The Empire of Reimia (3)

Due to his personality, Marey had no desire to idly wander around the city, either alone or, even more so, in company, when that time could be devoted to the only truly important thing – magic. Although he had completed Astilbe's task, if he wanted to become a true sorcerer, not just a pathetic trickster, there should be no concept of a "completed program" for him; he should constantly improve his skills, never being satisfied with what he has achieved. Moreover, he was not as gifted as he would like to be, which tests repeatedly proved to him, so he should be twice as diligent, compensating for the limitations of his mind with hard work. Filled with such thoughts, Marey once again secluded himself in his room, surrounded by books. He perfected his first summoning spell, going so far as to meticulously plan the patterns on the wings of butterflies, working until what he envisioned was executed flawlessly and automatically. He especially enjoyed creating imps, "dead heads" – apparently, his gloomy character, acquired through a difficult life, and his habit of mocking popular superstitions had an effect; and spiders – under his control, they could create amazing webs, and also cleared his room of unwanted insects. Marey often chuckled to himself, thinking about how he could unleash bedbugs on someone's bed or let a spider crawl under the skirt of some nervous lady, but, of course, he did not carry out any of these pranks, at least not yet. Resting from practice, he delved into books. It was not easy to find suitable literature; there was almost no useful information for development, but he still managed to get from Astilbe the long-desired book about the magic of Tiaraal, and although he had the feeling that the Association was once again hiding the most interesting things from him behind an impenetrable veil of censorship, he spent the time with great pleasure and benefit; the information about the magic of foreign lands turned out to be very fascinating with its wild charm and originality. "In general, there is something in it that is better than our traditions. It's somehow more... Naive, natural. Wild, but attractive with its chaos, its primordial charm of true wonder, it probably reflects the very essence, the atmosphere of those lands, just as the dark arts of Reisen reflected the madness of the bloody era of civil war and the Shards."