Familiars!

We finish dinner while talking about the Ruins. Jess gets surprised that Luna, Innu, and I beat the Mini-Boss on our own. After about thirty minutes, I get a notification saying Kallen texted me back. I read it and smile.

"Luna, do you want to go see Strom now?" I ask her causing her to turn to me excitedly.

"Yes! Let me go get changed." She says before running to the changing rooms. She, and the others, are all still in their armor.

"Who's Strom?" Irene asks as Luna leaves.

"Strom's a monsterologist working for the Blue Lotus. He helped me figure out what the Altered Circles on my Familiar Marks were. I'm going to ask if he could take a look at Luna's." I answer causing her to nod.

"Master, remember we have five more members coming tomorrow. Don't stay out too late, okay?" Asami says causing me to nod.

"You have a Familiar? Where is it?" Irene asks while looking around.

"They're in my Domain, but I can bring them if you want to meet them." I say and she nods. I see Marlo and Jess looking at me curiously too. I cast Summon Familiar and summon both Barrai and Eimbis. I take them out and they appear at my sides. Irene gasps and Marlo remains silent. Jess looks both confused and stunned.

"You have two Familiars?" Marlo asks after a moment.

"Yep. First was Eimbis here." I say before pausing and motioning to Eimbis. "He's a Fire Dragon. Next is Barrai, a Rock Dragon." As I finish talking, I hear a playful roar from under the table. Sparks comes out and jumps on Eimbis's tail. Eimbis flicks it away, and Sparks keeps jumping for it.

"They seem to be getting along." Asami says with an amused laugh. Luna comes running out of the changing rooms.

"I'm ready! Let's go!" She says excitedly. I stand up and pet Barrai and Eimbis as I walk past them.

"You should take Sparks. It's late, and as long as they don't look too close, most people will assume he's just a normal cat or dog." I say causing her to nod and pick Sparks up. We tell the others bye before leaving. I ask Asami to take Eimbis and Barrai back to my Domain later. They like the Guildhall, but I don't feel comfortable leaving them there all alone. Luna and I start walking down the sidewalk and toward the joint Guildhall. The walk takes about twenty minutes, all the while Luna keeps asking me what I think her Circles will be. Once we get inside I'm shocked to find Liz waiting for us.

"Hey there mister, what brings you here?" Liz asks as we walk inside.

"Liz? What are you doing here?" I ask back.

"I finished talking with the Dryads not too long ago. I came here because I know Kallen and the others train around this time. I decided to join them, and then I hear Kallen saying you were asking to meet Strom and Lander." Liz replies while looking at me. She turns to Luna and sees Sparks and the red Familiar Mark on Luna's hand. "Luna? When'd you get a Familiar?" Liz asks surprised.

"I found him in the Ruins! Isn't he cute!" Luna replies while holding Sparks up.

"You got the Ruins?" Liz asks and I nod. "Well come on, let's walk and talk." Liz says while motioning for us to follow. I tell Liz what happened in the Ruins. I also tell her what I thought of Irene and Marlo's fighting. I explain the terms of the contract they signed for the weapons too. We stop shortly after I finish in front of a door. Liz knocks on it, and a voice shouts for us to enter. We step inside and I see Sally, Lander, Strom, and Kagiyama inside.

"Welcome, what was it you asked for us for?" Lander asks as we enter. We take a seat at the table, and Strom immediately notices Sparks.

"Is that a baby Lightning Tiger?" He asks causing Luna to nod and set him on the table. He sits down and looks around.

"Yep! We found him in the Ruins. I made him my Familiar, and his name is Sparks!" Luna happily explains.

"Yeah, as Luna said we found him in the Ruins. I wanted to ask if you could take a look at her Familiars Mark for me. She has three Altered Circles." I say causing Strom to nod.

"Wait." Kagiyama says stopping Strom. "Eric, as a Guildmaster, you can't request another Guilds member to help yours. You'll have to hire them. It was fine with your Mark, because it was a Dragons. Those are incredibly rare, so the payment was getting to examine and research it. But with Luna's it's different. So you'll have to pay to hire Strom for this." Kagiyama explains.

"Okay, how much would it cost to hire Strom?" I ask causing Kagiyama to turn to Strom. Strom puts his hand on his chin in thought.

"Since all I'm doing is figuring out what the Altered Circles are... We'll say it's 150$." Strom says causing me to nod. I take 150$ out of my inventory and hand it to him. He takes it with a smile before standing it and walking to Luna.

"Let me see your Mark Luna." Strom says causing Luna to lift her hand up and show him her mark. "You're in luck Luna, I recognize these." Strom says before sitting down. "The first is Summon Familiar. It's the same one Eric has. It'll allow you to summon your Familiar to your Mark. But remember, you can only keep them stored for five hours at most. The second is Joint Strength. This will boost both your and the Familiar's strength by the others. So the stronger you are, the more strength you're Familiar will receive. The stronger your Familiar, the more strength you'll receive. Finally, there's a Skill Circle. This is similar to the one that Eric has, where he can fuse Eimbis and Barrai by using a skill. This gives your Familiar a new Skill that they don't normally have. The Skill could be anything, but it's typically dependent on the Master. For example, there was a Water mage who tamed an Earth Spirit. He had this same Circle and his Earth Spirit learned Water Cutter, a water attack spell that creates a cutting wave of water. So it could be anything, but it will be dependent on you." Strom explains causing Luna to nod. Sparks lets out a happy roar and Luna smiles before hugging him.

"So Eric, what did you want to see me for?" Lander asks.