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I suppose that's true enough. The circumstances behind my sibling's and I's birth are odd enough that there must be something out there, if nothing else.

Hopefully the memory of Auracite turning into a Carbuncle won't actually make it any more difficult.

[ There's a pause, and he has to concentrate and focus again - in part because he's running the same calculations in his mind as well. But sure enough, he manages to summon an emerald one ]

Hm. So how does this feel? The connection should be solidly tied to you without pulling on your aether.

Weird, to start with.

[ He's actually kneeling down to check the Carbuncle, like he's trying to examine it because holy shit that's basically math given form ]

There's a connection, but I don't feel like it's depleting my own energies any stronger than usual.

[ a pause ]

I wonder if I could make it teleport for me.

What were you thinking?

The creature can follow commands. Provided I could summon it in my world, having it teleport away would open quite a lot of possibilities to me.

Would the connection hold at a distance?

There's a certain inherent distance in the construct before it will dissipate. However that is not a limitation of aether, but the formula. I anticipate there will be a lot of ways you will want to tweak the spells as you master the concepts.

[ Well now he's certainly thinking of the possibilities there, and how he could tweak the formula to adjust for that. ]

Something to work on another time, then. I'll keep on working on the basics first. Speaking of which.

Should I cast the spells with him now?

Indeed. I'd like to see you cast properly with this small toolkit.

[ He goes quiet as he focuses once again on what he can feel and sense, and then over the formula itself. He might not need it when it's already in the book, but it helps him get a better grasp on it, and it seems to work well enough — he's able to cast again another, though the spells themselves are growing weaker with each new attempt ]

Am I supposed to actually get tired from doing this? I thought using a different energy source would prevent that.

Yes. You are a mortal, your energy is limited. You are channeling aether through yourself to cast these. Even masters of the art require the knowledge of how to recharge their energies else they deplete them.

We will get to that. But there is no way to expend effort without expending energy. You are not a simple conduit, you work even when you are taking the energy from other sources.

Take a rest. You may find you will feel refreshed faster than normal, if you pause. The carbuncle can stay, you shouldn't need to dismiss it.

Well. That's unfortunate. But I suppose it does make sense, after all.

As our dear Emecchi likes to point out, we are not machines. Even one such as I will grow tired. But there are skills to replenish mana that you can learn, to prolong your time without rest.