Chapter 60 The High End Ritual

The next three days passed quickly though Harry kept himself very busy. Besides teaching his classes and making breakfast and dinner, Harry spent most of his time in the basement preparing a large ritual formation.

Between tasks he did take a look into the fallout of his minor little rampage. The Hand ceased all activities within the area around where Harry lived meaning unless he went looking for them they were not likely to meet again. Two more surveillance teams seemed permanently situated around Harry's home and Harry had gotten several requests for students to transfer into his class which Harry politely declined under the reason it was too late into the semester. He wondered how many spies would apply for his class next semester and if he should allow any of them. They would certainly be more fun to prank.

The last Foundations of Metaphysics Class had Harry introduce the next Project.

"Alright everyone, the last Project was about learning to use different materials and energy in different ways. The next Project is about performing complex tasks in unsuitable environments."

Harry brought up a slideshow of several high powered magnets with their magnetic fields outlines. He then walked over to the door in the back of the classroom that lead to the storage space and brought out a three foot tall, fully articulate, wooden puppet with string joints

"The next project will be to take one of these guys and modify it in a way that will allow it to walk a distance of twenty feet through a field of overlapping high powered electromagnets. The parameters are as follows. The puppet must be used as a base. The total weight added to the puppet cannot exceed ten pounds and no forms of adding lift, such as balloons, may be used. The means of movement must be alternative steps without movement between steps. So no roller blades or the like. And finally, the walking must be autonomous. No remote controls."

Some of the students began to think on how to accomplish this but the brighter students shared the same frown. This was actually more difficult than the light saber. The magnetic field basically meant they had to either use little to no metal or shield an unstable walking frame from being affected by irregular magnetic fields whose placement would not be divulged before the test.

Doom gave Reed another challenging side glare but the latter ignored it. Harry figured they would not build a prototype this time because they would be too busy with the voyage into space at the end of the month.

This month's course materials would be showing how different materials reacted to and ignored different energy fields so reading ahead would in fact give some hints on the project itself. The reason for the projects to be introduced like that was so that the class would have a practical scenario to apply their knowledge gained from the course material to which would ensure they retained the information better than just reading from the lines of the book.

Saturday finally came and Jade had been let into a number of secrets of the Potter House. Unsurprisingly her first request was, "I want to be a Video Game Character too!"

"I can fit it into the ritual but you do know that is painful right?"

Jade nodded firmly, "Jean showed me so I am well aware."

Harry accepted that easily enough. A telepath of Jean's caliber could share memories and senses so she could allow Jade to feel what she felt during the Gamer Conversion. If Jade knew what she was getting into, Harry wouldn't complain.

"Alright, everything is ready. Jade, please get the Talismans, we're going to use them in the ritual."

"Really? Are you going to fuse them into me and permanently give all their powers!?" She asked with excitement.

Harry answered, "Not exactly. I recently got something I can use to scrub Shendu's demon taint off the Talismans and change them into something else. As for fusing it into you, would you actually want that?"

"Yes!" She excitedly answered.

That wasn't Harry's original intention. Harry went over the details of the ritual with Jade. Once finished, she would be free of any influence from her past lives and Dragon Chi but could use it when she wanted to. Fusing with it meant she would be influenced anyways. Jade easily agreed. All power comes with a price but this wasn't a price she had any problem paying.

Harry considered it and said, "Alright, I'll need another thirty minutes though." Unfortunately for Jade it wouldn't work like she was imagining. Despite her Chi, Jade's flesh was human, so she could not be like Shendu and have the power of the Talismans at all times. Still, at least there was no chance of her losing or having them stolen this way.

Harry already enlisted Wanda and Jean into assisting with the ritual. Wanda would assist with the magical side and Jean would assist with the mental side.

Earlier, Harry had told Jade there were three ways to unlock her chi. He initially suggested the first two ways but now they were actually going to use the third, using Magic to open the door. Doing so earlier would have had a lot of negative consequences but it seemed the Living Tribunal was looking out for him. The reward for the Quest was the Dragon's Tear. From what Harry discovered, it could purify and strengthen Dragon Chi. This opened up an entire realm of possibilities and Harry had remained paused for quite a while to calculate them all and determine the best one.

Once everything had been adjusted, Harry checked over the formation for the umpteenth time. This was perhaps the most complex formation he'd ever laid, even more so than the Block Transfer Computation arrangement he'd goofed on which sent him back in time. There was no limit on being careful in this as a single mistake would be very costly. Not irreversible, but costly nonetheless.

The formation itself was inscribed using ingredients and potions and the inscription itself had to be laid by hand. Each symbol and line had to be written with Intent so a computer could not have done it. That was the reason it took a few days to set up in the first place. Most of the lines looked blood red and once finished, the formation gave off a pulsing glow like that of a heartbeat and would give those who looked at it a sense of an ancient sleeping power.

"Alright girls and girls, it's showtime." Harry and Jade sat in the center of the ritual formation and Wanda sat behind Harry while Jean sat behind Jade. Rogue had a number of tools which monitored everything and would be the first to know if anything went wrong.

Jade looked over her shoulder to Harry who had his hand placed on her back and gave him a confident smile before she turned forward and closed her eyes.

Harry felt everything was set so he took in a deep breath and with a focused exhale he channeled his Immortal Dragon Chi into the formation beneath him. The countless red lines and shapes started glowing brightly and began to shift over the floor. Harry felt the energies cleanly lock onto Jade began to pull. Jade endured it and with a flash of red lightning, a massive door appeared over the sitting Jade.

Wanda knew this was her que so she injected her own chaos magic into the formation which caused it to change from bright red to dark red. Chaos allowed the rules the world worked by to be broken.

The twelve talismans set around the formation started floating into the air along with a crystal tear. Harry channeled even more Chi into the formation which caused dozens of bolts of red and gold lightning to strike the tear. In an instant the tear shattered and changed into crystal clear liquid that gushed out and flowed over the twelve talismans. More and more bolts of Dragon Chi and Chaos magic shot into the dragon tears as it swallowed the twelve stones which started dissolving into the liquid. In only a few breaths of time, the stones vanished into the liquid like sugar cubes into water.

So far so good. It was Jean's turn next. Phoenix flames arose from her and entered into the formation lines. Wisps of flowing light rose from the floor and started shifting and spiraling around Harry and Jade.

The Door floating above started changing to a red color as if it were heating up.

This wasn't a Chi magic formation or a Sorcerer Formation. This was an artifact formation. Harry had been focused on Artifact creation since Hogwarts and he'd come a long way since then. Rather than violently break or open the Door, he was going to refine it into an artifact.

Jean's flames weren't just metaphorically heating up the door. She was also dealing with the remnant memories of the previous reincarnations. She wasn't going to erase them though, her role in this was to ensure they did not overly affect Jade when she had access to her Chi.

When the timing was right Harry moved the Dragon Tears to directly engulf the door. Now was the hard part.

Harry released every bit of Dragon Chi he had at once into the Door. The Door shattered and the entire formation shined with blinding red light. If one was able to see within they could see black streams of lights being ejected from the remnants of the broken Door which had its pieces fused together from the pressure of the formation. The Dragon tears washed through the whole of Jade's one thousand lifetimes of Chi and removed the demon taint while strengthening the Dragon aspect. The fragments of the door took a new form and were quenched by the Dragon tears which evaporated at the moment all its essence had been used up.

When the light fades, a palm sized red gem in the shape of a heart gripped in a golden dragon's claw was revealed.

*Ping*

[Crafting Path has risen to Rank 31]

[Dragon Path has risen to Rank 21]

[Magic Path has risen to Rank 45]

Harry inwardly sighed with relief. It had gone as well as he could have hoped for. "Good work. Now for the fusion."

The Dragon Heart started floating down and the moment it touched Jade's forehead, Harry started injecting his Obscurus Particles into Jade. The Dragon Heart sunk into Jade's forehead as her body was gripped with pain.

Harry's level had reached 252 after defeating Apocalypse and it only dropped two levels to fully convert Jade while assimilating her artifact into her powers.

The original intent of the formation was to separate Jade's chi and let her use it as an artifact. That would prevent her from being too affected by it. But Jade didn't seem to mind becoming a Dragon and didn't want her One Ring to get stolen. Harry would have made sure that could not have happened of course, but nothing is impossible so he allowed it.

*Ping*

[New Players Added

New Player Added: Jade Chan Level 29. Age 16

Anna Marie. Level 112 Age 16

Wanda Maximoff. Level 112 Age 16

Jean Grey. Level 112 Age 16]

Harry looked over their levels and stats along with the new addition. Jade was actually a very high level for her age which Harry attributed to the training she'd undergone since she was twelve and the numerous ordeals and adventures she'd gone through.

Although they didn't match his own stats, when they worked together they could still give him a workout.

[Harry Potter

Level 250 Age 16

STR 330 AGI 330

INT 545 WIS 535

LUK 30

Warrior Path Rank 31

Scholar Path Rank 47

Magic Path Rank 45

Tech Path Rank 37

Business Path Rank 33

Crafting Path Rank 31

Dragon Path Rank 21

Psionic Path Rank 25

Sex Path Rank 12]

That last one always made Harry feel awkward and wonder if the speed it had risen since he got it two months ago meant he was a pervert.

After talking a few breaths to calm herself, Jade asked, "Why don't I feel any different?"

Harry answered, "The knowledge from your past lives have been stored in your subconscious thanks to Jean. The power of the Talismans are no longer what they used to be after turning into the Dragon Heart. Most importantly, they cannot be used unless under a specific circumstance."

"What? How do I use them?" she asked impatiently.

"Simple. You can only use them with Noble intentions. This is the difference between a True Dragon and a Demon Dragon."

"What?! You mean I can't fly to school, defeat Flash Thompson in an arm wrestling contest, or use heat vision to warm up the school's cold pizza?!"

Wanda, Rogue, and Jean all burst into laughter at her 'outrage.'

Harry chuckled and said, "No. But when you act with a Noble Heart, not only can you use what powers you do have, but you can also use the experience of your past lives to use your Chi. At the moment, although you do have access to your chi, you'll need to learn to control it from scratch.

Jade slumped over as if depressed. She knew there was no free lunch of course but a girl can dream!'

Harry patted her head and opened his inventory to take out a massive tome. He said, "Recognize this?"

Jade turned and looked at the Upanishads which originally gave her a headache. She thought Harry was teasing her again when he brought it out so she only glanced at it. A moment later she performed an excellent double take and stared, wide eyed at the tome. "I can understand it!"

Jean said, "As long as you put some effort into studying, you can easily re-learn everything you learned in your past lives."

Harry added, "And now that your Chi is unlocked, we can start learning Chi Magic. I'll even throw in some Sorcery lessons if you keep your grades up."

Jade was actually ignoring him and flipping through the pages with bright eyes and a wide smile.

Harry was pleased with the success. Although Jade was far behind the others in level, once she trained to awaken her Noble Heart at will, she would be able to take part in the same Battle Meditation sessions as the girls and catch up in level.

Harry's own levels however have been much harder to increase lately. The only source of energy above level 250 near him was Goose's Flerken Pocket Dimension Energy. Besides the fact that everything he faced looked worse than what he saw in Chthon's realm, it also drained Goose which neither were pleased with.

Harry could use Astral Projection and go to other realms and enable Battle Meditation there, but he'd found that using high level energy to create monsters for him to face and absorb above level 230 quickly got the attention of those in the realm and he was no longer welcomed in many a ethereal dimension. That left Harry to use Dimensional Energy but that still maxed out at level 200. Because of this, Harry had been spending less time increasing his own level and more time using Battle Meditation to increase the girl's level. He didn't mind this as it would keep them safe, but Harry was getting concerned with how long it would take him to get to level 300

Once Harry reached 300, he could fight against beings composed of Time Energy and absorb it when he beat them. Technically, Harry didn't need to wait and could initiate Battle Meditation using Time energy at any level. But even recently when he tried, the creature that spawned killed him without effort, ending the Battle Meditation and causing him some painful harm.

Time creatures could use time while fighting. They could stop time and attack a Frozen Harry, they could slow Harry down, or they could skip forward in time and move like teleportation, allowing them to attack from different positions in rapid succession with no ability to block, retaliate, retreat, or do anything except serve as a punching bag.

The only way to beat Time monsters was to become strong enough to resist time effects, use time magic to counter time effects, or create a magic defense against time effects. The first one would likely occur if Harry reached level 300 but every attempt he'd tried at the other two failed which Harry didn't think was fair. His Magic stats had already risen to the point where most magic had little to no effect on him and even Time Magic didn't work. But creatures composed of Time Energy didn't use magic, they directly manipulated time and Harry's magic defense could not resist it at the moment.

Harry was hoping to find another source of energy and already had a few things in mind, but much of it would require luck.

Harry did a few tests on Jade and confirmed everything went as well as they could have hoped and both went to their respective bathrooms to clean up. Harry still intended to take her out on a proper date after all.

Jade of course insisted on a second date afterwards and Harry took her out on Sunday as well. That night Jade requested Harry give her a proper massage and the results surprised no one.

*Ping*

[Sex Path has risen to Rank 13]

The following breakfast Jean, Wanda and Rogue spent the morning giving Jade knowing grins. Before Jade left for school, Jean shouted, "You do know that Felicia and probably MJ is going to take one look at you and recognize that look on your face right? Good luck hiding it."

The look of horror on Jade's face when she realized she'd never be able to convincingly hide it from those two made everyone at the breakfast table break out into fits of giggles and laughter.

After his Energy Physics Class that day Harry got an invite to Curt Conner's University Lab. Over the last several years the man had gotten a large number of grants and his equipment looked impressive even to Harry who was used to working with systems he'd built himself or something Forge had made.

When Harry entered Kurt was at his computer and looked over, "Professor Potter! Glad you could make it." He got up and walked over to shake Harry's hand. Curt himself only had a single arm with the left sleeve of his lab coat being folded and sewn up so it did not get in the way.

"Not a problem Professor Conners."

"Please, call me Curt."

"Only if you call me Harry."

Curt laughed at that and said, "There's something I wanted you to have a look at. It heard you studied under Dr. McCoy and wanted to know if you had an opinion on this." Curt had walked Harry over to a large monitor which had some molecular structures and chemical equations.

Harry asked, "Recombinative genes? That's what you're working on?" Harry had seen all the mutant experimentation of the Weapon X Program and Sinister's servers so he could easily recognize the proteins used to facilitate the splicing of genes.

"Hah, you're right! You see, I was working on this new technique to remove the protein inhibitors present in the cell."

Harry nodded, "To prevent the rejection of the foreign RNA. What are you using to cultivate the proteins? These have no shelf life to speak of and there is no way they can last long enough to any real procedure."

Rather than be depressed that Harry had easily spotted the issue, Curt was excited. There was only so much talking to yourself you could do without going crazy and there was no one else in the University that he could bounce ideas off. Curt took Harry to the synthesizer in the back and Harry pulled up and commented on some of the inefficient settings. The fact that Harry knew his way around the equipment made Curt even more excited.

Curt didn't show Harry what he was working on directly but Harry could tell he was trying to graft advantages of other members of the animal kingdom into humans. Looking at Curt's missing arm, it didn't take a genius to understand Curt's aim.

While chatting about things that would render lesser minds unconscious, Curt and Harry also discussed mundane things and life in the city.

Curt said, "I've heard good things about the three women who enrolled on your recommendation. It's a shame I don't have any in my classes."

Harry nodded, "They all know what they want to do in life and are happy with their choices."

Jean had been taking physics classes and was looking for a degree in Astrophysics and Metaphysics. She'd taken Harry's advice and learned about the nature of the universe. Being the Avatar of the Phoenix Force gave her an intuitive understanding of the nature of reality and the classes helped her put that intuition into words and thoughts, allowing her a better understanding of her power and her place in the universe.

Rogue was actually taking psychology courses and wanted to become a Psychologist. The nature of her power allowed her to more easily walk a mile in someone else's shoe than anyone else and she could empathize with others better than any telepath.

Wanda was getting an art degree. She had spent a lot of free time during her hundred year therapy painting and had become an outstanding artist. All of the artwork in Harry's house was painted by Wanda and she wanted to become a professional Artist.

Harry came home the following day to another of Jade's study sessions. Once Harry walked through the door, MJ, Felicia, and Gwen all looked over and after a moment shared a blush.

Harry chuckled and asked, "Is that the famous Peter I've heard so much about?"

The study sessions had been a biweekly thing for the past month, especially when they first tasted Harry's cooking and got permission from the parents to stay for dinner when their parents didn't need them home. This however was the first time the legendary Peter Parker had shown up.

The fourteen year old teen looked up from his book apparently only now noticing that Harry was back and was talking to him, "Huh? Oh! Professor Potter! I'm-"

Harry held up a hand and said, "If you're not my student then there is no need to call me Professor Potter in my house."

"Oh, right sorry Mr. Potter I-"

Harry looked over at the smiling MJ and asked, "Is he always like this?"

The redheaded childhood friend answered, "No, he's particularly bad at the moment. I think he's seen all of your video lectures which is impressive as I don't think there is enough time in the day for that but he somehow pulled it off."

Harry shook his head and looked over at Gwen and said, "See if you can help him. The only guy friends I have in New York since moving are twice my age or my students and none of them ever come to my house. If you can get him to hold a conversation without stuttering, that'd be great."

Felicia asked, "Oh great and wise Professor Potter, how do you suggest we get our adorable littler Peter to man up?"

Harry gave a deep pensive look as if he was deliberating a matter of extreme importance and then nodded to himself. He looked over and said, "You should practice making out with him in public places. That would do it."

"WHAT?!" He shouted so loud the neighbors would have heard were it not for the soundproof walls.

All the girls laughed which caused Peter to try to sink into his own chair.

Harry left the hormonally deranged teenagers to their studying and went to the kitchen to decide what to make. His crafting Path's recent increase also had an effect on his cooking and though Harry doubted he was the best chef in the city, he felt he should be within the top ten or twenty.

The following week Harry was once again teaching his Metaphysics class. The door opened and a five foot tall grey skinned alien with a large head and silver space suit looked inside. The alien's black eyes were somewhat badly hidden by the comically large sunglasses it wore and it seemed to be wearing a school backpack. After peeking inside, it entered the classroom and walked through the rows to sit in the empty seat behind Reed Richards. Everyone was staring at it of course except for Harry who was still lecturing as if an alien had not just walked in the room.

Seemingly aware of the stares, the alien opened its backpack and took out a textbook sized book containing alien symbols and placed it on his desk to mimic the earthlings who had books on their desks. To complete its disguise, the alien pulled out a hat and placed it on its head. The hat read on the front, 'I Heart NY.'

The alien then bent its head down and minded its own business.

Less than a minute later, four bulky men in black suits with black sunglasses entered the classroom. Each one had a shiny silver, advanced looking weapon in their hands. Harry actually turned around and asked, "Can I help you gentlemen?"

One of them walked up to Harry and showed him a badge while the others looked around the class. The alien put its head down and everyone else in class kept staring back and forth between the alien and the Men in Black suits.

One of the men pulled out a device which started beeping. He walked around a bit and stopped in front of Reed Richards' desk. The device pointed forward and the man pointed at Reed and said, "Alien detected."

One of the men pointed his shiny gun at Reed who said, "Wait, what? No!" The other two walked to either side of him and grabbed his arms and lifted him off his seat.

Susan got up and said, "Wait, you have the wrong person!"

The one pointing the gun at Reed said, into a mic on his collar, "We have one who might be infected. Copy that."

He pointed at Susan and said, "Come with us."

Susan rolled her eyes and collected her things while Reed was dragged out of the classroom. As an after thought Susan also packed up and brought Reed's things and was escorted out of the room.

Harry shook his head and said, "To think Reed was an alien."

Harry then went back to the lecture while everyone just stared with a once more dumbfounded face.

This prank was of course brought up with Reed and Susan last month when they said they needed to miss some classes. Harry agreed, but only if they went along with the prank because the pair not returning for the next two classes would be like a continuation of the prank and really mess with the other student's heads.

It was the following day during a Danger Room workout session that Jade was able to calm her heart and activate the Dragon Heart for the first time.

The results were not what they had been expecting.

When the Dragon Heart activated, Jade had transformed. She had grown much taller and looked about twenty five years old. Her clothes had been replaced with a bright red Cheongsam, an oriental tight fitting gown that went down to her ankles but had a break in the fabric giving her room to move unimpeded. The red cheongsam had an embroidered oriental golden dragon rising up her legs, around her waist, and over her shoulder where a golden dragon's head rested against her shapely bust.

Jade's face was also covered by a black silk mask which covered her face up to her nose and hid her features while giving an elegant yet mysterious vibe.

When Jade first transformed, everyone just stared at her blankly. Unaware of her transformation, she flatly asked, "What?"

Wanda conjured a mirror in front of her and Jade took a moment to recognize herself.

"Is that me?" Everyone turned to look at Harry who was smiling.

Jade asked/demanded, "Explain."

Harry answered, "If you ever need to use your powers in the open, you'll need a disguise."

Jade looked back at her own reflection and asked, "Why'd you make me so sexy though?"

Harry smiled, "I just made it so that you would shift to twenty five, the sexiness is all you."

Wanda asked, "Besides the disguise, what else can she do like that?"

Harry listed off, "I was able to incorporate most of the Talisman powers into this form. Bull, Rooster, and Rabbit have given you a massive increase in strength and speed and you can fly, though you can't use telekinesis. Nothing is truly immortal, but the Dog will make you very hard to actually kill and the Horse lets you use Chi to heal yourself and others."

"The Dragon, Pig, Rat, and Tiger I've actually incorporated into your Chi, allowing you to easily use powerful Chi magics without training. Dragon and Pig let you fire Chi Blasts as a wave or a beam. Rat will let you use Chi to grant life to things and use them in combat. Tiger can be used as a shortcut to directly use Yin and Yang Chi which has frighteningly powerful magic spells. Basically you're a Yin Yang Dragon Chi Wizard."

Jade's eyes were shining by this point and Harry continued, "The form shifting power of the Monkey was what I used to let you change to an adult form and the Snake and Sheep I've combined to allow you to become Ethereal. This is rather useful as if you become Ethereal, you cannot be harmed by most things and it will let you fight others who can become Ethereal."

Jade ran over to hug Harry but immediately shifted back into her sixteen year old self before she could hug him.

Harry added, "And you must retain a noble heart in that form or you'll shift back."

Jade pouted a bit at that but everyone could see a smile at the edge. She was happy.

Harry was looking forward to training her once she could shift at will as Chi magic had a lot of applications and she'd fit right in with his other girls.

Jean's seventeenth birthday came and went but she didn't want a party or any presents. She still got what she wanted though. It was a very hot and sweaty day and even Jade had been dragged along. Sounds and smells unlike anything they'd ever experienced happened again and again. When it was over, the enormous dinner that everyone helped cook was enjoyed by all as a family. Bonding time was the most important thing to Jean after all and cooking together was a lot of fun.

In a few days time the Storm Foundation would be launching their rocket into space to check out the Pyramid up there. News Stations had already been notified as it is very difficult to launch a spaceship in secret but they were all informed that the ones going into space would be performing some groundbreaking experiments. One of the reasons Reed and Susan were going instead of some team with more experience was to hold the cover of a research team. That, and Susan's father was basically paying for this and certainly wanted his daughter to have her chance in space.

Harry would definitely take the time to watch the mission on TV when it aired.