Chapter 2: Book Mimic | 2.3 Familiar Care
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Doing a little hop, Lexi answered, ‘Master, it doesn’t have to be a mana stone or mana core. I can also eat mana from you.’
‘My mana?’ Confused and a little creeped out, Iris asked, “How does that work exactly?”
Lexi explained, ‘If I’m starving, I can take mana from you through our bond. I can also absorb mana when we work together.’
“When we work together? What do you mean?” Curious, Iris asked for an example. ‘What could “work together” possibly entail?’
Hopping up and down, the book mimic excitedly explained, ‘I can memorize books by assimilating into them. Once I’ve memorized them completely, I can transform and mimic them perfectly.’
“I-is that so?” Iris thought that it was an interesting ability, but… “What does that have to do with mana?”
‘Oh. Master can help me. It takes a long time for me to memorize a book, but if Master reads the book while I’m assimilated to it, I can work faster by absorbing Master’s naturally released mana.’
Iris slowly processed the new information and asked, “Naturally released mana?”
Lexi answered obediently, ‘Master naturally releases mana while reading and writing.’
Surprised, she stuttered, “I-I do? I didn’t know that I released mana while doing those things.” She looked at her hands a bit uncertain.
Lexi continued to explain, ‘Yes, Master releases a small amount of mana whenever she reads or writes. It is master’s nature.’
‘My nature?’ Iris thought about it. ‘Is it because of my magic trait, book mimic? I did receive the skill [Magic Writing] really easily, but the only thing I did was write about my memories.’
Focusing on [Magic Writing], she let herself recall how it had been acquired in the mirror’s future memories. Thankfully, it happened at the end of her first school year, so the headache wasn’t too bad. ‘I guess, I did write a lot, a full journal in only a couple of days. During school, we worked on the school’s holographic application.’
‘I never noticed that I used magic when writing or reading because many places use holographic applications to work.’ Holograms were common because of their ease of use and accessibility. However, it wasn’t like paper and books had lost their place in society. They just weren't used as often during school or work unless requested.
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“Anyway, you said reading would work…” Iris got up and grabbed her favorite book from off her bookshelf. It wasn’t a long or difficult book, but there were many books in its series. The entire bookshelf was filled with just that book series.
Bringing it close to Lexi, she instructed, “Assimilate to this. I will read it, so you can have breakfast.” Confident in her reading speed, Iris estimated that she could finish the entire book within two hours. Prompted by her master, the book familiar opened its mouth and lay flat on the desk.
There was blank paper inside Lexi’s mouth. If it weren’t for her eye, teeth, and ribbon tongue, she would be a relatively normal empty book. Opening the book, she laid it over the pages. At first, it looked like two open books stacked on top of each other, but then, the assimilation started. Merging into the book on top of her, Lexi’s body started to disappear until there was only one book on the desk.
“Wow.” Watching everything, Iris couldn’t stop from commenting. She had never seen such a thing before, so she needed a moment to process it. However, she quickly recovered her wits and grabbed the book. ‘It feels… normal as if I’m holding a normal book.’ Laying down on her bed, she read it.
A soft knock came from the door, but Iris was too engrossed in her book to notice it. Not hearing a response, Mason, Iris’s father knocked a few more times before opening the door to peek inside. Seeing his daughter reading, he quietly closed the door.
Going downstairs, he spoke to his brother, Martin, “She’s reading. I don’t think she’ll want to go out today.”
Rubbing the back of his head, Martin asked, “Oh? And she didn’t look upset?” Mason shook his head. “That’s good. Since I took the twins out yesterday, I thought she might be a little upset at being left out, but it looks like that isn’t the case.”
Thinking about his daughter, Mason commented, “I’m not sure. Sometimes she gets like that, but… maybe she’s too busy worrying about school.” Coming to an understanding, they changed their plans and focused on organizing the house. It was still a mess with moving boxes.
An hour later, Iris closed the book having felt a signal from Lexi. ‘What’s wrong’ She thought, and Lexi responded with telepathy, ‘I’ve finished memorizing the book.’
“Oh! Wait…” She noticed something. ‘Lexi, can you hear my thoughts?’
Her familiar responded, ‘If you direct your thoughts to me, I can hear them’
Her eyes went wide in surprise. ‘Really? So, I don’t need to talk out loud to communicate with you?’
Lexi explained, ‘No, we share a bond. Thoughts are enough between us.’
‘Magic is really amazing…’ Marveling at the convenience, Iris asked if Lexi wanted to continue with the second book of the series. Agreeing happily, she spat out the first book and assimilated right into the second one when Iris brought it over.
She kept reading and finished five books before going down for lunch. Mom was almost done preparing lunch, and at the dining table, Connor was working on a coloring book. ‘Coloring book… Lexi, can you hear me?’ Feeling a response, Iris asked, ‘Do coloring books count?’
Lexi quickly answered, ‘If it is a book, I can assimilate to it. If it involves paper, it can be assimilated to me.’
Iris asked for more detail, ‘A single page can be absorbed into you? Is it destroyed or… just kept and memorized like books?’
‘Stored and memorized. I don’t destroy paper.’ Giving more detail, Lexi also mentioned potentially developing a magic skill, ‘When I form a mana core, I feel like I can create paper.’
‘Oh, cool! So you will be able to use paper magic once you develop a mana core!’ This reminded Iris that she also used paper magic, and with even more determination, she set her top priority. ‘First, I need to reacquire my magic sense.’