Life force, huh? That shouldn't be a problem for him (though it does seem kind of ironic given what he is), but he imagines it can have more... severe consequences for most people who use it, if they don't get enough from their surroundings to balance it out with however that works. But hey, he can totally understand why that still might be preferable to a contract for many people.

Phillip looks back at her, not sure whether maintaining eye contact here is a good or bad idea- keeping up a staring contest usually lets people know pretty quickly just how powerful he is but she already seems to have an idea of that. "Good question," he says evenly, "In my world, we didn't even have magic, at least not that we knew of, until about six years ago or something like. And then people just... started randomly getting it. Different types of magic with different rules for different people. It's been a mess trying to make any sense of it."