5 Ch 05 - Mindscape (1/2)

[Christmas - December 25, 1981]

Tired after the hectic day of celebration and socializing with people. I lay spread on my bed reminiscing my time spent in this world.

'How time flies'*Sigh*

Today we celebrated Christmas. It's been more than 2 years since I came to this world or rather I awakened my previous life's memories.

During this time period, I took my CSEs (i.e. Certificate of Secondary Education) qualification exams for 12 school subjects - English Literature, English Language, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Computer Science, Latin, History, Geography, Art and Design, and Physical Education.

I aced with top grades in all the subjects. As a result, I am now free from mandatory schooling.

By the time I am 12 years old and go to Hogwarts, I plan to acquire knowledge till the pre-college level in subjects like Modern languages, Astronomy, Geology, Psychology, Statistics, Sociology, Humanities and Social Sciences, Politics, Business Studies, Economics, Design and Technology, Dance, Drama, Media Studies, Music, Photography, Medicine, Law, Engineering and many more that will be helpful to me in the future. This will give me a solid foundation to expand on later in areas of my interest or as per needs that arise in the future.

Getting that library pass was definitely the greatest boon. The library hosts collections of books dating as back as the early 1800s that were truly spectacular.

After school, I spend most of my time at the library if I am not manning the counter at our bakery or not at the martial arts dojo I joined after my 8th birthday. Till now I have only gone through half of the library's collections in the reference section, all the periodicals up to the last decade. Sticking to mostly academic topics with a few entertaining reads in between.

Reading Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle once again was an endearing experience. It reminded me of the possibility of someone reading my memories with just eye contact.

Being a fan of sherlock holmes in both of my lives I wanted my own mind palace but without any proper know-how, I couldn't defend my mind from a mind reader or Leglimens. Also, let's just say that mind palace is not a skill possible for the non-magical so another proof of me being magical.

I remembered some information on getting started with Occlumency from fanfics like the most basic defence against Leglimency would be first achieving a state of mind free of any thought or simply a conscious thoughtless state. The second step would be to access the mindscape and organize one's memories. The third step would be to build mental defences to safeguard one's memories. These defences would also alert one of any mental intrusion. An advanced form of mental defence is the ability to create false memories. The benefits of Occlumency were said to be almost photographic memory and better emotional control.

With that sorted out I started working to get my mind palace but ended up getting something even more amazing with the help of Kinetic Memory Body ability. It seems I am more attuned to mind arts.

I was able to visualize the mental world perfectly with the ability to not just store my memories for easy management but also build myself mental models of objects.

This was a giant step as now I could do structural analysis while previously I could just do linear data analysis. It was like upgrading from 2D to a 3D version.

With enough knowledge, I can even simulate a mental fight or do data model simulations. Which can help me accumulate experience and improve my skill competencies to level 4 or even level 5.

I have divided my skill mastery into 7 levels of competency.

I have a unique advantage here. For any skill at Lvl 2 competency, I improve to Lvl 3 competency in a remarkably short period of time ranging from a few hours to a few days or a few weeks if it's something complex and physical in nature. Beyond that, it will require concentrated effort and time to improve with ample experience.

Skill Mastery Levels (0-6):

[Lvl 0] - No knowledge. Just awareness of the subject matter.

[Lvl 1: Novice] - Has minimal or textbook knowledge without connecting it to the practice. Tends to look at actions in isolation. Actions may not lead to the intended results due to the incompleteness of knowledge.

[Lvl 2: Advanced Begineer] - Has basic knowledge of key aspects of the practice. Sees actions as a series of steps. Actions will need a conscious effort to achieve intended results but may still be lacking in efficiency.

[Lvl 3: Competent] - Has good working and background knowledge of the area of practice. Sees actions at least partly in terms of longer-term goals. Familiarity of action results in good efficiency for intended results.

[Lvl 4: Proficient] - Depth of understanding of discipline and area of practice. Sees the overall picture and how individual actions fit within it. Highly efficient with predictable results.

[Lvl 5: Expert] - Authoritative knowledge of the discipline and deep tacit understanding across areas of practice. Sees overall picture and alternative approaches, and has a vision of what may be possible. It's almost like an Instinct.

[Lvl 6: Maverick] - Someone who exhibits great independence in thoughts and action. Able to think and act outside of perceived norms of knowledge to take a new path. From a consumer of knowledge, one becomes a creator of knowledge.

For my mindscape, I modelled it after the Tower Bridge of London. It was a building of special significance for our family. My dad proposed to my mom at this place and in the year 1972 when I was born the tower bridge's operating mechanism was converted from a hydraulically powered system to an electro-hydraulic system.

So my parents had decided that If the child was a girl she shall be named Alexandra and if it was a boy then he shall be named Edward after the Prince and Princess of Wales who opened the bridge back in 1894.

With a sea of water all around and two towers at some distance from each other are rising out of the water. They were a replica of the original from the outside with the only exception being that there was no road so the road passage for both the towers was replaced by a hall whose large doors were facing towards each other. The draw bridge connecting them below and the two horizontal walkways above connecting the towers were present.

The canvas is the night sky filled with Moon and Stars

I envisioned one tower to hold my non-magical or muggle knowledge which I call the east tower while the other will hold my magical knowledge which I call the west tower. The tower names were also in memory of my previous life in the east and my current life in the west.

For my important life memories especially about my reincarnation, I kept a copy of them in an underwater moving safe whose docking location is placed right under the midsection of the drawbridge. The safe is encrypted to look like binary code i.e. 0s and 1s along with the seabed.

To access the safe one would need to solve a series of quantum equations which can only be solved when I use the super mode to temporarily bring the safe to the docking point for any backup update or recovery.

All versions of backup are maintained separately. This is to ensure that I don't lose my important memories or personality because of any memory tempering spells like Obliviate and Imperius.