Akor’s eyes scrutinized all the Direwolves. They had all been domesticated and thus, obeyed the imps that leashed them. These were not the original ones actually, like the goats, these Direwolves had bred and such, the infants were raised separated from their parents avoiding their wild counterparts.

Of course, those original ones were also there but they were transported in cages with their muzzle tied up so they couldn’t bite. They were all for being trained into light cavalry mounts.

Horses obviously need open fields so players can only try their best to develop something different.

As for Akor himself, he slowly walked along the outside of the enclosure until he stopped with Valring at one point. Playing amongst several pups was a significantly larger Dire wolf. Strangely though, it didn’t have traits of an adult and also looked like a pup.

“What is wrong with that one?” Akor asked pointing to the larger wolf.

Valring looked at it curiously before activating a spell. It was an identification spell that she has remembered since reaching Tier 2.

“Show my lord the identification notice.” Valring said.

Identification

Name:

None

Race:

Dire Wolf

Race Tier:

Tier 1

Potential

★★★★

Description

First generation domesticated Dire wolf, this pup is significantly bigger than its counterparts. Its potential is twice that of common dire wolves due to the fact that it is the offspring of the alpha male and female.

It is still possible to easily tame this pup with its current age but it also eats twice that of common wolves.

Akor read the description making his eyes widen and he smiled brightly. To find something with high potential is the wish of all tamers. Akor knows the taming skill since he wants to get a mount of course.

“That one, i will train it as my mount.” He said.

“An excellent choice my lord. With it growing to full size, it will certainly become a very powerful beast mount.” She said smiling.

Akor nodded and easily jumped the fence. Several wolf pups ran away as soon as he appeared but others were still like puppies and curious, including the big one.

As he walked over they crowded around him making him smile. He never had a pet for obvious reasons. He never expected to play with so many pups and actually felt quite good at the moment.

Soon the big one reached and Akor pat his head and activated the taming skill.

You have successfully tamed Dire Wolf Pup

“Your name will be… Amarok.” Akor said with a nod.

The happy pup barked but it suddenly froze as a small black flame formed over Akor’s hand.

All the other pups suddenly ran away and Akor looked at that.

“What is this?” Akor muttered.

Valring floated over while gently flapping her wings and saw the little flame. “My lord, remove your hand so that it can accept your mana.” She said.

“My mana?” Akor asked.

“Of course, as your tamed pet, similar to your royal minions, a small bit of demon mana will be infused into their bodies.” She said.

“Oh.” Akor said and removed his hand.

As soon as he did so, the little flame dropped down gently and landed on Amarok’s head and was pulled inside.

“AOOOOO!” it suddenly howled as it’s body suddenly began to heat up. The pups fur is dark grey, perfect camouflage for the mountain but now, it was slowly getting darker.

WOOSH!

A momentary black flame burned around the little pup and suddenly the long fluffy coat was burned shorter and turned black. The brown eyes turned red and it suddenly assumed a kind of demeanor similar to a guard dog. It started to growl because of the pain but a small wisp of flame flowed out of its jaws.

At this point of finally calmed down and seemed to become tired and finally woke up from the startled mentality.

Your pet, Amarok has finished assimilating your demon mana and gained a new title.

Title:

Demon Lord’s Mount

The creature that owns this title is destined to become the mount of a demon lord. They are infused with demon mana of the demon lord and can become Tier 2 demon mounts.

They have two forms, battle pet and mount form.

Receives a buff similar to minions

“It gained a title.” Akor said surprised.

“Not only that my lord, it has also had a minor race mutation.” Valring said.

The two looked at the pup that looked around before it bent over and started to lick its belly.

“Amarok status.” Akor muttered. This command fully opened the status, different form the identification earlier.

Status

Name:

Amarok

Race:

Alpha Dire Demon Wolf

Class:

None

Race Tier:

Tier 1

Level:

2

Exp:

0/500

Hp:

100/100 hp

Mp:

130/130 Mp

HP regen

40 hp/m

Mp regen

30 mp/m

Stat points

0

Strength:

4 (3)

Wisdom:

3 (3)

Agility:

10 (3)

Intelligence:

5 (6)

Constitution:

5 (3)

Dexterity:

10 (3)

Charisma:

2

Skills

Bite

Level 1

Like all beasts and predators, the fangs are one of their primary weapons and attack methods.

Wolf Claw

Level 1

The second primary weapon of predators. They can hack and damage other creatures with this skill.

Wolf’s Howl

Level 1

A howl that boasts the pack’s stats depending on how many howls work together and how strong each individual is. The larger the pack, the stronger the effect. It also induces the state of fear into enemies.

Demon Fire Breath

Level 1

An innate spell learned from creatures with demon mana. The creature can shoot a breath of fire from it’s jaws to damage enemies.

Mount Form/Battle Form

Level 1

A special skill unique to a few specific species which have sufficient power and ability to be both mount and battle pet. These pets have the ability to transform between the two.

“The skills are quite general except the last two.” Akor said sharing them.

“Oh, i believe the battle form is the one we see now. Mount form requires sufficient size to be ridden.” Valring said.

“That is true, i can’t see myself riding a pup.” Akor said, “Mount form.” Akor ordered.

The pups ears perk up at the order and it’s body suddenly released a faint glow before it suddenly expanded to the size of an adult dire wolf. It was 1.5 meter tall and 3 meters long that said, it was quite skinny and it’s bones were very visible.

“What is wrong with it?” Akor asked.

“The stats are too low maybe. Only the bones seem to have expanded, in other words, the muscles don’t have the sufficient mass to expand.” Valring hypothesised.

“Oh.” Akor muttered. “Well it doesn’t matter, do we already have saddles and bridles?” Akor asked.

“We have made a few with copper metal pieces, they aren’t the best but they are enough for our current level.” Valring said. She called an imp to go acquire some of the equipment.

The equipment didn’t need much adjusting, similar to humanoid equipment, mount equipment also adjust to the mount’s specific body structure as long as it is within a certain range. You obviously can’t put horse gear on an aquatic mount but you can on something like a mountain goat and dire wolf. Both of which have similar size to the horse and body structure, being four legged land creatures.

Soon the items were brought and the pup was equip so that it’s skinny bony body would not hurt Akor.

“Can it support me? I am rather worried.” Akor said. He wasn’t small anymore, he was the size of a human already, with the minion buff, Amarok could carry at most, around 35 kilos before being weighed down and begin affected by the weight.

Still he needed to train his beast riding skill and so he mounted the wolf pup.

You have mounted an Alpha Dire Demon Wolf

Movement speed increased by 5%

Warning, because of the low level of the mount and its low strength stat, your weight surpasses it’s maximum weight limit.

Movement speed decreased by 15%

“I knew it.” Akor smiled wearily and sighed. “Well, we can still do this for training.” He said. “Come on Amarok, we will start slowly and just walk.” he said.

The poor pup growled and began to walk under the weight of the strange new equipment and its master. The steps were heavy and labored making it seem quite pitiful, something that Akor actually didn’t like.

He watched the wolf making sure to keep a look at the stamina and when it finally reached the limit, he stopped it and unmounted, removing the bridle and pulling out some meat from the town storage for it. “Here, you earned it.” Akor said and put the head.

The wolf’s eyes shined with happiness as it attacked the food.

The most proper way to train a pet, give treats after doing a good job. It is also much easier in the game world were creatures are much smarter and there is the system aid bridging the gap between races.

After Amarok was fed, it turned back to the puppy form, which is the battle form, and Akor unsummoned it into the pet system.

He was happy with the new mount which only needed some training and it will be able to be easily used.

He walked to the fence and jumped over it but something strange happened. Suddenly a cold gust of wind suddenly blew like a wave causing Akor to shiver.

“Huh? Such a cold wind.” Akor muttered.

“Cold!” Valring began to shiver and rub herself, “Is it already time?” she said.

“Time for what?” Akor asked.

Valring frowned, “Winter.”

DING!

Fall has arrived and winter will soon follow, players and lords had best stock up on food for the winter months. From now on until the start of winter, food production will gradually decline until it reaches -20% the regular production.

Animals and monsters will begin foraging and gathering food themselves while some creatures will go into hibernation during the winter.

Beware of the winter fiends

The notice came suddenly making Akor frown. “What are winter fiends?” He asked.

“They are spirits, monsters and undead. Winter is a season of great death and if areas are filled with death, the corpses, preserved by the cold, will rise as frost zombies. Also there are monsters who only appear during the cold season.” She said.

“How big of an effect does it have on us?” Akor asked.

“From what i know, the entire continent is covered in snow during the winter but mountain regions like here will be heavily affected. That said, for demons this is a bit of relief because it is the only time the hellish badlands gets a steady supply of water through thick snow. It is the time demon trees flourish the most by absorbing a huge amount of water that constantly falls.” Valring said.

“I see.” Akor frowned. “We should begin preparations, i doubt any new lord we heard about will war during the winter, unless they are crazy.” Akor said.

“Agreed master, in fact, winter is a good opportunity as well, we will need to provide a lot of protection from winter monsters providing us with a great amount of experience points for the army.” she said.

“Before we think of fighting, we need to deal with the food problem. How much is the harvest affected during winter?” he asked.

“Of course, production completely stops.” She said in a matter of fact way.

Akor clicked his tongue, “We need to find winter crops. We have already reached domestication of crops, now we just need to set the farms to research different crops that are resistant to cold.” Akor said.

“But my lord, if we focus on this, by the time winter comes there will be a shortage of food.” Valring said.

“Of course there won't. I will set only one field in each village to research different crops that might survive in the cold. The rest is to produce and store all excess food. Next we will commission players to hunt more as well as mobilize the armies in squads to hunt and raise their levels. All the meat gained will be processed and smoked before being stored for the winter.” Akor said.

“I understand, my lord.” She said.

“Also, how many subordinates lack housing?” akor asked.

“How so my lord?” Valring asked confused.

“The housing conditions, how good are the houses, how many imps per house, how big are they, how many are without homes?” he asked.

“Is there a need to know?” She was confused.

“Of course there is, they are currently my manpower, if i leave them to freeze in the winter, how will i develop when spring comes? If half my population dies during the cold of winter then i will have to release army members to regrow the population.” Akor said. “Make a report for me and tell me how many demons in my territory are lacking homes. Then gather them in currently undeveloped areas and make them set up small villages to help produce food for the winter. Also focus wood into improving village homes which are not demon huts. These impromptu buildings need to be improved to allow them to survive.” Akor said.

“My lord is really different from other demons.” Valring smiled and quickly flew off to start doing his orders.

Akor thought for awhile and returned to his home to log off and start research for the winter and see the setup of all the other lords to learn from the big houses that do this for a living.