The evening after the extended dungeon class, Lily finally got to meet up with Rose. It had felt like ages since they last spoke, and both were extremely excited to see one another.

While Lily was energetic and full of positivity, Rose looked particularly drained, as if she'd gone through a brutal first week of classes.

Lily enthusiastically recounted her week, in particular mentioning her accomplishments in Practical Magical Combat and how her team had won the impromptu competition in Dungeon Studies.

Rose listened intently, hanging on to every word, and cheered as if she were the victor herself. Surprisingly, she also shared in Lily's lament at the mandatory dodging, although she had managed to reach round four herself.

"Dodging and running around just isn't my style. Using overwhelming force is much better. Plus, they kept nicking my wings or tail, which felt like cheating in my opinion," Rose complained.

When it came to the offensive test, Rose boasted quite proudly about reducing the target dummy into cinders. Lily thought she'd gone completely overboard, but had to admit she wouldn't have expected any less from her bullheaded dragon of an older sister.

Lily, wanting to impress Rose, told her how she was the only one to get through the final round of defensive training and even achieved a perfect score against the dreaded bees.

"That's great! Who knew your star cloak would be so effective!"

"Thanks, but what did you do? Did you use earth or air spells to protect yourself?" Lily asked curiously.

"Well… I kinda passed…" Rose admitted, although she was behaving somewhat aloof about it. "Since Professor Elius was using fire spells, I just swallowed up his fire. He seemed rather annoyed by it, but my Ward never went off, so he had to give me a pass. Then, at the end, he threw a rock at me and broke my Ward. I had thought it was just a fancy fireball, but he caught me completely off guard."

"That wasn't a fireball," Lily replied. "It was a ball of molten rock. So you took the fire and heat, which resulted in a hardened lump left behind."

"Huh… that's rather sneaky."

"Are you only using fire?" Lily asked, although she felt like she knew the answer already.

"Naturally. It's what I'm best at. I'm so skilled at it that I can even use other people's own fire against them. Well… except for Aura, but she's a special case."

"Then how did you survive the bees?" Lily asked curiously.

"Oh, I kind of did something similar to what you did. I surround myself in a fiery aura that burns pretty much anything that comes into contact with it. Although I can only really use it when alone, otherwise I risk triggering other people's Wards."

"So you burnt the bees?"

"To a crisp. It was very cathartic," Rose said with smug satisfaction.

"I'm honestly surprised he let you pass. Doesn't that count as an attack spell?"

"Technically, it's classified as a hybrid spell. Although I'll admit he was very reluctant to let me pass."

They continued chatting late into the evening, sharing many laughs and giggles.

***

It was officially the weekend, and that meant they had two entire days off, since it was still the first week. Some of the students were already discussing taking a trip to Kaeling or organizing social events.

However, the celebrations were momentarily cut short, as a notice was posted in the morning stating that there would be a mandatory lesson in the auditorium for every first-year student in the afternoon. Many grumbles and complaints circulated, but ultimately, everyone attended; the threat of being unable to obtain their dungeon pass was always at the back of their minds.

When they arrived at the auditorium, they were surprised to see that Headmaster Fabrelis was the one waiting for them. He simply smiled, waved, and gestured for everyone to take a seat.

Once everyone had arrived, he finally brought up the lesson that was important enough to warrant taking away their valuable weekend time.

"I'm sure many of you are wondering what this could possibly be about. Perhaps you've already asked your seniors and spoiled the surprise, but I'm sure every one of you will be glad you didn't try skipping this one," he said, followed by a dry chuckle.

"Upon joining Regarth, you've all summoned a Familiar. Once again, the variety on display is fascinating, and each year brings new creatures that I could only have imagined. I hope you've been bonding with them, learning more about them, and more importantly, feeding them your Mana."

The students glanced around at their Familiars, either mumbling in agreement or responding noncommittally to the headmaster.

"Well, for those of you who haven't been slacking on that. You'll be happy to know that today I'll be teaching you the incantation to desummon your Familiar. Likewise, you'll also be getting the one to bring them back out, after all, it's actually the same incantation but in reverse!"

The class mumbled in excitement.

"Now, some of you might be wondering why I mentioned all of that extra stuff. Or why you were encouraged to feed your Familiar as much Mana as possible and get on friendly terms with them. Well, part of the reason is that you always want to be on amicable terms with a lifelong partner! But the second reason is that it's a requirement for this spell to function."

Stolen story; please report.

That got the class's attention, and Lily noticed a few students looking quite sour at that revelation.

"Yes, you heard me correctly. If your Familiar is unhappy with you, or more commonly underfed, it will refuse to be dismissed! After all, that is part of the pact you made with it, to supply it with Mana. Neglecting that promise means they can reject your wishes."

Lily heard a defeated-sounding "Oh no…" whispered from Thomas. She immediately understood why; his cat, Yona, seemed to never be satisfied and often outright rejected Mana in favor of real food.

"Similarly, they might go away if you've fed them enough Mana to satiate them. But, if your relationship is poor, they might reject your summons and refuse to come in your time of need."

That caused a few more concerned whispers to ripple through the students, and while she didn't share in their concern, Lily could understand why. Even if their Familiars didn't have any special abilities, talents, or otherwise, they still would hold a significant portion of their Mana.

Summoning their Familiar was meant to be an ultimate secret weapon, or last resort, allowing them to go significantly beyond their normal Mana limits. If their Familiar refused to answer the call, they would be locked out from tapping into that valuable Mana source.

Fortunately, I can continue to grow my Mana Core.

"Some of you might be upset that we're only revealing this now, but we hoped you'd form bonds without needing any beneficial encouragement. After all, that's the way to forge true bonds that will stand the test of time."

He then chanted, slowly and deliberately, and in a poof of fire appeared the rotund chicken Falan, the headmaster's Familiar. She let out a preening sound and then plopped onto the ground with a thud before beginning to groom her feathers.

"Now. Shall we begin going over the chant together? Without Mana the first few times, of course. It's a rather simple one, so we should be able to get through it quite smoothly."

What proceeded next was the class enunciating the incantation together, slowly and deliberately. At the same time, above Fabrelis' head were the words magically appearing as they said them in unison; evidently, he was using some of his illusions as a teaching aid.

The chant was relatively simple, which was slightly confusing to Lily as she filed it away for something to ask Arakil later. She would've assumed something as significant as summoning and dismissing your Familiar would be more complicated.

Once Headmaster Fabrelis was happy with the results, he moved on to reciting the incantation backwards. This would resummon their Familiar, assuming they agreed to accept the call.

"Right. I think that's enough practice both ways. We can start trying for real now. Don't be discouraged if you don't accomplish it today, as you'll have plenty of time to practice. This class will remain active until dinner time to provide you with all the help you need. Of course, as soon as you successfully cast both spells, you're free to leave early, which should be quite the incentive, I imagine."

The students were nodding eagerly as the spell definitely seemed simple enough from what they had gone through, and the allure of having an early start to their weekend was a definite plus.

"Before you begin, the visual imagery that has always helped me is imagining waving goodbye to a dear friend leaving your house after a delightful lunch together."

Fabrelis chuckled to himself after that and cast the spell for real, Falan giving a nod before she disappeared in front of the audience.

"Likewise, when you want them to return, the opposite imagery has always helped. I imagine myself opening the front door and welcoming Falan inside my home. If you're struggling and need more direct assistance, then please come forward and I'll do my best to help. Naturally, only after you've given it a proper few attempts yourself. Now, good luck, and you may begin."

And so the kids began trying to repeat the chant. Lily sat there looking at Arakil, a bit unsure of how to proceed.

[I think I mentioned it before, but I quite like this headmaster. He seems to be a pretty passionate man about his school, and I enjoyed both his presentation as well as his use of example imagery.]

Lily gestured "yes" to Arakil, hoping he would continue.

[Oh, right, the spell. Well, you can "pass" on your first try if you wish. I can simply turn off our link when you successfully recite the incantation, which will appear as if you've dismissed me. Since I'm masquerading as a mere specter, naturally, the book which temporarily houses me would stay behind.]

Lily subtly gestured "yes" again and then began attempting the incantation. It was genuinely straightforward, and she'd long grown accustomed to far more complicated ones, like her work in progress on Waxing Wonder.

Lily recited the spell calmly, and when she uttered the last component, the floating book suddenly went entirely dull and collapsed to the desk with a thud.

"Oh? Do we have a success already?" Fabrelis asked, evidently watching their progress quite closely.

"What? No way!" Hana whined.

"But the book is still there…" a boy said curiously.

"It's a ghost inside the book, obviously!" his friend berated him.

"Indeed. It's always fascinating to see these things firsthand with the more peculiar Familiars," the headmaster said. He pulled out a monocle from his breast pocket and placed it on his right eye. "There is no Mana link between you and the book, so that is most definitely a successful dismissal. Very good, hopefully you can bring him back just as easily."

Lily nodded, trying to appear confident while hiding her relief. She had no idea he would be examining such things so thoroughly.

"If any of you are really struggling, I'd suggest giving a bit more Mana to your Familiar before your next batch of attempts. A goodbye snack for the road can often be quite enticing," the headmaster suggested.

The students resumed their efforts with renewed vigor. Lily briefly activated her Magesight and noticed a lot of them trying to feed their Familiar. Lotte and Thomas were desperately trying to feed Jade and Yona, the latter of whom was being quite cheeky and reluctant to accept it despite his pleas.

Lily suppressed a giggle at the sight and shook her head. She took a deep breath and whispered the incantation in reverse once just to make sure she didn't screw up. Even if it was an act, she wanted to get it right, as with the headmaster watching closely, she needed to be accurate.

Plus, I'd doubt Arakil would let me succeed if I didn't get it right. If I tried to take a shortcut, I'd bet money he would refuse to play his part in the act.

And so Lily recited the reversed incantation with real intent this time. As the last syllables left her lips, a magical aura was briefly emitted from the book as it began to float up and "come to life".

[Very well done. Your enunciation was spectacular.]

Lily smiled joyfully at the genuine compliment, as coming from Arakil the perfectionist, it meant a lot.

"Well, color me surprised," Fabrelis said, chuckling and shaking his head. "I suppose you're the first one to get your early weekend."

Lily nodded.

"Ugh, this is unfair, Jade is being a greedy guts," Lotte whined.

"I could stay and wait for you?" Lily offered.

Lotte shook her head. "I might be here all day. Go have fun, or study, or whatever you want to do. I'll swing by your room if Jade here actually lets me leave early; otherwise, I'll see you at dinner."

Lily agreed, and since she had permission, she began walking out the door. She waved goodbye to her friends, thanked the headmaster for his time and lesson, and departed.

"Oh, did I mention that until you can successfully dismiss your Familiar, you aren't allowed to leave the school grounds?" the headmaster casually informed the rest of the class. "Just some extra incentive to go around."

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.