Alchemical Familiar

The next day, when Angel left, Alan and his sister both came to the deck to see him off.

The sun shone brilliantly that day. Riding the Falcon Demon, Angel circled through the sky. The figures on the deck grew ever more distant until they vanished from sight.

When would they meet again? Life was full of partings. At that moment, Angel had already begun looking forward to their next reunion.

The closer he drew to the Cloud Whale, the more he could feel the awe-inspiring shock of its majestic immensity.

As the Falcon Demon carried Angel past the Cloud Whale's head, Angel distinctly felt its enormous blue eye watching him. As he flew higher, the Cloud Whale's eyeball moved along with him.

That beautiful azure eye, like sunlight at dawn shining upon the sea, was tranquil and gentle.

The Cloud Whale's gaze filled Angel with incomparable awe, but it also gave him courage. The unease he had felt the first time he was brought into the sky slowly melted into nothing beneath the warmth of the Cloud Whale's gaze.

The Falcon Demon set Angel down upon the Cloud Whale's back.

The instant Angel landed, the sight of the Cloud Whale's back left him dumbstruck.

Was this truly the Cloud Whale's back? Was it not a peaceful, comfortable pasture?

A vast lawn stretched endlessly in green, making one feel as though they had stepped onto grasslands. Black-and-white dairy cows dotted the green curtain, lazily swishing their tails as they chewed tender grass.

The Falcon Demons flew through the air. When tired, they rested upon the rocks; when thirsty, they drank from the pool at the center of the "pasture."

Everything looked so natural and harmonious that even the large and small tents scattered across the grassland did not seem out of place.

.

Angel had landed before the largest and most magnificent domed tent in the "pasture." As he wondered whether he should lift the tent flap, Flora drifted out from within, dressed in red.

"Hee hee hee, I know you have plenty of questions. Come with me. Ask whatever you want, and I'll answer." Flora paused. "Mentor is handling an experiment right now. It involves light radiation. Without any spells to protect you, your bodily functions could easily weaken, so I'll take you to see him tonight. For now, I'll show you where you'll be staying."

"Huh? Isn't that Gloria's stupid bird on your head?" Flora raised a brow and suddenly reached out, plucking Toby from Angel's hair.

The previous night, Angel had spent the whole evening trying to communicate with Toby, telling it to find somewhere else to stay instead of always nesting atop his head. Though he did not care much about appearances, meeting people with a messy mop of hair made him seem particularly impolite.

Angel had talked until his mouth went dry, but Toby merely lifted its tiny head and looked at him with innocent little eyes, wearing an expression that said, What are you talking about? Baby doesn't understand. Angel could do nothing about it. Although Gloria had said Toby could understand human speech, she had never said Toby could speak human language! Toby had made up its mind to play dumb, and Angel could only accept it.

Still, he secretly resolved that when he had the chance, he would definitely buy himself a hat—something like his cheap mentor's tall felt hat would do. Then he would see where this little bastard could stay!

Toby had been curled up asleep, Angel's golden hair serving as its soft little blanket. When it was suddenly caught in someone's hand, Toby was initially bleary-eyed and utterly confused. But when it discovered Flora staring at it with an expression full of scholarly fervor, it suddenly recalled the strange proclivities of wizards that its master had once mentioned. Terrified, Toby began flapping its wings wildly.

But Flora held it tightly, and Toby could not break free at all. It kept chirping "Chirp-Chirp" in terror, its voice even shooting into a shrill high pitch.

"This stupid bird was born through a Creation spell. I wonder what is special about it." Flora muttered under her breath. "I really want to dissect it and have a look..."

Toby shook its head frantically. As Flora's face drew closer and closer, its eyes rolled white, its legs kicked straight out, and it fainted from fright.

"How boring. Such a coward."

Flora casually tossed the unconscious Toby back to Angel.

Angel hurriedly caught the little fellow. Gloria had entrusted Toby to his care; if anything happened to it, he would have a hard time explaining himself.

Back in Angel's palm, perhaps stimulated by Angel's gentle presence, Toby slowly woke from its faint.

"You're awake? You're such a coward, yet Lady Gloria said you could take care of yourself." Angel sighed. It seemed he would have to put in more effort from now on.

"How did this stupid bird end up with you? Did Gloria give it to you?" Flora asked curiously.

"Lady Gloria only asked me to look after Toby for a while..." Angel recounted what had happened yesterday, his narration brief and clear.

"I see." Flora suddenly frowned. "Other than understanding human speech, it has no other special abilities... That can't be right. Every creature Gloria creates through Creation has a special purpose. Fragment Mayflies can construct planar passages, Twisted Baworms can use traces of history to pinpoint spatial coordinates, and Ox Mackerel Butterflies can enhance the exoskeletons of butterfly wings..."

"For a creature without any special ability to be born is simply unbelievable! I really want to dissect it and have a look."

Flora leaned closer to Toby again with a researcher's gaze. Toby was so frightened that it flapped its wings and flew up, then, in its panic, burrowed into Angel's embrace.

Angel simply tucked Toby into the breast pocket of his inner shirt. Today, he wore a white inner shirt beneath a brown plaid coat, making him seem a little less youthful and a little more mature.

Toby's tiny head slowly rose from the pocket. When it saw that Flora was still there, it shrank back inside in fright, then stretched out a red claw and fastened the round button on the pocket.

Angel could not help laughing at its humanlike gesture.

Flora shrugged. "Looks like the stupid bird is too scared to come out."

"That's good too. At least it won't mess up my hair again." Angel tugged at his slightly disheveled golden hair.

"Though it has no special abilities, it would still be good enough to turn into an alchemical familiar." Flora suddenly perked up. "Want me to help you refine the stupid bird into an alchemical familiar?"

"What is an alchemical familiar?" Angel asked in confusion.

Flora gave a mysterious smile, then whistled toward the open sky. Immediately afterward, the sound of something slicing through the air came from afar. Clouds of dust rose, startling the herd of cows. When the dust settled, a black-feathered owl stood steadily on Flora's shoulder.

Every black feather was like a needle of fur, majestic beyond compare. A tuft of golden feathers on its forehead resembled a crown, and with its head held high and its sidelong gaze, it bore the air of a king.

What a magnificent owl! Angel thought. Yet he noticed that the owl's eyes were a cold, gloomy green. This coldness was not the instinctive blankness of a beast, but a mechanized indifference.

"Let me introduce her. This is my alchemical familiar, Aisha."

To obtain information quickly, or when wizards were unwilling to show themselves in person, they would use eyes and ears.

Generally speaking, wizards had three methods of obtaining eyes and ears.

First, special spells. Possession spells, sound transmission spells, and the like could all serve as such methods.

Second, substitute scouts. Third, alchemical familiars.

Alchemical familiars were one of a wizard's experimental methods. Through alchemy, Demonic Beasts, phantom spirits, or wild animals could be refined into a wizard's eyes and ears.

Substitute scouts were likewise biologically refined, but they possessed self-awareness. Alchemical familiars were different. They were practically equivalent to inanimate objects. The energy sustaining them was the magical power circulating within their bodies, and they had to rely entirely on the wizard's supply. Their eyes were the wizard's eyes, and their ears were the wizard's ears. A wizard could completely control an alchemical familiar, making it almost equivalent to an extension of the wizard's five senses.

Only, alchemical familiars had no self-awareness.

To Angel, alchemical familiars were the cruelest of the three methods. Cruel or not, however, they were also the most effective and least prone to error. Since an alchemical familiar was already considered part of a wizard's body, it could neither betray its wizard nor be deceived through spells.

Angel pondered that if he ever needed eyes and ears in the future, perhaps he ought to get an alchemical familiar as well.

But he would never dare refine Toby into one.

Leaving aside whether Gloria would spare him, he could not get past his own conscience. He had promised to take good care of Toby, and breaking one's word was not the conduct of a true man.