Blood Wind Appears

Littlejon Umber, known as 'Littlejon,' was the son of Greatjon and heir to Last Hearth.

In the original show, he ultimately betrayed House Stark, bringing Rickon and Shaggydog's head to Ramsay.

In the Battle of the Bastards, he died at the hands of the wildling Tormund.

Littlejon actually had it rough!

The warriors of House Umber were famed across the North for their fierce courage and unwavering loyalty.

Greatjon lost two fingers to Grey Wind, yet he admired Robb's bravery, remained loyal to him, and died at the Red Wedding.

Littlejon, who survived by chance, held firm at Last Hearth and never surrendered to House Bolton.

Not until Jon Snow brought all the wildlings south of the Wall.

For ages, Last Hearth, as the shield of the North, had been the first fortress against wildlings crossing the Wall.

Thousands of years of bloodshed had forged a hatred between them and the wildlings, bone-deep.

So Littlejon's eventual betrayal was entirely understandable.

Now, Robb would never let such loyal warriors turn again, but after greeting them all equally, he kept no overly warm contact.

Some people required diplomacy to deal with, others needed a show of strength.

After greeting all the warriors, Robb cleared his throat and shouted, "Brothers, I know you're all warriors loyal to House Stark.

But I've never met most of you, and you're surely sizing me up too.

Words are hollow. Now I stand here, taking you on one by one in swordplay. Whoever knocks me down gets a hundred silver stags!"

"Lord Robb is generous!"

"Whoohoo, I'm in!"

"Me..."

As Robb's words fell, the weary warriors perked up.

These sons of Northern bannermen had little pocket money and spent freely, so a hundred silver stags was no small prize.

The warrior closest to Robb immediately stepped up for a bout.

Clang! Clang!...

The sound of blunted swords rang out across the training ground.

Though Robb had conserved energy by resting and observing the warriors during training, he wasn't inexhaustible. After defeating six warriors in a row, the female warrior Daisy laid him flat with a single strike.

"Whoohoo!"

"Daisy! Daisy!"

Seeing Robb on the ground, the watching warriors roared Daisy's name in excitement.

As one of the rare female warriors in Westeros, Daisy had never experienced such treatment. Her face flushed as she raised her blunted sword high, as if she'd conquered the world.

"Pfft... You're all good men. The prize goes to Daisy. Tonight, she's treating everyone at the Hearthfire Inn in Winterfell Market."

Amid the cheers, Robb spat out the dirt he'd bitten into, laughed without caring about his image, pointed at Daisy, and announced loudly.

"Long live Daisy! Long live Lord Robb!"

"Haha, I'm drinking all the ale at the Hearthfire Inn!"

The training ground that day was as noisy as a market.

A certain lord watching from the shadows nodded approvingly as he saw Robb blend in so quickly.

After handling the spoils and compensation, Robb's days became regular and fulfilling.

Every day, aside from caring for Blood Wind and routine training, he drank and chatted with the warriors.

As his bond with the guard deepened, beyond the training Ser Rodrik arranged, Robb added squad combat drills.

The warriors of Westeros had no trouble charging in formation, but once battle was joined, it devolved into chaotic free-for-alls with no coordination.

So Robb split the thirty-one warriors into six squads. Through his behind-the-scenes arrangement, each squad sparred among themselves, with the strongest as captain.

Daisy Mormont, Littlejon Umber, and Owen Norrey unsurprisingly became captains of their squads.

The other three squads were led by Tormund Karstark, Eddard Karstark, and Theon Greyjoy.

Yes, the count was thirty-one because, after his talk with Theon, Robb personally got Eddard's consent to add him to the guard.

Tormund and Eddard were Robb's cousins, Karstark scions, and formidable fighters.

As for Blood Contract Points, perhaps due to the daily high-intensity training draining his energy, Robb's appetite had surged this week, but he'd only earned a paltry three points from eating.

Still, after a week of repeated testing, Robb had preliminarily summed up two rules for allocating points.

First, adding all Blood Contract Points at once drains the body, leaving it in a weakened and fatigued negative state.

Second, Blood Wind's highest attribute cannot exceed three times its lowest attribute.

Blood Wind's current attributes: Speed raised to 4, Strength raised to 3, and Constitution already raised to 7 points, with 1 Blood Contract Point held in reserve.

With 7 points in Constitution, Blood Wind swelled up like a balloon. Robb watched it grow visibly day by day.

By today, Blood Wind had gone from the size of a little puppy to that of an adult Alaskan Malamute, standing about seventy centimeters at the shoulder and weighing nearly eighty jin.

Over these ten days, the other five Direwolves had also grown at an unusual rate, reaching the size of five- or six-month-old pups, but they couldn't compare to Blood Wind at all.

Of course, aside from the male servant responsible for delivering meat every day, no one else knew that Blood Wind had grown to this size.

Unlike his younger siblings, who loved showing off their Direwolves everywhere, Robb's Blood Wind had stayed in his bedroom this whole time, never leaving.

It spent most of its day sleeping, aside from eating—this might be the downside of rapid growth.

Creak!

The bedroom door opened, and Blood Wind, lying by the solid wood bed, immediately lifted its head to observe the situation.

"Blood Wind!"

The door swung fully open, revealing Robb in his standard-issue Chainmail at the entrance.

He called out softly, and Blood Wind instantly radiated joy, quickly rising, its wolf claws pushing off as it nimbly leaped over the solid wood bed and padded over to him.

Robb knelt on one knee, cupping Blood Wind's fluffy head in both hands, scratching its cheeks vigorously. Blood Wind closed its eyes in contentment, looking every bit like a goofy husky.

"Alright! Blood Wind, let's go. Today I'm taking you out to see the world."

Remembering the task his father Eddard had given him, Robb stopped scratching and called Blood Wind to follow him out of the bedroom.

In the Main Keep's corridor, every servant who saw Robb and Blood Wind instinctively showed fear and shrank to the side.

As a supernatural creature, Blood Wind might act like a goofy husky in front of Robb, but before strangers, its eyes gleamed coldly, its fangs bared, the image of a fierce predator.

At the doorway from the Main Keep leading to the Training Ground, Eddard and his wife, along with Robb's younger siblings and their respective Direwolves, were waiting for him.

When they saw Blood Wind, already taking on the form of a fierce beast after just ten days, disbelief spread across their faces.

And when Blood Wind spotted the other Direwolves of its pack, it suddenly stretched its neck, lifted its head to the sky, and let out a long, resonant Wolf Howl.

"Awooo!!!"