My Blind Familiar_The Ash Golem

by Nathan Valerio

  If any other person was to learn of this kind of growth there would be unending jealousy because once the Familiar becomes stronger than the master it will start to affect their strength and if they train rigorously enough they could match the physical and magical prowess. One of the reasons that Ash was evolving as he is was because he never saw any creature before but after Grunt told Xero to show memories of how to walk and run he saw how humans and elves and other humanoids looked like affecting his evolution and making him slowly compress his looks towards a human's shape completely unlike a demon would.

  “Er, since he is getting good at hunting them it might be a good idea to have him hunt something different.” He said and nodded and called Ash back and ran off to a different area.

  Several hours later he appeared from the portal back at the school covered in a layer of charred dust and let out a cough. The old man looked back, “Did you go in far?” He asked.

  “Just one layer in, I wanted to see my familiars fighting instincts.” he said and scratched his head which caused some of the dust to fall off.

  “Oh, and how was it?” He asked.

  “Erm… he grew… fast I think.” Xero said and summoned the Imp. He liked like he did several hours ago but his horns seemed to possess a strange black luster. The hands had developed a nail on the side that would probably make a thumb, the nails also seem to be retractable now. The muscles were a bit denser and the huge nose had formed a proper bridge between the eyes but it was still like a swollen potato. His previous slightly hunched form now stood a bit straighter and his wings were a bit smaller than the cherub but because his weight increased due to his denser muscles he can’t fly all the same.

  “That is quite good growth, his aura seems sharper and he seems to be growing smarter.” The old man said and nodded approvingly.

  “Thank you for the compliment sir. I need to head in and wash up now, I thank you for the help.” Xero said and with a bow he ran off with the Imp on his heel before it was recalled into the seal.

  The old man looked at the boy and when he was gone a large man appeared.

  “So what did you think of that imp old man?” A rough voice came from him.

  “Grunt, call me properly or I will teach you what pain and fear is once more.” the old man said emotionlessly.

  “Alright Archmagus Valmor. Still the imp, it had impressive growth. In several hours hunting it physique is totally different.” Grunt said.

  “Yes, Florense told me the core is 12 cm in diameter. This is on par with a lower noble devil. If his growth wasn’t explosive like this then it would be an utter failure of a demon.” The old man said. “Also the magical aura of that beast grew quick strongly, it seems hunting truly is a demons favorite sport, the magical energy it can get from the corpse of its fallen foe is nothing compared to eating trash from a cafeterias waste bin.” he said.

  “He needs food none the less, give or take a two weeks time he will be able to glide, by then his strength will probably match up to Xero’s. I kind of fear what that thing can become dying so many more times just to rebuild its body.” Grunt commented.

  “Demons feel no pain on death. We feel exhilaration as our pent up power is released into our soul for us to build our body.” a deep menacing voice said.

  A large 30 cm ruby appeared above the old man and it released a blast of flames and became a large red demon and looked down at the bear man.

  “That little imp, if the boy isn’t stupid he will notice it's an abnormality, its form is slowly making it turn human, it never witnessed hell because its eyes were blinded. It’s a demon that will develop human mentality.” he said and grinned before laughing as his body burned down slowly. “A true monster is born I wonder which of those two is that monster.” His voice said fading and enter the body of the old man. The robe fell off and showed a massive tattoo on the old man's arm going from the hand all the way down to his back.

  “Demon familiar are such a mystery.” the old man said and sighed before he cupped his hands and the tattoos began to glow before they dulled except for the blood red seal on his hand that was the original familiar seal.

  Chapter 5

  Xero sat at the corner of the cafeteria eating, we was worried about losing his time. He had woken up a bit earlier and went to the trash and let Ash eat until satisfied and left it with the orders to return to where he was when it was done but after more than 20 minutes it was still eating.

  He wanted to get to class before the others appear since it was a pain and not even 5 minutes Ash appeared from the door and began to glow and returned to the seal.

  Xero picked up his things and drank the last of his juice and left quickly and headed to class. Unlike normally he wasn’t the first one since Ash delayed him but he still sat in the same spot.

  After a while the room filled up the and as custom the nobles would sneer towards Xero even when he didn’t pay attention.

  “Today is biology class I believe. Last year it was study of the monsters of the world. I wonder what it will be like from now on.” Xero thought as he looked towards the door.

  Just as he turned his attention, the old woman that announced that they could use the element zones walked in with a quick, perfectly distanced pace on short pointed high heels. Her nose was up in the air as she clapped her hand. “In your seats students! Quick! Quick now!” She said and fixed the position of her glasses. When everyone was seated she looked around at everyone and nodded, "I am Gloria Gilbody, you are to refer to me as Miss Gilbody, I am your biology teacher on monster biology and monster ecology and the inner workings of how each monster reacts to a different type of training.” She said and looked at everyone’s face. She took in everyone's expressions with a trained eye like a vulture and seeing if they were simply quiet or if they were bored she could tell the level of dedication each of them had. “Let us begin with the most basic question, what is the familiar, how did we, of the sentient races, discover this miraculous spell that can seal the soul of a being and allow it to grow with each death it suffers?” She asked and looked at everyone and seeing no one answering she pointed at a really short girl that was half the size of a normal human.

  She was a halfling which look like children and their body never grow above 130 cm.

  “Eh? Um… I don’t know…” She mumbled.

  “Is there anyone that knows?” Miss Gilbody asked.

  Xero sighed and raised his hand. “Yes you? Mister…” She pulled out a list and looked at him, “...Mister Null, please tell us what you know?” She asked.

  “The familiar binding spell that is known today was discovered when the allied Crusade invaded the underworld during the Dark age when demons would invade our world. During that time countless men were killed but a large space near the entrance had the malevolent aura of the underworld pushed back causing demons to weaken under the aura of the Holy gods. Within this space the army discovered the underworlds spawning pools and although many wanted them closed the leader had the mage study it’s ability to constantly respawn the demons. That is how the Familiar binding spell was discovered as it is a spell that causes our body to form the familiar seal which acts as the spawning pool for the familiar.” Xero says.

  “And of the summoning spell?” Miss Gilbody asked.

  “The summoning spell has always existed as the Hero Summoning spell but once the familiar binding was discovered and perfected there needed to be a way to gather monsters with the best compatibility with each person safely. The archmagus studied all the known Hero summoning spells and found that monsters can also be summoned not only from our world but from others as well allowing unique monsters to be summoned. That is when the monster summoning was born. Following that the Magical formulas were discovered within monsters bringing us to the era of true mage that can use magic besides simply making small bolts of mana and other ineffective uses for mana.” Xero explained.

  “Good, you may sit.” She said and Xero did as such, “As you all heard, Mr Null wa
s correct in both accounts. The demon’s spawning pool is indeed the source of our most important spell and the summoning came from the ancient hero summoning is the source that bring the monsters. Now with this out of the way, let us get to the biology of the monsters that you all have contracted with.” She said and turned before sitting down at the teacher's desk and pulling out a page containing the list of student names with the race of each familiar.

  She looked through it quickly and her eye stopped in several unique ones that are from different worlds and some strong ones from this one. All familiars were within the levels of 1-4.

  “Miss… Domina please come up and summon your familiar.” Mis Gilbody said.

  The little halfling flinched upon hearing her named called but then stood up and walked to the front and summoned her familiar.

  What appeared was a small white and black bear cub that was no bigger than a puppy. He blinked and yawned showing the toothless mouth.

  “This is known as a Panda, it is an animal some may be familiar with and it is from a world that previously had the most cases of summoning heros. Within our world it will follow our rules and although it is a common animal at this time it will become a monster in a short time after receiving mana from Miss Domina. Miss Domina, please tell me a bit about this bear?” Miss Gilbody asked.

  “I...I don’t know…. I haven’t… gone to the library yet.” She said.

  “Alright, how are you feeding this cub and how much?” the teacher asked.

  “Um, I fed it yesterday on professor Grunts orders… he said 3 liters of Satyr milk and its supposed to follow until the fangs are born and by then I should know how to continue.” She replied.

  “Good, as you students should be aware, not all familiars are born large enough to eat complete meals, some require a period of milk before weaning and then introducing their natural food habit. A Panda is a bear that lives off a plant referred to as Bamboo by the summoned heroes. These are long flexible plants that look like common fishing poles used by commoners but much longer.” She said and opened a magic bag and pulled out a cut sample. “This is the Magus Bamboo, it’s a magical tree and the source for mystic sugar that helps those who drink tea or other beverages improve mana circulation.” She explained.

  Xero scowled as he heard this explanation, this was the main reason he was a source of bullying. His family was unable to buy such goods due to the cost both to grow and to buy while even other commoners from low ranking merchant families were lucky enough to travel and find them.

  “Miss Domina you may recall your familiar and sit down.” Miss Gilbody said and the little girl returned to her seat. “Mr Liquivet, please come up and summon your familiar.” She said.

  Chad stood up grunting and walked up and called the fire ant. Although the ant is considered level 3 which is high leveled, it is powerful in swarming because of its size. A full 20 cm long and it stood 7 cm from the ground to the highest point of its body. That said it lived in areas filled with volcanoes so its body was dark red showing both it’s magic affinity and resistance.

  “A Fire ant soldier, a monster considered a pledge of the fire lands. Mr Liquivet please tell us about eating habits and growth of this creature as well as their strengths and weaknesses.” the teacher asked.

  “The fire ant soldier boasts strength capable of lifting 100 times its weight like all ants but due to its size it weighs 2 kilos allowing it lift up to 200 kilos. They have fire resistance and can be bathed in flame without getting injured and powerful members can use fire magic. They eat anything from meat to trees due to living in harsh conditions but they always bring it back to the nest for it to be prepared and focus is given to the queen ant.” He said

  “Correct, you may sit.” She said and looked at the list. “Miss Crost, please come up.” Univa stood and walked up summoning the Blue Winged Salamander. “Now, tell me what level is your familiar, its strengths, its weaknesses and the magic affinities that gave it its unique features of having blue scales and wings.” She asked.

  “This salamander is a level 4 monster, it has strong muscles and normally uses the tail as a whip and can use magic from an early age due to the dragon blood. It is weak to water magic and it prefers to sand bath and some even bath in rivers of lava. They have extremely high fire resistance due to the fact that their mana affinity comprises of Fire and Air magic which causes its flames to be a rare blue color which is hotter then the lava making the heat inside their body higher than outside. The wings are a result of the air magic affinity and dragon blood.”

  “Correct, please sit, next is…”

  She called the next student and like this each student was called and asked a set of questions pertaining to the creature they possess. Finally called last was Xero who walked up and summoned the Imp which quickly drew stares.

  “Hey, doesn’t it look really different?” Someone whispered.

  “Yeah, look it gained muscles and its face is even looking smaller.” Another student said.

  “Silence!” The teacher said and looked at the Imp curious since she had never seen Imps take to human features so well. “Mr Null, please tell us, how much does an Ash Golem eat until satisfied, what are its eating habits and what are its magic affinities they possess. Also what is the prime location to train an Ash Golem.” She asked.

  “I’m not sure the exact amount but it eats anything and I was told to feed it the trash left over from what is served in the cafeteria, it takes him around thirty minutes of eating to satisfy his need if I order him to eat until satisfied. Until now I have only discovered demon fire magic. The best place is volcano areas that mimic the underworld but Imps are creatures that are said to have unlimited potential so they are said to be capable of gaining the most out of any location.” He replied.

  “Good, one more question, I have personally never seen an Ash golem with such human like features, what did you do?” She asked.

  “I’m not sure, when I summoned it two days ago it couldn’t even walk and I was told to let it read my memories of walking for it to learn. After that was the classes yesterday and then the first time I fed it and in the afternoon I took it to the volcano training zone where I trained its magic and when it died the first time it underwent a large change due to the energy from the food possibly being processed.” He explained.

  "I see, there doesn’t seem anything strange so it’s possibly just the creature itself, don’t worry about it now, you may be seated.” She said and he recalled it to the seal and sat down while she stood up. “Now that you have showed me some of the knowledge you possess or that you lack you know that you must study up more. Even if you know about your creature you don’t know everything. Important things like habits, controlled training for specific results and not to mention future evolutions. The common ones are easy to know but the unique rare ones which is what every mage must strive for is the what you need to learn about. By next class I want you to learn more about the future evolutions of your race. I also want you to try and do unique things with it. A special training you yourself can teach them or impose on them.” She said.

  At this time the bell rang and class ended.

  “Remember your work and if you haven’t been informed yet, your next class is familiar combat training. You are to head and wait at the portal to the training zones.” She informed the kids and picked her things up and left.

  The class soon filed out after everyone stored everything. The others were talking excited and like usual Xero would always keep a ten to fifteen meter distance from the rest of the group.

  Eventually the class gathered at the portal. Like the previous day there were a number of classes because outdoor classes are done in mass.

  Standing in front of everyone was Grunt and three other people.

  “Everyone is splitting up in four groups depending on your familiars rank! Split up now! Level 1 at the far left, followed by the others grouping up in each group afterwards towards the right.” Grunt shouted.

  Xe
ro walked to an area with lots of people and with a question he found it was the group for level 1. After a while the groups were formed and looking at the level 4 group there was only a few dozen. Level 1 and 2 were most abundant and 3 and 4 were far less.

  “Good, now that we are all in groups I will explain class. Today we are hunting, some of you must have already done so yesterday but we aren’t going to do what you brats did. First Rule of this class, this is hunting for both Master and Familiar. When hunting, the familiar must be hunting and doing things as the master ordered. Any free willed hunting won’t count. Rule Two, you will all gather a token, a piece of the body, from the hunt and you can’t let your monster immediately eat the catch. You need to learn to suppress their nature and train them to follow yours or else they will eventually start ignoring your orders if you’re weak willed. Anyone with infants should form a group with someone that has a combat worthy familiar.” He said.

  Slowly the crowd began to move about as those with infants began to search for someone to partner with.

  “While you all look, I will explain the objective, this is a kind of test, each level of group will be sent directly into either the first or second layer. You can only hunt monsters of your own level if your level is 2 or higher. If you can kill a monster of higher level than you will gain extra points at the end. Now, your objective is to obtain 100 points, killing something of your level fetches you 1 point and killing something a level higher will get you 1 point each level. Level 4 group will get 4 points each kill and can’t hunt level 5 or above due to the danger that exists in layer 3. The score will count as your school work score. You have until lunch to complete it.” Grunt said.