”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.
ƥαṇdα- ηθνε|·ƈθm
[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.