Chapter 5: Chapter 5
Chapter 5
Full Metal
By: BigToFu
With some pep in my step, I rolled the black orb around in my hand as I made my way into the Raven's Nest. It had been a day since I had snuck Harry out of the castle, and I was still thinking about the implications of that little outing.
Not only was I able to get that soul shard out of his head with a ballsy runic experiment, but once it was removed, his true power came forth. Not going to lie, Harry was damn powerful, and I'm mighty jelly about it. Of course, I didn't care, and it didn't bother me much since he was now firmly on my side. But, because there is always a but in there.
I was still jelly because he didn't have to practice and train to get all that bloody power. Granted, he had the soul shard of a subpar villain stuck inside his skull, and that worked as a magical suppression, which then worked his magic over the years. My only issue was the feeling like all of my hard work to get where I was, amounted to nothing.
Professor McGonagall was powerful in her own right; hell, anyone who could feel her magical aura could tell. Dumbledore cheated to get where he was, and the aura of death infuses the man's magical signature. And here, Harry was the next magical Merlin by birth and prophecy, well, if he decided to pursue that course of action.
It was very hard not to feel discouraged. All my life, I had been training, grinding, working myself to death, all for the power to face off against the 'greats' out in the world, those Titans of magic, only to find out some had been practically gifted with their power, no hard work required.
Pocketing the shadowy orb, I checked for followers. Finding none, I decided to man the fuck up and get along with my life. The only way to move forward was to get stronger, and the only way that was going to happen was through good decisions and hard work, since I didn't have the main protagonist uber buff. There was no need for bitching when I was positive that I was well on my way to becoming far greater than Merlin himself.
At the start, there was magic, but no spells or rules. It was 'man' that felt he brought civilization and rules to magic, yet, they had to go through a lot of trial and error. Magic made it happen, and they made rules for everyone to conform to. Yet they forgot the truth of the matter; magic changed reality to what the wielder wanted. I learned that at a very early age as I willed myself strength instead of conforming to gain a magical boost every seven years like a lot of them. Fuck all that, waiting for magical maturity and shit. If you aren't cheating, then you're not trying to win, and magic is the ultimate cheat code that's ever been discovered.
Smirking as a few plans and ideas flitted through my head, I entered the Raven's Nest.
Tossing my school bag down on one of the free seats, I looked around and found no one. Listening for a moment, I didn't hear anything, so I went and checked the arena. No one was down there practicing their magic, which was good. Turning back to the main room, I really took my time studying every single part. I kept on searching until the afternoon, even skipping my History of Magic class.
Binns was lucky I wanted to use his class as easy practice or skipping time. Otherwise, I would have already banished his ass to the nether realm. Rubbing my forehead, I looked up and read the inscription once more. The ceiling read: Only those with clear thoughts and walking thrice shall the way become obtainable.
It was bloody like the Room of Requirements, and I wanted in, but looking back. No, I didn't have a clear mind of what I wanted.
I wanted two things above all others; one was the main office of the Raven's Nest because I think this might be Ravenclaw's place. While the other was access to the Room of Requirement. Standing in the middle of the room, I looked at the far wall with a critical eye.
It was clear that after I had started to use the room, someone was now keeping it clean. That was clear since all of the dust that was here before was now gone. It was clear that I had activated something within the school pertaining to Ravenclaw. That was clear; now, all I had to do was figure out how to activate the door or pathway.
Taking a deep breath, I cleared my mind before walking in front of the far wall. It was easy to tell which wall was the one I needed since there were no obstructions blocking it. Then again, it was the one wall that was leading towards the school since the other had windows. Then there was the other side of the room leading towards the dueling arena.
Walking, I kept only one thing on my mind as I walked by three times. On the fourth pass, the room of requirement didn't open up for me at all. There wasn't a distinct click or a shimmer as a magical door appeared. Feeling frustrated, I sent a blast of magic towards the wall.
Magic slammed into the wall and didn't even budge an inch; the same can't be said for everything else inside the room. The windows rattled from the magical displacement of the air, and the main couch behind me moved a few feet. I grinned like a mad man as my own magic rebounded and washed over me.
Sigh, sometimes, I wondered if it was alright being so closely related to the Blacks. Moments like these when I have a spark of insanity when things do go the way I want them to. These moments worry me a lot, but I can't let it get me down. Calming down and taking a quick breather, I looked around and noticed that I was still alone.
Straightening my shirt, I started walking once more. Once, twice, thrice with only the thought of Ravenclaw's room. As I walked past the door on my third turn, a large archway shimmered into being on the wall.
I stopped in my tracks as I took in the massive archway look with the double doors set into the wall. I could smell the door from my location and I could tell it was made of a cherry wood set with brass handles and knockers.
In the middle of the double doors was what appeared to be sealing tape holding it closed. The sealing tape appeared to be one foot in diameter with the words; place hand here. Yeah, I wasn't about to put my hand on that shit. I have seen enough horror movies to know where this was going and to compound that fact I was living in a magical castle now ten months out of the year. The only thing that appeased my paranoia was that this was all being directed by the long-dead Rowena Ravenclaw.
Taking a moment to gather my wits, I flicked my wand forwards, casting six separate diagnostic spells. All came up negative, and I could only gather my balls before putting my right hand on the seal tape.
Instantly a spike of pain shot up my arm, and try as I might, I wasn't able to pull my arm back. The paper glowed as red lines started to spread out from where my palm was connected to the sealing tape. My arm burned, and I watched as the red script reached the outer edges of the seal. Fire sprang into life, but for some odd reason, there was no heat.
Taking deep, slow breaths, I waited and watched as the fire licked at my fingers before traveling up my arm. I couldn't tell what language it was, but the fact that it wasn't hurting me was good enough. Once the wards reached my elbow, the fire snuffed itself out as the door creaked open.
Looking at my singed sleeve, I released a sigh at it before my excitement spiked through the roof. Slowly walking into the room, I had to temper my excitement with caution. The castle already needed my blood to open the way, and I wasn't willing to give it anything else. There was no need for my caution when I got into the room; all I found was a giant tome floating in the center.
The room was large, with a window on the right side. There weren't any desks, or any bookshelves or doorways leading anywhere else. I would have felt disappointed if the large tome wasn't floating there in the center. Doing two laps around the book, I found no traps and was certain that the blank page was for me.
It was clear as day that I was supposed to place my hand there, and since I couldn't find anything else in the room. I did as was suggested by common sense, wand in my left, and bravery in my heart. I placed my hand on the black page, and can I just say holy fucking fuck knuckles.
The book lit up with the colors of the rainbow. I marveled as the words written onto my arm by magic started to drain onto the pages. While that was happening, I was looking around and noticed how the room was shifting. There was nothing for me to do as my hand was stuck to the book. Sadly all I could do was stand in the center of the room.
On the far side before the window, a massive desk appeared with one of those large office chairs, but this one was clearly magical. On my left appeared an odd spiral staircase that led up and up then opened up for another floor. In the middle of the spiral case at standing height was a bookshelf that went upwards from the center.
It was an odd bookshelf, but magic, so who cares about common sense of course. Instead of putting the bookcase on the wall, it was combined with the stairs while also leading into its own room at the top.
My attention was pulled back to the large tome as I felt a pinch of pain come from my hand. Not only was the magical writing no longer on my arm, but words were now on the magical tome. The first thing I noted was the bright and shiny glow of my name right there for me to see in all of its glory. Glowy vines wrapped around my name then led upwards to my mothers, my fathers were next to it, but it wasn't glowing like my own. My mother's name glowed, then went to my grandfather's name above hers and then kept on going and going.
The glowing names and vines kept going until it went to Angelo Ravenclaw son of Rowena Ravenclaw. Next to his name was Helena Ravenclaw and both of their names were attached to the founder herself. Interestingly enough, both of them had different fathers and I found that super interesting because there was nothing in the history books about that. They made it very clear that Rowena never married and only had a daughter, yet, here in this tome, it was clear as day.
Rowena had two children and two different lovers during her life. Of course, she did, Rowena was a grown-ass woman after all and she could bed whomever she liked. As I was tossing around wild implications within my head, the tome started to shift. My hand was released as the tome shifted into that of a floating orb.
The orb was a pale purple and gave off an aura that looked as if they were runic in nature. Magical circles appeared and ran over me before I heard two beeps. The orb floated over to the desk sitting under the window and I followed along behind it.
Instead of standing, I took the seat at the desk and watched as the orb sat inside of a holder. Weird enough, that was when it clicked. The orb was like one of those crystal balls that they use for scrying or fortune-telling. As the magical orb touched down on the desk more magical lines spread throughout the office, but I paid no mind.
My attention was clearly on the orb and it's transforming nature as it changed back into the large tome. This time the book was now on a stand leaning back extremely easy for me to read it from my seat.
Leaning back in my seat, I watched as the magical barrier that protected the stairs and the bookcase flared to life. Luckily, I didn't head in that direction first. Waiting for the blue and purple lines to spread throughout the room, I looked over the words on the tome.
Child of mine blood thou may be, yet that allows thou nought, for I hast learned a harsh lesson from those I hast sired. Well shit, guess she died salty about her daughter running off with the diadem. Mine blood may grant thou the claim, yet only by passing mine test shall thou gain aught. A test of wit and a test of intelligence shall deem thou a worthy heir.
Sighing to myself, I read some more but ignored the information about heading somewhere for my first test. What really drew my attention was that I was allowed access to her personal library's first level. Now that's what I considered at least worth my time. Yet, it was the thing at the end that really drew my attention.
Yes, Rowena was still jelly about her diadem but, from what I could read clear as day, I could and would only gain access to the completed diadem once I had proven my worth. That could only mean one thing, Voldemort never got his hands on the real diadem.
From what I was reading, that diadem was her first attempt, but it was a failure that she used to create the final product. It was a masterpiece in its own right, sure, but she kept her experiments and expectations low. Her daughter had stolen it in a fit of jealousy, thinking that it was the real one because she never told them otherwise. Damn, now that was some real incentive for me to go and do those tests now, but I knew better.
She might be dead, but she was only teasing me from the grave and I had more restraint than to go sticking my nose into things around the castle right now. Sneaky bitch was trying to tempt me, yeah, not today. I stood from the office chair letting out a huff of air before walking over to the bookshelf.
My eyes glided across the books on the level one shelf until one jumped out at me, The Arcane Arts. This book's cover had an illustration of a hand holding magic, no wand, and that said more than enough. For some reason, I felt that this was the book I would need the most. None of what I found in the Hogwarts library had anything on magic besides the wand waver stuff. It was kind of a let down finding out that they had nothing on wandless magic.
Then again with the way magical education had declined over the years, I should have figured as much. That was a very interesting thing to discuss with my grandad at the time. It was odd how there were clear signs of the decline as more and more magical families died. Another interesting bit to note was how most of these families came from the neutral and light sides. Those who consider themselves dark died at each other's hands, and the neutrals since the light sider bastards had no balls to cast a proper curse.
Then again, I can't really fault them for it. They have been eating out of Dumbledore's hands since he attended Hogwarts. Ohh, I was very read of my history, to win a thousand battles, one must first know his enemy. I already knew about Voldemort before I reincarnated, but there was next to nothing about the wrinkly old fool.
Settling back into the large comfy magical chair, I pulled out my wand, transfiguring a blank parchment into a book stand. Placing the book on the stand and turning to page one, I leaned back into my seat as I started my own magical practice as I read.
My magic flexed and twisted before a ball of light half the size of my fist appeared. Keeping my breathing steady, I rolled the ball of light around my hands as I turned the opening page with the other. The light in my palm shifted from white to light blue to orange as I read about Arcane Arts.
Magic was arcane, and the arcane was magic, it went hand in hand with chaos in that it covered all facets of reality. Chaos magic can be viewed as pure arcane while arcane magic can be separated into multiple sub-categories. These categories were split by elements, conjuration, enchanting, illusion, restoration, destruction, alteration, and alchemy.
Okay, that had my sitting up and snuffed out the magic I was playing with.
Their usage of the arcane arts can understand the strength of an arcane user. The lowest level of arcane users need an additional tool to further enhance their magical powers in the early stages. Young children are given staffs and wands to help balance and focus their arcane magics.
Those of the apprentice levels can cast a small burst of magic outwards to affect the world around them. This is the earliest stage of wandless arcane arts. This is further upgraded once one reaches the adept levels of magic. The best way to understand if you are or facing a person at the adept level are those capable of projecting and holding magic outside of their person.
The best way to test and see if you are at the adept or apprentice levels is to perform the Lumos spell. The matrix that builds up this spell allows for ease of use upon all levels of magic. This is not only the easiest spell to learn but also the first level light spell available. More can be found on page 54 on the light element.
My eyes were scanning page after page, and I couldn't damper my excitement as I flew through the tome. It didn't take me that long to get flip to the alchemy section in my excitement as my eyes shined. There were four pages of transmutation circles and the formulas that went with them. I noticed the mention of human transmutation, but I didn't see the transmutation circle for it within the tome.
So clearly, that was in one of the more advanced books, I was alright with that. Yeah, I wasn't going to try that and end up like the Elric brothers, miss me with that bullshit. Flipping backward in the tome, I looked over how to condense your magic into pure arcane energy. Looking over the spell metric, I held my palms half a foot apart and focused.
This should be easy, I was already casting lightning wandless, and I could create small spells. Now that I had instructions to follow instead of my own mad imagination, this should be easy. No, it was not easy at all, but after an hour of trying, I finally got it.
As the magic pulled between my palms, I built layer after layer. It was structured in a way that created stability, as it said in the book. The odd thing was I learned that before now I was far too gung-ho on how I wanted my magic to act. Magic needed structure, true, but it also needed the freedom to flow like water.
That's where I was failing with my first attempts, it was easy to want a certain effect from your magic and then forcibly will it upon the world. What I had to learn was to maintain a balance of magic without any element to it. Figuring that out did two things instantly, I used less of my own magic and it had far more immediate effects on the room's ambient magic.
A small hollow ball formed between my hands, with a critical eye. I could tell that it was perfectly spherical, but I was more interested in the color. The ball of magic was royal purple in color with flecks shimmering all around it. My excitement got the best of me as I spread my arms outward.
The magic destabilized then exploded, I was instantly launched backwards. As I slammed back against the window, I idly noticed how the desk didn't even flinch. The only thing that happened was a shield shimmered to life before winking back out, then things went dark.
=]{-}[=
I woke up staring down at the marble flooring of the office. Groaning, I rolled over onto my back and noticed that I wasn't out for very long. That was easy to tell as I was still smoking slightly from the magical explosion. Well, tickle my prostate and call me Bobby, that fucking hurt.
Sitting up, I checked my handsome face and found nothing wrong before checking the rest of my body. Ten fingers and ten toes, okay, so I wasn't dying from that little stunt. That was the good part; the bad part was how I felt like shit. That wasn't all; for some odd reason, the magic in the room was screaming at me. It was like everything was turned up to eleven and rang in my magical senses. The upside to that was that I wasn't spreading my senses out, and I was picking up everything passively.
"Well, that was stupid."
Rolling away from where I was, I shot upwards to my feet, lightning crackling between my fingers on both hands.
"Nice reflexes, I can give you that."
I didn't ask, I didn't look for who it was or check. They were in my private office without permission and gave nothing away to my magical sense. Both hands lashed out, firing lightning across the room; the lightning from my right hand bounced. The shielding that was protecting the desk knocked my spell upwards into the ceiling that absorbed it easily. The lightning bolt spell from my left hit a wall above the desk, that same wall was being projected from the orb turned tome that was sitting there.
"Like I was saying, nice reflexes, but you really are lacking in some areas. Honestly, that was a spell matrix for only one arcane orb, not for multiple. So the least you could have done was increased your magical output while simultaneously expanding the matrix."
Looking at where my spell was stopped, I looked at the orb as it hovered over the desk. Sitting on top of the orb was the small form of a woman with her legs swinging back and forth.
"Well, shit," I muttered before cutting the power to my lightning spell. Not like it was getting past those barriers that were up. "What the fuck are you doing inside my private office."
"Tch, this isn't your office brat; it's mine."
Rolling my eyes, I then stared her down. "Bitch you've been dead for like a thousand years now, so get over yourself." Leaning forward, I loomed over the desk, eyes alight with power. If the lightning spell doesn't work, that just means I'm not using enough power. Maybe a conflagration spell could do the trick; I might cry over the books later now that I know they actually exist.
"Well, that's just rude. Is that how you speak to me, one of the great Hogwarts Four?" The mini Rowena replied with a huff.
Rubbing the soot from my face, I loomed over her small diminutive frame. "Listen here, you, obviously you're something my ancestor left over to help her descendants, so enough bullshit and help me out already."
"Not with you talking to me like that." The little figure huffed back at me, hands on her hips.
"How else am I supposed to speak to the little imp of my ancestor? I'm not going to bow down and kiss your ass." I responded with my own huff of indignation. "Knowledge might be power, but all of yours has been programmed into you, not earned, so no, you don't get all of my respect. As of right now, you barely have more than that little snot nose Malfoy."
"Bahh, bad faith, how is that bloodline still running around? Thought I killed them off when I stripped the Lord and heir of their magic?"
"Does that mean there is a blood feud between our families?" I asked, intrigued because this I could use. Hell, learning that I was going to champion a blood feud against the little shit might be the best thing yet.
"Of course, that little shit Agustin Malfoy talked Helena into running off with him and my first diadem." Little Rowena huffed clearly, still angry over the situation.
"So if I'm designated heir, do I gain access to this blood feud?" I asked, schemes running through my mind. I would already see thousands of ways to use 'heir Ravenclaw' to my advantage.
"You haven't passed any of the tests, so you got nothing. Magic may have recognized your claim, true, but you need to pass my test of wit and intelligence if you want that Lordship." The little image hovering over the orb replied.
Smirking down at her, I shook my head, "Yeah, that's not going to happen tonight, I already have plenty to think about."
Turning around, I picked up the book on arcane arts and stuffed it into my pack.
"Suit yourself; I'll be here when you man up."
Ignoring the dig for what it was, I left the office and went back into the Raven's nest's main room. Closing the door behind me, I made my way into the arena. It was alright learning new magics, but I already had my own that I have been crafting over years of steady experimentation of mad ideas.
From my brief glimpse, before it exploded in my hands, arcane energy was a step up from what I have been playing with all of my life. If I were to explain it to other weebs, I would say it's like nature sage energy from Naruto and my own magical energy is like chakra. Yeah, I wasn't ready for that, but it didn't mean I couldn't take a few ideas from the example I was playing with.
I couldn't play with any of the major transmutation circles, but a quick test never hurt anyone. Walking down to the sandy arena, I started off with some basic magic missiles. Instead of doing three to each hand, I formed them between both arms. Taking a moment to focus and ignoring the ambient magic in the air, I started shifting around the magic missiles.
They wove around me in a ten-foot radius, up, down, twist then different patterns. I shoved my arms outward to my side as I brought the magical missile spell to hover before me. Breathing and feeling, I let the ebb and flow of the ambient magic wash over my senses.
Keeping them some distance from my body, I then had the missiles merged into one. I felt that since it was made from my magic, then why not. It would seem that magic also agreed with me when the three small magical orbs became one large magical orb. Then it started to wobble around the edges, and that scared me some.
Instead of condensing the magic down, I released my hold on the thing before wrapping it inside of an air pocket spell. Another spell I derived from the bubble-head charm: talk about multifaceted. I can get into the bubble-headed charm later, focusing my mind. I forced the pocket of air down onto the magic missile, forcing it to collapse.
I heard the crack and reacted reflexively, throwing up a shield using both hands.
KA-BOOOM!
The arena's shields flashed to life, and I noticed the massive glowing runic script all around. Sand swirled, and the air gusted around me, but I stood firm. My shield changed from a bubble to a sphere, that I then swirled around me, clockwise against the wind's movement.
I stood firm, and my shields held as the explosion buffeted them. This was almost as bad as the testing back home, but that wasn't going to stop me now. Once the forces dissipated, I nodded my head in a good lesson learned before summoning my pack.
My pack flew into my right, and a wave of my left put the sand back to where it should be; damn, I love magic. I pulled out the arcane tome, then flipped to the first section on transmutation circles. Putting the book down, I then took a knee in the sand before checking my watch. Checking the time, I found that I had an hour before I had to show up for dinner.
That also meant that I didn't have much time to myself in the Raven's Nest. The girls or Harry and Neville could show up at any time now. Looking at the basic transmutation circle and how to run the formula, I figured that it was easy enough. Well, I was wrong, so very fucking wrong.
Try as I might, I couldn't draw a perfect fucking circle. It wasn't until I was done to all hell and back, ready to blast the fucking sand with some lightning, that I figured it out.
Feeling all kinds of stupid, I pulled out my shoelace and tied one end around a transfigured stick. Placing the stick into the sand, I then drew out a perfect circle. Then I added two smaller hand-sized circles as Rowena noted inside the book. The two-hand parts were pulling the magical person's energy, not from the planet's tectonic shifting. Hell, she even wrote a small thing on how those previous alchemists were dunderheads. I had to agree with her; no way in hell did I want to play with the power of the planet.
Blasted wizards, gonna kill us all one day.
Good to see that after years of the bloodline being passed down, we both had the propensity of getting annoyed for such obvious things. Ignoring that, I then looked at my complete circle. It was a basic double circle with two inverted triangles intersecting in the middle. The runes for balance, materials, and energy were each evenly marked and spaced around the transmutation circle.
It wasn't as advanced as all the other circles in the books, but I only needed something simple, and this was going to help with an idea I had. My name was Roy Mustang, and what kind of weeb would I be if I didn't try and make myself a set of badass transmutation gloves.
Well, that was for later, for now, I pressed my hands into the circle. The Elric brothers were known for that hand clap and then magical spark. Well, I wanted none of that fan fair; what I wanted was a nice rotation of energy all focused with purpose.
My mind cleared, and I focused on the circle, slowly out of the sand. A glowing glob of crystal appeared in the middle of the transmutation circle. Once I was certain that it was safe, I then pushed my thoughts into the circle to give the blob a form.
Slowly the glowing crystal took on the shape of a small bird. The transmutation circle's glowing lines faded, and once I was certain that it wouldn't reactivate with me inside of it. I snatched up the little crystal bird.
I did not laugh maniacally as I snatched up my pack and summoned the tome. Nope, I was completely calm, collected, and controlled as I strolled out of the arena. I could barely call myself an alchemist, but this was one massive step in the right direction. I had to change a few plans, but yeah, I'm gonna hit the wizarding world like a wrecking ball.
A/N
Had tons of family over when it was time for that last update so didn't make it. Hope you all like the chapter.
Okay, this will be the last Full Metal Chapter for the year.
Cyberpunk is out so I plan to play that into the new year.
For those looking for the chapters that I haven't posted to public or early releases, you can find me at on patron. Also exclusive artwork.
TheToFu
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