Before enrollment in magic academy, a young mage must purchase or acquire a familiar to provide protection, assistance, and companionship.
The rich are able to afford such beasts as dragons, griffons, feathered serpents, and more.

Isak is not rich.

Isak’s parents got him a rock.

“It will work or your money back!” the local mad mage said when he sold it to his mother. And while the young human from the Western Wastes was still coming to terms with that new reality he was on his way to Black Reef Institute for his first year of learning everything a young mage could need to become a mage of legend!

Vital rituals! Astronomy! A wide variety of spells! Survival in a hostile land! Potions! Bonding with your familiar to take full advantage of their unique abilities!

A familiar that was, once again, a rock.

But as Isak soon discovers that rock is so much more than any could have dreamed of, he’ll need the help of his newfound friends to discover the rock’s untold secrets and still have time for that brutal test on Core Spells!

Wiki here https://www.worldanvil.com/w/tecalli-sylaswrites