One thing about having a pair of twin-tailed saberwolves as companions that you don't have to worry about is the likelihood of danger in the night. It's been a few months since I bonded with the pair, and they had grown considerably since then. Each now was the size of a tiger already, and they weren't done growing yet. Since I wasn't growing like them, I had feared that they might turn on me in time. It was still a possibility really, but instead they had taken up a sort of nurturing role. Perhaps because they were both female, I had quickly learned, they saw me as a weak pup now

Unlike my physical appearance though, I had been growing in many other ways. My status screen read like a train wreck. I silently cursed whoever implemented it as it was clunky and unhelpful in many ways. My status now looked like this:

Name: Lyst

Race: Human (Catalyst)

Age: 5

Title: None (Catalyst)

Statistics:

STR: 23/100 (500)

AGI: 29/100 (500)

END: 27/100 (500)

FOR: 42/100 (500)

MEN: 84/100 (500)

MAG: 0/100 (500)

Classes:

Fighter: 3

Crafter: 5

Tamer: 3

Butcher: 2

Forager: 4

Healer: 2

(Catalyst): (ERROR)

Skills:

Spears: 4

Daggers: 3

Critical: 5

Crafting: 7

Domestication: 1

Tactics: 3

Gathering: 6

Poison Resist: 2

Pain Resist: 3

Meditation: 7

Medicine: 1

Survival: 8

(Creator): (ERROR)

(Editor): (ERROR)

(Reincarnate): (ERROR)

(Unlimited): (ERROR)

The three of us had become something of a team, and they understood my orders when we hunted, which contributed to my new Tactics Skill. That contributed to my growth in Forager and Gathering, as well as my Fighter and Spears. My resists and medical stuff came from an unfortunate encounter with what I had come to call a Viper Plant. It truly had nearly killed me, and I had become extremely wary of new flora since I encountered it.

The time had come to move on to a new place. The wolf den near the river was starting to get cramped to me, though it was still technically large enough for the three of us. I wanted the girls to have more space than myself, so it was time.

Packing everything of value was simple, because there wasn't much worth packing. Most of what went into my new knapsack was berries and tubers I'd found. Notably, I'd found the mighty potato. I hadn't figured out how to preserve meats yet, so I'd have to hunt for the girls and myself.

Other than that, I only had a few skins left over from my clothing, the two saberwolf tooth daggers, and now stone tipped spear.

"Alright Anna, Clara. It's time to find a better place."

Anna was the friendlier of my two wolves, always snuggling close to me and waking me by breathing into my ear each morning. Clara was a bit more independent and occasionally wouldn't listen to my commands. She preferred to sleep at my feet, though that may be because Anna hogged the rest of me. Their fur patterns held no distinct differences, so I could only guess that they really were twins. To tell them apart at a glance I had fashioned simple collars from some leather scraps, giving the gray-white colored one to Anna and the red-brown one to Clara.

Setting out, we followed the river upstream. I wanted to stay close to the water since it was going to be critical for numerous reasons. However the decision to go upstream rather than downstream was not as thought out. After all, my former familial tribe was that way. You know, the one that had tried to kill me and never came looking for me. But I figured there were probably some familiar things I might find in that direction, so the risk was worth it.

Progress was swift as we went upstream. Anna willingly let me ride on her back when my body tired, so we were able to continue on for longer than I otherwise would have. I didn't even stop at the place I'd been pushed into the river. There weren't any benefits to stopping there anyway.

We continued up-river for several days, stopping every other day to rest and restock my measly provisions. Finally mountains appeared in the distance. I wondered if that meant I had been close to the coast. With no way to check though, dwelling on it was pointless. It made sense for this river to have its source in the mountains. That source, I decided, was going to be where we would stop.

I thought it odd at first that we didn't have any dangerous encounters. I was traveling with two saberwolves, albeit pups, so maybe other creatures stayed away? Whatever the reason, it helped the journey proceed smoothly.

Fifteen days later, we stood at the shore of a massive mountain lake nestled in-between seven peaks. A glacial wall between two of the mountains fed the lake, which in turn fed the river. Gently sloping forests covered three mountains while the remaining four, which included the two with the glacier, were towering snow capped cliffsides. Picturesque was the only way I could describe it.

"Wow. I think we're home girls."

Setting up camp was simple, since I hadn't brought much. I'd have to construct some kind of house in time, but the thought of that task right now was intimidating. The lake was full of fish, which we feasted on tonight as a celebration of our new home.

It was a chilly night, which was something I hadn't thought about. Really, I was unprepared for this environment. Fortunately, Anna and Clara instinctively recognized my ineptitude and did their typical cuddling of me.

As I stared at the stars, admiring the beauty above, my musings were interrupted by a blinding pillar of light that shot skyward from the center of the lake. The light also emitted a humming echo throughout the otherwise silent area. The entire spectacle was an attention grabber for sure.

I feared as I watched that this was something dangerous to be anywhere close to, but given my wolves protective stances, I wasn't going anywhere right now. Instead I barely made out that the pillar was expanding in size. I saw the edge slip under my feet and a new sensation washed through me.

It felt like I was surrounded by water as it also poured through me. I felt every inch of my skin tingle as the nerves were stimulated by whatever this was. Since I couldn't see and there was only the hum in my ears, my mind focused on this sensation. Even then, it was overwhelming and I blacked out.

When consciousness returned to me, I bolted up in surprise. I was concerned since I didn't see Anna or Clara lying with me. Maybe they ran to the nearby forest to hunt something. I did give them a lot of freedom, and they had done such things before.

I glanced towards the lake, but it had returned to being a peaceful mountain lake and not the light show of last night. What was that? What did it do? Out of curiosity, I pulled up my statistics. It was largely the same as it had been, except for two things.

My magic stat (MAG) now read 20/100 (500) and I had the Skill called Mana Control.

I couldn't hide the smile that creeped onto my face. I dubbed what happened last night a mana outpouring. I wondered if this meant this place was a mana conflux, what I would call a conversion of mana lines. Regardless, I had magic now. Somehow I knew this was truly a new thing to me, though I didn't reflect on that since I didn't want another warning. Now the issue was how to use this magic.

Since I had Mana Control, I must have done something to gain it. I focused on trying to remember what had happened to pinpoint what that something was. Yet, I could only think of the flowing sensation within me. Maybe that was it? I tried envisioning mana within me flowing like water. It took several minutes, but I eventually felt a slight tingle. Looking at my status again, this ticked Mana Control up slowly. I had found the source, and so I spent the next while meditating and pushing mana through me.

I was finally stopped when my stomach audibly growled and I remembered that I hadn't eaten anything since last night.

"Eat fish," said a voice next to me.

I opened my eyes in surprise, glancing at the raw fish being handed to me before turning my attention to the person offering said fish. Before me, crouched down so as to be on the same level, was a young girl. Two fuzzy, canine ears poked through her platinum gray colored hair as her yellow eyes shone brightly with a glint. I saw a blur over her shoulder, realizing she had a pair of tails that were covered in the same gray colored fur as her ears and hair. I also at that moment realized she was completely naked.

"Ah!" I managed to squeak out as I fell back.

She tilted her head in confusion as she stared at me.

"Fish hard catch," said a second voice.

Moving into view was a second young girl that looked identical to the first. The second had a condescending expression on her face, like she was irritated at me for something.

Where had these girls come from? And they were able to speak, albeit incompletely. Not even my 'mother' and 'family' had done that. And that's when it hit me.

"Anna?"

The happy girl in front of me set her tails wagging even faster.

"Clara?"

The irritated one's face softened for a moment, before returning to a serious expression. However, she couldn't hide her own tails swishing about.

They were wolfgirls now, or at least had some ability to turn into a wolfgirl. I'd never really considered examining their status screens, let alone knowing whether I even could. Out of curiosity, I tried.

Name: Anna

Race: Lupinite

Age: 5

Title: None

Statistics:

STR: 20/100

AGI: 33/100

END: 41/100

FOR: 46/100

MEN: 14/100

MAG: 15/100

Classes:

Tamer: 3 (Linked)

Fighter: 4

Forager: 5

Mage: 1

Skills:

Unarmed: 4

Critical: 5

Animal Senses: 6

Tactics: 3

Gathering: 4

Pain Resist: 2

Survival: 8

Name: Clara

Race: Lupinite

Age: 5

Title: None

Statistics:

STR: 20/100

AGI: 33/100

END: 41/100

FOR: 46/100

MEN: 14/100

MAG: 15/100

Classes:

Tamer: 3 (Linked)

Fighter: 4

Forager: 5

Mage: 1

Skills:

Unarmed: 4

Critical: 5

Animal Senses: 6

Tactics: 3

Gathering : 4

Pain Resist: 2

Survival: 8

They had the mage class? How is that fair? But they didn't have skills to go with it, yet, so it seems like they don't know how to use it. Also noteworthy was the lack of any sort of skill that gave them their new form, but I now suspected that that was due to their race shifting. Doesn't explain how that happened still, but it did.

I found it kind of funny that, given they were twins, their status's matched up perfectly. Of course they hadn't been apart much, if at all, so I suppose it might explain that. Could have been a few subtle differences in their statistics though.

"Fish?" Anna said, bringing me out of my thoughts and back to reality.

"Ah, sorry," I replied.

Then I flushed with embarrassment as I was reminded that they were still naked. I mean, we were kids, but I understood this would get awkward in time. I had disconnected from my 'family's' own comfort with nakedness to an extent. I think it was because I cared about Anna and Clara compared to my 'family.'

I swiftly prepared the fish and after we ate, we hunted for a creature that we could utilize for leather. We found a couple of wild boar within the mountain's forests, and they provided adequate enough leather for me to fashion crude, dress-length tunics for the girls.

"It's going to be colder without all of your fur," I commented, wondering how we would survive the night now..

The two only smiled at me.