Filler
A/N: Pat-reon: HelloDarkness07.
---
While the staff is soaking in Drugir's blood, I have one more task to get through. Dealing with the foreign memories in my mind. Essex, Howard, Zola, Schmidt, Hiiragi Kurosawa, and a couple more muggle scientists have their entire lives copied in a corner of my mind, which makes a total of 450 additional years of just foreign memories.
Thankfully, my mind is that of a telepath and it is literally designed to store foreign memories. My early steps into the study of Occlumency just helped it organise them properly.
But still, they're foreign memories, and most of them are completely useless to me. So, I'm going through this Ritual. I've waited on this one Ritual for 4 whole years, ever since I copied the memories of Howard Stark and now that I'm free from the cooldown, I cannot wait any longer.
Taking the Cauldron off of the flames, I drop two porcupine quills in it, stir three times counterclockwise, and smile, seeing the Potion settle down into a smooth sky blue colour.
The Memory Transference Potion. On its own, the Potion can just transfer a large number of Memories from one mind to another, without a risk of breaking the later mind. It was invented in the 18th century, after the Wizards realised that memories seen in the Pensive cannot be replicated.
Meaning, if I see someone's memories in a pensive, I cannot take my memories of the Pensive memories out of my mind. They can only be removed from the original mind.
The Memory Transference Potion directly copies all the memories into the mind of anyone who drinks the Potion, giving them all access to all the memories. Just one sip is all it takes to complete the process of transference. There was another Potion, an antidote to this one, that clears the mind of all the memories not your own, to create more space within the mind.
That one was called the Mind Cleansing Elixir, and I had it already prepared, in a small flask. I might not be bothered by the useless memories from the ones I've completely absorbed, but couldn't hurt to have it in hand.
Picking the Cauldron up, I start walking towards the Ritual Chamber, since this one does not actually need me to be outside. The Runes were already carved into the stone floor, so I sit down and begin.
I walk into the centre of the Ritual Circle, and place the Cauldron in the exact centre. I stand next to it, and bring a small copper plate out. Placing the copper plate under the Cauldron, in the space formed by the Cauldron's legs lifting it up, I take some dried Marijuana leaves from my pocket, and place it on the plate.
And then, I take the Elder Wand out.
I can't help but smile a bit, when it thrums in my hand in excitement. The Wand wants to be used, a lot. Everytime I use it, it becomes happy, but I know how it is. The Wand is addictive, its power is addictive. Every spell comes out stronger than I'm meaning to cast, every destructive spell causes more destruction than normally possible. This Wand works as a focus, as well as an amplifier for my Magic, and hence, it is a dangerous tool.
But, it is my sole wand currently, and so, I'm using it.
I put the Wand tip on the side of my forehead, and focus within. As I gently pull the wand away, a large blob of white smoke comes out with it. This orb contained all the useful memories of Nathaniel Essex. His knowledge, his experiments, his bases, his meeting with Apocalypse, his meeting with the Time travelling Mutants, all of it condensed into one single orb. I've left the useless memories out, like his life, wife and son.
While the Ritual won't change me to be more similar to Essex, I don't want to see how he experimented on his own son, or how his wife killed herself again and again, ingrained into my mind.
I gently tap the Cauldron's edge with the Elder Wand, and the white blob of memories falls down. Immediately, it disperses into the Potion, with the colour of the Memory Transference Potion turning a bit darker.
Placing the wand tip on my forehead, I next call up the Knowledge part of Stark's memories, and do the same. Then comes Red Skull, Arnim Zola, and Hiiragi Kurosawa (Kuronin). For most of them, I take just the knowledge part of their memories, which will change my mind(hopefully), to fully work like theirs.
But, for Hiiragi, I did.. more. He had two decades of training under the Hand's Nobu, which included survival training, stealth training, tracking, and a lot more. Then came his memories of the Hand bases in Europe, and those in Japan, since that is where Murakami is more focused in.
I can't do anything with the Hand now, but I will once I'm in the future. Hand, DOM, and MIS. Three organizations I need to take care of, all on my own. Great.
Shaking my head, I bend down, and with the twitch of my hand, light the Marijuana leaves on fire. Standing back up, I close my eyes, and spread my arms apart, the wand already in the Nowhere. And then, I say, "Begin."
Immediately, all the smoke from the Marijuana leaves speeds towards the bottom of the Cauldron, and through it, enters the Potion. The Potion begins bubbling, and swirling, and immediately, I'm sucked into the Cauldron.
The memories start from the last to the first, and hence, I see Hiiragi's training play out first. At the age of 5, Hiiragi was recruited by Nobu from a Karate Dojo, with his parents' approval. He was then taken to the Hand's training school, where he was taught alongside other children. They were taught hand to hand combat, Kunai and Shuriken throwing, Kunai fighting, Sword fighting, hunting, hiding, and a lot more, for 10 years. And then, when he was deemed better than most, Nobu took him on himself.
Nobu taught Hiiragi about Chi, and how to use it to your benefit. He also taught Hiiragi how to use his Chi to make his heart silent, dampening the sound that came out of your body completely. For 7 years, Hiiragi was taught to go from better, to the best amongst best. So much so, that just at the age of 30, when I fought him, Hiiragi was already amongst the top 10 fighters in the Hand.
I could feel my bones breaking everytime someone broke his bones, I could feel my muscles aching for every exercise he did. I could feel my own Magic mimic the Chi whenever I saw Hiiragi train with it.
I could feel everything he did in my own body, as I was getting all the benefits of his training without actually doing them.
I could also feel my mind changing a bit to think more like him, but it wasn't anything major. Even if the Hiiragi portion of my mind wants to attack the enemies on his back, my feral side will refuse to turn away from a good fight.
Then comes Arnim Zola. When his memories start, I feel my mind change with every new thing he learned. Nuclear Physics, Engineering, Quantum Mechanics, Biochemistry, I could feel my old memories of my old life making a lot more sense now. I could feel it in my bones, that I now have a method to harness the energy of any Infinity Stone I want, thanks to Zola's memories of doing so to the Tesseract. Then came Red Skull, and finally Nathaniel Essex.
One by one, I get all the memories ingrained into my mind, into my muscles. After Essex's memories are done with, I finally open my eyes, finding myself laying on the floor of the Ritual Chamber, having no idea when I was spit out.
The Potion was all gone, used up in the Ritual, and so was the Marijuana. As I stand up, I smile, immediately able to recall everything that everyone of my Mind copy victims had learned.
"So much knowledge in your mind, Essex, and you chose to pursue revenge against a God?" I whisper, staring at my hand.
With a kickflip, I get up, and immediately do a corkscrew. Conjuring two swords, I run around, cutting through imaginary enemies with a single strike each, and finally, stop once again in the middle. All the while, I made not a single sound.
Closing my eyes, I focus on my heart, and gently stop it from pumping blood loudly, instead forcing it to do it slowly with the help of my Magic. One beat every minute. The blood flow is so slow, that even I find it hard to hear it, despite it being in my own body.
That's all thanks to Chi. The Personal Energy within every living being, Chi. For me, my Personal Energy is already there and in large amount. But, it can mimic the effects of Chi thanks to the memories now ingrained within myself.
And while the effects are not too strong, Chi is an impressive Energy. Dampening the Heartbeats, slowing down breathing, strengthening limbs for stronger attacks, strengthening body for tougher defence, hardening Muscles to not tire up too early. And the finishing move, gather all Chi in your body at one point, and use that point for attack.
Like what the Kuronin had done to me with his fist. This, however, tires you out too much for any Chi attacks later.
Ninjas are awesome, is all I can say.
Well, time to begin training with these new Ninja memories. The Scientist memories are more for my brain than anything else. Essex's memories will sure come in handy trying to find out what's wrong with the Elves, while his and Zola's memories will help me figure out a way to cure them.
---
7 days later, I go towards the Barrel of Dragon blood that's sitting outside the Castle. The 10 days of soaking are up, and now, it's time to pick my staff.
Opening the barrel, I put my right hand directly inside the blood, and just flex my hand. Immediately, something smacks into my palm, and I pull it out. I was holding on to the staff in the middle, and it still looked the same as before. Only now, there were a few veins of red blood within the Eye. They will fade away with time, I can tell.
Feeling it hum happily in my hand, I take a step away from the barrel of blood, and raise the staff up into the air. And the effect is immediately.
A wave of Magic flows over from my hand to the staff, causing the Eye to shine brightly in a silver light, mixed with red. I hear the screech of a dragon go out all around me, as the staff automatically starts get pulled down, towards the ground. As soon as the staff slams its butt into the ground, the ground itself shakes, as a circle of orange fire forms around me.
These flames then start spinning fast, forming into a tornado, and then with a whoosh, they disappear back into the Staff's eye.
I smile, when the Staff matching is done, having shown me a good enough reaction. It resonates with the Magic of my hand, as if it wants to be used immediately, and well.. who am I to say no?
Pointing the Staff head at a tree in the distance, I focus internally, and whisper, "Destroy."
Immediately, a ball of thick purple magic emits out of the Staff...
...and slams into my stomach, sending me flying back into the Castle door, sans my staff.
"Ugh!" I groan, as my stomach heals from the giant hole that had just been carved into it. "I really need to train to use a Staff, don't I?" I ask myself, sighing in annoyance.
I hold my hand out towards the staff, and smile as it comes flying to my hand. There's a soft hum, as if the Staff is sorry for harming me, which is what caused me to smile.
"I know, we both have a lot to learn before we can get competent. So.. let's get to it, shall we?" I say, to the staff, and to myself.
Time for a training montage!
---
"This.. is weird." I mumble, looking at the illusion of Kultur's DNA strand floating in the air in front of me.
Beside it, floated another DNA strand, belonging to another House Elf called Holar. Holar was an old Elf, almost 80 years old, in fact, where Kultur was barely 40 years old. Holar was found by Kultur in a forest in Greece. The forest is apparently a hotspot for Freed Greek Elves, where they go to die.
And Kultur found Holar there just in time to prevent his suicide by a crocodile, and offered him job here, with me. He was too old to do any hard jobs, so I'd hired him for the Greenhouses, to take care of my plants.
Anyway, the reason for my shock is that their DNA doesn't make sense, even with Essex's knowledge now ingrained in my mind. Most of their Genetic data is normal, what I'd expect of someone living. But there were a few markers that told me that the two Elves are not completely natural, as if they were clones.
Then there was the result of an Ancestry Ritual. I'd done the same Ritual for both the elves, trying to gain the complete Genealogy record of both Kultur and Holar up to 3000 years back.
But, for Kultur, the Ritual just stopped showing results at around 950 years ago, and for Holar around 1000 years ago. I didn't have any of Blinky's blood, but I assume it'll be the same for her too.
Which means the House Elves, as they are now, didn't exist until around 1000 years ago. So.. what happened then? How did they come alive? Did they just.. form into existence?
No, the Clone markers wouldn't have appeared then.
So, someone took the blood, or flesh, or something from someone else, and created these Elves.
Sighing, I wave my hand to turn everything off, and disapparate out of there, appearing in front of the Magical Library of Alexandria. Walking in after conjuring a lumos orb, I knock on the door, and enter.
"Please tell me you found something about Elves, because what I found doesn't make sense." I say, when I see Master Onuris working on some translation or the other.
Master Onuris looks up, frowning, and asks, "First tell me what did you find."
I shrug, and sit down. He's not going to tell anyone, I doubt it. I say, "The House Elves, as a breed, didn't exist until around 1000 years ago. They were created to mimic someone else, I believe. But why, and whom, I have no idea."
Master Onuris sighs, and says, "I was afraid of that. I did find something a few months ago in the Temple of Osiris, hidden very deep within the Library. But, I didn't believe it myself until you told me this."
And with that, he pulls something out of a drawer, and hands it to me. A scroll, a single scroll.
I look at him in disbelief, since this scroll can't have that much information, can it?
Scoffing, Master Onuris says, "Open it, and then decide whether it is worthless or not."
Rolling my eyes, I click the clasp open, and spread the Scroll on the table in front of us. I blink in surprise as soon as I see it.
"It's a tale, written in Hieroglyphics." I voice out loud, a bit surprised. And then, I begin to read.
"Long ago, in the lands of the Pharoahs, there existed an Alchemist of the highest calibre. He never married, never had children, and chose to focus only on his studies. But, so much of his time was wasted on doing daily chores, that he felt could have been better spent in his chambers, studying.
And so, he created an Enchanted Golem. In a long Alchemical Ritual that used the blood of the Light Elves of old, this Golem was formed out of the very Earth itself. The blood of the Light Elves had some influence, however, and the Golem took the shape similar to a Light Elf. But, the Magic within the Ritual wasn't enough to completely mimic the Light Elf, and so, the new Elf Golem was.. small. He had created this.. Brown.. Elf to work as his servent, his maid, gardener, and his cook, all in one.
He connected the tiny Brown Elf to his own Magic, and taught it to use simple spells, so that it could take care of the house for him, take care of the chores. While he worked in his Chambers, the Elf worked the chores. It cooked food for him, washed his clothes, washed the utensils, and cleaned the house. It also took care of the herbs and plants the Alchemist had, after some teaching.
In just 10 years, the Alchemist went from relatively infamous, to famous all around River Nile. His success brought attention to the cause of it, and other Mages came to know about the Brown Elf. A servent made completely out of Mud, that took care of all the Alchemist's chores.
Soon, other people began to ask for a Brown Elf of their own, and the Alchemist, happy to earn more Silver, accepted the order. Within a year, he had replicated his feat multiple times, and created 10 more Brown Elves, and connected them to the Magic of the Buying Mages.
Within 3 more years, the number of Brown Elves had gone up to 1000, and people from all over the world came to him to buy them. The man became rich and greedy, and abandoned Alchemy in favour of becoming even richer. He began getting arrogant, which caused him to anger many a people."
I pause before continuing, already knowing where this story will go next.
"Some of them got together, and killed him. They stole his life's work, his texts and tomes, and even the blood of the Light Elf that had been in his family's possession for centuries. One of them, an Alchemist of some repute, began working on creating a Brown Elf of his own.
Unfortunately, he was not as well versed in Alchemy as the Alchemist was, and hence, the Elves were born.. different. Just by being born, they not only began to change themselves, these Elves began to change the other, previous Elves. They began to evolve.
In 100 years, all the Brown Elves evolved to speak, they began to understand. They had become truly living, and were slowly becoming even more sentient.
Just like the Alchemist before them, these people were also killed by more greedy people, and the Ritual to create the Golems was lost, having burned down in one of the fights, leaving just shy of 2000 Brown Elves in the entire world.
Within the next 100 years, the Brown Elves managed to breed with each other, and the next generation of Elves was born. These Elves weren't completely mud brown, but a lighter shade. And these elves began to evolve further. They had some emotions, but more importantly they had Magic of their own.
Unfortunately, no matter how much they had evolved, they couldn't evolve past their purpose. And that purpose was to serve their Masters, to serve Mages. And so, even after the Ritual to create the Elves was lost, the Brown Elves continued to find families to work for.
In 20 years of searching, I couldn't find a way to free them completely. But, I did find a way to free them from their current master. I used my Mind Magics to convince my Brown Elf that if I give him a piece of cloth, he will be freed from my services. While it did work as intended, and people got to know of this fact, my Elf disappeared, never to be seen again.
The Power of Belief convinced everyone around, person and elf, that granting a piece of cloth to the Elf frees them from their Enslavement. But, the Elves don't want Freedom from their sole purpose. And so, having nothing to do now, most of the freed Elves killed themselves.
Everyone needs purpose in their lives, and I've fulfilled mine. I found a way to free the Elves from the Alchemist's curse. Alas, I also doomed the freed ones to their deaths."
"It's a journal? Who's?" I ask, looking up at Master Onuris.
Master Onuris looks towards the door, and says, "His name has been removed from any and all texts within the Temple, I'm afraid. Someone tried really hard to remove all evidence of the creation of the House Elves, and I'm afraid they've succeeded. This.. is the only manuscript that even mentioned their history, and the only reason it survived is because of its nondescript appearance."
I nod, and roll the scroll back up. This makes sense, the House Elves were artificially created around 1000 years ago. This explains the difference between the bloods of Kultur and Blinky, and the Clone Markers. It seems the Alchemist cloned a Light Elf in 1050 BC. Must've been the first of its kind.
But, he created the Brown Elves out of the Ground itself. Hmm.. I'm guessing some God or the other had a hand in this, why else would the Elves evolve to speak in just 100 years, and to breed in 200? One mother Goddess certainly comes to mind.
"Can I have this?" I ask Master Onuris, lifting the Scroll in my hand.
He nods, and says, "I've already copied the tale down in Ancient Egyptian. This knowledge is not something I want the people to know, because it can have some dangerous consequences."
Yeah, I can see people seeking out Light Elves to kill them and use their blood in Rituals of Golem creation.
The work part of the conversation done, I smile at Master Onuris, and say, "This is not the sole reason I came here. I finished crafting my staff."
Master Onuris perks up, and asks, "Can I see? From afar, of course."
Not minding it, I nod, and bring the staff out of Nowhere. I spin it around my arm, and as a few books float out of the shelves to spin around me, I say, "I'm still learning of course, aiming with a Wand is leagues easier than with a staff."
Master Onuris snorts, and says, "And the Staff is a better channel for your Magic. You must've noticed that less of your Magic is wasted when you cast with a staff than your wand."
I did, actually notice it. The Staff channels Personal Magic around 50% more efficiently than a wand. It was only after using this Staff that I came to realise exactly what made the Elder Wand so dangerous. It has the focusing benefit of a Wand, while also holding the Magical Potency behind the Staff.
What it means, is that, for every spell worth 60 units of Magic, I waste around 40 units into the air. So, for a spell worth 60 units, I use 100 units with a wand, making the efficiency just 60%.
And for my staff, the numbers jump up to around 90% efficiency, with a wastage of just 10 units. Of course, there's no way to accurately measure it, I'm just guessing by way of the power of my destruction.
As for the Elder Wand, there is no wastage of Magic, with the efficiency being 100%. Every bit of Magic you put into the spell is used in the actual spell, and nothing is let out into the air. This just makes my defeat of Grindelwald that much more impressive.
What can I say? I am an impressive Wizard.
Master Onuris observes the Staff for a while, and nods. He says, "I would advise showing the staff to an actual Crafter, so that they can see if there's any error. Neither I or you are experts in this field."
I nod, accepting the advice, and say, "Thank you, I might have to think this through."
After that, I return to Sanctuary, with new realisations in my mind. House Elves are Golems that gained sentience thanks to the Magic within them. Their subconscious mind however still believes that they need to work for Wizards, and that they need external Magic to survive, Magic that they can get in places of extreme Magic and near people.
And I doubt the Wizards want this to change, why let go of slaves that follow all their orders?
Power of Belief, hm? Maybe I can use this for my own benefit. I know Ororo once became a Goddess because of this Power of Belief. Maybe I can use this same Power of Belief to convince the Elves to stop working for Wizards?
It's difficult, not impossible, but at least now I know what direction to go in.
---
With a new problem on my mind, I continue travelling the world with little to no issues, to look for the Sands of Time, and for other Magical Creatures.
I'd kept visiting a Wand/Staff crafter on my to-do list, but didn't plan on actually going. I'm pretty confident in my Crafting, to be honest, and the Staff hasn't given me any problems as of yet.
Except for the aiming problem that went away after the first week, of course.
The Staff is an amazing Focus, and I'm saying this after using the Elder Wand. All the spells that I could use with a Wand, I could also use with a staff, and now that I've gotten used to it, I don't even need to point the staff at my target.
Just focus on casting the spell, and boom! My target is hit. Benefits of having a spherical Focal stone, I suppose.
Of course, if my enemy is faster this won't work, and neither would it if my enemy is stronger, but I'm learning still. I've also begun spending an hour or two practicing using my Chi, or the part of my Magic that behaves like Chi.
Personal Energy within a person can lean towards any direction. It can either go towards Mind Magic(Telepathy and Telekinesis like spells), and Body Magic(Chi). Spiritual and Physical, Yin and Yang, as the theme goes.
Obviously, it is not completely separate. Mind Magic users need a good enough body, and Body Magic users need a clear enough mind.
For Muggles, a learner of One usually cannot learn the other. Chi users can't use any spells that don't use Chi, and similarly, Mystic Arts users can't use Chi. There might be exceptions, but generally, this is the rule.
For Wizards like me however, my Magic itself is very flexible. It can be Mind Magic when it wants to, and it can be Body Magic if I know how to use it.
I really need to study Wizard DNA when I reach my own time. Studying through Runic Holograms can only get me so far.
So, yeah, a small part of my Magic, my Personal Energy was mimicking the Energy patterns of Chi, and I can use it to become even stronger than before. It's not much, but I admit I've gone from just a bit stronger than Wolverine to just a bit weaker than Sabertooth. And that's when I'm actually using the Chi.
To be fair to me, Sabertooth is a century older than me, and his Mutation has had more time to evolve.
There's also a limit to how far I can actually take Chi. I can use it to dampen my heartbeat and cleanse my body smell forever, and I won't even feel the drain. But, I cannot spend more than 3 hours fighting using Chi, I need to spend one hour without using chi for every 3 hours with it.
And I can focus Chi on one single part of my body to take my strength to 10 times my normal strength, but I won't be able to use this method for more than 3 times in those three hours.
I'll probably increase the time limit, the stronger and older I get, but it won't be too much.
Currently, I was walking through the city of Pataliputra, the capital of the Kanva Dynasty in India. The Kanva Dynasty was relatively new to the rule, with the previous King Vasudeva being a Minister of the Shunga Emperor Devabhuti, the last Emporor of the Shunga Empire. Assasinations happen, and Vasudeva becomes the King.
And now, Vasudeva's son, Bhumimitra ruled the Dynasty.
Pataliputra is a pretty lively city in the Magadha region, in what might amount to Eastern India. Even in the last life I never paid attention to Indian history, and I'm cursing my old life now. Pataliputra is beautiful, and I only came here now, because I didn't fucking know about it.
I was here, not just to enjoy my.. soul's heritage, no. I was here to visit someone I'd heard about from the Indian locals. Chandragupta, no relation to the Maurya as far as I can tell, is a Mage of some good reputation in Patliputra.
He can talk to snakes, give Blessings or curses to anyone if the Gods agree, he predicts a lot of stuff accurately, and he's a Potions Master. My reason for seeking him out is twofold. One, he's a Parselmouth, the first one I've heard of in this Era, that isn't simultaneously a Dark Wizard. Hence, he's the only source for any Parseltongue Magicks that might have been lost in time before even Salazar's era.
I'm going to visit the Nalanda Mahavihara after this anyway, just to check the world's first residential University, but visiting the actual Parselmouth first was a priority.
As for the second reason, I'm hoping to learn Divination from him. Chandragupta has predicted weather, family reputation, and a lot more, just by looking at either palms, or eyes, or even reading cards.
So, yeah, I'm honestly psyched to meet this man, since my knowledge of Divination is.. lackluster.
Right before I reach his house, however, I feel a buzz go off on the back of my neck, immediately making me smile widely. One of my Alert Charms had gone off, and I know which one it is.
Durra's dragon eggs were hatching, 1 entire year after I'd gotten them. And there's no way in hell that I'm losing the opportunity of seeing that.
Chandragupta can wait, my baby dragons won't.
---
A/N: I'm trying to classify the Magic according to the myths, while also balancing it properly.
Indian Saadhus were said to have direct contact with the Gods, and some Gods even respected these Sadhus as authorities. Heck, some Sadhus have cursed Gods, and Gods accepted that!
So, yeah, the power scaling needs some work. I won't focus more on Chandragupta, barely half a chapter if that, but hopefully I won't need to. The dragons also won't make too much of an appearance, just like Sly. I cannot write pets very well.
The next few chapters will have multiple time skips, so that I can get Mason back to the Present. I'm guessing now that it'll take me Ch 75 to get to 1945 again, but it can extend to Ch 80. Sorry! I'm just enjoying the past too much.
Huh, maybe I should write a fic based actually in the past, maybe just MCU though, or just HP. But, it won't happen yet.
Thank you for your support! Tata!