After the revelation, the unusual pair of magical beings sat by on that rock, watching the clouds go by. Amy's nothing-thoughts were interrupted by the fidgeting of Felin on her lap, who had curled up as she was smoothing him.

"Are you done moping?" Felin asked, peering up at her.

"I wasn't moping," Amy said, defensively, "It's just... Tier 10 is such a long time away, and that's assuming I even reach it. I'm not someone who you could call an Archmage, am I? I doubt I'd even be called a Journeyman Mage either. I'd always be Amy, the Mageling or Amy, the Apprentice.

"I never did ask you about that either? About the ascension to Apprentice Tier or whatever?"

"No, you did not. I'll just tell you now, you're not ready for Apprentice. You're close, but it isn't something that can be crossed by just putting in the work."

"I see," Amy mumbled, "Will I notice the corruption earlier than Tier 10?"

"Oh yes. It'll first start becoming an issue at the peak of Apprentice. It'll bother you all through Journeyman and only get worse until it becomes impossible at Archmage. Oddly, though not to me, it gets better at Monarch."

"Why better?"

"Your Fae affinity becomes so powerful that it goes beyond corruption and into conversion. The scope of your power diminishes, yes, but you'll have a lot more mana available to you in the Ocean than other Mages at your Tier as you can coalesce it all, not just a small amount of it, without worrying about attunement issues."

"At least there's a light at the end of the tunnel. A tunnel I doubt I'd ever run all the way through though."

"Enough pessimism out of you, young Mageling, that's for old bastards like me to worry about." Felin smiled, standing up and leaping to his original seat.

"Felin? How old are you anyways?" Amy questioned, shuffling on her rock, raising an eyebrow.

"Asking me that is like asking Fire how old it is, or Space itself. I do not remember being born or made. I only remember being."

"...How does that even work?"

"You're asking me? As if I'd know. I'd like to know why I exist just as much as you."

"Do you think the mana willed you into existence? As some sort of consequence of its conceptual existence?"

"Mana might've made the universe come into being, but mana didn't make me. It imprinted upon me, yes, as mana does, but it didn't invest any Concepts into me, only taking some away."

"Like?" Amy grinned, excited at asking an original outerplanar being questions she'd always wanted answered.

"First was my name, then it was my shape. A couple other things were taken too, but they're unimportant. So, if you really want, you could call me the Father of Felines, or the Creator of Cats, thank you very much."

"Wow!" Amy exclaimed, thinking through the implications. In retrospect it was obvious that a cat named Felin had something important to do with cats, but to be the progenitor of them? Who in the Hells was his contractor then? And why would someone so important be forgotten so quickly? "I'm not sure if that's something to thank you for... I can see where cats get their personality from now."

"I've certainly picked up a disrespectful Mageling this time around, haven't I?" Felin smirked, taking the remark in his stride, "There's little time for dilly-dallying, my Mageling, so let's get on with Illusory Bolt. Show me what you've got so far."

"Alright."

It was easy enough after doing it so many times, her image of her specific Magecraft cemented in her head, for better or worse. With her eyes closed, Amy couldn't tell what Felin thought of it if he could tell, and he wasn't speaking either. Mana poured into her soon enough, focused towards what she assumed to be Illusion. The perfected Spellform manifested from her personal mana onto the palm of a raised hand, the Illusory mana taking the form of a Water Bolt, growing in the centre of the Spell. As the last mote of mana was sucked up by the Spell, the Water Bolt exploded harmlessly upwards into the air where she was pointing it, scattering into misty Illusion-coloured mana, the Spell ruined. Eyes opening, she took in the sight of a yellow-eyed Felin floating by the discarded mana, inspecting it closely.

"I see the problem here. I didn't expect your affinity to affect you this early but it's clear that it has, here," Felin groaned, flying back to his seat and lying down.

"Do I have any hope of casting Illusion Spells then?" Amy asked, eyes wide.

"Yes, you won't have any issues until Archmage at least. You won't need to worry about that. It's more about the Magecraft itself. It's too close in nature to what Fae is so it ends up becoming corrupted by your affinity more than usual."

"I don't see how..."

"Describe your Magecraft to me. I believe I know what it is but I want to double check." Felin commanded, listening intently as Amy tried to outline it as best as possible. Now that I'm saying it out loud, it doesn't make much sense does it? I suppose that's the point of Magecraft. Your own personal magic exerting its authority upon universal reality and translating it to your own reality. "Okay, I see the problem."

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

"Can it be fixed?"

"Easily," Felin grinned, his smile predatory, "Your natural Magecraft, I assume, is just you and the mana, dancing on that 'stage', correct?"

"Yes."

"Well, your natural Magecraft is already tightly attuned to your self, your being, both physically and conceptually. With your affinities in mind, it makes sense then that your gathered mana from your natural Magecraft has a hint of Fae to it, even if you intend it to be fully Pure. So, when you add your concept of 'the trickster' you end up mixing Illusion with Fae. I'm not sure if you've read this, I believe it's mentioned in the affinity test, but Fae and Illusion don't precisely mix. They're not antithetical to each other, if anything they're complimentary, but they're very hard to keep stable. Fae feeds off of Illusion, cementing its dominion over the world, and Illusion feeds off of Fae, transforming the False into the Real and Altered."

"So I need to completely change my Magecraft?"

"Not completely, and only for Illusion Spells. Keep the idea of 'the trickster', its not the best but it works for you, yet alter the context. Fae will still affect it, as your affinity will for all attunements, but its effect should be small enough that it won't affect the Spell here, at such a low Tier."

"Got it," Amy nodded, about to close her eyes and try again before a thought crossed her mind, "Felin?"

"Yes?"

"If you're this great being, why can't you simply... fix everything?"

"Because this isn't me," He purred, disgruntled, "This is a mere vessel for my consciousness to descend into, made out of a weak 'Tier 3' Spell. The more powerful the Familiar Spell, the less I'm restricted."

"Makes sense. Thank you Felin," Amy said, shutting her eyelids.

"You're welcome, young Mageling."

Focusing inwards, Amy sent her mana pool spinning, building into a whirlpool. Unconsciously, she almost infused it with her usual Magecraft, her intent unchanged. Stopping herself as soon as she realised, she kept her initial mental image of the trickster and altered it. It was no longer the audience, the world, that the trickster, the Illusionist, wished to fool on that grand stage of life. Rather, it was a heist. Stealing away the Truth from Reality itself, and replacing itself with the Illusionist's Fake. While the world was still there, it was no longer the focus. No, it was the people. Those who came to admire Reality's Truth, to align themselves with it, and come out Real. Only, it wasn't Truth that they anointed themselves in. It was the Fake. The double. The Grand Illusion.

It was far easier this time when Amy directed her thoughts towards her innate mana and began to focus it, to attune it to something other. Pure's mundane hues shifted, dulling until it was in black and white. To those without the Sight to See, it would be a perfect facsimile, unaware that it wasn't real, that it was a reproduction, an Illusion. Yet, did it matter? If something felt real, and acted real, who's to say it was fake? In their reality, the 'fake' one, it was the truth, and truth trumped all.

As she finished her focusing, her coalesced mana was definitely Illusion, far more so than what she had before. Even though it was half her normal amount, it was still enough for a Tier 1 Spell. With well-practised motions, both her innate and gathered mana streamed out of her, twisting into that of the Bolt, its fake appearance of Water. When the Spell absorbed the last amount of mana and exploded, Amy thought she had gone wrong again, but only for a second. Instead, as she looked up into the sky, where she aimed the Spell, she didn't see dissipating mana, but a perfectly cast Water Bolt, shooting up towards the clouds. Until it wavered, and collapsed, water spraying into the air. When the shower came back down again, Amy almost expected to be soaked, except it felt like nothing at all. It was an Illusion.

"Congratulations," Felin said, her eyes glancing towards him, "I honestly did not expect you to cast it on the first try, but if the Magecraft was the only problem, then it only makes sense."

"Thank you, Felin," Amy grinned, ear-to-ear, looking at what all but seemed to be lingering Water-attuned mana, de-aspecting to Pure. Studying the transition, she spotted the moment the Illusion disappeared, where the ocean blue mana turned grey, then immediately returned to Pure, swallowed by the weight of the Mana Ocean.

"You can continue following that book if you wish; I do recommend studying it at least occasionally," Felin commented, "However, it will be more prudent for me to take over your teaching, as you so asked in our initial 'contract'. You'll need to learn some more pre-requisite knowledge, but a fine Spell to learn next should be Lesser Illusion, which I believe is a 'Tier 2' Spell."

"That seems like a big jump in Tiers for someone who's just cast her first Illusion Spell."

"You would be correct, but you're not a normal Mageling Wizard I'm teaching as punishment. You are far more skilled than someone usually casting their Illusory Bolt or Lesser Illusion for the first time," The cat complimented, "Your only detriment being your affinity problem. The ordinary Wizardly Magecrafts won't cut it for you, as they'd get overpowered by Fae pretty easily down the line. So, we'll have to modify and adjust them accordingly."

"It's a good thing I have you then, Felin." Amy said, her smile softening.

"Indeed it is. Now, I would say we should go straight onto Lesser Illusion but it is probably best for you to head back home first."

"No complaints from me there. Are we not exploring the Tower today then?"

"I will do that in my own free time, while I'm summoned of course, so when you do adventure in, your head isn't blown off by a malfunctioning defence system," Felin said, bluntly.

"Is- is it that bad?" She winced.

"Yes, it is that bad. You're remarkably lucky that you didn't get yourself killed when you explored it for the first time."

"Yeah... I probably should've been more cautious."

"A lesson for next time," Felin nodded sagely, "Chop-chop, we haven't got all day. The sun will soon set, and you shouldn't be about at night in a wood like this. Too dangerous."

"Dangerous? Everything I've seen here in the forest is pretty tame and I've lived here for a few years now."

"That just shows that you don't know where to look," Felin rebuked, "With the obscuring shield's failure, all sort of magical creatures will be out prowling, searching for the source of the event. A monsterised mana beast who let out a burst like that? A fine hunt for only the most dangerous creatures dwelling here."

"I suppose..." Amy muttered, getting off the seat and dusting off the back of her skirt.

"Let us carry on then, young Mageling, carry on!" Felin shouted, taking off into the air running, heading straight through where they had entered, reality parting. Following close behind, Amy didn't manage to be there by the time it closed back up. Experimentally, she pushed her hand through, with the intent of leaving. And, as expected, the curtain folded back. Head held up high, Amy stepped on through.