"I'm sorry for not coming back earlier… In the chaos that ensued back then… My mate got gravely injured and I had to put all my efforts into saving her alone. Anyway, it's nice to see you again, Pengu."

After getting my fill of my friend's softness, I moved a bit to the side, taxing its entire body with an anxious look. Considering how his previous advancement required me to suck the energy that bloated him to his former size, I was quite worried that I would have to do it again. Obviously, it wasn't that I would say no to free attribute points but with part of Eve's soul inside me, I couldn't make any reckless decisions!

Yet before my worries could turn into real anxiety, with a sudden poof, Pengu's entire body turned into a mist, out of which a human-sized penguin came out.

"Dear friend, whom I met in the past,

I hope, this meeting won't be our last."

While it was already a huge surprise for me to have Pengu respond to my words, hearing his rhymed voice I couldn't help but recall the mysterious tones that announced its arrival with poetic manner all the way back when we first met.

"Pengu, since when can you speak?"

Since I couldn't help but be curious about this strange event, what could be better than asking the being in question?

"All those who came with a question,

Should be ready, for a hefty drinking session!"

With its wing pointing out to the side, Pengu once again replied with a rhyme, before moving in the direction he aimed at. With no other choice, I followed his slow steps. While the clock on my return was still ticking, now that I found my treasure and the focal point of my scheme in taking over the heavenly city, wasting a few hours by simply bonding with my friend wasn't that bad of an option!

To my next surprise, rather than leading me outside of this place where he met with an adversary close to equal to him in terms of fighting strength, Pengu trodded only a few hundred meters before a huge ice mountain came into my sight. Following his steps even deeper, I finally saw several openings that led to some kind of caves.

Yet rather than taking the greatest entry in terms of size, Pengu climbed what looked like a strange, ice steps and approached one of the less conspicuous entries before looking back and waving its wings at me.

"Is this your home?"

As soon as the opening to the cave that Pengu led me to disappear behind my back, I could see quite a lot of both animal and human bones lying around in the greatest chamber of this place. Without even opening my mouth, I took a peek at my friend, only to see him looking straight back at me with what was most likely an imitation of a human smile plastered on top of its beak.

"For those who do not want to bow,

This is the place, where their bones are now."

To be honest, the more of this poetic speech came out of Pengu's beak, the more I was starting to not only get used to it, but even go as far as like it. From what I knew about poetry, coming up with one wasn't that easy of a task, yet this fluffy penguin managed to use it in all the phrases he produced!

"Should I bow now then?"

Taking the meaning of its words into account, I realised that our current relationship might be different than what it was a few weeks ago. After I left him to its own devices, even if it was due to the tragic situation Eve was in, he had to provide for himself, without any strong backer protecting its rear.

While in fact, ever since leaving this place, the foundation of my strength didn't grow almost at all, with me increasing only two of my attributes to its new limit only a few moments ago, Pengu somehow managed to climb from a strong but still weaker than me pet, to someone capable of rivalling a monster that gave me a run for my money!

"With the friendship between the two,

One will never appear in the hunting queue."

While saying that hearing those words was enough to make me calm down, at least I knew that this time when we were away that greatly contributed to Pengu's growth didn't change it into some kind of bloodthirsty monster willing to take any challenge if only that could help him grow even stronger.

"Speaking of friendship, I came here looking for you, because I think I found something that might interest you!"

Rather than wasting the time of the both of us on small talk, catching up or even asking about the time when we were separated, I decided to hit straight to the crux of the matter. After all, there wasn't really that much that I could talk with someone speaking only with poetry without plunging into the depths of the confusion, nor did I need to guess what was going on during the time I was somewhere else. The impressive collection of bones as well as all the traces of the frost that I found on my way here already told me everything about how Pengu spend its pastime!

"My interest you have, my dear friend,

To the point, where I don't want this talk to end."

Just like I said, while I could perfectly understand every single word that Pengu said, when it came to putting them together and deriving any real meaning, with how abundant his sentence was, I wasn't really sure whether parts of his words were there for the sake of keeping the rhyme or were real bits of what he wanted to tell me!

"Long story short, there is a place, where people worship certain animals. Its made of several organisations, one of which recently lost their so-called protector, who just as you might guess - was a penguin just like you. Even though I know you are not a simple penguin but an Imperial one, I think that will only make it easier for you to fit in the role of the overlord of the entire place. So, what do you say, do you want to have entire city worship you?"