Ojero looked around, and began to note the various familiars that everyone had.
To his left, he saw a boy with blonde hair play with a water serpent. It coiled around its owner before firing a spout of water into the air from its mouth.
Soon after, he saw a tall blonde girl walk up and scold him. She had a sparrow on her shoulder that had icicles growing off of its wings.
They appeared to be siblings, but Ojero didn't care enough to learn any more.
As more and more people summoned their familiars, the sounds they made grew more and more annoying. All kinds of creatures were there, and each one brought a unique sound.
They might have sounded impressive on their own, but together they sounded dreadful and made Ojero cringe away from the sounds.
Professor Erica too noted the noise, and wanted to end it.
Suddenly, the arena floor began to shake, as everyone and their familiars quieted down.
"Students, that's quite enough! Unsummon your familiars and gather around. There is much to go over!"
The familiars around the arena slowly started to disappear into specks of light as they were all unsummoned. They all began to move towards Erica, soon naturally forming a circle.
Ojero noticed Litany also joining the circle and mentally berated himself for not taking note of her familiar.
"Ok students, this is your first familiar. It is indeed possible for you to gain more in the future, but you can only choose to do this in your second year at Lumenbecs, so that you may learn control first. In the past this was not a rule, and many would summon too many familiars, drawing more energy than they could handle and killing themselves."
"We do not have much more time today, but I can give you some tips. Begin to communicate with your familiar. I doubt anyone barring the two special cases here," she said while looking at Ojero and the boy who summoned the phoenix, "Will get a response. However, this is fine. A familiar will always be able to hear you."
"Speaking to them will help them grow a stronger bond with you and allow them to understand your motives and tactics. During tests and tournaments, this is very advantageous. Split second reactions and being able to fill in holes in your strategies are what separates a good familiar from a great one."
"There have been numerous cases throughout the years of familiars and mages becoming so connected their thoughts are exactly the same at all times. This phenomenon can only occur if you speak to your familiar even when you know they can't respond. This builds trust."
"What I did with my familiar was just speak about my day. Our familiars already know everything that happened and our thoughts during it, but our way of recounting experiences always differs from person to person. It allows the familiar to better understand your thought process and how you look back on events."
"Now, I am afraid that is all we have time for today. Practice speaking to your familiar and summoning it. Tomorrow we will go over basic information about familiars and how elements impact them."
Everyone started to walk towards the entrance, but realized there was no way up. Everyone dreaded having to take another ride up as they all turned to look back at her.
They could see a giant grin on her face as she knew exactly what they were thinking. However, knowing what they just went through, she snapped her fingers as a large section of the arena wall pulled out to reveal a giant stone staircase.
Everyone then realized she must've hidden it in the first place just to mess with them. Usually they would've complained, but if she did this all without remorse, what else would she do to them?
They all started to dash up the stairs as Erica sat there, struggling to hold in her laughter. This was the class that held the second most potential for her.
Her previous class had a natural born genius when it came to magic. He was from a noble family, but she couldn't remember which. All she knew is he wielded both the light and space element, and that both of his familiars were mythic grade.
Not only that, but another girl in that class summoned a mythic grade Eye of the Storm, a very rare wind familiar that had high destructive power.
'However, that phoenix boy and shadow kid could have a great future if they put in the work. I wonder what will happen to them?'
What Erica did not know was that this many mythic familiars in one class would break continental records, but due to her being a relatively new teacher made her unaware of how fantastic this was.
In fact, having one mythic grade familiar per year was considered a gift from the gods, let alone four, possibly five.
As Ojero was about to enter the portal, he turned back to look at the 9th statue once more. He still felt something about it called to him, but he couldn't tell what exactly.
"That must be the magical energy, master. All mages can feel the energy of a mage that shares their magic. Strong ones can even leave a magic trace on all things made in their image. Even us familiars do not yet know the cause of it."
"If I may advise you, master, I believe that whoever that statue used to represent was someone who wielded a form of death magic, and a very strong one for his energy to last this long."
'A Death Mage? Everyone knows Thyrus was one. Does this mean he was a Necromancer?'
"I do not believe so, master. Death magic has many forms, Necromancy being only one of them."
'Wouldn't you be from a different domain then, such as a domain of undeath?'
"Not necessarily, master. Necromancy is the strongest domain in death magic, and this allows us to claim the title of the true Domain of Death. If I am correct, the man that statue represents wielded decay and plague magic, and I also believe shadow magic."
Ojero knew Thyrus had some connection with death, and was known as the Dark Lich, but back then the word "Lich" had a different meaning. Anyone who achieved some form of immortality was known as one.
This means Ojero did not have much he could learn from the history of Thyrus if he was searching for Necromancy, however the other elements did interest him. If he needed to find any texts on shadow magic, maybe learning about Thyrus could help.
However, there was one thing Ojero could learn about right now.
'Tell me about the domains regarding death magic.'
"Of course, master"
***
The Book of the Known Undead
Chapter 3: Light Armored Zombie
Light armored zombies are very similar to their basic counterparts. However, they outclass them due to the light armor they come with. Wearing basic hides and leather for protection, these zombies can take much more of a hit before dying. These zombies can also wield basic weapons such as basic swords and daggers. They too are good for horde tactics, but are quickly outclassed by later variants.
Light armored zombies do not take much energy to summon or maintain.
Element: Undead (Necromancy)
Class: Basic Zombie