ULTRAMagic Prelude

Chapter 5

"I think I got it..." Blood-Wraith stated as he organized a pile of rocks into a tidy formation.

Kresimira nodded. "Alright, show me what you have come up with."

Blood-Wraith held up his right hand above the rocks. It took a second, but a bolt of energy emanated from his palm and struck the pile. This caused the rocks to light up and shine brightly. A moment later they had formed into a 12 inch sculpture of him. At this point it was the end of the second week of tutoring. Kresimira had been hoping for this outcome. The sculpture was not perfect, but it proved that there was definitive progress,

"Well done, Blood-Wraith. Well done" Kresimira congratulated with a calm applause.

"...but I didn't get all the details down."

Kresimira took the sculpture and put it on her desk. "Don't worry sweetie, it's fine. It's borderline impossible to get every detail perfect."

"You really should go for good enough rather than perfection," Dragoslava added. "What that exact standard is I couldn't tell you 'cause it's always changing"

"But why not go for perfection?"

"You see, Blood-Wraith; The more you do, the more time and effort is required," Kresimira answered. She then went and retrieved two rocks from the closet, setting them down on the table. She then transmuted one into a rather simple, stone knife. "Let's say you're in a pickle and need something to defend yourself with, like this knife. Clean, simple, and an easy earth transmutation. It's not pretty, but it gets the job done." Setting the knife aside, she repeated the process on the other rock. This took longer and produced a more ornate and decorative knife. "Here we have a more fancy knife. See the issue with it?"

Blood-Wraith studied the new knife for a second. "I don't think that would hold up after repeated usage. It looks very fragile. The strange markings do make it look fearsome, however."

With a flick of the wrist, Kresimira snapped the knife in two. "Exactly. We sacrificed quality for what we thought would be a better outcome. It's akin to quantity over quality. Ultimately you shouldn't worry about how something looks as long as it works. When you hyperfixate, you lose track of your goal."

"I see... I still wanted to do better on the details though."

Dragoslava laughed. "Blood, chill. It's not that big of a deal..." And then the statue broke in half.

"Oh..." Blood-Wraith looked defeated.

"Hey, hey..." Kresimira gave him a pat on the back. "It's fine, my pupil. This stuff takes time and practice" she reassured him. "Focus on the essentials, not the fine details."

Blood-Wraith then turned to the clock, seeing that it was 4 PM again. "Aw shoot..."

"Alright, we're going to get some ice cream," Dragoslava proclaimed as she dragged her brother out of the classroom.

After bugging Leif to take them down to the city, Dragoslava guided the group to an ice cream parlor, long since abandoned. It was somewhat haunting to see what should have been a populated building completely empty. Kresimira used to bring her sister to the parlor whenever she could, back when they were younger. Naturally the two were greeted by dust and cobwebs everywhere. With the flip of a breaker, the restaurant sprung back to life. Signs and neon lights lit up and upbeat rock music began playing through the building's speakers. It was quite the nostalgia trip for Dragoslava.

"Pretty groovy, ey? Me and my big sis loved coming here on fridays."

"Should we be here right now? This doesn't feel right..." Blood-Wraith was a tad worried.