CH 10 Meeting the Chosen One

31st July 1991

Alcor sat at a corner table at Leaky Cauldron's pub area, having some breakfast while waiting for the 'Chosen One' to arrive. As he kept his eye on various people coming and going from the pub, he noticed the turbaned clown himself, Quirinus Quirrell. He came and sat at a corner of the bar, muttering to himself while drowning glass after glass of Firewhisky.

Keeping an eye on him discreetly, Alcor continued his wait. Finally, just as the clock's hands were about to signal noon, the door of the pub was pushed open with a bang. Following this, near as tall and bulky as a troll stepped in, wrapped up in a giant furry coat with a bushy beard hiding most of his face.

His huge hand was protectively holding a scrawny boy with messy dark hair. The boy had a damaged pair of round glasses on his face, which was held together by some tape. He was dressed in clothes that looked like recycled pillow covers stitched by an unskilled tailor to somehow form a pair of trousers and a t-shirt.

However, his identity was made clear by the lightning bolt-like scar on his forehead, partially hidden by a fringe of dark hair.

'Harry Potter, finally you are here.' Alcor thought 'Let's not waste any more time, else a horde of people will surround him and I won't get a chance to make an impression.'

Alcor had made sure that the corner table he was sitting in was fairly close to the entrance of the Leaky Cauldron. He was positioned such that when Hagrid and Harry entered, they would be right between the path to the stairs, that led to the Inn on the first floor, and Alcor.

Discreetly taking out a book from his pouch, Alcor pretended to be lost in the book and directed his steps so that he bumped into Harry and both of them fell hard. Hagrid was surprised by this sudden turn of events and failed to react in time.

"Ow!!" Harry groaned. Even though Alcor had not used much strength while bumping into Harry, his nearly 50 attribute points in STR were not for show. The casual bump had harried as much as a deliberate push.

"Oh I am so sorry," Alcor said while pretending to panic. Grabbed Harry with one hand and helped him to stand again, "Are you alright?"

"I definitely have been better," Harry muttered as he tried to adjust his spectacles, which had become even more skewed and broken after the crash.

"Oh, did I do that?" Alcor said 'guiltily' as he gestured to Harry's spectacles "Here, let me help."

Alcor took Harry's spectacles from his face before he could say a word. Concentrating a bit of Mana on his fingers, Alcor tapped the spectacles while using Spell Manipulation. He applied the effects of Repairing Charm, while simultaneously transfiguring the frame of the spectacles a bit to better grip Harry's face while not hurting him.

Harry's eyes widened in shock, as did Hagrid's. Harry was shocked purely because of seeing such smooth magic up close. Meanwhile, Hagrid was shocked because a kid, who was no older than Harry himself, had performed one of the most effortless wandless magic he had seen.

Before either Harry or Hagrid could recover, Alcor had already waved goodbye and disappeared among the crowd, which had already realized who the kid next to Hagrid was. Soon, Harry was lost in the crowd of people clamoring for a chance to shake his hand.

Meanwhile, Alcor lied back on the king-size bed in his room while grinning. He had accomplished his goal and had made sure that the events of the year were progressing as they should. If all goes well, he should be receiving his letter in the following year and he will be off to join Hogwarts.

Before then, he would train himself so that he can handle anything that Hogwarts throws at him.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Alcor stayed in Leaky Cauldron for a few more weeks, waiting for his special Extension Pouch. He cooperated politely when the ministry officials came to Leaky Cauldron to search for the 'Culprit who broke into Gringotts', as if the culprit would stay near the scene of the crime so long.

Alcor was mostly ignored because of his age, which amused him greatly. Based on ability, apart from Quirrell, he was probably the best candidate to break into Gringotts, not that anyone knew that.

Meanwhile, he took advantage of his stay at Leaky Cauldron to train in Energy Dungeons heavily. By the end of his 4-week stay, when his pouch was handed over to him by the Goblins, Alcor had gained Water, Earth, Lightning, Lunar, Solar, Light, and Dark Cores too.

He leveled them up to First Maturation and gained Hydrokinesis, Geokinesis, Electrokinesis, Heliokinesis, Lunarkinesis, Photokinesis, and Umbrakinesis.

When he leveled Hydrokinesis, Geokinesis, Electrokinesis, Photokinesis, and Umbrakinesis to the max, System gave him an option to combine Aerokinesis, Hydrokinesis, Geokinesis, and Pyrokinesis, to create the Rare Grade Skill: Elementokinesis.

Elementokinesis allowed him to manipulate all four basic elements at the same time. He could even mix them seamlessly like a certain bald-headed old man with an arrow tattoo who looked a hundred years younger than he was.

Similarly, the max level Photokinesis and Umbrakinesis were fused into Rare Grade Photo-Umbrakinesis, which gave him the power to manipulate Light and Darkness simultaneously.

Heliokinesis and Lunarkinesis were also fused into the Rare Grade Skill: Stellar Energy Manipulation. Stellar Energy Manipulation gave him the power to manipulate the energy of Stellar Bodies.

While one might argue that Moon was not a star, its energy was definitely gained from the Sun. So Stellar Energy Manipulation could manipulate Lunar Energy too.

With six Rare Grade skills in his arsenal now, Alcor found the true path to moving forward. It was not enough to just gain a library's worth of skills. He had to fuse those skills into a few chosen higher grade skills that he could truly rely on.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

After his stint at Leaky Cauldron, Alcor decided to go back home. He didn't even buy a lot of stuff he was planning to such as various potions and a magical pet.

Thanks to Voldemort's stupidity, Leaky Cauldron had become a difficult place to move about in undetected, especially as a young boy whose appearance suggested he should be in school.

Coming back home, Alcor threw himself in studies. He was fueled by the desire to take full advantage of his Knowledge skills and do what Hermione dreamed to do. Since he had course books for all seven years of Hogwarts, he started learning their contents with dedication.

For certain subjects like Defense against Dark Arts, Potions, Care of Magical Creatures, and Herbology, he had bought additional books to supplement his knowledge along with the course books.

For subjects like Astronomy, Healing, and Arithmancy, he had Kane buy Advanced Books that were used in Muggle Universities to supplement these subjects and cover the blind spots.

He had created a perfect schedule for himself to maximize his learning. He would training in Energy Dungeons in Early Morning and Late Night.

He would learn from his books and practice the contents until lunch. After lunch, he would play with Astrid and entertain her with magic.

In the Evening, he would again study, before training in Energy Dungeon at night. Once in a while, he would take a break to go and wreak havoc in the criminal world and earn money.

With his dedicated schedule, it was inevitable that his powers grew rapidly. He gave up on making his core go through second maturation for now and instead made his stats rise up to the third threshold.

With each threshold, the related Innate skill surged in Skill Levels. When his stats went through the Third Threshold, all the related Innate Skills upgraded to Rare Grade.

Mana Manipulation Evolved to Rare Grade Skill - Prana Manipulation. Prana was a more sublime form of Mana, which could even influence the Life Force of Living Beings.

His status too reflected the change as the Mana in his Status Changed to Prana. He also found that for the same abilities that he used, he spent much less Prana as compared to the Mana he spent before.

As soon as he got Prana Manipulation, his family members told him that they could feel a certain affinity to him as if he was a giant tree that was protecting them from harm.

He tested this with various street dogs, insects and birds, and found that they emitted a distinct aura that made all Living Beings have a positive view of him unless he did something to harm them.

Another side effect of Prana Manipulation he noticed was that he could indirectly create a permanent boost in the Life Force, Physique, and Mental Prowess of Living Beings by inserting them with bits of his Prana.

However, he could not insert a huge amount else it would harm instead of helping them. Also, it seemed that each bit of Prana he inserted lasted inside them for a long time, 2-4 weeks, depending on their ability to assimilate it.

Little Astrid was the best at this, as she took barely 2 weeks to assimilate with each bit of Prana. The result of this was also most apparent in the little girl. Her Intellect and physical health were greatly boosted.

She learned to read and write within days and now could understand various concepts on the same level as an average adult. Also as a side effect, Prana seemed to 'shape' her actions in the direction of the ideal form.

Her beauty and attractiveness increased each time she assimilated with a bit of Prana. If a Wizard saw her, he could mistake her for a Veela Child.

Apart from Prana Manipulation, his other Innate Skills also evolved to Rare Grade. Enhanced Comprehension became Intuitive Aptitude, Power Boost became Physical Augmentation, Automatic-Recovery became Regenerative Healing Factor, Fleet Foot became Speed Augmentation, Quick Fingers became Auto-Reflexes, Enhanced Spatial Awareness became Extrasensory Perception, Golden Voice became Hypnotic Voice, and finally, Path of Fortune became Luck Augmentation.

With so many Rare Skills, Alcor truly felt like a powerhouse. He felt he could probably fight a dragon with just his Innate Skills and no other Magic. With such power, will he really have an opponent in the future?