The sensation wasn't entirely overwhelming; if anything, it stung like being smacked in the forehead with a rubber band, more annoying than painful, or at least that's how Aoni perceived it.
In the case of the small creature, it must have felt like the warm embrace of a parent. No, that isn't right, more like an older sibling, because through this newly forming link, Aoni could sense all its fear and hesitation being replaced with a familial bond akin to how he was toward his younger sister and older siblings.
However, there was more to what Aoni was sensing through the connection, primarily fright and confusion, which he totally understood.
Even though Aoni knew where he was and how he ended up there, it was still a new place, and until the moment the creature came through the flume, he felt alone, just like the small Summon was feeling at the moment.
Before Aoni could even react or so much as read the changes to his Summon's Display, the small ball of white fur flung itself at him, seeking shelter in his embrace.
So, without hesitation or thought, he caught the small creature and hugged it gently but frowned when he noticed it was shivering.
'Poor guy must have been terrified; one moment it was wherever summons came from, probably with its family, then the next teleported to my territory.' Glancing down at his first summon as it buried its head into his shirt, Aoni immediately felt the urge to protect the little guy…or girl…let's be honest, he wasn't about to hoist it up and check its gender, given the state it was presenting.
Knowing that he had to do something, Aoni made a split-second decision that may screw him over in the short term, especially since he had a sneaking suspicion the creature wouldn't be much help given its size, and got up while cradling the ball of white fur and walked over to the bookshelf where he'd dumped off his rations.
Since Aoni had already forgone lunch and breakfast and skipped directly to the first Dinner MRE, he figured giving the first two meals to the summon as an attempt to help ease its scared mind wasn't TOO terrible of an idea.
Soon enough, the two of them were sitting on the bed, with Aoni resting against the wall and the ball of fluff still clinging to his chest, while preparing the breakfast MRE: some scrambled eggs, two pancakes, and some orange juice.
Curious at its Lord's actions, the small creature turned its head and watched what Aoni was doing carefully, showing slight sparks of intelligence, almost as if it were trying to figure out how he was magically making something that smelled so delicious, and roughly five minutes later, the food was finished, with the entrees on two separate paper plates.
Extracting the summon from his chest, Aoni placed it into his lap and began speaking in a gentle tone.
"Which one do you want to try first?" he asked, causing the little creature to look up with curiosity in its big eyes…that was when Aoni noticed something odd.
When it first came out of the flume, the creature's eyes were crystal blue, almost like bright sapphires, but now, they were spitting images of Aoni's own emerald green Eyes.
'The Link of Subordination caused some type of genetic mutation in it…that's quite odd. I've never heard of anything like that happening before, but given how weird my attribute is, I shouldn't be too surprised.' he thought while smiling down at the little creature and rubbing its head with affection.
The head pats seemed to work wonders and were apparently enjoyable if the creature's body language was any sign as it closed its eyes and, putting on what Aoni assumed to be a smile of contentment, it pushed against his palm.
The little creature even emitted a sound like a cross between a coo and a purr, making the lad chuckle slightly before tapping it on the forehead.
"Now, you have two options here, on the left…" Pointing at the stack of pancakes, first, he began explaining in simple terms to judge how much it could understand.
The Link of Subordination was a strange and otherwise mysterious thing; for starters, it created a connection bolstered by loyalty between a summon and its Lord, when if strong enough, the Summon would throw its life away at the command of its master or Lord.
Conversely, if the Summons' loyalty was too low, betrayal or abandonment was a strong possibility.
While it allowed control over the summon, it also built a basic level of understanding between Lord and Summon in the event that it wasn't an intelligent lifeform capable of speech.
For example, let's say that Aoni was to summon a Humanoid who didn't speak the same language as he did; the moment the LoS was formed between them, it would understand his words as if Aoni were talking in its native tongue.
The same could be said for the small creature; while it wasn't able to communicate with words, only oos, and gaos, it was still able to communicate to some extent, if not with its body language, then with the emotions it was feeling.
As such, the intent behind Aoni's thoughts was transferred through the LoS, causing the little creature to point toward the scrambled eggs first.
"Eggs it is then," wearing a smile, he leaned over and scooped up some of the eggs with a plastic spoon included with the meal and brought it to the creature's face, making it scrunch up and sniff before looking up at Aoni.
In response to this reaction, he said, "Say ahhhh," and opened his mouth, which was then mimicked by the creature adorably.
"Ooooo,"
What transpired next resembled a parent feeding an infant as the lad carefully spoon-fed his new summon one bite after another before moving on to the pancakes, which apparently were a bigger hit than he'd thought because the little glutton didn't even give Aoni a chance to cut them up before trying to devour them.
With a full belly, the summon hurried back into Aoni's arms and cooed several times before drifting off to slumber, much like a child would do, causing the lad to sigh.
It didn't take a genius to understand Aoni had drawn a relatively short straw with his first summon; maybe down the line it would be helpful, but given its maturity and size, he understood this little guy was nothing more than a baby and as such, wouldn't be able even to execute the most basic of tasks required to survive in this harsh environment.