3 Travels II

I travelled South through Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Iraq, Syria, Saudi Arabia, and then eastwards through Iran. Those are of course the modern names and not how they are known today. They were called Scythians, then where Irak, Iran, Turkey and Syria would be, was the Achaemenid Persian Empire, and in Saudi Arabia the Arabian tribes. 

I met a particular tribe when I wandered through Arabia. They weren't hostile but suspicious at first. I could tell that they were magicians, so I performed some magic to show them we were the same. 

Up to that point, I had journeyed far already and collected many different magical plants and trees. I also found a few magical beasts, which I placed in my home. 

My wand-making skills have grown a lot and I have made different types of wands already. I wanted first to try out all of them but thought better of it. I decided to go about it methodically. 

Up to that point, I had gathered and planted saplings for Acacia, Cherry, Dogwood, Hawthorn, Pear, Redwood, Snakewood and Walnut. It was harder to find wand-making wood than I thought. 

As for the cores I found or gathered they were Troll whiskers, I found a Troll in Russia surprisingly. But it does make sense that magical beasts changed their habitat over the years, especially this far into the past. 

Dittany Stalk, Rougarou hair, which I thought was native to America but I found one and brought it to my home, Kneazle whisker and Fairy wings, which I also encountered and managed to convince to come to my home and live there. They are enjoying themselves a lot I believe. 

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I began to combine each of the wood with every core and made different variations of each one. I came to agree with most of the evaluations that Garrick Ollivander had made for the woods, but I also came to some different conclusions. I was a bit special because there was nothing I couldn't learn or do given time. And even if Acacia was an unusual wand wood, that made for tricky wands that often refused to produce magic for anyone other than their rightful owners, I was still able to use it. 

I practised with it and the wood gave in eventually. And rather quickly as well. Every wood, no matter which one, could be used by me and the core also didn't matter at all. I did notice the initial reaction of a wand usually represented their reaction to a normal wizard. But since I am special, that feeling of not being the right one, passed. 

I noticed that Pear wood was the worst wood for me to use in a wand. I could use it, but the results were the worst out of the woods I had already collected. Pear produced wands of splendid magical powers, which give their best in the hands of the warm-hearted, the generous and the wise. I was none of those things. 

Snakewood was a sly wood. The fact that I can say this about a tree is amusing, but it's true. Just like the name suggests, snakewood is often home to snakes. They would try to bite me and kill me when I wanted to gather saplings of the snakewood. I thought it was good to have and now that I have it, I still think it's just good to have. There is nothing really remarkable about it unless you have a strong connection to snakes and I do not. 

The best results I had were with Cherry wood. They were quite powerful and lethal for that matter. The core did matter, but not as much as I thought. What was necessary was exceptional self-control and strength of mind, both things I had in spare. 

So right now, I am using a Cherry wood wand with a dittany stalk core. It is a strange combination, but it works best for me right now. I change things up every few months so it doesn't matter. 

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As I wandered through Arabia and met one such magical tribe, I was welcomed rather warmly after they found out I possessed magic as well. They invited me to eat with them and to travel with them. My ability to learn new things is unmatched and it took me all of a day to learn their language.

I told them about my travels and my goals during this journey. I told them about the wand woods, magical creatures and plants I was collecting and looking for. They were surprised that I used a wand to perform magic because they didn't do that. They used a magical foci and held it in their hands to then do what they wanted. They were alchemists.

I was fascinated and began to ask them questions. They were glad to answer all of them and in doing so, they allowed me to advance very fast in this branch of magic. 

Alchemy was a branch of magic and an ancient science concerned with the study of the composition, structure and magical properties of the four basic elements, as well as the transmutation of substances; it was thus intimately connected with Potion-making, chemistry, and transformation magic. So this was my first time actually seeing transfiguration. I still hadn't touched it, since I had so much else to do instead. 

Alchemy also concerned philosophy; one interpretation of alchemical literature, which was known to be dominated by mystical and metaphysical speculation, was that the study of Alchemy was symbolic of a spiritual journey, leading the alchemist from ignorance, which was the base metal, to enlightenment, which was gold.

The best-known goals of the alchemists were the transformation of common metals into gold, a phenomenon called chrysopoeia, or silver, the creation of a panacea, a remedy that would cure all diseases and prolong life indefinitely, and the discovery of a universal solvent.

At least two of the three primary alchemical goals were achieved by the famed French alchemist Nicolas Flamel sometime in or after the 14th century, with his creation of the Philosopher's Stone and, by extension, the Elixir of Life.

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As they told me more and more about Alchemy, I came to understand that this was heavily dependent on chemistry and also an understanding of magic. I started to create theories of how to best create a Philosopher's Stone. And what I came up with, was not something that threw a good light on Nicolas Flamel. After staying with the tribe for a few weeks, I left to continue my journey. They were so nice to tell me about the wood and magical creatures in the area.

On my journey, I went over the theory I came up with. When thinking about Alchemy and how to create a Philosopher's Stone, I came across the hardest branch of magic, Transfiguration. First, let's go over the general gist of things.

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Transfiguration allows a witch or wizard to change the form or appearance of their target via the alteration of its molecular structure. Transfiguration could be done to most (if not all) objects and, as with most forms of magic, it included — but was hardly limited to — Transfiguration spells; it could be used to change an object into a completely different object, change a living creature into an entirely different species, as well as change inanimate objects into living creatures and vice versa.

It was also possible to change things back. Conjuring things out of thin air, making things vanish into thin air, and making two things switch places were also elements of transfiguration.

Transfiguration spells were distinguished from charms in that a charm added to or changed the properties of an object, while transfiguration changed the object itself; it focused on altering what the object was as opposed to what the object did.

Transfiguration is a very difficult theory-based subject; a very systematic and exact magical discipline, deemed exceptionally hard work and regarded as more scientific than any other form of magic, working best for those of a scientifically inclined mind.

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Now, that is all good, but what are the limitations? Can I not create gold out of any metal, if I understand its atomic structure, and weight and have enough power?

A limitation was that Conjuration was principally limited by the Five Principal Exceptions to Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration. The first (and only known) of these was the restriction that one could not conjure food, though, pre-existing food could be charmed in certain ways — it could be enlarged, summoned from another location, or even multiplied. However, food could not be "made from thin air".

Similarly, Wizarding law set legal limitations on what one was and wasn't allowed to conjure. Finally, even if it was both possible and legal to conjure something, it would ultimately never last. So that was the problem, it would ultimately not last. The time it would take for the transfiguration to be reversed depended on the magic power you put into it. 

So the answer to the question, of whether it is possible to create gold out of any other metal, using transfiguration is indeed answered. The answer is yes, but it would turn back later. But why was that? 

And the answer to this is very simple. It's a lack of magic energy. Magic energy is what allows transfiguration in the first place. So when you want to transform or conjure something, you need magic energy to perform this feat. Energy can't be destroyed, only transformed. That's simply physics. So the answer to all those 'limitations' is ... you have too little magic energy that you can trade and use for a permanent transfiguration or conjuration.

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So how is a Philosopher's Stone created? That is also very simple. The Philosopher's Stone is a massive amalgamation of magic energy which allows permanent transfiguration. But how did that much energy come together to form a stone?

Simple, a ritual. 

Equal Exchange is the keyword here. The thing that has the most magic energy in the world, is the soul. Our dear 'friendly' Nicolas Flamel must have sacrificed thousands of human or animal souls to have them come together and turn them into the Philosopher's Stone. That's probably also why the stone is red. 

What is my reaction and answer to all of this? 

I say: So what? If I don't have enough magical power, then I'll just grow stronger until I do have enough. There are times and places where it seems morally okay to do such a ritual. And the few times, I can think of that, is World War II for example. The world would be better off without one or two million Nazis, that's for sure. 

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But that's not important right now. I am focusing on my own magical prowess. And it is going very well. Over the course of this last year I managed to learn all the Charms from the first to seventh year. It wasn't even that hard, my talent and learning speed is unreal. I came to understand that there seems to be a specific spell for almost every situation, and at the same time, it seems to be so stagnant when I watched the movies or read the books. 

I also don't seem to have a limit to what I can do and how I can progress. As such I was able to take some of the Charms I learned to new heights, like 'Diffindo', the Severing Charm. I know that it is apparently important to spell the name correctly and to do the right Wand movements.

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But I asked myself, who decided that? Silent casting is possible and who tells me what is and what isn't possible? Only I do that. And since I am learning on my own, I will go with intent. And that's what I did. I managed to get to the level where dumb wand movement is not necessary and I do things only with intent. 

And I am working on doing that for all the Charms I learned. Apart from that, since I don't have a limit to my progress, thanks to my Essence, I am also working on making the spells stronger or increasing the number of things I can do with one spell alone. Keyword, intent.

If we stay with the Severing Charm, 'Diffindo', I want to progress with this Charm specifically until I can do something like Sukuna from Jujutsu Kaisen. Why am I limited to only severing one thing? I want to be able to sever as many things as I want or need. 

And things are going very well. Now that I am acquiring more wand woods and cores, I can create more variety. I will also dive deeper into transfiguration since that is a branch of magic that I really enjoy. I'll see what other magic communities I will find. 

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Please vote in the first chapter about which school you would prefer he creates later on. Just like the picture you prefer.