Chapter 66: Chaotic Training II
Kael felt a chill run down his spine.
He knew that expression far too well.
The Little Fat King had just had an idea.
And that never ended well.
"..."
"I don’t like that look."
The cat completely ignored the comment.
He looked back at Sir Dogerino.
The little Shiba Inu returned for the third time with the stick between his teeth, panting happily and wagging his tail as if he had just discovered the best game in the world.
"Woof!"
He dropped it in front of the Fat King again.
The cat didn’t pick it up immediately.
This time he slowly raised his head and studied the dog for a few seconds.
As if analyzing something very important.
Sir Dogerino remained still.
Waiting.
With a doggy smile impossible to erase.
Then...
The Fat King took the stick.
But instead of throwing it immediately, he gave a light tap on the dog’s back.
Sir Dogerino tilted his head.
"Woof?"
The cat tapped him again.
Then he pointed at the space on his back.
Kael frowned.
"What...?"
Before he could finish the question...
The Fat King gave a small leap.
And landed elegantly on Sir Dogerino’s back.
The dog blinked.
Twitched one ear.
Then the other.
Looked back.
He couldn’t see him.
Only felt a slight weight.
"Woof?"
The Fat King took the stick again.
Held it with one paw.
And, with absolute elegance...
He slapped it.
Fwoooosh!
The stick shot off several hundred meters.
Sir Dogerino’s eyes went wide.
"WOOF!!!"
He ran off at full speed.
With the Fat King comfortably lying on his back.
Kael stood completely still.
"..."
"..."
Aurelion dropped his coffee.
"No way..."
Darius slowly opened his mouth.
"That...
That cat..."
Professor Rowan watched the scene with a completely blank expression.
The Fat King, meanwhile, yawned.
He settled better on the dog’s back.
And went back to sleep.
Sir Dogerino returned a few seconds later with the stick between his teeth.
Without realizing that he had just officially become the Fat King’s personal transport.
He dropped the stick in front of him.
The cat barely opened one eye.
He slapped it again.
The stick went flying.
"WOOF!!"
The dog shot off again.
Aurelion started laughing so hard he ended up holding his stomach.
"HAHAHAHA!
He domesticated him!"
Darius slowly shook his head.
"No...
Worse.
He found a way to keep being lazy...
While someone else works."
Kael brought both hands to his face.
"That damn...
He found an even worse method!"
Professor Rowan cleared his throat.
"Kael."
"..."
"Yes?"
"Even if it’s incredibly irresponsible...
That counts as coordination between summons."
Kael slowly lifted his head.
"Excuse me?"
"One is intelligently using the other’s capabilities.
They work together.
And they get a better result."
Kael looked again at the duo.
Sir Dogerino ran happily.
The Fat King slept on top.
"..."
"I think the definition of ’teamwork’ needs to be revised."
---
The teacher decided to intervene.
With a wave of his staff, he made five new reinforced dummies appear.
"Alright.
Let’s see if that coordination serves any useful purpose."
Kael took a deep breath.
"Okay..."
He approached both of them.
"Listen up."
The Fat King was still lying down.
Sir Dogerino sat proudly.
"We need to destroy those dummies.
But...
No overdoing it.
Understood?"
Sir Dogerino raised a paw.
"Woof!"
The Fat King didn’t even open his eyes.
He just slowly moved one ear.
Kael decided to interpret that as a yes.
"Alright.
Go!"
Sir Dogerino shot off immediately.
He ran straight toward the dummies.
The Fat King remained completely relaxed on his back.
The students began to move away.
They already knew too well what happened when one of Kael’s summons acted.
The first dummy appeared in front of the dog.
Sir Dogerino raised the Sacred Stick.
Held it with both front paws.
And...
BOINK!
The sound was ridiculously small.
Almost adorable.
For half a second...
Absolutely nothing happened.
Kael smiled.
"See?
This time he actually controlled himself."
Then...
The dummy shot off toward the horizon.
Completely disappearing from sight.
Five seconds later...
BOOOOOOOOM.
A giant cloud appeared on a distant mountain.
Everyone slowly turned toward Kael.
Kael raised both hands.
"It was a small boink!
I saw it too!"
Professor Rowan took a deep breath.
"Four left."
Sir Dogerino ran again.
Second dummy.
BOINK!
Third.
BOINK!
Fourth.
BOINK!
Each hit produced exactly the same ridiculously harmless sound.
And exactly the same absurd destruction.
The training field began to fill with uncomfortable silence.
Kael swallowed.
"Professor...
I think..."
The last dummy was special.
It was reinforced with several layers of magical steel.
Much more resistant than the previous ones.
The teacher smiled with satisfaction.
"This one will hold."
Sir Dogerino arrived in front of the target.
He wagged his tail happily.
The Fat King opened just one eye.
He looked at the dummy.
Then closed his eyes again.
As if saying:
"Do your thing."
Sir Dogerino took a deep breath.
He adopted an elegant posture.
His small cape fluttered in the wind.
For an instant...
He no longer looked like a puppy.
He looked like a true knight.
He gripped the stick.
And made a single movement.
Elegant.
Perfect.
Precise.
"..."
BOINK!
The dummy remained still.
Everyone smiled.
"It worked."
"This time it held."
Then...
The steel began to crack.
One line.
Then another.
And another.
Until...
The entire dummy exploded into thousands of small metal cubes that shot out everywhere.
Kael stood completely still.
"..."
"How...?"
Professor Rowan observed the result.
Then he wrote something in a small notebook.
"Confirmed.
The creature uses a high-compression impact technique.
The sound does not correspond to the actual force of the blow."
Kael heard that.
He looked at Sir Dogerino.
Then at the stick.
Then at the huge crater where a reinforced dummy used to be.
"..."
"So the ’boink’ is scary."
Sir Dogerino returned proudly.
Wagging his tail.
As if waiting for a reward.
Kael sighed.
He took out some small dog cookies he had bought that morning.
"Good work."
The dog barked happily.
"Woof!"
The Fat King immediately opened one eye.
He looked at the cookies.
Then at Kael.
Then at the dog.
And finally...
He slapped him.
WHAP!
The cookies went flying.
The cat caught them all before they touched the ground.
He lay back down.
And began eating them slowly.
Sir Dogerino watched the scene.
He wagged his tail.
And, to everyone’s surprise...
He didn’t get upset.
He just sat down next to the Fat King.
Waiting patiently.
The cat sighed with annoyance.
He pushed one of the cookies toward him.
Sir Dogerino ate it happily.
"Woof!"
Aurelion smiled from the bench.
"I think those two have already found their own way of understanding each other."
Darius crossed his arms.
"One based on labor exploitation.
And food bribes."
Kael let out a tired laugh.
"..."
"I guess as long as they don’t destroy another mountain...
We can call it progress."
Just at that moment...
In the distance...
Another explosion was heard.
BOOOOOOOOM.
Everyone slowly turned toward the mountain on the horizon.
Professor Rowan closed his notebook.
"..."
"I take it back.
We’ll continue training tomorrow."
Kael dropped his head.
"I knew it was too soon to get my hopes up."
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