The struggle of elite players

Ilmadia had even, at least up to Tier 3, mastered her spells to Rank 1. A classification which has become mostly obsolete for Eldrian since he rarely depended on learnt (static) spells and when he did, he could almost immediately cast it at Rank 2.

At Rank 1, a person had gained control over the spell to the degree of being able to alter its flight path slightly, or at most make one 90-degree turn. 

Ilmadia had even brought her Tier 0 spells to rank 2. Able to have them dance around her, as Eldrian often showed. Though, it took all her focus and she could only maintain the dance for a few seconds before ending up mentally exhausted. 

It is thanks to this that she realizing how taxing it was to take full control of a spell. That she understood just how massive the gap between her and Eldrian was. Not only could he maintain the dance indefinitely, she had seen him do it with three spells—with ease.