"Is there anything we can do?" Lily eventually asked.

[The easiest solution would be to select one of the other magic schools, assuming they do not require their students to summon and bond with a Familiar. Considering the amount of secrecy involved, I'm certain that they don't]

"I'd only consider that if there's nothing else we can do. Or if the costs are too great," Lily admitted. Regarth was still her dream, and she was so close to reuniting with Rose.

[One method to succeed in the summoning would be to remove the alignment from your Mana Core. Although the setbacks would be extreme, such as your progress towards Astral magic. Not to mention, the timeframe to accomplish such a task would be tricky.]

"No, anything but that," Lily begged. She didn't want to lose her Astral affinity as she'd grown so close to it that it quite literally felt attached to her.

[I expected as much. Then, the only solution is to create a modified version of the ritual using the tools on hand. We have some valuable resources available to us, and we aren't scrounging for every scrap of Mana we can find.]

"Modifying the ritual…" Lily whispered. "I don't doubt you can do it, but do we have enough time? I don't care about being in the top scorers, but I am worried that we will fail to meet the deadline."

[I actually have a lot of confidence in this. This is a minor matter compared to researching a frugal method to grant a Mana Core or looking into Astral rituals. Having the book's eye working is also a considerable boon as I can clearly and accurately see the engraved magic circle they've made.]

"Okay," Lily agreed, putting her complete trust and hope in Arakil again.

Before they packed up and left for the day, Arakil requested she trace the circle with her footsteps while holding the book. He also asked her about showing the inscription in the book, as he'd only seen Lily's drawing. Arakil wanted to get a total understanding of what they had available.

When that was done, she packed everything away, and with one last glance and a sigh, she exited the building. To her surprise, Pete was waiting outside the door.

Lily was about to ask him why he was there, but he beat her to the punch.

"Ah! Lily, congratulations!" he said with cheerful joy.

"Congratulations?" Lily said, tilting her head in confusion.

"I received a signal that you successfully activated the… task," Pete replied, evidently attempting to dance around talking about the ritual.

Lily shook her head, "I activated it, but it didn't succeed."

Now, it was Pete's turn to look confused. Scratching the back of his head, he said, "That can't be right. The circle activated and sent us the signal."

"Um…" Lily mumbled, trying her best to think of how to explain it while avoiding the truth and also not breaking the rules. "The hole… opened, but nothing came out. I think I didn't select the right objects."

"Oh…? Oh!" he replied, slamming his fist into his palm. "I think I understand! That's quite a strange and unique predicament. I guess your bloodline might be the cause of it."

Lily nodded, "I think my unique situation is definitely the case."

"Do you still have enough for more tries? Do you need more resources?" Pete asked. "I know it's a bit odd to say this, but it might genuinely be our fault for not providing you the right supplies. All bets can be off when unique or legendary bloodlines get involved."

"I still have resources left, so I will try again tomorrow!" Lily said confidently.

"Good, very good, spectacular. I'm glad you have a positive work ethic. If you run out, please let us know. As technically you passed, according to the circle."

Lily smiled and nodded, her ears flopping energetically, "Thank you, Pete!"

"It's my pleasure. I will let the school know while ensuring you get your remaining attempts. Now, I suggest running along before you miss dinner!"

Lily thanked him again and waved goodbye. Hearing that she had "succeeded" in the ritual made her feel a lot more positive, and she found herself skipping toward the inn.

Unfortunately, they can do nothing, as I'm incapable of summoning. Still… I'm glad I didn't fail because I tried to do it independently.

Lily joyfully ate her food, feeling mightily hungry after skipping lunch. Oz was relieved to see her again, and she apologized for being absorbed in her task.

"I can't explain why, but I'm totally confident I'm going to pass," Lily told Oz.

Oz grinned and gave her a friendly pat on the head, "Great! I knew you could do it. But you still have a day left before the first merchants leave, so don't worry about it!"

Lily sighed but agreed; she still had utter confidence in Arakil.

***

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Arakil was cycling through some tomes while refreshing his memory on Familiars. It was more of a casual perusal than a dedicated search, although thanks to Lily's efforts, he certainly had the Mana to do so in case of an emergency.

"One easy solution would be if I performed the summoning ritual and then just ordered my Familiar to obey Lily," Arakil mused out loud.

He paused to think about it some more before shaking his head in refusal, "Considering my current predicament, I do believe that would be a subpar choice. I would be the one who needs to provide Mana to the creature, and considering I can only skim off the top of what Lily provides me due to these restrictions, the creature might very well starve both of us to death."

Obviously, Arakil was exaggerating. He wouldn't starve to death, but there was a chance that if he drained his Mana too low, he'd enter an extended state of slumber again. Depending on how bad it became, he could very well blink and be met with an elderly Lily at the end of her natural lifespan.

Another idea he devised was if he lured the potential Familiar out, but it was bound to Lily. That would, in theory, override her drawback, but using such a loophole often resulted in unforeseen circumstances. Arakil could already imagine two outcomes: either the Familiar would slowly die from Lily being unable to feed it, or it would ignore her instructions if not turn outright hostile due to the innate incompatibility.

"That last one could be perilous for Lily if it's something that is attracted to my presence. What if it's a voidling or a spatialbeast? I shudder to think of what one of those might do to her."

Arkail continued to work. He appreciated researching, so it was a satisfying experience—especially after their situation turned around. Trying to come up with answers while working with tiny dregs of Mana wrung out from plants was undoubtedly one of the lowest points in his life.

While he continued, he also came across his partially progressed project of creating a telepathic link with Lily. He was trying to optimize it to the extreme so that he could maintain it without any expenditure, even limiting it so that only he could speak through it, but he had hit some snags that would require more time or resources.

If he succeeded, then they could finally converse without needing everything to be written down, as even though they'd grown used to it, it was still rather bothersome.

"Not to mention the downside of being unable to initiate a conversation. While I've worked around that hurdle by rapidly shrinking and expanding the book to attract Lily's attention, it still requires her to provide ink and read my words. Not to mention, should she be in a hazardous situation, there's no chance she can accomplish that."

Inspiration struck Arakil like a bolt of lightning.

"What if… I kill two birds with one stone? One of the issues with my communication project was that it lacked a low or null-cost method to establish an ongoing link between us. If I annexed the Familiar bond, I could link myself to Lily—not only for communication but also for Mana. At the same time, I could pose as her Familiar, one that can inhabit objects… a poltergeist!"

Of course, there was one major elephant in the room. Arakil, a former deity of magic, archmage supreme, and immortal lich, would be lowering himself to the role of a Familiar. Was he too prideful to degrade himself like that? Could he tolerate being labeled as a Familiar, not just in name and not just as a cover story? Per the magical contract formed, it would be authentic and not something easily brushed off.

"Of course, I can do it!" Arakil declared. "Would I let pride get in my way in pursuing knowledge? Would I let a demeaning title or position stop me from furthering my goal of eventual freedom? Never!"

This was the man Arakil used to be. He didn't care about his image or reputation; at one point, he even hand-washed a troll's feet in exchange for a spell scroll!

Cracking his knuckles and neck, Arakil felt determined to be ready by the time Lily woke up.

"Let's get to work."

***

Lily woke up a little later than usual; her turbulent mind had kept her up at night, and even attempts at meditation failed to soothe her.

She tried to speak with Arakil, but he told her he was nearing completion and would talk again once she returned to the ritual room.

So, after washing up and eating breakfast, Lily got ready for the day and started heading towards the building she used. When she reached the door and pulled out her book, the door flashed red and failed to open.

At first, Lily thought something was wrong, but then the straightforward and likely reason came to mind—someone else had chosen this building before her.

"I guess I'll need to find another one."

It took Lily two more tries to finally find one of the buildings that would allow her entry. She'd be lying to herself if she didn't admit to feeling relieved when it finally let her in, as she was beginning to doubt her previous assessment.

With the room at her disposal, Lily began setting up and pulling out the supplies. Then she took a quick look around, but other than some minute changes, it was nearly identical to the one she had used the day before.

Finally, she pulled out Arakil, who quickly asked her to repeat her actions yesterday so he could confirm that the circle was identical. So Lily paced around, holding the book outward once more, and finally, Arakil seemed happy.

"I'm dying to know what you've figured out," Lily pleaded.

[Of course, apologies for keeping you on edge. We could've explored a handful of avenues, but they each came with potential drawbacks that I wanted to mitigate. While this isn't the simplest solution, I believe it is the most beneficial for both of us. Regarth needs you to have a Familiar; thus, I will take it upon myself to fulfill that role!]

Lily blinked a few times. She hadn't expected Arakil to offer to pretend to be her Familiar. But would Regarth accept that? Sure, he could change his size, but she oddly thought of the kids who would have "pet rocks" and carry them around.

I know it's not true… but isn't this on the level of an imaginary friend?

"Umm…" Lily mumbled nervously. "Would that work? Won't they need you to do Familiar things?"

[Ah. I think you've misunderstood me. I do not mean to only play the part; I want us to perform a ritual to truly bind me as your Familiar, and this magical circle can easily be repurposed for that task.]

"You want to bind yourself to me? Are you sure?"

[I'm positive. This will be very beneficial to both of us. By exploiting the bond between Master and Familiar, we can even communicate without me needing to write everything down. In addition, I should be able to—]

"Wait, Master and Familiar!?" Lily cried out, causing Arakil to pause his writing. "Arakil, you're the archmage! I'm your pupil; how can I be the one in charge?"

[—It's all semantics at the end of the day. If I need to be a Familiar today to be free tomorrow, then I'll gladly do it!]

Lily opened her mouth to complain but fell silent. If Arakil was willing to be this dedicated, then who was she to betray his expectations?

"Okay! Where do we begin?"

[Well. We will need to modify the original inscription they had you draw. I've kept much of its original design, but you'll need to make several additions. Let me start drawing it out for you…]

And then Arakil began filling out a page, forcing Lily to keep adding additional ink. It started with a copy of the one she drew yesterday but rapidly became one of the most complex inscriptions she'd seen to date.

Looks like I've got my work cut out for me. I better not let Arakil down!