Well… okay then. First thing’s first, though- I needed to give the Awakened Wolf of the Winter Pup an actual name.

Actually, that would be second. First, after completely crawling into the cavern, which was so big I was now able to crawl on my knees instead of my belly, and looking into all 4 of the entrances and seeing that it was safe, I trusted in my passives to protect me. Stupid, I know, but… well, I’m still here, arent I? I clicked Yes for the first prompt, sacrificing half of my health and mana in order to heal my new friend.

I promptly (oh-ho-ho!) felt an extreme draining sensation as I felt my very life force ebb away from me and flow, almost as if connected through an invisible string, which was almost certainly our Soul-Bond, into him. Feeling extremely dizzy, the world spinning, I fell unconscious and let sleep take me.

When I woke, the pup was still asleep. While he was still covered in blood, I could tell that his wounds were completely sealed.

I thought about names.

Leigh. No- that sounds stupid.

Ennileigh- no. That’s even stupider.

But… en. Yi? Enyi?

I felt a flood of warmth through our bond. Enyi it was.

Awakened Wolf of the Winter Pup has been named: Enyi.

With that done, I tried to look at Enyi’s new Skills. The passives were pretty self-explanatory, while Chomp left some interesting room for interpretation.

Chomp

-Creates magical chomp

The Foam Digging into the Sand

-Wolven combat technique

Sixth Sense

-An intuitive sense of danger and from what direction it’s coming from.

Regeneration

-Passively heals all acquired wounds, diseases, illnesses, etc

Hm- the key word of Chomp, just like my Mirror, is “creates.” Enyi would have lots of things to experiment with.

While he slept, I decided to tinker with my passives.

The key to Deflection would be messing with the Skill’s definition of “physical attack.” If I could make the Skill think that anything, at all times, was a threat, then in theory I could make it so that I could control everything within my sphere of influence. Theoretically, of course.

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Rebound… was a little too specific to do anything too outside the box with it, but I supposed I could aim the deflecting aspect. The last sentence, which says that Rebound “requires getting hit in order to trigger,” could also be altered. It never says that I have to get hurt in order for it to trigger… just that something has to be hit. And while it is implied that my body has to be thing getting hit, it is never said outloud- and that, the things that are insinuated but never said, is what can be changed.

But for Steadfast, it was simply too vague in order me to know what to do with it. Once I figured out what “resolve” meant, then maybe I could do something with “in the face of difficulties,” but until then… well, there just wasn’t much I could really do.

The same went for my combat technique. I suppose I could try to take it down to Common, the point where I could learn it by myself, but if I did find a teacher, that would be a huge mistake. I would give it a few years, and then decide what to do.

I first decided to mess with Rebound. It was probably the simpler of my two changes, although both involved changing the System’s definitions.

This would be harder than changing Mirror’s manifestation. Because it was a passive, and on all of the time, it would be continually holding what I wanted it to become on top of what it was currently doing, until I didn’t have to anymore and it did so automatically. It was a long, time-consuming process of constant regulation, where once second of a mishap would make you have to start over.

Closing my eyes, I pictured what did happen in order to trigger Rebound, with what I wished would happen. I pictured, instead of an attack hitting me, hitting one of my Mirror-shields or walls. I imagined all attacks, once blocked by my shield, completely bouncing off and hitting it’s caster, exactly where I had aimed.

And that’s what I did. For what was supposed to be an hour. With complete concentration, putting my thirteen year old self discipline to work. And, of course, because I was thirteen, I failed my first time.

And my second.

Mana Manipulation is now Level 4!

And then, on my my third try, I lasted no more than 15 minutes, even with the help of now Level 4 Mana Manipulation.

There was, afterall, a reason why most adventurers waited to customize their passives- it was really, really, extremely difficult. But as a 13 year old boy with a Legendary Class, I had decided I needed every edge I could get.

But I could mess with Rebound later, because now Enyi was awake.

The first thing Enyi did was woof- but not out loud. No, he didn’t speak, nor did he wag his tail. No, the first thing he did was bark through our bond, it’s echoes reverberating deep into my head. Because he was woofing through our very souls, it was if it was drilled into my head, the piercing deepness of it

And what was the first thing I thought back?

Dammit, Enyi!

He woofed again, this time louder, twice in quick succession. It was the yap of a puppy. At the time, I didn’t realize why he wouldn’t just stop barking and start talking- but now, after hundreds of millenia have gone by, I have matured enough to realize that he was still a puppy. He was literally incapable of speech, even if he could understand me just fine.

Though I did not realize this then.

A series of ‘Good grief!’ and ‘shush!’ went by, and were responded to with yet more barking. There would be no end, it seemed, to the endless barking inside my head, nor to the pounding headache that it caused. My thirteen year old self was not yet self-aware enough to know of it’s triviality in the grand machinations of one’s life. Thus, I was...um... rather annoyed. Looking back on it now, I can only be grateful that Enyi, with the ever-persistent loyalty of a dog, chose to ignore my ignorance and continued putting up with my pettiness and annoyance, forgiving me for my transgressions.

System dammit, Enyi.

A sad whine followed this. I felt a wave of apologetic excitement and affection from him. He waddled over, still slightly limping, about as tall as palm and as long as my forearm, although his swishy tail added another palm of length. I couldn't help but scratch behind his ear, the pounding in my head drifting to the background. I got the vague sense that he wanted to get out of the bush and explore. I also got the sense that he wanted to skedaddle before the monsters found us.

Wanna go? I asked.

I got two yips of excitement.