10 French Exploits
1988 April
Creation: Capricorn IV
Species: Library System
Level: 39
Capable of mind defence, complex thought and processing 15,900 words per hour. Efficiency increased by half.
Creation: Aquarius IV
Species: Inventory System
Level: 6
Capable of storing 26 objects. Summoning cost decrease tripled.
Ding!
Notification: Evolution!
Healing System: Pisces II has evolved to Pisces III level 0! Magic focus increased x2 Dexterity increased x2 Precision increased x2
New form processing…
Creation: Pisces III
Species: Healing System
Level: 0
Magic focus increased x2 Dexterity increased x2 Precision increased x2
Two gold eyes creased in pleasure at the notification. Pisces had been the hardest creature to evolve thus far. It was a relief to see her work had finally paid off. Azrael turned merlot eyes to regard his companion carefully. In his hands was the french newspaper, Le Figaro, where an article on the brutal murder of Antonio Vermont took up the front page. Alana squirmed under his gaze. There was little doubt who had been responsible for those hits. They had been in France for barely three weeks, but Alana had already done a few jobs Raoul had suggested to her. Azrael's eyes narrowed, and his pupils dilated in interest. She froze at the unexpected heat in his gaze and blanched. 'This guy… He can't possibly be turned on by murder?' She checked again and cried in mental anguish. 'Dear Azrael, how could you betray me so?! Were you not the voice of reason in this household?!' Sadly, Azrael was deaf to her thoughts.
The trip to France had been the suggestion of Azrael who had some business to take care of and a friend to visit. She was rather surprised at his sudden manifestation of passports, but Azrael was anything but ill-prepared. First, they would visit France, then Germany, and finally, Romania. Alana had anticipated the excursion for weeks. She had already mediated several contracts with Raoul who had expanded his network greatly in the past year. Despite some of his newfound connections being in Britain, Raoul had followed through with his decision to move to France. His hold on Britain was still present but had loosened over the past month with some of the more experienced thieves and mercenaries taking over their respective areas of expertise. Alana had easily taken up a mediatory position in the ranks as a jack of all trades despite her apparent youth. A few of her contacts had been hesitant over her decision to travel, but she held none of their worries. She would leave a path of blood in her wake with the odd feather to keep her magic sharp. Being captured was hardly a concern when the majority of her contracts came from those with power.
Germany was the country she looked forward to the most. The reason? The German ministry didn't place traces in their wands, and it was in that country that the famed wandmaker Mykew Gregorovitch resided. Though the man's wands could be purchased in other European countries, it was only at Gregorovitch Zauberstäbe that he custom made. His reputation was on equal footing with Ollivander, so she had leapt at the chance to purchase a hopefully well-matched magical tool. The commission price was something she chose not to think about.
On the subject of magical tools, Alana had discovered a few rather interesting books on the integration of magic and music while in France. It had been enlightening to know many used rune-embedded instruments to influence the psyche. The effects were weak, of course, but effective in long-term therapy treatments and as a relaxant. Azrael had practically purred in contentment at her interest in the subject and encouraged it fully. Aside from her rekindled love affair with her violin, the young witch had also been busy acquiring foreign spell books for when she got a wand. It didn't hurt to be prepared, after all. She had been reading a book on the basics of wandlore while Azrael read the morning paper.
"I think it is, perhaps, about time we make our way to Germany?" His eyes gleamed sharply with dark promise as he smiled. His Alana was such a fascinating creature. He looked forward to seeing what she would do next.
1988 April
It was times such as this that Alana second-guessed her obsession with potions. She had been tracking a particularly troublesome target when she found out that she was the one being hunted. It was the first time Roul's contracts had gone wrong for her. The girl stifled another moan as she crawled into her bed after a cold shower that did nothing. She had followed a wizard into a backroom to record a certain conversation but instead found herself drugged. Thankfully, Pisces had given her enough focus to beat the shit out of the wizard, rob him blind, and then crawl back home. Which is how she had ended up in her present pitiful state of semi-undress. It would take a night for this particular potion to wear off.
-Sexual Content-
See fanfic.net
-Ends-
1988 May
Maple, twelve inches, flexible, dragon heartstring. The wand had been acquired after a long visit to the wandmaker. Gregorovitch had been less enthused by the end product than she had. 'Impossible,' He had called her. He had, however, ensured her that the wand was a good a fit as she would get with the ingredients he had. Alana had accepted the wand and paid for his time in full nonetheless. She could feel the wood's core warm in her grasp and felt it sufficient to begin her studies. She was already eleven and turning twelve that October so she had much to learn. She lacked the resources of Hogwarts, but they paled in comparison to the freedom available to her. Had she enrolled, the ministry would be unlikely to accept a vampire as her guardian regardless of her blood status. Racial pride and all that.
Ding!
Notification: Evolution!
Library System: Capricorn IV has evolved to Capricorn V level 0 capable of mind defence, complex thought and processing 16000 words per hour + 100 words per level. New Skill: Legilimency (Active)
Ding!
Notification: New Skill: Legilimency (Active)
The art of infiltrating the mind of another is now accessible.
The series of prompts caused Alana to choke on her hot chocolate. Hacking away at the burning sensation in her throat, the girl almost fell into the Danube river. Damned notifications always scared the wits out of her. She growled much to the alarm of a passing couple who tactfully sidestepped the deranged child. Alana glared at the screen before her interest drowned her annoyance. Legilimency was something she had known of but put on the backburner since the study was notoriously difficult, and potion substitutes for certain applications she needed were available. She pursed her lips thoughtfully. The mind arts were seemingly highly compatible with her magic if her system ability was any indication, yet she lacked expertise in one of its main branches of study, Legilimency.
She stroked the wand in her arm sheath with a determined nod. That would not last for long. Despite the fall of Grindelwald, Germany was still a hotbed for dark arts activists and home to a great variety of literature related to more grey arts. Therefore, finding books on the mind arts would require little to no effort on Alana's part. She began her studies with fervour bound only by respectful caution of the magic at her fingertips.
Some weeks later found her at a children's park slipping quietly into the mind of a young girl currently unsupervised by her parents. Children were easiest to practice on with their smaller minds and the higher likelihood of recovery should she make a mistake.
She had learnt that Legilimency could be roughly divided into two styles. The first she had dubbed 'mind rape' with a brute force approach that violated the target thoroughly. The second was the more gentle 'mind scan' which recovered more recent surface thoughts with no deep diving. Obviously, she was starting with the first. It was not the most interesting thing to learn where a child had hidden their boogers, but slow progress was better than no progress at all. She may have unlocked the skill but reason to become complacent. The mind was a fragile thing, and her skill required honing and a lot of it, considering she could barely scan a two-year-olds head without breaking out in a sweat. Still, her progress was relatively quick with Capricorn's help in processing the usually overwhelming surge of information one was hit with when scanning. It was similar to walking through snow in that the thoughts had to be processed and shovelled away before you could move further. It was draining but rewarding.
