talk to them. He just had to get permission to leave so that he wasn't kicked out of the tribe before he got back. When he finally went back to Mub, the Orc all but dumped new supplies onto the young gamer. It was all fairly simple starting equipment, but it was useful nonetheless.

Orcish Hide 'Pahnts'
These rough, brown leather pants are actually fairly well made for a first attempt. The craftsman who made them took his time working on this piece of clothing, and while there are mistakes, no one is going to complain about the ridiculously large pockets or how tight it looks around the crotch. The only real shame is that all of the stitching is incredibly visible and obvious to anyone who may look at them.
+2 Inventory slots

Simple Orcish Pauldrons
These heavy, iron shoulder plates normally need to be actively strapped to the chest and back to keep them from sliding off. These pauldrons, while smaller than what is usually needed for the average Orc, are perfectly sized for the average human. Each plate is greased and covered in a variety of thick, hooked, metal spikes and so much grime that it barely gleams in the sunlight.
+10 Health

Simple Orcish Legging’s
Unlike the rest of the equipment you've received from this craftsman, these bear their maker's mark quite prominently. Like the rest of his crafted gear, these leggings fit their wearer quite perfectly, since they was specifically adjusted to fit you. Luckily, they even come with a neat little crotch-guard, so you don't even have to worry about that.
+25 Health

Thirty-five points to his health was a nice boost! John even managed to make himself smile and thank the thick Orc before he surprised him by sliding the new gear on through his character screen. It was also enough to make John start to feel confident about facing Dullong.

He was the Alpha of the pack for a reason. He was the strongest out of everyone else in the pack. He had to be at least one level above everyone else, which would have put him at level eight... three levels above John. If he was going to fight Dullong, then he needed every advantage he could get. The stats and the armor were just supposed to be the start.

Yet, when he wound up in Dullong's tent half an hour later without anything else to aid him, John had to actively quell the shaking in his hands while Lagash struggled to stop him and Mub lazily trailed along behind them. If he was going to win, he had to be the one get the first few hits in. If he could do that, then by the time Dullong used his ability, Form Of The Beast, it would have worked against him. It may have doubled Dullong's physical stats, but like when Urga had used it, it also would have drained his health. He just had to find him and be the first one to land a punc-

"You're trespassing, pigskin." Dullong didn't walk out of the tent when John went looking for him, he didn't stand or step out from a nearby corner or cabinet like he was hiding. Instead, he walked up suddenly from behind of John, crossing over the mess the gamer had made in his pavilion with a slight scowl before he stopped in front of a large, tarnished brass bowl. His slaves whimpered and trembled in their respective hiding places, piercings of bone and gold dangling from their bodies while Dullong simply leaned forward and began to splash water onto his face.

"You're a piece of shit," John said accusingly, his gaze narrowing at the Alpha as Dullong tensed... and then turned back to face John. His dark brown eyes glared down at John as Dullong stepped forward, and almost immediately, both Lagash and Mub stepped back. They both moved to cower behind the Gamer as Dullong kicked aside one of the broken pieces of furniture and barked at his slaves to clean up the mess. Neither of the other Orcs seemed particularly concerned about stopping John now, it was too late for that.

Dullong didn't say anything back. He just glared at John until he had to try and swallow the lump in his throat, while the people outside the pavilion grew quiet as the two of them stood there. He couldn't back down, he had somewhere to be. At the very least, perhaps he could have leveled up by fighting Dullong. Perhaps it could have even scared the rest of the tribe into leaving his village alone.

"Are you going to challenge me or not?" John said and pointedly ignored the small peep that escaped Lagash when she heard him. Dullong froze, his jaw tightening almost imperceptibly as he continued to stare at John. He could see the larger man's green body flexing idly as he mulled it over, and with each passing second, John could feel his regret starting to build and build until it seemed like a good idea to try to walk away. Dullong huffed once, and then his body suddenly relaxed.

"No." A large chorus of gasps formed and echoed throughout the pavilion. Dullong straightened, ignored the crowd, and then turned to walk away.

"Coward." John said it without even thinking. Every last second he had spent working restricted in the camp came back to haunt him in that one moment. The hours boiled inside of him, burning like some kind of volcano that refused to be stopped and burst before he knew what it was doing... and when it was finished, John was left there to pick up the pieces. If the people of the tribe had been surprised when Dullong took back his challenge, they were dumbstruck when John called him out for it. Dullong stopped in his tracks again and voiced an angry growl, his throat rolling like a cloud of thunder for a moment... and then he kept walking. "That's it?!" Again that anger came back.

He just walked away.

"Nothing?! FIGHT ME!" John shouted the last two words and felt both Mub and Lagash step forward to try and pull him back, but again, he wasn't having any of it. "Do you hear me, coward?! I'm challenging you, Dullong! Fight me!" Again and again, John shouted and screamed at him. Mub and Lagash tried to stop him before he said it, but they couldn't drag him away fast enough.

Every word may as well have been like throwing knives at the large pack Alpha. Dullong drunk from and then crushed a nearby mug as John spoke, the metal cup creaking weakly in his grasp as he turned back to face John, huffing as he pivoted around. The Orc's eyes were already bloodshot, speckled with red veiny lines as his own anger began to push his body to it's limits and seemed to almost grow in size.

Dullong used Form Of The- ERR

"I... refuse," Dullong growled and pulled on a nearby rope. The walls of his tent slowly tumbled and fell, obscuring the center of his pavilion and Dullong himself while Lagash and Mub continued to drag John back.

They pulled him out of the area, while everyone else continued to stare on in astonishment and slowly dragged him back to camp.

"What the hell just happened?" John asked when Mub and Lagash finally let him go outside his tent. The two Orcs grumbled as he spoke. They stepped back, and Mub slowly walked over to a nearby bowl and began to fill mugs with a dark and viscous liquid.

"He is scared," Mub grunted, and Lagash shifted uncomfortably, her face flickering into a slight scowl for one quick second. "I think..." The craftsman paused just long enough to walk back over to John with the mugs and handed him one. The cup steamed in his hand as he took it. Its pungent, smoky, sweet plumes of steam filled his lungs, and after a couple of seconds of breathing it in to calm himself down, he carefully took a sip while Mub handed another mug to Lagash too. "He realized that he made a mistake when he saw what you did to the Hallowed in the village. He could not back out without seeming like a coward unless he took it to the Elders, because then he could have hid behind the excuse that they denied his challenge and let you walk away. Refusing you changes that now."

Lagash merely grumbled in agreement.

"Everyone saw him outright refuse your challenge, John." Mub was almost grinning as he spoke. "He was weak. His pack will challenge him now, after refusing to fight a human, and he will see the Elders again." Again, Lagash shifted uncomfortably. "He will blame you for the trouble he is in now, but he is in it regardless. If he survives, chances are that he will lose his place as Alpha."

"If?" Lagash finally spoke up, scowling at Mub as he downed one more cup of the camp's thick ale and then filled his mug back up again.

"He is a coward, is he not?" Mub huffed, and once again Lagash moved her weight between her feet awkwardly. She didn't growl, threaten, or attack Mub, she just barked at him... once.

"Watch your tongue, failure!" she snapped.

"Exactly." Mub chuckled and downed yet another cup of ale. "You shouldn't have to worry about him anymore, John."

"Fantastic," the gamer glumly replied, his expression flat and distant as he looked back and forth between the two of them. "Does that mean I can leave now?" The two Orcs shared a look between themselves as John spoke, as if asking the other if they could think of a reason why he couldn't, but after a couple of seconds, Mub just nodded at him. John considered taking his mother back with him, but after hearing yet another sultry moan escape from his tent, he decided against it. They were busy.

"About fucking time," John grumbled and disappeared, right in front of Lagash and Mub.