Spirit familiar otherwise called spirit summon are spiritual entities existing outside the material plane also termed the mortal plane, human plane, and many more such normal terms to describe normality.
They reside in the spirit realm, a place oblivious to the inhabitants of the material realm. The only ones with access to these spirit familiars are mages, beings who control the plane of the supernatural.
They offer their blood to draw up a pattern for summoning those so-called spirit familiars. It should also be noted that each spirit familiar has a distinguishing pattern of their own, one that is linked to them.
By knowing the pattern for each spirit familiar can you know the exact spirit familiar you intend to call upon.
The ranking to distinguish the overall performance of the spirit familair is said to range from; lesser spirit familiar, greater spirit familiar, intermediate spirit familiar, and lord spirit familiar. And the highest of them all, the king rank spirit familiar.
The applicable way for a spirit familiar to maintain their presence in the material world after the departure of their contractor can only be utilized by spirit familiar precisely between the intermediate level upward.
Siveth happens to be around that level and was thus able to enact the procedure to keep her promise to Mikeal's mother.
The risk involved however has to do with the weakening of the spirit familiar.
The process revolves around the spirit familiar to conceding the very strength that makes them a spirit familiar in return for being no more than an animal with a rational and intelligent mindset.
That way, the balance in the material world would not be upset unlike in a case where you have a spirit familair set free without a leash to restrict their movements and having all those world-threatening powers for themselves.
Where the risk comes into play is the vulnerability of the spirit familiar. As they are no more than house pets or wild animals, they become susceptible to attacks capable of killing an ordinary animal. Or worse, to life-threatening diseases.
Normally, spirit familiars do not experience true death. Even if they are killed in battle, they tend to reincarnate into the same spirit familiar with their past memories intact.
But as ordinary animals, those perks are nullified and if they are killed in that state, it remains permanent.
Siveth took the risk to protect Mikeal as promised. That was why she was weak against the likes of Marcus and was rendered useless.
After her contract with Mikeal, she had to go back to the spirit realm to regain her connection to the spiritual self she had abandoned.
This process usually takes a long time as it would require Siveth to rebuild the bond she let go, tap back into her origin and shed off her old skin.
...
"I get that taking note of my mana pool is important, but I do not see the point of stressing it as dangerous. I felt fine during my mana exhaustion phase and all I had to do to overcome it was get enough rest". Mikeal defended, emphasizing Siveth's overreaction.
"You were lucky because you still had a pinch of mana left in your mana pool. In the case of complete mana drainage, the end result is inevitable death!". She shockingly reveals intending to frighten Mikeal.
"To mages, mana is akin to the vitality level of humans. For humans, the farther they age the more vitality they lose and the weaker they become until they eventually grow so old that they lose every last vitality within them. In which case the natural proceeding, death happens". Siveth explained.
The vitality example given for humans is the same for mages. She linked vitality to mana, a very good example that demonstrates the function of mana to a mage.
As humans can temporarily run out of vitality through rigorous work and replenish it through rest, so can mages do to mana.
The difference between the two is that while humans lose vitality with age, mages gain an expanded mana pool with age, which leads to having more mana the older they get.
She made it known that the mana mages get the older they get is initial to the same amount they awakened to as mages.
For example, if a newly awakened mage has plus two mana as a starting point, every year they get older their mana point is added by two, giving them plus four mana at the second age after awakening.
This same rule applies to a mage awakening six or twenty mana points as a commencement. The rules apply regardless of the amount of mana awakened.
Said rule sometimes leads to a newly awakened first-class mage having enough mana to rival a late first-class mage like in the case of Mikeal and Marcus.
Marcus at the late first class stage had a lower mana pool in reference to Mikeal who was a newly awakened first class mage.
That was one of the crucial reasons Mikeal was able to hold his own against Marcus despite the difference in experience.
"You are to also watch out for actions that can lead to gaining new skills".
"Why?! I think gaining new skills can be very helpful to me in the long run".
"Yes, yes it can. The problem is, you are a newly awakened with a newly awakened mana pool. Gaining new skills through certain actions requires a very large amount of mana. And the more powerful the skill is, the greater the amount of mana you will have to expend".
Listening to Siveth's explanation gave Mikeal insight into his troubles. He had once found it baffling how his use of vines in the bandit expedition led to faster drainage of his mana.
He did not think he was that active compared to his face-off with Marcus. But now he understands that what drained his mana is the new skill he attained.
"While there is also a benefit in that when your mana pool is drained and refilled, the size of your pool generally increases. But the risk involved is too great to consider".
Death she means. If he so much as mistakenly exhausts every ounce of his pool while trying to achieve an enlarged pool, he won't be able to avoid death.
"Regardless of how large your mana pool is, those are dangerous grounds you should not try to venture into at this stage. Promise me you will never do anything to gain a new skill, at least not until you become a second class or spend a year as a mage".
Mikeal wanted to speak up only to be interjected by the struggling voice of Anna coming from below.
He wasted no time at all getting down the tree house to the ground.
On his way down, he heard sounds of an argument ensuing between Anna and the villagers. Something about them requesting an audience with him, and Anna blocking their path.
Mikeal got down and saw the whole villagers gathered around the treehouse, Anna in front to stop them from breaching.
"We want an audience with you". Said the old man leading the crowd.
Mikeal had expected something of this nature. After what he had done, he expected a retaliation and surely, he wasn't wrong to await one.