Chapter 30: 30. Another One!
It took Ryan and Aria half a week to scan all the books present in the Pendragon library. While Ryan could visit for a limited time as tended to stay with his new family more than a locked room filled with books, but still the number of books was too much.
Of course, not all books were related to magic, and some like tales taught to children to develop their fondness for knights, or as Ryan called it, brainwashing since birth, were almost useless to him. Almost, since you never know what the future holds.
Anyway, it won't be a lie to say that due to leftover memories of Voldy from his soul shard and Ryan's ventures in the wizarding world had limited his vision for magic, even after him having almost imagination-based magical power.
He even felt appalled for unconsciously limiting his vision like the idiotic wand wavers he despises. While nothing major, he was unconsciously following many magical theories even while using his mana and tended to ignore dark curses.
...Well, there was a reason he was ignoring the dark curses normal wizards used. Ryan could mimic their effects without the required spells, but using the curses made him feel... off. And he trusted his instincts.
And his instinct was now proven correct after his recent discovery of one of Merlin's grimoires. Ryan had found spells depicting the same uses as the three unforgivable curses of Magical Britain.
Well, Magical Britain specifically, as many countries had other spells held unforgivable as well, like Portego Diabolica by MAUSCA. But that could be discussed later.
The uses of three spells designed by Merlin had the same effect as Crucio, Imperio, and AK, but their severity was decreased, and they had particular uses for them. Training.
Yes, these spells were designed to train wizards to break through their limits and get stronger. The first was used to agitate the body to improve its condition and connection to magic, the second was used to train the mind to make it sharper and impenetrable, and finally, the last one was to sense the pain impacted on the strings connecting one's soul to their body which helped them sense their soul and strengthen it as well as it's connection to the body.
Mind, body, and soul, are all enhanced by magic for the evolution of wizards to arch-wizards. Ryan could also consider himself an arch-wizard, except in his case, there were many elements that had impacted him once he became an obscurial, while the spells were used to help the best of the best wizards with multiple decades of experience as the normal spells would have the same result as the unforgivables.
In fact, Ryan now had a good idea of who might have created the Unforgivable. Morgan La Fey, the destroyer of Pendragon's house. It wasn't hard to reach this conclusion, but he could be wrong. Still, the fact that the very spell designed to make wizards reach new heights had been the base for spells that caused fear for centuries was... just sad.
Ryan had also found many notes about different realms and their inhabitants, as well as different dimensions. He also found multiple notes on the topic of gods. There were also many filled with Dragons and their biology. The properties of their scales, blood, etc, as well as the benefits of just staying near dragons. Merlin described them as creatures given life by magic themselves.
Then there were books mentioning hells. Yes, multiple. Each is different, yet similar. Merlin was an Incubus and had written extensively about... everything. On a side note, the spellwork he had seen on the Phoenix stand seemed to somewhat match the pattern of hell-based spells, but not quite. No, his instinct told him it was similar yet different. Ryan wondered if he could evolve his instinct into clairvoyance due to how it seemed to work, but decided to try that later.
After that, there was the new branch of magic which had very few notes. Dimensional magic. Using magic to synchronize with ambient dimensional energy to manipulate it. Merlin wrote about spells and the realms he could access to them, and many beings he had met. Ryan had gulped seeing names of realms he knew about before. There were names like Swathferheim, Jotunheim, Alfheim, and many more. Ryan already had some idea about them through Loki's memories and wondered what the dimensions of this world would be like.
All in all, one thing was certain. Ryan had finally found ways to increase his speed of development which had become extremely slow and found places that could become his farm for the Shadow Army. But first, he needs to get stronger. If the monsters in these realms were as strong as Fafnir, he would be dead before even stepping there.
"Still... why did Merlin leave behind so much information? It's almost as if... he knew someone would inherit the Pendragon bloodline." Ryan's belief in this theory was even more solidified due to his actions of putting Excalibur on the pedestal when he arrived.
Ryan was curious as to how the pedestal had reacted to Excalibur, a sword that should not exist in this world, and his discovery made him baffled. The tablet before had nothing to do with the core. The pedestal with the indent for a sword was the only way to gain ownership of the castle. What's more, it didn't matter what kind of sword Ryan had inserted in it as long as it would have fit the shape.
Ryan was questioned why in the world would one of the greatest wizards leave behind such a sloppy method of granting ownership. And he arrived at one single conclusion. The shape of Excalibur being the same as the indent was not a coincidence. Merlin most definitely knew the future. That, or he had lost his mind after designing the castle.
But now Ryan was more worried about fate. His fate. Was he also bound by some prophecy? He didn't know... But there was no use worrying about it. Ryan had Aria create multiple shadows and left them in Avalon as well as the founder's mansions.
They primarily were there for ease of teleportation by shadow exchange, but also had a second job. The shadows in Avalon were there to take orders from Aura and collect materials. It was an area filled with strong Dragons. And the entire ecosystem of that area had evolved accordingly as well. Even mundane plants and animals have gained unique magical properties. Using Aura's knowledge of the island, Aria had the shadows collect what was required for research as well as gluttony.
Another advantage was the dragon materials. As Albion had said, Dragons loved to fight. And while their shed scales and blood were of no use to them, they were to Ryan. Well, more exactly, they would help him make items that he could use to help his non-shadow army and family, like the ritual he had agreed to Dora when Anromeda became his legal guardian.
And Ryan had indeed decided to get himself some... underlings? People like Regina, that is. While he was enjoying his childhood dream of acting cool, he could more or less see the advantages of having a loyal group under him. The wizarding world is filled with fools and their antis and snobbishness were too much for Ryan to handle, so it's better to have people who can do it for you.
And Ryan had a good idea who his next minion would be since she was captured just now.
*Albania*
Many men in hooded red robes and black masks with four eyes surrounded a ritual circle, in the middle of which lay many creatures as they bled, and in the middle was a snake quite large to be considered normal. One of the men with a slightly different robe came to the center near the snake while the others surrounded the circle, as they started chanting.
The said animals were barely conscious, yet all had either lost the light in their eyes or glared at the men.
{O, sire of evil, heed our call!
Take lives of the accursed and fall,
Bless this one with y-}
But in the middle of the chant, a black sword struck the ritual circle, and the unique sword negate all magic channeled through it.
"Wha-"
"NO"
"SOMEON-"
The cultists panicked and drew their magic foci, with some wielding staffs and bracelets. The animals drained of their blood stared blankly at their captors panicking as they were neutralized by a potion.
"WHO DARES TO-" One of them yelled, only for a sword to fly and pierce his head, killing him.
"NOOO, DAMN Y-" Followed by another.
"WHAT THE HE-" And another.
The idiots kept yelling one after another, only for a sword to fly from the shadows and pierce their heads. No matter how many shields they put up, only one sword was needed to pierce them all.
In the end, only the head of the group and four more cultists were left. Their legs kept trembling from fear of what they had just witnessed. Footsteps resounded behind them, making them turn and the last scene they saw were burning green eyes staring into their soul.
*Meanwhile*
All cultists had stopped chanting and were screaming while standing still, but one by one they stopped and dropped down. This was the result of Grim's illusion magic, trapping them all in a mental world. Aria read relevant information from each of them, and killed them in the mental world, making the cultists' brains stop functioning due to the sudden shock, effectively killing them without a trace of his involvement.
The snake, unlike most animals, had some consciousness and stared at the frozen guys falling one after the other, and the green-eyed man that broke the ritual and was healing them. She didn't know who he was, but as the healing light enveloped her, she fell asleep.
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