Partners For Life

With a nod, he stood and left, heading to the Academy gates. He'd be joining the rest of the students that elected to get a Familiar in a rally, who would all be led by a professor to the Beast Nursery outside of town to perform the Familiar Ceremony.

He walked through the halls with a pep in his step and an excited smile on his face as he passed through the maze-like hallways of the Academy. His mother had told stories about Familiars all the time.

A Familiar was a partner for life, the best companion a Mage could ask for. There were many tales Fate knew of Familiars going through hell and high water to help their Mage, and of Mages doing the same for their Familiars. A Familiar and its Mage would always have each other's backs.

They were more than friends, they were family.

After a Familiar Ceremony, the thoughts of a Mage and their Familiar would be linked, allowing them to communicate via thought from anywhere on the planet. Many speculated that this range extended even farther than that, although there was no way to prove it.

A Familiar could grow along with its Mage companion, just like how all Magical Beasts could grow in power. Animals had six Tiers, with higher-numbered Tiers denoting greater strength.

The lowest was Tier 0, ordinary animals. Either their Nine Race blood was too thin to grow stronger, or they never had it at all.

The next was Tier I, a beast on par with a Journeyman. All animals with enough Nine Race blood were born at this Tier and could advance through the Tiers by unlocking the power of their bloodlines. These beasts, along with those in higher Tiers, were called Magical Beasts.

Following this was Tier II, which matched Adepts; Tier III, which had strength equivalent to a Master; Tier IV, matching an Arch-Mage; and the legendary Tier V, those who have fully unshackled their bloodlines and returned to the power their Nine Race ancestors held.

The last Tier was purely hypothetical, of course. No one and nothing on Ziobrun had ever made it past the Arch-Mage Stage.

Every Familiar would be given as a Tier I, at the age of the species' version of a toddler.

Since the majority of Magical Beasts had little to no Nephilim blood, they grew stronger faster than Facet wielders did.

They had only one category, and often only one or two Fragments, to worry about, which combined with their strong instincts meant they could glide through the Tiers without needing to think too hard, as the humans had to do with their Facets.

While they still relied on comprehension to become stronger, their minds were much more attuned to doing so than humans, and their instincts compounded on this even more.

But for the Familiar's Mage companion, this was a boon.

Obtaining a Familiar meant gaining a treasure trove of information. Most Mages opted to get a Familiar with the same Nine Race blood that they had; a Water Mage getting a water elemental, a Space Mage bonding with a Void Gremlin, et cetera.

If they couldn't or didn't want to pick this way, the other option was one with a complimentary ability to their Skill, which is what Fate would have to try for.

Since the Mage and their Familiar would share the same blood in the former case, they could help each other increase their power and share their revelations. And since their thoughts were linked, there was no harm or potential to misunderstand their Facet in doing so.

Each partner could inherently feel the intentions and the exact thought process their companion used to reach their conclusions, effectively making that revelation their own.

Having a Familiar with the same blood as you could increase your own comprehension speed anywhere from fifty to a hundred percent, making them extremely valuable.

Fate wouldn't be able to benefit from this as much as someone else due to his unique Facet, but he wouldn't be completely out of luck in this area.

And that wasn't all. On top of this already amazing benefit, Familiars were no slouches in combat. A Familiar could make a Mage with an auxiliary Skill great at fighting, or a Mage with an offensive Skill a nightmare.

This was why the Familiar Ceremony was a thousand Lights. Even if you were getting a child, it would be a massive boon to you. The only reason it was so cheap was because of the Empress' kindness. Familiars were caught, raised, cared for, and trained almost exclusively by her Guards.

Those Mages with exceptional talent in the field of Familiars were made honorary Guards by the Empress and given substantial pay to raise the beasts. There were a few black-market Familiar caretakers out there, but this was the only way to acquire one legally.

Fate merged with the crowd of chattering students, slotting in beside the kitsubus from earlier. She gave him a short glance before turning her head forward with a dismissive flick of her furry ear. Not long later, the Febenochi siblings joined him in the crowd, their brother conspicuously absent.

"Where's Ventraga?" Fate asked.

"He already has a Familiar," Deodeky told him. "It's just lazy and doesn't like to leave the house."

"A really lazy turtle," Semenda scowled. "It won't even let me pet it!"

"That's cause it's scared of you, Semenda," Tresbeney told her sister with an eye roll. "You scare all the animals."

"I'm not scary!" Semenda protested. "I'm cute! Right, Fate?"

"Hm? Yeah, I guess so," Fate said absentmindedly, his attention on the silver-robed man approaching from the direction of the Academy. He was a dour man with a perpetual scowl. He made it to the front of the crowd and waited.

"See? I'm cute, unlike you two," Semenda grinned.

"Please, we all look the same," Deodeky snorted. "And my alabaster skin makes me the obvious candidate for most beautiful."

As Fate watched, paying no mind to the three bickering siblings next to him, the silver-robed man's scowl deepened as the mass of students refused to stop talking. Finally, he lost his patience, a clap of thunder sounding out and drawing everyone's attention to him.