Void Shiki credited Aoko for helping Shiki and Mikiya, even if it was technically Touko who acted. Still, Aoko decided she'd consult Touko before making her wish.
After receiving a clear answer from Void Shiki, Aoko relaxed completely, entering a lazy phase.
That's not to say she stopped working hard—it's just that, with the pressure from the Root gone, she no longer felt the need to be constantly on guard, ready to flee at a moment's notice.
She still studied magic, but not with the constant fear of being ejected from the world by the Root. Instead, every day was spent doing what she loved; without financial or lifespan worries, she was perfectly happy.
The downside was that her progress slowed down. Even though not much time had passed since she raised her caster level to 15, Aoko could feel that gaining spiritual sense (XP) was getting slower and slower.
No, it wasn't that she was gaining spiritual sense more slowly, but that it took far more to reach the next level.
Still, it wasn't without rewards. At least, thanks to her daily meditation and fishing for spells within the Weave, she acquired several useful spells.
First was the 8th-level Evocation spell, Incendiary Cloud. This spell lets the caster summon a huge, burning white cloud to attack enemies, causing fire damage and able to be shaped and moved at will—very handy for dealing with large groups.
Next was the equally 8th-level spell from the Transmutation school—Bigby's Clenched Fist. This famous spell summons a force hand to inflict physical damage. Above it is the 9th-level Crushing Hand. While Aoko didn't need such offensive spells much in the Nasuverse (she could achieve similar effects with Magecraft), she kept them in her spell pool for emergencies.
Additionally, Aoko acquired the 7th-level spell Simulacrum, a hallmark of Illusionists. It creates a duplicate of a creature at half its level, as long as the original's level does not exceed twice the caster's. The duplicate is completely obedient and, aside from needing gold as a material component, has no drawbacks—a very potent spell.
Aoko tested this spell thoroughly, first creating a copy of herself and discovering that:
The duplicate can't use the Fifth Magic.
It has one fewer 7th-level spell slot than the original.
Its challenge rating is about half that of the original.
It can't regain spell slots through a long rest.
When she used Metamagic to upcast an 8th-level Simulacrum to create a duplicate, then had that duplicate (with two 7th-level slots) cast Simulacrum again to make yet another clone… the recursion was limitless.
The only bottleneck was that each casting required a certain amount of spiritual sense, so the extent to which a caster could multiply their fighting force depended entirely on their resources.
At present, this 7th-level spell was more powerful than any 8th-level spell Aoko had learned before—practically pseudo, though it risked bankruptcy after a big battle, at least it would secure victory.
She invested a ton of time into researching this spell's mechanics, reaching Spell Mastery level—so she could use it without preparing it every morning.
Thus, Simulacrum recursion became Aoko's strongest trump card in situations where she couldn't use the Fifth Magic, boosting her confidence for future isekai exploration missions.
By the end of 1999, Aoko's long-term study of Weave spells finally advanced her caster level to 16—equivalent to a 6th-level Archmage.
At level 16, she gained an extra 8th-level spell slot, a 7th-level slot, and the unique Archmage ability Hardy Spirit, making her immune to all instant-death and energy drain effects.
Frankly, this trait excited Aoko even more than the extra high-level slots; at her level, ordinary attacks posed little threat, so instant death effects were the primary danger in other worlds.
With this ability, she plugged a major gap—she wouldn't have to worry about being one-shotted by enemies like King Hassan.
At the 16th level, Aoko felt that further progress would be very slow without decades of work, which she couldn't accept.
To prepare for the Nasuverse's future threats, she decided to immediately resume her interdimensional exploration.
She gathered her closest friends and family to announce her decision.
To her surprise, their reactions were calm—especially Touko and Alice, who seemed used to her frequent excursions, showing no excitement.
"I'll give you a month," Alice said calmly after sipping her tea. "That's the longest I can tolerate not eating your food."
"I'm not coming with you," Touko added. "I'm too busy—teaching Kohaku, Hisui, and Azaka has reached a critical stage. But remember to bring us some local specialties from the other world, okay?"
Artoria didn't come; instead, the still-shy Gray showed up.
"Al-Mama and Mama went to Britain on vacation," Gray said pitifully. "Melusine went too, and I still have school..."
"I get it," Aoko rolled her eyes. "You're all so talented... but I'll bring you gifts, so look forward to it!"