Foxkin are almost identical to kitsune in behavior though far less powerful. Games and pranks are what a foxkin will often choose to do when given the chance. Kitsune with a single tail are also often mistaken as foxkin. Their great beauty makes them a favorite among nobles as personal slaves though they often trick their way back to freedom before too long.

Lykou

I open my eyes with a smile, I now know where my mana is and can work on controlling it.

“I'll come get you in the morning tomorrow. A quick lesson and some reading to get you started.”

I nod as she gets up, only then do I notice half the afternoon has gone away.

“I’ll be back before night fall, I want to try a few things.”

“Make sure to” she says as she begins to walk away.

There is so much to do, so much to try. I’ve been thinking of dozens of ways to try to control and then train that control.

I mentally push at my mana to no effect for a few minutes before throwing it and the other ideas down the line of brute force from my mind. Pure will isn’t the way, at least not for me. Desire alone could be one but that would be risky.

Next, I try to focus on what I want to do, move along the mana pathways that are my veins and arteries. Again, nothing but there is some movement as I do both this and push at the mana.

I smile even as the mana begins to flow and cause pain, it is however a good pain. Like the warm burn of sore muscles, I know that this uncomfortable feeling is good for me. How I know this I do not know but is keep pushing and focusing on the mana I try different things to get it to move faster with more or less force as the day passes.

As the sun begins to set I finally get up, the discomfort of moving mana around my body is gone, I made sure to send it through every part of my body and while it still reacts sluggishly I should be able to improve that over time.

Mental images, willpower and emotions together worked best. Now I just need to practice as I think of how to solve the weakness of my mana attributes.

I stand up feeling better than I can remember feeling in these near three weeks I have been in the village. Not only have I stumbled into having a teacher in magic but I can now find and manipulate its flow within me.

I reach the village without issue though it feels as if all the animals have left the vicinity, further than they normally do. Alana and Analais are waiting in front of their hut as I walk up to them.

“Stay near me until everyone's wolves get used to you” Analais tells me and I nod.

I wonder if they have different names than the human counterparts, they talk as if the wolves are different creatures and Kylana's seemed to be.

I continue to direct my mana to cycle through my circulatory system as it is good practice as the village waits. The moon rises and all of the adults and teenagers shift into giant wolves or wolf-like hybrids, a slight exaggeration as most of them are only slightly bigger than a regular wolf some are significantly larger.

Kylana and the burly man next to her are half again the size of the next largest, the teens are somewhat smaller though still easily the size of a normal wolf. Behind Kylana and the one I assume is Ragnor is a third abnormally large wolf, one with silver fur and regardless if the clear signs of being young is almost as large as her parents.

Analais while he did change, it was not much size wise. Maybe a few inches taller and wolven features but other than the fur and wolf head he still looks like himself. I guess this is what he meant by being a runt. He does not seem to change much at all.

Before doing anything else the wolves each take turns sniffing me and while I don’t return that gesture I do look over their forms, memorizing which wolves are who in the village. None of the prepubescent children turn but some of them wander around in between the wolves.

Kylana does not come towards me since she has already become familiar with me, most do not spend very long or seem to care for me. The largest of the male wolves waits to be last and the silver female wolf that is Kylana's daughter seems more interested than most of the others.

She sniffs me a few extra times before walking around me. A small sense of approval before she walks back to her mother.

Last to come up is the largest male, like the human that turned into him, he is bulky more raw power and muscle than the other wolves though he seems less graceful than them as well. Strong but clearly lacking in finesse. He does not even bother to smell me before passing his judgement, “this one will dilute our blood.”

Well, his disapproval is clear. Not that I really want to become a werewolf anyways.

“His blood would be almost as good as whoever extends the gift, that is not what I want you to look at. The boy is smart and he is a part of the pack, I’ve already decided that” the wolf of Kylana interrupts.

“I’ll never approve of him. He will never hunt or take the right. . .” the brute wolf begins before Kylana interrupts him again.

“You may bar him from hunting but you cannot do anything more.”

So, he has irrational hate of me, but why? None of the other werewolves seemed to be upset or hateful of me as an outsider. I need to see if he can be replaced, with his mindset regardless of his strength is certainly more harmful to myself and others than he is a benefit.

I back away slightly as he growls. I stand absolutely no chance in melee and I know it.

“See, he is a coward” the wolf exclaims.

“Stop it. I did not accept him for being a great warrior but for his mind. Now stop making a fool of yourself and go hunting already.”

The burly wolf grumbles before turning away from me and walking to the entrance of the village before howling and bounding off into the night followed by all of those that transformed into wolves, save for a few that lay down and look over the village itself. I look at the few that are left, “now what?”

None of the adult wolves respond but a few of the children shrug but most ignore me as they do in Naliya’s class. I turn to leave since there isn’t really anything for me to do before Ragnan shouts out at me.

“Why are you running away coward?”

With a sigh, I conclude that this boy whose name I only managed to hear yesterday as Naliya reprimanded him over breaking a bow is almost certainly the child of that burly wolf. Neither of the two are great examples of intelligence but are physically strong.

“How is leaving at the end of a gathering being a coward?”

My use of logic does not reach an acceptable level of success as the boy grins.

“Your leaving before I dismissed you and I’m the strongest here.”

I roll my eyes, idiots and their might makes right. He also seems to be ignoring the few wolves that are longing around as they watch over the children of their pack.

“Then o great leader what are we going to do while everyone else is away and the moon rides across the sky?” I ask with some sarcasm.

There are a few hidden chuckles before Ragnan responds without noticing my slightly veiled sarcasm.

“You’re going to fight you way up so I can see how strong you are.”

Sparring? I can actually support that use of time, it’ll be more helpful in learning than the mobbing I get every third day in Naliya's teamwork exercise.

“Sure, but I expect to be treated better after winning.”

I don’t think I have the stamina to fight all the way up their strength based social ladder but I might be able to get somewhere in the middle.

One of the smallest boys walks up to me as the others form a circle which slowly circles around the two of us. I don’t remember the boy’s name but I do know he is maybe half my age and significantly weaker than me physically.

He charges first, faster than I remember him being but I still manage to sidestep and grab and arm to swing him around into a pin, while I hold his dominant arm behind his back. He hit the ground and struggles, he breaks free for a moment as I underestimate his strength.

Still from the prone position I forced him in I easily push him down into the short-stunted grass of the village. After a few seconds, he stops fighting back and I release him.

He frowns and moves to sit down outside of the circle while another enters a girl slightly older than he is. She is more cautious than he is. Still she is young and impatient and falls for the same movement the boy did.

Around ten of those circling me and my opponent have entered and left the ring. The last one was the first that I had trouble maintaining the pin. A boy of eight but none of them have a child’s strength tonight, the moon must be strengthening them while I am stuck with my normal level of power. At least I have not had to spend too much energy.

My next opponent is a boy about the same size as me. I can only assume that right now under the full moon he is physically stronger than me. He also wastes no time before charging but turns just before I sidestep and tackles me.

I hit the ground but managed to raise my knee into his gut. As he rolls off me in pain I take advantage of the distraction and move to pin him. I get punched but get a hold of one of his arms, I twist and think I dislocate it using the pain to hold him in place.

It is a partial success as while he did give up after a minute he spent that minute throwing partially powered punches at my ribs.

I can feel the bruises forming, and I’m only a third of the way up this ladder of strength.

Once that boy has left the circle I begin to walk out myself. I while unable to reach my thought of goal know that it is better to quit while I’m ahead. I’m already going to be hurting in the morning so I should stop before it becomes something that’ll keep me from continuing my training tomorrow.

“Where are you going?” Ragnan asks loudly.

“I’m done with the challenges for tonight.”

He pauses for a moment before pointing to the two weakest members of the circle who then take my place as I return to Alana’s hut. I could still stay awake but it might leave me tired tomorrow and I don’t want to start magic training in such a state.

The next fight sounds more violent than any of mine and the few seconds I watch before entering the hut let me know those two are relying on brute strength and raw attributes rather than skill. Fighting like that is going to get them all killed someday.

I lay down on the blankets and enter into the shallow layer of meditation that grants me a connection to the Architect’s system.

Gain: +75 XP Hand-to-hand, +75 XP Melee, +10 XP Ranged, +10 XP Archery, +10 XP Bow, +55 XP Mana Control, +50 XP Draconic Blood Expansion, +100 XP Meditation, +55 XP Apprentice, +75 XP Brawler, +15 XP Man-at-arms

Mana Control 0 -> 1 +1 SP, Draconic Blood Expansion 0 -> 1 +1 Mana Potential, Apprentice 0 -> 1 +1 SP

Lykou

Gender: Male

Race: Void Draconian?

Age: 10

Strength 14

Intelligence 15

Mana Potential 9

Skills

SP: 136

Dexterity 14

Wisdom 14

Mana Potency 7

Languages

Titles

Agility 16

Cunning 13

Luck 16

Traits

Options

Endurance 14

Willpower 17

Perception 12

Magic

???

Vitality 14

Alertness 15

??? 1

Classes

Racial Class

Appearance 15

Charisma 11

Health 78/78

Mana 9/9

I smile as a sense of fulfillment in gaining mana after weeks of work passes over me again. I focus on one of the new skills and hope that my guess of a more detailed explanation will be given if I do so is proven right.

Draconic Blood Expansion L 1 0/1000

Mana veins and the circulatory system are interconnected, while they are not exactly the same they can be bound together as the heart is the source of mana in dragons.

Increases Mana Potential

Increases the amount of mana that can be draw at once

Unable to progress if Mana Potency is two or more points lower than Mana Potential.

Increasing Mana Potential using my Mana Potency and Mana Control, this would be perfect if my mana was more potent. At least I have a solution to half of my problem. Perhaps I can solve that issue with blood magic? The thing I did may not have been blood magic but it was close.

Kylana did temporarily raise something using such magic so maybe but that was only a temporary increase and I need a permanent one. I will have to go through her books to see if she has a solution.

I dismiss the notifications still deciding to hoard the SP. Once I stop progressing in something I can spend them, for now I need to focus on magic.

I grasp at the memory fragment that is closest, it probably is my memories of today and for once I do not mind that it isn’t one of my forgotten memories. I should be able to notice many things from this afternoon that I missed the first time.

I just know I must have missed many things as I started experimenting with moving mana.