Light. Level zero. Evocation. Upon touching a small object, he could cause that item to act as if it were a naturally created source of light. It would last for an hour, and he could end the spell at will. He could also colour this light if he desired.

The spell was quite mundane, but Aleister couldn't really complain. Having a source of light at will could prove extremely handy.

The instructions to cast the spell were also quite clear. All he needed to do was gather a small amount of evocation anima in his hand and say lightly as he touched an object. But, how do I get evocation anima in the first place?

He put the book down and focused on the anima he absorbed.

It took Aleister several days of mediation and relaxation to understand what was happening.

Syn was partially wrong about how the anima he absorbed worked. It was true that he absorbed the purified anima from the environment, and in this case it was mostly crystal anima, like she suspected, but soul would actually convert that anima back into a more raw and unspecific state. From there, he could then once again convert that anima into whatever type he wanted to use.

How terribly wasteful. No wonder it takes me so long to absorb anima. My soul is converting the anima and then I have to reconvert it upon use.

Aleister focused on not converting the anima he absorbed, and it worked. It cut down his absorption time by half, but it introduced another problem. He now had an abundance of crystal anima that he couldn't use and needed to convert, anyway. However, he didn't think his experimentation was for naught, as he was able to store several layers of different types of anima. He had an idea and decided to put it to test.

He entered Crystal Lake using the staircase the Empress created after the eclipse. There, the environment was water anima rich. He was able to quickly absorb the water anima and combined it with some transmutation anima he converted ahead of time. Just like he expected, as long as he pre-converted some of his anima, though, he still had a slight few annoyances. The major one was how he still needed to absorb the anima. His soul made some sort of change to it that allowed him to use it to cast spells in the first place. The other was how effort and concentration absorbing the water anima was. It wasn't something he could currently do passively. At least this would cut down the time he would usually need to cast another level zero spell like Bend Water.

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According to the spellbook, with water anima and transmutation anima, he could use one of his hands and control a small volume of water from a distance away as long as he was within visible range of it. There were a few more stipulations to what he could, though. He could move the water, change the flow of the water, change the shape of the water or its colour and transparency. However, he couldn't change its state, meaning he couldn't freeze or evaporate it.

Well, here goes nothing. Aleister pushed the transmutation and water anima into his hands and focused on an area of the lake. "Bend Water!" The anima dissipated from his hands, but nothing happened.

Thank the gods. He didn't want to imagine how embarrassing it would have been for him to fail a spell in front of other people, even if it was his first attempt ever. Especially with the whole having to say the spell name out loud.

Aleister repeated his actions, but it ended in failure again. He opened the spellbook and reread the instructions, making sure he wasn't missing something. He wasn't but, he might have misunderstood what part of it meant.

In his hand, he needed to combine the water and transmutation anima more thoroughly. The two types swirled around in his hand, but never mixed. Nevertheless, he continued to churn them together. Doing so dried up most of the reserves. Being a level zero spell, he hadn't expected it to use so much anima and thus didn't bother to convert all of it. He stopped, as nothing happened after several minutes.

Either this was not what he was supposed to do, or he was doing it completely wrong. Aleister thought about it for a second. Maybe I should let them ease into each other instead of forcing them together.

He relaxed his hand and mind, but still concentrated on the anima in his hand. After several moments of inactivity, the anima vibrated and folded in on each other. They were still separated into a transmutation anima and water anima, but more homogenous in nature.

"Bend Water."

The anima in his hand dissipated once again, but a lightweight replaced it. He lifted his hand up and raised a small, motionless blob of water from Crystal Lake. Aleister smirked and tried to change its shape. He started with some basic shapes, like a square and triangle, then changed it to a tree and then a raven. The water transformed without much effort on his part. Next, he changed the color from being a clear white to a dark red.

"Having fun?" Syn said. Her voice disrupted Aleister and caused him to drop his hand. However, the water stayed stuck in the air.

"Perhaps. How are you?"

"Like you, I'm doing better than ever," she said. "And with that stupid look on your face, you couldn't hide your excitement from anyone."

"Who said I was trying to hide it?" He shrugged and continued. "Anyway, I have several questions about the contract."

"I have no idea who that voice belonged to, nor do I have any idea on what the creator of the contract wants. Don't bother asking the rest because I don't have answers, and I'll explain my—our powers shortly."

"Hm? Why shortly? Why not now?"

"I assumed that you would want to play around with that water some more?"

"That can wait."