"Weave Fragment"

Aoko Aozaki smiled as she looked in the mirror, recalling a funny childhood memory with Touko.

Who would have thought that the current, well-read, polite, and super-genius prodigy, nineteen-year-old Touko Aozaki, was once a scumbag who used Suggestion Magecraft to play pranks on her three-year-old sister, Aoko, just after Aoko learned to speak?

Ever since her birth into this world, Aoko Aozaki had been relentlessly honing herself every moment.

She leveraged the advantage of being a "Prophet" to continuously accumulate various advantages and resources. She knew that in her future life, there would be countless difficulties and obstacles to overcome, including world-ending events that would drag the entire planet down with them if she failed.

Among the many challenges, the foremost was her relationship with her older sister, Touko Aozaki.

More specifically, it was about the inheritance of the Fifth Magic, wielded by her grandfather, the old man who was the Fourth Mage.

Touko Aozaki, who had dedicated over a decade to growing as the heir to the Mage title, would face the biggest blow of her life tonight. The old Mage would change the heir from Touko Aozaki to Aoko Aozaki.

If Aoko did nothing, this event would lead to a desperate sisterly battle in two years, potentially resulting in the complete death of one of them.

Aoko Aozaki refused to accept such a future.

So, at the age of five, Aoko, like her older sister, asked her grandfather to teach her the Aozaki family's Magecraft. After much shameless pestering, the old Aozaki finally sighed and agreed to Aoko's request, making her Touko's junior.

Touko's talent in Magecraft was undoubtedly unparalleled, a fact even Aoko, who was also exceptionally gifted, had to admit. Her performance in creating magical puppets was remarkably strong, and this was achieved despite the Aozaki family's research field having no relation to the Magecraft of creation.

Touko looked down on some of the "heretical" minor Magecraft that Aoko dabbled in, such as tricks like "creating a semi-transparent giant hand to help with chores." Touko generally held an indifferent attitude towards them, often offering sarcastic remarks.

It was from that time that Aoko deliberately approached her seemingly indifferent sister, constantly teasing her with small pranks, the kind that seemed like something a schoolboy would pull, to get her attention. Then, just before Touko could no longer stand it and was about to lash out, Aoko would act meek and vulnerable, playing the part of an obedient younger sister.

Through this, Aoko learned all of her stubborn, scumbag sister's limits and basically mastered her various weaknesses.

Of course, simply pulling pranks wouldn't be enough to build a good sisterly bond. Aoko also utilized a skill inherited from her "previous life"—superb cooking—to conquer her sister's stomach.

Delicious desserts from various countries and never-before-seen savory dishes not only completely won over their parents but also subtly corrupted Touko, a woman who cared about nothing but becoming a Mage, with the cravings brought by delicious food.

Of course, all these methods were merely auxiliary factors to increase her win rate. The ultimate reason for preventing the deadly battle between the sisters could only be Aoko's own formidable strength.

"Seek peace through struggle, and peace will endure; seek peace through compromise, and peace will perish." Aoko Aozaki never forgot this.

Today was Aoko's graduation ceremony from the junior high division of Shiroukami Girls' Academy, and Aoko would be giving a speech as the representative of the graduating class.

With the knowledge from her "previous life," attending junior high in this world's Japan was incredibly easy. Even though she had to spend a significant amount of time and energy studying Magecraft and other things, achieving the top spot in overall deviation scores at school was a simple matter.

As a private aristocratic school, this junior high, funded by the Asagami Group, occupied a vast area of 335 acres, with a building area of 110,000 square meters. Its facilities were complete, and even the uniforms were very cute. (This was Aoko's main reason for choosing Asagami Academy; the uniforms, once worn, were said to fetch an incredibly high price on the black market.)

In addition to normal courses, the school also offered many unique courses exclusive to the institution, such as German, Chinese, and life education.

To conserve her energy, Aoko chose Latin and German, which were helpful for her Magecraft studies, as well as Chinese. In the Chinese course, she undoubtedly dominated the subject with a more authentic Chinese accent than the teacher responsible for the class.

However, because Shiroukami Girls' Academy was located next to Misaki Town, she had to wake up at six o'clock every morning to prepare for her commute to school.

This forced Aoko, who needed eight hours of quality sleep daily, to go to bed before ten o'clock at night, indirectly compelling her to improve her daily work and study efficiency.

The reason for insisting on eight hours of quality sleep involved Aoko Aozaki's deepest secret.

Deep within her soul resided a Weave Fragment from the Forgotten Realms.

At this point, intelligent readers might ask: by embedding a Weave Fragment within one's body, wouldn't they become a human bomb, much like a certain Wizard who got involved with a magic goddess and was then dumped?

Aoko had also worried about this issue, but after long-term verification and experimentation, this fragment was extremely stable within Aoko's soul, so stable that it made her doubt if it was truly a Weave Fragment at all.

Since childhood, whenever she drifted off to sleep, Aoko's consciousness would enter this "fragment." It was a dimension that could not be described in words; all mortal language was pale and weak before the scenery deep within the Net. However, if she had to summarize it in one sentence, it would be like seeing colorful patterns after eating poisonous mushrooms.

Ultimately, the belief that this thing was a Weave Fragment was merely Aoko's wishful thinking. She had no intention of delving deeper into it, as she lacked the ability to do so.

Through her nightly journeys in the Net, Aoko gradually acquired a vast amount of knowledge about Arcane Arts. She forcibly memorized this knowledge with her eidetic memory and then transcribed it into her spellbook upon waking.

Aoko checked her watch, confirming she had enough time before leaving for school. She took out a book with an exquisite leather cover from her Imaginary Magecraft space.

The cover of this book was made from "Dragon Hide," a material she had painstakingly acquired from the old Mage after much begging. The inner pages were made from paper crafted from poplar wood pulp mixed with specially made alchemical potions. It was not only exceptionally tough but also very suitable as a base material for scrolls.

The so-called "Dragons" were Phantasmal Species that once existed in this world. These creatures, inexplicable by modern scientific theories, could no longer survive due to the decline of the planet's surface mystery and changes in its rules, so most of them retreated to the Inner Sea of Stars. Only the corpses of a few unlucky ones remained on the planet's surface as residual Curse Body materials, collected by Mages as magical components.

Aoko, relying on her intelligence and a little help from the old man, created this spellbook. Considering the increasing number of spells she might learn in the future, she had fully accounted for potential expansion and upgrades when designing the book. Currently, the book has one hundred pages, meaning Aoko could record one hundred spells in it.

As her "cheat" for self-preservation, Aoko naturally poured a great deal of effort into learning and practicing Arcane Arts. Under the condition of secrecy, Aoko spent a considerable amount of time and energy studying and practicing Arcane Magecraft, and at the very young age of fifteen, she achieved 5 Wizard levels and learned a large number of Net spells.

If she had been born in the Forgotten Realms in this life and received proper Wizard education, Aoko might have a higher Wizard level than she does now. However, unfortunately, she wasn't, and this wasn't the Forgotten Realms either. Aoko's current achievements were entirely self-taught, and only she knew the hardships involved.

Incidentally, there is no Wizards of the Coast company in this world, nor is there a tabletop game rule called Dungeons & Dragons.

Aoko opened the spellbook and began to meditate, preparing the spells she might need for the day.

Aoko's current Wizard level is 5, meaning she has 3 1st-ring, 2 2nd-ring, and 1 3rd-ring spell slots.

Although not high, do not underestimate this Level 5 Wizard. The first 3rd-ring spell Aoko learned after gaining access to the 3rd-ring spell slot was Fireball, an Evocation school spell. As a signature skill of Wizards, Fireball is known for its low cost, high output, and large area of effect, making it an essential spell for home travel and eliminating enemies.

In addition to the very important 3rd-ring spell slot, a Level 5 Wizard also gains an extra feat. Aoko chose the feat: Alertness.

Since her current offensive spells were limited and she could only use up to 3rd-ring spells, preventing herself from being ambushed made improving her alertness the top priority. After all, there were quite a few insidious individuals like Kiritsugu Emiya in this world.