[Well, the proper terminology for my intended imitation is poltergeist, as I mentioned before, but that might be too technical of a classification. We could go with a simpler classification, such as ghost or spirit if you'd like. Also, they cannot hear me; only you can. While a broadcasting version of telepathy is feasible, I didn't want to push on the bounds of my current limitations.]

"Uh, okay," Lily replied, nodding.

"I didn't hear anything," Thomas complained.

"Yeah, speak up," Arthur demanded.

"Arakil says that he can only communicate with me," Lily replied. "And to answer your question, he says he is a type of spirit."

"G-ghost?" Rebecca shuddered.

"That would imply he's possessing the book, very interesting," Pete muttered. "Can he transfer to another object?"

[Obviously not, I'm sealed.]

"Arakil says he is bound to the book," Lily answered.

"That's a shame; imagine if he could've possessed something like a sword or shield," Thomas commented.

"Yeah, then you'd have a floating sword; you could even have it fight monsters for you! That's way better than a stupid book," Arthur said.

[How dare you? This "stupid book" cannot be compared to a mere sword! I'll have you know I had hundreds of magical swords lying in various dimensional pockets, but I only had one grimoire of this caliber!]

While Arakil was complaining, the book fluttered its pages, almost mimicking a bird aggressively ruffling its feathers.

Lily winced a little at Arakil's rant. Clearly, Arthur had struck a sore spot for him.

"Something the matter?" Pete asked, noticing Lily's peculiar behavior.

"Arakil's not happy about his… vessel being insulted," Lily replied.

"He must be quite fond of it then," Rebecca said, continuing to scribble down notes.

"What if you destroyed the book? Wouldn't he be forced to select a better vessel?" Arthur insisted.

[Bah! Good luck, kid. I'd eat my hat if you could even put a scratch on this tome.]

Lily couldn't help but giggle. Arakil had always been so serious in her head when she was giving a voice to his writing, but now that he was about to freely communicate, he was far more liberal with his words than she could ever imagine.

"What's so funny?" Arthur asked.

"He says good luck even scratching the book."

Perhaps sensing her master's intentions, Sphii flew off his shoulder, pecking and clawing at the floating book. She squawked and chirped wildly but to no avail. The frustrated bird eventually flew away from the book and perched on a nearby chair, giving it the stink eye.

"Not even a scratch?" Arthur replied in confusion.

Pete looked very excited while Rebecca continued furiously writing.

"I guess it must not be an ordinary book," Thomas suggested.

"My… mom found it in a dungeon," Lily answered.

"Your mom is an adventurer?" Arthur asked excitedly.

"Was…" Lily replied somberly.

Arthur's face paled, "Oh. I'm so sorry."

"No. It's okay. I never even met her."

Pete cleared his throat and swiftly tried to change the subject, "I suppose that explains why Arakil is so attached to the book. If it is an artifact from a dungeon, then no wonder he deems it the most valuable item to house him."

"I'm honestly surprised nobody seized the dungeon grimoire from you, no offense," Rebecca said, pointing to the book with her pencil.

Lily sighed, "They did. But nobody else could open it, forcibly or otherwise. Eventually, it was returned to me."

[Damnable fey creatures and their meddling fate magic.]

Lily glanced at the book before returning her focus to Pete. It would take some getting used to having Arakil secretly talk to her, even if she was mid-conversation with someone else.

"This is good news, though," Arthur said. "Can't you use the book as a floating shield, then? Sure, an offensive companion would be better; defense is a good second place."

[It is not a very elegant proposal but worth considering. It would certainly give me the appearance of a loyal Familiar if I were willing to throw my body in the way of danger to protect my master.]

Lily had to hold back a mischievous giggle; she couldn't help but imagine the look of shock on another student's face, as if they were in the middle of a duel and their spell was blocked by a floating book.

"Using a book as a shield would be quite a sight. If you used a pen as a sword, you could be the scholarly knight," Thomas joked.

Support creative writers by reading their stories on NovelBin, not stolen versions.

"Actually, it's excellent news, assuming the book is practically indestructible. It would directly negate the biggest weakness of a Familiar," Pete pointed out.

[If I were an ordinary Familiar, that would be true. However, thanks to your growing Mana Core, we can certainly give you the appearance of your capacity growing by splitting it with me.]

Well, that answers one of my questions ahead of time.

Lily nodded, a simple reply to both speakers.

"I hate to rain on the parade, but are we absolutely sure it's a Familiar and not just a floating magical artifact?" Rebecca asked.

[Well, the correct answer is neither. But we could do a little performance to prove that I'm something inhabiting the book. The simplest solution would be to have them do something outside your sight, and then I will relay it to you.]

"Arakil's offered to do a demonstration," Lily replied.

"Wonderful. And for the record, I don't want to be the bad guy. I just want it for the record," Rebecca quickly defended her position.

They proceeded with a relatively short test. Lily stood in the corner of the room, facing the wall, with her eyes closed. Meanwhile, Rebecca, Pete, Arthur, and Thomas all took turns doing something in front of the book, and Lily relayed Arakil's descriptions perfectly.

"Well, that's proof enough for me. Thank you, Lily and Arakil," Rebecca chirped.

"Yeah, unless Lily has eyes on the back of her head, or she can see directly out of the book, then I think this is case closed," Arthur agreed.

"I even whispered to Arakil, and Lily repeated it word for word," Thomas explained.

"Agreed. There's no doubt in my mind that the book is housing a Familiar with remarkable intelligence," Pete added.

"Mrawr!" Yona whined.

"I'm sure you're just as smart, Yona," Thomas quickly replied.

Sorry, Yona, I don't think so.

[Well. That was certainly an experience. I can now safely say I've pretended to be a well-trained pet.]

"Alright, so we've resummoned your three familiars, so unless there are any questions, I think we are ready to move on," Pete said.

The three students glanced at one another and shook their heads. It appeared nobody had any further questions for now.

"Excellent. Then let's get you to your rooms. Arthur, Thomas, you two are with me," Pete declared, walking to the door. "See you around, Lily."

"And you're with me," Rebecca informed Lily.

Lily nodded; she had assumed there would be separate dorms for the boys and girls.

"See you later, Lily," Thomas waved as he followed after Pete.

"Bye-bye, bunny," Arthur said with a two-fingered salute.

"Bye!" she yelled back, waving her arm frantically.

"Right, follow me, let's walk and talk," Rebecca said.

But before they left, she quickly muttered an incantation and waved her hand. Her sloth companion glimmered before vanishing. Lily tilted her head in question.

"I'm not lugging that lazy bones around. I got enough of that in my first year," she answered.

Lily chuckled, "I guess I'm lucky in that regard. A book is easy to carry, and he can float."

"I'd recommend the latter to keep up appearances," Rebbeca suggested. "You don't want some old bat of a teacher snapping at you because they thought you were ignoring instructions."

"Are they usually that strict?"

"No, but even archmages can occasionally wake up on the wrong side of the bed. Don't give them nothing to complain about; that's always been my motto."

Lily found that a bit hard to believe but held her tongue.

Weren't you sleeping on the job moments ago?

Rebecca began leading Lily to the girls' dorms. They continued chatting while they walked, which was slow enough that Lily could still take in the sights. Arakil floated by her side and was, for the most part, silently observing.

Regarth was in a sort of U-shape, with the left-wing belonging to the boys and the right-wing to the girls. The central wing housed the classrooms and everything else. Overall, everything combined was absolutely massive in scale, easily bigger than Kaeling.

Each dorm wing contained a cafeteria with three provided meals per day. You could also pay for extra or luxury meals if you choose. There was also a communal cafeteria in the central wing for those who preferred it. Rebecca warned that there was a system in place that could tell if you ate at one cafeteria, so Lily shouldn't try to double dip on food.

"I personally prefer eating in the girl's dorm; that way, I can eat breakfast in my pajamas," Rebecca explained. "Unless Aura is working… then I either starve or get dressed depending on how I feel."

"Aura?" Lily questioned.

"Ah. I might have said too much," Rebecca said awkwardly and tried to dodge answering the question. "Eating her meals at least once is considered a rite of passage. Trust me, you'll know."

Lily nodded nervously.

How bad can it be?

The dorms were also divided by years, with the first years on the ground floor and each subsequent year on the floor above. Rebecca further explained that the higher floors had considerably better-quality rooms, which was something to look forward to and a reward for passing.

"You aren't forbidden from going to higher floors but don't loiter around. Pete sort of explained it, but the school has a seniority structure, so you don't want to catch the ire of a second or third year."

Lily thanked her for the sage advice.

Rebecca reached down to her pouch and pulled out a clipboard; Lily stared at the suddenly appearing object with great curiosity.

"What's that?" Lily couldn't help but ask.

"Hmm? Oh, is this your first time seeing a storage bag?" Rebecca asked.

Lily nodded.

Rebecca grinned, "This is one of the benefits of picking Regarth! We have our own dungeon, which means you can earn magic items! It's pretty much expected for every student in their first year to be rewarded with a storage bag at some point."

[Seems even eons wasn't enough to change the structure of dungeons… fascinating.]

Rebecca explained that the bag effortlessly held more than its size without increasing its weight even a fraction. Although she lamented that hers wasn't "one of the really big ones," she explained that they came in differing sizes. Unless you were extremely familiar with identifying magic items, you wouldn't know until you started trying to fill it up.

"Mine is about the size of a closet, but I know a girl who graduated with one the size of an entire room! Imagine all the stuff you could fit in it!"

Lily's eyes sparkled, and she was suddenly thrilled that she had remained firm in her choice of Regarth.

I could keep all my inks, plants, potions, and meditation board in one place! That sounds so amazing.

Rebecca began paging through her clipboard until she found what she was looking for.

"Okay, you're in luck; it looks like you're getting a solo room. Quite a rarity for first years, you must have done well on your application."

"I got a full ride," Lily answered.

Rebecca whistled, "Wow. Yup, that would do it. I honestly didn't think Regarth even gave full rides; they have quite a reputation for always finding some excuse to make you pay something."

"Huh… I wonder if that's why my sister didn't get it. She blamed it on not taking it seriously enough."

"You have a sister?" Rebecca asked.

"My big sister Rose, we grew up in the orphanage together."

Rebecca tilted her head and then did a double-take, "Rose… as in Rose the dragon?"

Lily nodded.

Rebecca chuckled and shook her head, "Well. I suppose you've probably just gained immunity to any petty bullying."

"Oh no… I thought she got her temper under control."

"Temper? No, she's an absolute menace in the duels. She had a perfect record amongst her fellow first years and was even threatening some second years. The power of bloodlines can be quite disheartening, and she's easily the star member of Terravix."

"Terravix?" Lily asked.

"...Ignore that, please," Rebecca pleaded. "It'll be explained during your orientation, I promise."

"Okay…" Lily murmured.

"Sorry about that," Rebecca reiterated. "Anyway, let's get you to your room so you can unpack, and then we can grab a meal."

"Hopefully, it's not Aura on duty," Lily joked.

Rebecca paled, "For both our stomachs sake, let's pray she's far away from the kitchen."