"You're exaggerating… right?" Nelliel asked nervously.
"No." Azriel replied without a trace of humor.
"Familiars are among the most valuable things in the world."
"It's no coincidence that, on the solstice, the day is called the Day of Dead Dreams."
"The dreams of many aspirants, almost all, die on this day. Because of a poor familiar… or none at all."
Azriel suddenly stood and walked to an ordinary shelf, the others following his movements with tense eyes.
He then returned with a book, which he placed on the table.
A thick tome bound in goatskin, written in red ink: KingsRoad: The Journey to Become a King.
He quickly flipped through the book, murmured to himself a few times, and then looked back at them.
"Do you know how cultivation works? How someone becomes a mage?"
He asked tonelessly, stoking their curiosity.
"Well…" Nelliel answered.
"You read books and absorb mana from the environment, and that mana makes you stronger and smarter."
He coughed violently and shook his head.
"Energy, not mana. Mana is… a crude name, I'd say."
Azriel sighed, recalling an inconvenient past.
"Mages call it mana, but the world holds more than just mages."
"Energy is the more accurate word."
He coughed again, returning to the main topic.
"Those who wish to cultivate must absorb energy to purge impurities and strengthen their body or mind."
"But of course, nothing is that simple." Azriel exhaled.
"Some goals are simply unreachable for humans."
"You need immense time, energy, and money to advance through the realms and by consequence to extend your lifespan."
"It's a race against time: to advance, or to die trying." His voice grew heavy.
"And eventually, you will die trying."
"Because you will always need more time. "
"No matter your talent, no matter your resources, your brief human life will not help you, and in the end, you will fail."
"Human lifespan is far too short, and that's the problem," Lena concluded his thought.
"Yes. And that's why many mages sought methods either to extend life further, or to make better use of the time they had."
"The Pathway of the Familiars is one such method, successful in both respects, though… inconvenient in many ways."
"However, many of those inconveniences are mostly solved by the goddess Solaris."
"The only real difficulty lies in attracting the attention of spirits to seal a contract."
"A problem that has caused conflict with the spiritual world for the last two hundred years."
"Conflict?" Nelliel asked in surprise.
"There's a conflict? I thought they were just crazy." Azriel scoffed at the mention.
"Many contracts were forced. Thousands of them."
"That enraged the spirit realm, leading them to close its doors and grow hostile toward humans."
"In the past, there were more than just two days when contracts could be sealed."
"In any case, sealing a contract meant two things: a considerable increase in longevity, improvements in energy reserves and absorption, and ease in learning."
He ticked off the points on his fingers.
"When you seal a contract, you connect both minds and bodies."
"There are no secrets between the two parties. Two beings become one, and together they attract more energy."
"Beyond that, vitality is split equally between them."
"Meaning spirits, who live longer than us, end up living shorter lives, while we live longer thanks to them."
"Finally, we also learn faster. "
"After all, now we're two thinking beings sharing the same memory and able to process information independently. "
"You can literally have your familiar study for an exam while you sleep."
"So in other words, there are only benefits," Lena concluded.
"But why is it such an important factor, then?"
She was intrigued, their lessons usually weren't this deep.
"Patience, I'll get there." Azriel coughed, then continued.
"For the spirits, it's an unfair exchange most of the time, especially considering that they fall to the same cultivation realm as their contractor."
"Except for one single thing."
"The fact that it's also possible to share magical affinities and help less-evolved spirits, like yours, to achieve awareness and sapience."
"Not only that. Most of those spirits usually die young, because they are too weak, too dim, or simply sickly. Humans increase their potential as a whole."
"To lesser spirits, we are a light in the darkness."
"To the greater ones… a nightmare."
"It's a matter of perspective," Lena concluded once again.
"One lifts the other up, while at the same time being dragged down."
"No… honestly, don't try to play the smart one, just listen quietly,"
Azriel sighed, weary of her interruptions as he wrapped up his explanation.
"There are many factors involved, but the potential of both will always increase. It just doesn't always happen in the way one side wishes."
They frowned, not understanding what he meant.
"Look, an aspirant might be disappointed when they receive a Hatchling, but truth be told, they'll still enjoy all the benefits."
"The issue is that, for them, the benefits could have been greater."
"From the perspective of a superior spirit, an adolescent or an adult, they've lost much and now must face many risks alongside a human they probably despise."
"But even so, their own potential has increased, and now they'll be able to reach even greater heights."
"They just need to recover their former strength first."
"But returning to the original point, why are familiars important?"
"Because they give a better first step, and that step can be even wider if you nurture your connection properly…"
"Increasing your potential means a lot to a beginner, but not so much to an accomplished magician."
Azriel then looked down at the book and read a particular passage, uncertain whether he should share it.
At last, he only sighed.
"There are some rumors, very old rumors. About this process, some stories say that sometimes, if you are 'compatible' with your familiar."
"It's possible to advance immediately to the same realm as them, and even beyond."
"These rumors speak of one more factor, beyond the realms: this factor is compatibility, and therefore, the depth of the connection between each other."
"There are many reports of people talking about how the connection between some is stronger or weaker."
"And this can be tied to the compatibility between them."
"Consider this a silly thought of mine, but maybe your future won't be so bleak if you get along with your familiars."
He then sighed, closing the book and walking once more to the shelf, putting it back in its place.
Meanwhile, the others followed him with their eyes, still in genuine doubt.
"Why is he acting so strange?" Nelliel asked Lena.
"He suddenly started looking down out of nowhere and making weird gestures in the air. It almost looked like he was reading something."
"Don't be silly, it must just be fatigue." Lena concluded with her lofty intellect.