CH 11 New Interests and First Impressions

Time passed swiftly and it was already the time of spring in the year 1992. Alcor had turned 11 in December of the previous year and a subtle change had come over him and his magic core. While there was no indication of the change in the system, Alcor definitely knew that his control over Prana had become more refined and instinctive.

In the months following his birthday, Alcor also broke through to the second maturation of his Magic core. As a result, his innate skill Magic Senses had evolved to the Rare Skill - Peak Enhanced Senses.

After this evolution, Alcor had shut himself in an isolated room while using magic to completely seal it. During this isolation, he felt like a certain alien who got overpowered abilities as a result of exposure to the sun.

He slowly got used to these enhanced senses and even learned how to integrate them with his magical abilities. During this time he survived purely on Prana, absorbing it from the atmosphere and using it as a substitute for sustenance and maintaining his body at peak condition.

By the time he ended his self-imposed isolation, it was already Summer. Seeing how he had worried his family he decided to spend the time before he goes to Hogwarts relaxing with his family.

As it is he had already leveled up most of his knowledge skills to the max, except a few skills like Divination, Healing, Alchemy, and Dark Arts. So he had no worry about preparing more for the studies at Hogwarts.

His knowledge was such that he could create his own original answers for any questions posed to him without referring to any passage from any book. He was the opposite of Hermione in that aspect.

He did however spend large amounts of time relaxing with Astrid in their impeccable garden that seemed to constantly on bloom no matter the season, thanks to a few enchantments placed by Alcor around their home.

He didn't slack of on training in energy dungeons, however. His current focus was Nature Energy Dungeons. He was very interested in this energy as it was practically the closest thing to Life itself.

When he reached the first maturation of Nature Core, he was surprised that instead of a Manipulation skill like other cores, he got a skill called Nature Communication.

This surprised him, but he later realized that this meant Nature Manipulation or Similar skills were probably of Rare or even higher rarity. This was the reason that he was so obsessed with leveling up Nature Core.

Moreover, the creatures found in Nature Energy dungeons gave him a decent challenge due to their high defense and regeneration ability. Even with the fire, which had the highest rate of damage against them, Alcor needed a lot of time to defeat every major boss-level creature in Nature Dungeon.

On the other hand, Lunar and Solar Energy Dungeons were not suited for continuous training as the creatures in there were a bit too strong. He would train there once his average stats crossed the mark of 250.

Coming back to the His Nature Core and Nature Communication skills, he had noticed that they were very compatible with his Prana. Nature Communication allowed him to communicate with all Flora and Fauna. When combined with the Aura he now had after gaining Prana Manipulation, it nearly made him the Favored Child of Nature.

Moreover, when using both skills together, he could use Prana to help the Flora and Fauna develop better and faster, which made them feel even more affinity with Alcor. Veronica was very happy with Alcor nowadays because flowers in their garden bloomed with never before seen quality and vigor thanks to Alcor.

Apart from this, Alcor had also started to use his Crafting and Enchanting abilities to create magical toys for little Astrid. With the use of Runes and Transmutation, it was not hard for him to modify Muggle Toys and objects to their magical counterparts.

He began with various dolls first. Muggles had already begun experimenting with automation and putting small speakers in toys that could give limited responses to stimulation.

He went one step further with Magic, by giving the dolls and stuffed toys he created much better automation by transforming them into Golem. He also gave them limited sentience so that they could keep Astrid company and also protect her.

Veronica was very amused with Alcor's toys. The toys were all the size of a 3-year-old human child, so she felt like she had just gained many new children to look after. Astrid too now had a ton of fun with her new playmates.

Making toys for Astrid truly sparked Alcor's interest in Enchanting. From Astrid's toys, he turned his attention to various other muggle objects that could be improved with enchantments.

For starters, he improved the various crockery used in their home to retain the freshness and temperature of their food at least ten times longer than before. Similarly, the furniture at their home felt even more snug and comfortable with some cushioning charms and temperature regulation charms.

Alcor also took a page from Arthur Weasley's book and started experimenting with various muggle means of transport. He didn't start with cars and bikes instantly, he figured he needed to read and experiment more about how they work before he would be ready to modify them.

However, he was more than ready to work with children's means of transport, such as Roller Skates, Skateboards, Kick Scooters, and Bicycles. He was sure that the wizarding world would be highly interested in his products and maybe he could earn decent money through it. After all, he recently was running low on criminals and bounties to catch.

He started first with roller skates and skateboards. They were the easiest to modify in his opinion as he just had to copy the idea of broomsticks. A powerful intention-sensing charm, a self-propelling charm, a self-braking charm, a customized vector manipulation charm, and an Omni-balancing charm were all that he needed for a successful prototype.

The last two were something of his own invention, inspired by his Physics Manipulation and Psychokinesis skill. He tested and adjusted his prototypes for a week. By the end of it, he was able to do stunts with the enchanted Roller skates and Skateboard that would stun the best professional skaters and rollerbladers in the world.

He had just begun researching the best ways to improve the Kick-Scooters and Bicycles when the anticipated event happened.

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

21st July, 1992

Dismantled parts of a bicycle lay all around Alcor in their garage as he tried a combination of various enchantments on them. Just as he was testing a Self-inflating charm on a Bicycle tire, Astrid came into the garage, skating on the skateboard Alcor enchanted for her.

Veronica and Kane were not worried about the little girl using that because Alcor had demonstrated the safety measures he put exclusively on the one he gifted Astrid.

"Big Brother, someone is there at the house looking for you!!" the cute little girl said as stood before him with a large grin, "She is dressed weirdly big brother, like the magic people you said usually preferred."

Alcor could not help but smile when he heard her. He thanked her and patted her head to praise her. When he went to the hall of their villa, he saw Veronica and Kane sitting there with a woman in green robes and a witch's hat.

He had no trouble identifying McGonagall as she looked just like a combination of her description in the books and her portrayal in the movies. He had seen a similar thing with Harry, so he was not surprised. It was as if the book's details had been superimposed on the features of the actors and actresses who played corresponding roles in the movies.

"Ah, Mr. Alcor Celesta." McGonagall said while standing up "I was just waiting for you to come. You have been offered a seat at a boarding school I have been employed at as a Professor, and I have come to inform you and your guardians with details regarding the offer."

"Sure," Alcor said with a smile as he gestured McGonagall to take her seat.

"Thank you," McGonagall said as she adjusted her robes and sat down. She then turned to Veronica and Kane and put on a look as if she was going to teach advanced mathematics to two dumb first graders.

"Now, Mr. And Mrs. Birchwood, you may find this hard to believe, but your adopted brother is a Wizard," McGonagall said as she took out her wand to prepare for a demonstration of Magic.

"Ah, yes. We know." Veronica said with a calm smile.

McGonagall didn't even pay attention, as she nodded as if she had seen it many times and continued with her explanation.

"Yes, I know you all find it hard to believe. But Magic does exist--- Wait!! You said you know?" McGonagall's eyes became wide open and she suddenly focused on the two of them as she asked for confirmation.

"Yes, We do," Kane said with a nod in his deep gruff voice. he generally didn't speak much with outsiders, preferring to give short answers in response to questions.

"Alcor has been doing Inexplicable things outside normal logic for quite some time now. It would have been harder for us not to know?" Veronica said with a tone that seemed as if she was questioning McGonagall's intelligence for asking that.

McGonagall went a bit pink at hearing Veronica's tone. To cover up her embarrassment, she turned to Alcor, "Mr. Celesta, You can do .. weird things?"

"I don't know what you mean weird, Professor." Alcor said with a smile, "But I can certainly do stuff like this…"

Alcor waved his hand and the tea kettle on the table neatly rose into the air and served tea in three cups. The cups then levitated and moved until they hovered right in front of McGonagall, Kane, and Veronica.

Kane and Veronica accepted the tea and drank, as it was pretty much a usual occurrence when Alcor was around. Alcor usually didn't let his family do anything if he was in the room. McGonagall on the other hand looked at Alcor with a stunned expression muttering about controlled wandless magic.

Alcor inwardly grinned at McGonagall's expression. Screw laying low, Screw Dumbledore's suspicion, Screw holding back on his abilities. He only had Seven Years at Hogwarts, and he will etch them into the memory of everyone who attends it with him.