James took control of himself. Just because Wilbur didn't have any powers didn't mean that he couldn't gain them somehow later. There were many cultivation methods in existence. Most people considered them pseudo science, but there were documented cases of gaining skills, magic, and more from them.
'Take a deep breath. Calm down.'
He told himself.
One of his teachers at school had told him once that having a bloodlineless and powerless pet can sometimes be good. It meant that they could be taught anything. The future would be limitless for Wilbur and therefore James would have a lot of options as well.
'Hold on, it won't be limitless. Wilbur will still have some preferences. I can't force him to do anything against his will.'
By the time the walk was over James had worked out his issues and determined what he needed to do next. Find out which elements Wilbur reacted to the most. Since Wilbur was still blind and deaf this would be difficult, but James didn't want to start in a few weeks. He wanted to start now, it was just a matter of finding ways to make it happen.
When he arrived back at the apartment complex he saw that the food truck was here. There were bags and boxes laid out on tables inside the complex door. A big sign said that, there was only one bag per person or that a family of five or larger could take a box.
Reminded of food, James took one bag and checked it to see if there was any milk in it. He had to do some research on how to feed and care for a mouse pet. There was and once James was up to his apartment he pondered how to keep the pup.
Realizing that Wilbur was probably starving he first dripped some milk on his finger and held it out to the pup. The drop of milk was larger than his nose and it exploded onto Wilbur when James brought his finger too close. The pup was not deterred by his master's clumsiness however and licked its nose. Wilbur's tongue was even pinker than his body and travelled all over his nose drinking every drop that was close enough to reach.
This time James was much steadier and held the drop of milk on his finger millimeters from Wilbur's nose. Now the pup could lick as much as he liked. Instead though the pup pushed his nose forward and again the milk drop splashed out everywhere again.
'I have to find a better way to feed you!'
James laughed to himself while offering a third drop. This time though Wilbur pushed away and went to sleep again immediately.
'Well, I guess that is that.'
Pulling out his laptop, James decided he needed to do some research. First he had to find out if there were any tips and tricks for raising a pet mouse.
Unfortunately he could find nothing. There was plenty of information about how to raise mundane mice, but not a thing about a contracted pet mouse. Often times the raising of a contracted pet and a mundane pet were completely different. Frustrated again James pulled back from his computer after hours of looking and talking on forums.
"Well, little buddy, I guess you are pretty much a mundane mouse anyways. There shouldn't be too much difference between you and a normal mouse, right?"
Speaking to Wilbur, who was asleep, James committed to a particular approach. Then went through the process of buying what he had decided on. In the end it didn't cost too much. Mice weren't that big and they were a hardy bunch. As long as he was careful to make sure that Wilbur would have something to chew on everything looked like it was going to be fine.
Next he started looking up ways to test for element affinities and the best methods to teach element skills. Evidently this was a hot topic online. James had no idea. Many purists said that you should never teach your pet any skills. Instead you should develop their natural skills and interests over time. This was the only way to eek out the most potential from a pet. The theory was that by teaching them foreign skills, no matter how important or powerful those skills were their natural potential would be lessened.
James didn't buy it. He looked over at Wilbur who was peacefully sleeping and thought,
'There is no way this mouse has any specific direction to grow in. If mice had specific development paths they would have taken over the earth a long time ago. Right?'
Ignoring the purists he looked at the methods of the people that taught how to develop powers and skills in pets. This was a wide field. Immediately he saw that there were affinity stones that could be bought. They would glow when they were brought near a pet.
'With this I can test Wilbur even though he is asleep.'
Looking up more online he saw that while you could buy ability stones, there were also training centers where people could go. Most training centers had public ability stones where trainers could go and test their affinity. It was like a library, a trainer could enter and as long as you staid silent and didn't distract anyone else you could spend as much time there as needed. A trainer just had to go and walk around between the stones to find out what their and their pets affinities were.
Of course this was a gimmick. The training facilities were probably hoping to attract potential customers.
Beyond just testing affinities there were skill paths and training manuals that could be bought. A trainer just had to follow along and be patient while their pet went through the tasks and events. Eventually, as long as they had at least a 20% affinity with a specific element they could learn it. At least this is what the various schools and training materials advertised.
Everything had an affinity, even basic skills. For example washing dishes had water affinity. So there was pretty much an infinite variety of ways to begin.
Most people had an affinity of at least 20% with every basic element. That was why they were called basic. Basic because they were required to add even a little magic to the everyday chores of life. A lot of people even had very high affinities with all the basic elements. In fact it was actually more rare to have just one affinity. People with just one affinity would be stunted in their ability to carry out some of the most basic magical tasks.
However, someone with just one affinity had the potential to become extremely powerful in that one affinity. They just had to sacrifice and allow others to help them. If they didn't they had to do all their normal mundane tasks by hand.
After researching and cross referencing everything it was already late at night and it was the seventh time that James and fed Wilbur with a few drops of milk. He didn't eat very much at one time, but he ate quite often.
'I hope I didn't stunt his growth by not feeding him for the first 18 hours!'
Now James was feeling bad for failing his partner.
Any normal pup would have died. Instead Wilbur had probably survived on the mana that James was supplying to his pup. He wasn't sure how that was going to effect the pup's growth and development.
'I am sorry, buddy, I got off to a slow start, but I am here now and totally focused on you. Together, let's make this happen. With a little hard work anything will be possible.'