"As cool as they might be I think, being the literal first ever test case of an Amazon witch I'm unlikely to want faction magics. Being part of two factions at once isn't impossible, even in the higher ranks—our Minister of Finance is also on the board of the Lotus Corporation—but it's tricky to navigate. It sounds like from here my biggest choice to make is my class, then."

"You can pick up some faction magic without entwining your fate with the faction. As I mentioned, I have some Ministration and I'm not a Watcher."

"Huh, are any of them available to me?"

"Digicasting and Wands are available to anyone, they come from the magic school factions. Digicasting lets you enter media, at rank 2 with friends, and at rank 3 travel through the Internet, but traveling through the Internet is complicated and I'd recommend sticking to Portals. Wands is a huge collection of individual utility spells that require rest between usage. Ministration we've discussed, I can get you up to rank 2. You can take Dominion, which we've also discussed, but your telekinesis will be notably slower and you'll have to figure out time dilation yourself."

"Hmmm, okay, good to know. What are some examples of the utility spells under Wands?"

"Rank 1 includes a bit of light, a little static illusion, a bit of force, making your … wand … produce chalk. I'm sorry. I'm used to awakening people who have the Mothergifts, which you don't. It is possible that you could design some other wand that Wands would work with, but I personally don't have the expertise for that."

"The Mothergifts. That's the free magic outfit, I assume?"

"Yes. Outfit, hat, and rod, and Wands can function with the rod."

Raven nods.

"I think I'd like to go over the classes in more detail. Do academics and sorcereses have any big initial choices to make like a warlock patron? Does my choice of class make a difference to how many points I have to spend today?"

"Academics need to pick their two fields of study that take time but not points, but that's not as big a deal as warlock patron choice. Sorceresses don't have a big initial choice."

"I see. And do they have starting perks like the warlock patrons' gifts?"

"The academics get an efficiency improvement, where they can produce twice as much of a potion with the same ingredients, or go twice as fast, or such, but not all of those at once. Sorceresses get auras and if they use the auras to empower their elementalism, the elementalism has better range and area of effect and damage."

"You also can use some of your starting power on relics, but they won't end up bound to your soul, so I really wouldn't recommend doing much of it."

"Huh, okay. Frankly those don't seem as appealing as the warlock bonuses, and Hecate seems reasonably value-aligned so far. Does she have any particular quirks, known to people in your world, that contradict what would be inferred from the myths?"

"Not known to me, at least."

"I"m going to take Hecate's offer, then."

"Then you can select the node, and everything else will account for your being a warlock. It's still not final until you finish awakening, but we can treat it as such."

Raven selects it. Does anything change, visibly to her?

Yes, some things are cheaper now, and she could select from the relics Hecate offers.

Only one relic, or do those operate on a point budget also? If only one, she wants the mana solidifier.

They operate on a point budget also. She has ten points.

At 10 points: A specialized amulet that counts as a rod for Wands purposes, automatically counterspells incoming hazards as long as it has at least .1 seconds warning, and can produce a barrier when a hazard gets within inches of the wearer. A pearl for getting an extra elemental affinity, improving Elementalism, and turning water into a useful alchemical or runic reagent.

At 6 points: The aforementioned mint. The aforementioned deck of cards.

At 4: A magic rifle, and a reloading bench for turning Kisses into magic bullets. (These are two separate relics, but they do synergize.) Also, a set of donated Mothergifts which, uh, includes a large hoop skirt, you can break the hoops but they reform, there's a reason it's available to her even though she's not in the relevant family.

At 2: The magic router. The specialized cauldron. A suit of mythril armor. A magically low-maintenance potted bonzai blood apple tree and bush-type steakmelon.

For free: The tattoo inks. A single servant doll (a lot like the automata, but it might be nice to have one soulbound). The results of one quick and cheap shopping trip in the other world, which, yes, could include seed packets.

She takes the mint, router, and cauldron. Does she get to take the shopping trip now or is that at the end?

She's not going, she just gets to make a list of requests. Which won't be finalized until the end.

Legit. What are the constraints on that, a shopping cart's worth? Only stuff available to civilians or could she get military tech?

"Honestly, this is nonstandard and I'm not sure. If I were you I'd list things by how much I want them and see what I get."