132

*****

Hogwarts Castle, Help Room, late evening.

The ancient walls preserved the peace of the inhabitants of this castle. Their solidity and severity gave a feeling of protection, peace, and tranquility. It was very rare to hear the sounds of rare footsteps that rang from one part of the corridor to another. These were the "adults" patrolling the corridors.

It might seem that everything is as usual, just like months, years, decades ago. However, it is not. There were no couples trying to seclude themselves from prying eyes. Adventurers and simple explorers also did not stick their noses out of their holes. And the teachers now patrolled at night strictly in pairs. And this already says a lot.

Attacks. Even though a decent amount of time has passed since the last incident, apprehension and fear in the minds of the living (and not only the intelligent) is still strong. He holds them in his grip with an icy grip, not allowing anyone with even a modicum of reason to act rashly.

However, in an instant, something changed. In the wall, in one of the remote corridors of the upper floors of the castle, for no apparent reason, a door appeared. Strong, monolithic, bound with steel plates. She inspired with just her appearance. And small roughnesses and cracks only added to its solidity.

Someone or something pulled hard on the steel ring that served as the handle. A moment later the door closed and then disappeared completely.

Everything returned to normal again. There was nothing left unexplained, only calm and silence.

And only a pair of bloody eyes with a cat's pupil closely watched the place where the inexplicable happened. And the giant shadow (much larger than the size of the body) cast by the moon very much resembled the large body of a snake.

*****

Raising my hand, I grabbed the "air" with effort. A moment later, an icy fog began to creep from my half-clasped palm in different directions. Another second and it began to retract itself, forming ice crystals in its place.

Having gathered into a single whole, they formed icy threads that partially wrapped around my body. A light message and they "let go" of my body, so that a moment later they can dance in space, like the threads of a spider, covering as much space as possible.

A wave and the threads gathered in a spear rushed in the opposite direction from me, straight into the mannequin. Having pierced the figure through, the "construct" got stuck in it, only to disintegrate again a moment later into tiny cobwebs and rush into the victim's body, like the roots of weeds that make their way to life-giving moisture right through the rocky soil.

One more impulse and the icy branches break free, so that in a matter of seconds buds of icy flowers bloom on them.

"Using a new control method, controlling the new constructor has become much easier," I said out loud, watching as the construct formed thanks to my will and magic gradually disintegrated into icy dust in the wind. — The approximate improvement in control is about thirty percent. For a more accurate analysis, it is necessary to conduct more accurate experiments.

My every word was reflected from the walls, but they were not intended for them. In the far corner, right in the air, there was a scroll in which my words were written right at that moment by the Quick Writing Pen. A sort of artifact, on which the usual set of movements, as well as voice control, are superimposed. Although this artifact is not very expensive, it requires quite a significant amount of effort to create it. To create it (practice in runes. Not just rituals), I had to spend three days of my time, as well as about ten attempts. It is quite possible that artifacts are simply not my thing.

Why am I writing down my thoughts? It's simple, recently the thought came to me, can my experience help someone? Make the already thorny path to knowledge easier? After all, knowledge should not lie as a dead weight, just like money. They must work to improve themselves. A rather trivial thought, but it settled into my mind with unexpected ferocity. So why not?

— An apprentice at the School of Cryokinesis brought not only new ways to use ice mana, but also more advanced methods for controlling ice. If initially I had to write down the behavior model of the construct into the spell itself (we are not talking about the banal freezing of water or something similar, but much more advanced spells. Ice spears, barriers, threads, etc.), now part of this work has partially transferred to the mind itself," here I fell silent, staring at the ice gloves that appeared at my request. "It is quite possible that at later levels the control of the construct will completely transfer to consciousness. And the spell itself will only be needed to create an "item". Hmm, what if? — Could it be that the grand master creates ice constructs practically out of his own free will? Or is the speed of casting spells so fast and habitual that the mind itself does not notice it? Interesting…

The room fell silent again as I fell silent, therefore the pen stopped scratching the parchment, creating the corresponding sounds.

Okay, okay. We're done with ice for today. Obeying my thought, the scroll rolls up, and another one rises in its place. It is worth looking into other schools as well.

A light mental message to the room and the space around me floated, so that a second later a new room with two ritual circles would take its place.

Carefully entering one of them, I stared intently at a point right in the middle of the other circle. Having memorized it carefully, I closed my eyes.

Having calmed down for a moment, the mana that flows in my channels rushed forward with renewed vigor. With every moment she changed her nature, turning from neutral to... coming out, she entwined my body like a cocoon, drawing a web of spells on its surface, consisting of geometric figures and runes.

A moment of disorientation and I hit the floor with my feet. Everything was churning in my stomach. Trying to keep everything inside myself, I really didn't achieve anything. Stomach juice burst right out of my mouth (luckily I had already digested the food. Thank goodness for metamorphism. I wouldn't want to lose dinner).

Wiping my mouth with my hand, and then clearing it with a burst of mana, I opened my eyes to find myself in another circle. Hurray, this is a success.

"Attempt number two hundred and twenty-three was successful," the quickly writing pen began to write on the parchment with renewed vigor. - Splitting (when part of the body remains in one place, and the other moves to another place. Brrr, an unpleasant sensation, let alone a sight... but interesting, yes) as in previous attempts. Cons: the body is not adapted to such sudden changes in spatial coordinates. The gift of a metamorph only partially alleviates the fate.

Finally I succeeded. And this is not a wretched apparation that twists your body, and with it all the shells, into some kind of spiral. With this type of movement there is a chance to always remain outside the boundaries of space.

What is space? This is a separate plan that is inextricably linked with the real world. It has no concept of distance or anything like that. The plane itself is separated from our world by a sort of one-way mirror. When the boundary breaks, it looks like pieces of a broken mirror.

How does apparation work? She twists the magician's body into a kind of spiral (magical), and then merges it with this glass. Cotton is a sudden filling with air of the place where the body was before.

What is the danger? There is a small chance that you will simply cross the border and remain forever on the other side of the mirror. That's why they use port keys, house elves and familiars to move around.

No, this does not threaten an experienced magician. The same training in apparation that is carried out at Hogwarts is aimed at this. With the help of ritual circles (not the ones I use), the body is forced to remember this very mirror. It's like a reflex. Having remembered this sensation, the body will almost never go beyond the border. That's why it's actually forbidden to learn to apparate on your own.

How is my method different? Well, using a spell, I introduce a visual image of a place to move, and then create a micro channel with that place. The channel itself passes through the plane of space, and since there is no concept of distance, the movement occurs instantly.

— The third disadvantage: one third of the reserve is spent on one movement. More training is needed, such losses are unacceptable - another detail that needs to be addressed. How many of these do I already have...?

Down with extraneous thoughts. I still have at least an hour of training ahead of me. It's worth spending it wisely. And at the end of the training, consolidate your success with another transfer attempt.

And following my thoughts, the room was transformed again. In an instant, I was surrounded by more than two dozen magical golems (humanoid) armed with various types of weapons.

Without waiting, I instantly moved to the nearest one. Grabbing his stone head, I squeezed it with force. Ice pieces scattered to the sides...

It will be fun. Interesting…

*****

Stepping through the doorway, I plunged into the darkness of the corridor. The door leading to the abode of knowledge disappeared silently behind me.

It's already past midnight, it's time to go back. Rest is an integral part of training. And I had a great workout today.

Walking slowly along the corridor, I thought about my future plans. Very soon, Nev will reach the required level in the magic of the mind, which means he can be allowed more serious secrets. But... is this necessary? Or should we limit ourselves to something less significant? Showing the room to the rescue (or rather the founders' library) is too presumptuous. The room itself is easy, the library is not. Too risky, not worth it. As for knowledge on his "interests"... Well, you can always come up with something. I even have a couple...

- S-s-s-A! - A devilish hiss echoed throughout the hall.

The next second, I jumped to the side with one giant leap, and all because of the magical instinct that rebelled in a single moment, as well as empathy drowned out by a wild thirst for murder.

Rising sharply to my feet, I looked at the figure with an attentive and tenacious gaze. A gigantic snake body towering above the ground swayed from side to side. I saw only part of it, but even so it was clear that its dimensions exceed thirty to forty meters. About two to two and a half meters thick in diameter. If such a snake swallows it, it will only be whole.

Watching her head (without looking into his eyes), I realized that this snake perfectly sees where I stand. My visa is not a hindrance for him, which was expected if we remember who exactly is in front of me and he is somewhat older than me.

Suddenly something pricked me in my mind. By focusing on this feeling, I was able to feel a little bit of schadenfreude, right through this lust for murder.

"I don't know who you are," an ominous voice suddenly sounded (there was no way to find out what gender). "But this time you won't get away." Sh-sh-A!

A sharp jerk to the side and a giant basilisk head lands in that place. Mordred. Out of the corner of my eye I managed to notice bloody eyes that were located right behind the snake's back (where it was located). There's no time now.

A slight lean forward, and I disappear forward like a bullet. There are moving stairs nearby. Running past a figure (it's unclear who exactly is hidden by a spell), with a wave of my hand I release a wave of compressed air in his direction, and immediately after it a dozen steel spears (five seconds of transfiguration will be sufficient), thereby dispelling the invisibility.

- Follow him! — the heir screamed at the top of his lungs.

The wind whistles in my ears, my legs carry me forward at breakneck speed. The changed body squeezes all the juices out of itself. Life is more precious. One hundred percent death crawls behind you.

A sharp turn to the left (to the other wing) and a giant mouth with sharp teeth rushes past me. *BANG!* The impact was so strong that something even fell from the ceiling, and this was in an enchanted castle.

Run, run and run again! Corridors, armor, paintings rush by. The inhabitants of the painted worlds scatter in different directions with a wild squeal, but I note this only at the edge of my consciousness. We need to run!

Right at the stairs I felt an incredible danger. Death breathes in your back, is that what they say? Literally a fleeting desire and my body turns into a small mouse, and a giant body once again rushes over me. One jump, and I rush down, and the snake falls next to me.

One more moment, and I turn into a bird. Swing, swing, another swing and with incredible speed I rush to the top, and one of the corridors.

A few minutes of flight and now I'm soaring into the night sky. And spare only the night castle and the ominous sound:

- S-s-s-A!

*****