"Do you know what species your familiar is?"
"Huh? I don't know. Sensei, do you know?"
Louise was caught off guard when Dak suddenly shifted the topic to her familiar.
She lowered her head and looked at the egg she was cradling in her arms. She had been holding it for three days straight, even during meals, having to use one arm to hold it. It could be said that she had not let it leave her side for even a moment.
"It's a Pokémon Egg."
"…Oh."
Louise was stunned for a moment, but after coming to her senses, she nodded calmly.
Aside from that, she showed no other reaction or expression.
Dak could tell that Louise genuinely didn't care much about this.
"Doesn't that seem strange to you?"
"Emmm, it's kind of strange. I don't understand why I summoned a familiar from another world. But that doesn't really matter. Sensei, you said it yourself, right? Pokémon and familiars are basically the same. That's good enough for me. I will raise this child well."
Louise gently stroked the Pokémon Egg in her arms.
"Your mindset is surprisingly good. Do you have any questions for me?"
"I have a lot of questions to ask you, Sensei!"
"Go ahead."
"When will this child be born?"
Louise carefully lifted the Pokémon Egg. "I've been trying to hatch it for three days now."
"Then you still have to wait 27 days."
"Huh? An entire month?"
"Yes, normally Pokémon Eggs take a month to hatch."
Dak nodded and then continued, "Three days ago, I accidentally entered a space-time vortex and ended up in this world. At that moment, the two worlds were connected. You probably summoned this child during that time."
"Yes! Three days ago in the morning, we were conducting the familiar summoning ritual."
Louise responded immediately but then suddenly remembered something. She looked at Dak with surprise and asked, "Sensei, you've only been in this world for three days?!"
"Yes."
Dak grinned, not minding revealing this information to Louise at all.
"No wonder! That day, I thought you were a new student because you didn't even know the basics."
Louise finally understood what was going on. However, she furrowed her brows in curiosity and asked,
"But, Sensei, how did you know so much about this world after only being here for three days? And how did you figure out that my magical attribute is Void?"
"Generally speaking, Void magic attributes are impossible to detect. You should know this from experience. The reason I could figure it out was because of this."
Dak extended a finger and pointed at the runes engraved on the Pokémon Egg's shell.
"When I was researching the magic of this world, I learned that this rune specifically represents the familiar of a Void mage."
"So that's why. I was wondering why the runes on my familiar's egg were slightly different from everyone else's."
Louise carefully examined the egg she was holding.
But she couldn't understand what the runes on the eggshell meant, and Dak had no intention of explaining anything related to 'Gandalfr.'
"The key to the strength of a Void mage lies in two aspects: 'Explosion Magic' and the 'Void Familiar.' In fact, the latter far surpasses the former."
"A familiar?"
Louise looked at Dak in surprise.
She was well aware of Explosion Magic since she had been blowing things up ever since she entered the Magic Academy.
Her explosions were often several times more powerful than others, even when casting magic that was supposed to be harmless, her spells would produce small-scale explosions.
But to think that the key to power was actually the familiar? That was too unimaginable.
In this world, there were indeed mages whose familiars were strong enough to rival their own power.
Tabitha was a prime example.
Her Wind Dragon was powerful, making her a 'Triangle-level' wind mage with considerable close combat abilities and high mobility.
However, there was only one such example throughout the entire Magic Academy.
It could even be said that the entire Kingdom of Tristain probably had only this one example.
And if you factor in Tabitha's identity, then Tristain didn't even have this one example, since Tabitha was the former Princess of Gallia.
Most mages still relied on their own magic in combat.
Familiars at most served as minor support in battle.
Moreover...
It had already been mentioned before that a familiar's magic consumption came from their mage's magical energy.
And generally speaking, the magic released by a familiar consumed far more magical energy than if a human mage were to cast the same magic.
After all, human magic had undergone six thousand years of continuous research and refinement. Both chanting time and magical energy consumption had been significantly reduced.
Since humans inherently had less magical energy than most magical species, they had no choice but to research and optimize their abilities to enhance their combat power and sustainability.
Therefore...
Unless there was a guarantee of a direct hit or a specific request from the mage, familiars generally wouldn't recklessly use magic, as it would unnecessarily increase the burden on their contracted mage.
But this also meant that these familiars could never truly exert the power that their species was meant to possess and could not play a major role in combat.
Take Osman, for example.
He was an anomaly.
Although his own magical energy was immense, even if he wanted his familiar to use it, it simply couldn't.
His familiar, a mouse, was nearly useless in combat, couldn't cast even half a spell, and could at best serve as a scout.
And there were quite a few mages like that. Many chose to fight alone to reduce consumption due to their familiars being too weak.
This was precisely why Louise was so surprised.
Based on what she had learned, familiars were indeed good partners for mages in battle.
But real combat mostly depended on the mage themselves. They could not pin their hopes on their familiar.
However, what Dak meant was clearly different.
He was saying that the familiar would become the most powerful 'magic' of a Void mage, the key to dominating battles.
"That's right. Your familiar. After I discovered you were a Void mage, I specifically researched a lot about 'Void Magic.'"
Dak stood up, folded his hands behind his back, and looked out the window.
Chapter 432: You Are a Born Trainer
"At this moment, in Louise's eyes, Dak became more mysterious and profound, making her listen more intently to what he was saying.
"Do you know who the first Void mage in history was?"
"The Founder, Brimir?"
"Yes, that's him. But although Brimir established the five major magical systems, he never personally participated in combat throughout his life."
"Huh? How is that possible?"
Louise couldn't believe it.
Over six thousand years ago, Halkeginia was in an even more brutal era. It was said that Brimir's original intention for developing the magic systems was to put an end to that age filled with death.
Given that, how could Brimir have never personally fought before?
"It was always his 'Void Familiars' that fought for him."
Dak turned to look at Louise, "The Void Familiars are beings that can surpass the power of the mage themselves."
"Why?"
"Because they are not restricted by the magical power of their mage. Their power is not tied to magic; instead, they use their own pure physical energy or mental energy to fight."
"I see. So if a Void Familiar's strength surpasses that of their contracted mage, then during combat, the Void Familiar would naturally be the one playing the dominant role?"
Now Louise understood.
The magical species of this world were naturally beloved by magic. Whether it was their affinity for magic or their internal reserves of magical energy, they far exceeded that of humans.
If they weren't limited by their contracted mage's magical power, they could indeed display tremendous power.
"Yes. Out of Brimir's four familiars, three of them were beings far stronger than him. So during battles, Brimir never needed to personally take action. As for the remaining one, due to its unique ability, it never needed to intervene."
Dak nodded, thoroughly explaining things to Louise.
But he wasn't just telling her this to help her understand the concept of the 'Void' system. His true intention was to cultivate her as this world's very first 'Trainer.'
Being the protagonist of the Zero Familiar world, a child of destiny...
If Louise became a Trainer, she would certainly gain the favor of this world, making it much easier for her to become a powerful 'Trainer' and even influence the future direction of this world.
Once others saw how powerful Louise became as a 'Trainer,' they would surely want to follow the same path.
Especially since becoming a Trainer was countless times simpler than becoming a mage. It didn't require things like bloodlines or natural talent.
"There's another reason. It's true that the 'Explosion' magic of the Void is very powerful, but its chanting time is also the longest among all magical systems. And its effects do not distinguish between friend and foe, making it extremely likely to cause accidental injuries. Therefore, generally speaking, it's better for Void mages not to take action themselves."
Dak continued to explain.
The purpose of saying this was to make Louise focus her time and energy on raising Pokémon.
However, everything he was saying was entirely true.
Whether it was Explosion Magic or Void Familiars, all the information he was providing to Louise was based on the original story's established lore.
"Then... does that mean I should focus more on raising my familiar from now on?"
Louise easily took the bait.
This proud yet kind-hearted noble girl didn't want to hurt her companions, so of course, she was hesitant to use dangerous Void Magic recklessly.
But at the same time, she wasn't willing to remain weak forever. After all, she was the third daughter of a duke's family and the childhood friend of a princess.
She wanted to become strong. And the only way to achieve that was to strengthen her familiar, which was also part of her combat power.
"Yes, raising your familiar is indeed a simpler and more efficient path for a Void mage."
Dak walked over to Louise, leaned down, and looked directly at her. "Do you remember what I mentioned this morning?"
"What?"
"Trainers."
The moment Dak spoke that word, Louise immediately recalled the mainstream profession from the other world.
"Me?"
"Yes. Your Void Familiar happens to be a Pokémon, and you just happen to be a Void mage who should focus on raising your Void Familiar, so…"
Dak displayed a gentle, almost eerie smile and gently placed a hand on Louise's head.
"Louise, you are a born Trainer."
(End of Chapter)
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