Felix sneezed loudly, scaring the bunny in his hands. Well, bunny, but the thing was large.
About the size of a medium-sized dog, the thing calmed down after his sneeze and just looked at him as if inquiring.
He had led the bunny towards him and with ease bonded with it, removing the bond from his knife since whatever passive it had would take a bit longer, or a stronger bond to get out of it. While holding the bunny he set it down and pet it for a bit, he was in the middle of the forest, using a constant state of mana to explore his surroundings, he was looking for something.
He was looking for a lone creature, anything really that could act as a 'familiar' so to speak, he knew some people had them, knowing that there had been a few people that passed through the village with dogs or other animals. The bunny was cute and fluffy, sure. But even if it was larger than normal bunnies, that is all it was, a bunny. His bond didn't expand mana or connect via mana so it didn't warn others that it was his so it could be used as a recon tool, but he had no need for something like that for now.
What he needed was a partner in crime, something that could attack and defend him, something efficient and useful. He was against bonding with humans right now and had been from the start. He was ready to do some bad deeds, but the enslavement of a person wasn't on his list yet, but animals even if he didn't like it, he needed it right now.
Setting the bunny down he ordered it to go attract a lone wolf. Once the bunny had its order it hoped off all happy, looking around he decided the best place to hide would be in a bush, hoping that the scent of a bunny would be enough to fool the wolf before it was close enough.
After about an hour of waiting, he was completely still, thanks to having been a fisher because of his father in his previous life, and the memory and skill of hunting from this own, he had a large amount of patience. Soon he felt the bunny hurrying towards him, it ran right past him, and just as it did a large wolf was following behind him close on his tail.
He was ready, however, taking the bond from the bunny, who became confused as to why it listen to such a crazy person, he reached out and touched the wolf along the fur, the moment he did he then said in a low voice.
''Get the rabbit, don't kill it.''
The moment his order was out the wolf, with a small boost of power moved forward, the rabbit had no chance as it was suddenly got, screeching in the wolf's mouth, the wolf brought it back.
Once Felix got ahold of it, he wrapped his small hands around the neck and using his other hand, pushed the rabbit's head up, then sharply back. There was a soft crack before its body went limp instantly, when this happened he moved out into the clearing. Ordering the wolf.
''Make sure nothing or no one sneaks up on me, protect me while I skin and dress the rabbit.''
The wolf gave a nod before it turned around and sat down to watch his back, keeping its ears and eyes alert as it made sure to check the surroundings.
Felix got to work on skinning the rabbit, he wanted to preserve the pelt so he was careful, once he had the pelt off he cast some minor spells, one to clean, one to remove fats and acids, and another to cast a tanning spell. He basically made it a ready-to-use pelt in just seconds. He shook his head a bit after he did, magic really was convenient.
Once the pelt was ready he just set it aside into his pack then got to working on dressing the rabbit. Getting the bladder out he tossed it to the side, taking the heart, lungs, and minor intestines he tossed it to the wolf who ate happily while keeping alert. He cut open the stomach and let the digestion and food the rabbit had to eat out onto the ground before then tossing the stomach itself as well to the wolf.
He then took all the meat off the bones and used a spell to suck the moisture out of it. It was like a really quick dehydration process. The only bad thing is it didn't have any seasoning so it would taste pretty bland, but it added to his food rations, though something he did try to do was 'Enrich' the food with mana. Which it worked in a crude manner, but a taste test proved that enriched food tasted slightly better than none enriched food, so that was good. He'd need to experiment with it later to see a better way to do it. The first thing would be to try and do it while the animal was living.
There were stories that dragon meat without any seasoning not only tasted heavenly but also strengthened a person's body and mana since they were creatures that naturally enriched themselves with mana.
As he finished adding to his rations and eating a meal along with the wolf he continued to head out.
After two days of nothing really happening other than occasional hunts and learning how to work with the wolf better, it was just before sunrise when Felix felt an odd sensation, which made him open his eyes quickly, pulling the knife from his side.
Noticing it was the wolf waking him up with the intent to 'harm' him he relaxed a bit but the wolf seemed to look at him. He didn't hear it physically but he could feel what it wanted to say, there were goblins near the camp, only three of them.
He has ordered his wolf to wake him up using intent, it was an actual thing that existed, and the first morning when he did it, he didn't even wake up into the wolf's teeth were around his throat. But in only two days he had got to the point of being able to detect it at five feet even in his sleep.
Having focused on increasing his personal strength and mana, he wasn't much stronger physically, more flexible and that's it, his mana though had the most improvement since it was a near-constant practice. He now had enough personal mana to cast some minor elementary house spells without needing outside help, and maybe a very weak attack spell if he needed to.
Slowly he packed up his new bedroll and pillow, getting his equipment on he raised a hand to the wolf and it walked over to put its head into his palm. He slowly moved his hand and the wolf followed his hand exactly, they had trained a method of 'releasing' the wolf without words.
If he aimed the wolf's head at someone, and let go, he wanted them to attack that person, it may not seem big, but to be able to attack someone without a verbal command to give it away was a great layout for a surprise attack.
Once the goblins slowly got closer, he focused on his man sense, setting a 10-foot barrier of thread around him. From the adventurer notes from the scholar's bag, he learned that goblins could see in the dark, but they didn't have the ability to see in the dark, and today there were no moons in the sky so it was darker than usual, but if he was within five feet of them, they could see a blur of him. The moment they passed the ten-foot mark, he slowly closed the barrier, following their movement
The moment they were in the seven-foot range, he pointed the wolf's head towards the left most goblin and release his head. He bolted forward and in a snarl, he went for the goblin's throat. In a quick move the left goblin died without a fight, they seen the wolf only for a moment before they heard the footsteps. the right one didn't react fast enough before his head was removed from its shoulders in a flash of steel.
The middle one finally reacted as it swung a poorly kept bronze sword towards the wolf. The blade caught something before it was pushed upwards again, the goblin stumbled before the wolf turned and went for the throat with ease.
Once the last goblin died Felix let out a huff, that was his first technical combat and it went smoothly, he was glad he was able to react and block the sword with his own. These were only goblins and he had a large advantage in strength and equipment but it still felt good.
''Eat what you want, leave the ears, search for crystals.''
Happily, the wolf began to chew into the goblins carcass. In these two days he also learned something, he got lucky. He didn't just get a wolf, he got an evolved wolf, they look the same, but an evolved wolf has the ability to eat pretty much anything without worrying about its health due to sickness or other diseases. It also had the chance, if consumed enough crystals to gain an ability or even an affinity with magic.
Carving the left ears of the goblins, he used a draining spell, then a cleaning spell before putting them on a cord he had made from plant fibers and twisting them together to make a strong cord. He didn't think he could choke someone out with it, but it was great for holding a few things, like ears of wolves, Goblins, things needed to get money, proof of subjugation as said in the scholar's notes.
Something he had learned as well, to claim a magic item as his own, he had to use his personal mana to take over the natural mana of an object to make it his, it would've been slow but the scholar bag never seemed to be claimed. The only benefit from this was that one, it basically meant he didn't steal it, and now when he opened it, he could 'Sense' for the thing he wanted and it would find its way into his fingers.
His wolf, which he has yet to name and is really struggling on a name for it had only found one crystal, and after letting the wolf have it he waited. Seeing the wolf just shakes his head Felix just shrugged.
''If we got a skill for you, or an affinity from the first crystal our luck would be too good.''
The wolf nodded before they decided to just start their journey now.