Hocus pocus

Later we went back towards the castle It was already noon and the castle atmosphere was grimm. Laenor and Laena were left in the castle earlier and didn't attend the funeral, as my mother didn't allow them. After spending some time with them exploring the castle along with Ser Harrion and two of my Guards, I sent them back to the rooms allotted to them and assigned two guards two for each. It is now I decided to take some alone time.

I looked at Ser Harrion and said," I need some time alone Ser Harrion. If anyone asks, say that I went to explore the island. Don't worry I will be back by sunset."

"Yes, My Lord." He responded.

I walked outside the castle and went to the small village outside. After passing through and making sure that no one is following me I made my way towards the dragonmont.

Dragonmont is an active volcano mountain. The castle was built beneath it. Smallfolk live in villages below the Dragonmont are tillers of the land and fishers of the sea. There are rocky paths on the Dragonmont. Within the mountain are caves and secret paths.

Through the rocky path I made my way towards the mountain and climbed it. It didn't pose any difficulty with my current body. After some climbing, I reached the mid-section of the mountain and found a small cave. It is not much deep but was hidden enough for anyone to not to notice unless searched.

"This will do." I said.

I went inside the cave and found a flat ground and sat there. Taking a deep breath, I summoned the 'Magic activation ticket' and tore it. The ticket just turned to dust just like the earlier tickets. Suddenly I felt pain in my head, it was bearable at the start, but the intensity was suddenly spiked. After few minutes the pain shifted from head to heart. It was truly unbearable. I writhed in pain on the ground, this continued for few minutes. Then the pain transferred to my lower abdomen, but I also felt something forming there. I understood that it was not physical but something more elusive. It felt real and not real for some time. After the pain subsided, it felt something like hot oil was moving from the lower abdomen, where the metaphysical organ was formed, towards the heart. The heart then pumped the hot substance throughout the body. I sweated for few minutes as my body burned with high fever. This went one for few minutes, as the heat slowly subsided like my body is now used to it. Now I felt refreshing, both my mind and body. Except for the signs that my clothes are dirty with the soot on the ground and sweat all over my body there was no sign that I went through hell here.

Suddenly a notification came.

[Congratulations My lord. You have activated magic. You can now obtain 2 random spells. Should I proceed?]

"Before that, could you explain to me what happened during the activation?"

[Yes, My Lord. The activation of magic involves 4 steps. 1. Mind will be unlocked to be able to sense magic and exert the will upon it. 2. Heart is strengthened, so that it could bear the load and direct the magic wherever needed throughout the body. 3. Magic core is created at the lower abdomen to store the magic. 4. After the magic core is activated, the magic is pumped throughout the body to get the body used to it hence the heat.]

'So, the magic core is the reservoir, heart is the pump, mind is computer.' I thought.

"Alright , lets proceed with the 2 random spells."

[Congratulations My lord for obtaining 1. Apports(Silver) 2.Scan(black-iron)]

[Apports: The Apport allows the user to take small objects toward them from a distance. The spell is limited to bringing small objects toward the user and cannot be used for object that cannot be held using one hand. Multiple objects also can be snatched using Apport as long as all of them can fit in the user's hand. The only limitation is that the object should be visible to the user.]

"Well this magic is perfect for stealing remotely. Other than that I don't see any other use." But after a thought I said, "Maybe it is useful in combat as well. Just image the sword is missing from the users hand during the fight. Or arrows disappearing in mid flight." I chuckled and said "Noice."

[Scan: It is a sensory type magic spell used to scan and give a mental map to the user with in 1 km radius.]

"So, this is a younger brother version of Observation Haki and Kaguya's Mind eye." I mused and asked Mina,"Mina, can I increase the range of scan spell?"

[It is Possible my Lord. Currently the spell is only black-iron level. You can either increase it by grinding or using the enhancement tickets.]

I nodded.

"Show me the status, Mina"

<- STATUS->

NAME: Aethan Valaryon

AGE: 16 years

BODY: Black Panther level MAGIC: Demi-god(Diamond)

LORD'S TALENT: Life Drain(Black Iron), Dual-weilder

SKILLS: Swordsmanship(Gold), Archery(Gold), Horse Riding combat(Gold), Sea faring(Bronze), Beast Taming(Gold), Approts(Silver), Scan(Black-Iron)

PARTY-

PARTY MEMBERS: Members[49], Captains[1]

PARTY SKILL SLOT – (3/3)

INVENTORY: 1 diamond enhancement ticket, Dragon Claim Ticket.

<- .->

After taking a look at the changes. I asked,"What is the 'high mage' level in magic?"

[It represents the magic capacity of the Lord. The order is Low-mage-> Mid-mage-> High-mage-> Adavnced-mage-> Peak-Mage-> Demi-god. Currently due to Lord's silver level talent core you have awakened High-mage magic core. But not to worry my lord. Due to the 2x learning speed obtained from the magic unlock ticket, your learning speed would be high.]

"Is that so." I pondered for a bit and said,"Can I Use my diamond enhancement ticket on my magic core?"

[Yes, My lord.]

"That means my core is enhanced to the Demi-god level correct?"

[That is correct. As the core is linked to talent, the talent is enhanced as well.]

After hearing that I waited no longer and summoned the Diamond enhancement ticket. I took a deep breath and tore the ticket while preparing for the pain. But it never came. All I felt was warm feeling in my lower abdomen and my magic core expanding.

'In the cultivation level point of view, If it was as big as a lake before now it is like a large sea.' I thought.

The enhancement was completed in few minutes. I felt refreshed. I summoned the status screen and saw my magic changed from High-mage(Silver) to Demigod(Diamond). I felt thrilled.

I tried to do my first spell and chanted {Apports} while looking at the stone in gripping motion. The stone just disappeared from its original location and fell into my palm. I tried few more times with various sizes and shapes. The magic works similar to Law's Ope-ope no mi skill 'Shambles'. But instead of switching positions it teleports the object to my palm.

'I got a small cut on my palm when apporting a dragonglass. I must use my fingers to hold a sharp dragonglass without any blunt edges. This is a lesson. Imagine using apports midst of the battle on enemy's sword and I held the blade instead of hilt. Practice makes perfect.' I thought. 'Now onto the next one.'

I used the spell {Scan}. A magical pulse was released from me as a center and expanded till 1 km in radius. A mental map was created within me. I was able to see the various hiiden paths, caves, structures and most importantly the location of dragons.

There were 3 dragons that are huge and similar size and dragons that are a bit larger than syrax. I can't identify which are which as I have never seen them and the mental map only reveals the structure like an x-ray and not in color.

Throughout the experiment I noticed that the spells didn't take much magic and the magic that is consumed for the spell was quickly recovered.

'Is this the trill of having a Demi-god level magic capacity?' I thought.

After a quick decision I walked out of the cave and towards the nearest large dragon. I am currently on the western side of the Dragonmont and there is only one dragon made lair here. Other two dragons made their lair in northern side and eastern side. The remaining medium size dragons made their lair on the southern side.