Hearing Kane's question, caused Mána to rub her chin with narrowed eyes, "Did I forget to mention that as well?"

Then she shrugged nonchalantly, "Alright, so besides stable and unstable rifts, there's also super rifts. Super rifts are basically just stable rifts, but they are larger and last longer. The first stable rift to appear on a world is usually a super rift."

'The beastling rift!' Kane immediately realized. 'That's why all the following rifts lasted much shorter, and were far smaller!'

But then he frowned thoughtfully when he realized what this meant. Another raid was coming, and based on what he'd seen on on Alfheim, Earth was not ready by a long shot.

"How long until that super rift opens?" he asked, frowning.

"Anywhere between twenty to fifty years," Mána answered, a little unsure. "Timeframes are difficult to determine this far into the future, it'll become clearer as we get closer to the date in question."

Silence fell as Mána inspected her new master's thoughtful face, wondering what he was thinking about all this. She may be playful and mischievous, but she did care deeply about the volfar species, she was born to do so, after all, and Kane's actions in the future would have a great impact on them.

Finally, Kane sighed, "So I guess your sister on Earth is hoping I'll be able to use my power as a paragon and shard holder to save Earth, or at least its volfar, from the elves, while you're hoping I'll use the opportunity to conquer Alfheim and improve the lives of volfar there, correct?"

"Basically," Mána nodded, her gaze downcast. "The bitch queen has already started cracking down on volfar in revenge for what happened."

Then she scoffed derisively, "She seems to think her daughter died, and I guess she only now realizes how much she truly loved Ella. So she's venting her rage, the delusional, arrogant bitch."

Before Kane could respond, she looked at Kane with a hint of hope, "So what do you think you'll do?"

Kane looked at Mána's face calmly. She looked cute, and he couldn't help but feel the sin shard activate as lust rose. Fact was, he kind of liked Mána's playfulness, but he couldn't let that influence his decisions. If he started letting this one sin shard control his actions, he'd never be able to stay sane with three.

So, he stamped down the lust, and sighed, before shrugging, "I don't know. At the moment, I'm still a little angry about getting pulled into your schemes. Give me a little time to see if I like my new situation."

Mána pouted, but nodded anyway, "I suppose that's fair."

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With that solved, it didn't take long before Mána's pout to dissolve, and her mischievous smirk to return, "So… time for my reward?"

Kane smirked and rolled his eyes at this horny woman's antics, "Later. I'm done with my questions, but now I need you to teach me more about my powers as Dreadwolf, and how to fight as a volfar. I might need it soon."

Suddenly, Mána grew concerned, "Is everything alright over there? I can't see outside of your soul… How did your arrival go?"

Kane shrugged nonchalantly, "There's some hick-ups, but Ella is working on it. I think it should be fine, I just might have to fight soon, and I'd rather be prepared. Can we use this space to practice?"

"Absolutely," Mána nodded enthusiastically. "You can't nurture your cores from in here, but you can practice techniques all you like."

Kane quickly noticed that her playfulness was starting to make way for something that could only be described as fierce excitement. Suddenly, he remembered that his first judgement of her included a feeling of ferocity that was ready to jump out and devour him.

Without warning, Mána jumped up from her pillow and stepped back, before her entire body began to shift and change. Under Kane's stunned eyes, the beautiful Mána was soon replaced by a slightly more elegant and streamlined version of his own beast form.

She grinned viciously at him, "I'd love to teach you, Master." Her voice had turned into a terrifying growl, much like what happened to Kane when he transformed. "Most volfar have an inherent love for fighting, and I'm no different. Would you like to start with your powers as Dreadwolf, or with fighting styles?"

Kane was forced to blink for a moment. It was the first time he'd seen someone else transform like he did, and it was a bit of a shock. He had never seen that man Viljar transform, as he simply disappeared as a human and instantly reappeared in front of Irene, already in his bear-like form.

Still, this would have likely been worse for the simple reason that it was a beautiful woman doing the transforming. Frankly, it was a shame to see her turn into a terrifying creature like this one. Although he had to admit this form had a certain beauty to it as well, just not in a sexual way.

But after he got over the shock, he stood up with an excited grin of his own. While he had never been a fan of fighting for the sake of fighting, he could feel there were some volfar instincts that were bubbling up for that exact reason.

"Let's start with fighting styles," he answered in a voice that quickly transformed into a growl as he changed into his volfar form as well.

"Good,' Mána nodded, both serious and excitement. It appeared she'd entered teacher mode. "We'll need to choose a style before we get to practicing. You had a sword with you when you came here, didn't you? Why don't you recreate it?"

Kane nodded, and used Ella's tips to conjure a copy of the slightly-curved, single edged, entirely black kriegsmesser he'd been given by Nina. Although he hadn't seen it yet, he sincerely hoped this weapon was inside the ring that Ella had given him.

Mána cocked her head to the side when she saw his weapon, "I'm guessing you used that sword with both hands when you were still a human, right? Why don't you try to do so now?"

Frowning, Kane tried to do as she said, but quickly noticed the problem. The blade's large hilt was designed to be gripped by two human hands, not two volfar beast form hands. His palm and fingers had elongated significantly during his transformation, and now it could only accommodate a single hand.

Mána nodded with an understanding smirk, "And that's why most volfar who want to use two-hands on their swords need to have them made special."

"But!" she suddenly turned enthusiastic again as her wolfish lips turned into a terrifying grin. "There are other options."