In essence, the family garden was a small patch of forest cultivated by the Grey Family to produce their own Familiars. 

Sigil entered the dome covered forest and his sense of smell was assaulted by the pungent aroma of wet grass and damp ground. He frowned and looked around.

"Is this the seal of sense produced by the family? When I got closer to the gate, there was no smell and my eyes could see normally, but now, the natural scent of the forest and the dark surroundings are assaulting my two senses."

He observed and found that the whole forest looked a shade darker.

Crunch

Sigil turned his head sideways and found a black deer looking at him. The body of the deer looked healthy and its luxurious fur created a unique charm in this dense forest. 

Black Wood Deer.

It was one of John's personal familiar. 

The black deer and a Silver-haired youth stared at each other for a few moments before the deer turned around expressionlessly. It snorted gently and looked back at Sigil before walking towards the deeper section of the forest.

"It wants me to follow it?" Sigil looked at the black deer and thought internally. 

'The information about the Family garden is reserved strictly and even the Elders are forbidden to pass on the information to their children. But the information about the various familiars can be provided in a vague manner.'

Sigil thought in his heart as he followed the deer. His mind kept on raising doubts about the whole scenario.

Why is the information about the family garden not circulated? After all, all the elders including the guest elders have entered this place at least once and most of the younger generations have also entered this place.

"No, that's not right. The information about the garden could still be gained from some of the clues left by family. It is the location of the elite Familiars that is the most mysterious out of all." Sigil's gaze brightened.

But suddenly, his eyes constricted and he looked around. 

"Where am I?"

He wasn't in a forest right now. In front of him was a beautiful garden surrounded by a wooden fence. The height of the fence wasn't too big and it looked like an ordinary garden fence, painted in white. 

He also couldn't find the black deer.

"Now that I think of it. My mind was constantly filled with various thoughts and many doubts were raised involuntarily, making me unable to concentrate. Is it because of the family garden?" Sigil frowned and looked around his surroundings. 

He could only see a vast expanse of grassland and nothing more. In front of him was a beautiful garden filled with various unknown flowers and plants. There was a batch of pink-colored vines growing up on the fence. The vine itself had a large number of pores that kept on diffusing a pink mist that surrounded the periphery of the garden, giving it a hazy and dreamlike appearance.

In the middle of the beautiful garden was a shed. The shed was constructed in the style of ordinary barns and it gave a feeling of plainness.

"So this is the true family garden." Sigil muttered in amazement.

From distorting his thoughts, changing his location and bringing him to this dreamlike garden made Sigil sigh in admiration.

"There are too many spells in this world. The true power doesn't lie in the Familiars but oneself. With various spells, familiars can be enhanced. But Familiars can't enhance the mortal body." 

"Then there is the mystery of my transmigration. Ricardo's rebirth and the methods of the devils. Is this all based on the spells? What about my constellation? Even if it isn't based on the witch's spell, it still complies to the mystery of this world."

"Now that I think of it, my previous world had a lot of myths and legends about witches, their uprising, their downfall and some of the local folklores."

"Did my previous world also inhabit the use of witchcraft. If yes, then why did this practice lead to the downfall of the witches?"

"Does this mean that witches cultivation has an inherent risk? A default?"

Countless thoughts flashed past his mind and he looked at the garden once again. His expression looked serious and he walked towards the gate and entered the garden.

Throughout the process, he wasn't hindered and he entered the garden smoothly.

"Hmm? That is a Red Lore Lily?" Sigil knew the origin of only one plant in the garden. This situation made Sigil recognise the true depth of a witch family. After all, all of these plants are rare herbs and some of them are extinct in the mortal world. But here, there are many resources that can make a Witch's eyes green with envy.

Sigil squatted and lightly touched the soil of the garden. The ground was light yellow with a golden glow. As he picked up a fistful of soil, his hand also glowed a little. From the soil, he could feel dense energy and also a peculiar sensation.

"It feels heavy. Even though it is just a fistful of soil, it gives a temperament of a sturdy rock. Is this the specialisation of law?" Sigil muttered and his eyes glowed brightly.

After observing other components of the garden, he decided to enter the barn shed.

Creak

The wooden door made a creaking sound and the whole structure felt old and rotten. Sigil even had a feeling that he can punch a hole in the wall, but his instincts kept on screaming that the defence of this barn shed may be higher than the family mansion itself.

His eyes looked around and his gaze fell on small Familiars playing inside the barn shed. 

The interior of the shed looked ordinary. Dry grass filled the bottom to provide a cushion for the Familiars while they played with each other. From their size and power, Sigil could easily tell that all of these Familiars were only in the infant stage.

He couldn't find their litter nor the bones of the animals used to feed them, giving him a clue that this place is well maintained on a daily basis.

"So, these are the elite Familiars of the family, huh."

Infant, Adolescent, Mature.

These are the three stages of Familiars. But these stages do not represent their age, but actually, speak of their battle power.

Infant stage could contend with Energy Gates Practitioner.

Adolescent stage can compete with Chakra Points Practitioner.

And Mature Stage can compete with Grimoire Masters.

In this sense, many of the old Familiars may remain in the infancy stage while newborn Familiars may have a battle power of an Adolescent stage Familiar.

Woof

A brown dog immediately jumped from the raised wooden platform and shot towards a weak looking, red wolf. The wooden platform was high up the ceiling and Sigil couldn't even understand how it could reach that high.

Whoosh

Before the puppy could reach the wolf cub, a blue Shadow caught the puppy and took it to the platform once again. It was a miniature eagle. 

The puppy barked in indignantly and snorted before laying low.

Kakakaka

From the dry grass, two figures emerged and turned out to be a golden and a silver monkey. Their size was small, too. Around 20 centimetres.

Grrr

At this time, a low growl could be heard and all the Familiars quietened down. They looked slightly anxious and looked towards Sigil.

Sigil himself felt a slight danger and he slowly looked backward.

'Oh?'

Behind him stood a small Silver-Furred Wolf that looked at other Familiars with gentle eyes. But behind the gentleness, the small Familiars could feel a sense of discipline and sternness that pressured their active minds and forced them into a calm state.

The wolf finally looked at Sigil and nodded slightly.

It was the Silver Fang Wolf.

A Mature Stage Familiar capable of fighting with Grimoire Master without losing its own advantage.

Sigil took a deep breath and looked back at the Familiars.

He already has 3 Adolescent stage Familiars from Earth path, vision path and strength path. He has also accumulated enough knowledge to understand the importance of choosing a right path for himself. After all, it is hard to transform the selected path. 

Aoo

The wolf lightly howled and a frosty air emerged from its small body. The frost divided into five tendrils and shot towards the five Familiars.

Their eyes widened in surprise, but before they could dodge the frost tendrils, their lower body was already numb from the cold and finally, the frost entered their body, slowly turning them into ice blocks.

Sigil frowned. He did not expect such a change.

He looked back at the wolf and the wolf nodded at him before turning into a blue light and disappearing from the barn shed.

"There really should be some kind of instruction manual. First, you distort my thoughts then, you turn these Familiars into ice blocks. What am I supposed to do? Put sprinkles on them and sell them to kids?" Sigil muttered as he walked towards the ice blocks.

"Hmm? So this is it."

After paying close attention, he saw light blue carvings on the ice that informed Sigil about their names and paths.

According to the regulations, the information on the Familiars is extremely limited. But now, the elite members in the younger generation are given a chance to take away a Familiar with a good potential to reach the mature stage. 

"But the trick is that there is one more test. How to tame the chosen Familiars? Unlike Familiar Eggs, these Familiars have their own memories and personalities. They have been living here for some time and their cognition is developed to some extent. This is probably the last hurdle of the Rite of Witchcraft. Taming the Familiars."

Sigil started from the frozen puppy. With Sigil's physical capability, it was easy to reach the high platform in a single jump.

"Metal Bone Hound, Bone Path."

Sigil looked at the markings and his expression turned disappointed. Even though the bone path is researched extensively, the use of this path is still uncommon and the materials for the cultivation of Familiars usually involve a lot of killing.

He then walked near the blue eagle and read its name.

"Lake Eagle, Water Path. Hmm, Elemental path is quite popular and the resources can be acquired much easily."

He then jumped down and looked at the Silver Monkey.

"Ghost Chimp, Soul Path." Seeing this Familiar, Sigil fell into a silence. 

He already has a strange innate talent that can accommodate communication on a spiritual level. Developing in soul path might help him gain more clues about his ability and also the reason for his transmigration.

The golden monkey beside the Silver monkey was named Golden Chimp of the metal path.

Meanwhile, the red wolf cub was a Blood Fur Wolf of the blood path.

"Out of these, the strongest offensive power belongs to the Metal Bone Hound. The highest talent belongs to the Lake Eagle and the most compatible choice is Ghost Chimp." To Sigil, the decision was obvious and he didn't deliberate for too long. 

His hand touched the ice block as a light glow flashed from his palms.

***

"Which one will Sigil chose?"

"Its only been five minutes? How can he chose so easily?"

"Heh, you don't know this but the true family garden's time is quicker than the outer world. Five minutes already means an hour." 

"Oh, this brother, I did not know this. How did you get such information?"

"Hmm? I wonder if he will take away the best Familiar?"

Many people were chatting. The Elders were laughing and discussing while there was a group of Familiars staying on the sidelines quietly. 

While Ricardo chatted happily, his heart was in turmoil. 

"Damn, I really hope that the blood wolf isn't chosen. But if it's really chosen..." Ricardo felt that he really needed to start pushing his plans proactively.

Till now, none of the things have been going the way he wanted to.