Chapter 46: Itachi?
"Aurelius, why are you learning illusion magic? It's rather weak magic, primarily useful for more subtle actions, and it requires high levels of puppetry and imagination to create an effective illusion to distract or deceive people. Additionally, one has to be relatively close to their illusion, which gives away the fact that you're nearby." Asked Nagini.
Aurelius responds, "Illusion magic is far more than what people see, Nagini. It is, in a sense, warping reality, but only for targeted individuals. The true power of illusion magic lies in targeting the mind and body of a person to perceive reality differently. Humans perceive the world around them based on all of our senses and determine reality based on all that information. If you can remove or adjust their senses in a way that is disadvantageous, it is a frightening thing.
"Illusion magic, being able to control a person's perception of reality, is a powerful thing. There are several senses that could prove fatal or torturous if used appropriately. For example, our sense of balance, our sense of time perception, pain, temperature, smell, taste, and sound could all be used to cause significant psychological harm, especially to those in captivity. You could make it near impossible to stand upright, make a few days feel like months, make room temperature feel freezing, make the lightest touch feel like hundreds of needles being stabbed into you, make everything smell and taste disgusting, and have horrible sounds that don't exist constantly attacking your ears.
Messing with someone's sense of hearing, touch, pain, vision, and body state could easily allow someone to shoot them with a poison dart, and they'd die of poison before they are even aware of the dart or the poison coursing through their veins. It's a truly dangerous power when wielded by the intelligent." Said Aurelius
"Huh, makes sense, but how would you even go about that? The human body and mind are complex systems that are difficult to target directly and would be practically impossible to manipulate if they have decent mind defences." Says Nagini.
"A letter appears via a house elf. What's up Tippy?" asked Aurelius.
"The master got a letter from the goblin head teller," said Tippy.
"Thank you, Tippy," I said while opening the letter.
<As suggested by you, heir Galegold, the plan was indeed possible but far too costly considering the rarity of basilisk venom that is only available on the black market. As such, we went ahead with destroying the item using fiendfyre. It went well at first, but then became incredibly deadly with the fire getting out of hand, and forced us to quickly activate the wards to cut off all sources of magic since the fiendfyre nearly burned down the entire room that housed the item. We have decided that it is best in the future to imbue a goblin steel weapon with basilisk venom as suggested. That is only if the number of such items exceeds the number of three in total. So if you do find more, keep them in bulk and notify us, sincerely head teller Grashnak>
I close the letter, dismiss the house elf, and return to the previous conversation.
"What was that all about?" asked Nagini.
"Basically, the goblins used fiendfyre and will refrain from doing so in the future unless we find two more horcruxes to destroy and notify them so that they won't have to purchase basilisk venom from the black market since it's expensive," I said.
"Alright," she said, moving back to the topic.
"As I was saying, that's the beauty of illusion magic, Nagini. I don't have to target the mind but rather the brain. So it is almost entirely based on their body rather than their mind, making it just as effective even against a master Occlumens if they don't have a defence against such things, like our status bracelet and mind ring that protects us against tampering with both our body and mind." Aurelius told her.
"Is this knowledge from your old life?" she asked.
"Yes, remember I was a doctor and researcher in my past life. It is a requirement to know what parts of the brain do what. For example, our medulla oblongata is the part of our brain that controls our more automated functions like breathing and blood pressure. Should I influence that part alone, I could have someone go into cardiac arrest, die of asphyxiation, or cerebral hypoxia." Said Aurelius.
"English for those who didn't go to Muggle healer school, please." She said with an annoyed gaze.
"Right, right. A heart attack or the heart stops beating, can't breathe, or the brain doesn't get enough air to work, resulting in them either dying or never being able to do more than just breathe." I said in response.
"This was one of the reasons why I built so much defence into the status ring. My knowledge of how the human body works, in combination with magic's versatility, could make me the deadliest assassin that no one could detect because I'm indirectly killing them. I'm not actually harming them; rather, their body just isn't functioning correctly, and they kill themselves due to their inability to keep themselves alive. Technically speaking, what I'm doing is technically, brain chemistry manipulation; however, the way it aligns more with illusion magic is that I warp perception. I'm not altering their brain chemistry like making them change their mind on certain topics like a confundus charm. Anyway, I digress." said Aurelius.
"I thought about it one night and realised that this also has potential as an indirect way of harm, but at the same time, it is very direct, like the Jelly-Brain Jinx. The thing about the Jelly-Brain Jinx is that it is incredibly direct, while mine is more subtle. Unless you're specifically looking for it, you wouldn't be able to tell that it was unnatural. For example, if someone has high cholesterol and poor cardiovascular health, their chances of dying of a heart attack go up exponentially, and if they die of a heart attack, it wouldn't be surprising in the least. All that needs to be done is a reduction in body state awareness and pain, an increase in blood pressure for an extended period, the heart will give out, and they'd die on the spot." I said.
"Are you planning on being an assassin, Aurelius?" she says, raising an eyebrow.
"Not unless necessary. I find the act of killing cruel, but sometimes it is necessary." I said nonchalantly.
"Like when?" she asks in challenge.
"Sometimes threats can be turned into allies or people who keep to themselves at the very least. It is those who harm others for no reason or even find joy in the act that need to be dealt with swiftly. Retribution, setting a precedent, or drawing the line on what is acceptable, or removing someone who would do harm for the sole purpose of pleasure. Those are times when I find it acceptable to kill someone." I said firmly.
"What about those who seek benefits from violence, such as terrorists?" asked Nagini to make sure I wasn't being narrow minded.
"Someone always fights for benefits, be it control, resources, or respect. By definition, every single army in existence is a group of terrorists. They are spreading their political agenda to control the populace through both fear and respect. Most of the time, they do it without even being aware of it. Battles are often fought to secure resources to better the lives of their countrymen. The sacrifice of their humanity is appreciated, but the soldiers themselves all feel a sense of despair. Their hands are bloodied for the sake of what they know is just spreading influence when all they seek are benefits from being in the armed forces. They know it's for their country's benefit, so they are willing to continue, but it doesn't change their perception of themselves." I said without any form of condescension.
"Kind of a pessimistic viewpoint, don't you think?" she asked.
"Pessimism is an irrational understanding of reality that makes the individual fearful. Realism is the word you're searching for. I accept reality as it is and will make the most of it. Do I like it? No, therefore, I will change it as much as I can. I have no delusions of being able to fix everything. To be able to fix everything requires total obedience to reasonable rules and the removal of unreasonable ones without impediment. I have essentially total control over Britain and can alter any laws I see fit." I said with confidence.
"But things like other countries' laws and culture will impede both reason and influence. The only thing I can hope for is the spread of our culture by being a prime example of what a country should look like, but even that is a bit of a stretch, considering that it requires a lot of people to be exposed to and accept a new culture that may clash with their own." I said in slight annoyance and despair.
"Hmm, I can certainly see that." She said in response.
"And in some countries, their government is so corrupt that something like bribes is acceptable at every stage of law, including even law enforcement. For now, I will fix Britain, but that will take time." I said.
"Anyway, I'll need to teach illusion magic of the highest tier to ensure as much safety as possible for my mothers."
"How will that help?" she asked in curiosity.
"There is a few ways that I can see this potentially happening, one I don't see happening anytime soon, but perhaps in the future. The second, would be creating an accessory that casts an illusion magic that covers somebody like a visual transformation that shrouds them like a second layer of skin that will have a muffalito charm making their disguise undetectable." I said thinking of a certain ninja show.
"So like a true metamorphagus?" she asked.
"Sort of. The intended illusions would be just changing their appearance to that of another person, not to whatever they want, but perhaps it's better to do it as whatever they want. It would allow them to disappear as a small animal without detection; however, they'd quickly be discovered should they leave behind tracks such as water in urban areas. After all, a visual illusion doesn't change the physical form. I'd also need to put on something that would mask their scent and body heat since a familiar or an animagus could potentially see that," I said.
"You can always add a couple of choices as an option and use it only if strictly necessary, but what is your third option," said Nagini.
"The third is one of the least likely is you stay with those who leave our house at all times, I'm sure you'll accompany them when possible; however, I still want you to have a life outside of us. It is unhealthy to not have relationships with those outside of your family," I said.
"Perhaps in the future, I can make some friends, but for now, I have your business to manage," said Nagini.
"That reminds me, since the business that you're running is more or less retail, you can focus on hiring a manager who can do the job. You'll just need to be able to check up on them regularly. You'll more or less be focusing on creating new businesses using my resources and inventions," said Aurelius.
"Makes sense. You can't have an empire with just a single shop. And you did say you wanted to create an information network that spanned all across every industry." She said in contemplation. "Understood. Well, I guess I'll learn the basics of illusion magic, and then you can teach me any of the advanced stuff that you cook up later," she says while leaving to grab some books to learn the basics.
He goes through the process of creating the earring of illusion since he was already pushing the amount of jewelry his family had to wear, and luckily, he still had enough blood to key it to his family members. The only thing is that they had to go through the troublesome process of learning how to change specific elements of themselves from heat, look, or scent in a split second. Luckily, he created it so that it could work constantly to hide the jewelry.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone