Seth’s golden eyes widened as he stared at Nightmare. The pup had talked to him… through his mind.

  Seth thought, delving into the strange connection that stirred and pulsed between them. He could feel Nightmare's excitement and gratitude flooding through the bond they now shared.

  the direwolf replied, his thoughts a chaotic jumble of emotions surging into Seth’s mind.

  The pup’s voice sounded like a toddler’s, yet what Seth heard weren’t actual words. Rather, it was the senses and the meaning behind them, conveyed through emotions and desires—as if they were sharing each other's thoughts. Nightmare being a part of him, and him being a part of the pup.

  Seth said through their bond.

  Nightmare tilted his head to the side.

  Seth shared his memory of casting the spell, showing the pup images of what he had seen back then.

  Nightmare's response was a surge of joy and eagerness, his emotions bubbling over like an excited child discovering a new game. Seth could feel the direwolf's overwhelming desire to explore the world together—with him. His new friend.

  As Seth smiled at the pup, a thought crossed his mind. The spell was tailored for Primalists, and the more he mulled it over, the more obvious it became: it was designed to bond with arcane beasts.

  Seth turned to the snake’s lifeless body and picked up both severed halves to examine them closely. The emerald scales shimmered softly in the sunlight filtering through the trees’ leaves. He could sense remnants of aether that had once coursed through its body gradually fading away

  Seth thought after he’d read through the attributes.

  He hoisted the snake's body over his shoulder, keeping its head in his hand. He wasn’t sure where the beaststone was located and had no intention of staying in the Wicked Forest any longer to find out.

  Seth said, glancing at Nightmare.

  As they made their way out, the pup's tongue hung down from his mouth, drool dripping on both sides. His red eyes remained locked on the snake's body swinging on Seth's shoulder, and his nostrils twitched whenever it came close. With a low growl, the small direwolf nudged Seth's leg, his tail wagging and slapping the surrounding bushes.

  Seth smiled and ruffled the fur on the pup’s head. He could sense the beast's stomach grumbling through their bond. .

  Confusion rippled back through Link. And Seth quickly realized his mistake. To a direwolf, minutes were abstract nonsense. There was only hunting, eating, or sleeping.

  Seth tried to project the concept through their connection. He pushed a feeling of restraint into the bond, a mental image of walking just a few hundred more steps, followed by the warm, heavy satisfaction of a full belly. A little wait. Then a feast.

  the pup answered as he licked his chops, clearly ignoring the 'wait' part and focusing entirely on the 'feast'.

  Seth chuckled, pushing a branch aside.

  They continued walking, with Nightmare eagerly following behind, trying to snap at the limbless reptile every few seconds. Soon, the tall, sturdy trees began to thin out, and the familiar landscape of the forest Seth had grown up in came into view. Once they reached a clearing near the edge, Seth set the snake down on a tree stump and drew out his hunting knife. He then channeled aether into his arm, wincing as his injured arm throbbed in protest.

  Gritting his teeth, he carefully cut through the beast’s tough scale. After slicing about a foot, he felt the low-aether nausea begin to churn into his stomach, forcing him to halt for a moment before continuing.

  Seth then plunged his hand inside the snake's flesh and, with some luck, found the walnut-sized beaststone just beneath where the head had been. Plucking it out, he examined it briefly and turned to Nightmare.

  he explained to the pup, holding the brown crystal out for the pup to see.

  Nightmare sniffed the stone then gobbled it up just as Seth was about to continue.

  Seth groaned.

  Through their bond, Seth couldn’t feel an ounce of regret—just pure excitement as the pup cracked the crystal in his jaw and released the aether stored inside. The energy flooded through the young direwolf’s body, causing his legs to jerk violently for a few seconds just like last time.

  Nightmare’s head snapped toward Seth, and his red eyes seemed to glow.

  Seth sighed, filling Identify’s grooves to confirm it. There was no point in being upset over something trivial like that.

  Seth exclaimed, doing his best to convey what it meant to the pup through images and emotions.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  the small direwolf asked, jumping around him eagerly.

  ,Seth answered with a smile, as he cast Identify on himself.

  Seth grinned, looking at his own attributes. Nightmare was currently giving him one point for each attribute he had five or above. Did that mean the ratio was one for five? Or perhaps one for ten, and they were just rounded up? Well, either way, he wouldn’t complain. Giving those beaststones to the direwolf was definitely worth it.

  Seth thought before pulling out the last beaststone from the Boreal Wolves and holding it out to Nightmare.

  To his surprise, the direwolf pup merely sniffed the thing before turning his head away.

  Having expected him to devour it, Seth frowned.

  Nightmare replied, sitting down.

  Seth's golden eyes widened as he sensed what Nightmare was feeling through their bond—the pup's aether channels were throbbing and aching as if they were on the verge of breaking apart. Another beaststone would bring nothing good. That was for sure.

  Seth asked, kneeling down to rub the pup behind the ears.

  Nightmare answered, his eyes closing and his tongue lolling a little as he enjoyed the scratch.

  Seth thought with a sigh before glancing at the sun halfway down before the leaves.

  Nightmare sprang on his paw and yipped.

  Pleased by the pup’s enthusiasm, Seth smiled, then crouched down and led the way. he thought, taking a peek at the small direwolf trailing close behind.

  He almost told the pup to not just rely on his eyes, but stopped himself. Seth thought, watching Nightmare’s nose twitching furiously as he analyzed the scent.

  Nightmare crept forward, but then suddenly halted, burying his snout into a pile of leaves. He recoiled instantly, shaking his head with a sneeze.

  Seth suppressed a laugh and kept moving. After a few minutes, a soft rustling of leaves nearby caught his attention. Signaling Nightmare to stay put, he inched toward the sound. As he got closer, he immediately spotted a small cottontail rabbit nibbling on some greenery; its brown fur rippled in the breeze and its short tail trembled.

  Seth quietly unsheathed his hunting knife—there was no way he’d waste an arrow on such a small catch. Taking a deep breath, he closed in on the cottontail, using the trees and foliage for cover. Once within striking range, he lunged forward.

  But just as his knife was about to reach the rabbit's neck, a sharp pain shot through his injured arm, causing him to miss.

  The tiny cottontail jumped away from the blade in panic and bolted to the right. It bounded over roots and weaved between the trees, racing toward the safety of the distant undergrowth.

  But just as it was about to escape, Nightmare suddenly pounced out of nowhere, his jaws snapping shut onto the rabbit. The small animal squeaked and jerked, trying to pull itself free, until the direwolf finally crushed its neck.

  Seth watched the scene in awe. Even if the pup was an arcane beast, the stealth of his ambush was far more impressive than Seth had expected. It was as if Nightmare had been invisible until the very last second. Yet there was no way he could have pulled off something like that without… a .

  Seth said as the direwolf approached, the cottontail still locked in his jaws.

  Nightmare answered, sitting next to Seth and dropping the lifeless rabbit on the opposite side, almost as if he wanted to make sure no one could steal it.

  Curious, Seth quickly scanned the pup's Well through Link—fifty percent of the aether was missing. The direwolf only possessed two spells at the moment, Danger Sense and Illusionary Emptiness, and judging by their names, it was likely the latter that had allowed him to vanish. It hadn’t made him invisible, but instead turned him into a vague blur, hiding him behind a shimmering distortion of air—like a heat haze on the horizon—that made his outline nearly impossible to track with the naked eye.

  Instead of answering with emotions and words, the pup showed him through their bond the entire scene—from Seth drawing his knife, then slowly creeping through the bushes and circling around to flank the rabbit, right up to the moment the direwolf's maw clamped down on the prey.

  , Seth noted mentally.

  With a sigh, he then shifted his attention to his freshly carved spell, Quick Step. He had completely forgotten to use it earlier. As he examined the grooves, he noticed that some sections were quite rough, especially when compared to Identify

  It was as if the one who made them had been unsure where to go—which was kind of true—and certainly explained why it held a Crude quality. His core had somehow helped deepen those grooves, though now it was up to him to refine and polish them.

  Closing his eyes, Seth drew aether from his Well and channeled it inside. Focusing on precision, he guided the energy through the network of routes until it plunged into his legs a dozen seconds later.

  Unlike before, Seth could feel how the aether stayed inside his muscles and nerves even after he cut the supply. Without wasting a beat, he began counting in his head—almost immediately Nightmare gave him a confused look.

  .

  ?

  .

  ''

  '.'

  ''

  '' Seth answered, trying to not lose his count.

  '' Nightmare jumped around before dashing into the undergrowth. ''

  '' Seth began, but was forced to stop as the aether in his legs vanished. That was far longer than he had expected. ''

  Bursting into a sprint, Seth quickly caught up with the young direwolf.

  For the next several hours, they continued hunting together, focusing on building their teamwork. It wasn’t long before Nightmare’s sensory skills became extremely helpful; the pup could pick up unusual sounds and track footprints in the mud almost like a seasoned hunter. More importantly, they learned to move as one, using their bond to communicate seamlessly through words and shared emotions.

  Together, they developed several hunting techniques that utilized the direwolf’s strengths. One of their favorites, which they named 'flush and pounce', involved moving silently through the underbrush, and once they spotted a small animal, Nightmare would sneak to the opposite side with Illusionary Emptines to prepare for an ambush. Seth would then flush their prey out by making noise or tossing a rock, driving it straight into the direwolf’s waiting jaws.

  If that tactic didn't work, they would then switch to 'chase and shoot'. Nightmare would chase after their prey and guide it toward a clearing, or any open area with fewer trees, giving Seth a clear shot to take it down with an arrow.

  The evening passed in a blur as they honed their teamwork through small hunts. Yet despite their progress, something kept Seth from being truly pleased: attributes. Neither of them had gained a single one that entire evening. It seemed like arcane beasts and a Primalist were more alike than he had thought. Neither of them could grow stronger in the normal forest.

  As they returned to his campsite, Seth gathered twigs and branches to set up a fire for the night.

  '' he asked the pup, stacking the larger pieces of wood at the bottom of his firepit and crisscrossing the smaller sticks on top. They were bound for life, so learning more about the direwolf wasn't a bad idea.

  '' Nightmare mumbled, his voice barely audible in Seth's mind. ''

  Seth paused. The complexity of the answer startled him. At first, the pup had communicated in raw urges of hunger, fear, warmth, while now, he was expressing concepts of family, loss, and the past. And the changes had happened in a day.

  Seth wondered, staring at the pup. The spell allowed them to share senses, emotions, and perceptions. Was it doing more than just connecting them? Was it bleeding his own humanity into the beast, accelerating his mental growth far beyond what a normal direwolf should be capable of?

  '' Seth said, placing a comforting hand on the pup's head before lighting the fire with the help of dead leaves and two rocks.

  He certainly understood the grief and pain of losing a parent, but he couldn't fully relate to Nightmare’s situation. Through Link, he could and that the small direwolf had only left his mother’s den two days ago after waiting weeks for her return and had been hiding ever since. At least when Seth’s own mother had passed, he had been old enough to be self-sufficient and fend for himself.

  '' Nightmare added, staring into the crackling flames, red eyes gleaming.

  Through Link, Seth sensed the truth; the pup had no real idea who or what had actually killed her. But in that moment, as the firelight danced before them, Seth felt the vague sorrow of the orphan harden into the cold resolve of a predator.

  '' Seth promised, sitting down beside the pup and leaning against his shelter.

  Tomorrow would be his last day before leaving for the academy’s selections, so he couldn't afford to waste it. If he wanted to maximize his chances, they would have to go back into the Wicked Forest.

  ''

  Seth woke to birds chirping and the warm weight of something on his legs. Groggy, he sat up and rubbed his face to shake off the sleepiness. When his eyes finally opened, he found Nightmare curled up next to him, his large head resting atop Seth’s legs.

  The pup's eyes were still closed, but his nose twitched as if he were already awake. Seth smiled and gently stroked the direwolf's black fur, marveling at its softness. ''

  Slowly, Nightmare opened his crimson eyes, blinking a few times before finally shaking his head and getting on his paws.

  ''

  Taken aback, Seth used their bond to feel the direwolf's aether channels. To his surprise, they were almost back to normal. Judging by the sun's rising rays, it had been a little more than half a day since the direwolf had consumed his last one.

  He pulled out his last Boreal Wolf's beaststone and tossed it into the air. ''

  With a swift leap, the pup snapped up the grey crystal mid-air, then let out a soft growl when he bit it down. Almost instantly, his body began twitching and aether surged through his channels, flooding his muscles, bones, and organs.

  Seth could feel the pup's excitement as he sat back to eat some leftover meat from the previous night. Once Nightmare stopped shaking, Seth activated Identify.

  '' the pup asked, his eyes shining with joy.

  '' Seth answered, ruffling the direwolf's head. ''

  But Nightmare clearly had other plans. Ignoring Seth’s suggestion, the pup started running circles around him, jumping on him every few seconds. ''

  With a sigh, Seth decided to go, ignoring the growls of his stomach.

  January 15, 2026 (7h15PM)

  ----

  Hey everyone!

  I was originally planning to post daily from Monday to Friday for the next two weeks, but over the past two days, the growth in followers and readers has been amazing. The story have literally doubled in following everyday. If this keeps up, I might actually have a shot at hitting the Rising Stars list!

  150 follows, 30 favorites, and 20 ratings by Saturday morning, I’ll post an extra chapter on Saturday!

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  P.S. If your goal is to leave one of those big reviews, I think it’d be best to wait until around Chapter 20; you’ll have a better sense of the direction, pacing, progression, and so on by then.