Two hours, and one change of dry clothes later, and Lupos found himself outside a small private classroom next to Mervyn's office with Wing and Lucio standing beside him in preparation for their first lesson with Mervyn. Wing was showing visible signs of nervous anticipation at the prospect of the upcoming lesson while Lucio just stood there attempting to look calm while not quite keeping a reign on his nervousness, Lupos of course remained calm and surveyed the surroundings.

"What do you think we'll be doing?" asked Wing not really expecting an answer as he continued to look around in a nervous manner "do you think he'll test us?" Lucio snorted "you two will probably be fighting me in preparation for fighting more talented opponents with higher tier spirits and magic!"

Wing opened his mouth as if to say something before promptly shutting it and giving a smile and a nod, not quite managing to hide the irritance that flashed through his eyes while Lupos managed to use Wings response to hide his own snort of laughter.

However before any retorts could be made the door to the classroom gently creaked open and an authoritative voice rang out through the doorway "Come in." swallowing his fear Wing took a first tentative step towards the doorway before entering followed by Lupos and finally Lucio. What awaited them inside the classroom was something very similar to what they had witnessed on the first day of school, in the middle of the classroom was a giant summoning circle. Lupos grinned.

Mervyn stepped forwards to stare at his three disciples "Welcome to your first lesson as my apprentices, first of all I'd like to once again congratulate you on your recent success in the tournament especially Lucio our overall champion!" Wing and Lupos clapped politely while Lucio gave a smug smile as if this fact proved his superiority.

"Anyway, as my disciples you will have access to greater resources such as magical beast cores as well as access to my private library to help you find spells that are suited to your abilities and affinities." Mervyn stopped for a minute to look at all three slowly "the last privilege you are entitled to, as you have already guessed, is that you are allowed to attempt summoning your second spirit early."

At this news Lucio and Wing both burst into grins while Lupos' face held a more evil smile which he promptly hid "Although your abilities are very good for your age it doesn't mean there aren't those who are older than you who hold more experience and have higher magic capabilities which is why it is of the upmost importance that you become strong quickly so as to join these experienced veterans. The first step towards that is getting a second spirit, understand."

All three students nodded and Mervyn smiled "Good. Lucio who was our winner gets the privilege of going first, I trust you remember how the summoning circle works from the entrance ceremony?" Lucio nodded proudly "of course I do headmaster!" smiling approvingly Mervyn stepped away from the circle and gestured for Lupos and Wing to do the same before motioning for Lucio to start.

As Lucio injected his magic into the circle flames slowly began to rise up around the circle and the temperature in the room rose by several degrees. Mervyn was smiling pleased while Wing stared in interest curious to what Lucio's second spirit would be, Lupos however was worried. "Lupos whatever happens you must try to disrupt Lucio's spirit summoning!!!" yelled Hugin in mindspeak.

"Why what's he summoning?" asked Lupos trying to hide the confusion and panic on his face, Hugin paused for a moment "a dragon...he's summoning a dragon. We would still be able to take it on but a dragon's magic perception is much higher than a humans and it would instantly be able to tell you had several spirits." Lupos' blood ran cold as he stared at Lucio's face.

"Hugin are you still disguised as the air falcon from the Ceari family?" "Yes." Hugin answered immediately "good. I want you to attack Lucio in that form now before he summons the dragon." without bothering to reply Hugin (now in falcon form) burst through a small window near the back of the classroom and proceeded to claw Lucio's face.

Lucio screamed as he lost concentration and the summoning was suddenly stopped, creating a huge supply of backlash magic turned in on him. "Lucio!" yelled Mervyn ad he ran to help regulate the magic flowing through his body before it destroyed the boy luckily giving Hugin a chance to fly away.

Lupos sighed in both relief and disappointment, although he had managed to prevent the summoning he knew that, although a large noble family may spy on Mervyn or even plot against him they would never be stupid enough to outright attack his disciple with him there. Meaning any further attempt at framing the Ceari family would look like an obvious set up. To summarise Lupos had lost his scapegoat.

Suddenly Lucio let out a huge gasp snapping Lupos out of his thought, turning towards Lupos he tried to appear slightly shaken "headmaster what..what just happened? Was that a spirit?" Mervyn's eyes hardened "I unfortunately believe you are right..... Wing, Gale we will attempt your summoning in ten minutes once I've seen Lucio is fine."

Lupos and Wing nodded ""Yes headmaster."" they replied in synchronisation. Once Mervyn had picked up Lucio and left for the infirmary Lupos and Wing sat down on two of the many chairs dotted around the room and waited in silence. Or at least that's what it appeared like "Hugin, will Lucio be able to summon that dragon again if he tries?" Lupos asked in mindspeak, he had a lot of questions for Hugin but this was the most urgent one.

"No," said Hugin after a moments pause "dragons are proud creatures, it probably feels snubbed now it's answer to a summon was broken. Either that or it will feel disdain for the summoner feeling it to be too weak to summon him." Lupos nodded to himself in relief, ok that's good, a sly grin appeared on his face "speaking of summoning you guys may be getting a new friend soon."

Hugin burst into laughter "I'm sure it'll be someone we know anyway, going by the trend so far." Lupos let a small smile escape his lips "true enough." Lupos was about to say more when Mervyn entered the room once more "Ok Gale, you came second highest out of the three of you so you will go now. This time I am prepared for any........interruptions."

The look on Mervyn's face was not one to be messed with so Lupos nodded and stepped into the centre of the circle and started to inject his magic, waiting for what was to come next.

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Author's note

Hi guys, last chapter before I go on holiday tomorrow so I hope you enjoyed it, I'll try to update soon if I have the time. Just want to write a quick shout out to menolous for the nice/hilarious comment on my last chapter XD please leave a comment or review so I can improve my story or hear your opinions :) PLEASE WRITE IDEAS FOR WHAT YOU WANT LUPOS'S NEXT SPIRIT TO BE IN THE COMMENTS AS I COMPLETELY FORGOT TO POST A POLL!!!!