"It appears so and I'm able to modify it with my Fool Arcana. But this didn't happen when I cast Bend Water earlier. So it obviously has to do with the fact I combined the types of anima inside of me instead of out. And the water I bent earlier should have kept up its shape for an hour, and I don't think that much time has passed yet ."

"I've only been talking to you for about half an hour."

Aleister nodded. "I have a vague idea of what this means, but I'm not exactly sure. In any case, it seems as if I should just stick to combining the anima internally."

"I can come up with my own conjectures, but I truly have no idea what it means. And I'm especially confused to how you're holding a Macabre Blast tarot card."

"Each person manifests magic differently. In my case, it appears each spell I memorize gets created as a card and then stored inside my soul. I wonder if there's a limit? In any case, I'll get around to testing that later. Right now, I need to test my Macabre Blast." Aleister smirked as he looked at Syn.

"You wouldn't dare."

"Oh, really?"

"Yes, really."

"Macabre Blast!" Aleister jumped back and tossed the card straight. Once out of his hand, the card fizzled and transformed into a black light as his skin returned to normal. Syn sighed and simply sidestepped the attack. However, the light continued its trajectory. It cracked and streaked through the air, leaving a thin trace behind. The energy made impact and caused a small cloud of dust and a few rocks to break off from the cave formation next to the stairs.

"So you do dare? Very well, I'll remember this transgression."

"Remember, it all you want. Nothing is going to come of it."

In a voice that mocked him, Syn said, "Oh, really?"

"Fine, forget this even happened. It's not like you even got hit."

"Maybe I'll forget if you beg enough."

"How about I forget in your stead?"

"Too late. Why don't you go back to messing around with the spells you learned."

"Besides the three I know from the contract, I only had time to learn four others. One of which was the Bend Water spell. Even at level zero, most of them are much more complicated. I have to memorize certain anima interactions, and how to properly thread them together, and it's a complete mess. Some spells even require specific materials." Aleister sighed as he wobbled with pensiveness.

"Then, before you go back to studying, what were the other three spells you learned?"

"Light, Sashay Lights, Thunderous Snap."

"You learned two different light spells?"

"It's not my fault that they were the easiest to learn. And not only that, they're all evocation spells too. The author did say he was the most proficient in evocation spells, but damn, the bias is strong."

"Evocation spells, in general, draw most people. Most of them are as straightforward and simple as you can get for their level, require little thought, and often end up containing the most raw and destructive force."

"Light." Aleister picked up a rock on the ground and created the light spell internally. Just like with Macabre Blast, it too turned into a card. However, since the spell required him to touch an object, it didn't also spawn a card in his hand. The rock in his hand emitted a bright light, similar to torch but white. "Very utilitarian, but kind of boring."

"I mean, you just cast a blast of force energy, a few minutes ago, so I'm not sure why you're so disappointed."

"Because evocation spells are just so boring! I want to do more than cause a big boom sometimes. Actually, that's why I also learned Sashay Lights. Here, let me see if I can show you."

"Sashay Lights." The card containing the spell appeared in his hand. He tossed the card and clenched his hand into a fist. The card floated in the air about thirty feet away from him and emitted a stronger and much larger light. Almost the size of a human. But it extended about half the distance.

If I remember this right, I can either have one large light, or up to four small lights.

He raised a finger, and a small light split off from the main light. He did this three more times until four small orbs of light floated in the air. He wriggled his fingers and caused the lights to frolic around.

"Ah yes, how amusing."

"Wait, I can also do this." Aleister focused on the orbs and transformed them into torches. Or lights that appeared like torches. "Way less useful than the regular Light spell, but way cooler. Shame it requires quite a bit of concentration and occupies the use of one of my hands."

Aleister shook his hand. This caused the torches to flicker for a few seconds. His given up concentration extinguished the lights as the torches promptly vanished.

"From the name, I can assume what Thunderous Snap does."

"Well, none of the spell names are creative, but I still want to try it out."

"Please, spare my ears."

Aleister ignored her. In his soul, he combined evocation anima with some newly created thunder anima. Ironically enough, for a sound based spell, it didn't require him to have a verbal component.

He raised his left hand and pressed his middle finger and thumb together. The sound created from the snap roared out from his hand and emulated the sound of thunder.

Although he was the source, the sound didn't affect him too much. Syn, on the other hand, shot him a look of annoyance as she rubbed her ears.

"Hm? Aleister?" said the Empress.