Chương 191: Summonses

Phil spent the night in the living room of Damion's dormitory, using a freestanding coatrack as a suitable perch. In the morning, a pair of summonses arrived. One for him and one for Elicia. Damion's summons was to report to Dean Teft and Professor Toole in regard to his new spell. Elicia's was to report to her grandfather, Headmaster Sorin. Since the summons specified it was regarding his new spell, when Damion headed to Mage Teft's office, he took Phil with him.

The Snow Hawk happily perched on his shoulder, its Talon's gripping tightly, but not enough to cause harm. The Ferocious Beast stood a little under a meter tall, so Damion walking around with it perched on his shoulder appeared quite comical, but he felt this was better than letting the C Rank bird fly around inside the corridors.

"Ah, Damion you're… I take it you have already cast the spell," Mage Teft said as Damion entered her office and she saw the Snow Hawk resting on his shoulder.

"Please take a seat." Damion moved to one of the chairs in front of Mage Teft's desk and mentally told Phil to perch on the back of the other chair. When the Ferocious Beast flapped its wings and hopped over to the back of the chair Professor Toole jumped back, startled for a moment before composing herself. A tame Ferocious Beast was an oddity, and her reaction was more instinctual than actual fear of a creature a Rank below her.

"We wanted to discuss your new magic seal more in depth. It seems you decided to cast the spell on this Snow Hawk," Professor Toole said, eyeing the bird closely.

"His name is Phil. I've known him for a while," Damion said casually while Phil let out an affirmative chirp.

"And to answer a few of your questions, since using the spell I can hear Phil's… let's say voice, in my head. Mostly, just single words, conveying his thoughts or intent. Though, as I master the spell I believe our communication will deepen."

"Truly remarkable," Professor Toole said as she pulled Damion's magic seal up on her tablet and began studying the glyphs.

"You can hear, its thoughts you say?"

"Yes."

"And it can hear yours?"

"I believe it can. Though Phil also responds to my voice."

"Remarkable," Professor Toole commented as she leaned in to look carefully at the Snow Hawk.

'Threat?' Phil's voice questioned in Damion's head as Professor Toole looked the Snow Hawk over.

'Not a threat,' Damion sent back.

"Yes, remarkable," Mage Teft said dryly.

"Damion, what made you think it was a good idea to cast your spell without having it thoroughly tested?"

"I've spent a great deal of time working out the spell. I was confident it would do what I created it to do."

"We are aware how long you have been working on the spell," Mage Teft countered.

"Understand, it usually takes years for a spellsmith to come up with a new spell from scratch. Once again it seems common sense doesn't apply to you."

"I took quite a bit of inspiration from the tier 4 spell Ice Clone. By focusing on the parts of the spell that allowed me to control the Ice Clone, I began to understand how to make my spell form a link with a creature of my affinity."

"Yes, I saw the similarities to Ice Clone when I first examined your magic seal," Professor Toole told him.

"What else can you tell us about the spell? How much control do you have over… er… Phil." Damion proceeded to explain what he could about the spell to Mage Teft and Professor Toole. How much he knew and what he suspected about the link with Phil. The two listened intently and eagerly took notes on everything he told them. After Damion spent about an hour explaining his spell, Professor Toole believed she learned everything she thought she could and sought to send him on his way.

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"Now that you know my spell works, what do I get as a reward for completing the class assignment?" Damion asked before getting up.

"Ordinarily, students that do complete the assignment end up creating spells of limited worth. However, since you have created a tier 2 magic seal we will grant you 200 points, which is double the points needed to access the tier 2 Repository." Professor Toole told him. When Damion heard the number of points he was going to be granted he could not help but smile.

Between the points he was given weekly as an elite student and the points for passing his other classes and as rewards from various assignments throughout the term, Damion now had a total of 535 points. The price to view Silver Spire's tier 3 Repository was 500 points. This meant he had just enough points if he wanted to check out what tier 3 spells the school had. On the other hand, the price for the tier 4 Repository was 1, 000 points.

Amazingly, Damion had managed to reach 500, but he did not know if he could double that amount and have enough points by the end of the year to earn the right to view the tier 4 magic seals. For now, he decided to wait until closer to the end of the school year. If it looked like he would reach 1, 000 points before he graduated, he would wait, otherwise he would cash out his points on the tier 3 repository and whatever else struck his fancy in the commissary point store.

"Since that is settled, Professor Toole, why don't you give Mage Wells and I a moment?" Mage Teft said, waiting for Professor Toole to leave her office before continuing.

"It is about Elicia…" When Elicia received the summons from her grandfather that morning, she was fairly certain what it was about. She had repeatedly failed in her task to either bring Damion or his bloodline into the Sorin family. Honestly, she was surprised her grandfather had let her persist this long.

"I'm sure you can guess why you are here," Headmaster Sorin said as Elicia stood in front of his desk at attention.

"Yes grandfather."

"You no longer have any right to call me that." Even though she had expected them, the words still hurt Elicia. Despite trying her best to not show it, tears began welling up in the corner of her eyes.

"You intend to replace me."

"I have replaced you," Headmaster Soring said bluntly.

"Please remove your personal effects from Mage Well's dormitory by the end of the day. Leave any artifacts crafted by the Sorin family."

"Where would you like me to go from there?" Elicia asked. He had not actually said the words. Elicia wanted it to be clear, before she and Damion implemented their plan.

"I don't care. The Elders have voted unanimously, even with your progress in the last six months, you have repeatedly failed in your task. Given your role as an attendant, other families are no longer interested in you as a prospective bride. You have left us no choice but to strip you of our name. Go where you may Elicia, but you go without a family name. Now leave."

Elicia quickly left the Headmaster's office, not wanting to look at a grandfather who only considered the value she had to his agenda and not her as a member of his family. As she walked down the corridor she saw Dean Teft coming towards her, intercepting her before she could slip down a side corridor.

"I've learned of your little scheme from Damion," Mage Teft told Elicia.

"Did the Headmaster officially kick you out of the family?"

"Why ask a question you already know the answer to?" Elicia questioned.

"We both know there is a difference between removing you from the position of Damion's attendant and kicking you out of the Sorin family."

"Yes. He said the Elders voted unanimously to strip me of my family name. I am now alone."

"Alone? Are you saying you don't want to be Damion's attendant anymore? Afterall he said you two had discussed him hiring you as your replacement. Which I found quite amusing."

"I take it you approve," smiled Elicia.

"Yes. It has exactly the sort of 'I'll do what I want' vibe I've come to expect from Damion. Since this is what the two of you want, I will process your paperwork and cancel the Headmaster's order for your replacement."

"Out of curiosity, who did they choose to replace me?"

"Your sister, Annabelle."

"My sister!" Elicia shouted, startling even herself. Her older sister Annabelle was two years older than she was but was considered one of the top talents in the Sorin family. A Rank Wind affinity and A Rank magic talent. If it was not for Thomas, and his S Rank affinity, being only a few years younger, Annabelle would be the top talent of the Sorin family's younger generation.

"I think she was selected to punish your branch further for your failure," Teft told her.

"Well, at least by sticking around for the second term I can save her from this humiliation," Elicia said. When Elicia had received the news that she had been selected to be a super genius' attendant at Silver Spire, she had despaired. As any little sister would, she went to her big sister for advice, hoping her elder sister would have a way to protect her, a way for her to escape. Unfortunately, Annabelle had only told her to do her duty.

Since then, Elicia had not spoken to her older sister and now, with being kicked out of the family, she had no idea when she might get that chance.