After the ceremony ended, Aznod prepared a grand feast for everyone gathered at the palace, and there was a grand celebration that lasted well into the night. The next morning, I left the palace with the rest of the Greater Pantheon, as well as those from the Sky Citadel. It had now been nearly fifteen years since we were last in the mortal world, so I was quite curious to see what had changed.

The first thing that myself, Tsubaki, and the others did was to return to the Sky Citadel, using the network to get a brief understanding of the current state of the world. To our surprise, Aurivy and Julia joined us, likely to let Julia get the same information as well.

In terms of technology, there were many advancements that would make life easier. Teleportation cards were now fairly commonplace, though they had various prices based on their ranges. Even so, the ones typically used by the common man were more than affordable, costing only a few gold coins.

I was happy to see that Fyor had finished settling the cities that I prepared for them, and had even created one on the fortieth floor. In my haste, I had not erected a city there, due to being accompanied by the Archon Queen. Although they had not discovered the forty-first floor yet, that was to be expected. After all, Dana had been in the Admin Room, and had been unable to pass down the enchantment that I taught her.

Perhaps the most unusual thing to be created was an item from Deckan, known as disposable spell cards. Typically, a spell card could be reused multiple times after a set cooldown period, allowing the card to recharge the mana within it. However, a new type of card had been created, one that produced other cards. These secondary cards only had a single use, but they could be stockpiled to activate without concern for the cooldown.

These cards had become popular among adventurers, due to their ability to let a mage release their ultimate attacks repeatedly. The associated Generator card was considerably more expensive, but it was considered to be well worth the cost.

“I wonder if we should get familiars now?” Dana asked from nearby, seeming to be going through the new information released by Kione. As expected, Accalia had published the magic knowledge that I had given her, allowing Kione to leap ahead in their development. What was once a parody of pre-modern society sprinkled with familiar magic had gradually become a magical utopia.

“I do not believe that I will do so.” Tsubaki said with a shake of her head. “I am unaccustomed to fighting while needing to care for the safety of a familiar, and would likely suffer from the backlash of it being destroyed in the midst of battle.”

Dana let out a light laugh at that. “I remember back when I was your familiar.” She said in a teasing tone, Tsubaki clearing her throat.

“Well… I never had to worry about your safety. You are very strong in your own right.”

Dana simply grinned at that, before looking at the information again. “I think that I might be really compatible with familiar magic. Hey, boss, would it be alright if I give it a shot?”

Hearing that, I gave a small nod of my head. “Of course. All of the information should be in the database by now, and you can gather any of the materials you need if you want a specific summon.”

Dana pursed her lips, thinking it over for a moment. “I think that I’ll just leave it to chance.” After saying that, she hopped to her feet, making her way to the library. I was curious to see what familiar she would make, so I sent a wisp of world sight to follow her while my main focus remained on reviewing the rest of the information here.

Dana quickly ran towards the library, ducking past the various Tsubaki avatars in order to not crash into them. When she arrived, she made her way to the section discussing the magic of Kione. Dana knew the library better than anyone, often spending great lengths of time researching various projects that she wanted to work on. Thus, she was able to find the most recent volume of general magic knowledge.

Pulling the book from its shelf, she ran back to a table and began to browse through it. “No, no, I don’t want any kind of guiding array or special chant to skew the results. Where’s the general-use magic? Ah! Here it is…”

Once Dana found what she was looking for, she quickly began reading through the contents. “For those without the materials to perform a specified summon, or seeking to leave the destiny of their soul in the hands of Terra, please see the following formation. This summoning ritual has been refined over hundreds of years to offer the widest variety of results, many of which do not have specific rituals as of yet. New familiars are still being uncovered through the use of this ritual, so young summoners are advised caution, as new familiars will likely have unknown abilities.”

Dana wasn’t worried about her familiar being one unknown to the public. If that really happened, she would ask the Keeper to review the knowledge he had access to. Information unknown to the public just meant that Accalia hadn’t released those details yet, wanting people to uncover it themselves. Or, in other words, they could be seen as ‘hidden classes’ in a game.

“Let’s see… since this is a ritual designed for impoverished families, it doesn’t have any specific material requirements. As long as the ritual circle is carved in solid stone, and the chant completed, anyone can perform it. Oh, it does require some decent spirit and mana control, but I should be fine there.”

Dana grinned at that, taking the book with her as she ran to her workshop next. There was a large space set out for any magic experiments that she wanted to do there, so it was perfect for a ritual site. Once she arrived, she simply waved her hand, the ritual circle from the book immediately appearing on the stone platform in the corner of her workshop.

“Next, the user needs to open a miniature gate to the Underworld within the ritual circle, wrapping it with their mana. As they perform the chant, they should separate a fraction of their soul to push into the gate. Wow, they’re already teaching kids how to casually separate their soul into multiple parts?”

It had to be known that most youths performed their first familiar summoning even before their teenage years. The fact that such an advanced technique was being taught so young could show how far the education had come.

Thankfully, there was no need for Dana to worry about this. Her soul was naturally fragmented, so she could just casually choose one shard and toss it into the gate. She glanced through the incantation, memorizing it before setting the book aside. “Okay, let’s get started.”

With a snap of her fingers, a rift was torn open in the center of the ritual circle, leading to a black and gray abyss. Dana wrapped her mana around the rift, preventing any of its energy from leaving, and sent a nearly-solid shard of her soul to the gate. “I call upon you, who rests beyond the veil. The slumbering ghost, the ancient shadow. I call upon you, who resonates with my bond. May the path we walk become as one, may the world share our presence. You who knows the burden of my heart, heed this summon and step forth.”

The rift rippled as the fragment of Dana’s soul seeped into it, and Dana could infer from the ritual’s design what was happening. The shard of the summoner’s soul was used as the main component of the familiar, with the energy of the Underworld becoming a catalyst for its growth. The chant itself was a way to center the mind and focus on the process, while the ritual circle helped the mana stabilize the rift. For kids doing this for the first time, this step was indispensable. In truth, Dana could have chosen to forego the incantation entirely, but she enjoyed the ceremony of it.

She could feel the fragment of her soul being nurtured by the Underworld’s energy, a slender leg soon stepping through the open rift. It wore a long, flowing black dress several sizes too large for its body. The familiar had black hair and black eyes, and elongated elven ears. Dana’s eyes twitched as she saw the form of the familiar.

“Clone type?” She muttered to herself, her familiar nodding her head.

“Yes.” The familiar answered simply. As a clone born of Dana’s soul, she naturally had Dana’s knowledge, though it seemed that her ability to communicate was at a lower level. The first stage of a familiar was the equivalent to an infant, so this much was already quite a lot.

Dana shook her head, holding her hand out. More mana and spiritual energy surged around the familiar, quickly advancing it through the ranks. The body of the clone grew, soon overtaking Dana’s own apparent age.

The growth of a familiar was considered complete at the third rank, which was widely considered ‘adulthood’ for them. When Dana’s familiar hit the third rank, she was the same image of the mature woman Dana herself possessed when she wasn’t altering her appearance. Naturally, Dana used another shard of her soul to advance the familiar all the way to the fourth stage, though the familiar’s appearance didn’t change any further.

The matured Dana rolled her shoulders, looking down at her clothes. During the growth process, her dress naturally had to grow to be able to fit her frame. “I think that I should wear something else, so that Tsuba and the others don’t mistake us?”

Dana pursed her lips at that, but nodded her head. “Sure. I’m going to try one more time, if you want to stand over at the side.”

The familiar nodded her head, moving over to sit at Dana’s workbench. This time, Dana wasn’t in the mood to go through the full ceremony. She simply tossed another fragment of her soul into the rift, letting it be nurtured. Her brow twitched when, yet again, a young clone of herself stepped out.

Even the first familiar looked at the scene with interest. “Is it because our soul has been submerged in the Underworld since a long time ago, so the summoning process only causes it to ‘repair’ the fragment?”

“Possible.” The new familiar said simply, before Dana sighed and began to advance this one as well.

Dana could sense that both of these clones did indeed possess the basic ‘framework’ of a familiar, meaning that they could store spells and be kept within Dana’s body. She closed her eyes, massaging her temples. Accalia, can you do me a favor? What is the special ability of a clone-type familiar?

It only took a few moments for Accalia to go through the information and response. Clone? I don’t think that one’s been discovered yet. Let’s see… a clone familiar can use all of the basic abilities and knowledge of their summoner. Starting at the third rank, they can even summon one familiar themselves. At the fourth rank, they gain the ability to act independently of their summoner.

Dana’s brow twitched at that. Does that mean that they could rebel?

Hmm? Well, it’s possible for any familiar to rebel, but they would perish when their summoner does. Ah, I should clarify, acting independently just means that they can make decisions on their own and travel any distance from their summoner. The summoner can still call them back at any time.

So it’s more like a sentient avatar? Dana glanced over at the two familiars. Does their share/d knowledge update in real time, or do they need to be taught independently of the summoner?

That… Accalia hesitated, before answering. That’s not mentioned.

Dana let out a small sigh, deciding to test it out. “You.” She pointed to the first familiar summoned. “What is the special ability of a clone-type familiar?”

To her surprise, the familiar shook her head. “I don’t know. I assume that’s what you were talking with Accalia about just now? You closed off your thoughts, so we couldn’t hear what was being discussed. Also, can’t you give us proper names? Nobody wants to just be addressed as ‘You’...”

“I’ll let the two of you name yourselves.” Dana said with a shake of her head. “For now… can you try to use void powers? I need to verify something.”

The second familiar reached her hand out, conjuring a familiar whip. Dana’s eyes widened in surprise, seeing that she could summon Dana’s void artifact. “I suppose that this is our special ability, to do what you can do?” The second familiar mused.

Dana simply nodded her head. “That, and the fact that clones can have their own familiar. You can handle that later, if you want. For now… we’re going to need to work on ways to make sure that people don’t mistake us. The first step…”

The first familiar gave a somewhat bitter smile. “You want us to act differently from you, right? It’s what I would do. Then, I’ll be the unusually cheerful one, how’s that? And you can call me Clara.”

The second familiar nodded her head, pointing to herself. “Taciturn. Sienna.”

Dana let out a sigh of relief, seeing that her two familiars were being cooperative. Though, this wasn’t a surprise either, as the fragments of her soul had long reached a consensus with one another. This was just the first time that those fragments were truly operating independently. “Okay, in that case, the two of you can change your clothes. If you want, you can use my appearance, but not my clothes.”

The two immediately nodded, shrinking down to Dana’s size. It was only natural that they had the same preference as Dana herself, though they did have to grab a new attire. After thinking about it for a moment, Clara created a silver streak through her hair. When she saw that, Sienna nodded quickly, making a blonde streak in her own hair. “We can use this…”

“Okay, but I still want you to change clothes.” Dana said with a light laugh, shaking her head. Three of her… how was the world going to handle that?