Cassie looked around the room and then at Wolfe. "Now that we've reached the second rank, it's possible for us to summon another Familiar. After the chaos of the last time, do you think that's a good idea?"
The witches in the room giggled at that. The last time she had used the Familiar Summoning Spell, it had summoned Wolfe. If she used it again, there was no telling what it would call, especially out here in the Frozen Wastes, since it was rumoured that the Familiar you got depended on what was available in the area where you cast the spell.
The logic went that since most Witches summoned in the cities, they mostly got mice and cats, which were everywhere, but only a few Familiar Summoning spells formed to summon from a location far enough away that they got monsters within the appropriate size range.
It was unheard of to get anything bigger than a dog unless it was a Demon, and even dogs as large as Pup were exceedingly rare.
But having a second Familiar would be a huge benefit to the witches. Even if it weren't more powerful than the first, it would be a second point of mana collection, so they could double the speed at which they could gather mana into their aura to cast spells and build their strength.
Combined with the reduced mana requirements, thanks to their natural attunement at the Second Rank, it would be an overwhelming advantage over a witch who was only a bit behind them and about to break through.
Wolfe smiled at the three closest witches to him, the ones that had just advanced. "I think you should. It will help your abilities and help you grow more quickly. Being at the second rank is great, but what about when you reach the third or the fourth? Now that your pathways are clear, I think that you can go much further than just this."
| Eventually, they would reach the limits of their actual potential, no matter what Wolfe did to help them, but there was still a chance that at least one of them would make it to the Third Rank and become a true powerhouse of the Frozen Wastes.
Witches also lived longer when they were more powerful, as their attunement to the world slowed their aging to more closely resemble the trees and rivers, letting them live for centuries with ease, according to the legends and history books.
The early leaders of the Coven had reigned for over a hundred years each, so there might be something to it. In the three hundred years since the Great War, Reiko was only the ninth Coven Leader, and that was including the ones that were assassinated early by their rivals.
"Where should we do the Summoning? Do you think that we should do it above ground, in the open, as the ancients did?" Ella asked.
"This time of year, the moon comes up before the sun totally sets. I think that if you do it then, above ground with both the sun and moon in the sky, it should be right." Cassie agreed.
"Oh, like in Super Witch Sabriel. Good taste in cartoons, Cassie." Priya giggled, being familiar with the show he was referencing and the scene where she had summoned her trusty Familiar Cat sidekick Meoww.
"Wait, that's like right now." One of the witches reminded them.
"It doesn't have to be today." Ella laughed, but everyone in the room looked very eager to see the advanced Witches summon themselves a second Familiar.
"I will go draw the circle and get it ready. You lot find Katerina and tell her that it's time to do the Familiar Summoning. There's no time like the present." Priya agreed, just as eager as anyone else to see what she got as a second Familiar.
For the first time, it looked like the Den was going to be empty as the Witches all headed up aboveground and gathered around a small pond two hundred metres from the entrance.
It still had a few surviving trees, which would give the area all of the necessary elements for the spell to be in tune with nature, which should theoretically be much better than doing it in a classroom surrounded by others.
The four Witches who were ready for a Familiar Summoning today gathered around the pond while the others lit magical fires overhead and linked hands, then formed a circle around them. It was a lot like a Coven Ceremony, though there wasn't a Coven Spell binding them together.
"Since she is the most eager, Priya will go first. Then Katerina will go once she has seen how it's done, followed by Ella and then me." Cassie announced once Priya had the spell carved in the ice and properly marked out with a small pile of reagents in the middle that had been picked from their garden.
The Academy used a simple metallic paint marker, and Priya had used paint as well, but she had also picked sprigs of some herbs that had fire elemental affinities to balance out the abundance of ice and water under the spell.
She handed the remaining herbs out to the others and then began to channel mana into the circle, unconsciously drawing on Wolfe's mana pool to strengthen the spell.
The signature mist of the spell immediately began to form, taking the shape of a ball roughly the size of her torso and rapidly growing in density. Then, with a gust of wind, the cloud was cleared, and a large rabbit with snow-white fur to match the winter snow, pronged horns on its head and beady red eyes floated in the air in front of her.
The Witches gasped as they realized that the new Familiar was using wind magic to keep itself aloft so that it could get a better look at its summoner in the twilight, but Priya only had eyes for her new partner.
She scooped it up into her arms and gave the Jackalope a hug, then stroked its head as she crooned what Wolfe assumed were welcoming platitudes to it, making its hind leg thump in happiness.
"Well, that's one. Did you see how she did that? Set the herbs in the middle and focus on the circle, then pour your mana in until the cloud forms. Just keep going until it resolves into a summoned creature. It's alright to use some of my mana if you need to. Priya did."
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