Power Is Addicting

[Nov 20th, 2008, NY apartment, 3 pm]

I've been... indisposed for the past 2 days. The torture after taking ability is scaled upwards because of the abilities power level, yes. The scaling was supposed to help warm me up to more powerful mutant abilities, yes. When I took Sabretooths mutant ability I believed I was ready for it, yes. That thought was the understatement of my life. If I were to compare it to the abilities I've taken so far, Rogue's ability was like getting a tattoo on the ribs. Ex-Empaths ability was like getting a massive migraine. But adapting to the newly dead Sabretooth's ability was like stubbing your toe with a toothpick in-between the nail, breaking your femur (one of the most painful bones to break), and frying every nerve in your body all at the same time. I was not prepared for what I've now experienced and I can only shake at the thought of taking something like omega level telekinesis. To say the least, I've not been able to do much, except get home, for the past 2 days.

"A full anatomical scan has been done on you, sir. The scan shows that you've now broken through the baseline human barrier. Congratulations on this achievement sir. The scan shows that almost every physical ability you possess has been enhanced. Your speed, strength, endurance, stamina, agility, all five senses, and reflexes have all enhanced past the human limits. You can now lift up to 2 tons physically, run as fast as a cheetah's top speed for quite a while, have a much more flexible body," She winked at me here, " and you now have fangs and claws."

"You're a godsend Syn, thank you very much. The fangs and claws will have to go until I need them, but now it's time to test everything out," I didn't resend them immediately I needed to test them out first.

With my fangs out I can chew through some metals though it still didn't taste good and my claws can slice through most metals too. They worked like Wolverines claws and I can resend them if I try, though my canines are still pointier than usual just not as long. Testing out my other capabilities was euphoric. I felt as if I could lift anything and that I could run forever. I felt like a contortionist with how flexible I am now. I saw, heard, and smelt everything. My eyes like a hawk, my ears like a bat, and my nose like a bloodhound. IT WAS INCREDIBLE!! I could go on and on with how it all felt but my next goal was already on my mind. Magic was about to become my bitch.

[Jan 2nd, 2009, Sanctum Sanctorum]

'This place is bigger than I expected' After knocking I waited about 5 minutes before getting a response. After opening the door, a calm looking old man opened the door.

"Who are you and what do you want?"

"You mean the Ancient one wasn't expecting me?" His glowing hands did not signify a good word on my part.

"How do you know about The Ancient One and what are you here for?" He asked a bit more aggressively this time.

"That's for me and her to discuss. Now if you'll kindly let me inside or through a portal to her residence that would be lovely," as I was saying this a bald woman walked through one of the doors.

"I'm sorry it's not like me to be surprised. If you'll follow me, I'd love to talk with you. I find you absolutely fascinating."

"Yeahh... sure. Let's talk."

[A couple of minutes later, Kamar-Taj]

"So Mr.?..."

"Atheed"

"Mr. Atheed why can't I see you?"

"I'm sorry? See me?" I didn't know what she was talking about either.

"Yes... see you. Anyways I must ask what you are here for."

"I know you're a smart woman Ancient One so please don't patronize me. I am here to formally learn magic from a sorcery school."

"Then maybe we can make a bit of a deal then. You see, I am known for my abilities in the art of divination. I cannot see your future Mr. Atheed and I had no idea you would be here today. I do not like surprises Mr. Atheed."

"Ok, I can understand that. What is this deal you propose then."

"I would like to study you, to find out why I can't see you of course, and see the reason I cannot find your future or anything involving you in it. In return, I will teach you magic myself. Sure, some of the more physical aspects will be taught by others but the actual sorcery part will be by me. I am what you would call a leading figure in sorcery and I think most of my students turn out well, great even.

"done," there wasn't even a moment of hesitation on the deal, " as long as you promise to teach me to the best of your ability." The Ancient one is a very honest woman and I know she'll stay true to her word.

"The time it took you to answer is a bit concerning. Very well, I offered and you accepted so it shall be done. I promise to teach you to the best of my ability," the smirk she had on her face was concerning.

I thought it was kind of cliche but a written contract appeared in front of us and we both got a copy. At least with this I know there'll be repercussions if she breaks the deal.

She was a graceful woman and watching her stand up was weirdly soothing even if I knew what was coming next. She bent done in front of me and stuck 2 fingers to my forehead and pushed.

The trip into whatever realm she sent me into was quite literally something I'll never forget in my life. I had Syn connected to me through a small Apple Watch looking piece of tech on my left wrist and she recorded everything she could. It wasn't much since magic always fucks with some of the more delicate pieces of tech. It felt as if I was there for hours while I saw pictures of fights and a world filled with advancement. I later found out it was only a couple of moments.

"What The Fuck was that??!" I nearly yelled

"Just a little something to open your mind," her smirk grew.

[Jan 15th, Kamar-Taj]

Before I truly started learning sorcery I had to get some affairs in order. Thankfully, my business hadn't grown too much as of late. It had a steady growth but I'm still dealing mainly with the military so it was fine. I'd project another year before business booms in the civilian market. They needed this time as reassurance which was fine because I needed this period as study time anyways. Syn is basically in charge of the entire company anyways. If something pops up she'll let me know so I don't have to worry much and can go into this worry-free.

"Ok, There are some things I need you to know before I start learning from you, Teacher. 1. I can understand any and all languages, written or spoken, within a matter of hours. 2. I remember everything I see and I'm one of the smartest people on this earth. 3. And finally, I can take a beating and get up within minutes from almost anything, including muscle fatigue. When I say I can complete this course within a couple of months I mean it."

"This room is set up to detect lies and since I've gotten no notices I'll take your word for it," she seemed impressed if only a little. "Now we're going to have to go through my examination first before we start working on actual magic."

"What does this 'examination' entail exactly?"

"Well, I can't see you through my skills. The thing about my skills is that they are on a multidimensional level and can see through time through different dimensions. I can see your past in this dimension only and I can't see you in any other dimension. This has a wide array of meanings and I need to check your soul to rule out a couple possibilities," she brought her hand up to my chest and made some hand signs. Her eyes started glowing and her eyebrows were knitted together in concentration. I felt a sort of… thrum in my chest. Imagine a car shaking from the base of a song. The whole car shakes and you feel it In your soul.

"Incredible…"

Incredible? What does incredible mean in this situation? I'm quite literally trusting her to not do some dumb shit to my soul. I know, she would never do that. Her whole job is to protect humanity and not fuck with it, but I'm still worried nonetheless. I really hope this doesn't fuck with my plans.

"Mr. Atheed your soul has a sort of blanket on it. Imagine what you would call invisibility on a blanket surrounding your soul. I think even the leading object on all soul related topics would have trouble finding this. I will need to experiment a bit more on this but I believe I have a basic premise of what's going on now," well they don't call her the Sorcerer Supreme for nothing, "I do, however, have both good and bad news for you. Which would you like first?"

Well… fuck, "Ok, I guess the bad news first."

"Well Mr. Atheed, I can't allow you to practice sorcery the way we do. You see we use magic by siphoning energy from gods and beings of power. The reason I cannot allow you to practice this is because of the blanket on your soul. That blanket can and will be mimicked by the higher beings. This is very very bad because my job is to protect this world from those beings. I wouldn't be able to do that if they use this as a technique."

"Ok, that's logical. What's the good news?"

"The good news is that you get to build your power source within yourself. Instead of a sorcerer, you will be a wizard. The upside to this is that you get to have a much more versatile magic bank and you don't have to make contact with any higher being. The cons are that the bank won't be as ready immediately and your magic won't be as focused. When I say focused I mean more of a jack of all trades situation. There is also the fact that you won't need a wand or anything like that so you can still learn a lot from this school."

"That sounds weirdly perfect. I would rather have my own supply than be cut off from magic in a battle because the gods are all dicks. Ok, now that, that is all cleared up, how do I start building my own supply?"

"You said you can take a beating, correct?" The hell is up with this woman and her wicked smile?

[Feb 14th, 2009]

The way to make your body starts building up your own magical bank and become a wizard is grueling. The way I was told was to get the shit beat out of you in a high magic environment so your body can rebuild itself with the ambient magic. This kind of kickstarts your body into making your own magic bank. I'm not too sure how much I believed her but I still took her word for it. I took it as a sort of training time to get used to my body in combat. Thankfully, she saved some of my pride by animating huge wooden dolls to do this instead of having the other residents do it. She said that the magic used to animate the dolls would also help hasten to start my body's production. The technique did work after a week or two and I felt a new energy within my body. As cliché as it sounds the bank worked like a muscle. When you empty the bank within yourself your body says "hey wtf is wrong with you, we need that. I guess I'll make it bigger and take in more so you don't run out next time." No pain no gain I guess. Everything I just said is irrelevant though because I'M A WIZARD. I don't need a fuckin god to do this shit.

After getting the bank up and running she had me read the entire library. She wanted to test the limits of my ability and my ability to speed read. After 2 weeks I read it all. I know, that's not a lot of time, right? She helped me with this. She used some type of spell to stimulate energy within my body so I didn't have to sleep a whole lot and the library wasn't massive. This was the unrestricted library after all. On another note, I now know over a hundred miscellaneous languages from long-forgotten times. In between the time of reading and sleeping I was working on emptying my reserve to build the bank.

Right now I was reading an interesting book on mind magics. My mind was my greatest asset and I would do anything to protect and enhance it. The book itself was talking about the soul and your mindscape. The soul would be represented in your mindscape by the look of said mindscape. If you were an awful person it would be filled with garbage and vile creatures. Having your own magic supply in this case was very helpful. If you were a sorcerer going into your mindscape using a god's energy was essentially forbidden. Using that being's energy to enter gave them almost unfiltered access into your mind. Higher beings are always looking for opportunities to gain more power and they can do this through people. If a higher being knows your greatest weaknesses and how you think you're essentially fucked. If you have a very specific contract with a god then it's a little bit better but once that contract is up your mind is fair game. By using my own magical reserves I won't be giving anyone access to my mind. The book I was reading was the last in its section so there were no more books on mind magic for me to get my hands on. After reading this book I will go into my mindscape and form defenses against other magics, psionics, and electronics.

[2 hours later, same day]

Sitting in a meditative position with my hands on my forehead, a dark purple energy started forming circles around my palms, as I focused on my mind. Focusing my entire mind on entering my mindscape was hard at first but when I started siphoning energy into my forehead my mind became clearer and faster until something shattered inside my head.

[Mindscape]

The room I appeared in was barren. Not in a tumbleweeds kind of way but more of a cold grey concrete way. There were dark purple curtains and a long, thin purple rug leading to a concrete throne sitting above two steps. The room had had barren walls and a tall ceiling. There were tall windows with heavy dark purple curtains covering most of them except for one. The window wasn't like regular windows and instead was stained glass depicting Synergy, my greatest creation yet. The room was quite long with a high ceiling and at the end of the room was a heavy iron door.

After walking through the door was a massive room filled with books and pieces of information all clustered and moving freely. To the side of that room was another smaller iron door leading to a cluster of memories sectioned off by my different lives. The memories looked like a ball of moving energy waiting to be unpacked and organized.

My perception and speed were also faster almost as if time was moving slower. It seems there is a time dilation in this place.

"Ok, time to get to work."

*cracks knuckles* (AN: Don't worry I'll never do an action in asterisks ever again)

[one organization montage later]

In this place, I could move things with just my mind so actually moving things was easy. The hard part was creating new things. I got rid of the memory room and created a timeline on the library wall. It was massive, consisted of both lives, my very first memory till now, and used the actual memories themselves. Even though my mind is eidetic I felt as if I could recall things faster. The biggest improvement came from organizing the library. After shifting some columns and putting books by section the whole library kind of clicked for me. The books stopped moving, the columns weren't skewed in any way, and there weren't any books that just happen to hit me in the head anymore. I felt as if my thought process was even smoother and my logical reasoning became even more factual. My processing speed gained a very tiny boost so the biggest enhancement was being able to come up with better ideas using more accurate information.

The biggest issue now was the defenses. I felt as if I could use my adaption to this somehow but it was going to be difficult. What I wanted to do was create a metallic construct covering my mindscape like the blanket covering my soul. There would be one layer but it would be a mixture of metals. Dargonite, stronger than adamantium and will give the shell a red tint, will give the shell strength to weather most attacks. Living Vibranium, a metal capable of absorbing any energy and will give the shell a blue tint, will allow the shell to take action against even the most subtle of probes. Uru, a magical metal give the shell strength if more magic is added to it from me and will do the same to a lesser degree from enemies and will give it a darker grey tint, will help against magical attacks. Because I'm adding living vibranium the shell will move to my will as well in case I need my mind for specific purposes or if I allow someone in. Overall the shell is resistant against magic and other energies and will weather most brute force as well. The shell will also take on a dark purple tint... what a coincidence?

[Real World]

My eyes were blurry and I felt as stiff as a board. After scratching my eyes and yawning I checked the time. It was 3 am and past lights out.

"Fuck tomorrow is going to be even worse."

[Mar 10th, 2009]

It's been a month and I'm finally able to call upon my magic as quickly as the other sorcerers and I've got a big enough bank now to be able to fight the other sorcerers at the same time even if I don't win every time. I wouldn't say this is surprising seeing as I've only been working on my bank since I've started training.

[Jul 14th, 2009]

I've got the know how, I've got the magical reserves, I can make portals and use spells, and I've read every book I was able to get my hands on. Today was the day I became a certified master in Kamar-taj.

"Mr. Atheed please step forward," I'd told her to call me Kane a million times but she wouldn't budge on the subject.

"Dear God, finally. I feel like I've been here for 20 years."

"Yes, well, we all feel the same. You were a magnificent student Mr. Atheed and I am always here for guidance or if you just want to enjoy tea together," our relationship had grown to friends in the time I've been here. What can I say, I enjoyed her company. "From this day forward you will be seen as a master of the mystic arts in this school of sorcery. Congratulations, Mr. Atheed."

After bowing I thanked her and told her if she ever needed me I'd be there, and maybe there was a wink too... don't tell Syn. I was glad I spent time and learned from here. The experience was good and the people are good people. I'll miss this place but now it was time to get started on territory, getting even stronger, and going to see Syn in person for the first time in 7 months.