Collecting the book, I headed out of the master's chamber to stop before her father. He didn't say anything but he looked on for a long moment in contemplation or something. He is quite busy though I am glad to see that he has finally showed up in the nursery. As a familiar, I hope to avoid interrupting the family as much as possible.

It took a few minutes to check which room it was for the sewing room as I had yet to enter it, though there were few rooms left to be entered and as a service room, I was only wrong on a technicality as there was two rooms left that fit the description.

"Head maid, may I record this again?"

Head maid "Yes, but I would have my questions answered." She said, absolutely stern and almost sounding afraid.

"This is the lords house, I am a guest, I will do so quite willingly."

Head maid "Are you a monster."

"sorry I dropped the book, I define myself as a familiar, what would you define as a monster?"

Head maid "How could a soul become a familiar without the contract? How are you even here? I have so many questions and I really don't know what to ask."

"It is okay to be afraid, and to answer your question. There are monsters like me, though I technically did the reverse of the summoning ritual which Should be terrifying. I used enough magic to track a person, manifest and attach myself to their magic. Were I anyone else, it would be possession. I have separated myself from her though and have used my own power to keep the spells in place. Any time I have sensed danger I have found the person I believe to be my master and protected them. When Selena is old enough to cast spells of her own, my work here will probably be quite dangerous for those around her when I leave. Make no doubt that I will not stick around for long."

Snatching the book away I add a little more for you.

"I will leave, I swear it, I won't be around in about two years time. The spell will end and I will be thrown into the astral plane between once more."

Head maid "How are you even able to preform such magic? What manner of creature are you? What are you doing to Selena?"

"Please, please be patient, I can only send messages through this book. or, well... I can use any writing but I have made five of these books prior, I prefer to keep the record intact. I will leave a day after her first words. I have a standard I wish to keep myself to and reputation for unyielding patience. It will take some time to explain everything. I shall answer one last question after those okay? I have learned techniques over centuries of traveling between the astral and physical realm. Like all familiars, I am a ghost which makes it very hard to linger without a living person which is why hauntings happen. Technically this is an advanced haunting and I am using other spells at the same time to materialize myself and protect this book. For the last question before I need to take a break, I have been strengthening her body and magic, These books I have made are for their mind. I have never done this for a child this young, but before Selena is able to speak, most mages would consider her level two for her raw power, and I am uncertain how much physical strength she will have. Stronger magic can empower the body, but she is young and will probably atrophy some. But she was already pushing level two before I even began."

Head maid "How much do you know about your 'master' Ouroboros?"

"Quite serious and firm suddenly, your panic earlier... never mind, but I have no name till it is given to me, I know that she is far more powerful than most children, though much of that energy I first found her by has faded. I shall take my leave and continue this later." Snapping the book shut I left through the window into the yard, not wanting to give my thoughts on the matter just yet. Praying that I am wrong.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Hidden by magic.

That maid is almost certainly a battle witch, her reservations and quiet composure on top of her acting... While I am fairly certain she did panic a bit, she has seen combat before and I hope my intuition is correct that she is a good teacher for you in my stead. This book will be fairly short till you can read this after all. I am binding a vast array of spells simultaneously though these pages.

-

Lucious Clearwater had prepared the flask rather simply and just poured it into the goblet. The results though continued to ripple and sway till he pulled a stone of some sort out and ran the rim of the goblet, holding the base to keep it steady as the room seemed to feel stiff as the liquid stopped sloshing. This was beyond confusing to Sam as the stone had rang out against the rim yet the fluid did the reverse of what one would expect. It confused him so much that Sam slapped his tail against the table and tried to question it against the divine power but his line of questioning was a little too vague immediately and he was distracted with Nicolas trying to grab him back from the table.

Lucious just looked at him for a moment as he protected the goblet before he started to realize what was going on. "You have never seen this divination before have you? it is quite simple really, the water is blessed with mana and so is the goblet, these gems along the edge will actually illuminate when someone disturbs the water revealing their affinities." he says as he points to the four different colored gems among the eight gems on the goblet. "and the other four can give us a rough guess on any spells that may be afflicting you if that is desired." He says, rather cheerfully after the minor disturbance moments prior. It seemed he really didn't have a lot to do with his time as he made an offer. "Since you haven't seen this before little spirit, it won't be accurate, but would you like to see how much you have left?"

What did he mean by 'left'? Sam thought in question as he was answered by the blessing answering it as if Lucious had explained it. 'When someone dies and their soul lingers, the disconnection of the mind, body and soul can leave their memories injured, their body disperses a small volume of mana and their soul is all that is left. Then they can gather what mana they had and lingers as a ghost till the living takes a familiar.' well, that was something. Sam nod's his head to Lucious to signal his acceptance.

"Very good, now, if you would please, put what mana you can to your finger tip and gently touch the water with it." He said, demonstrating against the table.

Nicolas did such and watched the glass ripple once, then twice as a red and green crystal illuminated along with a crystal, faintly glowing near the blue and green crystal.

"hm, yes, an affinity for fire and wind and level two no less quite strong for a country child. It looks like something has been cast over your soul, have you been feeling well? It isn't strong, but I should ask all the same."

"I don't think I feel any different, maybe a little more confident since I became a proper mage but I can't think of anything particularly different." He said, patting Sam behind his head.

"It is probably fine then, if you feel any bit odd or that you might have mood swings, please return so that we may try to heal that." He says, almost forgetting the compensation pay. "I'm sorry for my excitement, I forgot to mention the price was a gold coin, if you don't have it now, you may pay in weekly donations." He managed to finish as Nicolas put the ten silver coins on the table. After putting the coins away and shaking Nicolas's hand, he then turned to Sam and got low to look him in the eyes. "Now, it won't be accurate as it has been contaminated, but you can get a rough estimate for yourself, just do the same as your master and we shall see what you have."

-

I am running out of mana and time, but this lesson is in using the astral plane to detect magical items and creatures be it people or otherwise. much like the cup, sending out a wave of energy like this can tell you much about how it returns. There are many ways to do it and several to counter it but I will try to have a more detailed explanation later. The easiest answer would probably be the sensation of first awakening from an astral projection, the return of your soul and mana to your body can cause such a ripple, but your senses will be a little numb. There is a lot of practice to be done with this and cautions to be made. Be aware that some monsters and mages will know this sensation and be able to locate you as much as you them. This can be efficient but also quite dangerous. Identifying what magic you encounter this way will also be possible in time.