Aleister etched some markings and runic symbols into a blank book. He couldn't just rely on the notes and lessons provided to him by Kuzax to study the arcane. Actually, most of what was written in the spellbook made little sense to him and caused him to have many questions, but since he didn't have anyone to ask, he could only rely on himself for these matters.

The book in front of him was an expensive blank book he purchased a month ago to act as his own spellbook of sorts. Transcribing what he currently knew of the arcane, along with the spells he learned, would deepen his knowledge as it required him to truly understand what he wrote. There was another reason for this as well.

Kuzax's tome was not organized at all. Within the first chapter alone, there were random spells written within the margins or notes within spell descriptions, and the entire ordeal was a chaotic mess. Whenever he wanted to search for something specific, he would have to flip through the whole chapter numerous times, wasting a small amount of time which would eventually add up. Plus, he found himself getting distracted by new information or stuff he hadn't paid close enough attention to.

"So, did you figure out the problem?" Syn asked as she floated back through the window.

"There's nothing to figure," Aleister said. "It's because my soul isn't strong enough to hold the information of every spell. So only when I rank up will I be able to store more information within it. How did your investigation go?"

"The max distance I'm able to travel away from you is about two miles—three if I really stretch it, but then I find myself wadding into the deeper Ethereal Realm, and I would rather not."

"Good enough, I suppose. It's not like you're going to leave my side most times, anyway."

"Not my fault, you're the one who constantly needs my help." Syn shrugged as she took a seat. "How many spells are you able to use now?"

"Six level-zero spells and four level-one spells as of now. And the spells I learned from the contract don't count towards that limit."

"Well, considering the fact that you're still only at rank one, that's an incredible number of spells."

"It's not bad, but I want to use all of them." Aleister sighed. "Although maybe in the future I'll be able to."

"So what spells have you decided upon?"

"Well, even though I can't use all of them, I do plan on learning every single one. That way, if I ever find myself needing a specific one, I can just erase an old spell card from my soul and create a new one."

"So all the spells you learn turn into tarot cards?"

"Yes, it was strange because the first few I learned, initially didn't, however, as I reassessed them they did. That makes some of them slightly more inconvenient for casting time, like Light. If I wanted to cast it now, I would have to summon the card first, activate it, and then I could cast it. However, along with this, having these cards stored allows my soul to create anima templates for them. So I'm able to cast them without having to convert the same anima over and over again. Not the biggest difference for the level zero spells, but incredibly useful for the level one spells. With this and with the materials I've purchased, my net casting time is down to about ten seconds."

"Ten seconds is in line with primal magic casting if not a bit slower."

"Still much slower than divine magic though."

"And you said that you want to learn every spell, yes? Wouldn't that be too time-consuming? You've spent the entire last month learning only six new spells or so?"

"Once I learn them and transcribe them down, I'll have done it before and can repeat the actions. It's just like alchemy. The more practice learning spells, the more efficient my process will become, thus cutting down the time it takes. And, all the spells I learned were level one spells, except for two. Although, one of the level zero spells took me much longer than one of the level one spells."

"The reason behind that has to do with your natural affinity towards certain animas."

"I suppose so."

"So what spells did you learn, or are you going to leave me hanging?"

"Wouldn't it be better if I just cast a spell I learned without your knowledge right when it's needed Don't you like surprises?"

"If you don't want to tell me, don't."

"So of the four level-zero spells I previously learned, I erased of Sashay Lights. It was kind of cool, but also fairly useless for me right now. Instead, I learned Static Touch and Lesser Illusion. Lesser Illusion was the one that took me a while to learn, but I don't think it has to do with anima affinity."

"If you don't believe so, then you're probably right. I'm just making educated guesses based on what I know. However, the users of magic belonging to the school of illusion are among the least common."

"I do think anima affinity has a part to play, but not for anything I've learned so far, although there are a few types of spells I still haven't dabbled in," Aleister said. He raised his hand up to his chest and summoned upon the Lesser Illusion spell card. He smirked and tossed the card right next to where Syn sat. Upon its activation, it disappeared.

"Wow, Aleister, you are so right and smart, I can't believe I could have been foolish enough to disagree with you, please, let me kowtow to express my failure," said a voice mimicking Syn's right where the card activated.

"I don't know where that came from, but since you insist, please, feel free to," Aleister said, looking straight at Syn. He deactivated the spell, or else it would just repeat the same phrase ad nauseam for the next minute.

Syn grinned. "Is that really the best you could come up with?"

"What are you talking about?" Aleister said, feigning ignorance. "You're the one that wanted to kowtow."