Rebirth in a Magical World Chapter 63: Mind Palace

The fourth-year division started ten minutes after the third year finished. I noticed that more people were beginning to trickle inside. I guess so people consider older students dueling more interesting to watch.

Now that I had already secured my victory, I relaxed and had a lot of fun watching the duels. Unfortunately for Lelah, our fourth-year competitor, she lost at the very end to a guy in the Relentless Wanders, but at least she did well enough in her matches to score enough points to be invited to the next stage.

Micheal made it farther than I expected, as much as I can't stand the sight of him, he is not without so talent of his own. Like Lelah, he accumulated enough points to make it to the international competition.

When the fifth-years started dueling, the level of competition visibly rose. Everyone competing had several years of experience dueling, and it showed during their matches. The Silver Spears didn't have anyone in this round because Zack had also chosen to jump ahead.

Similarly to the fifth round, the sixth also showed an increase in the skill level of those competing. So of those fighting had even begun to comprehend nonverbal spell-casting, although they still had far to go before complete mastery.

Zack thrived during this round. It was clear that he was a cut above the rest of the competitors, even Addison. He handily won the division with only a couple who put up a token resistance. After seeing him duel, I do not doubt that one day he will beco an International Dueling Champion if he decides to compete at the professional level.

If students in the sixth round had started dipping their toes in the water with nonverbal spells, then those in the seventh had dove right in. I think what I enjoyed the most out of the last two divisions were the advanced forms of transfiguration. High-level transfiguration spells, like conjuration, added so many more layers to the duels.

The seventh-round winner ended up being from the Hidden Lotus, which annoyed , but at least Mason and Harper made it through. It was their last year competing, and they would soon need to decide whether or not they were going to go pro or not.

Not every mber of the Silver Spears would end up going pro. It was a huge commitnt, but if they did, they would each be selected by a retired mber who would foster them and take them to the next level.

I hadn't even thought about if I wanted to do sothing like that, although I enjoy it, I don't know if that is what I want to do with my life. Besides, If my math is right, Voldemort would be returning around the ti of my sixth and seventh year, and the next war would soon begin. The main reason why I even joined was to hone my combat ability and build experience dueling.

I decided to put away the heavy thoughts. I still had ti to prepare for the future. Although, the little voice in the back of my mind reminded that Harry Potter's ti at Hogwarts was rapidly approaching. In less than a year, both he and the spirit of Voldemort would be at Hogwarts. I would need to watch my steps in the future very carefully.

When the competition was over, I joined my parents. Apparently, Mum had a change of heart during the tournant because when I was reunited with her, she swept up in a proud, mother-hen hug.

"Did you see my son up there?" Mum bragged to Dad. "I knew he was going to be amazing."

"I know darling, but try and rember that Alex is our son." Not for the first ti, Dad reminded Mum.

I hid a grin behind my hand while they good-naturedly squabbled over who was more responsible for my talent. Mum had the bad habit of taking credit for everything, but it seed like Dad wasn't going down without a fight.

While they bickered, I nudged Sasha, "Not so boring, was it?"

She hugged my waist and looked up at with shining eyes. "That was amazing. You beat everyone."

When I saw the hero-worship was back in her eyes, I smiled. That was how it was supposed to be. Big brothers should always be amazing in the eyes of little sisters.

Rebecca jumped in, "One day, it will be up there."

I turned and tapped her on the forehead. "It takes a lot of effort to make it as a dueler," I warned. "Anna and I spent hours practicing to get ready."

"I will," Rebecca vowed.

I smiled when I saw the fire in Rebecca's eyes. Hopefully, she'll stay motivated, Rebecca has the personality of a brawler. I think that if she put in the ti, she might make a great dueler one day.

It didn't take us long to get ho, and by the ti we did, I was thoroughly exhausted. I wasn't the only one, Rebecca and Sasha fell asleep on the couch soon after we arrived ho. Dad and Mum levitated them and took them to their rooms.

After dinner, I called it a day as well. While I was lying in bed stroking Athena. I started to ntally go over my schedule of training during the upcoming sester.

I had two events to prepare for, and both of them would require my ti and energy. The first was the international competition. I needed to keep up my dueling practice if I wanted to make an impression at the International Competition. I was under no illusions that it would be easy. The competition would field students from all around the world.

The second was far more important to , mastering occluncy and finishing the Ravenclaw trial. I had already achieved the first layer of success, but if I wanted to master occluncy, I needed to learn how to craft fake mories.

If the first layer of success were any indication, I would need to put in a great deal of effort over the next few months. I was only given a year and a day to complete the trial, and now that the new year is upon us, May didn't seem very far away.

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The rest of Christmas break breezed by, and soon it was ti to return to Hogwarts. When I got to the Hogwarts Express, I found Cedric waiting for at the station.

"How was the competition?" Cedric inquired.

I shot him a smug look, "I went undefeated."

Cedric smiled, "I wish I could have gone, but we went to visit so relatives."

Once we found a train compartnt, we filed in and waited for the others to join us. Soon, Anna and Alicia arrived walking side by side. As soon as Anna saw , she demanded, "So, when are you going to share that ten layered chain-spell."

I wagged my finger at her and teased, "Don't you an my ten-layered chain-casting series?"

Anna huffed and glared at , "Whatever you want to call it, I want it."

"I need to hear you say the words," I inford her with a Cheshire Cat smile.

Anna's purple eyes blazed at , "Fine," she said with gritted teeth. "The ten-layered chain series."

I sensed that I had teased her enough, so I promised, "As soon as we get together, I'll show you. It may take so ti to master, but if you can master the series before the international competition. I'll bet that not many will be able to stand in your way."

Anna's face tightened with determination, "I will," she vowed.

When Jessica arrived, I feared that we were in for another long trip filled with venomous barbs. But surprisingly, unlike last ti, she didn't respond to any of Anna's thinly veiled insults designed to get a rise out of her. I could tell that it threw Anna for a loop, but after a few attempts, she gave up and eyed Jessica suspiciously.

I was just happy that at least one of my friends was attempting to be pleasant. Hopefully, Anna can take so cues from Jessica and follow her example. They don't have to be friends, but not being at each other's throats would be nice.

Over the past two weeks, I often racked my brains on what to do with the information that my dad told about them. As of right now, I was determined to do nothing to change the status quo. Both of them are my friends, and a relationship with one of them didn't seem worth it if it hurt the other.

Not to ntion, I am up to my eyeballs in studying, I only had a few months before the end of the Ravenclaw trial, and if I didn't make it, I would never get the chance again. I wasn't sure what the rewards would be, but I knew that I wanted them. There was so much I needed to learn before the coming storm, I don't have ti for distractions.

Of course, so of my hopes were dashed when I briefly saw inside Jessica's bag during the trip. Inside was a thin red book, and on the spine, the title read, A Witch's Guide to Romancing/Trapping Foolish Wizards.

I couldn't help but gulp, that title seed ominous. I raised my eyes to the ceiling and inwardly cursed the heavens. Of course, that's why Jessica seed so pleasantly different. She's cheating!

She must have bought a book on the subject, and if I know her at all, it wasn't the only one. How was I supposed to ignore her if she gets advice from experts? It not fair.

Cedric seed to sense my distress and grinned mockingly at . I don't know what he thinks is so funny, according to the books, he is going to be beating off girls with a stick. Normally, I would laugh it off, but when there are things like love potions hiding inside of candy out there, one can never be too careful.

When we arrived back at the castle, there was a small feast waiting for us. Having reached enemy territory, I threw up my ntal shields. Professor Snape was sure to be skulking about, and I doubt that the holidays hadn't softened him at all.

The only bonus to having such a vindictive, I an, "helpful teacher," was I was now able to maintain my shield for nearly the entire school day. I wanted to get to the point where I could keep my shields up even in my sleep, but I had yet to find success.

More importantly, I needed to learn how to craft fake mories. From the books I've read, I had so idea of how to get started. The only discouring part were the warnings that most people who found so success in Occluncy never reached the next step.

When I got back to the tower, I felt a sense of urgency well up within . Inside my room, I brought out the rare books on Occluncy that Dad had secretly given . Rereading the book didn't help much. They stated that the next step was to construct a mind palace.

The book was vague in detailing how to create a mind palace. Over the centuries, the construct had been given many different nas, such as a sea of mories, mind vault, never-ending hallway. But, no matter the difference in nas, the purpose was to create a stronghold for your mories.

No two witches or wizards would end up with the sa mind palace. Of course, so constructs would be similar, but since every mind is unique, it leads to differences.

As I sat on my bed in the lotus position, I cleared my thoughts. It wasn't challenging to shift into the proper mindset.

As I listened to Athena's constant purring, I seed to sink deep within my mind. I found myself floating in a vast realm of darkness, in the distance were tiny slivers of light.

In the darkness, I could feel my magic surrounding , like a warm blanket wanting to protect from the world. The more I studied my surroundings, the more I wanted to explore this strange world within my mind. Trying to walk towards one of the slivers of light proved futile, there was no ground, no gravity, just nothing. It was like being inside a pool of water, except that there was no water nor the sensation of being wet.

I rembered that the books I read warned that the rules of the real world would hold no sway in the ntal world. Here only the mind and imagination held any power. So I decided to change tactics, rather than try to overtake the twinkling light, I willed the light to approach .

To my surprise, the light moved closer. I had expected a little more resistance. As I got a better look at the light, I noticed that it was more like a gleaming prism.

When it arrived before , I reached out and grabbed it. As soon as my fingers wrapped around the glowing crystal, everything changed. Gone was the vast empty darkness, replaced with a familiar room. My bedroom to be precise.

Not only that, but I could also see a younger version of myself lying on my bed and impatiently staring at a black egg. I rember this mory, it was the night that Athena hatched.

As the mory progressed, it sort of weirded out. The whole thing was like a trippy out of body experience. Except, instead of my current body, I was watching the five-year-old version of .

I couldn't help but smile. I watched the younger version of myself hardly unable to contain his excitent when cracks began to form in the egg. I didn't know it then, but getting Athena was the best present I ever got.

Athena tumbled out of her egg with her soft, glistening black fur with golden tiger stripes. Her wings were made of dark midnight blue feathers with streaks of silver running through them. I had forgotten how adorable her tiny little horn nubs were back then.

I winced when I saw Athena bite my younger self, but being able to watch from a different angle revealed sothing interesting. A golden flash seed to connect Athena and my younger self, it happened so fast if you blinked you would have missed it. I'm guessing that was our bond. We joined back then when she chose , had I not been suitable, Athena would have refused to hatch.

Soon, the mory faded, and I returned to the darkness. I let the glowing prism drift away. Looking around, I realized there were countless bright crystals in this dark world. Each was probably a mory. I couldn't help but wonder if my mories of my previous life are sowhere here as well.

Seeing all the mories out there, I realized I had to build sothing to contain them. The first thing I needed to do was co up with a plan of what was right for . What kind of mind palace would suit ?

After so ti, I opened my eyes in the real world. I was covered in sweat and had a slight headache. It felt like I had been gone for hours, but looking at the clock showed that only five minutes had passed. Laying back, I called it a night. After all, this was a marathon, not a sprint.