Merla was in the midst of self-study within her home.

Around her, various tools and items floated around doing simple tasks or spun in small circles, an occasional transparent blue hand could be seen dragging heavier things along.

She had gotten back from the Sourcery lessons today with some inspiration to improve on a personal spell she created. There was some hope that the spell could completely surpass the ones that she had created in conjunction with Eliott and the basic ones that were described in her book in terms of usefulness.

The idea came from the birds that she was able to manifest and somewhat control through her Innate Source ability which she gleaned some information about during the week’s lessons.

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“Innate Source is something that all beings were born with and that was unique to them. Their functions and effects were related to the individual and how Source interacted with their body and possible future.” Eliott explained to her from across the table.

The book, Source: The Beginning, was opened in between them. A page with a diagram showing things that didn’t make any sense to her was the topic of today’s lesson.

“I can’t name any examples, but you and I have our own Innate Source and they work differently because our possible futures are different.”

“From what I know, they are also unique to the person. So you and I could never copy the effects of our Innate Source unlike how we can both cast the same spells.”

Merla’s brows scrunched up from the confusion of the strange subject.

“Then how do we know what our Innate Source does? Do you know yours? Can you tell me mine? What’s the difference between that and Source order spells and other spells?” Her barrage of questions came out one after another as she tried to understand the new term.

Eliott chuckled.

“Through experimentation and meditation, a person can understand the effects of their Innate Source. You should be able to see it manifest physically or in your mind, I think it really depends on the person.”

“And, I do know mine. I have a feeling I know yours too.” He said with a gentle smile.

“What does mine do?!” Merla was surprised he knew, but at the same time accepted the fact that her teacher would know things she didn’t. He seemed to be that kind of guy, being in a library and all.

“Well, when I first let you sense Source. You floated in the air for some time and birds made of Source flew around you. I think it’s better if you tried to meditate and get a better idea of what that means.”

“You can tell me next time what you think.”

Eliott then stood up and looked outside the windows of the library.

“As for the differences between Innate Source, regular spells, and their Source variants… I think we’ll talk about it another time. Isn’t it time for you to go home?”

He mentioned and gestured to the sky outside.

It seemed to be past noon, she really did need to leave now to get home before her parents came back from work. Luckily, she had a spell that could help her get home faster.

While she was unsatisfied with his lack of answers for her other questions, Merla was glad she could have something to think about on her own. She thanked Eliott for the lessons and left the library, making sure to say goodbye to Mr. Gareth on the way out.

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After her meditation, Merla did gain some idea of what her Innate Source ability did.

The birds manifested from Source seemed to follow her commands, but that was all she could understand. The birds seemed to like other people too and flew around carrying threads along that connected to her, but when she tried grabbing them her hands fell through them.

She then looked at the various things that flew around her room.

This was a spell she had created after days and nights of frustration after studying the effects of Mage Hand for a while. It was also a spell she didn’t reveal to Eliott, since a man of his stature surely didn’t need it. For her though, it could ease her daily life at home.

[Weak Will. 2nd order magic. A slightly special brand of magic that grants a slight trace of will within an inert object through a simple command consisting of at most 5 words. The command cannot be too complex or the spell will not function.

Effect lasts for at most 5 minutes before dissipating.]

It allowed her to put Source into objects and control them to do things like clean, kind of.

Through the tireless study of the effects of the spell, it seemed it was only possible due to the nature of Source itself or her unique Innate Source. She tried using the spell on a Mage Hand, but it didn’t seem to do anything.

The spell was also tiring to cast and drained her Source reserves, but it did seem to help with growing the Source Pool within her.

Merla assumed that the current spell’s effects were her limit because when she tried to add more words or complicated ones, she could feel the drain on her energy get stronger.

Currently, the objects could move around simply or apply some weak pressure. Nothing that could replace putting her own effort into the task, but it was enough for some menial tasks like washing, dusting, and sweeping that only needed simple movements.

Her Mage Hand could do more complicated tasks as she had to control it personally with Source, but it wasn’t as enticing as her new spell.

She then pointed at one of the tunic dresses that she didn’t use anymore and concentrated lightly.

“Weak Will!” Merla inwardly shouted before muttering five words beneath her breath.

“Fold, neatly, move, to, bed.”

The dress floated upwards before it folded itself into thirds. It then slowly floated over the bed, before it fell. All traces of Source dissipated from it.

Merla smiled to herself and punched at the air! Simplicity aside, her thoughts seemed to translate into her words, which the clothes followed. It was like how she controlled her Source birds.

She made a breakthrough!

Name: Merletta

Title: ---

Tier: Source Opening- Adept

Innate Source: [Birds of Probability]

[[Spells]]:

(First Order- Prestidigitation, Gale, Coat of Air, Bubble, Mage Hand)

(Second Order- Tailwind, Weak Will)

(Source- Winged Embrace)

Evaluation: A natural genius without parallel. She only needs time to grow.