My Blind Familiar_The Ash Golem

by Nathan Valerio

  Each time he jumped out Xero could notice the figure of the Imp slowly change. The disfigured wings slowly fixed themselves into a proper bat wing shape. The skinny arms and legs began to fill in with muscle and he began to gain a bit of height but not much. The horns also began to change a bit gaining a blacker tone of color.

  Only after a whole hour when the bell rang did the Imp stop eating and returned and Xero could only smile wryly as he examined the Imp.

  “This is crazy, a glutton’s growth is crazy.” He muttered but none the less he stood up and left and along the way he met the old woman and thanked her for the help. Being noon right now it was already time for lunch so he called back the Imp and exit the worker area and entered the cafeteria where there were already a number of people.

  He moved to a table on the furthest left side when looking from the entrance. Although there were more people he knew here it was also his section due to what year he entered so he couldn’t go too far but he did sit near the corners of the tables.

  In no time at all the cafeteria was filled and as the food magically filled the tables a ringing came from the principals table. Everyone looked and the one standing was an old woman with glasses and a grey suit with her hair in a bun.

  “Good, now with yesterday’s familiar summoning, I just want to announce to the second year students that during afternoon free period, the second years are allowed to go train in the element zones.” She said and the cheers from our year sound like a roar. “Now I will repeat the rules, Familiars are not allowed within the school without teacher authorization or it being part of class. Outside of the castle the familiars can be summoned but no fighting is permitted unless it’s a duel directed by a teacher. Within the element zone no fighting is allowed period, if you are found fighting then the culprit will be punished. That is all you may eat.” She said and sat down.

  Like that everyone began to ravage the food but Xero just took a small bit mainly because he had been watching the Imp eat trash making his appetite be able less then normal.

  "I guess for the afternoon I should go to the volcanoes to train the Imp. That reminds me, I should name it…” Xero thought as he ate in silence. After reaching his fill he stood and left. “Never was good with names so I will just call him Ash since he is made of it.” With that done he moved out of the academy and walked down a path down from the front doors and soon reached a large stone platform and in its center was an archway with a swirling vortex. An elder was sitting in front of it and as he arrived he opened his eye.

  “Second Year Xero Null, I wish to go to the Volcano Training grounds.” He said.

  “Familiar?” He asked in an ancient voice filled with Wisdom.

  A moment later the Imp appeared behind him and the old man nodded. “Access permitted, combat with other students are prohibited, the ground possess low grade beasts that can be hunted for combat training, beware because they are still powerful enough to endanger your life. As you are a new second year you should only enter as far as the second layer which has the lowest tier beasts.” The old man instructed.

  “Thank you for the advice elder.” He said.

  The old man nodded and put his hand in a magic bag and pulled something out and handed it to Xero.

  “This is a magic protection charm, if you are in mortal danger it will activate and teleport you out.” He said.

  “Thank you.” He said.

  With a nod the old man put his hands together like in a prayer and the portal turned red and the swirl stabilized showing a volcanic badlands.

  Xero walked through with ready to start training his Ash Golem in a land of ash.

  Chapter 4

  Crossing the arch way the two were suddenly hit with a heavy smelly and extremely hot wind. Xero instantly felt the sweltering heat and began to sweat.

  “So hot.” He muttered and removed the tie that was part of the uniform before unbuttoning the robe and removing the top vest and storing them all. Then he withdrew a pair of travel shoes and replaced the indoor shoes he had been wearing that was for school use. Finally he rolled up his pants to his knee make shorts. “That's a bit better.” He muttered and looked at the Imp who was completely unfazed. Looking at the Imp now it was no longer skinny and the skin was now less wrinkled as it tightened around its newly formed muscles. The wings on its back were starting to become visible from the front, its face was still the same but now it was starting to look proportionate to the body that was growing. “Lets figure out your current level of strength first. Follow me.” Xero said.

  He began to walk and the Imp followed, the ground was rocky and cracked under his feet. After going a bit around away from the portal he stopped at a really rocky area.

  “This is good…” He muttered and picked up a stone and weighed it. After he picked up rocks that were about the same sizes as the Imp’s core and weighed half a kilo he turned to it and told it to hold it. The imp held it in one hand and sniffed it confused. He then received another and another and after ten rocks he told the imp to drop them and got a big rock that weighed the same as the bunch of rocks. He began to stack the small rocks and after a while the imp simply dropped it all.

  “So 9 kilo it can hold. The weights he got totalled 12 throughout its limbs so now he needs at least 5 kilos in each just like the other students.” Xero muttered. "I guess this is the best place to train magic as well, I'll leave physical training for later in the evening so let's work on that.” He said.

  Xero took ten paces back and then used his mind to turn the Imp towards a big boulder. “When I charge your magic throwing it forward.” He instructed and then pulled the magic sword out and pointed at the Imp. His mana flowed out and struck the Imp and found the magical formula for the Imp Fire.

  Watching the Formula it began to flow and move through the body and towards the arms but it suddenly hit several dozen obstructions and instantly the spell activated causing the Imp’s body to instantly combust and blow up with a resounding Bang!

  The flames rose a bit and a small scar was left, the red pearl turned into light and Xero felt a pull on his mana from the Familiar seal.

  He looked around and found a large boulder and sat down cross legged and closed his eyes and began to take deep breaths. In from the nose out through the mouth, this was meditation, although genius and talented people can easily pull mana through their skin, those with less talent have to supplement this with breathing techniques. Breathing techniques allow the body to breath in the mana in the air and expel the excess while the body absorbs some with each breath. Its deep slow breaths which is which is why it's less effective but there is a plus side. The mana purifies easier because it passes through the lungs several times as it's pulled and pushed out and by the time it's absorbed the mana that underwent this process is a bit purer.

  Also the mana type depends on the surroundings. Earth mana is ever present but there are areas like this one that a dense fire mana exists due to the presence of lava flow and volcanoes. The richer the mana the easier it is to absorb it due to the abundant mana. Unlike outside Xero only took half an hour of meditation to completely restore his mana.

  “These training areas are another thing altogether.” he muttered and looked at his familiar seal and called it out.

  The red pearl came out and as it stopped in the air a powerful gust of wind came and began to circle the red pearl.

  Ash in the air and in the ground began to rise and clump around the pearl as it rapidly formed the body of the Imp but after it was formed the dust kept gathering and only after several moments did it stop. When Xero looked he noticed several features that were different. First was that it grew a few centimeters, the round head now started to become a bit oval, the horns that came out from the sides was now seemed to be moving towards the forehead. Another change was that the grey skin as a slightly darker shade and that his four fingered hand was no longer paw like and it stretched a bit forming two digit fingers. The feet that were small and seemed weak also became bi
gger and stronger.

  “It’s overall appearance seemed to have undergone a change.” Xero marveled and looked behind it but the wing still seemed the same and was still small but the shape was now perfect and it could fold and flap it freely.

  “Is this what Professor Grunt said about amazing growth?” He muttered. “Hold this stone!” He instantly said and grabbed the big rock he gave it before and put the same weights as before but it still trembled but it could hold it now. Adding two more small rocks and it dropped it.

  “So it improved by 1 kilo but it seems its improvement isn’t just something random. It must have noticed all the faults on it’s body after running and changed it since he had the energy.” Xero thought.

  Thinking a bit and remembering how the Ash it gathered even after it had rebuilt itself acted it had a clear connection.

  “Maybe when it rebuilds itself, as long as it has abundant material and energy it will improve more than it would otherwise.” He muttered and stepped back after aiming it at the boulder.

  Pointing his sword again at the Imp he loaded the mana. The flow began to pass through the body and soon several spots were hit but several that existed before were gone but after a bit more new ones appeared and it once more exploded.

  “So it improved its mana channels with each death as well.” He thought and looked at the seal and fed the seal mana until it rejected it and summoned the imp again and once more the storm of ash and dust happened forming the Ash Golem once more. There was small changes this time physically and when he checked the mana channel he saw it cleared a few more. Three more deaths and he found that it could not do much else.

  “Let's go hunt.” he said.

  Saying this the Imp seemed to perk up. Facing the massive erupting volcano in the far distance they begin to walk once Xero recharged his mana.

  After walking a bit he feels the mana grow denser signalling he had entered a new layer. The closer to the center the better the quality and quantity of mana.

  This entire space was built by magical architects. Extremely powerful mages with almost godly familiars that worked together with Space type familiar that wholly focused on space magic. They formed their own pocket dimensions and then set up the worlds as they are now. The first layer is thin and has a slightly higher quantity of mana. There is about 29 kilometers between the ‘wall’ of the world and the second layer that comprises this layer. Its empty and made for isolated training. The portals appear here and there isn’t 1 portal. The portal outside is 1 but there are hundreds along the inside and the old portal master is the one that decides which will open. These portals are only 2 kilometer from the second layer since it would be a hassle for the older students to walk 29 kilometers even if it was training.

  The second layer possesses weak creatures ranking 1 or 2. Monster ranking goes from 1-100. It’s commonly called monster levels. An Imp recently born is level 1 just like Ash but something like Univa’s Blue Winged Salamander is at least a Level 3 or 4 since it’s still young.

  After entering the two walked around and soon reached a lava river. It was dangerous to approach it because there were monsters within the flowing lava but after hiding and looking Xero’s face lit up.

  “Perfect, Magma slugs, this is a level 1 earth and fire monster. This is a perfect thing to try and see his fire resistance or maybe train it.” He said. Looking around he spotted a lone Slug and moved closer.

  “Ash, go hunt the monster that is around the area I throw this rock.” Xero said and tossed the rock near the lone magma slug. Ash’s ear twitch and it jumps up and around the boulder and runs to the area the rock fell and quickly sniffed the air as he neared and jumped over the magma slug that had spit out a ball of flaming mucus.

  “His sense of smell is quite good but I guess that mucus is smelly.” Xero muttered and indeed it stank since he could smell it from 15 meters away.

  Xero watched Ash jump but it seemed its jumping strength grew extremely compared to before and it almost jumped into the river of lava.

  It stopped just at the bank and feeling the heat it hopped back and turned and sniffed the air.

  “It’s jumping power is abnormal, it can probably be counted as level 2 strength in jumping from how strong it is already.” Xero muttered.

  Ash locked on the smell of the slug and jumped higher this time and this time it seemed to aim well and landed right on the shell of the slug. Smoke rose up and he shouted but it’s weight tipped over the slug making turn sideways and he wildly attacked hitting several hits on the shell and on connected to the soft flesh. The lava like blood flowed out and the Magma slug screeched but so did Ash who pulled his arms out which was burned down what happened next amazed and disgusted Xero.

  Ash bit into his own arm and ate the burnt arm section halfway to his elbow. After a moment a wind began to blow and the ash on the ground started to flow and slowly gather on the wound that was releasing a black liquid.

  Ash jumped off the burning hot shell and his feet gave way in pain but like his arm his feet healed as more ash filled it. The slug on the other hand curled up and hid inside the shell to stop its bleeding.

  After a while Ash healed and he started to move about on all fours and as soon as he touched a rock that was a bit bigger then the rock that Xero used to test his strength he stood and grabbed it and lifted it and walked back to the tipped over shell. Xero narrowed his eyes as he watched and it widened in shock when he saw Ash suddenly lift it and force the rock down impacting the shell. A screech from inside showed the Slug was in pain. He kept repeating the process and slowly cracks began to form and eventually the shell finally cracked and the slug fell out writhing around.

  Ash then took the rock and smashed it over the body of the slug and let it go and attacked the flesh that was wriggling at both ends trapped under the rock. His claws weren’t sharp but he still ripped the corners both ends and one side was the head causing the slug to die after having its head removed.

  With the body dead the rest slumped down. Ash then grabbed the stone and tossed it away and he bent over and bit into the corpse of the Magma Slug. Xero’s lips twitched as he saw the fangs and mouth of the Ash Golem burn and his body burned but he still ate it and after eating the body he turned to the shell and began eating that as well not leaving a single bit from the main shell.

  Ash didn’t stop flowing and healing his wounds but it soon stopped as Ash just stood there. After a long moment he saw him lift his hand forward and suddenly his body became red and blew up.

  “What!” The ash body burst and the red pearl core returned to the seal but it caused the seal to heat up. The heat slowly subsides and it began to suck in mana before stopping and the seal flashed as the pearl comes out.

  Like the previous times there was a strong wind pulling in ash but it also drew in its own blasted body and rapidly built its body once more and this time the body seemed darker.

  “What the hell?” Xero was confused by the action of the Imp but this time he just turned towards Xero who saw that the face became more oval and the eyes formed into a human eye format with the deeper eye socket making the eye brow but lacking the hair. The big nose shrank a bit and began forming a triangle shape as if it was building a human face. The mouth was still wide and now filled with fangs that were darker than the skin and had a faint luster to it. The ears were now not completely straight outwards and were now angling up but the eyes were still the same pure white eyes.

  “Is it me or is he becoming more human?” Xero thought but as he looked at the body he noticed that the hand still had four fingers and no thumb but the claws were a bit sharper and black like the teeth and seem to shine. “Is it developing obsidian fangs and claws to handle the fire creatures?” Although he was curious about the new capabilities and strange way of acting that it had shown by somehow activating his still incapable fire magic to self destruct.

  Suddenly Ash sniffed and looked at another Magma Slug that was approaching, looking around Xero saw more than fiv
e of them and frowned.

  “Let's go and find a safer area.” he said and Ash looked his way but then back at the magma slugs before following. Searching they found another and he let Ash fight once more.

  This time around after throwing the stone Ash went running and after picking up the scent he stopped and waited for the attack and dodged after jumping to the left he waiting and the scent of the mucus came once more and this time he jumped up higher and smashed into the shell tipping it over and unlike before he seemed to have learned and attacked directly under the soft flesh of the slug.

  His hand burned but it still held a piece of flesh that he ate there and then he jumped off and found a large rock to crack it open. The efficiency was far greater than before. Like before it cut at both sides once it trapped the slug and quickly ate it again. The body burned from the inside again and it made Xero wonder what kind of monster this thing was. Just then it suddenly jumped and landed on another round rock and kicked it over and instantly a screeching came. The slug appeared spitting out randomly but with only the head exposed Ash swung at the underside as if it wasn’t hiding and it the head directly killed it allowing him to drag it out and eating it and the shell followed.

  “Since when…” Xero was in shock, he didn’t even notice the hidden ones. “Did his sense of smell improve that greatly?” he wondered.

  It was no wonder he thought that but it was wrong, although the sense of smell improved it was actually because of a new sense or actually the merging of two. Because of the huge amount of energy he previously possessed he was able to greatly improve his body. Ash had made his body stronger and more stable and because he died by magical explosion he always kept feeling the fault zones that caused the magical formula to fail and improved them. To a normal monster this would be the same but the fact that he is blind and he felt mana a bit more keenly he discovered mana clouded his eye. When he ate the first Magma Slug he had eaten a magical being because of this he had absorbed the mana of the slug and activated the spell Xero was using on his own allowing he to grasp some understanding of the mana. Because of this when he repaired his body afterwards not only did he make it a bit more fire resistant he was finally able to affect the magic blotting its eyes by having his eyes slightly ‘see’ the mana. Not only that but his ears and nose were affected and were improved by the mana allowing his senses to become sharper.