I awoke the next morning bright and early; Trixie was still asleep, snoring loudly and contorted in her hammock in a precarious position. I decided to sneak outside and continue working with my spells until she woke up and supposedly would help train me. Regardless of whatever help she offered me, I wanted a proper, usable offensive ice spell and immediately brought all my [Sub-Cores] to help with the task.

My concentration finally broke when the tiny pixie floated over, grumbling almost as if she had a hangover. Her appearance was once again slovenly, like when I had first met her. She nonchalantly floated over and collapsed against my slime, her arms out wide like she was trying to hug a pillow and rubbing her face against my outer layer.

"Ahh... You're refreshingly cool." She sounded very pleased.

I was so stunned by the action that I nearly let my spell collapse if not for my helpers holding it together. Either she had a newfound trust in me, or she had the utmost confidence in her own abilities. I certainly couldn't imagine anyone allowing a known acid slime so close to themselves. Regardless, I didn't want to tempt fate by attempting anything against her, and as much as I didn't want to admit it, she was slowly growing on me.

"What are you doing?" I eventually asked when she had still not moved or done anything beyond trying to press herself against a larger surface area of slime.

"Breakfast... Well... Brunch..." she murmured; even telepathically, I could feel the tired tone in her voice.

As if to soothe my worry, she promptly added, "It's just the mana you're leaking; you're passively generating more than you're actively spending..."

I kept my concern silent and continued to tinker away. Occasionally, she would watch my work, but she didn't add any commentary or correction, so I had to assume I was at least heading in the right direction.

I lost track of time again, and eventually, she fluttered off me and stretched herself. "Okay, I'm up. Can you continue that later, please?" she asked, pointing toward my in-progress spell.

"Sure," I agreed, letting the spell dissipate after ensuring the progress was saved amongst my cores.

She nodded, then held her hand out, a skill or trait hovering above her palm.

<[Mana Entity]

Redacted.>

"Can you purchase this trait?" She asked curiously.

I was slightly concerned about the trait's description being unavailable, but I tried.

"Nope. Requirements partially met, it says." I answered.

"Damn. Well, that would have potentially solved your strange mana combination. Guess you will have to evolve further or try something else." She shrugged, shaking her head, "Well, you promised to show me your disguise, so let's see how you fooled those humans."

Seeing no reason not to, I shifted into my elven form while auto-equipping my armor that appropriately resized itself. It was previously resized to fit my hobgoblin form, and I couldn't help but be so grateful once again for the enchantment. Once fully formed, I did a little twirl and smiled at Trixie.

"Well? What do you think?" I asked.

Trixie stared at me long and hard. "I did not expect an elf. I'd swear you look familiar, too, like someone I know, their sister or daughter perhaps..."

"Her name was Sylthaeryn... That's about all I can remember. She did have another name, but my memory of that is a bit fuzzy..."

"Sylthaeryn. Syl. That's cute. You stealing her identity?" Trixie asked.

"No." I immediately answered, maybe a little too forcefully, "Well... Actually, maybe a little? She gave me the name; it was sort of her dying wish."

Upon further questioning from Trixie, I explained the situation and what had happened. She frowned deeply when I mentioned the human noble that had tried to kill her for the [Elven Legacy] emblem.

"See. Like I said, humans can't be trusted. Far too greedy."

"Are you honestly saying you aren't tempted to grab the emblem yourself?" I asked. If mana was as important to her kind as she made it out to be, then something like this would only be a great boon.

"I can promise you. I have no such interest in that emblem." Trixie uttered, I could swear there was almost a hint of fear in her eyes.

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As much as I tried to continue the conversation and get more details, Trixie completely shut down any attempts. She didn't tease or joke about it and completely stonewalled me. I wonder if perhaps this might be related to another oath she had taken, as it was notably uncharacteristic of her.

"Right so. I like that look; you're very cute and pleasing to the eyes. I demand you stay like that while training; afterward, you can return to looking like a blob or goblin or whatever." Trixie demanded.

I nodded in agreement; I didn't really see any reason not to.

She eased up a little and smiled, "Also, I can see how you fooled those humans. As far as I can tell, you are an elf right now. It's actually a little scary how good your disguise is, and I don't rely on something as fickle as [Identify]."

"Thanks. Glad to know I can at least rely on it."

"Enough of that! Now let's start." Trixie exclaimed, held out her hand again, and started gesturing to it, "So this is an anchor point."

I cycled through every sense available, then looked at her. "I... Don't see anything?"

"Oh, sorry, force of habit." She giggled and waved her hand, revealing a magical spell formulation. I could see it was made up of what I now recognized as Nature mana, but I couldn't discern its purpose.

"Wait... That's the anchor point?" I asked, holding out but not fully casting [Water Orb].

"Yes. It's where the spell originates from. They are formed within your mana aura by default, so they can't be tampered with. Then it will do its intended effect as once cast, it's not at risk of tampering by normal means."

"Wait, but..." I held [Ice Dome] and showed it to Trixie, "But this spell clearly originates at a different location?" I questioned and cast the spell, forming a tiny ice dome over a flower at range.

"Ah... I see your misunderstanding." Trixie smiled, "Think of the anchor point as the instructions; if they are within your mana aura, they are safe from being easily tampered with. Now, that spell is instructed to create that dome at a fixed point, which is a component of the spell's makeup. In theory, you could greatly simplify the spell by making it just create the dome at its anchor point without the component that gives it a location target."

"I see..." I murmured, slowly putting the pieces together.

"That water spell only has the instruction to shoot forward from its anchor point," Trixie said and also cast a tiny [Water Orb] spell, which splashed harmlessly against me.

"Now, you need to learn to move the anchor point. Obviously, there are now risks involved in casting it away from outside the safety of your aura, but we will go into those details when you've actually accomplished it." Trixie further explained, and then I saw the [Water Orb] forming above me and firing directly downwards, again splashing me with harmless water.

While I was basking in the newfound revelation, another ball of water hit me from behind, and then two dropped on top of me. I frowned at Trixie, who was now giggling after proving her point.

"Okay. I get it and can probably think of hundreds of good uses for it. It would probably trigger my [Sneak Attack] if I cast spells from behind monsters."

"Yes!" Trixie exclaimed joyously, clapping her hands like a proud parent.

She held another spell construct in her hand, and then I watched the construct start to orbit around her before flying up into the sky and firing another water ball at me. I could have dodged, but getting a little wet meant nothing to me.

"Now, what I just did there is more advanced. It's easier and safer to cast it at a point and be done with it, but in the case of your ice weapons, you could learn to keep up the casting and have it follow after your target."

I nodded, thinking of the potential possibilities and applications. It certainly was like a whole new world of magic was being opened to me.

"But! First things first, we need you to actually form your anchor point outside of your aura. It's going to suck, big time, and if you're anything like me, then your instincts will be screaming at you not to do it."

I smiled; this genuinely sounded amazing, and I was more than willing to put up with some inconvenience to learn something this useful. Hell, I brute-forced so much mental backlash trying to create my first custom spell; this sounded far less strenuous.

"Thanks, Trixie. I can't wait." I said happily.

"No problem. We'll make you a magical force to be reckoned with!" Trixie beamed; she seemed genuinely thrilled. "Now, let's start with the mental exercises."

Trixie kept me busy late into the night with her training course when she abruptly announced that she was too tired to continue and fluttered back into the tree for sleep. I wouldn't say she was a bad teacher, but she and I might have had more in common than I realized, and suddenly, I wondered if this was how I made Dewi feel.

Many of her explanations were based on feelings and emotions, and when I struggled to produce any results or understand her explanation after numerous failed attempts, only then did she offer a slightly more typical explanation. The gist of it was that I needed to overcome a mental block that is ingrained as soon as someone learns their very first spell, and I needed to project my will outside of the safety of my so-called mana aura.

Trixie's original explanation was to meditate and think of projecting myself outside of my body, which then became an attempt to visualize my perception point changing. Her last attempt at trying to aid me in understanding the concept was to try to have me personify myself as a target.

"This rock is you, Syl. Now, because you are this rock, you should have no problem projecting a spell from it. You are the rock. The rock is you." Trixie had said sternly, wagging her finger. "Be the rock, Syl."

Shockingly, that explanation had helped me the most, and through great mental strain, I had formed a partial start at a spell construct next to the rock. My mind reeled at the attempt, and like Trixie had pointed out, a deep-seated instinct screamed out to me that what I was doing was very dangerous and that I should stop.

After that, I failed to form another partial construct for the rest of the evening. She was so excited when I had made that initial partial success, and now I felt like I had let us both down. I had tried to ask Trixie why this was such a massive hurdle to overcome, but she only frowned.

"I wish I could tell you, Syl. But I worry that if I tell you, it'll only reinforce the mental block," Trixie explained. She must have sensed my oncoming protest and reassured me to stop me. "I promise I'll give you a proper explanation as to why, the risks involved, and how best to overcome them. But please trust me on this."

Feeling low on resolve, I returned to work on my ice spell before eventually also turning in for the night. I hoped a good night's rest would help me recover enough to overcome this block.