[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-above-the-mage":3,"chapter-above-the-mage-above-the-mage-chapter-123":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Above the Mage!",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2257127,4404,"Chapter 123: Obtain Familiar","above-the-mage-chapter-123",123,"\u003Cp>After leaving the College Committee, Master Lar pointed Gao De in two directions and said, “Room thirty in Zone One is over there, the college dining hall is this way. Take care of your things and head to meals quickly.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Eat well—tomorrow you’ll have plenty of work to do.” He gave Gao De a meaningful pat on the shoulder, then parted ways with him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The matter was settled; he had no time to escort Gao De back.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gao De was pragmatic—he understood his relationship with Master Lar was purely transactional.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He walked silently back to the Guest House, collected his luggage, then headed in the direction Master Lar had indicated for Zone One.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Passing through the orderly college pathways and buildings, Gao De easily found Zone One, Room Thirty.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because the Ceres Magic Academy was clearly a fully developed “small city,” every intersection and path fork bore clear signage, and every building displayed its own identifying plaque.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Combined with the map in his hand, finding one’s “dormitory building” was no challenge for anyone who wasn’t a top-tier navigator.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When he saw “Zone One, Room Thirty,” Gao De understood why Commissioner Rachel had spoken with such certainty that he would love this place.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zone One, it turned out, was a cluster of standalone two-story houses built around a small lake.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A quick glance revealed roughly thirty to forty uniform two-story wooden cottages, arranged neatly along the lakeshore.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gao De turned the key and unlocked the door to Building Thirty.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A faint scent of pine wood washed over him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Carrying his luggage, Gao De stepped across the threshold and entered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Inside, the room was fully furnished, with furnishings of just the right quality—not overly luxurious, yet tasteful.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the wooden table in the center of the entrance hall lay a neatly stacked pile of items.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gao De stepped closer and saw two sets of clothing bearing the Ceres Magic Academy emblem, primarily deep blue, with long robes reaching below the knees and loose cuffs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The lower garments were form-fitting trousers, designed to ensure mobility and convenience.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Two belts were also included.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The only thing puzzling Gao De was that no one had measured his size—how had these outfits been tailored to fit him perfectly? But he didn’t dwell on it, for something more worthy of scrutiny lay beside the uniforms: a set of strange tools.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They included a pickaxe, ten pairs of linen gloves, a small shovel, and a woven basket.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Beside the table, a blank space glowed faintly with shimmering magical script:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Zone One, Room Thirty: equipped with a small cleaning magic array, a small soundproof ward, a small alarm ward, and a small temperature-regulating ward. Monthly maintenance fee: five silver. Please pay promptly at the college logistics department.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“When reporting to Labor Cliff tomorrow, bring all tools.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Welcome to the Ceres Magic Academy. Wishing you a pleasant stay!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Logistics Department.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What kind of enrollment task required a pickaxe, gloves, a shovel, and a basket??\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gao De stared at the “friendly reminder” left by the Logistics Department—his accumulated confusion reached its peak.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If not for the finely crafted uniforms beside them, he might have thought he’d joined a mine, not the Ceres Magic Academy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Whatever—it’ll be clear tomorrow, he thought to himself. He set down his luggage, then walked around the room, carefully examining the place he’d live in for a long time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The first floor had a large living room, a washroom, a laundry room, a small kitchen, a well-lit dining area, and a workshop.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The second floor held a bedroom, a sitting room, a sunroom, a meditation chamber, and a large balcony.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Standing on the balcony, he looked out over the lake—its shimmering surface, occasional birds skimming the water, leaving ripples in their wake.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gao De took a deep breath, filled with quiet awe.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was infinitely better than the Kamengde Street No. 237 he’d rented in Bremen for twenty gold a year.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And best of all—it was free. Back in the second-floor bedroom, he placed his luggage under the bed, then pulled from his chest the spell formula and magical herbs he’d kept close at all times.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He eagerly opened the spell formula.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though Gao De was still far from reaching First Circle Mage status,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Master Lar’s description of this as a “rare spell formula” had filled Gao De with curiosity.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The spell model before him was still composed of interconnected lines, but this one had thirty-seven nodes. Gao De briefly skipped over the model, turning his gaze to the description beneath it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>【Obtain Familiar】 (Conjuration, First Circle):\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>You summon a First Circle familiar to serve you.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Choose one animal from the following as your familiar’s “category”: bat, cat, crab, frog, toad, hawk, lizard, octopus, owl, venomous snake, fish, piranha, rat, raven, seahorse, spider, weasel.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Your familiar appears in an unoccupied space within spell range.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Your familiar acts independently but obeys your commands at all times.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When within one hundred feet of you, you may communicate with it telepathically.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Additionally, you may use an action to switch your sight and hearing to your familiar’s senses; during this time, you gain its special senses, while your own senses become deaf and blind.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>You may use an action to temporarily dismiss your familiar, causing it to enter a minor plane awaiting your re-summoning.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>While dismissed, you may use an action to summon it into any unoccupied space within thirty feet.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Alternatively, you may choose to permanently dismiss it; once chosen, you cannot cast this spell to obtain a new familiar for one month of natural time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When your familiar dies, it vanishes without leaving any physical trace. After its death, you must wait one month of natural time before casting this spell again to obtain a new familiar.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>You cannot possess more than one familiar at a time through this spell.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gao De’s understanding of spells was still minimal, but even just from this effect, he could tell Master Lar had not lied about the “rare spell formula.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The most direct comparison: the same First Circle Conjuration spell, Mist Fang’s Mist, merely conjures a fog twenty feet high and twenty feet in radius, lasting one minute.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Obtain Familiar summons a permanent, First Circle, multi-functional familiar bonded to the caster.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>How do you compare? No comparison at all! Rarity has its reasons!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of Chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1055,"2026-06-19T14:28:48.629Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","65bb1bb8ca93b884471168287067a033405895ddf4419fbc7b08d8a6242c081b","above-the-mage-chapter-124","above-the-mage-chapter-122",529,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fabove-the-mage-cover.jpg"]