"A wolf pup?" Leon questioned himself.
[Its cute... free exp.]
"Yeah." Leon thought as he went for his sword but paused after the pup looked up at him.
The wolf pup sat on its hindquarters like a good little puppy and stared at Leon intently. The two stared at each other for a moment before the wolf pup got up and began to walk away. After a couple yards, it looked back and barked at Leon again, as if it was beckoning him to follow.
Leon narrowed his eyes in wonder as he slowly let go of the blade's hilt.
[You're not gonna kill it?]
"Not yet." He replied as he followed the wolf pup.
The pup was quite uncoordinated, as it stumbled about in the snow. Leon had to guess that the pup was barely a month or two old. It looked like it should still be drinking its mother's milk, yet it was here in bloody snow stumbling over corpses.
The pup also continued to look back, to see if he was following before continuing. But what was the most interesting to Leon was its eyes.
They weren't red.
Granted the pup might not even be level 2, but it seemed to have quite a bit of intelligence despite being so young. Would it have been able to have that intelligence without the system's intervention?
Eventually, the pup planted its butt in the snow next to a wolf corpse.
*arf!* *arf!* It barked at Leon as it pointed its snout to it.
Leon raised an eyebrow as he looked at the wolf.
'It the level 5.' He thought.
It was the only creature besides the Giant Deer that actually gave him an issue. On top of that, that wolf didn't have red eyes as well. There were a bunch of pieces coming together in his mind as the wolf pup went up to the dead wolf's head and whined.
It rubbed itself up against it as it continued to whine before it sat down and howled. Its cute little howl held power though. Despite its small stature and adorable looks, the pup seemed powerful to Leon.
Leon just watched with his interest peaked as the pup rubbed its face against its mother (he checked) before it moved down to her chest.
Then, it began scratching and biting its mother.
Confused by this weird little fluff ball, Leon watched as it attacked its mother before barking at him. Getting the hint, Leon didn't question it and rolled the wolf corpse on its back before stabbing into the chest cavity to open it up.
Blood gushed out but despite that, the little wolf dove in head first into the bloody mess. The once pristine whitish-blue coat it wore was now a dark red as it wiggled itself around its mother's chest cavity. Leon had no idea what was happening and possibly believed he was seeing things after all that had happened.
When the pup eventually came out, it had something in its mouth. Its tail wagged happily for some reason as it moved closer to Leon. The strange object in its mouth was a blue crystal, and the pup placed it at his feet before laying down completely.
After having lived in the mountains for a long time, he knew what this was.
A submission.
He had no idea what was going on in the mind of the little guy but he first picked up the crystal to see what it was giving him.
{ Soul of the Wolf (D) - Despite coming from a Grey Wolf barely taking its first steps into E rank, it had a mighty soul. The Soul of the Wolf contains the memories and strengths of its original owner. Consuming will grant you the powers of a Mighty Wolf.}
Leon widened his eyes as he didn't expect to find something like this so early. From his knowledge, this was an item that was created naturally once a being reached D rank but could be found earlier if a creature had a strong soul. In most cases, it brought about extra stats for the one that consumed it but this was completely different.
Leon stared at it for a while longer before looking at the pup below him. With its baby blue eyes, the pup looked up at him. Leon couldn't tell if it was actually there, but it almost seemed like the pup was crying.
After thinking for a bit longer, he sighed.
"Keep it." He said as he put it back in front of the pup.
The pup didn't immediately take it as it turned its head curiously toward the old man.
'I feel like I'm talking to a child.' Leon thought as he scratched the back of his head, unsure how to move forward.
"Its your mother's soul right? You can't just give that away if she's important to you." Leon felt a little weird talking to the little furball like this.
The pup tilted its head once more before pushing the crystal back to him with its snout while whining. It also lowered its head down to the snow again before rolling over on its back in submission.
"I'm not gonna kill you if that's what you think. I would have done so already if I wanted to."
*arf!* *arf!* The little pup got up and started bouncing around. Its tail wagged around while it shook blood everywhere and Leon could only sigh.
"What the hell is happening." He held his head in pain.
"Well, since we've come to understand one another," He said as the pup licked the crystal lovingly, "I'll be going now."
Leon moved his aching body in the opposite direction in hopes of getting home before dark. However he didn't get far as the pup picked up the bloody stone and followed behind him.
[Its following you.]
"I know captain obvious." Leon grumbled as he peeked behind him.
The pup's tail wagged and it seemed to be strutting as it held its head up high. Leon ignored it for a while longer before he got fed up. Stopping, he turned and watched the strutting pup run into his boot.
The pup seemed to glare at his boot as it fell on its butt before swatting it playfully.
[Hey its just like you!]
"Shut it." Leon growled as he glared down at the fluff ball, "Go away."
The little pup directed its glare at Leon now before it dropped the crystal and barked at him like it was talking back.
"No clue what you said but no. Now git." Leon shooed at it but the pup didn't budge.
*arf!* *arf!*
Leon had no clue what it was still trying to convey but he didn't care.
"Go away before I throw you."
*arf!* *arf!* *arf!*
The pup then laid down again staring up at him.
[Look how cute it is! Don't you wanna keep it?]
"No, I don't need another mouth to feed."
[Oh come on, its quite smart. I'm sure it'll be able to start hunting on its own soon.]
The little pup couldn't hear or see the system, but it could understand the old man's words which caused its ears to fall down.
*whine!* *whine!*
"Don't start whining now, its bad enough with these stupid bells always in my ears."
*whine!* *whine!* *whine!*
"Ugh so annoying..." Leon grumbled as he turned around to leave.
The pup didn't follow, only hanging its head low before howling sorrowfully.
[Come on, just take it with you! Its good to have a companion. You couldn't have asked for a better one in my opinion. Plus Soul Stones are very valuable, even if the pup eats it itself.]
Leon grumbled again as the system continued to hound him with annoying dings and his blood pressure increased. He was able to blow his casket and gave his final verdict.
"No..."
[...No...what?] the system asked as Leon had stopped in his tracks.
The pup looked over with tearful and curious eyes.
"No slacking," Leon sighed as he looked back, "You better pull your own weight."
The pup's eyes lit up before it started jumping around barking happily. It stumbled about but could care less as its new "master" allowed it to stay.
"Too noisy." He grumbled and walked away.
The pup eagerly followed, before it remembered it dropped its mother's soul. It quickly went back and picked it up before following in a strut again.
This time though, there was a wider arc to the swing of its tail as geezer and floofball walked towards the setting sun, and toward a new lifestyle.