Some mages can enter a contract with a magical beast called the familiar contract. It is extremely difficult as the beast must be willing to enter such contract and most of them regard such thing as slavery. However this contract is a mutual partnership with benefits for both parties. The beast gains a mana supply from the caster, an extended lifespan and the ability to grow in power while the mage lives. The mage gains one or several abilities based on the creature type.
A creature can have only one master during its life. It is impossible to bind someone else's familiar to another mage.
Excerpt from Mage Familiar Binding Guide.
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I was extremely lucky to bond with Skippy. The tiny dragon gave me increased longevity, magic sight and a tenfold increase in fire resistance. It was hard to burn myself with my own magic before because of my affinity but now it is impossible. Other fire sources can still affect me but to a lesser degree. One thing I can't live without is the magic sight. To see magic, to see spells as they are being cast or are active is a priceless boon.
The biggest boon in the end was to have my two unwavering companions. To know I can fully trust them to the bitter end is what keeps me sane even during all this chaos regarding the princess.
Excerpt from Aidan's journal.
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It was the third day of dungeon exploration or the fourth day since they departed from Elmhill. Besides walking through filthy, damp tunnels, they visited filthy, damp rooms, killed filthy, damp slimes and filthy, damp kobolds. Even the girl's hair was feeling filthy and damp. The excessive moisture made their hair swell and poof. Sora's tail doubled in volume. Dawn braided her hair for practicity, but it was oily and slick.
Kobolds are evil and vicious faeries that are hunched, wrinkled and ugly. They are less than a meter tall and can shift into the shape of small animals with similar body mass, like dogs or giant rats. These cave kobolds are greedy miners and love candles. But the classification of their pickaxe wielding enemies was up to discussion, it seems.
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Pearl was doing her best to ignore the bickering of her heroes. For someone raised in opulence and glamouor, spending time inside this dungeon was grating her nerves. And seeing Lumina at ease inside the dungeon was adding insult to injury. Her only solace was that Lumina could sterelize a room for them to sleep with her fire magic.
Another point of concern was that the expedition was running at a loss so far, but pioneers have this problem of not knowing the value before delving. Besides tiny cores of slimes, nothing else of value was found. The kobolds had a few nuggets of low-grade iron ore, but it was economically useless. There were better and safer ore veins in the hills around Elmhill. That was one of the reasons the dwarves settled there. Aidan was wondering about several things. Why did Pearl decide to delve into this dungeon? Why didn't she fight? Why was she so adamant to bring them with her to the point of spending a couple hundred gold coins on them? He was unaware that Pearl's expenses for this trip were well into the thousands already.
At least all this walking and fighting was giving him an opportunity to train in and get used to his dual existence. He was still more confortable using Lumina's body as the main housing of his consciousness. The damaged, fused pieces of soul in his male body were still not in a good enough condition and were not fusing peacefully.
The environment was a mix of natural caverns and stone brick tunnels and rooms. Tall tunnels and rooms, a soldier would have to hold the tip of a spear shaft to touch the ceiling. Always damp and filthy. Sometimes hard water was dripping from the ceiling forming calcareous spikes on the roof and ceiling, sometimes it was trickling through the floor or gathering in filthy stagnant pools. It was not drinkable unless Deb purified it. Aidan taught her how to cast the spell. He only gave her some instructions on movements and chanting hoping her affinity filled in the blanks for the lack of spellcraft ability and after a while, it worked. She didn't have enough mana to purify water for all of them, but Shinji could keep recharging her 'like a nuclear reactor can recharge a pill battery' in the hero's words. It was stenuous for the girl but it was good practice for her.
"Kobolds coming from the left tunnel!" Sora announced.
Another problem. The heroes did not let them fight. They wanted all the 'exp' for themselves and if anyone other than them got the kill they would complain. Kazuya dashed forward, diving into a shadow and reappearing next to the Kobolds while Shinji slashed at the air and sent an arc of light forward.
They killed another kobold war band and it happened.
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'Another absurd thing. These guys get stronger the more they murder and then they learn how to murder better'. Thought Aidan.
He could never be at ease with the otherworlders for many reasons. The fragments of Lumina inside him hated these guys. They were obviously wary of his male body and obviously ogling the girls. And finally they were just too powerful and unpredictable.
Two kobold groups and a lot of slimes later they reached the downard slope that would bring them to the next level of the dungeon. A small stream created by the junction of all the dripping water in this level triclked down occupying half the tunnel. The other half was a slimy and slick smooth surface, more suitable to sliding than walking on or climbing.
"Excellent. We can now go deeper. I hope the next level has something else besides Kobolds and slimes."
"Wait, Pearl." Dawn interceded. "We should stop and make camp in that room back through this tunnel before going down."
"No! I want to go down now. I don't want to spend another day in this level." Pearl pouted.
"If we descend the tunnel as it is now, we are going to slip and fall. Even if we get down safely, it is obvious we won't be able to climb up in this slippery slope."
"What do you suggest then, Lumina?"
"Give us time. Aidan can use earth magic to move the stone and I can use fire to clean the descent. I want to make a staircase here and a channel to drain the water."
"It would take too long." She pointed at the heroes, "
'They can teleport?' Aidan screamed inside. Teleportation was something extremely hard and risky. 'Don't be so nonchalant with it, Pearl'. He chided the princess in his heart.
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Dawn stared at Pearl. A total breach of protocol, but she was angry. Pearl scoffed and waved a dismissive hand.
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More otherworlder nonsense. Dawn took a deep breath before pushing the main issue again.
"We are making the staircase. And if there is some resource down there, it will be a boon for future explorers." Aidan was ready to make a stand for his plan. With the staircase they could get out even if Pearl ditched them.
"Fine, fine. Get your staircase built. I am gettiing tired from walking anyway." She clapped her hands. "Everyone, we are going to make camp. Let's backtrack one room. Guards, make a barricade on that tunnel over there so we can access the descent without fear of ambush."
The guards went down the tunnels to gather rocks and pile them up in the tunnel for the barricade and the rest of the group retreated into the room they chose to use as camp. Pearl was still bossy, cranky and acting like she owned the place. She did kind of owned the place anyway, being the crown princess.
"Lord Aidan, could you please make a wall over there for privacy and a tub? Deb, prepare a bath for me after Lord Aidan is done."
Poor Deb. She was being forced to sleep with the worst headache of her life after she spent this much mana purifying enough water for a bathtub. Aidan set to work. It would be easier to do that in Lumina's body but the princess was only a fire mage right now.
"Stone Shape."
He molded stone out of the floor and ceiling to make the wall and made an L-shaped tunnel to make it impossible to see inside from the outside. He left some openings at the top for ventilation and sconces for torches on the walls. A bench and a counter on the inside and the walls of the tub. An hour of work and he made Dawn come to sterilize the bath.
"Ash Suppression."
He cast. The spell would block any byproduct of burning from going airborne.
"Incinerate."
She cast. The flames ran over all the surfaces, burning any organic matter clinging to the stone.
Dawn took Aidan's elbow and they left the makeshift bath for the maid squad to clean up. He would have to warm up the water later but he wanted to get some rest right now. He found Sora and sat both of his bodies on the sides of the squirrel-kin.
"Want some mead?" The girl offered her leather flask.
"Save it, Sora. Don't even advertise you have it." Dawn spoke in a low voice. "We don't know when we are going to get out of this, we should ration our food."
"Do you think she would..." Sora hadn't to use many words when talking to Aidan. They understood each other and could pick cues from their body language easily.
"The people in town know she brought Lumina along, it would be very bad for her if Lumina doesn't come out. The problem is..."
"She only needs Lumina." Dawn nodded at Sora's conclusion.
In a pinch, Aidan had no doubt Pearl would grab Lumina and get the hell out of here using Shinji's magic. She might even have Kazuya use his new 'assassinate trait' to turn them into Exp. He agreed with the hunch he was getting from Lumina within him. They had to be extra cautious because unless one of Skippy's bigger cousins was living downstairs, the most dangerous thing in this dungeon were people.
Her musings were interrupted by Pearl. She came to talk to them after inspecting the bath area.
"Lord Aidan, could you make the tub bigger? I want to go in with Lumina."
A shiver ran up his spine. He would have to bathe with Pearl? He would have to get naked with the princess? Like he had a choice.
"Of course, your Royal Highness. I am going to do it right now."