The first thing Pax was forced to acknowledge was that adult beasts were quite different from babies. At least, the ones captured here were mostly level threes and fours instead of anything stronger. In his mind, he'd been thinking they were just a level higher than Talpa, but Talpa had advanced through his levels as a tamed companion, not a beast fighting to survive in the Wilds.
His first attempt at taming the howlstorm wolf was a complete failure. Well, not completely, because he managed to stop the process before killing the beast, though it didn't seem at all grateful for the fact. He, Grinheld, and Venris just watched the beast pacing back and forth in its cage, rage radiating from its entire body.
Its sleek, silver-white fur seemed to shimmer under the mage lights, and its size was impressive, coming almost to Pax's shoulder. It had a powerful and agile build that would make it extremely dangerous if they didn't have inscribed cage walls keeping it contained.
Grinheld was in love, not seeming to be bothered by either the first failure or the lethal power of the wolf. "Just look at those eyes, Pax. Aren't they gorgeous?"
He had to nod. They were the wolf’s most striking feature and glowed with an ethereal light blue hue, reflecting its connection to air mana. Not only that, but small feathers grew within its fur coat, moving on their own and even kicking up dust devils in the cage. It was obvious the beast had powers it would turn against them if it hadn't learned that the cage walls suppressed them.
"So, do you have enough mana to try again yet?" Grinheld shifted impatiently from foot to foot.
It wasn't so much a matter of mana as it was Pax’s ability to wrangle the wolf’s mana into submission. He had felt his Mana Sight straining to reveal the intricate workings of such a powerful beast.
His skill was close enough to leveling up that he expected a few more tries might just do it. His Meditation was also close, which would help the process. Mana Shaping, however, lagged behind. But if he could level it too, it would make a tremendous difference for all future Tamings.
Pax couldn't deny the fierce excitement filling him at the prospect of leveling his main mana skills and his Taming. If he did all of them today, he'd be able to work wonders for the rebels when they finally got to a base. Even better, he could help his friends follow in his footsteps.
He nodded at Grinheld, more than happy to start the second try. After so much easy Taming work back at the capital, this was exactly the challenge he needed. Pax gave a nod toward Venris, who stood by the simple control panel at the corner of the cage.
He activated the mechanism. With a soft hiss, three shimmering air barriers appeared, pushing the wolf toward the cage's door. It did its best to resist, but crafters had built the cages to handle beasts much stronger than it.
Normally, handlers used the moving barriers to force the wolf closer to the door when they needed to get it out. But in this case, Pax just needed it to be held stationary and close enough for him to reach it.
It didn’t take long for the barriers to pin it against the front of the cage wall. Pax carefully slid his bone staff in to touch the back of the wolf, glad that he’d thought ahead to make much longer ones than he usually needed for taming the babies. The wolf did its best to twist around and snap at the implement, but the barriers prevented that.
After strapping the staff to a bar to keep it in place, Pax backed off to sit and pick up the smaller bone wand he had attached to the length of air-based leather cording. He turned it to Grinheld. "Grab on and let’s give it another try. Just do the same thing you did last time."
Grinheld followed his directions, but gave him a skeptical look. "And that will give us better results? How?"
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With a quick glance at the other rebels, who were listening intently, Pax said, "Because it's mostly on me to make the connection between you happen. I've got skills involved that are improving the more I use them. At some point, something's going to work."
When he heard Camden's soft scoff from back in the main room, Pax was glad he’d kept his explanation vague and wore a disguise. The man was one person Pax hoped to never see again. Grinheld ignored the distraction, placed her hand on the bone and got to work.
Pax felt Grinheld working to push her warrior mana into the wand. She had quite a bit more than either Bryn or Tasar, so it felt more like a tsunami of gray power doing its best to explode out of her hand.
He braced himself, ready for when it finally broke past the barriers and into the wand and leather cording. Pushing the rest of the world away and falling deeper into his Meditation and Mana Sight, Pax focused hard on making the Taming happen this time.
It didn't.
The next three tries didn't work either. One was a close enough call that they almost lost the wolf. Pax had even taken to giving Evander’s small stone pig in his pocket a rub for luck. At one point, he felt a sudden boost to his ability to recover mana in between tries, which let him know he’d earned the last few points to level up his Meditation.
On the sixth try, everything finally fell into place. As he entered the storm of mana within the wolf and pushed to see exactly what he needed to do, clear lines full of details that had been obscured earlier suddenly popped into view. He knew immediately that his Mana Sight had finally reached level four. He stared in awe, able to see and delineate all the complex and powerful internal aspects of the wolf.
A fierce grin spread across his face as the entire process improved. It also crossed his mind that the thirteen leveling and evolution points he’d just gained were going to be amazing.
He'd partially regretted not evolving his Mana Sight back at level one, but it meant he still got evolution points from it. This gain would finally push him past the twenty-five points required to choose one of the next-level options for his evolved skills.
Now, he just needed the Mana Shaping skill to level, too. He could really use the increased ability with the skill. And even though it wouldn't give him any more evolution points, the nine leveling points he’d earn would be a welcome addition toward the forty-five he needed for his next mage level.
Pax forced aside his distracting thoughts as Grinheld’s mana entered the wolf. He had a difficult Taming to complete and needed all his attention. Pax latched onto her mana with a firm hand, guiding it toward the wolf’s blistering power that kept fighting their efforts. It was dicey, making him wish his Mana Merge was closer to leveling too.
He held on, clenching his teeth as he continued to corral the two disparate energy types and do his best to force them together. He really missed the aid of the other pets in his crew. But he’d been able to Tame without them lately, so he hoped to do the same today.
Pax felt the two mana types finally syncing with each other. Then, the howlstorm wolf seemed to sense what was happening. Its mana gave a last powerful spasm to break free from Pax's control.
Grunting with effort, he refused to let it. When Grinheld's mana finally clicked with the wolf’s, Pax couldn’t believe it for a moment. The internal landscape of the wolf had transformed in an instant as if Vitur had snapped His fingers and made an entire storm disappear, leaving behind a peaceful landscape with sunshine and gentle breezes. Pax let out a long breath and allowed the tension to drain from his body.
When he opened his eyes, he saw Venris aiming a questioning look at him. Grinning, he nodded. “Disengage the barriers. He belongs to Grinheld now.”
Wordless, she pushed herself up from her chair next to Pax and practically threw herself at the cage. When her shaking fingers couldn’t get it open, the words poured out of her.
“Open this up. Let him out. Oh, you are so beautiful. Come here. I've got snacks.” Her tone varied from demanding to entreating as she aimed orders at Venris and reached through the bars to run her hands over the feathery fur of her new companion.
Before Venris could get the cage door open, she'd already pulled a large box from her inventory. She opened it in an instant and tossed chunks of meat into her new companion's mouth. The wolf threw his head back, jaws open, and swallowed them with only a token chew.
“You're going to have to step out of the way so I can get the door open,” Venris said with an exasperated chuckle. When she didn't pay him any attention, he physically pushed her aside until he could get to the lock.
When he finally got the door open, the wolf bounded out so quickly that Pax tensed for a moment, instinctively wanting to bring his weapons out. The wolf bowled Grinheld over, sending her back to the floor. But she just laughed in delight, using her significant strength to wrestle with her new pet.
Pax let out a quiet sigh of relief when he saw the wolf lick her face with a long, dark tongue instead of chomping down with his very sharp and dangerous-looking teeth. Pax took the moment to scroll through the new notifications that he'd ignored.