Two weeks passed by without any surprises.

  Joan was unreasonably comfortable with Pudgy joining Albion in her home. She didn’t seem fazed by anything he did. Living near such a prestigious academy must have done that to her. If Albion had seen such a thing being carried around by someone in Zolt, he would have been a little shocked, to say the least. Pudgy didn’t look like anything he had ever seen or heard of, he wouldn’t have known what to do if he saw someone carrying him around.

  Joan still hadn’t seen Pudgy’s other form though…maybe that would shock her?

  “Aww, what a cute little guy, you just want to be pet don’t you? Do you want some food? I’ll make sure the big glutton over there doesn’t take anything from you.”

  In fact, Joan was treating Pudgy like a king. Whenever she wasn’t reading from her papers or out doing…whatever it was she did during the day, She was sitting in the armchair petting Pudgy as he slept lazily in her arms.

  He was the perfect pet. He didn’t even really need food, he was made out of Prana, but the little guy enjoyed eating just as much as Albion did.

  “I wouldn’t steal food from him. He’s my friend…well maybe if he didn’t listen to me, then I might take it all away..”

  “He wouldn’t do anything bad, would you Pudgy.”

  Joan poked Pudgys back and looked at him expectantly.

  Pudgy looked at Joan, Confused. He didn’t understand what she wanted.

  [She was just saying you wouldn’t do anything bad and that you were a good boy.]

  Albion had discovered during these days that Pudgy could understand Welfth, maybe it was the fact that he was just an adorable little guy that he hadn’t thought he could understand Albion, but he did. Pudgy couldn’t speak though.

  Pudgy nodded his head towards Joan and licked her hands lovingly. Thanking her for her kind words.

  He was a very good boy.

  “What is that language boy? I’ve never even heard anything like it.”

  “It’s something I was gifted by my mother. Along with the books on summoning.”

  Joan looked off at nothing in particular for a moment, she had looked off and Albion had looked to see what she was looking at but saw that there was nothing. She did this whenever she was thinking, and Albion always felt the need to look. It was like she was finding her answers wherever it was she looked. Alas, she was just thinking to herself. She turned back to him, her face a bit more serious, and told him flat out.

  “You grew up in Zolt and you have a family heritage…I wouldn’t tell anyone in the school that. Okay.”

  “Hmm? Why?”

  “They are all rich, spoiled brats, well not all of them. But most of them are. And I don’t want them to hurt you or do anything bad. Just keep your background a mystery. The teachers won’t care but the students can be terrible. And their families can be even worse.”

  “I won’t Joan.”

  Joan looked pleased with his answer, she smiled and shooed Pudgy off her lap so she could stand. With a small clap of her hands, she spoke again.

  “Good. Now, who wants dinner.”

  Albion was already in his chair before the words had left Joan’s mouth. Pudgy was sitting in his lap seconds later.

  “You two were made for each other you know that.”

  “What…you make the best food I have ever eaten.”

  “Yeah, yeah. No need to sweet talks me I’ll make enough for the both of you to have extra.”

  “Thanks, Joan!”

  Pudgy wiggled happily. He didn’t know a lot of words. But he knew the words Dinner and Extra well by now. They were by far his favorite.

  It wasn’t long before the duo was tossing food into their mouths faster and faster. Albion didn’t stop to breathe, and Pudgy never even took a second to chew his food. Both of them finished their meals and the leftovers in record time.

  “So Albion, are you ready for the sign-ups? The first group will be arriving tomorrow. As long as you get to the school early you can be the first to sign up.”

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  “Hmm, yeah. I’m all set. I’ve been studying in my spare time so I can get through the test. I want to be able to get into everything I came to learn, so I already know my test is going to be difficult, I just hope that all my studying pays off.”

  “That’s good. I hope they don’t give you too hard of a test. Sometimes the tests can be a bit…unreasonable, or so I’ve heard.”

  Albion had been studying too hard to fail.

  ‘Well, studying isn’t the right term to use. Practicing might be a better way to phrase it. Or maybe learning. Whatever the best way way to say ‘throwing Pudgy into battles against wild beasts to get him used to fighting’ would be.’

  That was what most of his ‘studying’ had been.

  At first, he had wanted to summon more Pudglings and create an army of them, but it turned out he had to permanently use his Prana to summon a Faye. So if he wanted more Faye he would have to gain experience through fights. Or he would have to have another study bender in the Library but he wanted to avoid doing that for the time being. It was far too stressful for him. He looked at his page in the Journal and frowned.

  {Albion

  Lvl 2

  Health 9/9

  Prana 264/264

  Strength 4

  Dexterity 3

  Endurance 2

  Intelligence 32

  Wisdom 26

  Summons: Pudgy}

  The only difference was the three hundred Prana he had lost. He had gained absolutely nothing. What was interesting though, was that he could see Pudgy’s stats as well. If he asked the Journal kindly enough.

  {Pudgy (Pudgling)

  Lvl 1

  Health 20/20

  Prana 527/527

  Strength 16

  Dexterity 30

  Endurance 25

  Intelligence 18

  Wisdom 13}

  Pudgy absolutely destroyed Albion when it came to his physical stats. He took pride in knowing he was smarter than his sidekick. He was happy that his partner was strong, though, even if Pudgy was a bit cowardly. It meant they could be a great pair.

  Albion had spent days planning and taking Pudgy with him out into the cold, icy tundra that surrounded the town…but only after checking with the Journal that his ring was sufficiently charged.

  He wasn’t about to go through that again.

  On the first day of ‘studying,’ he lured a weak wild beast into one of his portals and teleported it to the training ground. He made sure that it was a weak one, something he could kill on his own. Because he knew from reading. That Pudgy was going to be a little coward.

  The book had been absolutely right.

  As soon as Albion showed the beast to Pudgy, he ran away faster than the wild beast could. It chased Pudgy in circles around Albion. If Albion hadn’t come prepared, this might have been a failed study session, but he was ready for this moment.

  All it took was one whiff. And Pudgy stopped in his tracks. There was only one more thing written about Pudglings. Actually, it was something that applied to all the Faye, but the Pudglings were the most susceptible to it.

  They craved Prana crystals.

  Albion waved the Crystal in front of Pudgy.

  [Kill the beast and it’s yours.]

  Pudgy was reluctant, but the crystal that Albion held in his hand was just too irresistible. He had to have it. Pudgy faced the beast that was looking at pudgy with a mocking gaze. That poor beast.

  Albion almost felt bad for it.

  Pudgy was not weak.

  And good lord.

  When he transformed.

  Nothing he had ever seen or heard of could be scarier than Pudgy getting ready to fight.

  Albion could see the fee in the beast's eyes as Pudgy transformed.

  If it was a stronger beast…it might have been able to attempt to run away. Unfortunately, it was the weakest of the weak, a Class 1. It stood no chance. Before it could even whimper Pudgy had already torn its head from its body and shredded it into a thick paste.

  Albion was left speechless.

  How could something, so harmless looking, turn into something so utterly dreadful?

  He watched on in horror as Pudgy ate the remains and left nothing of the beast.

  ‘Why did Pudgy even run in the first place, he could have just turned the beast into minced meat.’

  Albion somehow managed to hold his meal in as Pudgy went back to normal and waddle up to him. Nuzzling at his leg, begging for his hard-earned Prana crystal.

  [Good job buddy. Here you go. There was no need to be afraid, was there.]

  Pudgy shook his head as he bit chunks from the Prana crystal. Watching Pudgy knaw on the crystal while holding it between his two front nubs was adorable.

  As an added bonus every time buddy swallowed a chunk of the crystal, his Prana would increase slightly.

  By the time Pudgy had finished eating the crystal, he had gained 5 units of Prana. It wasn’t a lot but Albion could only imagine how much Pudgy would gain if he kept feeding him Prana crystals.

  [If you help me fight, I’ll make sure I give you Prana crystals whenever I can…deal?]

  Pudgy nodded excitedly and hopped about.

  Days passed by and Albion kept up the routine, he would have Pudgy fight a wild beast, and he would give a crystal to Pudgy whenever he fought hard enough that Albion figured he deserved one.

  When the ‘Studying’ came to an end Pudgy was able to fight a Class 3 fairly easily by himself. Albion wasn’t willing to test their strength against a class four yet though. He didn’t want to get injured before the test. He was certain that if they worked together…they could kill one together.

  Pudgy had become a killing machine, and Albion had become a strong commander and strategist. It helped that he had some aces up his sleeve to turn the tides of a fight as well.

  He was ready for whatever the test was going to throw at him.

  He wasn’t going to back down.