Classroom pet

I woke up on and off as Kana walked through the city streets. Looking over the girl's shoulder I could see the giant flying ship tethered to the ground. The city was bustling with many creatures and people walking among us. The more I looked around, the more certain I was that most of the creatures here were not bound to someone like I was to Kana.

Chalk it up to natural instinct or the magic of the bond but I just knew. Another clear indication of this difference was that bonds didn't have collars while those owned seemed to have an identifier of some sort. Most had a unique crest and a few used family names.

We ended up at a large building with a set of double doors open to the public. Past the gates the flow of merchants, creatures and common folk vanished and was instead replaced with boys and girls ranging from eight to sixteen. They ran around carrying bags or hauling books, some sat and chatted with their friends but at a glance I couldn't see a single adult in the crowd.

"Little Snow this is my school, be on your best behavior and don't cause any trouble," she said sternly before rubbing my soft fur. It was strangely relaxing to have my fur petted. It took me a minute to register what was said.

"Wait Little Snow? I am a prince of a powerful kingdom. I can't have a name like little snow" I tried saying but it just came out as small tips and soft growls.

"Now Little Snow, I don't care if you don't like it. You need to behave or we can get in trouble" she spoke looking me in the eyes. She started at me curiously "You do understand me. Right?"

I just snorted and looked away as if to say duh. "Omg," she suddenly shouted before the gazes of everyone around us, including my own made her shy away in embarrassment. "You can understand! I was told that usually summons needed to be taught through repetition before they could understand simple commands" she paused "But you not only understand but can even reply, though I can't understand a word you just said. That is very rare"

She started rambling on as we walked through the crowd towards one of the main building in the area.In one corner of the open space, a small group of people was commanding various creatures like come, follow, attack, hold, and so forth. That's when she noticed my stare and began to change direction. I looked back at her in horror and began tipping softly to get her attention as I shook my head. She looked down but I was promptly ignored as she stated simply "I need to at least make sure you can do the basics for now before classes start. It would be embarrassing if I was the only one not able to control my familiar" she started. I rolled my eyes at her but resigned myself to this humiliation.

We reached the training section where she let me down and started with basic instructions like follow. I snorted with each ridiculous command but followed them anyway. "Hold" I sat down looking at her as if to ask if this was necessary. She pointed at a small straw figure in the distance and said "attack."

I scoffed and walked up to it, turned around so that I looked Kana dead in the eyes as I kicked it over with my back foot before sitting down and tilting my head. "Is that it" I seemed to say.

She sighed "Not the greatest show of strength or prowess but I guess you did follow all the instructions correctly. Now come here we will be late to class" annoyed by this whole thing and embarrassed, I ran over and jumped into her arms surprised at how fast I could move and how high I could jump. I almost overshot but luckily she caught me before I barreled into her face.

We made our way back towards the big building as I looked over the girl's shoulder. The others there looked back at me with an odd expression. Evidently, they haven't seen a fox with an attitude before, I snorted at them before laying my head around Kanas's neck. Snuggling into her short white hair, I sighed in satisfaction as she stroked my back.

"Why does this feel so comfortable," I asked myself as she made her way into the building and through several halls, up a dozen stairs, and passed by countless doors. I stopped trying to keep track after I noticed a pattern. Each door had two numbers and a letter indicating floor, room, and building. We stopped at door 7-3D. Just like the library at my mansion, it should be easy to navigate. I sighed as I realized I might never get home. But I refused to soak in my despair. For now, I will keep moving forward and right now Kana is the only one I have.

Entering the room I saw a dozen desks spaced further apart than I thought was necessary lining the room from front to back. A pedestal stood in front of a black chalkboard. Kids all around the same age as Kana filled the room and in between a few of the desks sat several creatures. Small bears, Birds, a centipede. I shivered looking at it, disgusting bugs.

Kana made her way in and sat at a Desk in the back of the room. She set me on the ground and again told me to behave. I snorted, looking around I was disappointed to find that I couldn't see the rest of the classroom as a large hairy behind was in my way. Annoyed I jump back up to onto the desk, annoying Kana as I searched for an alternative. I noticed that there was a stand behind her desk build for avian creatures. I tried to jump up onto it but I promptly fell off, not used to my body made balancing a bit difficult. After my third attempt though I got a good feel for my balance and laid comfortably on the stand. My front paw drooping in front as I swished my tail back and forth.

Many people stared at me surprised and Kana looked embarrassed but I didn't care. I could see the room now and most importantly the teacher. I looked each person in the eye and snorted before laying my head down facing the front. Kana looked at me with confusion wondering why I wanted to be there of all places. I just rolled my eyes and pointed my snout towards the front where a beautiful woman with raven black hair, red lips, and the curves of an angel appeared when the class was distracted by my antics.

The woman smiled as she coughed lightly into her hands, grabbing the attention of the class. Everyone stood up as one and saluted to the teacher by bringing their right head to their heart with two fingers extended to the left.

The sudden action knocked me off the avian perch and I had to jump back up and get comfortable again. The teacher nodded at the students sat back down.

"Now class, many of you today have just received your familiars. As you know not everyone can summon a familiar but everyone can practice cultivating magic. Now for those of you with a familiar or those who have the potential to summon one. Today I am going to go over the basics of training your familiar. As well as the pros and cons to having a familiar compared to others who do not." She began writing on the board.

"As many are aware, in our world we have an energy that is always in the air. We call this mana and with practice, we can absorb this power to increase our strength in both magic and physical prowess." she moved to a second section of the board and begun writing out the stages of cultivating magic.

"Stage one is the gas stage. In this stage, your job as a cultivator is to collect and condense mana into the center of your being. In the beginning, the core will be in a mist like state after filling your core to the brim you enter this stage. From there you will continue to fill it until the mana starts to become agitated. This time is very important as it will require all of your focus, in this stage you must shrink your core to the absolute limit. I'd you are successful, your mana will be in a liquid state and you will successfully enter the liquid stage. You will repeat this again to enter the solid stage. Until you reach the solid stage, further knowledge would be a hindrance"

She paused and looked at the class. "Do you know what the difference is between summoners compared to a regular cultivator?" she waited but no one answered. She continued. "The difference is that it takes twice as long for a summoner to grow compared to a regular cultivator. As you are bound to a creature in a master and slave relationship, you are required to provide the necessary power to your contracted partner. The bond makes the mana beasts easier to control but at the cost of being more reliant on the master of the contract. They can only grow stronger and cultivate when you grow stronger and cultivate"

"Now class here is a practical example using that connection as a base line, that we can address immediately. Most mana beasts can't exhibit their elemental connections until they reach the solid stage themselves" she called forth her own summon to demonstrate "However if you focus on the link that binds you to your partner and will your mana to flow through it. You can temporarily give your partner the ability to utilize their elemental affinities. Try it now" As she spoke her bird blazed into a floating ball of blue fire.

As one the class closed their eyes and many frowned in deep concentration. After a few moments gusts of wind, balls of fire, and earthen stones began to appear around the classroom.

A strange feeling rushed into my body as this so-called mana entered my body, I felt it pass through channels and rotate with the flow of my blood, it concentrated into the center of my being and I felt a rush of energy. I tried to memorize this feeling and the changes in my body. Instinctively I started to release the excess power back into the air, the power being too dense for me to contain.

In mere moments the temperature in a five-meter radius from me plummeted by several degrees. Kids started shivering as snow began to fall and started to cover Kanas desk and those near her. It only lasted for a moment before the energy was spent and I could relax again. With the temperature returning the snow quickly melted and disappeared.

Now aware of the mana in my body it was very obvious, curious to try and utilize it I did the only thing I knew how to do. I focused on the connection I shared with Kana and tried to will the mana down the channel. The mana flowed as easily as water in the ocean as it flowed into Kana.

Kana's eyes grew wide at the sudden increase in her mana supply looking at me in shock I just grinned at her before returning my attention to the front, my curiosity satisfied.

"Now many of you might wonder if I could send my power to my familiar to boost their strength can the same be said for the familiar to send their mana to me. Sadly the answer is no, whether it's due to the mana beast's lack of understanding or a completely different reason we do not know. We can only speculate. But to this day there has not been a recorded moment where a mana beast willing shares their mana"

"Oh shit," I said to myself sweat practically running down my back, "I think I just gave away a secret that I was supposed to keep to myself." No one seemed to notice but Kana was looking at me with such a dazzling smile on her face and I just knew that she wasn't going to just ignore this little blunder.

I averted my eyes after giving her a stern look. She ignored me and raised her hand. "What in the world is she thinking" I growled low just loud enough for her to hear me and nothing more. She looked back at me and I shook my head no. She nodded and motioned for me to calm down as she continued to raise her hand in the air.

"Yes, Kana" I bowed my head in defeat but perked my ears when I heard her question.

"Are there any theories as to why this is the case"

The teacher nodded "One of the better theories is that the reason is because of the one-way interaction a master and slave pact forces on the two involved. This is backed up by the few incidents that a pact was cast wrong and the master and slave were reversed" she paused "Theoretically an equals contract is capable of allowing equal exchange between two parties, but that hasn't been proven as all summoned thus far with an equals contract are eventually killed by their partnered beast. The reason for this is up to speculation but it is believedits because the summoned beasts never asked for the pact and given the freedom they turned on their partner. We guess as a means to gain freedom from the pact. This is just speculation after all".

Kana looked back at me and with slight worry but see how just stared at her bored she instead smiled mischievously. "Cheeky brat, but at least she has some brains" I rolled my eyes at her and listened in to the rest of the class.