I started from the very basics, and was shocked to realise Tåke didn’t have [Mana Perception]. But then I thought about it, and you only really need it to manipulate external mana, not internal mana. By manipulating mana you get something akin to proprioception, the feeling of where your body is as you move it. It also extends to spells you form outside the body, as long as you use internal mana for them.

Then I realised I never actually saw her status. Turns out, with linked minds and mana, she could share it directly, which I only found out after using [Mana Inspect] with exceptional ease.

Classes: [Pack leader]

Abilities: [Tracking] - [Ambushing] - [Mana Manipulation]

[Aspect Magic] - [Air Sorcery] - [Mind Magic]

Her equipped abilities are full, but only just. That one lonely class is a bit shabby, though. I should teach her [Shapechanger], which will have [Aspect Magic]. From learning [Mana Perception], she should get [Proto-mage] with it and [Mana Manipulation. [Shapechanger] would probably let her transform into a wolfkin form, if she can get the [Aspect of the Human].

I practically know the aspect exists, but it’s always out of range, like a shadow in the corner of one’s eye. Putting aside my frustration at that, maybe I can’t see it exactly because I’m human? A ‘can’t see the the forest for the trees’ kinda thing? The other aspects turned much easier to learn when I found discrete examples, which for Electromagnetism and Water meant getting away from the constant presence of them in the city. Or put like this: To learn an aspect, you need to know what it is not?

Well, let’s start with [Mana Perception]. With the mind bond and mana link, it does not take long, and I even elevate her skill level, though not quite to my own, in the process. The same happened with [Mind Magic], really. Power level starts at 1, though. Well, it goes up as you use the ability, and seems faster if you have a higher skill level.

That’s one more class learnt, and an ability slot freed. She’ll probably end up equipping whatever I teach her first, but that’s fine. [Body Enhancement], then. I start by demonstrating the ability, then urge her to mimic me. When she fails, I share my knowledge of the ability. She tries again, and succeeds. All right! Let’s teach her the healing abilities, and then [Force Magic].

So I ended up teaching her [Force Magic] first. Apparently you need to actually treat a wound to get the healing abilities, or at least she did. Not like I have no way of hurting myself or others, but it was a bit embarrassing to find that a bruise was enough after returning to human form and cutting my finger to bleed. After all, I have several fading bruises from the, hm, scuffle with Leda and the male wyvern. Well, had.

But now she can heal! Actually uplifting her will be a long term project, but she should already be plenty smarter than pre-Upheaval wolves. I think. Caretaker and Hunter, she could fill both roles. I also want her to be fit to be a Leader, and for that she needs more knowledge. If she agrees, I’ll take her with me when I leave. Showing her how humans live, and having her live with me should make her absorb knowledge over time. And if there’s any way for her to learn [Aspect of the Human], then that’d be it.

With what I consider my basic abilities imparted, I check over my ability list to see if I want to teach her anything else. Aside from crafting stuff, I either don’t think it’d be useful, or in the case of [Spatial-] and [Temporal Magic], smart to, teach her anything else. [Shapechanger], then.

Hmm, the easiest would probably be to make her go through the process I did. First up: Taking on elemental aspects. She has already done it, but I return to the Direwolf form and take on Mist, urging her to do the same. ｢{Happy}Good. Good.｣ Next up would be partial shapeshifting. ｢{Curious}Tåke, what aspects do you know?｣

Of the elemental aspects, Mist, Air and Water. Of animal aspects, Rabbit and Deer. She does not have that of Wolf, though? Is it impossible to learn your own aspect? But her mana is clearly influenced by it… Okay, I’m putting off getting her [Shapechanger], I want to find this out right now.

｢{Urging}Tåke, look at my aspect.｣ I feel something look over, or rather, in me. ｢[Aspect of the Wolf] {Curious}Can you learn it?｣ I question her, then share my knowledge of the aspect. I don’t think this method can make someone’s affinity go up, which seems to be necessary for learning an aspect. But she should already have an affinity stronger than my own ‘excellent’ affinity, being a wolf and all…

She does not seem to get it. ｢{Upset}Look at my aspects!｣ I tell her again, as I revert to human. And for the first time since in a long while, I revert the permanent effects. ｢What do you see//sense?｣

｢{Confused, helpful}[Aspect of the Human]!｣

So there is an aspect for human… I knew it! Well, made a strongly educated guess. ｢{Eager}Can you learn it?｣

｢{Sad}No.｣ She replies. A proper word. A very simple one, used frequently. But the very concept of the word is somewhat abstract. She’s definitely no dumb animal. Maybe not truly intelligent, either, but if she could learn [Aspect of the Human], perhaps that could help? After all, if there is one sole trait we see in ourselves that is unique, then that would be true sapience.

For now though, I’ll try to teach her Wolf. If that is possible, then I can try to make her learn Human, and learn it from her. ｢Pay attention.｣ From my base, human form, I shift to the wolfkin form. ｢Understand?｣ I fully change to Direwolf. ｢Have you learned it?｣

Two more tries, and with the final one I brought out the wolf puppet. She didn’t attack me this time, so it seems to be different enough. She now has the aspect, which is fine and all, but not of use right now.

｢Take on [Aspect of the Deer]｣ That’s the aspect she has the highest affinity, aside from Wolf, which apparently has the affinity of ‘Complete’. ｢{Unwilling}No!｣ She sends me various memories and impressions. Prey animal, is what I get from it. Ah, would probably not be the best idea to do in here. Drat, there goes that plan. She simply does not have any aspects that will work for a partial shapeshift, other than Deer.

The next thing I did… Creating puppet forms, for transforming into. Yeah, that should be possible. Assuming she has enough mass stored, at least. I start be transmitting to her about my inner spaces for [Shapechanger]. I had the spaces before I got the class, though? Pretty sure I did. I was at least able to transform.

With a bit more explanation by memories and knowledge, I manage to have her sense her own space, though she is impressively bad at telling me how much mass she has stored. A lot of it is probably lost in communication. Either way, I manage to leverage my own abilities, including [Spatial Magic], to sense it myself, and it should be enough to create the form of a slightly smaller wolf.

I remember the salami I bought on the way, and give her a couple slices. ｢More if you do well.｣ Ahh, carrot and stick. In this case the small pack of salami hovering over me and out of reach is probably both.

｢{Cheerful, playful}With the mass, make a Wolf. Another you.｣ I tell her how, and then guide her through the process. Soon, she has another, fully formed wolf in it’s own space. ｢Become it.｣ I share how, as I become my wolf puppet. ｢Or summon it.｣ I summon the fox puppet.

It takes a moment for her, but it seems to snap into place, and she takes on a form very like her own, but smaller, more youthful. In fact, she’s adorable, and I revert to human form to cuddle her. She seems very content the attention I give her, but suddenly she closes off her mind and reverts to her adult form. ｢{Confused}Tåke?｣

She does not reply, apparently concentrating on a spell. The flux of the mana stops, and puppy-Tåke pops into existence. ｢{Surprised, happy}Good job!｣ I send to her, before realising why she summoned the puppy form when she attacks the very magic I use to hold the salami aloft, making me drop it. Right next to the puppy.

“｢{surprised}Ohhh, {amused}you clever girl!｣” Wait, not the plastic! I push off adult-Tåke and rip the pack of salami out of the puppet’s jaws. ｢Do not eat plastic.｣ I send, before taking out the salami from the now torn and somewhat wet pack. I quickly give half to each of the forms, then wipe off the saliva from the pack before putting it in the bag.

With that, she has the [Shapechanger] class, and I quickly share what I know about [Multi-body Control], which she seems to need since she managed to crash the two forms into each other in an attempt to take the pack of salami from me.

Right, that should be enough for- wait, what about [Meditation]? If I’m gonna have her use a lot of magic, she better be able to effectively regenerate mana, and not get a headache. Actually, [Mana Absorption] as well. How did I not notice them earlier? They are must-haves for anyone who wants to use magic.

Happy with the how easy (well, mostly) it was to teach Tåke, I decided to teach other wolves. My first priority is the Builders, since there is no system to how they currently build, and some parts of the cave-thing seem to have questionable structural support. The soil is hardened by magic, but still. I am still fully linked to Tåke, and the wolves oblige when two pack leaders call them to gather. I also shoo wolves out of all but the outermost corridor and rooms, sweeping over the empty rooms with my mana to ensure there’s none left.

Good. Time for some Building and Architecture Bootcamp 101. The first thing I do is to tear down everything, from the innermost rooms. With a clean slate apart from the original side-room, I first impart some knowledge on physics. I keep it simple, since I do not know how much they’ll understand, but ‘things fall down unless it is held up’ is a simple concept.

From there I try to teach them the practicality of straight corridors and flat floors. Building upon the knowledge about structural integrity, I lead them to the new end of the tunnel. I enlist the Builders’ help, and start making a tunnel tall enough to walk through, and wide enough for people to pass by each other

Once enough distance has been made, I point out the gentle slope, and push into the right wall, forming a square-ish room. We make the floor roughly bowl-shaped, with a ramp to ensure you can get out of the bowl. I then make them harden the floor. ｢{Stern}For collecting water. If rain comes into Den,｣ I send them the thought of rain, and some flowing down the corridor. ｢- it will collect here.｣ Most would probably seep into the dirt floor on the way, though. But it can be hardened later.

A while later, the corridor's floor has indeed been hardened, with a small channel at the right side, draining all water into the collection room. I also made a side-room, so that if the water gets over the bowl, it will flow into another bowl, which has a non-hardened dirt floor.

Opposing the bowl room is a low ramp to keep out water, leading to a corridor. The corridor has a large room on its right, for whatever the wolves want, and after a short distance have an offshoot go to the left. The offshoot is a smaller corridor, and leads to several small-ish rooms. If you were to put a bed in them, they’d be mostly full. And the intention is that they can be used for sleeping.

I also made them continue the main corridor, still maintaining a slight slope to drain water. It has another entrance to the big room, as well as three more big rooms, before becoming a four-way intersection with stubs leading to nowhere. At the corner of the intersection, there is a bit to drain water into the soil.

I figured their builder can also be crafters, so I taught them all the orb of light spell, making sure they all had the basic magic abilities, and thus [Proto-mage], in the process. Then I went on to teach them [Imbuing], [Enchanting] and finally [Mana Absorption]. With preparations done, I taught them how to make a simple, self-fueled glowing stone. I gave them instructions to put them along the corridors at regular distances, then sent them off to find some stones.

The result was all according to keikaku(keikaku means plan), and while the light isn’t that strong, and the spaces aren’t exactly millimeter precision, it’s plenty good enough, since I can now see without having to maintain my light spell. Perfect.