Chương 60: 1-59 Impeccable teaching

Josef was an amazing teacher. Having to remind himself constantly of that had nothing to do with the veracity of that statement!

"Again! I want to see more water, more pressure. Keep it in until you're round as a ball!" he advised his student. Since Bezzo wasn't willing to accept his help with making a new spell, he decided to double down with the one pupil who had already signed up for his tutoring, willingly. A golden opportunity that Pretzel surely didn't regret, no matter what their link told him. No, all of those indignant thoughts surely were about her own troubles with learning his Water Jet spell.

How hard could it be to learn magic if you could directly pass on the images and intentions you used to make it happen? Apparently, the answer was very difficult. They had made it through an entire floor with almost no progress to show on the snake's end. All she accomplished was increasingly nasty displays of vomiting water. At least the puddle size increased, as she managed to contain more and more water inside her body.

Spurring her into becoming round wasn't just a joke anymore, as it was something she could actually pull off at her current pace. He wasn't sure if increasing the volume actually helped at this point, but at least it made teaching her a lot more fun. Where was he again? Right, maximum efficiency tutoring. Josef was genuinely trying from the start, but getting Pretzel to imitate his magic had turned out to be harder than he imagined.

His own way of casting the spell wasn't doing anything for her, no matter how much he explained about the examples he used. It shouldn't have been too surprising, considering his own difficulties at digesting her instructions on Water Bullet. Despite their link, they were two completely different individuals, seeing the world with different mindsets.

He was beginning to understand the difficulties of teaching magic, and that being a mentor for it was more complicated than screaming standardized instructions at unwilling students. After all, he wasn't teaching at a state-funded school. No, magic was much more individualistic than that, requiring a personal touch that just clicked for someone on a personal level. If Bezzo had actually accepted his offer, then things would have likely ended in a very embarrassing disaster.

Speaking of the devil, Josef briefly interrupted his lesson to slap another highly powered Regeneration on the lizard, after he had once again gotten injured. That guy's stubbornness was truly a sight to behold, continuing to throw himself at the monsters repeatedly, despite the lack of any success. Some would call it insanity, but Zippa insisted that it was actually just tenacity. Josef guessed that in the end, the difference lay in whether Bezzo succeeded.

Turning back to his very frustrated noodle, he observed the outcome of her latest attempt at shooting pressurized water. Apparently, instead of launching the water further, she had instead propelled herself backwards. If nothing else, she might be onto a new kind of movement skill, though aiming that one would take a lot of work. Case in point, she had somehow bowled over one of the Rachse that was trying to circle around, turning it into a tangled mess.

With Dusty on the job of cleaning up that little spill, Josef went and picked up his dejected familiar.

"It's alright, Pretzel. Take a break. Getting frustrated isn't going to help you. Maybe strangle some monsters, that always cheers you up."

"I can't, those jerks are unhuggable!" she complained with a whiny hiss.

"Guess you'll have to make do with wrapping around me instead," he offered, making it sound like he was presenting Pretzel with a great tragedy. He literally couldn't finish getting the words out before his familiar had already picked up on his intention and slithered up, hugging him tightly. It made him feel a little bad about laughing at her accident-stricken learning attempts. Conversing with his latest familiar gave him some very interesting insights into the mentality of his summons.

At least, if the serpent was any indication of how the rest of them thought. With Dusty still stuck on sending mostly static, and Nibbles far above, outside of the dungeon, he didn't exactly have any chance to compare his findings. Pretzel's mentality was a very confusing mixture of traits that painted a particular duality. On the one hand, she seemed to have an understanding of the world around her that rivaled Josef's own.

Not just when it came to fighting, which could be chalked up to instincts, but even more mundane matters that she had no business knowing. Like, when he compared the sight of her scales to corals, she actually agreed, fully confident in what he was talking about. How would she know, though? She was a two days old snake born inside a sewer dungeon. How would she know what corals even were, much less how they looked? She could even follow along with worldly matters like buying things with coins.

That sassy snake had demanded a share of their profits at the end of the dungeon! On the other hand, she had the emotional capacity of a child. Josef understood that the familiars he summoned were born from and connected to his mind, but seeing her act like a weird kid made him feel quite strange. He didn't regret his decision to let his familiars be completely free of control, far from it, but it had him wondering just how real they were on an individual basis.

And if they did count as fully sapient beings, then what did it mean for him? He had called her family before, but was he like a father to them? Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. Josef wasn't ready for that kind of responsibility!

"Stupid Josef, less thinking and more petting!" Pretzel demanded, interrupting his train of thought. Pressing her head against his palm, she was very clear about her desires. Following her demands, he spoiled her rotten until her tongue was lolling free from relaxation. Maybe his earlier attempts to categorize familiars were on the wrong track to begin with. He was trying to attribute human behaviour to something that decidedly wasn't.

No matter how far her shared knowledge base actually went, she didn't have the same kind of intellect. Which didn't mean lesser, of course. He already owed his life to her ability to think and make decisions during their last boss fight. No, it was simply… different. An inhuman mind with its own set of wants, needs, and priorities.

"Say, Pretzel," he momentarily stopped tending to the cuddly snake, much to her immediate displeasure.

"What exactly am I to you? Back when I summoned you, you called me master." She hissed at that. It was a low and wistful sound that had no business coming from someone that adorable.

"You are... Josef," she tasted the words, but they clearly weren't enough for her.

"You are the summoner. My summoner." At the end, she let out a sound that was much more delightful. Across their shared link, he could tell how she felt warm and fuzzy, but also embarrassed about saying that out loud. Even though the word itself meant little to Josef, who had seen it as nothing more than a label for someone using a certain flavor of magic, he could tell that it meant much more to Pretzel. Summoner was a much more personal term for her.

It wasn't the same as parent, or sibling, but no lesser in its difference.

"I'm very glad to be your summoner, my adorable danger noodle. I'm very lucky to call you my familiar. That goes for all of you." He bent down and picked up the little black rabbit who had silently appeared by his side. Miraculously, he wasn't covered in blood and gore as he should have been, considering the way he had just ended their current encounter. Maybe his weird movement left behind anything that wasn't a part of him?

Pulling the bunny into his arms, he took a bit of inspiration from Pretzel and squeezed him in a tight hug. The little guy flowed around his arms as if he was made from dough. However, something in the way his unblinking eyes slightly squinted told Josef that the sentiment was very much appreciated. The following notification completely snuck up on Josef.

☆☆☆☆ Empowered Link (Moderate) -> (Exceptional) Sharing is caring The strength of your bonds has increased, deepening the connection between you and your familiars. Well, that was as moving as it was nondescript. What exactly did this upgrade do for them? At least it was an impressive feat to push such a new and esoteric skill to greater heights this soon. That's how he chose to see it, because he didn't have any way to actually compare any growth he gained.

Going by what he knew, the speed at which his numbers were climbing wasn't normal after all.

"Well then, how about we go back to the lesson at hand?" He asked his serpentine familiar. Pretzel wriggled around him, her emotions somewhere between anticipation and annoyance.

"If we have to."

"Yes, we do." Josef wasn't going to let up on that. He would teach her a new spell today!

"Have you ever thought about squeezing water?" A sudden flash of inspiration had come to him.

"You can't do that!" she hissed, sounding almost offended by the suggestion. Josef raised a finger, giving his best impression of a lecturing teacher.

"And that's why you aren't succeeding. You gotta think about hugging the water, squeezing it real tight." Seeing as his scaly student was about to throw a hissy fit, he asked.

"Don't you like water?" That one threw her for a loop. Tilting her head, she answered, "Of course I do. Water is the best!" Then she sheepishly added, "After you, of course."

"Don't worry, I'm not a jealous kind of summoner. I can make room for affinities in this family." He couldn't help but laugh, seeing the snake genuinely flustered about her perceived offense.

"What I mean is, if you like water, then you should be able to hug it. Just like you hug me. Think about it, put those huggy emotions into your spell, to let the water know what you want." Pretzel didn't answer, as his suggestion had put her deep into thought. Even though snake anatomy shouldn't work like that, he could have almost sworn she was going cross-eyed from thinking too hard.

Then, slowly, her body began to expand, when she was without a doubt generating water inside her body, as she usually did for her spells. She didn't grow to the comical levels she had reached on some of her prior attempts, but to proportions that were somewhere between chubby and obese. Having apparently reached an acceptable state of fullness, she curled up on herself. On the outside, it appeared almost lazy, as if she was resting comfortably.

However, Josef could tell from their link that her mind was an iron fortress of concentration, filled with a single image repeating indefinitely. She was thinking of, or rather feeling, the hugs she had shared with her summoner. While Josef was sorting out his feelings about witnessing those thoughts through her, a familiar reptile walked up to his side.

"The two of you seem a little more distracted than usual," Zippa asked in a leading tone.

"Have you made any progress on that spell you are working on?" They hadn't exactly kept their lessons secret, considering their mistakes meant more pressure for everyone else on their team. Much to Bezzo's disgruntlement, who must have seen it as some kind of taunt. Not that Josef cared too much about what the stubborn reptile thought in his current state. He would get over it once he got out of his current funk.

"Shh, you are about to witness greatness." Together, they watched Pretzel work out the final details of her spell, as her body slowly shuddered under the building pressure. Josef knew the feeling that was coming from her. It was just like the sensation in his arm when he was preparing to fire a Water Jet of his own. She got it, and the spell was clicking into place. With a final shudder, her mouth opened and her body tightened. A fountain of water rushed out of her mouth, quick and explosive in its force.

It wasn't quite there in force, compared to the current state of his own spell. But it was proper magic, more than just the mechanical expulsion of water. It also slammed straight into Zippa, who just happened to be standing in the wrong place at the wrong time, as Pretzel had put no thought into aiming her spell. The surprised lizard was bowled over backwards and landed on his ass.

"What the-" he sputtered up some water he had swallowed.

"That's mean. I wasn't up for a shower for at least another month!" The upset expression he put on convinced nobody. In fact, Josef couldn't help but laugh at his friend's expression, as steam rose from his still hot scales. Soon, Zippa joined in the laughter, and heated himself up once more to dry off quickly. Pretzel wasn't even embarrassed about her mishap. Instead, he only felt elation coming from her, about how she had succeeded in casting her new spell.

It definitely was an accomplishment to be proud of, and seeing a notification waiting at the corner of his vision, he knew it was a step forward for the both of them.