I had a couple ways to end volume 1 but it has been decided. Look forward to it (:
Don't forget to drop those power stones!
*
It was good father and his network was already raising suspicions as who to it was that actually caused the Hundred Days War.
While it was officially Giliath who took the blame and declared war on Liberl, the true perpetrator was not Giliath at all. In fact Giliath, as well as his entire family were one of the victims in this war. But at the same time, it was this same war that allowed Giliath to rise up, becoming Erebonia's one and only Blood and Iron Chancellor.
I had zero intent to prevent this from happening. Some things had to stay true after all.
What did this mean?
It mean whoever is the one who will raid our house, I will let them do it. Kasia will "die", causing Rean to lose his will. Giliath will attempt to save him, only to bestow the Twilight's Heart to Rean, and subsequently becoming the host for Ishmelga. And what that meant is Rean will still receive his Ogre powers.
After all, by the time this scene happens, I will have likely left the vicinity already.
That's right. This will be my one way ticket to get wiped off the map. Whether alone or with the people who will raid this villa in three to four month's time.
'Well, actually I won't be by myself, even if I leave alone', I said, revealing a smile.
A few hours have passed since our family had lunch with Phillip and Elie. Phillip had departed toward Heimdallr to catch his flight bound for Liberl, and this will be the last time I meet with him, perhaps until sky begins.
As for Elie, after we played during these couple hours, her grandfather picked her up in their own private orbal car. Despite now being the mayor of Crossbell City, he still comes out of the way to travel all the way here, which has earned my respect for him. We also gave him a warning. Crossbell City will stay out of the coming Hundred Days War, but it was still good to be wary. As such, Elie wouldn't be able to come back over to play.
While she did not know what would happen here in the near future, she left dejected, but also hopeful. It was a rather sad goodbye to see Elie go, but later on, I'm sure we will see each other again. Rean was also sad to see Elie go, but he too knew. His studies have started as well, so father was teaching him along with me.
Either way, it was a good few hours spent. Now I could be seen in my room, still resting my hands from the spar from earlier, sitting on my bed. But that didn't stop the smile that was currently shown on my face.
"Why don't I take you to come out and play for a bit, Tama?", I uttered softly.
After I said that, I closed my eyes, and started to channel my Mana.
"Aperio.", I chanted softly, letting my Mana surge a bit. In front of me, a small black hole opened out of nowhere, only to have a small shadow swiftly dash out of it.
"Kyuu!", A little voice said, coming from this shadow. I then felt this shadow immediately give me a tackle, and gave me a hug. I saw two white furry ears pop out of my chest, which gave me another smile.
What was currently giving me was a small white fox of sorts, no bigger than one to two feet. It had just been born around two year ago, and from my own mana. That's right, this little white fox is a mana construct.
A familiar.
I now had a familiar of my own.
This all happened roughly two years ago, at the time of S1190. It was when I was four years old.
During that first year since clearing Phase 0 of the Vermillion Trials, my training stabilized and I was mostly spending time home at the villa with my family. The Sword Fox also began my rapier training then, so it was shuffling that, father's training and studies, and going back and forth to Eryn Village, which was Roselia's home. It was also during this time Elie came over a lot, and after the first year, Alfin started to come over, with permission from the new Emperor of course.
As a result of that, security around our house became increasingly tightened. We would find several men in black suits and black glasses patrolling our house whenever Alfin was present. Thankfully no threats emerged during this time so we treated these secret service members as empty air.
Despite being reborn into a fantasy world such as Zemuria, there were still many things that were similar to my past life. These secret service members being one such thing. Another thing which happened this year was also something that was found in my past life.
S1190 marked the birth of the Orbal Net as a result of a joint venture between Liberl's Zeiss Central Factory and the Epstein Foundation. Aka fantasy internet. We would soon be progressing into the information age just like how it was then.
But that was beside the point, S1190 played a special role, to which I was able to create a familiar at Eryn Village. I wasn't alone during this event either. The first time I stepped into Eryn Village, I was able to formally meet its residents, which were not a lot. But among them included Isola Millstein, and Emma Millstein. It didn't take long for Emma and I to become friends. She especially took a liking to the fact I was already learning magic from Roselia. To which she also formally introduced herself as Roselia Millstein, currently acting as Emma's and Vita's grandmother.
It was a shame but I did not see Vita much, maybe once or twice at most. She had already received permission from Roselia and was officially a wandering witch, so she was currently visiting many places that drew interest to her. As to whether she came into contact with the Grandmaster of Ouroboros, I did not know. I was tempted to ask directly, but I didn't want to raise suspicion. Either way, during those couple of times, Vita and I became friends as well. She too was happy that I was able to form a mana core and start practicing magic.
After entering Eryn a Village a few times, it was an auspicious day during that year. It was when Vita was home when we were finally able to make it happen. If you wondered if ateliers existed in Zemuria, they do, as Roselia invited Vita, Emma and I to her personal atelier. This is the same atelier that would become the main base of the students during the early game of CSIV. We only stayed on the first floor though, which also included her scrying area.
After casting a long incantation, Roselia consumed a lot mana to perform this spell. She used much more than in the games here, as the key difference here was that she performed this spell for three people, instead of two. She not only reverted back to her child-like appearance, she would have to spend the next several years to recover this consumed mana. But she didn't feel dejected from this, but happy seeing Vita and Emma receiving their familiar, as well as a familiar of my own.
Not to mention at this point Emma had already successfully formed her mana core, while Vita already had a few years on her. Vita really was a genius of magic.
Emma received a black cat with tufts of purple fur, and named it Celine.
Vita received a royal blue nightingale, and named it Grianos.
I received a pearly white fox, and named it Tamamo.
All of us held a giant celebration afterward, stuffing our faces while I watched Roselia get drunk, which to be honest, I didn't think she was actually a drinker. So seeing her behave like this was a sight to behold.
Coming back to the present, I now saw the pearly white nestled into my lap. Tamamo raised its head once I had another look at her. It's pretty hard to tell genders of familiars right off the bat, but Roselia said that Tamamo was likely a girl. As for Celine, she was a girl, and for Grianos, he was a boy. Once enough years have passed and they have a big enough mana pool, familiars do have the capability of achieving human forms, but for Tamamo to achieve that, it will likely take several years, or will that be dependent on me, since our mana is now linked?
I did end up learning that it is a one time consumption to summon familiars here each time I want to. While they can feed off of materialistic food, they can sustain their bodies by consuming the mana of their owner. So basically as long as I have enough EP, they can stay summoned. It's not like they don't have their own mana pools though, if they want to cast something, they have access to that. This mana consumption is not a constant tick either, it only happens at certain intervals. Meaning, I could do meditation sessions to prolong their summoning time. It is quite amazing how the future Emma and Vita could have Celine and Grianos for extended periods of time, so perhaps the EP consumption isn't all that much.
Seeing me lost in thought regarding this, Tamamo tilted her head a bit, only to let out a small voice which brought me back to my room.
"Kyuu?", Tamamo asked, tilting her head a little bit at me.
"Haha, sorry about that. Was just thinking over these last couple of years, it's still a lot to take in. It is unfortunate you cannot talk yet, Tama.", I said, rubbing Tamamo's head a bit.
"Kyuu...", Tamamo replied, letting her ears swoop down a bit. This earned another laugh from me.
"You are just a baby still, Tama. Even I have like nine more years before I come of age. According to noble society, we debut at the age of sixteen, and I'm already six. But will I even have my debut at this point?", I asked to myself in wonder.
"Kyuu?", Tamamo asked again, tilting her head.
"That's enough for now. You want a snack, don't you, Tama?", I asked Tamamo as I gently ruffled her head. Tamamo's ears twitched a bit. As they did, I used my other hand, only to point my index finger upward. I channeled some mana, and a pure ball of mana formed over my finger. The moment Tamamo saw this ball of mana, her eyes sparkled.
"Kyuuu!", Tamamo replied excitedly. She didn't hesitate to open her mouth to bite down onto my finger. Chomp.
"Haha, you're a cutie alright. One mustn't underestimate you either, even if you are just two years old now.", I said, seeing Tamamo behave like this. All I saw was Tamamo blinking her eyes as she continued to snack on my mana.
In the meantime, I decided to go over her stats. During the spell, it didn't take the Gamer System long to recognize Tamamo as my familiar.
[Status]
Name: Tamamo
Race: Silver Nine-Tailed Fox
Tails: Two Tails
Age: 2
Gender: Female
Likes: Playing around, grooming fur, mana
Level: 3
HP: 1500 EP: 500
STR: 200 DEF: 200
ATS: 500 ADF: 500
DEX: 250: AGI: 500 (+250)
Remaining points: 9
[Passive Skills]
Remove Presence
Quick Feet
Memory Relocation
[Active Skills]
Spatial Swap
Sight Link
Mana Bite
[Magic]
Barrier Magic Lv1
Ice Magic Lv1
Seeing this always brought a smile to my face, but I still decided to look over what each skill did again. And not to mention Tamamo is a nine-tailed fox. She currently has only two tails, so no doubt when she grows more, she'll receive explosive boosts whenever a new tail forms.
[Remove Presence Lv1]
Allows the presence of user to be removed, not letting enemies detect you. Cannot be used when threatened or spotted. Further improvement to levels will raise the distance one can hide from being detected.
[Quick Feet]
User has nimble feet and is able to run fast. Provides a permanent 1.5x boost to AGI stat.
[Memory Relocation]
Allows user to recall any place they have been to before with but a thought.
[Spatial Swap Lv1]
User can twist space, allowing user to swap places with their master. Can only be used twice per day. Further improvement will increase amount of times it can be used. (A/N: The idea here is, if it's a place Tamamo has visited, she can essentially swap teleport with mc to there. And guess who will be doing this a lot while mc is in DG Cult? xD)
[Sight Link Lv1]
User can link their sight to their master. Unique ability due to master having Vermillion Eyes. Short use time. Further improvement can increase the linking time.
[Mana Bite Lv1]
Can imbue mana into user's teeth, delivering a powerful bite. Can shatter normal items weak to magic while keeping user's teeth safe. Further improvement can power up the bite effect and strength.
[Barrier Magic Lv1]
User can imbue mana at a cost to create a barrier. Further improvement to level will increase barrier's density, range, and type.