"I usually recommend poking at things that seem like you really want them, then seeing how the tradeoffs look if that's more than you can handle and making the hard decisions then. Like I said, you won't be stuck into anything until you're sure. Some people try to optimize it really precisely and, like, make spreadsheets, but that's not really necessary."

"Yeah." She looks through all the remaining kinds of magic. Potions and runes just seem really fiddly and annoying honestly. She is super not going to be an academic and it's good to have that confirmed. Curses? She isn't sure she wants to push herself to be perfect all the time but that doesn't mean she wants curses. She wants the elementalismmmmmms. And she can still hang out with Watchers and accept quests from angels without having to be a warlock, right? Right?

"Most people pick up a couple ranks of either potions or runes, because that gives them something they can easily sell in the magic economy. Rank four of anything will probably be something you can sell or trade, it's not necessary, but being able to work something like a normal job if you want to save up for something rare, like cures for age for your family or something, is a good option to have."

"You can totally go sorceress and still work with the Watchers and they'd be happy to have you."

"If most people have a couple ranks of potions or runes who's buying their stuff?"

"Most people behind the Veil aren't witches. There's lots of magic species who aren't witches, and witches tend to socialize mostly with other witches - it runs in families - but there's a lot of people who need to buy most of their magic."

"Oh, that makes sense. It still sounds like it'd be kind of a bummer of a job though, like having an Etsy store only magic. I think some people like having an Etsy store but I don't think it sounds that great."

Divination looks neat. Portals also look pretty neat, especially compared with the other academic stuff.

What are the little magics?

There are so many little magics. Become male, make invisible spirit constructs, get really good at manipulating the Hat, Garment, and Rod you get from Witchery, grow your familiar to be large and dangerous, optimize your body to be a super-specimen of your race, turn yourself to living crystal, see through fog and rain, swap out your clothes instantly, make it so that, retroactively, someone in your family either is a witch or could become one, isekai into another world or family, hear anything on the wind, run across water like it was solid...

"Retroactively? For serious? Like, my baby sister'd probably love it, but what does this even mean."

"I don't know and thinking about it in detail makes me worry I'm pissing off Fate. I think it's sort of predicting your decision many years in advance and tweaking the world to make sure it works out right."

"Spooky! - are my siblings not possible to wake up like this even though it's about having witch ancestors or whatever?"

"It would make it more likely your siblings could also be awakened but wouldn't be a guarantee. Especially if you picked one of your parents. If you picked great-grandma, it would still improve their chances a bit, but much less. They'd probably also end up as weaker witches than you."

"Huh. What makes a witch stronger, just, like, how many ranks of things she can afford?"

"Yes, and what her maximum rank is. I think I said your max is four and mine is three? And I also started with about 20% less power than you did, and when we each have hit our long-term maximums, you'll still have about a quarter more oomph than me."

"Do I have to decide today - or like, I mean, while being awakened - if Judy can have always been a witch, or can I like, ask her when she's older and do it later somehow?"

"Short answer, has to be today. Long answer..."

"To be able to put part of yourself into it and make sure that she comes along, you'd have to do that while awakening. But... warlock patrons don't exclusively offer their tasks to warlocks. They, and other powerful spirits or demigods or dragons or witches ten thousand years old, will sometimes have similar offers to make. And 'arrange for my sister to awaken as a witch' is the kind of favor they might offer as a reward for for a proper quest, not just a little task but something longer and complicated. Asking your patron to sponsor Judy as another warlock, or asking your superiors in the Watchers if they could find an angel who would sponsor her, is the kind of thing you could do."

"Oh, good, because she is tiny and I don't know if she'll still be all over the idea when she's more grown up."

"The youngest awakening I've ever heard was seven, and that was a natural awakening. So she'd almost certainly just have the potential, and if she decided she hated the idea, she could just refuse awakening. And if she spoke to me or some other awakener, we could take precautions to make it much harder for her to awaken naturally - not perfect, but close. Just to be clear on your options."

"How expensive even is the thing?"

"That one's very small, maybe a tenth of your total, about like the second rank of something."

"Judy is... four. I think maybe I don't wanna do this but might put in a word for her with an angel if she's still like she is now in ten years."

Gwen smiles broadly. "I remember my little sister that old. Yeah, she'll probably change her mind a lot of ways before then. I can give you more detail about some of the others?"

"Yes please!"

"Let's see, going in order from the smaller things to the big ones..."

"Improved Familiar lets you make your familar larger and fiercer - like you could get a griffin or a big armored cave tiger instead of an ordinary cat. Hat Trick - I never explained Witchery and mothergifts, let me come back to it. Wind Whisperer lets you focus to hear things that could be carried to you on the wind. Can go over very long distances, though that takes a very long time, mana can speed it up but not that much. Skimmer Dancing lets you walk, run, or dance across water, or other liquids - if you can take the heat, even lava. Fog Sight lets you see, hear, smell, etc., through fog or rain like clear air - not smoke or ash, though, just forms of water. You sound like you care about your family too much to be interested in the isekai options. Pantomime makes invisible spirit constructs that can hold weight, and only witches to can see them - like miming, but real. Can get as complex as a spirit bike but not much more. Hot Swap also interacts with mothergifts, but what it boils down to is that you can swap into and out of lots of sets of clothes in seconds. Crystallize turns you to living crystal, hard as diamond, drains your mana like whoa but you're essentially invincible while you stick in that form."

"Is 'isekai' a real word?" Rebecca asks, tentatively picking up Hot Swap.

"Sorry, it's geeky, originally Japanese - it means 'get sent into another world'. Or reborn into another place in this one in a different family, in this case."