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2.23% Inheritor Of Magic: The Magi King / Chapter 26: 26 Summoning Familiars

Chapitre 26: 26 Summoning Familiars

The talk quickly turned to the familiar summoning that would be happening that afternoon.

Going by the gossip that Wolfe could hear, every First-Year Witch wanted to draw an exceptional Summon, especially the ones for whom a good Familiar could make the difference between becoming lower Nobility and being relegated to the status of Commoner.

For them, their entire future rode on their ability to increase the rate their power was growing at. The difference a familiar made was contingent on two basic things. First was the species. Some could have more mana drawn through them than others, and some transferred mana that was easier to absorb for the witch. The second factor was compatibility, how well the Familiar suited the Witch, and that was impossible to tell until they were bonded, at least as far as Wolfe understood.

For Ella, her power should be sufficient to graduate the first year no matter what she got as a Familiar, but in order to get a decent noble title and not just become a Baroness with only her own home to her name, you needed both wealth and power, or a lot of power, and Wealth she didn't have since she was the daughter of a very normal non Witch family.

For Cassie, she would have the Noxus Family backing her, so she would hold some sway no matter what title they officially gave her, as long as she finished out the first year without incident.

"So, Wolfe, what made you choose our table when you had your pick of the room?" Asia asked.

"I got here early yesterday with Cassie. She's a friend from the city and Ella's roommate. I see you've met her already. Ella and Cassie have both been very kind and helpful since I arrived, and it made a good first impression. Then, the Student Council President's Assistant, Murk, recommended Ella as a friend. Two unrelated references is a pretty good start." Wolfe replied, then leaned over to whisper in Asia's ear.

"Plus, she's pretty cute when she blushes."

That made the dark-haired Witch burst into laughter. "I think we will get along very well, Wolfe Noxus. This weekend, the pool will open, and we will start swimming practice again. You should join us.

The school doesn't do sports teams, but we still unofficially do. Keeping in shape is important, but most of the Witches hate to work out, so even gym class has been eliminated. They just made the facilities a free for all unless a group of Witches reserves them."

He was going to ask more about the training facilities, to see how they compared to the Gyms he had been going to since he was a child, but the warning bell ended their conversation.

"Alright, let's get a move on. The last unofficial sorting of the entrance exams is the Familiar Summoning, and we will do that in the practical skills classroom." Ella informed him, then pushed Wolfe to stand up and grabbed Cassie by the hand.

The main classroom for First Year Class A Witches was at the far side of the academy, next to the stairs that led down to the potions rooms, which were safely placed in a bunker beneath the school.

"Everyone take your place next to one of the marked summoning circles and be careful not to smudge or damage them. Wolfe, I presume? I am glad you showed up, though you have the day off. Grab that paint pen in case some idiot can't follow instructions." The teacher announced as the first of the students entered.

That made some of the Witches chuckle. Then they realized that the new teacher's assistant would be kneeling at their feet to fix the circle if they made a mistake, and the summer dresses of the Academy uniform ended mid-thigh on most of the Witches. Not a great combination for their modesty.

The teacher's order got all the Witches shifted into straight lines, with Ella and Cassie near the back corner and an incredibly tiny Witch in a fuzzy pink hoodie at the front next to where Wolfe was waiting for additional instructions while he tried to memorize the inscription circle drawn on the board.

Some of the girls were giggling with each other and shuffling their feet, so Wolfe tapped the whiteboard, then held up his marker, making them all look at their feet and suddenly stop moving.

"Not only a strong fighter, but off to an excellent start with Student Compatibility. I will have to thank the Noxus Family for sending you here." The teacher told Wolfe with a smile.

"Now, I personally drew the circles, so there should be no mistakes. If you see any scuffed or missing sections, let us know. The correct summoning circle is on the board." The teacher instructed the mere ten students of Class A.

"Mine appears to have an incorrect rune," Cassie informed the instructor, and Wolfe went to make the correction, holding a copy of the circle in his hand.

The paint must have been running out at the end. The rune was only half-formed the first time it was drawn, then the attempt to fix it introduced an error in the shape. Wolfe quickly wiped it away with the provided enchanted solvent rag and drew a new one, then double-checked the circle, finding no more errors.

A few more issues were found and fixed, including a gap in the inner circle on Ella's inscription, and then the teacher wrote a chant on the board.

"I expect you all can manage this. Even without an Aura, summoning a familiar is possible if you can use magic. The result depends on both luck and innate talent, as you need the talent to create a strong enough spell to be successful and luck to get a truly useful and powerful Familiar.

The most common are mice and cats. Mice are mostly considered to be useless and poor quality Familiars, but they are still infinitely better than a failure, and should be nurtured with care. If you get an all-black cat as a Familiar, they can often speak human languages. Some other species gain abilities as well, and we will go over them if they are summoned.

The spell takes time and focus, keep repeating the chant and focusing on the most important aspect of your Familiar. The one thing you truly want in a companion. Continue until mist fills the circle and your Familiar appears. If anything happens, it is working. Just keep at it until it finishes." The teacher instructed.

Wolfe returned to his spot at the front, out of the way of the Class and took his seat. If this was his job for the year, he wasn't complaining. Compared to being a courier, this job was incredibly easy.

Chanting filled the room, some loud, others nearly silent. Most of the circles had mist in them already, and after a minute of waiting, the teacher went to check the ones that didn't show any signs of change, making small alterations to the circles.

The clouds didn't seem to change sizes either, except one in the front, which fluctuated wildly. The other just increased in density within the same area, making Wolfe think that they represented the size of the Familiar that was being summoned.

It was all going smoothly until the fluctuating spell cloud seemed to explode, and Wolfe was wrapped up in a gelatinous substance. The effect broke the concentration of a few nearby students, but the slime quickly retreated from Wolfe, then gave him what he took for an apology in the form of forming itself into a wave-like shape and collapsing, which looked like it was giving him a bow.

Other than those whose circles started late and the ones who had to start over, things were moving along smoothly, and the Class A witches were beginning to see the results of their Familiar Summoning.

The girl known as Mary, who managed to obtain a fluffy pink hoodie to wear to class, summoned a large, long-haired dog with snow-white fur. She was so happy and loud about her victory that the teacher was forced to use a spell to isolate her from the class so she didn't disrupt the others' hard work.

One after another, the Familiars appeared, mostly mundane small creatures, though Christa Abilene summoned the most hideous little green Goblin. Wolfe didn't see what happened between them, but she was currently beating it with a rolled-up stack of paper.

Someone should likely remind her that it was a Familiar. She should be able to just order it around.

Wolfe began to feel a steady demand on his mana storage and a constant drain of energy through him to somewhere in the room as a pair of large, exceptionally dense clouds in the back, which seemed to be Cassie and Ella, began to fluctuate and go out of control.

That wasn't necessarily a bad sign, Wolfe thought. The last time the Familiar Summoning spell did something weird, the summoner got a cute slime. The draw on his power was more than a little uncomfortable, though, and rapidly getting worse.

Not that he could just openly say anything about it. At least not in a room full of witches who had likely learned since birth that male magic users were evil and needed to be exterminated.

"Wolfe, carefully stand up and take a step this way." The teacher ordered him, bringing Wolfe to his feet.

He didn't see anything wrong, but the teacher looked rather intrigued in a way that spelled trouble for Wolfe. Then, the world around him seemed to twist, and he was standing in the back of the room between Cassie and Ella, who had been moved into the circles they were activating, replacing the dense black clouds of smoke inside the inscriptions.


Chapitre 27: 27 Minor Mishap

"What am I doing over here?" Wolfe wondered out loud, then realized that something was very wrong. He could feel mana being rapidly pulled through him, and it felt like he was being torn apart from the inside.

The rush of energy felt like it was trying to tear his cells apart to feed its need, and he had nothing to give it since he had deliberately emptied himself of mana before coming to class. The pain was like nothing he had ever felt before. Not even the time he was hit by a delivery truck and broke his leg could compare to this, and the pain was everywhere.

Everywhere but the mana pouch in his chest, which remained a tiny pain-free island of hope that he could cling to.

He didn't have anything stored, so he pulled in mana as fast as he could, trying to keep something in his reserve to dampen the pain in his body.

At this point, he didn't even care if anyone noticed his abilities. That tearing feeling was going to kill him if he didn't do something right this instant. Wolfe was completely certain of it.

The only thing holding his sanity together seemed to be two points of light next to his mana pouch, violet and powder blue.

Just as he thought all hope was lost, the pain began to recede, and Wolfe rapidly filled his mana capacity to prevent a repeat of whatever happened just now. Then he felt the Inheritance Spell writing something on his arm where its runes were etched, hidden from all eyes but his own.

[Supplicant Bond Offer Obtained. Accept?]

[3 seconds to default answer]

Wolfe had no idea what the Inheritance was trying to tell him. His head still hurt too much to think.

[Bonds Accepted]

[Witch] Ella Mariel

[Witch] Cassie Noxus

"I must say, that was unexpected, but excellent work. Now, which of you succeeded and who needs to start over?" Wolfe heard the teacher's voice through the ringing in his head.

"I did." Both Witches answered in unison, then glared at each other.

"You can't both have succeeded. Which one of you got a human as a Familiar? Draw mana through your Familiar, and their eyes will glow with your power." The teacher instructed, then gasped as the two students did as they were told.

Wolfe could feel the constant mana draw going to both Witches as his internal storage tried to balance itself with their much weaker auras, but he was only now realizing what it meant.

He had been Summoned as a Familiar. Or perhaps he had summoned them as a Familiar? The way that the notification had been worded made it sound more like they were asking to be his Familiars.

"Three seconds to answer? What a sketchy system. Doesn't it know how much that hurt?" Wolfe complained, drawing the attention of the whole class, the teacher included.

"Three seconds. You really did receive the notification. Tell me slave, who is your master?" The teacher asked.

"First of all, I'm not a slave. I just work here." Wolfe corrected, and the teacher pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Fine, tell me, Wolfe, who bonded you? You should feel a pull to them and a newfound affinity to their aura. Try to send them a bit of power, and we will know for sure." The teacher directed him.

'No harm in complying at this point. I'm pretty much screwed.' Wolfe thought, then sent a surge of mana through both bonds, causing both Cassie and Ella to collapse into his arms.

"You three, wait right here. Class, the rest of you are dismissed the moment you finish your summoning. Go and get familiar with your Familiar for the rest of the day." She ordered, sending seven students and animals running from the room in celebration, leaving behind Cassie and Ella, plus one fluffy white dog and its Witch, who were distracted by each other and couldn't hear anything through the isolation bubble that the teacher had set up.

"Form Study Groups before the end of next week." The teacher called after them, having forgotten the last point of her lecture in her haste to empty the room.

The study groups would spend nearly all their time in practical skills class together during the first semester, practicing spells and how to draw from both yourself and your Familiar at once to improve your mana collection speed. It was detailed on the board at the front of the room, next to the Summoning Circle.

Assuming that anyone other than Wolfe had bothered to read it.

Drawing mana through your Familiar stabilized the freshly forged bond, which strengthened the link between Witch and Familiar, increasing the Familiar's power. The Witches got stronger mana flows and faster aura growth from a stronger Familiar, making it a mutually beneficial relationship that built up in a sort of feedback loop.

The remaining students in the room only had to wait a few seconds, wondering what was going to happen to them, before Headmistress Peach seemed to simply step out of the shadows in the corner of the room to glare at everyone present.

"How do you mess up a Familiar Summoning badly enough to need assistance?" She demanded.

"They both summoned the same human." The teacher responded dryly.

"Alright, we can fix this. Or maybe it doesn't need to be fixed. How is their Compatibility? Do we have the testing device here?" The Headmistress asked.

Over the course of the next week, the Familiars and their Witches would be tested for compatibility, and the Witches would be informed of how much they could expect to gain from the relationship in the short term.

Killing or otherwise dismissing the Familiar wouldn't do them any good, as it would prevent the spell from being used again for an unknown amount of time, usually measured in years, so what they received today was what they had to work with.

The teacher brought out a small stone tablet and placed it on the desk. "Place your hands on hers and channel mana to her. Or she can draw it through you. Either one is fine." She sighed.

Ella stepped up, and Wolfe filled his mana storage to fifty percent, just enough that it should give a reliable result and ensure that one of the two Witches beside him had the highest score among her classmates.

Ella's hand touched his, and energy surged between them as she activated the device, causing her thighs to clench and her knees to buckle.

[Compatibility 97 Percent]

The room went absolutely silent, and the teacher rushed over to stand Ella back up while she gasped for breath and looked longingly at the cold floor.

"Repeat that test. Anything over ninety is unheard of, even for the most fated of Familiar pairings. You two must be almost perfectly in sync in both mind and body to get a result like that."

Ella looked a bit reluctant after the last time, but Wolfe restored his mana to the same level and prepared to begin again.

This time the teacher held Ella upright, but the reaction was the same.

[Compatibility 97.1 Percent]

"It is settled then. Ella, no need to do the other compatibility and mana flow tests. Your perfect partner has been found. Cassie, step forward and take the test." The teacher's voice seemed a bit grim this time, and Wolfe began to suspect that she had bad news for someone.

[Compatibility 97 Percent]

Cassie collapsed in Wolfe's arms before the teacher took her and moved her to a chair, then returned to stare in confusion at the display of the testing device.

"What do we do, Headmistress? With scores so high, it would cripple them to sever the bond. But sharing a Familiar, especially a Humanoid Familiar? That's more than a bit unorthodox. Plus, he's still up for trial in the near future."

The Headmistress looked deep in thought and didn't respond when a new voice joined them. Mary, the Witch in the fluffy pink hoodie, had left the isolation bubble.

"You know, I never thought the testing device would give anyone a high compatibility score with a male human. I mean, I like my new Pyrenees Dog, I named him Pup, and he's male, but you're neither cute nor fluffy. How could there be Compatibility there?" The tiny witch asked.

"I don't know how the scores work, but things our friends like, we are likely to enjoy as well, right?" Wolfe asked.

"Hmm, plausible theory. I will have to bring it up at the book club. Their recruiter tells me that they do a lot of research on random topics, so there is a chance it has come up before. Don't go getting any ideas, though. You will never be a truly suitable Familiar if you're not fluffy." Mary replied.

"That's a shame. You look really comfortable, like a fluffy pillow. You must have stolen all the potential softness from the other Familiars in the room." Wolfe teased her.

"Fluff is life. I can make you a pillow from the supply room, or you can substitute a soft witch for a fluffy pillow instead, since guys usually don't know what the truly good things in life are. The contact helps their aura, so they would probably help you out. Did anyone tell you about that already, how Witches get stronger from just being in close contact with as well as drawing mana through a compatible Familiar?"

Wolfe nodded, amused by the tiny Witch and her random train of thought. "And I'm told the opposite is true as well. Familiars get stronger when in contact with powerful Witches."

The Witch in her outlandish pink hoodie was definitely an oddball, but for the moment, Wolfe had more questions than answers, and the two authorities in the room seemed lost in their thoughts while she was willing to give out answers.

"There is one more issue you should likely know about as well," Mary added.

"Might as well tell me now, get it all out in the open." Wolfe sighed.

"The best time to be close to your Familiar is when you're asleep. I've never heard of a Witch and Familiar that didn't sleep together."

That didn't sound like an issue at all. At least it didn't until he looked at both Cassie and Ella and realized that there were going to be some very serious discussions about this topic in the very near future.


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