Aleister groaned as he rubbed his eyes open. He sat up and looked out the window. The night sky was pitch black. He looked at Syn and, through a yawn, asked, "I really slept for the entire day?"

She looked up from the book in her hands and said, "Two days."

"Damn."

Aleister grabbed the spellbook by his bedside. "Well, looks like today is the day when I learn a level one spell. Before I passed out, I narrowed it down to three different choices."

"I'm curious, what are they?"

"Oh, wait, I forgot, I was practicing this spell the other day too. It's level zero but kind of nifty." Aleister spiraled transmutation anima around his hand and said, "Legerdemain."

A fire appeared in a single candle in his candelabra, lighting up his room.

"It's a spell that allows you to light candles?"

"Light and un-light candles, along with a few more things, but none of which would be of any use right now."

"Nifty is a strong word."

"Wait, I can also do this." He activated the spell again and targeted himself. His wrinkled-up clothes were flattened and cleaned while his just woken up appearance was rejuvenated. Aleister activated the spell again.

"Thus, the need for baths is no more! I can hear Aunt Lavinia's tears as she quakes in her boots!"

"Is the smelling like oranges and lilacs also part of the spell."

"That was what my third activation was for, yes."

"All of those effects are bundled into one spell? How interesting."

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Aleister nodded and moved his hand down, pointing to some information on the spellbook. "This one right here is one of the spells I narrowed it down to."

"I can't read that."

"Then float over here so you can?"

"Somehow you forgot that only you can read it."

"Ah, yes," Aleister grimaced as he stared blankly at the book for a moment. The letters of the words were written in common, so it's of no surprise I forgot. Yes, that sounds good enough. "Then I will read them out loud for you. Arc. Instigate Fear. Understand Languages."

"I have no idea what the first one means, the second one seems useful but the understanding of languages edge that out as there's likely more opportunity for you to use it."

"For clarification, Arc allows me to summon a strand of lightning from the ground and strike it at someone, and if there's someone close by, there's a chance the lighting will arc and strike that opponents as well if I choose to take that chance. It also says prerequisite next to it."

Syn rubbed her forehead and asked, "And you can only choose one of these? That's a shame. It would be much more beneficial if you could learn all of them."

"Somehow you misinterpreted what I said? I can learn all of them, I just didn't know which one to learn first."

"Oh. In that case, learn the language spell first. That way, I don't have to translate the book as I guide you during alchemy. You can just read the book and I can focus on my instruction."

"Yup, that's what my plan was, as well. I just wanted to see if you were going to say anything else."

"Were you expecting a different answer?"

"Nope," Aleister said, standing up. "Now I need to go and acquire a bunch of chalk."

"You need chalk to learn how to cast a spell?"

"Yes, part of the reason I chose those three spells is that their material costs are quite low."

"You need materials to cast spells?"

"Need, no? But it's actually quite genius why I should keep an assorted amount of material on hand. Anima is in everything, correct? So with these materials, I can extract the type of anima I need so I don't have to constantly convert my anima repeatedly."

"Less converting should also decrease how often you pressure your soul and increase your lifespan as well, right?"

"In theory, however, I have a feeling that it won't be much of a difference either way."

Syn sighed. "How much of the book have you read?"

"I only have access to the first chapter. Kuzax said I had full access to it, and while technically true, I'm unable to read it without breaking through a seal he placed. I have to showcase a percentage of arcane mastery or else it will continue to prevent me from actually understanding the contents within the rest of the book."