Chapter 16

It took Harry a while to convince her that he didn't mean it in a perverted way. Not that he wouldn't mind if she offered it. Arya was a very beautiful woman, like most elves were.

Once she believed him, he let her choose to let her rest. Tomorrow was another day.

From the books, he remembers that beauty was something the elves put much value in.

They were immortal; at least from an aging perspective, they could still be killed with a sword or spell. But their longevity made them value different things than humans. Their culture and views were quite different from mortal ones.

Elves were also strong, naturally stronger than humans, and their long lives allowed them to master many crafts beyond the level of any mortal, from art and poetry to different crafts or even their weapons.

Whatever they chose for a hobby, yes, a hobby, immortality was long; they were beyond mortal masters.

'What great skill essences they would give.' Harry mused to himself as he walked back to a distant chamber.

He didn't close his store but put an alarm ward, one of the simpler wards, on the door. If someone should enter, he would be notified; there was another matter he wanted to test.

The chamber he had entered was a large hall he had carved out of the mountain; it served as his training chamber to experiment with his skills and spells.

Harry indeed didn't speak the ancient language, but he still remembers a few words from when he read the books in his past life.

The important question was: could he learn the magic and skills from other worlds himself, or did he have to trade for them with a contract?

Pointing his hand at one of the walls, he formed the image of a small ball of flames shooting against the wall. The image of the flames using the air for combustion was always present in his mind, and he said, "Brisingr!"

A small ball of fire hit the wall, leaving a black burn mark on it.

[ Skills Aquired! ]

[ Ancient Language Mastery (Novice) Lv. 1: You know a few words of the ancient language. Higher mastery of the language allows you to shape your magic more easily. It also allows you to guess the true name of every being. A true name gives you control over the thing or being. Only truth can be spoken, and your words have power. [Choose them Wisely. ]

[ Gramarye Mastery (Novice) Lv. 1: You have a basic understanding of energy manipulation. Allowing you to use the entirety of your own energy in a more or less efficient manner to perform magic or skills.

Warning: This skill removed the standard mana limiter; once the user's MP is at 0, he will use his HP instead. ]

[ Skills leveled up! ]

[ Elementary Mastery: Fire (Expert) (Passive) has leveled to 32. ]

[ Casting Mastery (Expert) (Passive) Lv. 55. ]

'Oh, well, that's unexpected. At least I have a bigger pool for my spells now. Only I can die if I use too much at once.' Were his thoughts after reading through his new skills? It could become quite dangerous if he was careless. Especially since his HP was so much lower than his MP.

At the same time, it gave him new possibilities for his skill build. It was a good excuse to spread his stat points more into the VIT stat since it became his secondary mana pool. Even better was that each stat point in VIT granted him 10 HP by standard, while the standard INT ones gave only 5 MP.

Although his INT skills changed, there were probably similar skills for VIT too. He should try to grind his stats more before it becomes too hard to grind them by just working out.

Unfortunately, Harry had no idea how to focus on his VIT. It was the Stat that raised the slowest by only working out. Well, he had a good guess that his observations were only confirming, but it's annoying. He was no masochist.

The VIT stat usually rose while he was getting hit or in slight pain; for example, during his Spars in Winterfell, he got hit a few times, and that raised his VIT stat the fastest.

It was also a good sign that both magic systems weren't just independent from one another. His ethereal masteries were powerful skills, allowing him to use more powerful ethereal spells with less effort and manipulate them far easier.

But his casting mastery was the most useful one. Not only was it lessening the mana cost on all spells, it also made it easier to cast any form of magic.

At first, it just lessened his casting time, allowing him to cast spells faster, but later on, it removed the need for Wand movements, Incantation, and even the Wand itself on some spells.

It also overlaps with his magic affinity and magic manipulation skills, which he gained from raising his WIS stat. Lowering the requirements for casting even more. And it was only at the expert rank.

His observation told him that every mastery skill goes from novice, acquaintance, expert, master, legendary, and lastly, mythical rank. His highest skills were at Master yet, and the leveling speed of every rank becomes far slower but several times more powerful.

For his casting mastery, he had still Master, Legendary, and Mythical before him. At this point, he already could cast most of his spells silent and wandless, so what else was to come? Anywhere around him without moving his hand? Multiple spells at once?

He couldn't wait to reach it. It was a relief that other magic systems were also leveling his mastery. The lack of any spells to level had become a growing problem for him; without new spells, there was no mastery experience.

———

"I hope the food is to your liking." Harry asked the elf, sitting in his rudimentary kitchen with him, if he had filled the table with different vegetable and fruit dishes. At least he had tried to place what he had available.

"Thank you, Lord Potter. I didn't know you were aware of the customs of elves, since there are no elves in your own world." She said it politely as she loaded some salad onto her table.

"Oh, maybe not by name. But the children of the forest may be quite similar to your people. At least culture-wise. Although they are small in comparison, if the stories are to be believed, I am not sure if they still exist; they disappeared centuries ago." Harry replied conversationally, "And I am aware of many things. My unique abilities grant me some knowledge that I am able to trade."

Arya looked at him and said, "You often mention Trade. What is it exactly that you want from me? I am in your debt and wish to repay it. You also said you have information that would help my world."

"From your perspective, there are a few things I would want. Your long lives allow your people to master skills beyond the level of any ordinary human. Which would make you ideal teachers in many of them. I have heard you are a master of the sword. Teaching me and sparring with me should help me massively." Harry requested, while internally clapping his shoulder, 'Getting beaten up by a beautiful girl is not masochism! Or is it? I am doing it for the VIT and the grind!'

"That is acceptable. I can spar with you. But I need to leave as soon as possible. There are important matters I have to attend to." She said it with determination.

For Harry, it wasn't hard to guess what she was planning to do: "You mean to meet up with Brom and ensure the safety of the Dragon Egg?"

"You knew?"

"Like I said, though I won't reveal the exact details of my abilities, I have ways to know some information." Harry said, "Like, I know that the egg will be found by its fated rider and hatch soon."

"It will hatch? That is even more reason for me to leave as soon as possible. The new rider needs to be protected. He is the hope of Alagaësia." She said it with worry.

"He is safe. There was specifically an interference with your spell to send it to him. But he is with Brom. And soon I will be going on a journey to meet the Varden. This journey is important for his growth and to learn what it means to be a rider. Harry explained, which is the truth: "But one rider will not be enough to beat Galbatorix. The secret behind his power is not so simple."

"You know the secret behind Galbatorix Power? Do you know how many people are suffering under him? Are you trying to force me into something for the good of Alagaësia? Are you that greedy?" Arya asked, her emotions boiling over her wisdom.

"No, this is not the secret I want to sell to you. You would learn it either way. Your mother knows it; the mourning sage knows it, since it is the most guarded secret of his order. It doesn't change anything if you learn of it." Harry replied calmly, unbothered by her anger,

"Skilled Magic users are able to combine their power to perform powerful feats of magic." Meanwhile, dragon riders have the advantage of the air and are always two. But fighting Galbatorix is like fighting thousands of mages combined in one dragon rider. It's not something a single dragon rider or even two with an army of mages could just overcome."

"So you are telling me there is no hop."

"No, there is always hope. A good plan could do it. But it will inevitably become even harder. That is one of the secrets I want to sell to you. Why do you think Galbatorix has been so absent for 40 years? Why has he never pushed for Ellesméra with all that power in his hands?" Harry replied, "I can give you that and more."

"What do you want?" Arya asked with a tired sigh.

"From you personally, I want to learn the ancient language. And I want to visit Ellesméra and treat with your people. I want to establish a trade relationship with the Elves, the Dwarves, the Humans, and maybe even the Urgals. Now you ask, is the information really worth that much for you to teach me something not many humans know? Something like the ancient language could do so much damage in the wrong hands. Well, I pledge my help in the fight against Galbatorix. Because I am the person with the highest chance of beating Galbatorix in both our worlds."

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