When the students and one of the mundane specialists prayed at Ruyo's shrine, Ruyo felt their wariness, their uncertainty that it was the right thing to do. Anemos and the smith begged off. The old scholar, though, joined in. He lowered himself to his creaking knees and truly spoke to the divine. Ruyo kept herself outside the cave when all this happened, thinking she was sparing their dignity by not making them do it in her presence. When the scholar prayed, though, she felt his movement and a faint wordless dream like she'd sensed from the tormented spirit.

A world unfinished, not broken. Growing, needing support as it became something better. A guiding hand, present but choosing not to try controlling it all. A tension between seeking out a greater force to serve, and fearing to be chained and crushed by it.

No words, only a plea, advice, curiosity. Ruyo wasn't sure what to make of it. But its flavor was distinct from anything she'd gotten from other followers.

Nusina said, "The wellspring is holding together better than I would've expected from the increasing power level. I think the two other shrines are acting to stabilize the storage."

"Good."

With that done, there was a lot of training to do. Ruyo began by performing the spellcraft ritual on one of the students, giving him the basics. He looked very serious and studious about his new power, asking questions that mostly had to be answered by the theory specialists.

The two professional mages then lectured Ruyo and incidentally everyone else including the former bandits. This talk was different than the discussion in Vissio's garden because of the old scholar Darius, who was coming at it from a different angle: the theory of "divine magic".

He studied Ruyo through one of those magic analysis rings and with several other instruments, prodding her apologetically. "As you can all hopefully see, the mana readings from her aren't simply higher than mine or Anemos'. In fact she's a less accomplished mage overall. Yet she has abilities different from those in any textbook. If we wizards arranged ourselves by rank on an east-west line, she would also need to stand somewhere on a north-south line."

One sharp-witted student grinned. "Professor, then what would an up-down line mean?"

Darius took the question seriously. "I have no idea, but likely something fascinating."

Ruyo asked Nusina, "How much of this is accurate?"

"He's beyond my level of understanding, but he's got a detail or two wrong."

"Then jump in!"

"Are you sure you want them to know as much as possible?"

"I think so."

Nusina appeared and interrupted Darius' theories. "About what you said about mana storage..."

Darius listened, his eyes alight. "Really! I'll have to test that. It would make certain artifacts easier to make, among other things. We've been doing it wrong."

Ruyo told him, "I think it's more like your technique is just incomplete."

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"Well spoken."

Most of the class was getting antsy, especially two of the guards and the smith. Ruyo said, "With all that theory in mind, maybe it's time to try something more advanced." She asked Nusina, "Do you think I could 'grow' a more advanced version of the magic-granting ability?" She added some thoughts on how Darius' theories might apply.

"Yes. Here, let me swim you through setting that up."

Ruyo told the others, "Nusina agrees. Give me a bit." She excused herself and retreated to inside the cave.

Once more, Nusina flew in circles around her while she sat and tried to unfocus her mind. The real world faded and she saw sparkling water all around, portions of it standing out in the shape of spells. Various structures radiated from her and faded into the unknown distance.

The spirit said, "Do you see the Sorcerous Initiation of Ruyo?"

She snorted, looking at a pattern that had a sort of out-reaching branch that would affect other people directly. "Is that what we're calling it?"

"I don't hear you vetoing it. Now, see how it could be extended?"

Ruyo peered closely, and learned to flow some of her hoarded power toward the shape to extend it, making it grow more complex.

"That's it!" said Nusina. "To use the same scale as before, I think you'll be awakening magic in your targets up to level two, instead of one. That means access to spells like Create Water, and Light, not just the basic parlor tricks. People will then be able to study and advance on their own from there. My understanding is that a level three ability in even one element makes you valuable in the right profession."

"And someone like Anemos is a ten?"

"Oh, no. I would rate even the legendary figures they've talked about as eight, at most. I've avoided pointing out that your eventual potential is even higher."

Ruyo shivered, wondering what was whole categories beyond mythic feats like parting a sea or sinking ships with a gesture. "Let's focus on the near future. Can I make existing mages more powerful now?"

"You tell me."

Ruyo frowned at the structure reflected before her. "No, I think I get it. This is one way that people connect to mana, not the only way. So I'm not making people stronger, so much as giving them a tool that might or might not be better than what they already have."

"That's right, milady. Although if you'll note that branching portion there, it isn't entirely focused on water. So this tool, this channel, will act as a general-purpose magic talent that with enough practice, can access other elements as well as more advanced water spells." Nusina peered at the diagram. "Not fire though. Wrong tool for the job."

"So my blessing helps people from the bottom up, not enhancing the mighty. Is that just how magic works, or is it because I hesitated to boost that man a while ago?"

Nusina rippled in her form of a shrug. "Hard to say. Mythos."

"Well, I don't mind. We have something powerful to offer. Shall we go do that?"

"I'm pleased that you're becoming more useful to others, but remember we're in danger. I strongly suggest trying to develop better defensive powers before we risk a confrontation with Brotherhood. That means using what other power you've got left to learn some new trick for protection."

Ruyo frowned and switched to quiet speech. "It's a problem, yes. What do you suggest?"

"This may be the time to look into shapeshifting-related power, to enhance yourself. Particularly if the Witch Hunters have some ability to block powers that would do something directly to them."

Ruyo left the cave, thinking. "Okay. We have several jobs here, then. Learn what we can, hand out magic, and develop something protective."

She approached her audience with an orb of glowing water in hand. "All right! I have meditated on the nature of magic, and emerged with a better version of the Sorcerous Initiation!"

"Of Ruyo," Nusina added aloud.

She tried it on her first test subject, holding his hands again and repeating the spell as though flowing water through a canal that was already there, and just needed to be dug farther. "How about this?" she said, demonstrating the method of conjuring a small amount of water from nothing.

With a few minutes of practice, the young man laughed, suddenly grasping the technique. He waved one hand and an arc of water flew from it as though he'd dipped his hand in a basin. Quickly he waved both hands to catch it, and got most of what he'd created to float in a ball between his fingers. "Ah, amazing! Thank you."

Anemos said, "And there we have it. Unlimited caskmen and canteen-fillers, today. And tomorrow?"