Chapter 1: Keeper in training

AN: Sorry about any grammatical mistakes. If you notice them, please tell me, and I will fix them as soon as possible.

3 years before Hogwarts:

That boy sitting cross-legged on that giant bed is Klaus. Currently, Klaus is meditating, slowly gathering mana inside his body and condensing it as much as possible.

You see, magical humans or homo-magi are capable of generating mana inside their bodies, but there is a limit. The human body can't store an unlimited amount of mana, but there is a way to increase the amount.

Most people use magic during their lives, which naturally increases their mana density. Some use a ritual that does this to some extent, but it is far from the best way to do it. A long time ago, somewhere in Asia, they discovered a method where a mage manually controls mana inside their body to condense it. When they condense it, their body starts producing more mana to fill the space that was left after releasing the condensed mana. They wait for it to integrate with the newly produced mana, and this becomes the normal density of mana in a mage's body. After that, they repeat the process. The more they do it, the faster they increase the amount of mana in their body.

Now, there is a limit to how much mana mages can have, but most magicals don't reach that limit until their fifties. There are multiple reasons for that, but the most important one is probably how hard it is to learn to feel mana inside the body. Normally, it takes years. As for Klaus, he has cheated by using a ritual.

The ritual strengthened his connection to his mana, allowing him to meditate much easier than a person who didn't undergo it. However, it didn't remove the limit of mana he can have because, well, that would kill him. But he was told that there are ways to extend that limit. Unfortunately, he can only do it when he is older. Also, it is important to mention that people have different limits, but that is the luck of a draw. Klaus most likely has an average limit. People with large limits are usually children of prophecy or heroes chosen by some higher power.

Now, how does a child know this much about magic? Well, that is an interesting story.

Let's start from the beginning. In the multiverse, there are three different energies that life forms use when they want to access what someone would describe as superpowers.

The purest forms of those energies are: life energy (energy that every living being possesses), soul energy (energy that comes from the soul), and lastly, magic energy (energy that is the source of all magic).

These energies manifest differently, sometimes even combining in some universes. But they all have one thing in common: they are infinite, and a mortal being could never comprehend all the ways they can be used. That is why they show up in different places as power systems.

Power systems are ways people try to understand and use these infinitely complex energies. Of course, most of those systems are flawed, and some of them are too specific.

Now, where does Klaus come into play with all this? Well, all these systems for different energies create a lot of knowledge that gets forgotten a lot of the time. To prevent that, there exist three keepers, one for each of the energies.

Klaus's role in this is simple. The previous keeper of the knowledge of mana was not immortal. He was some long-lived race, but even then, he reached his end. Not wishing to prolong it, he tasked the keeper of soul energy to find him a successor when he died.

Klaus is the ninth try. Yes, that is correct. Eight people before him got reincarnated

in a new body with the ability to use magic in a world with a magic system that is closest to what is furthest a non-higher being can come to being able to manipulate magical energy in full.

The life of a keeper is hard and full of adventures that can kill them. So candidates like Klaus are sent to a world like he was, and that world is sealed until the candidate is ready to become a keeper.

Now, Klaus is not totally unprepared. He was given something like an assistant. Well, it is basically a voice in his head that gives him books to study from. It pulls them out of the mana keeper's library. Of course, it has limitations and some rules it has to follow, but it is a good enough teacher.

That is about it. That is how a man who wished for an adventure got more than he bargained for. Eight people before Klaus failed, which means they died. Klaus has to give his all to avoid the same fate.

But let's go back to Klaus on the bed. After finishing his meditation, he stood up and started looking around. He moved towards where he could see nicely folded clothes, probably set there by one of the maids. That was something that took a while for him to get used to. He was reborn into a rich family.

"Probably should thank the soul keeper when I finally meet him or her."

His name now is Nicolaus Ectorius. His mother, Katarina, is a woman of Slavic descent whose parents were rich non-magical people and a witch who moved to Britain to run away from the magical Balkans. 'Mum won't tell me the whole story because I am too young, but I am pretty sure it has something to do with the vampires, purely because of mum's fear of them,' his mother works as a lawyer while his father comes from a wealthy family as well. But Klaus has no idea what he actually does for work. The only thing he knows is that it involves a lot of traveling.

Klaus's parents are absent a lot of the time, which allows him to dedicate his time to learning magic without having to worry about them. They, of course, know about it. It would be extremely hard to hide it. They even know about his role as a keeper hopeful. 'Apparently, they made some kind of deal with the soul keeper. That is as much as I got from my assistant.' Although they don't appear to know about him being a reincarnated soul, or they don't think it matters.

...

Anyway, Klaus's maternal grandmother was a magical practitioner, which left him with a house steeped in mana. This allowed for rituals to be conducted within its walls. There were a few books on magic in the house, as well as a potion laboratory, but there was an age ward that prevented Klaus from accessing them. It seemed impossible to take anything out of the library or the potion lab.

The books Klaus had access to in the house were mostly magical versions of fairy tales.

Since Klaus started showing signs of magic, his parents had a butler accompany him to the house and supervise him. When they had free time, they would go there with him. Klaus tried to avoid practicing magic in the house he lived in because his lack of control had led to the destruction of many electronics.

As for the greater magical world, Klaus's mother didn't know much. She wasn't born with magic, so she was never informed about it. She only knew that there was some kind of hidden society in Britain. Klaus decided not to investigate further until he was at least 15 and could defend himself. "Don't want to end up like my predecessors," he thought.

After getting dressed in a t-shirt and jeans left by a maid, Klaus examined himself in the mirror. Klaus, like most children his age, was cute and slightly taller than average. His assistant insisted that the ritual was responsible for that. One of the three rituals Klaus performed ensured that his body would grow as healthy as possible for a homo-magus.

One aspect not influenced by the ritual was his eyes. While the rest of Klaus's appearance was quite common in this part of the world—black hair and white skin—his eyes were unique. They were the colour of gold, and sometimes they would almost glow when he channeled mana. Apparently, that was a sign of a homo-magus. Some had peculiar eye colours, others had unusual hair, but most homo-magi had something that made them stand out from humans.

Turning away from the mirror, Klaus quickly surveyed his room to ensure he hadn't forgotten anything before heading towards the door.

Today, he would complete the final step before delving into more complex magic. Over the past year, Klaus had been learning to sense his mind, making it an instinctual process. This was the foundational level of mental protection for mages, allowing them to perceive their minds through the mana located in that area. If anything changed, such as someone's magic attempting to intrude, Klaus could set up a barrier to defend himself. At his young age, Klaus was not ready for higher levels of mental protection, so his assistant kept those details from him to prevent potential damage to his mind.

But all of that didn't matter today because he would perform a ritual that would help him discover his best-suited element and establish a connection to it.

Most individuals had at least one element that was most compatible with them. This didn't mean they couldn't use other elements, but casting spells with those other elements would be more challenging compared to the one they were naturally aligned with.

For instance, if a mage awakened their affinity for air but wanted to cast a fireball spell, they would need to invest more enchantments and mana into it than someone with a natural affinity for fire or even a mage who hadn't awakened any elemental affinity. They had to ensure that the fire wouldn't harm them before anything else, whereas someone with a natural fire affinity didn't have to worry about that. (Well, unless the spell was enchanted by someone else, but even then, the damage would be significantly smaller than for someone lacking that affinity.) (Author's Note: I will explain enchantments in detail in later chapters, but for now, you can think of them as the wandless version of charms.)

The ritual would reveal to Klaus his best-suited element and awaken it within him.

"Marcus, please prepare a car for me!" Klaus shouted as he rushed out of his room.

"Young master, please don't run inside the house, and you must eat before going anywhere," came a refined voice from downstairs.

"Okay, I'm coming," Klaus replied, changing his direction towards the kitchen.

This was one of the smaller homes owned by Klaus's parents. They spent most of their time here, and Marcus served as Klaus's butler, bodyguard, and babysitter. He had been taking care of Klaus since he was born. There were also two maids in the house, Ana and Helen, responsible for cleaning and preparing meals.

After a quick breakfast, Marcus inquired, "Where would you like to go, Young Master?"

"Grandma's home," Klaus answered. Marcus appeared slightly uncomfortable upon hearing that, but he still accepted the request. His unease probably stemmed from Klaus's previous rituals, which involved the use of blood, and Marcus didn't like seeing Klaus cut himself.

"Very well, the car will be ready in ten minutes."

...

After an hour, Klaus was finally in front of his grandmother's house. The house, built only from stone and wood, didn't look like much. In fact, it resembled any hunter's log cabin you could find.

As it had been explained to Klaus, this was because the enchantments and runes that composed the house's wards were best suited for natural materials. Wards were an interesting concept. Klaus had previously thought of wards as a dome that would surround a property, but it turned out that warding a house wasn't that different from enchanting a sword. The wards were integrated into every part of the house, and while the protective dome existed, it would only shield the house when it was under attack. The rest of the time, the wards wouldn't interact with anything that wasn't part of the house or inside it.

Although the house appeared small from the outside, the interior was quite the opposite. After entering, Klaus made his way towards the spiral staircase that would take him to the ritual room at the top of the house.

Upon reaching the room, Klaus turned to Marcus. "Marcus, please wait for me outside. This will take a few hours, so feel free to relax or do whatever you do when I'm not looking," he said with a cheeky smile.

Marcus, while inwardly rolling his eyes, stoically replied, "As you wish, young master. Please be careful." The last part carried a hint of worry.

"Don't worry, Marcus, I always am." Marcus didn't seem convinced, but he still left Klaus alone.

Left to himself, Klaus removed a rug that was covering a marble platform brought in a few days prior. He took a chisel and began following the instructions from the book that had inexplicably appeared in front of him.

[Be careful, your inscriptions must be as close to perfect as possible.]

"I know, I've been practising for this."

Slowly, Klaus first inscribed a large pentagram on the platform. Then, at the top point of the pentagram, he inscribed:

ᛊ - Sowilo: This rune represents the sun, light, energy, and life force. It symbolises spiritual awakening, personal power, and the divine spark within.

This rune represented the spirit of the one who would perform the ritual. Next, on the top-right side, he inscribed:

ᚠ - Fehu: This rune symbolises wealth, abundance, and primal fire. It represents transformative energy, passion, creativity, and the spark of life.

This rune represented fire. On the opposite side, he inscribed the opposite rune for water:

ᛚ - Laguz: This rune represents the element of water, intuition, emotions, and the ebb and flow of life. It symbolises deep wisdom, healing, and the unconscious mind.

On the bottom left, he inscribed a rune for air:

ᚫ - Ansuz: This rune represents communication, divine inspiration, and the breath of life. It signifies the power of words, intellect, and the exchange of ideas.

And on the opposite side, he inscribed one for earth:

ᛟ - Ehwaz: This rune represents the element of earth, stability, and endurance. It signifies harmony, grounding, and the connection to nature and the physical realm.

Finally, in the middle of the pentagram, he inscribed a rune for power that would spread the mana throughout the pentagram and initiate the ritual:

- Ketsu: This rune is from the Japanese language and represents the concept of connection, union, and binding. It signifies the power of relationships, both interpersonal and spiritual, and the strength that comes from unity.

This ritual was created by combining multiple magical scripts to achieve the best results.

After completing the inscriptions, Klaus removed his clothes and took the ritual knife left by his grandmother. He stood in the middle of the pentagram.

He took a few deep breaths to center himself, then made a small cut on his hand and let the blood fall onto the power rune.

The blood of a magi carries their mana within it and is one of the easiest ways to access it. That's why blood magic was one of the first magics created and why it is so dangerous to let someone have a Magi's blood. It remains connected to the magi, and unless a specific ritual is performed, it will stay that way, no matter how long or far it is from them.

When Klaus's blood fell onto the rune, the entire pentagram lit up. Different runes then started to light up in various colours. Gradually, the reddish-orange hue of the fire rune began to overtake everything, until the pentagram was completely bathed in reddish-orange light. When it was done, the mana seemed to be drawn from Klaus into the ritual and then returned to his body, transformed.

Throughout this process, Klaus felt as if his body was engulfed in flames. At some point, he started screaming, and Marcus rushed into the room. However, he couldn't get close to Klaus due to the intense heat he was emitting.

Suddenly, everything stopped. The last remnants of mana seemed to flow back into Klaus, and he collapsed unconscious.

...

Klaus woke up a few days later in a hospital bed. As he opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was his mother sleeping on a chair next to him.

[As you are finally awake.]

'What happened?'

[Just the ritual. You awakened fire as your element. Unfortunately, it is one of the more painful elements to awaken, and this particular ritual had a greater impact on your body compared to some other versions.]

'More impact! What do you mean?'

[Well, your body temperature is higher than that of a normal human or magi, and you won't have to worry about feeling too hot or too cold.]

"Klaus, baby, you're awake!" Just as Klaus's assistant finished speaking, his mother noticed that he was awake.

"Hey, Mum. Yes, I am. What happened? Where am I?"

"Marcus called us as soon as he got you out of Mum's house. You performed your ritual, but it seems to have been painful. You didn't sustain any injuries, but you were unconscious for three days.

Oh, baby, you worried us so much." After saying the last part, she hugged Klaus tightly.

"Mum, I can't breathe!" As she let him breathe, Klaus continued, "Sorry for worrying you. I didn't know this would happen, but this is my last ritual, so it won't happen again, I promise."

"OK, just be careful. Your father and I love you very much."

"OK, Mum. How are you here anyway? Shouldn't you be at work?"

When Klaus said that, his mother gave him a stern look. "You are more important than anything. I took a few days off. Unfortunately, your father couldn't. He is overseas.

So, how did your ritual turn out anyway?"

"Oh, I awakened fire."

...

A few days later, Klaus stood outside his grandmother's house.

[Now, try the magic bolt spell.]

"Okay," Klaus began gathering mana for the spell but stopped abruptly. "Something is weird. My mana feels different."

[Just ignore it and cast the spell.]

Klaus followed the instruction, gathering mana in front of his outstretched hand, but instead of a blue mana bolt, a fire bolt manifested.

"Wow! What is going on?"

[Since you have awakened fire, the mana produced in your body has changed. It is now more fiery in nature. The first step in your learning will be to create the pure mana bolt. After that, we will move on to some basic fire spells, and then you will begin learning enchantments.]

"Wow, that's a lot. What do you mean by 'plain' fire spells?"

[Plain fire spells refer to pure fire manipulation spells without any enchantments added to them. They provide a foundation upon which you can build your spells. However, plain elemental spells are ineffective on their own. They can be useful if you infuse them with excessive amounts of mana, but that would be wasteful.]

"I see. Well, let's begin then!"