Since I got sidetracked, and then sidetracked again, it’s kinda late. I check my watch, it’s past six. Ehh, whatever, I’ll go to Leda anyway. I wanna bring Tåke as well, though… how do I bring her? I don’t think she can fly, and just kinda holding her like I held the bags is not only impractical, but kinda cruel. I could make a harness and hang her on my body, but…

Oh, I know! ｢Tåke! Make the little you smaller. Like a little puppy!｣ She obliges. It’s fascinating to see how she does it, compared to me. The mind bond would be awesome for sharing knowledge of an ability, even if both are pretty good. After all, very often people find their own little tricks - and faults - for things. ｢You done? {Happy}Good, good. Take on the puppy form, please.｣

A pop later, and I am faced with a wolf not much larger than my head, with somewhat stubby legs, a larger head with expressive eyes and that little adorable tongue, as she looks at me expectantly. In other words, the exact combination of traits that resonates with the deepest instincts of mankind: Aww, she’s so adowable!

I let myself pamper, pet and rub her as I bring back the permanent shapeshifting changes to my body. The newest trick for increased endurance and ability to hold my breath, then the eyes of a falcon, and the color change that comes with it. Immediately, things become much clearer, at a longer distance, and I see colors the human eye can’t, but other colors become more… muted, dull. To round it off I take on the wolf’s sense of smell and hearing, my ears becoming slightly longer, and pointed, in the process.

｢I can give you more cuddling later, but now I need you to help me a little bit.｣ I put her down and take a step back, then take on the drider form. I might have extra silk in my bag, but since I can just make more I’ll do that. It’ll let me get the exact length and such I need, too. Hm, there is abilities for shaping wood and metal, so why not for shaping fabric, or more specifically silk?

Let’s find out. I start by making a thread which reaches from my spinnerets (aka spider butt) to my front. I grab it, then channel mana through it. The other shaping abilities are based on ‘feeling’ the material, so I start with that. Sensing every thread that makes up the thicker string. Good. Next up would be actually manipulating it. Let’s split it into each individual thread first. Okay, good. And then… weave it into a piece of cloth. Yeah.

Ability learned: [Mana Weaving]

Ooh, nice. But not what I was looking for. Actually, what am I even looking for though? I could wave and make stuff of the silk even before I got the ability. The thing where a character controls a bunch of strings, which they usually use in combat… That’d be nice. Other than that being able to change the design of what I make of silk on the fly would be nice.

That way I don’t have to wear a kilt or go commando if I take on a form where I can’t really wear underpants. I think I can do that with the new ability, though. But let’s aim for the spider-themed villain ability! To begin, let’s get a feel for moving the thread and string with the ability. It falls under [Artificer], so let’s swap the secondary and tertiary abilities.

Ahh, mycket bättre. But let’s do what I meant to do in case I can’t get the skill and/or get sidetracked (again). ｢Tåke, come here!｣ I pick her up, and put her stomach against mine. She seems a bit displeased at first, but a bit of petting makes her perfectly happy. Oh girl, you are too easy. Then it’s time to tie this bitch up

I form a simple harness that hooks around her upper legs, and around her stomach by both the front and rear legs. With what is essentially a climber’s harness, but for someone with four legs, I make more threads to form a harness on myself. Once I have enough, I shift out of the drider form and into the wyvernkin form. I form the harness around myself, and we’re all set.

Sub-ability learned: [Mana Weaving: Thread Manipulation]

That’s the ability I wanted! I give her head a good petting, before realising she’d be upside down if I flew like this. Oopsie! I turn her around, then exit the Den, and take to the skies. Onwards, to my other companion!

Mini-Tåke really enjoys the trip, which I also use to try to learn [Air Sorcery] from her. Her knowledge isn’t super useful, though. By knowing that the ability exists, and with some examples of possible use, I do manage to learn it in the ten or so minute long flight, though. It’s a bit strange with so many different magic abilities for one ‘element’, but while there is overlap in what they do, how they are used seem different.

The kinesis abilities move the body and use external mana, while [Water Bending] uses internal mana. This sorcery ability also uses internal mana, but forms spells outside. I should look up elemental magic, there should be more than enough info online for me to learn it. From what I’ve read so far it requires chanting, though, which is… Yeah. No.

Once we get close to Leda’s nest, I do a large circle to ensure she has seen, and recognized me, then slowly spiral inwards and downwards, landing just at the edge of the clearing. She seems to be lying down and and lazing around, but a wave of mana similar to my own ‘mana radar’ washes over me. Then she sends out a mind bond, which I connect to.

｢{Irritated}Little one brought prey?｣

I undo the harness for Tåke, who drops to the ground. ｢{Confused}Prey? Tåke -the wolf- is pack-member//companion//friend.｣ She returns to full size, and shakes her body, clearly on guard to the much larger beast.

｢{Irritated, questioning}Little one is poor hunter? {Irritated, sad}No. Little one is strong. {Irritated, tired}Why did little one not bring prey?｣

｢{Uncertain, confused}Should I have brought you food?｣

｢{Serious}Little one is mate. This one//Leda protects nest, little one hunts.｣

｢{Confused}I am your mate?｣ Is it because I killed the other wyvern? ｢Why am I mate?｣

｢{Tired}Little one defeated previous mate. Little one protects egg. Little one is mate.｣

Oh. So she thinks I am a rival wyvern to the one I killed? She should be pretty clear that I’m not a wyvern, though, even with the aspect…? ｢{Annoyed}Stop calling me ‘little one’. I am Lars.｣ At least she already has an egg, so she won’t expect me to make another…? ｢Or you can use ‘you’.｣ I transmit the concept of pronouns, specifically ‘I’ and ‘you’.

｢Lars//little one//you are strange.｣ She says, and I get the definitive impression that she is grumpy, even though it is not transmitted. ｢Leda//I am hungry. Have you hunted for other mate?｣

Does she mean Tåke?//｢Do you mean Tåke//little wolf?｣ Tåke reacts to that, still having the bond to me, though it seems she has little to no understanding of the discussion. Might be because I pet her soft, soft fur, though. And do some ear scratching.

｢{Affirming}Other mate is Tåke… Have you hunted for other mate//Tåke?｣

I shake my head. ｢No. If you are hungry, hunt yourself.｣

｢{Stubborn}I must protect egg.｣

Right. Well, I came here for giving her an option for that. While I’m at it, let’s try to make a quest for uplifting her. The objectives are simple: She must get a form she can use in human habitation without causing panic, and know how to behave in the same place. ｢I have a way for you to hunt with egg. But first, I have a quest for you: Learn to live in human settlements.｣

Quest made: Teach Leda to live in human settlements

Quest given: Learn to live in human settlements

She should already be smart enough for that, and the only real way to make someone a part of a society is to gradually teach them the rules. In other words, I have essentially adopted a very strong (and big) kid that needs to learn the rules and laws of the human world. She accepted the quest, though with some confusion and doubt, and in the process my [Quest Giver - Rank 2] went up from rank 1.

Time for a ToDo-list: Share basic magic abilities with her, get her [Aspect Magic] and [Shapechanger], and teach her a… smaller and preferably humanoid form. Once she has a less terrifying form, I could take her on a trip to the city. Wait, wouldn’t she need to transform? I don’t know how to, or if you even can, shapeshift to something with less mass.

｢Okay. Before I give you the method to hunt with the egg, I want to make sure you know a few abilities, okay?｣

After disconnecting the mana link with Tåke (to her dismay), I take a deep breath, Puh, okay. ｢Leda, let me form a [Mana Link] with you. But {Urgent}please! Please control your mana, I think it is too much for me.｣

｢{Curious, cautious}I//Leda will not hurt you.｣

｢Please, I want to teach you some abilities, and maybe learn from you.｣

｢{Cautious}…{Curious, reluctant}Okay.｣

I slowly stretch a small channel of mana towards her, ready to sever it immediately, and with my mostly full mana reserves backing it up. ｢{Serious, fearful}Connect with me.｣

The channel is formed, and I yet again sense her massive pool of mana. I almost cut it, but she holds her mana under control, and our pools are kept separate. I experimentally send some into her, only for it to be swallowed by her own mana. There is no way in hell I can control her mana, or even use my own in her, like I could with Tåke.

Classes: [Magus]

Abilities: [Magic Tracking] - [Air Sorcery] - [Aerobatics]

[Mind Magic]

At least I can see her status. [Magus] here has the two basic mana abilities, as well as [Mana Refining] and [Mana Condensing]. In other words, it seems to be an advanced version of [Proto-mage]. That means she only has eight abilities in total… So strong, though! I shudder to even think of how strong a full dragon would be… Of course, the open slots means she can equip more of the abilities I’m gonna teach her.

Classes: [Magus] - [Shapechanger]

Abilities: [Tracking] - [Air Sorcery] - [Regeneration]

[Mind Magic] - [Body Enhancement] - [Meditation]

Mission success! In addition to those, I taught her the rest of the abilities I taught to Tåke, as well as [Aerokinesis] and [Force Magic]. When I was done with those she were twitching to get some air under her wings, so I watched the nest while she went off to hunt. She returned with a moose, apparently having eaten a deer while out there. A moose, and she easily killed and then carried it… Those things are not to mess with. I am so glad she’s on my side. And that I’ve already told her to avoid humans.

Another amazing thing is the fact that she managed to keep the bonds going for what must be a kilometer or so. It did fade to near nothing at the end, but that means she easily has a magic range of several hundred meters! This giant beast is beautiful, in it’s own, overpowering way. While she was away I played with Tåke and inspected the egg.

Teaching Leda [Aspect Magic] was easy enough, and she picked up [Aspect of the Wolf] really quickly. She proved extremely unwilling to take on any other shapes, though. Eventually I managed to earn her Wyvern, and with it I got her to make a smaller form. Well, it’s still as big as me. The answer to ‘can you shapeshift to lower mass forms?’ seems to be no, but I will try it properly later. Maybe there’s a trick to it.

Back to the now, I look on in mild horror as my two companions wolf down the moose like it’s nothing. Heh. I have a piece myself, though I made sure to cook it. A bit stringy, but I’ve developed a serious taste for meat lately. Rare meat, specifically. Well, even before I liked meat, and preferred it medium rare. But not to the point where I’d actually consider, well, this.

｢Alright, I said I would give you a way to hunt with the egg.｣ Leda perks up, a grisly sight with a large part of the moose in her jaws.

I take out the non-spatial bag from my yes-spatial bag. ｢{Triumphant}Tadaa! If you put the egg in here, you can easily carry it around!｣

｢{Confused, worried}Carry the egg?｣

I transmit a collection of images of putting the egg in the bag and having her carry it somehow with magic. ｢[Force Magic] is good for that!｣ Though, strictly speaking it could be done without the bag. ｢Or I can make you a harness to use.｣ I show the harness I made for mini-Tåke, and then how I could hang the egg-bag on Leda.

｢{Confused}Moving nest?｣

Oh, that’s what she meant. ｢If you carry the egg, you can hunt even when I am not here. I can’t go here every day.｣ Well, I could, but that’d be a hassle.

｢{Decisive}I will move to Lars nest!｣