Chat group: Everyone has a dream.

A week had passed since Sigmund had returned to his world after his "honeymoon" with Ciel . Fundamentally, little had changed. Sigmund still spent most of the day with his relatives, occasionally crossing paths with Angelica, who watched with interest and envy as her younger-older brother created a new spell.

Due to the emergence of a new possible direction of magic, Sigmund's training virtually ceased, and he spent most of his time learning the subject on his own, under the watchful eye of his mother. Sigmund would first tell her what he was going to do, after which Alice would take all sorts of protective measures.

And right now, at three o'clock in the afternoon, Ciel admired the sleeping face of her beloved, occasionally poking his nose or cheeks with her finger. Sigmund frowned in his sleep, tried to roll over, but Ciel's leg thrown over him did not allow him to do so. In Ciel's eyes , Sigmund was an incredibly sweet and seductive bundle of happiness, which was simply pleasant to touch.

Ciel lay on the bed next to Sigmund, smiling like a fool.

Moments like these were the most important for her.

She was proud and touched by him. She was melting and swooning with love for him.

Seeing how Sieg's eyelids began to tremble, Ciel got an idea to play a prank. She raised her head from the pillow, approaching Siegmund, and began to whisper in his ear.

- Darling~, it's time to get up!

Although Sigmund had begun to wake up, he was still far from his usual alert state. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end with excitement, caused by the seductive whisper. Even his ears were slightly red.

Ciel was quite pleased with this reaction, however… She could have gotten more.

Ciel carefully removed her leg from Siegmund, which allowed him to roll over onto his back, but Ciel was happy with it. She easily crawled under the blanket, then climbed on top of Siegmund. Ciel's thighs grabbed Siegmund's pelvis from both sides, while her pelvis pressed his legs to the bed, securely fixed him, and her chest began to press his head into the pillow. Siegmund tried to break free from the grip, tried to roll over, remove something from his face with his hands, but Ciel intercepted them and pressed them to the bed.

Ciel slowly and erotically smothered Sigmund with her breasts, watching as a blushing Sigmund tried to break free.

However, at some point, Sigmund opens his emerald eyes and begins to look into the deep heavenly blue of Ciel's eyes .

At that moment, Ciel stopped strangling Sigmund with her chest and looked at what she had achieved with a smile.

/ Flushed, slightly sweaty, breathing heavily… Unfocused but focused gaze … Such a lost and exhausted look… It's incredibly arousing!

Ciel didn't know why, but she really liked seeing Sigmund like this. Yes, they hadn't done anything wrong, but ... B u t, some feminine part of her felt satisfaction and pride, mixed with excitement, seeing such a sight.

- Wake up, Darling~!

Ciel smiled sweetly and leaned down to kiss Sigmund on the forehead.

To her great regret, Sigmund still did not agree with the fact that they were dating, and therefore they had not yet kissed on the lips.

Ciel respected Sigmund's principles and feelings, and therefore did not kiss him, on the contrary, she waits for Sigmund to say "I love you!" himself, after which he will kiss her on the lips!

However, this expectation is tormenting Ciel more and more!

She needs to let off steam!

And so she will take revenge and tease Sigmund every day while he makes her wait!

- I thought I was going to drown...

Siegmund's voice was very quiet, but Ciel could hear it clearly. She believed that Siegmund had "survived a life and death situation" because his spiritual pulse had become a little stronger. This only happens when the soul becomes stronger after surviving a death situation.

Did Ciel feel guilty?

No, because Sigmund has become a little stronger!

Ciel happy !

- And I asked you not to do that...

- And I asked you to tell the story of my double!

Ciel confronted Sigmund about his constant refusals. What was it about her story that he refused to tell?

- And I'll repeat it to you. You won't hear anything good.

Sigmund also knew that the story of Date A Live from Mio Takamiya's perspective was a sour tragedy. Mio lost her love a few weeks or months after they met. Having met her lover, they were forced to flee a few weeks later, no matter how stupid it was with Mio 's abilities . And then...

Her love dies in her arms.

All.

End.

Finish.

There will be no happy ending.

The subsequent 30-something year long soap opera that is Date A Live , as a story, is just Mio 's attempt at self-delusion, which only produces agony.

In the original plot, Mio "absorbs Shinji " in order to later give birth to him as a half-spirit who can absorb her power so that he does not die in the future.

All that time Mio did was mutilate herself, tearing pieces out of herself over and over again, creating Qlipha Crystals . To create such a Crystal, Mio put a part of herself, her reiryoku , into them , weakening herself, as well as her emotions. And after 9 such attempts, on the tenth attempt to create a completely purified Qlipha Crystals , Sephira Crystal , Mio put her strongest emotion and motivation into it - love.

Takamiya Mio dehumanized herself in her love .

She literally lost the ability to love.

And this is not even a metaphor.

A few seconds after her birth, the then nameless spirit, who would later be called Tenka , sensed Mio 's intention to kill her, and so she tried to resist, but died. All this happened because Mio believed that such a variable would interfere with her plan. It was only on the second try that Mio convinced herself not to kill Tenka ... After all, Mio's own resource is not infinite, and therefore without Tenka Shinji will become weaker.

Mio pushed Tenka into the depths of her own mind, placing a new personality, who would later be called Tohka, in charge of the body.

It is therefore not surprising that the second "Pure" spirit is so cruel, rude, spiteful, paranoid , distrustful, hot-tempered and contemptuous of people by nature.

This partly explains why Tohka and Tenka have such a low numerical intelligence despite having the highest adaptability, indicating that their intelligence is fine. Mio literally slammed their heads into the floor immediately after birth. Toki and Tenki literally had a panic attack when they met Mio.

Again.

Takamiya Mio killed her daughter with her own hands, the result of her love for Shinji .

What can we say if Mio 's double , Reine Murasame, literally embodies Mio's state?

A tired, gloomy, sick woman, tormented by illusions, who has not slept for 30 years, with huge bags under her eyes, ready to drop dead at any moment.

Empty shell.

After Mio created the final Crystal, she effectively became a living corpse, incapable of showing any strong emotions, living in her past, driven by an illusion and obsessed with passing on her own power.

Mio didn't hate Isaac , who was responsible for Shinji's death .

Mio felt no guilt for having condemned and not even trying to save Mana Takamiya to monstrous and inhumane experiments that effectively erased her personality and shortened her life by almost half.

Mio didn't worry about Shido when the strongest sorceress tried to kill him, who killed him in one of the timelines.

Mio showed no mercy to her "children", beating them over and over again, killing each of them with her own hands, so that Qlipha The Crystals were purified and transformed into the Sephira Crystal to further transfer powers to " Shinji ".

It is not surprising that after fulfilling her obsession, Mio 's self-deception simply disappeared, after which she committed suicide with the help of Isaac.

Sigmund doesn't dare tell this story to Ciel .

No matter how experienced he is, he admits that he is a bad liar.

Yes, he may be good at twisting the facts to his advantage, but that doesn't mean he's a good actor, he's a good screenwriter.

Ciel's intelligence , she'll figure it all out or just put the facts together. Mio is Ciel's double , so Ciel will be the first to ask about Mio , and so such a "plot-insignificant" character transformation from "cute Mio" to "the emotionless monster from the beginning of canon" will need to be told.

Sigmund can still come and tell her the lies via chat, but face to face?

Ciel will immediately understand that he is lying.

Sigmund can't even explain where these spirits came from, since Ciel ALREADY has her halo. The only difference is that the places for the Sephira Crystals glow white, and not some other color, like in the "canon". Ciel can intuitively understand what Mio did in the story. Moreover, with a high probability, since Ciel showed that she recognized her ability to literally reincarnate another person.

Ciel once again saw Sigmund's gloomy and downcast look that appeared every time the topic of her doppelganger was brought up.

Even though this only increases her interest, she cannot bring herself to corner Sigmund into telling her everything.

- Okay, as you wish ... Your next training with your mother is about to start, so you should get yourself in order... Are you feeling well at all? You've been eating and sleeping more lately. You even look a bit tired.

Ciel was more concerned about Sigmund's present state than about some "timeline" of her double, and so she asked the question that interested her.

Ciel clearly remembers the happy time spent with Sigmund on their island. Although Sigmund also slept more than her there, here he increased his sleep hours by 1 or 2 hours, and also increased his daily food intake by almost double.

This is a wake-up call for Ciel.

- It's too early to say anything. You know that I'm a mage, and we use magic circuits, an analogue of nerves, and therefore we have a lot of stimulation and stress on the entire nervous system, in particular on the central nervous system. Because of this, mages naturally grow faster, a couple of years faster than their peers. I'm 7 years old now, and soon a normal person should start puberty . Puberty itself begins with the brain sending signals that cause hormone production. It's quite possible that my puberty just started a little earlier than expected. And ... This may well be connected with the additional restructuring of the body for the Incubus.

[The bloodline assimilation process is 2.52% complete.]

A week after purchasing the pedigree, the process was completed at 2.52%, instead of the estimated 1.917%. This was a big difference, and it was unclear why it happened. Personally, Sigmund attributes this to the fact that his body is still young and has just begun its restructuring. Hence the increased appetite, as well as fatigue. If this rate continues, then assimilation will decrease from 52 weeks to 40 weeks.

Which, by the way, was even logical. Breaking down and rebuilding a house after a new renovation is more difficult than doing renovations in a completely empty house.

- But will premature puberty be good for you? Because of this, your maturation will stop much earlier. You will be short... Boys like it when they are taller than girls, right?

Ciel was worried about Sigmund's health. Normal people have pretty serious problems with premature birth puberty . Even some diseases appear. However, will this be applicable to Sigmund? And after he becomes an Incubus? Or will he be able to fix everything with the help of his Kaido , the Book of the End or self-modification?

Most likely it will.

- You just thought that by using Maria's pedigree as a basis, I would be low, right?

While Sigmund prefers to be tall, having been above average in all of his past lives, he is also content being a Shota . Sometimes it's just convenient. Just standing next to Ciel , seeing her chest covering her face and the sun, sometimes he just wants to stretch his arms up and bury his face in the cleavage between her breasts.

()

However, he also noticed other concerns in Ciel's words . When she wanted to, she could be surprisingly correct.

- Yes... Maria is quite short for her age, and judging by the photos, her mother is also quite... Petite. I wish you were taller... I dreamed of repeating those moments from romantic films when the girl stood on tiptoe to kiss the guy.

Ciel's dreams were pretty vanilla , as expected from a "lady of a bygone era", although the influence of a horny fetishist did its job.

- Oh, don't worry, Ciel , it won't be a problem. Besides, you're underestimating Maria. You remember why she wears BDSM outfits?

Ciel strained her memory, since for her such details were more of a trifle than something significant.

- Was there something connected with the Reverse Key? Some kind of amplification mode.

- Exactly. Maria wears a BDSM outfit on a regular basis because she needs to learn to compress and seal her life force in order to master the Reverse Key. When she releases this sealed life force, she becomes stronger, as she releases her "hidden potential". During her first Reverse Magic Key, Maria becomes a very tall woman with breasts larger than my head, curvy hips, and a huge, gorgeous ass . So don't worry, I won't become a dwarf.

()

Ciel realized that Sigmund was in no danger … Well , except for a quick reprisal. She immediately grabbed both his cheeks and began to pull them in different directions.

- C- Ciel , stop it! Don't be jealous!

- I'm not jealous, this is so that you don't look at other girls, especially underage ones.

Although Ciel held herself straight and spoke evenly, but... There was still a hint of jealousy in her words.

- Oh, don't be jealous. If I didn't appreciate such forms, it would mean that I don't like them, therefore, yours too. In fact, you have similar configurations, it's just that where you have ideal sizes, Maria has obvious excess, in the right places, but still. It only means that I like curvy women like you.

Ciel didn't want to admit it, but there was logic in Siegmund's words. She just... She just wished she received more compliments. Siegmund complimented her, but it was mostly about her personality, not her figure or beauty, and so Ciel had felt a little insecure about it until recently. Hence her attempts to "strangle" Siegmund. She was simply trying to draw his attention to her curves.

- Okay, get yourself in order. Alice is most likely already waiting for you.

Sigmund began to rub his red cheeks, healing them with Kaido's help .

- Won't you come with me?

Usually, Ciel always accompanied Sigmund to his and Alice's training. However, today, Ciel decided to be alone?

- What didn't I see there? Today I want to go watch Elena and Angelica's training.

- The usual waving of arms and legs.

Sigmund wasn't interested in that at all. Compared to his fight with Saint Martha, Angelique's training was just a blip . Of course, this is a somewhat unfair comparison, but still.

- If it's not interesting, I'll go to the library. Finding a book to read won't be difficult.

Ciel also didn't expect much from Angelica, that was just stupid. Her main goal was to observe the interaction between her daughter and mother. She wanted to better understand the differences between the relationships of the different sexes in the family.

Sigmund didn't know this, he wrote it all off as a normal interest in the new world, it was a normal interest, so ... What's the difference? Ciel will find herself a book , she already began to speak Russian fluently by the end of the first day, just following the conversation between Alice and Sig.

After this, the "sweet couple" broke up.

Sigmund went to his mother's training. Alice was waiting for him not in her usual, "everyday-going" dress, but in a tight T-shirt and yoga pants. This choice only emphasized her slender figure, Sigmund saw it well, as she stood half-turned to him.

/ Damn, I never noticed what an amazing ass and legs she has ... Those C-cup breasts are perfect for groping, those hips are made for childbearing, and that tight ass is just begging to be fucked...

Naturally, Sigmund felt excited when he saw such a picture, but he did not immediately understand why he was excited. He turned over the last thoughts in his head, after which he understood everything.

/ Fuck ! Puberty hit me with the force of a packed van at the speed of a race car. I'm only 7 years old, even though I'm physiologically closer to 9 and look 9 or 10! It can't be that bad!... I feel like the next 6 or 8 years are going to be really hard for me ... If not the next 10 years.

Sigmund realized that hormones were already starting to bubble up inside him, but he only had a vague idea of how it would happen.

To Ciel , but she was wearing a very conservative dress, like a maternity dress. Plus, she was smothering him with her breasts, and Sigmund doesn't have a strangulation fetish. However, Alice's figure ... would excite almost all men. Even gays could become straight in her presence.

[The bloodline assimilation process is 2.521% complete.]

Sigmund glanced at the chat message again out of the corner of his eye. This excitement increased his assimilation rate by 0.001%. Normally, he should have been happy, but for some reason he was not in the mood for joy.

An "insignificant" detail that the chat had kept silent about had come to light. A detail that Sigmund had only vaguely suspected.

Succubi and Incubi are very excited and lustful creatures.

In the original work, Maria was constantly having lustful ideas and thoughts. She was just thrilled and glowing with happiness because she could see foreplay: playing with Mio 's breasts , Yuki's ass or Zest's ears , teasing Kurumi herself . Homemade videos, group sex , cross-dressing, cosplay , sex toys, bondage, spanking, masochism. It seemed like Maria could get turned on by anything.

The last time Sigmund was so surprised by someone's "broad horizons of pleasure" was Shalltear . She would frighten any sane person with the number of her fetishes.

And considering that even at 16-17 years old Maria was just "getting going", we can conclude that her puberty did not end at 17.

Therefore, for Sigmund it may last even longer.

/ It will be a difficult time…

Alice herself put on her sports clothes in order to properly practice her magic.

Two days ago, Alice asked her son to teach her his magic, Sigmund quickly agreed, much to Alice's joy. Initially, she was prepared for whims or persuasion, as she saw that for some reason, Sig was eager to move on to learning summoning magic, as if something was pushing him to do so. However, Alice had no evidence to support this theory.

Yesterday, Alice and Sigmund proposed and tried to reproduce some of the spells they knew. The first spell was the most basic - strengthening. There was no point in movement magic if Sigmund himself could not use it freely.

The first spell that Alice and Sigmund created was convergent strengthening. In essence, this spell was simple, it only fixed the coordinates of molecules relative to each other (within reasonable limits of the information body), making the object "stronger".

The second spell was "permanent body strengthening". It was essentially a very clever projection spell that was cast over the real body. The effect was that in order to destroy the body, it would be necessary to destroy both the body itself and a projection comparable in strength to the real body.

The third spell was a simple dash, a movement spell. Not very difficult, since with the help of magic chains you can regulate the speed and range of the dash, which was impossible to do with gems.

The fourth spell was the weight magic "guillotine". The idea is to transfer all the accumulated inertia at the moment of impact. It is very well used together with the magic of movement and strengthening.

The fifth spell was "Air Bullet", effective at medium range. Shoots highly compressed air at the enemy, capable of cutting even stones and steel. The speed and degree of air compression is regulated by the magician. This also includes "cumulative release", when the magician strongly compresses a large volume of gas, after which he releases it in the form of a cumulative jet. A very effective spell in open spaces.

The sixth spell was "Rain". Despite its plain name, the spell was very dangerous. It condensed air moisture from a large volume, then converted the thermal energy of the water into kinetic energy. Due to the fact that water is a virtually incompressible liquid, such a volley is little different from a shotgun blast at point-blank range. After all, water effectively transfers its kinetic energy to the target upon impact, tearing it to shreds. "Dry Blizzard" was a variation of this spell, only instead of water, carbon dioxide is used, shooting dry ice.

- You came on time. Now I'll practice yesterday's magic a little, after which we'll move on to your practice.

Their daily practice took place in exactly this order, since based on her own experience, Alice could evaluate the effectiveness of the spell in order to develop this direction further. Sigmund's genius and his huge personal reserves made any attempt at classification and evaluation highly questionable. However, Alice knew that in just 15~20 years, Sigmund would already be spreading this magical system further. At first, it could be herself, Angelica, Elena, Arthur, Albert and Anastasia, but then their relatives would follow. And given that Angelica would go to the Clock Tower with these skills, she could even be considered by the Three Main Families of the 12 Lords. And this is a completely different support and level of connections.

Alice also noticed that Sigmund looked ... A little sleepy. She suspected that the heavy workload was making him sleepy all the time.

Well, then Alice began her practice. Her target was a regular large boulder, she strengthened it several times, after which she began to carry out a series of blows. Despite the fact that Alice was a runologist , she knew how to fight. A left blow, a right blow, a hook, a roundhouse punch, as well as sweeping kicks.

Alice made two approaches of 7~8 blows, after which she realized that the new version of reinforcement allows her to strengthen herself beyond the measure she usually used. If before she could smash concrete walls with her fists, now she can open doors with steel thickness of 5 or more centimeters with the same blows. The difference is actually big, since steel has higher strength due to its elasticity.

Alice decided to test two new spells. She instantly jumped back 10 meters, then did a forward somersault, accelerated herself right in front of the target, and kicked down with a "Guillotine".

()

The impact was powerful enough to break the sound barrier, literally turn a huge rock into small pebbles, and also create a small funnel on the ground with a radius of three meters. Still, it flew at a speed of 200~250 kilometers per hour, and then converted this speed into impact force.

/ What a great ass she has... Fuck ... This is going to be harder than I thought. And these yoga pants aren't helping.

Just looking at Alice now, Sigmund feels like his brain switches off at times. With his reaction speed, all of Alice's training is extremely slow, he's not particularly interested in it, he understood everything after the first blow, but Alice's juicy ass was much more interesting to him. Fortunately, he had enough self-control not to show it on his face, just a small smile on his face won't say anything.

Alice also watched Sigmund's reaction. His easy smile and glowing eyes lifted her spirits. What parent doesn't want their child to look at them with admiration?

- These are very effective spells. It would be a good idea to teach Angelica and Elena such spells as early as possible.

- Yeah, but you have to be careful. With a break in concentration, the convergent reinforcement can also dissipate.

- This can be solved later with the help of a mystical code ... Let 's check the rest of the spells.

Alice then repeated the "pistols" gesture, after which she began to shoot at distant targets. As expected, the power decreased with distance, but even then the killing power was more than enough. Then she began to create air blades, their power was incomparably higher, but the effective range was limited to 20 meters. Alice also tried to use these spells without hand gestures. She put her hands on her belt, after which she tried to aim only with magic. As expected, the accuracy decreased, and there were even headwinds due to the fact that the magic was performed incorrectly.

/ These air currents make her breasts pump so nicely... She has great tits after all ... Fuck ! This is starting to get boring!

Sigmund tried to concentrate on testing the spell. And he succeeded. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the light in one spot in the distance bend slightly. A moment later, another explosion thundered, creating a crater 6 meters in diameter.

- I expected more.

- The pressure release point was five meters from the ground. We either need to get rid of the cumulative effect or create additional twisting force. The damage will decrease, but the range will increase, since we can extend such a "pipe" as much as we need.

Alice was glad that her son had excellent analytical skills. However, they needed to be improved.

- Half a second to attack is a lot. We need to take this into account for practical application.

- We just need to create a distraction, strike from a blind spot or throw the enemy into the air. Or fire a volley. Dodging a dozen of these consecutive shots is quite difficult.

- Considering that I can use this spell about 1500 times, it won't be a problem for the others. Let's leave the spell for further development. So, there are still a few spells left.

Later, Sigmund felt the air around him suddenly become drier, and droplets of water began to appear above their heads, after which they flew forward with a whistle, hitting several targets at different distances.

- As expected, the power drops with distance. The optimal range will be somewhere around 100~150 meters.

- I kind of thought that this spell would be used in confined spaces where it would be impossible to dodge such a volley.

- Well, where are you going to find so much moisture there?

- Air conditioning, heating, kitchen, running water, windows at worst.

- It makes sense, I didn't think about that.

While Alice was asking questions, Sigmund was answering them quite quickly. Alice was developing as a runologist . Her entire arsenal of runes made her incredibly self-sufficient in terms of even a head-on fight. She was confident enough in her powers to compete even with Elena. She would hardly defeat such a battle mage, but she would give him a good beating . In other words, Alice had never needed to consider her surroundings with such meticulousness.

Then Alice raised one hand up, Sigmund tried not to look in her direction, because of the suddenly awakened hormones, but he felt how ice crystals, dry ice, began to condense nearby. Then they flew forward, hitting the targets.

- "Dry Blizzard" proved to be better than "Rain". The optimal distance is up to 200 meters. Let's add stabilizing rotation, and the distance can even increase.

- We can also add movement magic to them, increasing the speed and lethality. In addition, "rain" will be much more effective against armored targets, against armored vehicles or something like that. We will not be able to break through thick concrete walls with "Dry Blizzard". "Rain" can be used as a water cutter. The distance will be minimal, and we can increase the initial speed with magic.

- So you prepared this with positional warfare in mind?

Alice was not surprised that her son had such thoughts or interests. War games or other military-themed games have always been popular with boys. Arthur and Albert with Sigmund watched Predator, Predator 2 and other action films like Rambo . These types of combat were shown there. And all this was superimposed on self-defense training with Elena and Angelica, where he was thrown from side to side when the more experienced and strong Angelica tried to beat Sigmund while he dodged her. That was all he could do at that time.

- Yeah. Mages only have three types of combat: head-on, elimination without active struggle, and positional combat.

/ Elena taught Sigmund well.

Yes, as you might guess, it was the battle mage who explained the intricacies of combat between mages. In ordinary families, this would be wild, but for mages, it is a necessity.

- Okay, then let's get started with your new ideas. Today, do you want to go over the magic of Oscillation, Convergence, Dispersion and Absorption?

- Yeah, the first spell should collect all the trash under your feet, gluing it together layer by layer, so that it can then collapse in a single stream.

- In other words, the greater the distance and debris, the stronger the attack should be? And what about the magic costs?

- We'll find out now.

Sigmund immediately stretched his arms forward, creating an imaginary cone, after a moment the first grains of sand flew from it, then there were more of these grains of sand, then these grains of sand began to tear out grass, turf, earth, then stones, deeper layers of soil, even starting to tear out clay and large trees. In the end, it became an unstoppable avalanche, sweeping away everything in its path. More than three hundred meters of forest were simply swept away by a similar wave of dirt. The cloud of dust from the attack was huge, at least a hundred meters high. Even Elena and Angelica looked out the window to see if everything was okay with Sig and Elena, and Ciel looked along with them . Fortunately, they were now on a break.

- You've clearly overdone it. An ordinary mage wouldn't be capable of this. And how is this different from movement magic?

Alice was curious why this spell was a convergence type.

- I only took the first 50 meters, everything else went by inertia. Pure movement magic will work in an arc, but here the epicenter of the spell is clearly visible. The power is higher. And it's not such a demanding magic. I can use it somewhere... 6000 times?

- So I'm somewhere around 1300... Not bad. However, without light items, this spell is simply not effective.

- Yeah. In empty or rocky terrain, such a spell would be ideal. Although a river should work too. So … How about "Dry Tsunami"?

- Overall, not bad. What's next on your list?

- Oscillation magic. Basic magic of slowing down the oscillations of matter.

- In short, the magic of cooling.

- Yes.

Sigmund also decided to choose a fairly large area to deploy magic, but the edge of this area was 30 meters away from him, and its diameter was 50 meters. And everything within the radius of these 50 meters began to be covered with frost, then a crust of ice, steam began to form everywhere, after which everything froze.

- It doesn't look very impressive, however ... It's terrifying in itself.

Alice did not miss the fact that the "steam" in that area was liquid nitrogen vapor. In addition, it is worth considering that this is the Great Ritual. No mage can survive such area magic. He will simply become hypothermic and die due to the expansion of water in his body.

- The spell is not very difficult. You just need concentration. I use magic as a conductor. I use the energy of the vibration of some molecules to stop the vibration of others. Although this does not contradict the law of conservation of energy, since I did the work. I will not be able to use this spell many times. Another 2000 times, considering that I will maintain the area of effect ... Let it be Niflheim ?

- Still terrifying ... And the name is appropriate. What next?

Alice noticed that all the magic today was area magic. The power of "Dry Tsunami" in the open field was just as terrifying as " Niflheim " in closed spaces.

Positional warfare against Sigmund becomes simply impossible.

Once he knows the enemy's location, he will be dead.

- Release. I will attempt to forcibly separate the electrons from the molecules.

- Oh …

Sigmund raised his hand again and pointed it at a nearby tree. A moment later, the tree simply burst into flames.

- Spontaneous combustion...

- It looks like the spark caused by the flow of electrons was able to ignite the resulting mess of ions in the cells of the tree. After all, now all these molecules were forcibly torn apart by free radicals, often releasing energy during the rearrangement of the molecules ... And there was oxygen there too ...

- It seems to me that you are turning into an enemy of all living things? First, area-of-effect movement magic, then freezing that kills all living things, now destruction at the cellular level.

While Sigmund was freezing the tree with Niflheim , Alice asked a question.

- These are just basic spells. I would like to learn how to reconstruct matter... Mom, wouldn't it be nice if we learned how to disassemble unnecessary materials into their constituent components and create the reagents we need with their help?

Sigmund looked closely into his mother's eyes, trying not to lower his gaze. Alice herself thought for a moment, after which ... After which she realized that this was quite possible.

- You know, that wouldn't be bad. As I understand it, your forced Release of electrons is needed to introduce atoms into the valence you need for direct synthesis of the necessary molecules?

- Yeah.

- But you do understand that quite a few elements can share one electron with each other? The same nitrogen, carbon, oxygen, chlorine, and almost all simple elementary gases. What are you going to do with this?

This was Sigmund's main problem, because chemistry does not "just work". In order to synthesize the right compounds, the right conditions must be met.

- There is diffusion for this. With its help, there will be the most uniform and homogeneous distribution of elements, and after that I will use Absorption/Absorption Magic to once again make the substances interact. All you need to do is make a proportion. Then, with the magic of Dispersion and Convergence, I will separate the resulting product.

- Then why rip out the electrons?

- In practice, check whether it will be more effective or not.

- I see. You are already thinking about what will be best for the family ... In the future, you will definitely become Great. Perhaps, you will even rise to the level of Paracelsus, Leonardo da Vinci or Kischur Zelretch .

Alice squatted down and looked into her son's eyes with a kind and joyful smile. A very, very rare smile for her. Then she began to stroke his hair with motherly tenderness and care. She knew that he would grow up faster than his peers, but this did not mean that she would love him less or be proud of his achievements.

/ Beautiful…

Sigmund didn't feel another surge of hormones in his head, he didn't feel "that" excitement, he just looked into his mother's eyes.

Yes.

Again those same, lively and bright eyes.

It became obvious to him and to Alice herself that Alice Kronstein had found her meaning in life, and so she began to breathe life in deeply, without thinking about what would happen tomorrow.

Yes, perhaps it is a bit late for her. At 21 she gave birth to Sigmund, according to the calendar he will soon be 7, and Alice will already be 28. She loved Sigmund before, loved him very much, but only now she began to feel that her life has acquired meaning.

Alice was a talented woman, she was well versed in runes, she strove to become the head of the family and then become famous, becoming a True Mage.

And then her aspirations and dreams were simply trampled upon, and she was told that she was now engaged to some weakling , and that her golden sister would become the heir.

Oh, how angry Alice was then, it's hard to put into words. She spent two months throwing combat spells at her parents when they tried to talk to her in her room-workshop or persuade her to change her mind. Of course, the first spells were warning, but what happened next?

Next came the combat spells.

Alice was not only angry that she had simply been sold, she was incredibly angry that she had not even been asked.

She was simply presented with a fait accompli.

And she wasn't even loved.

Arthur didn't even love her.

If she were asked?

Yes, she could have easily agreed to such a marriage, after all, it was a common thing for mages. And the Kronshteyns were the richest people in the area. With their resources, she would have developed much faster, which is what she did later.

With the benefit of hindsight, Alice understands why she was the one who was "sold." She was much more focused on her studies, she had fewer friends, she was much calmer and "colder" than her sister, she clung more strongly to knowledge, she had fewer acquaintances within the family. And her sister already had a boyfriend. Her parents simply decided that "since she doesn't care about a relationship, then we'll arrange it ourselves." Her sister was still quite talented, just not as stubborn, and so it was not a loss for the family.

However, this does not change the fact that her dreams were simply trampled. Yes, she was offended, but she was only 18 years old, she was a young and hot girl, full of aspirations and dreams.

Her parents left her with unhealed wounds.

Alice began to doubt her own life and its value.

What's the point if she was disowned by the people dearest to her, for whose approval she achieved all these results?

She was introduced to Arthur, they talked. They talked a lot, but... Something was missing. Any related interests in their conversations quickly faded away.

Alice felt that he was not interested in her at all, even during the conversation he was somewhere else, thinking about someone else.

She soon realized who he was thinking about.

Alice tried to go back to research, but something didn't work out for her.

Then depression set in.

Even seeing her condition, Arthur did not show any particular interest in her. The routine, polite phrase: "Are you okay? You look depressed" cannot even be considered interest.

Alice somehow overcame her depression, after which she moved in with Arthur. Arthur's parents didn't like her either, which, however, was not surprising.

And then Alice was forced to watch for a whole year as her future husband sought Elena's hand in marriage.

Not a very pleasant sight, but Alice survived it, she mostly didn't care about Arthur, it was obvious to everyone. She sat in her workshop, no one bothered her, she was happy with it.

Then came the "double wedding," which, in all fairness, should have shown that the wives were equal, but…

It was obvious to everyone that she was just an appendage. The fact that Angelica was born three years before Sigmund spoke volumes. What was there to say if Alice even lived in another room, and spent her wedding night in her own bedroom?

Did Alice envy Elena?

Yes, she was jealous, but not very much. If she had a boyfriend, she would have beaten her parents to bloody marks, and not quietly agreed after two months of confrontation. She had no negativity towards Elena herself, it is hard not to love such a kind and positive girl. Especially when Elena was one of the few who cared about her.

All these three years Alice simply went with the flow.

And then she got pregnant.

Alice had no attachment to Arthur, they had only three nights together, and even then, only because they needed a child. So initially the attachment to the baby was low, but after holding him under her heart for 9 months, she fell in love with him.

After all, he was her child.

She was pleased with Sigmund's potential, but it was only potential as a mage. It still needed to be nurtured and directed.

Her parents wrote her letters, asked to meet, to show her their grandson, but Alice ignored them. After their previous decision, it was obvious to Alice that they would want to "shove" someone else into being Sigmund's wife, so that later his child would move to the Tula Society and strengthen their lineage.

Alice even went to such a remote place so that she would not be bothered. The children are almost not distracted from their studies, they have leisure, they are always looked after, the place is secluded, you can not worry about keeping the secret, if something happens, the servants will do most of the housework.

Was Alice upset by the fact that Sigmund chose Alchemy instead of Runes?

Not at all, Alchemy was a good direction, Alice herself chose it as a second direction, especially since it was his father's main direction. Alice was not cruel, she did not forbid or interfere with Arthur spending time with Zig, although Arthur, objectively, spent less time with him than with Angelica.

And then... Then Sigmund began to show his talent. Alice really liked his thirst for knowledge, she read him the first 20 books herself, after which he began to be interested in it himself. It was difficult even for her to keep up with him, despite the fact that she had already read these books. However, this only made her happy.

Finally, someone appeared who shared her hobbies and her passion for magic.

In her son, Alice saw herself in her youth.

Even his desire to possess True Magic was the same as hers in her early years. She always knew that he would become a significant figure sometime in the future.

But now?

Now she clearly saw HOW he would become Great.

It won't be 10 years before he makes a breakthrough in magic. Looking back, Alice realized that he had already made a breakthrough in magic. Now he was just taking it to its logical conclusion.

The process of transforming one matter into another may become the most important achievement of mankind.

Literally a new era for humanity.

A new era started by one man.

This is how Alice acquired a new meaning in life.

From anger, acceptance, depression and alienation to pride, personal joy, a sense of unity and finding a new meaning in life.

Sigmund became this new meaning of life.

He breathed into her the feeling that her life had not been lived in vain.

/ How charming you are… I will watch you grow. I will see from the front row how you become Great.

- Okay, we've had enough rest, you seemed to want to try out a few more spells?

Although Alice wanted to spend more time with Zig, they needed to finish training.

- Huh? Yes, of course.

The sudden change in Alice's actions confused even Sigmund, who did not really understand the reasons for the changes. Alice did not like to talk about the past, all he knew was that she was from the Tula Society and had a bad relationship with her parents.

Alisa is generally involved in "equal exchange" and communication between the Tula Society and the Kronshteyn family only out of a sense of duty and as gratitude for her own education and upbringing.

- The next spell will be a little more complicated. It should forcibly split the gas molecules into ions and electrons, creating a high-energy magnetic field that will contain the resulting plasma. Ideally, it should produce a high-power plasma cannon.

Alice looked at her son doubtfully.

/ Did he really want a plasma gun after watching the movie Predator? Just like that?

- For this we will need good protection.

- I took a set of precious stones with me. In addition, the projectile speed will not be too high, since there is a gas environment here, the charge will simply dissipate due to the oncoming gas. The power of the charge itself will not be very large, since I will not concentrate the gas in one point using Concentration/Convergence magic. If anything happens, I will simply dissipate this charge.

Sigmund had prepared for this test in advance. Alice obediently took the three gems from Sigmund's hands.

- Then okay, just in case, I'm responsible for protection, and you disperse the plasma.

Alice was confident in her skills, she knew several defensive spells of great power, plus, she would use three gems for barrier magic.

- Okay, I'll get started.

Sigmund decided to use this spell as far away from himself and his house as possible. A kilometer away from them and a kilometer from the ground, gas began to concentrate from a large volume, under the influence of a magnetic field, it began to concentrate in one line, spewing lightning charges throughout its entire volume. A moment later, this beam took the form of an arrow, after which it flew towards the base of the mountain, causing an explosion of enormous force. Even from their place, Alice and Sigmund felt the shaking of the ground and the shock wave, and also saw a cloud of dust almost two hundred meters high. A few seconds later, Alice and Sigmund saw that the base of the mountain was glowing red, indicating that a large volume of stone had simply melted or evaporated.

- Zig ... You mean to say that if there was danger we would have survived?

Alice became even more scared by Sigmund's Magic. He can now shoot plasma beams with the destructive power of ballistic missiles at everyone?

- They should have. I could change the magnetic field during the plasma flight ... Although the power is a bit excessive... How about " Muspelheim "?

- A fitting name ... What else do you have in stock?

- Well, a spell like Absorption. It should make nitrogen combine with oxygen.

Alice remembers chemistry, so she didn't really like this idea.

- Listen to me carefully. You use this spell at a great distance from us, if brown gas appears, then immediately mix it with water vapor. Do you understand everything?

- Yes, mom.

Sigmund also knows what nitrogen can turn into.

A second later, a bright brown gas appeared fifty meters away from the duo, but at the same moment, it became colorless due to the fact that it mixed with water vapor.

- So... You have directly synthesized a substance without any extraneous reagents or other conditions ... That's enough experiments for today...

- Yes, mom.

Alice was extremely tired because of today's practice, but she was very happy with today's practice.

Why do Sigmund and Alice even bother creating spells that interact indirectly with a hypothetical enemy, rather than directly ?

Because it's just dangerous.

It's one thing when a mage has high-level magic, he's cool, famous and respected. It's another thing when every spell is a Great Ritual that can't be defended against.

If such a feature of the magical system comes to light, then either they will be forced to share it, or they will be hunted worse than the famous witch hunt of the Middle Ages.

All of Sigmund's spells are very similar to A- or B-rank spells. That is, they are strong enough that most mages will not notice the difference between the Great Ritual and High-level magic. Especially since this magic acts through an intermediary in the form of physical phenomena.

And Sigmund can already be safely called a qualified Mage Killer.

These mages are usually called so because they have quite specific skills that allow them to kill most other mages. Elena's Curses and Witchcraft are a good example.

And the main problem with all magic spells is their obviousness, time of application and readability.

Most combat magic is either elemental attacks or physical ones. El- Melloi's Mercury , Einzbern Alchemy , fire magic and other representatives of "classical" magic.

Everyone knows what to expect from such magic.

In Finland, there is a family called Edelfelt , which is famous for its excellent use of the spell "Gandr". The point is that it is a simple spell with good efficiency, and the speed of using this spell is comparable to the speed of shooting a pistol.

One of the few simple, quick and effective spells, but even it is easy to cast due to the "pistols" gesture.

Well, the magic of the Runes is easy to remember. If the enemy remembers the sequence of the Runes, then he predicts your actions in advance.

Sigmund's magic is basically unreadable, effective and quite fast. Within a single gesture, or even without gestures at all, Sigmund can try out: Air Bullet, Air Blade, Rain, Dry Blizzard, Cumulative Release, Dry Tsunami, Niflheim , Self-Ignition, Muspelheim and Direct Synthesis.

It is impossible to guess during a fight what exactly he will use, even taking into account that you know the entire list of his spells.

Tonight, Alice will try to come up with a couple of spells with Sigmund aimed at protection. Right now, that's his only weak point.

Well, what about now?

Now both Sigmund and Alice need rest.