I took Sleepy and William to Melgart the next day. Sleepy needed to be trained before it was too late. The literature on monster training all agreed that specimens belonging to willful monster species would either accept a master earlier or need to be culled and replaced.

Sleepy was one-of-a-kind. I doubted we would see any Wolfertingers around anytime soon, if ever. The evolution could have happened only once. The System wouldn't tag them as legendary for nothing.

It also meant that the pressure and anxiety were mounting up. Right now, I could sell Sleepy for a price so high Kings were ransomed for less. If he proved untrainable, however, that money would vanish in a flash. Sleepy would be valuable only as an arena deathmatch monster or to be hunted as a trophy. Since Hector already got the world first, anyone else would get a tenth of the recognition. Nobody liked old, rehashed news.

Releasing Sleepy into the wild was an actual crime, now that the species was recognized as a violent and powerful one. Not to mention that every hunter in a couple hundred kilometers would come rushing for a chance to hunt a Legendary.

Going all in into this training regimen was for his own sake as well. Sleepy's only prospect at a long life was with me.

We put him in a harness with a sweater sleeve in the middle to keep his wings pinned. Sleepy couldn't fly yet but he sometimes flapped his wings and it could lead to an injury during training. We also had no idea when he would have his first flight but his pinions were all grown. Until Sleepy bonded, he couldn't leave the ground.

We let him loose in Melgart's backyard. The pup ran around, watched closely by William. The Tityron could sense my intent to safeguard Sleepy through our bond.

Sleepy ran between the goat-sheep monster's legs. He had warmed up to William fast, which made me a bit sour with envy.

We started with "sit" and "down". Melgart taught me the proper way to do it with canines, the body cues, the snappy voice, and so on. I engaged with my new Class and got to work. It took us several hours but the result was good.

> For training level 3 Wolfertinger, you gained 1 Experience point.

> For training level 3 Wolfertinger, you gained 1 Experience point.

> Your training and knowledge improved your Beast Mastery Skill to rank II. Benefit: Monsters under your tutelage learn ten percent faster per rank.

At face value, this new Skill effect didn't seem much but the learning speed also helped overcome bottlenecks. All creatures start to forget concepts learned as soon as they were learned, unless it was trained so hard it became second nature. That's why the interval between lessons mattered a lot. You needed to space them so the pupil could think about the knowledge to assimilate it but not as far as to need a big recap at the start of each lesson. Or any recap at all.

But if the knowledge or skill was hard enough, the tutor had to keep the lessons too close to one another or too intense; that could overwhelm the student and lead to pupil burnout.

Learning speed smoothed those peaks of difficulty. It made the easy parts trivial, sure. But its real value was in widening the bottlenecks.

At the end of day four of training, Sleepy also learned to come and heel. He knew five commands now.

But I still couldn't bond with him. I felt frustrated.

*

*

I entered Alice's office. She had sent a short notice of an important meeting and that I had to bring Sleepy. At nine kilograms, it was getting awkward to carry him around. He didn't quite fit inside my pack anymore.

The room had three other people wearing important-looking robes. Not the same type and cut, meaning it wasn't a uniform.

All three guests had wise airs around them. They were chatting when I opened the door but now the room was silent, all the attention on me. It made me want to go back and run away.

"Make yourself comfortable, George," Alice said. "Allow me to make introductions. These are Magister Penny from the Fellrock College, Archdruid Maximilian of the Emerald Grove, and Beastlord Joseline, a fellow Guild Master."

She stopped and I took it as a cue. "Pleased to meet you. I'm George, a Scout from this local branch."

Joseline came and held my forearm in a handshake commonly used in the Eastern lands. She had a powerful build that was equal parts good genetics and ridiculously hard training, topped by a whole freaking lot of Attribute points. A head and a half taller than me, she was someone you wouldn't mess with no matter where you met her.

"George, you don't remember me, do you?" At my negative reaction, she only smiled more. "I used to run Dungeons with your father. I see you are already a man he would be proud of. Well done, kid."

Her choice of words and dichotomies weren't lost on me. I pushed that aside. "Thank you for your kind words, Guild Master."

She made room for the other two. Maximilian was next. "May the forest's blessings always follow you, George. I see you bear a mark of favor from the fae."

"Wait, what?" I stammered, surprised. The fae marked me? "What does that mean?"

Maximilian chuckled. "Fear not. The fae do that all the time to people they find interesting. It tells those who can sense such things that you are someone they should pay attention to. Such attention is often beneficial, seldom detrimental. You see, the fae decided to only mark you, and not outright kill or capture. They didn't deem you a threat to either them or the forest, nor did they believe you an undesirable one. That's good."

"Thank you."

Finally, Magister Penny. She looked like someone's scholar aunt or grandma. Something in her made her approachable instead of the usual airs around the other stuck-up academic types. "George, it's a delight to meet you. We are so grateful for your findings! Is this your new family member?" She fawned over sleepy.

"Yes. This is Sleepy." I presented the critter. Sleepy looked from one stranger to the other but flinched when his eyes landed on Joseline. The woman chuckled but didn't tone down her intimidation.

"Let's begin, then," Alice said as she took the reins of the meeting. "Penny, what were your findings?"

"Yes!" Penny was a bit over excited for this. "We found that the Wolfertingers are a fourth evolution from the ubiquitous Al-Mi'raj, Common. We determined that the evolution path goes through the Jackalope, Rare, then the Wolpertinger, Very Rare, and finally, through chimerization with a lupine monster seed, the Wolfertinger, Legendary. While the evolution path seems obvious after it's revealed, the mechanisms that brought about this marvelous species are extremely important. Especially when we take into consideration that, erm, Sleepy's ancestors all evolved and then breed to perpetuate their evolution. The corpses you acquired helped settle an argument on this very matter that dragged on for two thousand years!"

Wow. Just, wow. My head was spinning, and I could process information twice as fast as the old, unawakened version of myself.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"What Penny means," Maximilian said as he exchanged a nod with the scholar. "Is that the Wolfertinger family you met aren't the only ones in existence as we first believed. Because if a mating couple existed at the reported low levels, they must have been bred themselves. The level discrepancy also suggests the male and the female weren't from the same litter. I read your report. You might be right to assume that this family was displaced."

"Which means the competition for resources and hunting grounds where they came from is growing fierce enough that migration is the only choice."

"Exactly," Maximilian said with a snap of his fingers.

"We expect that other displaced monsters are hiding in the surrounding areas," Joseline added.

Wow. Only now I got the big picture. The shifting, rising mana waves. Monster migration. These three were here not only because of Sleepy but also to study the phenomenon, mitigate its impact on nature, and to hunt the beasts that were being pushed our way.

I felt like I was in the center of a maelstrom, with everything around me churning and spinning so fast it could give me vertigo.

"Who else expects this rise in monster population?" I asked. "Is it going to become a migration event?"

The visitors nodded. Monster migration, monster tide, stampede, or outbreak. Regardless of the name, it was a well-known event but one that often left devastation in its passing.

The problem was threefold. One, exotic monsters meant powerful monsters. They would disrupt trade, resource and food production. Ravage the wildlife, kill merchants, it was awful.

Two, the people weren't stupid. Once news of this event spread, whoever could move and didn't have strong ties to the city would flee. Massive caravans of civilians running to safer places would go in all directions. Other settlements would be hard pressed to accept these refugees and migrants. Worse, way before the monsters reached said roads, merchants traveling our way would turn around and run once they saw the refugee train.

The impacts on the society and economy were similar to a prolonged siege.

But the final issue was a deathblow. It was all the monster hunters that would come in search of glory, power, levels, and entertainment. While the monsters disrupted the city from without, these legions of ruffians disrupted the city from within.

Most of them were affiliated with the Guild and were manageable in small numbers. The problem was when hundreds of them gathered. Tensions spiked and maintaining public safety with such high-level individuals turned impossible. The Guard didn't have the numbers, both on terms of personnel and levels in the Status to enforce the law.

The types of individuals these situations attracted were undisciplined, rowdy. If the situation didn't resolve quickly, they would put an undue strain on the already damaged economy and disturb the public order.

"The City Lord knows," Alice said. "He is concerned with the city first and his own rule second. I believe he sent reports to his allies."

"It is only a matter of time now," Joseline said. "The four of us are going deep into the wilderness to investigate the situation. You should not go to the northwestern quadrant, George. The Guild will place a lockdown on quests in that region, effective today."

I glanced at Alice. She nodded. I felt that Joseline was higher than Alice in the Guild hierarchy. It was sobering, to think that Alice could devastate a huge chunk of forest and was still orders of magnitude when compared to the powerhouses of this world. Which included none of the present company, no offense intended.

Maximilian cleared his throat. "If you so desire, George, Josephine and I are willing to help you condition Sleepy and train him to better accept the bond."

"You can trust them," Alice said. "I've known them since they were children."

Maximilian coughed.

*

*

The five went to Melgart's backyard, where Alice and Maximilian did some elven powdered forest magical shenanigans and raised trees around the whole yard. The crowns were all curved inward, providing shade and privacy. Runes glowed on the inward facing side of the trunk.

Magister Penny stood at a distance, content to just watch and take notes. She was on the feather pen side of the writing implement divide. The cadence as she scratched the paper of her notebook faded in the background with the sound of rustling leaves.

"We are ready to go," Joseline said. I let Sleepy down on the grass, wearing his sleeve harness. Joseline crouched. "Take off this harness. Don't worry, if this little guy flies away, I can send Tally to fetch him back."

With a wave of her hand, a huge white and gray eagle appeared on her arm. It was so tall It would reach my waist if it was standing on the grass. Sleepy whined in fear and sought refuge behind my legs.

Joseline laughed. "It already knows it is safe with you. I think there’s just a few kinks to adjust before you can bond. If I may ask, what is your bond feature description?"

I explained it to her. Josephine raised an eyebrow. "Soul magic. A rare affinity, and one Penny will surely keep out of her report," she was shouting at the last part.

Magister Penny returned a thumbs up but didn't stop writing.

"Okay that explains it to me," Maximilian said as he approached alongside Alice. "The problem is not with the little Sleepy Wolfertinger. The issue is with you, George."

I was shocked. "Me?"

"Oh, I see," Josephine grinned. "Yes, a mutualist bond wouldn't work if that kind of roadblock is in place."

Now I understood nothing. These old monsters were having fun at my expense while the real old monster was in the background living vicariously through our mortal drama.

I looked down. Sleepy was still cowering behind my legs. Kneeling down, I gave him some pets. I had recently found put that if I scratched his spine above the wings, he would raise the wings and spread them a little, as if trying to catch the wind on them. He also ruffled the feathers on his tail and did a cute shake of his butt.

It was hard to imagine that this bundle of fur and feathers would one day become a fearsome monster like his dad. But Sleepy would become more than that.

I tried bonding again but it didn't work. Not even a System prompt. Frustration climbed up from my stomach, delivering a bitter aftertaste to my mood. I started to shake.

"George!" I heard Maximilian's call.

"Yes?" I stood back up but the shaking didn't abate.

I saw their gazes on me and I mistook empathy for pity. Anger bubbled up and I wanted to direct it at them but my mind kept telling me they were here to help.

"Did you understand what is keeping you from bonding with Sleepy?"

I had to shake my head. The answer was no, because if I had, I'd have bonded already. I tried to keep my emotions and expression in check but it was hard.

I was sure Alice had called in several favors to bring these people here. No way they came just because a fourth evolution Legendary Al-Mi'raj specimen was available for study. Maybe Penny did but not the other two.

It was a great opportunity to learn from experts and I was… I was…

To keep myself from explosively vent my emotions I froze. The pressure, the fact I couldn't figure what was keeping my side from bonding, and everything else. The weight of the situation threatened to crush me.

Was I being selfish for keeping Sleepy and not taking the humongous amount of gold they were offering for the critter? Seriously, ten thousand gold coins weighed ninety kilograms. It was a fat-ass pile of gold.

William sensed my distress and clopped his way closer. He bleated and pushed his snout against my hand. When I looked in those unnaturally square eyes, I understood one thing. I didn't hold back when I used one of my limited slots bonding with William. He was only Uncommon. Some would call it a waste. He was basically a beast of burden but I couldn't see William as that. He was already part of my family, from day one.

Sleepy was the same. Even if I didn't get a Class evolution by bonding with him, I wouldn't sell him for no amount of money.

"Thank you, William. You are really the GOAT."

"Great!" Josephine's shout brought me back to the present. "Don't force it and don't let these negative feelings drag you down, George. You will figure it out soon. Let's make a test," Josephine said. She put two fingers in her mouth and whistled loudly.

Both William and Sleepy snapped as they heard the whistle. A flock of birds flew off of some trees in the distance but a few flew our way. They landed on Josephine's arm. Each bird was from a different species.

"Call of the Wild is allegedly an useless Perk, yet I wouldn't trade it for nothing," She mused. "Now, George. Try bonding with one of these children."

I looked at the birds. They tilted their heads and glanced at me, curious. I slowly reached out with my arm and let it move close to them. One of them jumped. It was a green parakeet no bigger than my closed fist. It had a bright orange beak and a few golden and blue pinions concealed underneath the green feathers. When flying, these blue feathers would show on the underside of the wings, camouflaging the bird from ground creatures.

The little bird seemed happy as it jumped on my hand and hopped to and fro over my finger.

"Just try to bond with the bird and answer no to the prompt. I'm not making you use a bond slot on such a small child," Josephine said.

I tried to use my Perk.

> Do you want to bond with Guarouba Parakeet?

And just like that, reality punched me in the face I flinched away from the prompt. The Guarouba flew back to Josephine but the point was made. She dismissed the birds.

"We cannot tell you more than this. You need to figure it out by yourself else the System will reduce your rewards," Alice said, breaking the silence.

Yeah. Just like the achievements you couldn't get if you knew about them, the System rewarded self-improvement above all things. If I wanted a Class evolution by bonding with Sleepy, I needed to figure it out myself. Alice was absolutely right.

"I'll try to ponder and think about what's going on," I said though I desperately wanted the answers straight away, despite what my rational mind told me was the best for the long-term.

"Good," Josephine clapped me in the back. I felt my ribs creak.

"Yes. Now, let’s do some training with your friends here, okay?" The Druid said.

And train we did. Under Maximilian and Josephine's tutelage and Penny's silent and detached observations, we spent the day training. Penny gifted me a book that claimed to have all the information on Jackalopes and Wolpertingers.

At the end, after I returned home under the setting suns, I tried bonding with Sleepy again.

No success. No prompt.

He stared at me with his yellow eyes. With a whine, Sleepy licked my hand. We will get there, my friend.