Chapter 27: Education
Chapter 27 –
"What are we doing outside of an empty wall, and what's with all the secrecy?" Jeremy asked as he watched his friend pace in front of a wall thinking hard.
Nathan had them eat a quick lunch for the day and dragged them to the top floor. He had used a nifty little map that he said that he had made successful copies of for them to use. Nathan didn't answer the question, and Jeremy could see that Carlisle and Mary-Anne were getting very impatient. They had thought Nathan's hurried exit earlier was unusual, and their curiosity was eating them from the inside.
Carlisle went to say something but her words got stuck in her mouth, as she noticed a door forming on the wall opposite where they were standing.
"Finally" Nathan muttered, looking quite pleased with himself. He turned and smiled at his friends and said "Come on, let's go inside."
He opened the giant door and beckoned his friends inside.
Carlisle looked suspiciously at Nathan, as her mind caught up to what was happening, but she followed his instructions and stepped inside.
As soon as she stepped in, she bumped into Mary-Anne who was standing stock still, with her mouth wide open. Jeremy was no less stupefied, as the scene inside was the exact replica of the Hogwarts Library but much larger. There were comfortable couches for them to sit on and a fireplace. The window showed the scene of a giant waterfall with various magical animals including small fairies, unicorns, hippogriffs etc. It was a very relaxing atmosphere for people to study in. To the left of the room, was an empty court, marked like a professional dueling ring for practicing spells.
"W-what is this room?"
"Is this an extension of the library?"
"This place is magically expanded isn't it?"
Jeremy, Mary-Anne, and Carlisle started their barrage of questions.
Nathan raised his hands and got them to calm down. He took a deep breath and explained "This is the room of requirements. As the name suggests, it can become anything you require. I wanted a library of all the books Hogwarts can provide, along with a study area, a practice arena, and a nice environment to focus in, and this was the result. This place can become anything you want it to, kind of like the holodeck from Star Trek."
His friends looked amazed at the possibilities and Mary Anne stepped into the library perusing the books on the shelves.
"These books, they are old mage spells." She observed, "There's a whole compendium of charms and illusions. Oh, 'Illusions of Ikonn'; 'Ice of Ikthalon', 'Alchemic Rituals', 'Lost Runes of The Norse'. Nathan, these books aren't available anywhere!" She picked up a book labeled 'Magical Energies of The Universe' and started to read through a few pages.
Carlisle who had been reading through a book as well exclaimed "This is a treasure trove of Knowledge! How did you find it? When, did you find it?"
All of his friends turned to look at him expectantly, and Nathan scratched the back of his head. He replied, "Uhhh, you see, I found this at the beginning of last year."
"Last Year! So, this is where you'd been hiding away huh? All that time we looked around for you, and you've been studying. You really are a nerd. I guess this is a good place as any to start expanding our knowledge of magic if we want to change the world." Carlisle pointed out as if she had solved a big mystery.
"Well, this isn't all I wanted to show you actually," Nathan said as he started fishing his pockets for his sling ring.
The three of his friends stared dumbfounded at him and Jeremy exclaimed "There's more!"
Nathan nodded as he put on his sling ring, and said "Uh-huh, you will love this!"
The three watched as Nathan opened a fiery golden portal to a monastery, and they stared slack-jawed at the portal for a few minutes.
"Welcome to Kamar Taj guys!" Nathan exclaimed.
"Is that a Minotaur?" Jeremy asked after he stepped in through the portal and saw the first person that he laid his eyes on.
"I have a name you know! Dario Agger, nice to meet you kids, hello Nathan." He said as he walked past them and into the monastery.
"Hello, Master Agger!" He bowed, as the others watched slack-jawed yet again Nathan interact with the minotaur like it was no new thing.
Nathan turned to his friends and said "Come on, follow me!" and led them through the monastery to meet the ancient one.
oOOOOOOOOOOOOOOo
It was decided that Nathan's friends would join the ranks of sorcerers at Kamar Taj. They would attend magical training following the same schedule as Nathan. They had finally put together a base of operations inside of the room of requirements.
Their magical training had picked up in leaps and bounds. Kamar Taj also taught them martial arts, and the children were happy to eat up any knowledge.
It had been a month since that trip, and the group was lounging around together in the Room of Requirements.
"What are you working on Carlisle?" Mary-Anne asked as she finished her transfiguration homework of the day.
"I am going through the arithmetic calculations of wand lore. Nathan does not use wands, and he is doing just fine with his spells. Every other school out there, like Mahoukotoro, or Uagadou that does not make use of wands, still has an alternative form of focus. So, I want to find out what they do, apart from amplifying magical strength and simplifying the direction of the magic cast." She replied.
"What's your conclusion?" Mary-Anne asked, taking a seat on the couch opposite Carlisle overlooking the scenery that the room had produced.
"Well, there is a general trace as usual, though there is also a more permanent one imbibed with a locator spell. This one, the ministries around the world use to track and trace the use of magic out in the non-magical world, regardless of age, though it has the same weakness as wards do for the temporary trace they use on students. Apart from that, I can see that certain wands come with an affinity for certain kinds of magic, depending on the core of the wand, or the focus, like a wand with a Pheonix feather core, is more inclined to produce a more powerful result with fire spells, heat spells, healing spells, and for some reason the mental arts. A focus with a dragon heartstring core is more inclined to perform better at blood magic, you get the idea." Carlisle explained.
Nathan, who was listening on the sidelines while reading the 'Book of Cagliostro' and its theory on soul magic and the astral dimension, looked at them and asked curiously "So, what does that mean for me?" he asked.
Carlisle replied glancing at Nathan "Essentially, you're at a disadvantage in terms of power, and while you have more than made up for it in your magical training, you're still using more magic than you should, to get the same result. At the same time, you don't need to rely on a wand to cast a spell. Us wand users and focus users rely heavily on our foci to cast spells. Take them away, and we are useless. In a combat scenario, I would think that you would have more versatility, while wand-based users have a slight advantage in power."
Nathan nodded as he mulled over the words, he said "You know, I was thinking about the issue, and I was thinking of bypassing the issue of a focus, and its amplification effect. I came up with this theory, though I still need to verify and test a lot on it, that if I use a wand's core and either sub dermally, or intravenously implant the core in my own body, making myself into a giant focus, with my body as the base replacement for the wood, I could get a better amplifying effect as compared to a wand, and still retain the combat versatility that I currently possess. It's kind of the reason, that I am looking into soul magic right now. Well, that and another project of mine." He then looked at the book in his hand and continued "But this book, I saw a copy of this in the personal library of The Ancient One. It was lucky the Room had a copy as well, meaning that the book must have been brought here by someone at some point. It has a really interesting spell that uses runic arrays, and invocation to essentially absorb the essence of a being into yourself. If I combine this with a blood magic ritual and a little bit of wand theory, I can potentially make myself into a wand."
All of the occupants looked stupefied at his theory.
Carlisle eventually said shaking her head "Nathan, there are so many things that can go wrong. You would need to first master that essence absorption spell of yours. Then master ritual magic, or at least the theory, and finally master blood magic. This is not taking into consideration that you will need to master healing, as well as learn a lot of biology."
Jeremy nodded alongside her "Though, if you do want to go ahead with the plan, I can help."
Mary-Anne and Carlisle gave him deadpanned stare, and Jeremy hurried to explain "Hey, being non-reliant on a wand, while still being as powerful. I am just saying, it's worth a shot!"
Mary-Anne reluctantly agreed with the idea and added "And, it would get rid of the pesky permanent trace that the ministry has on our wands. I want to be able to cast magic in muggle areas if I want to."
Carlisle sighed "Alright, fine. I will also help devise this ritual, though you will need a test subject, a living thing to experiment on, and I don't know how I feel about that."
Nathan chuckled inwardly, he already had a test subject in the form of the Horcrux. But that was one secret he wasn't willing to tell them yet. "We will cross that bridge when we get there. We can probably use a Phoenix's feather or its tears if we find one that is. The parts are magical in their own right and have their own essence, though we will have to make sure that they are willingly given."
He intended to first try the ritual on nonliving yet magical items, then move on to the Horcrux. He believed that if he was able to consume the soul essence, he would be able to expand his own strength by strengthening his own soul.
"Okay, then. I think we should finish the homework for defense next. And then finish the assignment Master Agger gave us. What is the point of using 'Sapphire bands of Storaan, when we already have a more advanced spell with 'Crimson Bands of Cyttorak'?" Jeremy asked.
"Both are invocation spells, Jeremy. And like all invocation spells, it comes at a cost. We wizards are lucky that we don't have to invoke Infinity or Eternity for all of our spells, they don't care about us, as we are essentially by-products of their interference in the 5th reincarnation of the universe. Storaan is a very lazy dimensional entity. He doesn't care for what purpose you use the spell, unlike Cyttorak. He is weaker too. Much weaker than Cyttorak. So, there is effectively no cost to us for invoking Storaan for this version of the binding spell. This spell will be stronger than the average incarcerous, in the sense that it can probably hold down an elephant, or a giant. But, weaker than Cyttorak's version of the spell. That is virtually unbreakable." Nathan explained, having already read through and practiced both spells previously.
"What is the cost of using the 'Crimson Bands of Cyttorak'?" Mary-Anne asked.
"Well, apart from Cyttorak knowing our intentions, and effectively reading our mind, we pay him back in the form of our energy. We feed him magic, and he gives us access to the bands." Nathan answered.
They continued studying magic and the mystic arts well into the rest of the day, and Nathan started working on developing his version of Magical telephones, having learned the enchantments of the marauders' map, for the interface as well as the enchantments of two-way mirrors. His final hurdle was using his knowledge of networks and satellites and coming up with a way to create a network connection for the phones to work off of.
He had to finish a working prototype before sending a copy to Sirius so that he can finally start something that could grant him a legal monetary income in the wizarding world. He had other, if not illegal, at least unusual ways to earn money and make galleons, but he needed to set up a front to pin his earnings on, if anyone came snooping.
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