Pet Wolf Beast

The rhythmic Tapk! Tapk! of footsteps echoed through the narrow corridor as two figures made their way toward the exit of Asher's confined quarters. A sense of foreboding filled the air, and even the flickering light of the torch seemed to draw back before their steps.

Knock! Knock!

Creak!

The creaky wooden door opened, showing two guards stationed outside. Their wary eyes went from Kelvin to Asher; their faces grew even grimmer.

"He's not going anywhere," one of the guards said with much emphasis.

These men were wholly devoted to Peter, ever watchful for any whiff of disobedience emanating from Asher's quarters.

Unfazed, Kelvin harrumphed and spun them around, striking the base of their necks in a flash too quick to be perceived by either man.

The guards fell to the ground like marionettes whose strings had been cut.

Then he addressed Asher with a composed attitude, conveying an impression of normalcy despite recent events. "My lord, let us continue."

Asher's eyes narrowed. 'He moved so fast, so precisely… If Kelvin were in my world, he'd be considered a peak human, the pinnacle of athletic ability.' Asher nodded silently, trailing behind the butler who now exuded an aura of quiet dominance.

Those two guards were iron-ranked swordsmen, powerful enough to stop the former Kelvin if they executed a surprise attack together. Before his upgrade, Kelvin had been a bronze-ranked swordsman without much experience. But now, his rank and overall combat rating had risen significantly.

After the encounter, the pair moved unimpeded through the castle's dim corridors.

They reached a shadowed back exit, where Kelvin instructed Asher to wait while he fetched a hood.

And so Asher crouched in a dark corner, observing the movement of castle staff consisting of maidservants, servants and poorly armed guards.

The guards wore mismatched leather vests, their protection barely adequate. Most relied on breastplates and carried wooden spears.

From his hiding spot, Asher's attention was drawn to a heated argument between two guards further down the corridor. "I told you, we're not ready for another attack. The last beast tide nearly wiped out half the squadron!" one guard hissed, his face pale with fear.

The other guard who seemed higher in rank shook his head. "And what do you propose? Desertion? Peter would hang us both." These weren't merely disloyal men—they were terrified soldiers trapped in a system that offered no escape.

As he brooded, a maid carrying neatly-arranged stack of clothes stumbled, her burden crashing to the floor. The garments, clearly intended for the highest-ranking powerful individual, Peter, scattered around her.

Asher's heart raced. If anyone discovered he had left his quarters, it would mean certain death at Peter's hands.

The maid, flustered, hurriedly gathered the clothes. Her movement paused as she caught sight of a shadowy figure in the corner—Asher. Her eyes widened.

The maid didn't have any special features, wearing a full light gray dress with a hood from which her brown, curled locks protruded. Her cheeks were slightly red from the cold, and her sleeves were pushed up, revealing skin marked with bruises of varying hues—both recent and old.

"Lord Asher?" she whispered as she scrambled to push her sleeves down.

As their eyes locked in, the system flickered to life before Asher's eyes:

[Name: Mary

Age: 23

Rank: None

Talent: None

Job: Ex-Young Lord Asher's personal maid. Currently a castle maid.

Loyalty: 70]

Seeing her loyalty score, Asher's panic subsided slightly. He met her gaze and whispered softly, "Mary…"

Her eyes shimmered. "Lord Asher, it's really you…"

"Don't tell anyone you saw me, okay?" Asher said firmly.

Mary hesitated. "Lord Asher… Are you leaving?"

Her trembling shoulders and quivering lips betrayed her inner turmoil. To her, Asher was the only hope of escaping Peter's tyranny. Her loyalty wasn't just a number; it was a lifeline.

Asher softened his tone. "I won't leave without you, Mary." He offered a faint smile.

That was when he noticed a change in her stats [Loyalty: 75].

Her confidence seemed to grow, and she quickly gathered the clothes, smiled and hurried away. Even as she left, she glanced back, as if ensuring he wouldn't vanish.

Not long after, Kelvin returned with a hooded cloak. Asher pulled it over his iconic gray hair, concealing his identity.

Together, they slipped out of the castle, the courtyard's hazy sunlight stinging Asher's eyes after the dim confines of his quarters.

Kelvin kept his distance, quickening his pace to avoid drawing attention. Asher followed, his steps hesitant.

"Keep a safe distance away from me," Kelvin said in a low tone, quickening his steps. Naturally, as the head butler, he attracted gazes from the citizens, and most of them weren't polite ones, but they feared his power.

Whispers rippled through the crowd as villagers noticed Kelvin's presence.

"Give the baron's bastard son his rightful position!" one voice cried out. "He might be a cripple, but at least we'd have food to eat!"

A stone flew from the crowd, hurtling toward Kelvin. With effortless precision, he caught it mid-air and crushed it to dust. The villagers gasped, their anger momentarily replaced by fear.

Kelvin's voice was cold. "You would lay your burdens on a man struggling to survive? If you wish for change, then come forward and explain yourselves."

Silence fell. No one dared respond. Kelvin turned to Asher, his voice low. "That man was sent by Peter to draw you out. He wants the people to see you as weak and unreliable, ensuring no one would oppose his rule."

If that was the case, it meant Peter was not only strong but calculative, already adjusting himself to the situation in which Asher finally acted. Peter's thoughts likely revolved around ensuring Asher's failure in gaining the citizens' approval and forming a larger rebellion.

…..

They continued their journey until Kelvin pointed to a wooden cage near the edge of the village.

Inside, three white wolves lay. One, a frail creature with matted fur, was Sirius—Asher's wolf. The other two were robust bronze-ranked wolves, emanating strength and pride.

"That's Sirius."

"Peter tried to tame them but failed," Kelvin explained. "He sent them here to weaken their spirits."

Sirius had once been an ordinary wolf. Asher couldn't train him before falling ill. It had been twelve years since then. These white wolves weren't ordinary wasteland wolves; they were Polar Wolves, creatures with bear-like limbs and powerful jaws capable of exerting a stronger bite force than a jaguar. At their peak, they could grow as large as a fully grown human.

After the bonding ceremony, both Asher and his pet beasts shared the same lifespan. As Sirius grew stronger, so would Asher. They were bonded by flesh and blood. Sirius was to be his guardian, and he, Sirius' master.

Asher felt a pang in his chest, seeing Sirius in such a state. He could feel the wolf's yearning to come to him but was too weak to move.

"The Polar Wolves is an Ashbourne birthright; no outsider can ever change that," Asher said with an unshakable belief.

The other wolves looked at him arrogantly.

The system's interface appeared:

[Do you want to fuse two polar wolves to Sirius, your pet mount? Yes or No]

Without hesitation, Asher selected "Yes." And a radiant cocoon formed around Sirius while the other two wolves were enveloped in light and pulled by an unknown force towards Sirius.

However, those same two wolves resisted, moving in the opposite direction. The more distance they created, the dimmer the light became until it vanished completely.

[Fusion of two polar wolves to Sirius had failed.] a system information popped up in his vision.

'What!? It failed, why?'

[The two wolves resisted the fusion. Would you like to check why?]

'Yes!'

Above the two wolves appeared a stats bar with crucial information: [Loyalty: 10, Loyalty: 0], [Owner: None, Owner: None].

"Lord Asher what happened? Are you perhaps tired? Hungry?" Kelvin turned to Asher worried because the skill didn't work.

Touching his chin thoughtfully, Asher analyzed the situation. 'Hmmm. It seems that for the fusion to work, I need ownership and loyalty. But why do they perceive me so poorly? Could it be because I failed to help them when they needed it most?'

After a moment of contemplation, he decided, 'It doesn't matter why. I'll fix it.'

And so, Asher approached the first wolf, once owned by his late father—a creature whose loyalty to him was but a fragile [10].

Lowering himself to the cage's level, Asher gazed into the wolf's weary, mistrusting eyes. A heavy sadness hung on his own.

"I know you miss him. I do too," he began, his voice steady but tinged with sorrow. "And I know I've done little to prove myself worthy of the title 'Lord,' or of anything else, really. But… there's a reason for that."

His gaze dropped momentarily as if searching for the right words among the dust and shadows of the ground. "I was sick for most of my life—not naturally so, but made sick by someone else. It left me without the strength, the resolve, or the will to fight back or change things. I became a shadow of who I was meant to be…"

The wolf's piercing gaze softened ever so slightly.

[Loyalty: 20]

The shift was subtle, but Asher's determination ignited further. "But trust me now. That sickness no longer chains me. My willpower has returned, and I promise to set things right—not just for myself, but for this domain, its people, and for all of you."

He pressed his hand, palm open, deliberately into the cage. The wolf hesitated, sniffing the air cautiously. Asher's voice became a plea. "Help me rebuild what was lost. Stand with me. Fight with me. Let's show the world that the legacy of the Ashbourne wolves has not fallen—will never fall!"

Slowly, with halting, unsteady steps, the wolf approached. Its once-proud head dipped under his waiting palm.

[Loyalty: 88, Owner: Asher Ashbourne]

"Thank you," Asher whispered.

Rising to his feet, Asher turned to the second wolf, its loyalty lingering at a skeptical [42]. He spoke again, his tone measured, but the gains were slow, each word adding only a sliver to the wolf's trust.

It wasn't enough.

But then, the first wolf—his wolf—stepped forward. A low growl escaped its throat as it locked eyes with the second. What began as a stare quickly escalated into a primal exchange of dominance, punctuated by soft howls and rumbling snarls.

Minutes passed as the tension between the two wolves mounted. Then, something shifted. The second wolf's posture softened, its resistance crumbling under the unspoken command of its packmate.

[Loyalty: 82, Owner: Asher Ashbourne]

The system chimed:

[You may now attempt the fusion. Yes or No?]

'Yes.'

A radiant cocoon enveloped the two bronze-ranked wolves, their forms dissolving into light. The energy coalesced around Sirius, growing brighter with each passing second until the glow was almost blinding.

[Fusion Successful]

As the light receded, a transformed figure emerged. Sirius stood tall—a towering six feet at the shoulder and twelve feet from nose to tail. Its white fur shimmered like freshly fallen snow, and its thick, bear-like limbs dug deep into the ground with curved claws sharp enough to rend steel.

The energy of a silver-ranked beast radiated from the majestic creature. Its eyes, cold and piercing, surveyed its surroundings like a sovereign surveying its domain.

Kelvin's lips parted in disbelief. "Is… that… Sirius?!"

The system confirmed:

[Upgraded Beast: Polar Wolf King…]