Chuluk and Louise stayed like that for a moment. Chuluk then lay down on the bed, while Louise sat across from Sora.
"Hey, what are you doing in Chuluk's room?" Louise asked, frowning.
Sora replied casually, "Chuluk is teaching me magic."
"What? What!" Louise jumped up, shocked.
"Learning magic as a civilian is a capital crime! You—you can't…" Her face was panicked.
Chuluk laughed. "Sora isn't just a commoner—he's also a familiar."
"Even so…" Louise muttered, looking troubled.
Chuluk sat up straight. "Zero Louise, learning magic as a familiar is humiliating for you. Haha, a magician who can't even compete with their familiar—Louise will become a joke."
"No way!" Louise shot back loudly.
"Magic… magic isn't easy to learn," Sora said quietly, thinking about what Chuluk had taught him.
He had learned that in this world, most magicians are nobles. Noble children can be trained by elders from a young age, and their families have enough wealth to provide magical materials, which speeds up their progress. Most students at Trastine College—aged sixteen or seventeen—are point-level or line-level magicians.
But Sora could already feel faint magic power within himself. It was meager, but it existed, and with time, even a little power could grow. He smiled.
Chuluk was also surprised at his progress. She had started learning magic at six, and it had taken a week before she could produce her first bit of magic. Three years later, she had reached point-level. Sora had gestated the seeds of magic in just one day. Half a year? A year? That was incredible.
Changing the subject, Sora asked Louise, "Why don't you have magic power? Haven't you been practicing for a long time?"
Louise's expression darkened. "I… sort of do."
"Sort of?"
"Yes. I can feel the magic, but it doesn't obey me. Like Sora, they're disobedient, bad familiars, bad magic power." Her voice was tinged with anger.
"I've heard about that. When Louise first learned magic, she was supposed to be a once-in-a-hundred-year genius. Her power was said to rival triangle-level magicians, yet this is what happened," Chuluk added with a smile.
"Really? That's… really troublesome."
Gently, Sora asked Louise, "I heard that different families have their own methods for training magic. Since I'm… in name, your familiar, could you teach me the Valier family's training method?"
Chuluk's mouth dropped open in astonishment. Louise's eyes widened.
"What? You don't even admit I'm your familiar, yet you want to learn my family's magic methods?" Louise exclaimed, clearly dissatisfied. "That's so unfair!"
Sora remained unfazed. "At least in the eyes of others, I am your familiar. I'm no longer an outsider. Learning the Valier family's method is fine."
"I swear I won't teach anyone else. It's just for my own practice," Sora said sincerely, his expression becoming more affectionate—and shamelessly bold.
Louise turned away shyly, unable to look at him at first.
"Well, if you want to learn that badly… I suppose it's not impossible," she finally relented.
"Thank you so much, Louise-chan!" Sora said, taking her hand and smiling brightly as if she had already agreed.
Louise fixed him with a drawn-out gaze. "But you have to promise me a few conditions."
Sora's smile didn't waver. "What conditions? Tell me."
She placed her hands on her hips, asserting her advantage. "First, you cannot spread the Valier family's training methods." She raised her index finger.
"Of course," Sora nodded.
"Second, don't get so close to Zeru and Chuluk." She raised her middle finger.
"Ha! Are you jealous, Louise?" Sora teased, pulling her into his arms and resting her on his lap. Leaning in, their noses almost touched, and his warm breath brushed her face.
Louise blushed, stunned.
"Don't be jealous, it's unbecoming, Louise. Understand?" Sora whispered near her delicate ear.
Louise, her face red all the way to her neck, nodded faintly.
Sora smiled, helping Louise settle on his lap, gently stroking her soft, fluffy hair.
"Good boy," she murmured, her eyes still dazed.
Chuluk watched, stunned. Sora was terrifying… and Louise, pitiful, had summoned such a familiar. She hadn't even tried to negotiate better terms—she agreed to a series of one-sided conditions: no jealousy, no interfering with Sora and other women, and no independent communication without his permission.
Dizzy and overwhelmed, Louise was carried back to her room by Sora, lying on the bed for a long time before recovering. "What did I promise?!" she groaned.
Sora turned to her with a bright, warm smile. In Louise's eyes, it was the devil's grin.
"Master… can you start teaching me how to train magic?" she asked, shivering.
"Yes," Sora replied, satisfied.
And so, Zero Louise began teaching her familiar the Valier family's magic training methods. Sora, now armed with a top-tier magic cultivation system and an aptitude surpassing Chuluk's, began to grow his magical power rapidly.