What Will Be | Chapter 29

Author's Note: Thank you all for your continued support! 

“I do not envy those who mine the mana stones. Our uses for them are varied, but the mana stone mines attract Beasts who wish to claim them for themselves. What will happen, I wonder, should our need for their convenience exceed our supplies? Who then will mine the mana stones?”

~Unknown

“One of the Skills I chose during my first Advancement was Teaching [Dog],” Tina said proudly as we left the house. The warmth of the sun welcomed us to the outdoors, heralding the longer days in the months ahead. Tulos waved us off, having decided to take a rare day of rest. People went through a surprising amount of firewood, and Tulos’ deliveries saved them time spent on chores; time instead used to work on slowly progressing their own Skills. After seeing how many proficiency points I needed to Advance again, I could understand the value of such a service. Hwan paid Tulos a meager amount for his efforts, but I never got the impression money was an issue for us.

“What was the other Skill?” In my experience, people rarely talked about their Builds in casual conversation, especially not to children. Tina must have been taking her role as my ‘master’ seriously, either that or she was just in a bright mood.

Today is the day! I was finally going to start leveling Taming [Dog]. Fortunately, my partially successful experiments the night before hadn’t rendered me infirm. After a solid block of uninterrupted sleep I felt fine, dandy, and ready to learn.

“Animal Husbandry [Dog],” she chirped before rounding on me, an excited gleam in her eyes. “I knew I wanted to spend my life working with dogs like Vigil.” The dog in question had run ahead of us to instill a measure of order into the other dogs before our arrival. “Did you know that sometimes when puppies are born they-” She suddenly cut off her increasingly animated lecture and broke eye contact. “What I mean is, when the puppies come to the kennel, sometimes they can be a little bit sick. My Skill can help dogs who are sick and keep them healthy.”

Whenever a new litter of puppies was born, I’d be relegated to the house until after the event. Evidently, based on Tina’s bashful display, that was partly to stave off questions about where babies came from.

Don’t worry, mom, I’ll spare you that discomfort. I’m way ahead of you on that one, I thought dryly. Perhaps inspired by last night’s puberty-dread, I reflected on my complete absence of a libido since being reborn. In hindsight, hormones had a terrifying grip on my adult life, not that I was complaining. Still, Perseverance was going to have to work overtime when the ol’ testosterone engine kicked back into gear. As if to punctuate my silent point, I felt the Skill pulse and a wash of mana snapped my attention back to the present.

“Do you have any other Skills?” I also had more questions about Teaching [Dog]. I found it curious that she had a variation of Teaching instead of something like Training.

“Of course I do.” She spun on her heel to assume a heroic pose, kicking up a faint cloud of dirt in the process. Her fists rested on her hips as she gazed into the middle-distance. “I will have you know I went through my second Advancement before you were even- when you were very little.” Tina really wasn’t the best at policing her words, but I’d always found it endearing.

“... And?”

“A lady has to keep some secrets, Will,” she teased. “Make sure you remember that when you get a wife one day.” Was it a low blow? Absolutely, but she had no way of knowing I’d been separated from my fiance for years.

“Gross,” I exclaimed, trying to insert as much ‘ick’ into the word as possible. Time was a good healer, and I’d long since stopped letting thoughts of home ruin my day. They still sucked, but I had a fool-proof system.

Just going to go ahead and push all the bad thoughts deep down and deal with them later. Nailed it. As we shared a giggle at my reaction, Tina and I arrived at the kennel. A wall of wagging tails awaited us, along with the smell of a kennel’s worth of overnight dog waste.

“We are going to do chores before we start the fun stuff…” There was no need for me to phrase it as a question. Tina shrugged her shoulders sympathetically and hopped into the fray. Not wanting to delay any more than we had to, I was quick to follow her lead.

***

The most recent litter was one that Vigil sired himself. I say recent, but they were well into the second half of their first year. Dogs grow up fast, so even the smallest among them stood a head above me. While Tina and I worked through the morning maintenance, I took the opportunity to ask some questions.

“Why do none of the puppies have metal fur, like Vigil?” I called out to her over the sound of a few dozen dogs tearing into their breakfast. Some days, to fight off boredom, I would close my eyes while they ate and pretend I was in a zombie film. The crunches, snaps and slurps really made the horror of my cinema-tinted daydreams come alive. Now, it just reminded me of what happened to Jusep so I didn’t dare stray from reality.

“Vigil’s fur changed after he hit his second Advancement,” Tina casually revealed. When she noticed my slack-jawed expression she realized what had happened and was quick to elaborate. “Animals do not have access to the System the same way we do - usually - but they also have Skills and can go through Advancement like we can.”

“I… But… So there is a Skill that gives you metal hair?” I had always thought that the strange dogs Tina cared for were a reflection of her Skills.

“Sort of? It is like… animals wear their Skills like clothes.” She looked so proud of herself for the metaphor. If I was understanding correctly, it meant Vigil had a Skill that manifested itself as metallic fur, not that he had a Skill for metallic fur.

Once again I find myself with more questions than answers. When I inevitably struck out into the world, finding a well organized library was at the top of my to-do list. Having the world’s knowledge at my fingertips with technology was a luxury I sorely missed.

“Will I learn more about this when you teach me how to level-up Taming [Dog]?” I asked, not wanting to overload my brain trying to juggle too much new information at once.

“Definitely,” Tina confirmed happily. “Also, Will, you can just say Taming when we talk about the Skill. You do not have to use the full name of the Skill every time.” She sounded amused. I blushed.

***

“Establishing a Tamer Bond is a lifelong commitment,” Tina said seriously as I watched the youngest seven dogs in the kennel. Older dogs, like Snare, were already trained to fill specific roles and Tina was confident I’d find more success with a pup. “As a Tamer, you will be able to guide your bonded companion through their Advancements. Most animals do this instinctually if they can break through the bottleneck, which is why their Skills will often be uninspired and similar to the rest of their kind.” There was an air of rehearsal behind the words, as if they weren’t all hers.

“They will grow to become who you need them to be,” Tina continued. “So, choose the dog who you resonate with the most. Your Skill will guide you. You will know what to do, and when I move to help you it is important you do not resist.” She stood a little straighter as she finished speaking, trying to inject a touch of ceremony into the occasion.

I wish I could say the dogs agreed, but they were too young to care and continued amusing themselves as puppies often do.

All except one.

Fudge trotted up to me as I approached. The bundle of charcoal fur had always been affectionate. I still remembered how he comforted me while Tina and I were first discussing my Advancement. When he sat in front of me I was treated to the sound of his tail thumping a steady metronome. It reminded me of the day I met Vigil. An inquisitive head tilt sealed it for me.

Yeah, it’s got to be Fudge. Sometimes you meet an animal that just ‘gets’ you. Have you ever seen anyone sitting on the floor, hanging out with the homeowner’s dog at a house party? For me, Fudge was that dog.

“Hey Fudge,” I said softly after leaning in close enough to catch the meaty bouquet of breakfast lingering on his breath. “I know you probably do not understand me, but I still feel like asking for consent is important here,” talking aloud to a dog was not unusual behavior for me, so I plowed ahead unabashed.

“Once I figure out how, I am going to try and use my Skill to bond us together, like Tina and Vigil are. What I have planned for life is not going to be easy, but I would really appreciate your help.” Fudge licked my face. Logically, I knew it was probably just because he was a puppy and my face was within licking-distance too long, but it was the closest to confirmation I was going to get.

I willed my mana to gather around the branches of Taming [Dog], each adorned by incomplete leaves. It responded instantly, easily, and I felt a shift in my core space that rocked my physical body. The latent energy of the incomplete Skill began to surge, granting my awareness of the space a sudden crisp clarity. I watched in my mind’s eye as one of the roots of my Skill Tree began to delve even deeper, searching for something. Reaching.

My body mirrored the movement. I extended a hand towards Fudge whose tongue lolled as they leaned into the presumed pats. As I made contact, I felt his body go rigid. At the same moment, I felt the tree root go taut. It began to pull, and there was resistance. There was too much resistance. My mana began to strain and taper out.

Until it didn’t.

“Keep going, Will,” I heard Tina call reassuringly. She’d rushed to my side and rested a supporting hand on my shoulder. Through it I felt her lake of mana support my own. I felt that I could have pushed back at the foreign power, expending the last scraps of my own mana to drive it back. I didn’t. Perseverance pulsed its own rhythm of support and I forced my attention back to Fudge, looking for any sign of distress.

Vigil had come to sit beside the smaller dog, close enough to make contact of his own. Was the resistance because Fudge didn’t want to be bonded to me? I had no idea if stopping the process would be dangerous, but if I was somehow hurting him then-

Then what? You risk unknown, possibly disastrous consequences because you might hurt a puppy’s feelings? The cynical part of my brain chimed in. The worst part was, I couldn’t fault the logic. I hated myself for it.

Fortunately, I didn’t have to face that dilemma for long. Perhaps sensing my own discomfort at the situation, Fudge did what he always had and came to me for support. He pushed into my hand and I felt all resistance vanish as the root began to pull something in. A surge of mana traveled up its length, through Perseverance and into Taming [Dog]. Leaves of onyx replaced the clear crystal, now whole and shaking with youthful energy.

As my perception of my core space began to dim, I felt something brush up against its borders. It was Fudge, or at least, the dog’s own core space. How that was possible, I did not know, only that it had occurred. In time, it would move even closer, guided by the roots of my Skill tree. The mana would have less distance to travel, and our Bond would grow all the stronger.

As my senses fully returned to the outside world, I saw Fudge through new eyes. The Tamer Bond was young, and weak, but it was there. Soon, Tina would help me unlock its secrets and master its potential. In the meantime, my goofball was still pushing his head into my hand for pats and scratches. I was happy to oblige.