Chapter 62

Once he had implanted a complete understanding of the optimized meditation technique, Harry placed himself on the other half of the bed with crossed legs.

With the help of the AI Chip and his talent, he got down the first Mind Rune in seconds—what an average Acolyte would need days for.

This has been no challenge so far, so he decided to try a few more Runes. He limited himself to only seven; he felt he could go further, but he chose not to do so.

Being able to meditate upon eight Runes, was a sign he had reached the level of a rank-one acolyte. Even for a Grade 5 talent, it would be an extremely shocking thing to reach rank 1 after one meditation session.

A can of worms that he didn't want to open yet. He had gained nothing from the Abyssal Bone Forest Academy yet.

If he had to flee because the professors chose to dissect him or one of the families backing the academy wanted to enslave him, the whole journey here would be a waste of time.

Once his mind entered a state of meditation, he began to feel the effects of the technique. He could feel the compatible electromagnetic particles entering his body.

After a while, he had to stop. Harry had experienced the same with the Knight Training Technique he had tried out before; there was a time limit on how long one could practice.

This time he felt that his mind was exhausted, while the knight training technique had an effect on his body. Each time, it was a very distinct feeling that you shouldn't continue.

But it seems one could practice both simultaneously. Knight Training for the Body, Meditation for the Mind.

'Check my status, AI!' Harry requested it when he saw that Bessita was still meditating. It probably took her longer to form the runes and enter the meditative state; she had no AI chip after all.

[ Beep! [Full body scan complete! Brain activity has been stimulated during the meditation process. Each cell of your body has been affected by the absorbed energy particles. Changes in your magical core were detected. ]

[ The vitality of your body has risen by 0.1! lLacking the necessary data to analyze and visualize the full effect. More observation is required. ]

———

Early the next morning, Harry and Bessita, after having a quick breakfast in the dining hall they found yesterday, rushed back to the laboratory of Professor Kroft.

"Good morning, sir!" Bessita was greeted as she entered the room in front of Harry.

Besides Professor Kroft, there was another Acolyte. A beautiful green-haired girl.

"Hm? You attempted the meditation technique." Kroft noticed as he observed the two of them before saying, "As expected of Harry, but it seems you are closer to a grade 3 Acolyte than grade 2 Bessita. How did it feel?"

He mentioned that because Bessita was too fast, she should have taken a few days before she could even start meditating. But this was nothing to worry about; after all, Kroft already had his own small excuse ready. In the end, Bessita was a Grade 2 talent and would take quite a while; Grade 2 or 3 didn't really matter to the academy.

"It took a while until I could form the first rune." Bessita admited.

"I practiced until my head started aching and I felt dizzy." Harry added his own observation.

"Good, you should stop once you reach your limit each day. Pushing through will only harm you. But this is pretty common. And you are doing good, Bessita; you are very fast. Keep working hard!" Kroft nodded, pleased with his new students.

"Come, let me introduce the two of you! This is Bicky, my other acquaintance. These are Harry and Bessita, your two new juniors." Kroft introduced them to the female acolyte in the room.

"Hi!" Bicky greeted them with a happy smile.

"Hello!" Both Harry and Bessita greeted them. As Princess Bessita had all the grace of a noble, Harry used what he learned from Leylin's memories and his own experiences in Westeros to perform an elegant greeting.

"Bicky is your senior. You have another one; he is called Merlin. He has exceptional pointing skills. Kroft explained it to them.

"Many call Merlin a once-in-a-century potioneering genius. He is the most likely successor to our professor." Bicky added.

Harry had already known about that. Merlin was one of the reasons why he had chosen the same professor as Leylin. As far as he knew, that guy was always in a lab, experimenting, and hard to meet.

Once Harry had advanced to Rank 1 Acolyte and confirmed he could read an experienced Acolyte's mind, he would study everything Merlin had to offer. All the experiments and experiences of a Potioneering genius would give him a massive headstart and add a lot to his AI chip database.

"Haha! Indeed! Merlin has shown outstanding talent in potioneering. If there's anything you don't understand, seek his help!" Kroft smiled, clearly very satisfied with his student. "So are the two of you familiar with my requirements?"

"Yes, we have read them while selecting a mentor." They nodded.

"Good! From now on, the two of you must come here every day to help with the cleaning. In your free time, you may attend the free lessons. As for the benefit of being under my guidance, which includes receiving information on a topic, you can choose and ask me after you've learned the basics." Kroft explained, which seemed fair.

"Thank you, Professor!" Both of them bowed. At this point in time, Bessita had almost no real information on Magus beyond some general ones. While Harry has extensive knowledge in many fields of magic, science, and alchemy, he was curious about what the Magus World had to offer.

The advantage of the AI chip was knowledge. More knowledge made it even more powerful.

Thanks to his risky visit to Truth in the Fullmetal Alchemist World, he already had an extensive database of alchemical and scientific knowledge.

He was in possession of a completely different language of magic unknown to the Magus World that he had learned from the elves in Alagaësia, including other tidbits of knowledge, both magical and non-magical.

And his experiences in the Wizarding World and Westeros have given him extensive knowledge of a different magic system. He was not on the level of Dumbledore or Voldemort; he simply lacked the resources and books to gain it, but what he knew was in depth thanks to the nature of his old gamer system.

Harry had a good starting position as Magus and would only snowball faster with all the new information he would learn, thanks to his AI chip and Legillimency.

"I don't need you this morning. Bisky will show you around the academy and tell you about the restrictions." Kroft pulled him out of his troubles.

Bicky led them through the academy, showing them every important corner and where they were and were not allowed to go. Like, they had to stay away from the residential area of the professors or from the trading post, where Acolytes could trade with each other.

She showed them the Mission Post, where they complete different missions, like, for example, cleaning the surrounding area from red-eyed Ravens. These missions gave different rewards, from magic crystals to contribution points.

While magic crystals were a general currency for Magi, used in many different fields as an additional source of energy, contribution points were an internal currency for the organization. The ones for the academy could be exchanged for things the academy offered.

Some things could also be exchanged for magic crystals, like spell models, but other goods were only sold for contribution points.

Her voice was extremely pleasing, and her looks were not less than Bessita's. But she had one disadvantage: she was far too naive. Girly?

What would you describe a person who had a crush on a pretty face and would even give up her own future for him, only to be discarded as soon as she had no use? Because that was what happened to her in the original story.

They even met the guy who did that to her in the future: "That is Senior Fayle. He's a genius—he became a level 2 acolyte just six months after entering the academy!" Bicky's eyes widened, and her face shone radiantly as she muttered.

Harry was a bit conflicted about whether he should interfere in the future or not. While he needed Personel in the future, Bicky was a bit foolish. But at the same time, she had the luck to be his senior.

He would see what the future brought.

"Oh, so he has Grade 4 aptitude?" Bessita's question snapped Bicky out of her daze. "Not bad, but Harry will be better."

"What makes you say that?" Bicky asked, confused.

"You haven't heard yet? Harry is a Grade 5 genius," Bessita gushed, giving Harry a thumbs up behind her back.

Harry had no idea what she was thinking, but at least she was building a reputation for him. He planned to use his talent to gain more advantages. Staying low-key was sometimes smart but also boring. Robbing jealous idiots who thought they were great and looked for trouble with him was always fun and profitable.

"Really?" Bicky exclaimed, her eyes now fixed on Harry as she took a closer look.

He nodded with a warm smile that always seemed to make others happy, then tried to redirect her attention back to the tour.

For some reason, Bicky became more energetic and put more effort into the tour, happily chatting with Bessita most of the time. She often glanced at Harry when she thought he wasn't looking.

Only later would he realize that she hadn't looked at Fayle even once after that.

———

The lesson system at the Abyssal Bone Forest Academy was divided into several categories.

First, there were the free lessons, which were essentially long, dry lectures on various basic topics. Questions were not permitted, nor were they answered.

Professors would come in, deliver their lecture, and leave.

Another type of lesson involved student-taught classes. Students could pay advanced students to tutor them on a topic. These sessions could be one-on-one or in small groups, with the latter being cheaper.

Lastly, there were the paid professor lessons, the most expensive option. These provided more in-depth and advanced classes, with the opportunity to ask specific questions, even advanced ones. Though costly, these lessons offered the highest knowledge gain.

Harry never had to take a paid lesson, at least not at his current level. The free lessons sufficed for him, as he could use the AI chip to remember all relevant information.

In fact, he was tutoring Bessita, who had a much harder time following the lessons. He did this in public study areas, attracting the attention of other struggling acolytes.

Since he was already tutoring Bessita, he offered the other acolytes a good price for his sessions. This way, he had a steady stream of students paying him regularly for lessons, making it his first source of income.

This also earned him the reputation of an intelligent and approachable acolyte, bringing in even more students. He also offered one-on-one lessons in his free time, which were, of course, more expensive.

Acolytes had other ways to gain knowledge for free. Like the library, if one worked themselves to thick dry tomes, they could gain a lot of information beyond the basic free lessons.

If one had an AI chip, it was as easy as flipping through a book.

Each day, Harry and Bessita would go to Krofts Laboratory and help out there. At first, it was mostly cleaning tasks.

Kroft was one of the more aggreable professors, allowing them to attend each free lesson without a problem as long as they kept up their work.

On his fourth day in the academy, Harry decided to break through to rank 1 acolyte, one day earlier than the average grade 5 talent.

His professor had been very pleased about that. He had instantly realized that Harry had broken through to the level of a Rank 1 acolyte.

That fact was a relief to Harry. Before arriving at the academy, he designed multiple concealment spells in the ancient language to hide his magical core from others. But until now, he hadn't been sure if they were working properly.

Because the change caused by his breakdown had also affected his magical core. And he really didn't want anyone to notice it.

Another thing that confirmed itself was whether he was able to read the minds of an acolyte. The answer is yes.

While the changes to the mind caused by the meditation formed some natural unconscious defenses on the mind, someone who practiced the art of Legilimency could easily go through these defenses.

The only thing he had to be careful of were magic artifacts that protected the mind. But even then, he hadn't noticed anyone with such an artifact. Mind-reading spells were rare and mostly something that an official magus could use.

But each Magus had even stronger natural mental defenses. It was rare for magus of the same rank to attack each other with mind magic; only a master would do so, and they were very rare.

This made magical artifacts with mental defense properties rare amongst acolytes, and they were more there to shield against illusion and similar.

Which a master Legilimency user should be able to bypass. But Harry wasn't a master yet; he was only experienced. But so far, he had only found one person with such an artifact, an acolyte from the Redbud family.

The Redbuds, the Lilytells, and the Liliels were the three families backing the academy.

They pretty much had control over the academy. They were the ones in control of the resources and techniques required to become an official magus.

For most Magi without any backing, they were the only way to become an official magus, besides hoping to find the legacy of an ancient magus somewhere. Of course they were abusing that fact by forcing Acolytes to sign a binding contract to become magus and work under their family.

They have been doing this for centuries and have become quite rich on the South Coast. So it wasn't strange for an acolyte of their family to carry such an artifact. It is a bit annoying.

But he would get enough practice in Legilimency. Another thing Harry wanted to do was read the minds of the members of these families.

These families are each in possession of at least a Rank 1 Advanced Meditation Technique.

The path of a magus is split into different levels; the very first levels are the three acolyte levels, which could be reached with the elementary meditation technique.

Meanwhile, the true powers in this world were the official magus. To truly become one, an advanced meditation technique was required. On the South Coast, these were under the control of powerful families like these three.

Magus were also split into ranks; each higher rank is far more powerful than the previous one. A Rank 1 Advanced Meditation Technique is good enough to reach the level of a Rank 1 Magus; after that, one has to experiment to further his path.

Rank 2 gets you up to Rank 2, and so on.

There is also another method to reach the level of a Rank 1 magus on the South Coast: a potion that burns your lifespan for a power boost that brings you into the rank of an official magus. The older you were, the lower your success chance.

And this was the most common method used on the South Coast. These families and organizations were selling these Potions for the service of these possible magus, while making sure they would never be able to overthrow them.

Because a magus who forcefully advanced through such a method was far weaker than one using even the worst advanced meditation technique.

For example, to get that potion called Grine Water from the Abyssal Forest Academy, you had to sign a contract that you would work for the next 100 years for the academy or one of these families.

If you succeed and are very young when advancing, you may have a few years left to live. In most cases, you die before the contract is over. Most of the professors were this way.

Harry didn't care about any of that. He already knew the location of an advanced meditation technique. Still, this wasn't enough for him; he wanted more options. And stealing these techniques from the minds of other acolytes was one way to get them.

He was already doing that with other things too. Why would he need to pay for potion recipes if he could just take them directly from other students minds, like Merlin, for example?

The same goes for paid lessons, blueprints, spells, or rather, spell models, as they were called in this world, and so on.

And Harry knew that these three families had at least a Rank 1 meditation technique, while the Lilytell family has most likely even a Rank 2.

They would be his; he just needed to master Legilimency.

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