The young man pondered for a few seconds and then said, "I like the idea. But where are we going?"
Vincent looked back and waved at the horny receptionist girl. Mentioning his address in her presence might cause trouble, he believed.
"Follow me, let me tell you outside. I will tell you outside." Vincent suggested.
"Humph! Leave bandage man! I can have fun even without you!" The receptionist girl grumbled as she watched the two leave.
*Tula's family house*
Vincent knocked on the door, and as the third knock landed on the surface of the door, Lupa opened, welcoming Vincent in a matter of seconds.
"I heard your footsteps, my mate. Did you bring money to buy food?" Lupa then looked at the young man behind Vincent and added, "Who is the human behind you?"
Vincent had already used Inspection secretly on the young man. He was a noble, and his family name was Sunrise. It was the same family who was sponsoring the Vice Captian in the interrogation room.
Furthermore, although his stats other than his mana looked horrible, Vopor was a Mage with wind spells. A gray wolf with wind affinity was a good match with him. However, Vincent wondered what Lupa would think about talking to a gray wolf.
The young man introduced himself eloquently to Lupa with a slight bend and a respectful voice, "I'm Vopor Sunrise. Are you perhaps the one that can communicate with wolves?"
"Lupa, this young man is Vopor Sunrise. He might give us a job." Vincent then asked, "Lupa, you can talk to wolves, right?"
"Yep! I sometimes heard a faint voice saying its moon time when we were in the forest. But Ester said all she heard was a howl and not a voice." Lupa explained the origin of how she understands wolf language, even in a beastman form.
Lupa then raised a smile hinting for praise and continued, "So do you know what I did when I stayed guard? I howled at the wolves to back off, or I will rip them to shreds with my pack and Alpha."
"Then I didn't hear a wolf howl ever again. They must have run away, hehe. Am I a good girl?" Lupa slyly lowered her head, intending to get rewarded.
[I had the stinking suspicion Lupa wasn't howling for no reason sometimes. But now she told us the truth... heh... such a troublesome wolf girl we have here.]
"Good job. But warn us next time. " Vincent gave Lupa the head pat she desired and then invited Vopor to follow him.
Sometime later, Vincent explained the situation to everyone in the house. However, Tula was starting to feel sad.
"Is big brother going to take Plow away? Is big brother going to leave and not come here again? I will miss everyone..." Tula looked like she was about to cry at any moment.
"Don't be sad, Tula. Plow needs to become a familiar before she awakens into a Magical Beast. Then it would be too late. However, if Plow becomes a familiar, she will stay the same cute blue fox she is." Vincent reassured Tula.
Vincent turned his gaze on Plow and asked, "Will you be my familiar? I will let you sleep on me and feed you well."
Plow looked at Vincent as if the little cute blue fox could somewhat understand what he meant. Plow nodded and barked *Pho!*
-Kazumi, have you thought of a way to do this?-
[Don't look at me. It most probably has to do with blood. Well, why don't you try using the adaptions you learned to use Energy Flow? Then have Plow lick your blood.]
-Ohh! I get it! If Plow tastes my blood with mana, the familiar bond should start.-
"Plow, I promise to make you my familiar. " Vincent stated. He tried to make Plow into his familiar with the Promised Quest system if all else fails.
*Pho, pho.*
[Promised Quest: Familiar Plow]
[Complete the agreed promise with the blue fox Plow to imprint its untamed and unawakened magic core with blood.]
[If the quest is completed with Blood or Mana Imprint, the optional quest chain Mutated Blood Imprint will trigger.]
[If the optional condition is met instead, the optional quest chain Blood or Mana Imprint will begin.]
[Quest conditions to be met.]
*Blood Imprint [0/1] (Not Met)
*Mana Imprint [0/1] (Not Met)
[Optional]
*Mutated Blood Imprint [0/1] (Not Met)
[Rewards]
*Familiar Plow (Blood Imprint) or (Mana Imprint) or (Mutated Blood Imprint)
*Promised Quest: Familiar Plow Optional Chain Quest
'It worked. I now have a guideline on what is possible. Promised Quest is the best!' Vincent thought with a smirk while his eye read the details.
Vincent unwrapped one finger from the bandages and bit his skin to let the blood drip. Then he started using Energy Flow to control the tempered blood in his body.
Soon, the bead of blood collecting on his fingertip changed. It became elastic similar to a jelly rather than liquid.
"Here, Plow, drink my blood. " Vincent asked.
Plow hesitated at first, but she decided to extend her head and lick the tempered blood after she looked around.
Immediately, Vincent and Plow felt a strange surge of power manifesting. The connection between the two linked Vincent's soul with Plow's magic core. Vincent also felt as if his body was giving power, while Plow felt as if she was receiving power.
[Promised Quest: Familiar Plow Completed]
[Rewards]
*Familiar Plow (Blood Imprint)
[Notice]
[The host has acquired a new bond. The host has gained a soul bond with Plow of the fox species.]
[Plow has become a familiar of Vincent Agius.]
[Promised Quest: Familiar Plow Optional Quest]
[Complete the optional agreed promise with the blue fox Plow to imprint its untamed and unawakened magic core.]
[Based on the optional Promised Quest completed, the remaining optional condition will become available.]
[Mutated Blood Imprint has a 100% imprint fuse rate.]
[Mana Imprint has a 15% imprint fuse rate. Mana Imprint has an 85% death rate if the familiar Plow doesn't have a body to adapt.]
[Optional]
*Mutated Blood Imprint [0/1] (Not Met)
[Optional]
*Mana Imprint [0/1] (Not Met)
[Rewards]
*Familiar Plow (Mana Imprint) or (Mutated Blood Imprint)
*Promised Quest: Familiar Plow Optional Chain Quest
*Pho! Pho!*
Plow barked energetically. She felt stronger, and she could now stand on three legs with no problems. Plow happily limped on the table as if doing a catwalk to show the strength boost she received.
"You did it, Vincent! Your familiar seems to have acquired the common boost of a Blood Bond Contract." Vopor seemed happy to see a familiar pact succeed before his eye.
It was an unusual sight for a person to choose a crippled animal with a monster core as their familiar. Watching Plow limp made Vopor think Vincent was a selfless person to use his one and only taming bond on the weak but cute Plow.
"Big brother, look! Plow looks very happy. " Tula wanted to see Plow walk by herself for some time now. Now it felt like a dream come true.
[I thought this was going to be something grand. There isn't even a marker to show Plow is tamed by the great women tamer Vincent.]
-Ahem... How about I follow the quest's guidance and make another familiar pact with Plow?-
[Hmm... based on what the system is telling us, you should be able to use your mutated blood since the other option has a high chance to kill Plow. Then when you have three hundred mana like Vopor, try the mana version to complete the trilogy and create a cute little monster.]
Vincent unwrapped a few cycles of bandages around his neck and then said, "Overheat."
[Overheat activated.]
[Mutation starting to alter the host...]
[Mutation process finished.]
[Race altered to mutated human for its duration.]
Vopor stared at Vincent. He felt somewhat afraid at the new form and ominous yet imposing aura filling the kitchen. Vopor quickly looked at the others, but no one looked worried about Vincent.
Only Yula looked a bit affected, but it was primarily because of what her daughter and sons told her about Vincent.
Yula was used to her husband's rough personality. She was used to the feeling of an intimidating intent whenever Koss had a bad day and forgot to keep work-related thoughts at work. Vincent reminded her a bit of Koss with his presence.
Vincent made a small cut at the side of his neck with his sharp finger and tried his best to control Overflow. Then he maintained his mutated blood with Overflow until a small bead of mutated blood resting on his finger stopped evaporating almost instantly.
The mutated green blood became a green bead similar to the previous red jelly-like bead of blood. It felt mysterious while emitting heat.
Vincent held his finger in front of Plow with the bead of mutated blood waiting to be ingested. Small steam raised from the bead of blood, and its form didn't look stable as it slightly bubbled.
"Swallow quickly. It is hot, but the pain should stop quickly." Vincent slowly and calmly said with his threatening hoarse voice. Vincent didn't want to scare Plow, yet he wanted her to know that the bead of green blood should be very hot.
Plow suddenly became scared of the heat Vincent was emitting as the warning he mentioned, yet Plow suddenly had the gut feeling that she wouldn't get hurt.
The room temperature became warmer, and the closer to Vincent Plow approached, the more her instincts to flee became, even if he became her master not too long ago. However, she felt she could do it after looking at Lupa with a frown.