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Like that, mother activated the second Cauldron and then told us to do the things ourselves. We started with trying to repair the knives, the smallest and easiest to repair items. She gave us one ingot of steel alloy each, and we had to use it to repair the knives cleanly. That way, we would pass this exam.
"Let's see…"
As I saw Aquarina doing her best, I quickly got to it myself. I began scribbling the magic circle inside of my mind, imagining it, and then projecting it bit by bit as if I was writing it myself but in the air.
"Compound Fire… Compound Water… Compound Wind… Compound Earth… Four Elements, Combine… Synthesis, Connection, Fuse, Repair…" I stared to chant each Rune as I arranged them slowly into the magic circle.
BBZZZ!
The magic circle, however, started to tremble, it was about to get undone because I was taking too long to make it. Damn it!
CRASH!
And there it goes, gone.
"Ugh…"
CRASH!
Aquarina also ended breaking her magic circle once more.
"Patience girls, try again, we've got all day." My mother smiled back at us. "Practice is everything when it comes to magic."
"You're right…" I said.
"Alright! I'll make a magic circle before Sylphy. Heheh…" Aquarina smiled with a cocky attitude.
"Hey! I see, well, let's compete who can repair something first then!" I proclaimed.
"Okay!" Aquarina and I quickly began doing our best.
Slowly, I rearranged the magic circle bit by bit, trying to do it faster…
However, because I tried to hurry too much midway through…
CRASH!
The magic circle shattered and disappeared into particles of light.
It took me roughly twenty tries to learn Synthesis, I guess Repair rises the complexity as it is way more advanced than Synthesis…
CRASH!
Aquarina also failed, so I guess we were on square one once more.
I continued making more and more magic circles over and over.
Making them only for them to be destroyed midway through, then making them again, and then getting destroyed, and then making more, again, and again, and again…
Twenty minutes have passed and Aquarina and I were still trying, and then, finally, she seemed to have figured it out before me! Wait, didn't I had a cheat for this?!
FLASH!
"Repair!"
The magic circle activated as it sent a wave of magic into the cauldron. Aquarina quickly tried to add the ingot, but right before she could, an explosion of smoke emerged from the cauldron.
POOOF!
"Uwaah!"
Aquarina was scared and fell over the floor.
"Ouch, what happened?" She sighed.
"You've hurried up." My mother said. "You had the magic circle figured out but poured the magic spell before putting the ingot in. To make alchemy you have to both know how to mix materials and, at the same time, conjure the spell."
"Oh…" Aquarina seemed to not be dispirited by her failure, quickly getting up again and remaking it.
CRASH!
And as my last one broke once more, I quickly attempted another one.
I tried to copy Aquarina's magic circle and how she arranged everything at a fast yet steady pace. Like that, I finally did it. Although mostly by using my good memory to copy her movements… but everything goes when its war.
FLASH!
I quickly threw the ingot inside the Magic Cauldron, and then several other materials such as something named "Gumstone" a stone that is like a moldable clay, and a few other things.
"Repair!"
The magic spell activated as I used a large wooden spoon inside the Cauldron to shake everything around over and over and over.
I saw with my very eyes as the sparkling light of the material's elements converged together beautifully, rainbow light emerging from within them as the knife was fully repaired!
FLAAASH!
The knife quickly emerged from within the Liquified Magic Essence, as I quickly grabbed it out with my bare hands and saw it in all of its splendor!
"I-I did it! I was able to repair it!"
"Repair!"
Aquarina also did it just after I did, almost just a few seconds of delay between the two.
"Damn it! I almost won…" Aquarina sighed. "I shouldn't had hurried up so much."
"Well done you two." My mother congratulated us. "This competition was a good way to boost your motivation, but it doesn't mean it is everything, okay? That one of you loses or not doesn't really matter, what matters is that you learned the spell and that's good. Now try to memorize it by placing its formula inside your Magic Circle."
Magic Circles unlocked special abilities over time, with each Tier and each Rank within each Tier. One of the Abilities that Tier 2 Rank 5 unlocks is named [Magic Circle Memorization], it allows for the memorization of ten magic circles within our own magic circle, which can be switched around as we please.
With each Tier, this maximum amount of magic circles we can store within our internal magic circle increases by another ten slots. This means that those at Tiers such as 9, they have 80 slots for magic circles… Is this why our parents seem to create spells of incredible power and complexity without even need to form the magic circles externally? Pretty crazy.
"Alright, done! Stored!" Aquarina said happily.
"I did so as well." I nodded.
"Good. However, remember that storing a magic circle doesn't mean you've mastered it. Try to combine the instant conjuration with normal conjuration in between, and always try to improve the magic circles. Every person has their own magic circles of each spell, even if the spell is the same for everyone. We can always figure out ways to improve upon the spells we learn and make them our own magic. You two girls are amazingly talented, so I want you to keep working hard to make your talents flourish. Also it helps you're passionate over magic." My mother said with a smile.
"Got it!" Aquarina said.
"Now let's repair the rest of the equipment!" I said.
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