Kanami approached Sokram with slow, deliberate steps.
“Was it the temperature of your mana?”
Her sharp eyes flicked from Sokram to her Dire Wolf, her brow furrowed in thought, trying to make sense of the unexpected outco.
“Not exactly,” Sokram replied, shaking his head thoughtfully as he searched for the right words.
“It’s more like a vibration. Mana is energy, and every beast uses it. While it’s almost impossible to match and assimilate with mana that cos from Magi cast by others, when it originates from creatures that aren’t as intelligent, it’s easier.”
Seeing that Kanami still looked confused, he tried another approach. “Think of it as speaking in the sa language as her elent, not her specifically, but connecting with how she learned to use those elents, how she awakened them.”
He then looked at Kanami carefully, his expression shifting, and subtly isolated the sound around them with a quiet spell. “I don’t an to pry,” he began, his voice now audible only to her, “but seeing how much synergy she has with you…”
But Kanami, her frown deepening slightly, raised a hand to stop him.
“Yes,” she confird, her voice low, “my aura is of a unique type.”
“Hatti’s Aura?” Sokram’s words reached her ears, yet his mouth didn’t move.
Kanami’s frown intensified.
A flash of surprise in her eyes.
“Don’t worry,” Sokram's voice, now using an Isolated Voice Transmission Spell only for her ears, continued.
He carefully sensed her reaction and reassured her, "I isolated the ssage; only you can hear it.”
“Yes,” Kanami nodded, confirming, her surprise giving way to intrigued caution. “That’s exactly it.”
Sokram nodded back, a knowing grin flashing across his face.
“Just a second,” he said aloud as he stood up, moving towards a quiet corner of the paddock.
Kanami’s brow furrowed, her eyes narrowing slightly as she studied him. Curiosity burned behind the gray irises, though she said nothing as she waited.
The scent of damp earth clung to the air, mingling with the faint musk of beast, until the sll of ink tickled her enhanced sense of sll.
Sokram had taken a blank scroll and a small inkpot from his Void Glove and settled onto the ground, the Dire Wolf, now calm and curious, following him to lie at his feet.
The others around them, understanding that Sokram might have stumbled upon sothing significant, perhaps a key insight into the Dire Wolf, chose not to pry.
They began chatting among themselves, creating a polite distraction while they waited.
Even Lazar, despite his burning curiosity, turned to his brother.
He congratulated Nirmal again for bringing such a promising contract, subtly hinting at future rewards.
Once Sokram finished writing, illustrating the scroll with diagrams and detailed anatomic designs of the Dire Wolf's energy pathways, he gently rubbed the Dire Wolf’s belly.
Turning back to Kanami, he offered her the scroll. “What is her na?” he asked softly.
“Ice,” Kanami answered, a flicker of embarrassnt crossing her face at the simplicity of the na.
She quickly rushed to explain, “Since she was a puppy, she loved playing with ice. I found it amusing and quite endearing, especially because of my Aura.”
“It fits her perfectly.” Sokram smiled genuinely and extended the scroll toward her.
“It’s a good thing you brought her. Otherwise, the other techniques wouldn’t have been able to push her towards a complete evolution.”
Kanami’s nails scraped against the scroll. "Why is that?"
Sokram’s smile widened, becoming almost radiant with the excitent of discovery.
“She is quite the rare find among the Dire Wolves, only one in a hundred thousand is born with the potential of evolving into…”
“Hatti! The Great Ice Wolf!” Kanami’s eyes went wide, her voice a hushed gasp.
But then she shook her head, a note of doubt entering her tone. “No! I thought this might be the case when we found her. I tested her heart myself, and there was no ice in it.”
“Then co have a look.” Sokram motioned for her to approach.
Kanami rushed forward, kneeling beside Ice and placing her hand over the wolf’s heart.
Her frown returned as she felt for the familiar core of frozen energy but found nothing unusual.
Looking up at Sokram’s calm, unwavering visage, she felt a surge of irritation. “Explain.”
“I told you, hadn’t you brought her, she wouldn’t have achieved her full evolution. But I believe her finding you was Fate.”
Sokram’s gaze held hers firmly as he pointed at the scroll in her hands. “Consider it a gift. Now, withdraw your energy from her and only use it to observe.”
Sokram resud gently rubbing Ice’s belly, simultaneously increasing his energy’s synergy with hers.
Once the optimal point was reached, he began guiding her energy circulation according to the technique in the new scroll.
He was surprised by how quickly she picked up on the pattern; Fira had required fifteen cycles to follow his guidance, but Ice needed only three.
But now it was Kanami’s turn to be truly impressed, even shocked.
Within Ice’s bloodstream, tiny, perfect ice crystals began to take shape, glittering faintly as they traveled through her veins.
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As they reached her heart, it didn't reject them; they were absorbed by the very walls of the organ, strengthening it.
The purity of the energies she gathered and the sheer amount she cultivated in a single cycle also astonished her.
She finally understood the depth of what Lazar had witnessed.
“Once you master it enough to guide her yourself, you will see that with your aura, she will cultivate even faster, and when she certainly reaches the Reford Level, she might even gain a humanoid form,” Sokram stated casually, stopping his guidance and standing up to et her gaze with a smile.
Kanami, however, was unable to contain her sheer excitent.
She lunged forward and hugged Sokram tightly, lifting him slightly off the ground.
“Thank you!” she exclaid, her voice muffled against his shoulder.
“This gift…” Then, rembering their audience, she abruptly broke the hug and stepped back, looking visibly embarrassed, clearing her throat. “I… Thank you, Sokram. I won’t forget this favor.”
Sokram looked at her, a flicker of confusion in his eyes.
While he understood the significance of the potential evolution, her intense reaction seed… strange to him.
Not wanting to pry further into her personal feelings, he rely nodded and smiled. “So, do you want to see how the other techniques work on more common wolves?”
“No need.” Kanami shook her head, her expression now a mixture of awe and decisive resolve.
“It’s clear to that you know more about this than I do, and that your techniques are far more effective than anything we possess. So, I’ll sign this contract with you, and you can also count on the Greyfur clan to aid you against the Steelhearts.”
Kanami then bowed slightly, knocking her fist over her heart in a gesture of respect and alliance.
She turned to rejoin the others, but stopped short, realizing Ice wasn’t following her.
“Girl, co with mommy! Now.”
Ice responded with a low growl, a clear complaint, but begrudgingly followed anyway, casting longing glances back at Sokram.
Kayn, seeing Kanami’s radiant happiness and excitent, approached her. “Big sis, what have you decided?”
“Heh,” Kanami chuckled, a beautiful, genuine smile spreading across her face. “Have you ever seen this happy?”
“No,” Kayn smiled back, a warmth in his eyes, “not in a long ti at least.” His gaze then shifted to Sokram, and he offered a brief, grateful nod for whatever he had done for his sister.
Soon after the demonstration, the contracts were signed.
Sokram had previously agreed with Oliver to purchase the remaining wolves, horses, and bears from him to gift them to the Greyfur clan and Goldenmane family, just as he had offered to Kayn and Nirmal.
However, the clan leaders insisted on buying them instead, firmly refusing to feel further indebted to him and his family.
This insistence also serendipitously prevented Sokram from incurring a debt himself, since he had refused the money Margiory and Hannah offered him for the purchase.
He had secretly hoped for this outco, and in the end, everything worked, and his plans advanced once more.
As the elders’ voices buzzed with approval and deals were finalized, Sokram remained still, watching Ice’s lingering gaze.
The mont wasn’t just a victory; it was a warning.
His influence had begun to reshape the city.
But just as the Greyfur and Goldenmane representatives were leaving the stables with their new mounts, two n stepped directly into their path, blocking their passage on the crowded streets leading to the South Gates.
“I see your little eting is over,” the first man spoke, his voice smooth but carrying an undercurrent of arrogance.
“I wonder why we weren’t invited, since this seems to relate to all stable owners of the city.”
The speaker was Aaron nid Steelheart, a human with neatly combed dark brown hair, pale skin, and sharp brown eyes.
His body was lean but clearly well-trained, standing around 1.8 ters tall.
Adrian was physically similar to Aaron but sported long, dark hair and was dressed in rich brown and black mage robes.
There was a coiled tension about him, a stark contrast to his brother's imdiate arrogance.
From Sokram’s knowledge of his previous tiline, both brothers were Tier 10 True Existences.
They were also the youngest prominent mbers of the Steelheart family in Eversnow.
“Not all stable owners,” Sokram corrected him calmly, stepping forward slightly as the host of the event. “Just my friends.”
Aaron looked Sokram up and down, a condescending grin playing on his lips. “Heh, so you are the little genius I’ve been hearing about so much, hm?”
“I don’t know anything about being little,” Sokram retorted, his own broad, arrogant grin mirroring Aaron’s but laced with far more confidence.
“I’m just thirteen and almost the sa height as you. But if you don’t like hearing about , you could always cut your ears off.”
Several elders around them chuckled softly at Sokram’s audacious provocation.
Aaron’s face darkened instantly, his grin vanishing, replaced by a cold glare. “We ca here with good intentions, and you co and spit on our faces with your mockery. Is that how you treat your guests, lizard?”
Sokram glanced around, noticing their argunt had already begun attracting attention from passersby, who stopped to watch the unfolding scene.
This was precisely what he needed to chip away at the Steelhearts' carefully constructed reputation in the city.
“You’re not guests,” Sokram stated bluntly, raising his voice just enough for the growing crowd to hear clearly.
“You’re outsiders. I thought the ssage I sent was clear enough. But since you need to hear it coming directly from …”
Sokram took a deliberate step closer, his gaze shifting between the two brothers, his tone sharp, firm, and laced with undeniable authority.
"You don’t belong here. You're not one of us!"
The words hung in the air like a blade, silencing the crowd’s murmurs. A horse stamped nervously, its breath fogging in the sudden chill.
“You people…” Adrian spoke for the first ti, his voice tight with anger, a stark contrast to Aaron’s more controlled hostility.
“You northerners are all a bunch of ungrateful country bumpkins! Rabid dogs that only know how to bite the hand that has been feeding you!”
Many of the watchers gasped, their eyes wide at Adrian’s inflammatory words.
Among the common folk in the crowd, fists were clenched at their sides, and brows furrowed into hard lines.
Their eyes, cold and defiant, stared daggers at the Steelheart brothers, a silent promise of future resistance.
A few rchants nearby looked visibly disappointed, realizing that aligning their businesses with the Steelhearts might now lead to repercussions.
Behind Sokram, so of the elders from the two founding families struggled to conceal their killing intent.
At the sa ti, Lazar and Kanami took subtle steps closer, their stance making it clear where their allegiance lay.
But Sokram’s following words were like the first nail in the Steelhearts' coffin.
“Ungrateful? Feeding us?”
Sokram’s frown deepened, his tone becoming sharper and significantly louder, no longer bothering to conceal his rising rage.
“What should we be grateful for? The cheap, flaky mounts you peddle? The second-rate at you supply? Or…”
Sokram’s gaze locked onto Adrian’s face, studying his reaction with predatory focus as he delivered his following words, a chilling hint of foresight in his voice, “Or our ruined crops?”
Adrian’s composure cracked, the widening of his eyes a silent confession before he could mask it, but it was already too late.
Kanami, Lazar, and several other sharp-eyed elders also saw it.
Seizing the mont, Sokram leaned forward slightly, his tone shifting, seemingly backtracking but actually driving the point ho.
“Oh, right,” he said, a mocking glint in his eyes, “that didn’t happen yet. But with how you’ve been relentlessly pressuring our farrs to sell their land, I rely assud this would be the next logical step in your plan.”
Aaron, attempting to cover his brother’s costly mistake, stepped aggressively into Sokram’s personal space.
“What are you trying to accuse us of, you damn lizard?!” His voice was tight with barely suppressed fury.
Sokram’s grin returned, wider this ti, fueled by the visible panic he saw in their eyes.
“Well, it’s quite the basic and even cliché strategy,” he explained as if patiently instructing a child, “Pressure farrs to sell. Farrs don’t sell. Ruin their crops. Then offer them a loan. And when they inevitably fail to pay…”
Sokram’s gaze held Aaron’s, full of open mockery, while his lips curved into a knowing smirk, “…You seize their land.”
“You fucking lizard! You dare to slander the na of the Steelhearts!” Aaron roared, his control finally snapping.
He lunged forward, reaching for Sokram’s shirt.
But before he could make contact, sothing swiftly pulled him back.
In an instant, both he and his brother were surrounded by seven guards of the Steelheart family, who seed to materialize from the shadows.
However, behind Sokram, positioned strategically over the roofs of the nearby buildings and surrounding the Steelhearts and their guards, were far more nurous figures.
The guards of the Androny family and Miralyn’s personal guard were spread throughout the area, creating an inescapable cordon.
Then Alain’s voice bood through the tense air, as he stepped forward to stand directly behind Sokram, a towering, protective presence:
“Those who dare touch the young master will die!”
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