Three months after completing the challenge, Violet finally got her Illusion mastery up to 100%. Avery’s friend was able to deliver a batch of special paper that could be used for contracts. Violet quickly brought her synchronization up to 100% not long after receiving the paper.
The contracts she wrote were beneficial and relatively harmless. Anyone who signed the contract was agreeing to tell the whole truth for the following ten minutes. The agreement did not force someone to say anything. It only stated that what they said would be the truth as far as the person knew it. Someone could still give false information if they were misinformed.
When Violet reached 100% synchronization, it was like a missing piece snapped together in her mind. All of the aspects she had been leveling were all pieces of the same whole. Illusion magic was about bending the light and tricking the mind. She had only scratched the surface of what could be possible with Illusion.
[Magic]
Type
%
Aspect
Illusion
1%
Tier 2 (9A) - Novice
Water
39%
Water
77%
Create Water
Water
55%
Etching
Water
100%
Ice Shards
Water
100%
Water Manipulation
Water
18%
Waterbreathing
“Congratulations, Violet! You have just barely turned eight years old, and already you have made it to the Novice tier of magic. Oh, dearie, I am so proud of you!”
“But I don't understand. Where did all of the aspects go? It doesn’t feel like I have lost them, but they are no longer on my magic sheet.”
“Honey, you don't need some silly system to tell you what you already know. Do you see the little (9A) at the end? That means you are tier two with nine aspects. You can always click on Illusion on your sheet for a detailed list of your aspects. Those who don't receive all aspects cannot do certain things and are always weaker than purists.”
“How do I get to tier three?”
“Oh, dearie, that is easy, just time-consuming. You have to use your magic in new and creative ways. Why don't you try something simple? Use your Disguise Self aspect to disguise the ground in front of you to look like fine marble. Don't even tell me you can’t do it unless you have tried. The training wheels have come off, my dear.”
It took her around a half-hour before she could apply the theory for Disguise Self and apply it to the ground in front of her. She started by making her hand look like marble and trying to spread out onto the floor. After a few attempts like this, Avery had taken pity on her and gave her a hint.
“How would you make your Decoy look like marble? Maybe try combining them for what you desire.”
Just thinking of combining the aspects was all she needed to change the floor to appear like marble. After checking her magic screen after accomplishing this feat, she was enthused and saddened that she had only gained 1%, bringing her total up to 2%. Avery did say it would be a time-consuming process.
“Tier two gives you the ability to combine two aspects to create a spell. At three, you can combine three, and at four, you can combine as many as you like and are considered a master. Don't get me wrong, you will never stop learning. It takes so much to raise your percentage at that level that nobody that I know of ever has. Even I don't have my mastery percentages very high, and I have been using magic for centuries.”
“Have you been trying to create new spells all this time?”
“Oh no, dearie, after a while, you just accept what you have and only bother to create new spells if you come across a new problem. My percentages would be higher if I dedicated my life to research.”
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“Once I raise water magic to tier two, can I combine an aspect for water with an aspect for illusion?”
“It can be done, but it is more challenging to find synergy between the aspects.”
Violet took time away from her usual training routine to study her new Illusion ability. When she examined what she was doing with Spell Vision, the combined aspects created a complex spell form. Disguise Self was still large, and in the center, an extra row around the circle was dedicated to Decoy.
Using an extra aspect created an additional degree of difficulty. While the system automatically made the extra row for her, she wanted to eventually study each rune in detail to understand the spell form more completely. While she could read each word because it was written in Runic, she did not understand why one word was used over another. She believed understanding the differences could help her unlock new spells and ideas.
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Violet’s overall Water synchronization finally was at 49%. She had been working hard to gain aspect synchronization over the past few months.
[Magic]
Type
%
Aspect
Illusion
11%
Tier 2 (9A) - Novice
Water
49%
Water
22%
Cleanse
Water
100%
Create Water
Water
72%
Etching
Water
100%
Ice Shards
Water
10%
Sense Water
Water
100%
Water Manipulation
Water
34%
Waterbreathing
She felt a little let down when she received Create Water. The aspect made the creation of water almost effortless. She had already been using Water Manipulation to condense the water from the air and felt it was a redundant aspect. Avery had ordered her to pick it up once she learned of Violet’s plan to avoid the aspect until last. She would have likely failed to pick up the more complex aspects if she had not picked it up.
The next aspect she picked up was Waterbreathing. It was not quite what she was expecting the spell to be. Rather than filling her lungs with water and being able to breathe, Waterbreathing placed a filter on her nose that only allowed her to breathe in air while she was underwater. She could also create a filter for her mouth to do the same function, but it cost more mana and ultimately did the same thing.
Sense Water was the next aspect that she received. This aspect required her to travel to gain synchronization. Rasmus couldn’t help her cheese the aspect by flying her around everywhere. She needed to be close to sources of water initially to be able to sense them. After gaining 25% synchronization, Tilly said it would be easier to raise because her range would increase. At that point, she would also be able to sense water in the ground if it was close enough to dig a well.
The three high difficulty aspects for water were Acid Blast, Cleanse, and Shield. She did not have to consider which aspect to obtain first for very long. Cleanse was something she had been hoping to have for a very long time. With cleanse, all she needed was to picture something in pristine condition, and all impurities would drop to the ground.
There were limits on what she could clean. She could not all of a sudden “cleanse” a stone and only leave gold behind. Using Cleanse on her clothing did not repair anything. It only removed dirt and grime from it. After receiving the aspect, she had used Cleanse on one of her spare sets of clothing. It was almost as if the aspect was made for this purpose. Her dress was spotless, and a pile of dirt materialized right next to it. Unfortunately, using cleanse on the accumulation of dirt did not make it disappear. She was forced to use a broom to sweep it away.
Tilly was able to explain how Cleanse worked a little bit better for her. The aspect worked off of the user’s perception. If she were to clean a sheet of paper, she could remove the ink or only remove certain words or imperfections. Violet needed to train herself to choose what about something was necessary to be cleaned.
When she had asked about using Cleanse to clean an infected wound, the answer was complicated. The short answer was unless she understood her goal completely, don't try it. Violet would need to completely understand what healthy was before she could restore it and remove impurities. She would be more likely to hurt someone instead of helping them by using cleanse on them.
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“Avery, is there a way to turn off the randomization feature that happens when I gain a new school of magic?”
“Randomization? What on Zogara are you speaking of, child?”
“My magic was dormant before I found an ancient crystal to unlock it. I did not know what was happening at the time and refused to choose a color when I was prompted. When that happened, fate chose my magic for me. When I received my second magic, I was not given a choice, and a random school of magic was chosen for me a second time. How do I stop that from happening a third time?”
“Oh dearie, you were lucky to get an option the first time around. It is a shame you wasted it with indecision. I did not choose my second magic to be Earth. We are given the option to accept what we are offered or remain a purist with only a single school of magic. It is widely believed that fate decides what would work best for us.”
“I should be able to choose another school of magic soon. My synchronization is at 49%. Hopefully, fate will be kind to me and give me a good school of magic.”
“Honey, there is no such thing as a bad school of magic. It is all about perspective.”