I led her into the living room.
She frowned when I told her to sit. "Shouldn't we do this outside?"
"Why?"
"Aren't we casting spells? Mine are called Firebolt and Icebolt, remember? Won't they damage the room?" She gave me a stern look. "You do want your bond back, don't you?"
"We're not casting offensive spells just yet," I told her. "You need a wand for that, remember?"
"Oh." She set her coke down on the coffee table. "Okay. Teach me everything, Dumbledore."
"Dumbledore?"
"Merlin?"
"I'm not that old," I complained. I was sure both of those wizards were well over fifty. At most, I'd be forty.
Forty something.
I really didn't want to think about that.
Either way, I didn't have grey hair or any wrinkles. And the body I had sculpted for myself would have gotten at least a few looks if we were at the beach right now. So, I thought her comparisons deeply unfair.
"I don't know any young magicians, Gandalf."
Shaking my head, I decided to ignore it. "Alright, alright." I picked up a bag Shadowpaw had left for me. Inside was a small black moleskine journal. I passed it over. "Here."
"What's this?" She quickly opened the book and got more confused. "It's empty."
"For now."
"Oh!" Her eyes lit up with excitement. "It's going to be a spellbook! It is, isn't it? I'm right, aren't I? Wow. It's going to be a spellbook. I can feel it."
Part of me was a bit let down that she'd guessed correctly, but I patted her on the head anyway. Positive reinforcement through headpats was important to healthy Neko development.
"It is. So, keep it safe. If you lose it, you'll be able to make another, but it will take time. So, try to protect it."
"Okay!" She bounced on the sofa, excited by the idea. "I'm sorry, Bexley. I grew up watching Harry Potter, you know? I always wanted to be Hermione. Running around shouting spells and stuff. It's so… So awesome!"
"I know." I remembered the first spell I'd ever cast. Kitty Litter.
It hadn't sounded so romantic. I'd gotten it as my first spell, and had cast it on a small doglike creature which had launched itself from the forest and into my path.
Stones had shot out of the earth to pierce its fur and rip through its bones.
I cast it twice, and the creature had fallen into a bloody mess at my feet.
I remember panting over it, terror filling my body like cold fire.
And then… Then it sank in. I'd just killed something. With magic.
"Cool," I'd croaked. Then, strengthened by the incredible new reality of what I'd done, I'd shouted to the skies; "So fucking cool!"
Patting Tippy's soft white hair, I couldn't help but grin with her. "Just wait," I told her. "When you do real magic, it's gonna blow your mind."
"Show me," she breathed, her voice sticky with a near-erotic need. Not for my body. Not for sex. But for the fulfilment of a fantasy which almost everyone has entertained at least once in their life.
A fantasy which, by all earthly measures, is impossible to fulfil.
"Hold the book upwards in one palm. It doesn't need to be open."
"Okay."
"Now, put your other hand on top. Like it's a you sandwich."
"A me sandwich?" She giggled. "Tell me. Have you ever been part of a Neko sandwich, Bexley?"
"More than once," I smirked. Then, firmly; "Concentrate."
"Yes, sir."
"Good Neko. Now close your eyes."
She closed her eyes. "Are you gonna kiss me now?"
"No."
"Meanie."
"Concentrate."
"I'm trying…" She frowned. "What am I concentrating on?"
"On the book. Feel it in your hands. Think about all those pages. It's like meditating. Close off thoughts about other things and just think about the book."
"Okay."
"Then, as soon as you feel like you are concentrating on the book enough, say these words; Arcane Research. Before you do, know that a small screen will pop up. When it does, it will give you some options to select from. Read them out to me as soon as you see them."
"Okay."
She held the book just above her lap and her shoulders slowly relaxed.
Seconds stretched into minutes, but I didn't interrupt. This was something only she could achieve.
It's hard to concentrate on something so intently. Most people get distracted by other thoughts no matter how hard they try. That's why some people fall asleep when meditating. They forget that the art of meditation is, in a way, a form of concentration. It's just inactive.
If you completely empty your mind into the arms of relaxation, you'll find yourself snoring fairly quick.
Tippy didn't snore.
A few minutes after starting, she took a slow breath and exhaled; "Arcane Research." Then, "Oh! I see it!"
"What does it say?"
"It says Welcome to the Arcane Library. As this is your first visit, please select a School."
"What Schools do you have available?"
"Umm. Arcane, Space, Time, Transformation, Elemental…"
"Good. So-"
"There's two more."
I blinked at her. That didn't seem right. "What?"
"One is in silver words. It says Summoning. And the other is in gold. It says Void."
"Huh." I scratched my head in thought. "That's… different."
Tippy licked her lips nervously. "Is it a good different?"
"Well, with the System anything can be good and bad. But, in my experience, anything it offers you is usually good for you," I shrugged. "So, I'd say it's good. I'm going to guess I unlocked those options in Neyteria. I'm going to guess you got Summoning as an option because I killed the Demon Lord. And you got Void because I was given the Outlander tree. That seemed to have some kind of Void focus."
"Oh." She lifted her head. "So, which do I choose."
"Good question." I leaned back in the soft, crossing my legs. "I can tell you what most of them lean towards."
"Yes, please."
"Arcane is generally what you might think of with magic from Harry Potter. You'll be able to lift and move things to start with. Then you'll learn to manipulate arcane energy. It's mostly destructive. If you don't want to do much thinking and you like magic to be less complex, Arcane is the way to go." I tried not to laugh, as I didn't want to influence her choice. "A lot of Nekos choose it because it's lazy."
"Right."
"Space is more about manipulating, well, space. With it, you'll be able to make gateways."
"Gateways?"
"Wormholes?"
"Oh," she threw a smirk at me, keeping her eyes closed. "Magic doors. Why didn't you just say so?"
I sighed at her. "It also lets you squeeze space, too. Imagine squishing your enemies into tiny little marble-sized blobs."
"Eww."
"Nekos who choose this one are usually looking to make gateways. It's more of a support class than anything else. You can also make little pocket dimensions for storage."
"Huh?"
"Magic bags," I said drily.
"Oh. Okay."
"Time is a little more-"
"Wibbly wobbly?"
"I was going to say weird, but sure." I tried to remember what the Nekos who'd chosen this had done with it. "It's rare for anyone to choose this one. But it lets you personally slip through time. So, you can go forward, or backward. At high levels, no more than a minute either way. But that can mean a lot in a life and death situation."
"That sounds super powerful!"
"It is," I said. "But… It's also super weird. There's an element of irrationality to it. Some Nekos who took it disappeared. No one knows where they went."
"They got lost in time?"
"I don't honestly know."
I remembered a Neko called Kali. We were fighting a demon together and she activated her skill to leap back what should have been only twenty seconds. I remember hearing a sound like a burst of static, and then she was gone.
Just like that. Her name had stayed in my list of Nekos, but she was greyed out.
My head hurt just thinking about her, and so did my heart.
Tippy shuddered. Magic does that to you. "I might skip that, then."
"Then, the next is Elemental. That's fairly complex. You get access to more spells which work with basic elements. Fire, water, earth and air." I couldn't help but laugh a little this time. "I remember one of my Elemental Mage Nekos. There's so many spells you can learn and she wanted to learn all of them. She had to carry almost twenty journals like the one in your hand."
"Twenty?"
"There's a lot of spells."
"That's kinda good, though, right? It'd mean being able to adapt to most situations…"
"Sure. It also means we'd have to work hard to find ways to get your Intelligence stat higher."
"That's hard?"
"Hard for Nekos," I said. "But not impossible. Just… Hard work and lots of study."
"Okay."
"As for the other two, Summoning and Void, I can only guess." I hmmed a little. "Given its source, I'd expect Summoning will let you summon demons."
"Demons?" She sucked a breath. "Is that… evil?"
"Eh." I shrugged. "Anything can be evil. It's what you do with it that matters. As a Summoner, you'd have complete control over your summon in a way I find a bit uncomfortable. I wouldn't want to control mine like that. I mean, I've met Necromancers and they felt… Well."
"Like you?"
"Sort of. It's different. They were more controlling and actually enjoyed being called Master."
"Are you a Summoner?"
"No." I coughed awkwardly. "You count as a pet, not a summon. Technically, you're a subclass of that, which is a minion. It's because I don't pull you out of nowhere. You're a living creature to begin with. Necromancers technically straddle both sides of the fence, I guess, because some spirits count as summons. But most classes are using either summons or pets."
"Okay."
"Demons are traders at heart," I told her, trying to get back on topic before my head began to hurt. "I imagine interactions with them would involve a lot of contracts to go through."
"Ugh." She dismissed that right away, I think. "I don't think I have the patience for that. I'm not Licorice."
"Void, then. I have no idea on that one. I only have Teleport and Void Blast right now. And I haven't used them."
"Why not? If I had magic, I'd use them straight away!"
"I guess I haven't had the chance, yet." I brought up my stats so I could read their descriptions again. "I really should test them. I also had access to one called Phase, but I was leaving that for next level up unless something better shows up. My gut instinct says Void is going to be a little like Time in that it's going to be a little weird. It sounds a bit… Lovecraftian to me. And, if the System has shown me anything, it's that it really likes being weird."
"Maybe I'll stick to one of the normal ones, then."
"That's your choice." I reached out and gently stroked her hair. "I want you to choose your own School. I want you to choose the one you feel resonates most with your idea of how you want to use magic. Basically, select your fantasy. It's easier to advance yourself when you do something you love."
At this point, most Nekos would sit there looking frantic and going over the options over and over as though trying to squeeze out every piece of information from every syllable in the descriptions.
Tippy, though, gave a little shrug and called out; "Arcane, I choose you!"
"Nekos," I murmured softly. "Always taking the lazy School!"