"Attention! Pay close attention! I'll only say this once!"
Professor Athena shouted at the top of her lungs. She was extrely excited; just seeing her smile you could sense it. Well, I suppose it's not that surprising, after all, today begins the final trip for the first-year students, and also, in a way, the last event of this academic year.
A trip to the magical forest. I have to say, I'm a bit excited too. After all, it's not easy to enter this forest without a special permit. Most adventurers with a desire to enter need to send a request to the Empire's administration.
This forest is always under the supervision of soldiers. After all, it holds all the available resources the Empire has at hand, and also because of the unique magical beasts that live exclusively in that place.
Unique animals, and best of all, intelligent ones. Clearly with their own thoughts besides their survival instincts, they could think and rationalize for themselves. This was all thanks to the ambient mana that mutated the animals' DNA. In fact, even we owe a lot to mana.
There are many reasons why the Empire protects this forest: minerals, precious stones, even fruits, herbs for alchemists, and more. In general, many interesting things, but the most important are the magical animals. If soone manages to form a contract with one of these animals, they can secure a high position in the army. Of course, there is always a hierarchy among the animals themselves, from the weakest to the strongest.
But of course, there are always drawbacks. Out of every 10 people, only 1 manages to form a contract with a magical animal. It's a very low percentage considering the number of people who try. In fact, the only woman who managed to form a contract with one of these animals is a noblewoman of the Empire.
Catalina dici, a 25-year-old woman with beautiful white hair and blue eyes, was the only one from the previous generation who managed to form a contract with one of the animals, and not just any animal.
A white-horned stag, an animal with the power of a Mid-Mythic rank being. As I understand it, it can reach 7 ters in height and about 5 ters in width. An imnsely large, powerful, and intimidating animal. Its fur is white as snow, the air around it is a bit colder than usual, and in its gaze, there was... Arrogance? Yes, in fact, that's how it was looking at us right now. The animal had its head held high, looking down at us with disdain...
The white-horned stag was in front of us, and mounted on its back was a woman with white hair, tied up in a bun. In her gaze... there was also arrogance...
Seriously? Although their presence put imnse pressure on our heads.
"Stop acting, little dici," Athena gave her a smack on the head.
"Ugh! Don't hit , Major Athena, I'm making a good impression on the students!" Catalina put her hands on her head while groaning a bit in pain, tears welling up at the corners of her eyes. The stag quickly lowered its head and beca extrely docile next to Athena, looking like a trained dog.
"As you can see, our class has the 'Honor' of being guided by the noble Catalina dici. The other two classes are also under the guidance of other 'Tars.'"
Tars is the term given to people who manage to form a contract...
"Feel proud to be in my presence! HAHAHAHAHA!" declared Miss Catalina with pride.
For so reason, she forgot that just monts ago she had completely lost face in front of us, but for so reason, she forgot... But seeing that she was having fun, I guess there's no problem with that.
"We will head to the snowy area, the deepest part of the magical forest. I won't be your babysitter; I'm not paid for that," she said, pouting as she got off the stag.
She walked past the rows of students, her gaze curious as she looked at us intently. Her gaze passed over all of us: Angela, Ezequiel, Edward, Daniela... she stared at Daniela for a few monts; both are ice users, but Catalina's magic is much more advanced than Daniela's.
Her gaze shifted to look directly into my eyes. She seed to lose interest and looked at Charlotte, and quickly lost interest again. That was fast, I thought to myself. I shrugged and hugged Charlotte from behind. Fun fact: she grew a bit taller, and her scent is the best right now.
"What's your na?" Catalina's voice sounded a few steps behind . Glancing out of the corner of my eye, I could see the question was directed at Estefany. She blushed as she felt everyone's gaze. Persephone noticed all the attention shifted away from her, and Estefany's hopeful gaze was completely ignored.
"Huh.. M-my na is... Estefany, Miss Catalina," she stuttered a bit, getting very nervous...
Catalina nodded: "Professor Athena inford that you can summon an animal with which you've ford a contract. I'd like to see it for myself, if it's not too much trouble."
Estefany nodded, brought her hands together, and closed her eyes. Mana gathered around her, and runes ford beneath her feet. Her mana was reddish, and in a few monts, her mana clung tightly to the runes, giving shape to a large bear, a brown bear to be precise. It was almost the sa size as the white-horned stag, but the difference in power was too great. The bear was of Maximum-Gold rank.
Catalina watched the bear attentively, with one hand on her chin, began to touch the bear's brown fur: "How did you get it?" she asked.
"Huu.. I raised it from a cub, found it abandoned, Miss Catalina," Estefany responded while looking at the bear, and it looked back at her. Perhaps they were communicating in a way unknown to us.
I can still rember the mont I found it, playing in the forest. In the middle of so bushes, I could hear whimpers of pain, cries, pleas for help... on the ground, a bear cub was lying with a wound on its side.
It was my first summoning. Explore more stories at My Virtual Library Empire
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