Twilight had come up with a plan to grind and study at the same time. She would spam Spiral Mana Arrow and Spiral Mana Bolt until her MP dropped below 500, then apply her maximum of 9 Spiral Mana Shields and study while she waited for her MP to recharge. Spiral Mana Shield's Level skyrocketed in a matter of days. However, the initial cost and MP/min cost never fell below 5 MP after hitting them and it got a little harder to Level up each time. Even when it got to Level 80, the cost didn't go down. At this point she could layer them over 20 times, but even then the Level still grew very slowly.
She switched to spamming Mana Net, Spiral Mana Arrow, and Spiral Mana Bolt on Zombies and the Zombie Legion reaching Level 25 before it became unfeasible. The formula for Exp changed completely and she suddenly needed at least 2.5 times the level times 1000 Exp. In the process, she discovered that Spiral Mana Bolt Leveled faster if she used a lot of MP at once. Plus, a single 1000 MP blast could reduce a three-story building to a hole in the ground, though she could only do 3 blasts in a short period of time, and that was assuming she was not using anything else.
After some debate between Int and Wis, she dumped her Stat points into Int to boost her Skills' power, her MP, and her MP Regen. She had plenty of MP Regen at the moment, and if her maximum output wasn't enough to overwhelm her opponent, then more MP Regen would make little difference.
'Level 25.
HP: 1690.
HP Regen: 21.9/min.
MP: 3339.
MP Regen: 360.95/min.
Str: 32.
Int: 183.
Agi: 35.
Vit: 34.
Wis: 40.
Lck: 27.
0 Stat poins unspent.
322007 Bits.'
Odd that she hadn't gotten another new Skill, but maybe it only happened at every 100 points once you hit triple digits. Ah well, her Skills should have gotten a massive boost. Her MP certainly had.
She was also learning a great deal about history, magical theory, and practical application of magic from the Princess. All of it very interesting. One of the top ten subjects that interested her was summoning Elementals.
She was intrigued by the idea of communicating with nature and having it as an ally. The idea of a sentient being being under her control was a bit off-putting, but it wasn't like she would enslave him/her.
Of course, she couldn't summon an Elemental without first learning about her elemental alignment. The elemental alignment of a pony, or any other being for that matter, was a mix of genetics, personality, and sheer random chance. Without knowing and learning about your alignment, you would have no idea what Elemental you'd end up with. You would also have little to no influence over the Elemental itself.
Eventually, she asked the princess about it. "Um, princess Celestia? Is there a way to test what my elemental alignment is?" Twilight asked.
"Let me guess, you want to summon an Elemental?" the princess said with a raised eye-brow.
"Was it that obvious?" Twilight asked sheepishly.
"You are profoundly poor at hiding your interest in something. There aren't many other reasons why you'd want to know you elemental alignment either. To answer your question, yes. It's rather expensive, but there is a type of paper produced in Zebrica that can do so for you." the princess explained.
"Oh, I've got 300000-odd Bits. Will that cover it?" Twilight asked with some worry that she was asking too much.
"...It only costs 3000 Bits, so yes, you have enough." Celestia said with an odd look on her face.
Roughly three days later, a few pieces of the paper arrived, and Twilight tested her alignment. It was Fire according to the test.
"Hm, I suspected as much. As for summoning an Elemental, I have a book for that. It only teaches you the basics, but that's usually enough for anyone with above-average reserves or who is talented with magic to summon a low-tier Elemental. Normally I'd wait on letting you have this since Fire is easily the most temperamental element, but you should be fine given your ludicrously high Int and the simple fact that it's almost certainly going to become a Skill and should work with you." the princess said, briefly leaving to get it.
Twilight had gotten a Skill out of learning her affinity, which she took the time to examine now that she was alone.
'Fire Element Affinity. Passive. Lv 1.
Fire is one of the four elements of nature, and the strongest offensively, though it is one of the shortest-ranged. Your affinity for fire and fire-related magics. It boosts your abilities with anything tied to fire in any way.
Effect: 1% boost to damage with fire-related abilities.
Effect: 1% boost to fire resistance.
Effect: 1% reduction to MP costs of fire-related abilities.'
Hm, this would boost her summon's powers, and simply using the summon would train the affinity. You didn't get much more closely tied to an element than an Elemental.
When the princess came back, Twilight got a pop-up window upon receiving the book.
'You have acquired the Skill Book for 'Summon Elemental.' Would you like to learn the Skill? Warning! If you choose to learn the Skill, the book will disappear. It is possible to learn Skills by reading the book the normal way.'
Twilight being the bibliophile she was, avoided destroying a perfectly good book and just read it, getting the Skill from it upon finishing the book.
'Basic Summon Elemental. Active. Lv 1.
Summons the most basic Elemental, usually of the user's affinity. A very long time ago, sentient beings realized nature's power and have attempted to wield these powers for their own purposes. Eventually they were able to communicate with Elementals and could summon them at will. The Elemental's attributes will change as the caster's INT, skill level and Element Affinity grows. It will also allow them to summon stronger Elementals.
Cost: 50 MP/min.
Current maximum number of Elementals: 1.
It should be noted that upon Leveling this Skill and gaining more possible summons at once, you can simply stack the same elemental on itself, multiplying the individual Elemental's power.'
"Right, let's give it a try." Twilight said, conjuring a piece of chalk, since chalk imbued with magic would take much too long to get the normal way. She drew a pentagram on the floor, surrounded by a circle. A basic summoning circle.
"It's been quite some time since I saw one of these." Celestia remarked. She had already informed Twilight of that little secret. She was hiding enough as it was.
"The Skill implied that this sort of thing has been around since the beginning of sentient life here. I have to wonder if calling on an Elemental isn't calling on a tiny fraction of Gaia itself. Elementals are formed from the elements of the world around us, so it only makes sense." Twilight mused. "At any rate, apparently you need to say a specific speech to get one of the Elementals to join you." she cleared her throat and stood at the edge of the circle.
"I, Twilight Sparkle, call upon the ancient contract of past ages to summon thee. I pray you hear my call. Come Fire Elemental!" she felt a little embarrassed saying melodramatic stuff like this, but it was necessary.
A ball of fire about a foot wide appeared, fading to reveal a little figure that stood on two feet and had a red dress and hat on. There was a red gem shaped like a classic flame symbol on her chest (it was clearly a she) and she had a conical hat. Her hair was red, as were her eyes, and her ears were positioned on either side of her head, but were triangle-shaped just like a ponies. In fact, they were actually proper triangles instead of rounded at the top.
'"Ah, a summons. What do you want?"' she asked with the tone of one speaking to a stranger. Polite, but neutral. Not friendly or unfriendly. It took a second to register that her voice had been telepathic rather than spoken.
"I would like you to form a contract with me. My real name is Twilight Sparkle. Would you tell me yours?" Twilight asked, following the Skill's information on how the initial meeting should be handled to the letter.
The Elemental seemed to gauge her strength for a moment, then nodded. Elementals tended not to obey anyone weaker than them in any capacity unless it suited them, so the relative strength of those they formed contracts with was quite important. '"Alright. My true name is Ember."' she said.
'"From this moment on, we are of one soul, until the day one of us ceases to be."' They said in unison.
Twilight was quite surprised when she saw images of fire and extreme heat. From forest fires and lava, to the stars themselves. She was soon able to figure out she was seeing the memories of Fire itself. Through them, she came to understand it better.
Fire left nothing but destruction in it's wake if it grew too great, but in small amounts, in it's wake, or from a distance, it encouraged life to flourish. The memories faded as they finalized the contract, and Ember promptly vanished.
Contracts were very simple. The two beings would tell each other their names and agree to fight together. That was all. However, it was almost ludicrously easy to use a true name against an Elemental one was contracted to. Due to this, Elementals did not tell just anyone their names. It implied a great deal of trust.
Twilight immediately tested the Skill. This time a larger ball of flame appeared, some 5 feet in diameter. Luckily, this flame was merely warm, rather than hot like the first. Despite being mere inches away from the fire this time, she was not burned. Ember formed from the flame, three feet tall this time.
"Alright, and I can keep you summoned indefinitely since I regain mana faster than what you need to stay summoned drains it away!" Twilight said happily.
'"Hm, a Gamer huh? One doesn't meet too many of those."' Ember mused.
"Well, that's not something you see everyday." Celestia said, less surprised than curious. Apparently she hadn't seen an Elemental in some time.
"We should probably see how much power you can put into your attacks. What say we test your abilities in an ID?" Twilight asked.
"I'm certain it won't be a challenge." Ember remarked, as if offended that Twilight would even suggest otherwise.
"Uh, sorry. Anyway, let's do the Zombie ID first." Twilight said, creating the ID.