Occlumency and future plans

Morning, 27th day

Actaea

A week had passed since the events of the red galley.

Kai was haunched in a corner below deck, hammering at something, and sweat dripping off his head, neck, and then down the back in hundreds of streams. He was not an armorer, but his knowledge about how to handle magical bones, and how to combine them with ordinary metals, was astounding. So he had taken upon himself to do this laborious work. His mind, though, was astute enough to concentrate on two tasks at once with equal efficacy, and thus, he couldn't help but go through the scenes that had brought him down here, in this bleak, musty darkness.

After sending Actaea a respectable distance, for the crew to not be able to make out what was going on in the galley, Kai and Item-M had spent an entire day on the many-oared, red beast. The first task Kai had done was get the loot, or in his case, Mission Credits. Because of his privilege of getting 10% higher Mission Credits, he had gotten a collective remuneration of 9980 MC. Then he had thrown all the bodies into the sea for the fish to feed on their flesh.

Meatballs made of 4th-floor Contestant had stopped catching Kai's and Selene's attention for some time now.

"Ugh!" Kai lifted a white piece of something huge, and placed it on the iron block, acting as an anvil. He dipped the whetstone into a mixture of blood and oil and started what he felt like the most excruciating process.

A sudden thought crossed his mind, and he cursed. Only after taking a deep breath did he continue the task then. This thought was related to his Proficiencies. Other than his Slither Steps, which had risen to 91%, and Filth Manipulation, which had been steadily rising to this moment, now resting at 85%, no other Ability had budged even a point after the fight.

'That's the curse of fighting in that manner,' Kai reflected, licking away a stray drop of sweat. 'I must target each Advance Ability separately, or combine them so that they compliment each other. Otherwise, I would just become a jack of all trades, when with a little more effort, I could be the master of all of them. Heh!'

They had spent the next two days butchering Gyarados, he remembered. It was a huge Pokemon, and every part of its body was edible or a plausible material, and all magical. Kai had spent most of the time peeling off Gyarados' scales and storing them in Item-M's Inventory. Then he had stored its skin separately.

'I think we should store the entire meat after cooking it,' Item-M had suggested, and Kai had agreed with it. So, for an entire night, huge fires had blazed over the red galley, giving the impression of a majestic ritual. Kai had even stored a cask of raw meat and blood to rot it out, and now he was almost sure that this rotten meat would push his Filth Manipulation to 100% before leaving the sea.

After storing Gyarados' carcass in her Inventory, they had feasted on its flesh like two hungry beasts. Saliva again welled up in his mouth, remembering the taste of magic at the tip of his tongue. Selene had eaten the most among them, challenging Kai's appetite.

'No wonder she's still sleeping,' Kai sneered, giving a brief look to the left part of his chest. Sleep they'd required the most, given that they had spent the previous night figuring out minor-epithets. So both Contestants had slept for an entire day after that hearty meal.

"Is it still not ready?" Item-M's hoarse voice penetrated the darkness as she approached him, a stick in her hand tapping the floor. "Why the trouble, master?"

Kai ignored her. His mind went to the red galley, which they had left behind, his heart still beating out of rhythm, thinking about that.

'You have spent too much time on Actaea,' Item-M had told him bluntly. 'Not to mention the odds that you have faced and overcome, acting as its captain. If you want to get some rewards after reaching Pentos, then I would strongly suggest not to abandon the ship now, despite it being only a cog. Yes, it's slower than a galley, and yes, it's smaller too, but bonds matter in the Random Worlds, both natural and artificial kinds.'

As much as he didn't want to, Kai had to agree with her counsel, especially when even Petyr, inexperienced in the ways of Contestants, had sided with Item-M then.

"Tell me about Occlumency," he told her, turning around the object over the anvil. "I know you have things regarding the Harry Potter World you want to talk about. Can you handle the sweating?"

Kai could have used Cold Suppression, or even Selene's Soul Chill, to cool himself a bit. But if he had learned anything in his meager life, then that was to attend to the things as they were meant to, unless it was absolutely necessary to do otherwise. It was a form of cultivation in his previous life, derived from the top Cultivators' insights of the Blood Essence. And Kai would adhere to it in this life as well if could afford it.

A regret pulsed inside him, thinking that he had never reached those heights in his previous life. Yes, he was strong, but compared to those beings, practicing the way of absolute harmony and the principles of Yin-Yang in seclusion, he was but a child, caught in a storm of greed and revenge.

Kai shook those memories off.

"I've handled worse, master," Item-M said, the edge in her voice matching the edge Kai was hoping to get to see on the gigantic piece of bone in his hands. "A mere damp, dark, and smelly place can't sway me from doing my duty. You are right, though. I have been holding onto these thoughts for quite some time."

"Well, speak away, then," Kai grunted, not unkindly. "First pass me the flagon of wine. The red galley did have a good quality of wine on it."

Item-M passed the flagon, and as Kai drank it, she took a seat on a nearby cask. "As I had mentioned before," she began, now serious, "both Occlumency and Legilimency are branches of magic Contestants must learn, who have the Magical World of Harry Potter as one of their core Random Worlds. For the same reason, I was never a skilled witch, master. My core Random Worlds were Naruto, Pokemon, and a combination of both Harry Potter and One Piece."

Kai nodded, put away the empty flagon, and resumed the whetting.

"We must start with Occlumency, as it is the most important of the two in the beginning," she continued. "It is the magic of closing one's mind against the art of Legilimency, which penetrates the defenses within the mind to know the hidden and open contents. Occlumency helps protect one's mind in three ways. Thoughts, memories, and emotions.

"Thoughts linger on the uppermost layer of your mind and are most prone to Legilimency. Then come the memories of your conscious and subconscious mind. At last, we have emotions, the deepest and hardest to pry into among the three, it taken necessary precautions. You must learn to protect all the three to resist an attack from a skilled Legilimens."

Kai deliberated upon those words, and couldn't help but commend his ability to lock his emotions. Though, the moment he remembered Simon's words mentioning that if it was someone else, he might have pulled one over on them by hiding his emotion, Kai winced.

His mind went back beyond those words, however, to his Initiation Mission.

'Don't worry,' Simon had said once. 'You know, I am something of a magician myself.'

Kai had later thought that he was talking about his Water-bending Ability. Now, his lips dried, thinking if there was more to that Simon's words. A hidden scorn for the rest of them, perhaps.

"Then Simon…" Kai trailed off, expecting the worse.

"Sigh!" Item-M seemed to steel herself for something. "As much as I loathe to say it, the Faceless Men of Byagoona are indeed the most skilled Legilimens and Occlumens in the Chaos' Valley. It's their form of Multiverse Interdependency, and none had even come close to their mastery over this magic, I am afraid. It is known."

Kai shuddered. A combination of the arts of Faceless, Legilimency, and Occlumency? Wasn't it the ultimate sort of espionage? One of the most brilliant spy-network of its kind?

Item-M must have guessed his thoughts. "No matter Legilimency or Occlumency," she said slowly, "both need Mana. The moment the Priests or Priestesses of Byagoona come to the lower floor's Missions by restricting their Stats, they almost instantly lose their use of both magic. You must understand that we are as much assisted by our Stats as we are hindered by them."

"What about within the Harry Potter World, then?" Kai asked, looking at her. "If anybody can just read my memories, then am I not the most foolish person to even think of reincarnating in that world?"

He had got the shock of his life when he had mentioned Mundungus Fletcher to Item-M, Kai recalled. The most stupid and riskiest decision, she had named it. There was no guarantee that the wizard wouldn't read Kai's thoughts and memories. Or maybe he had but didn't react to them because of the obvious greed for HP capsules. The only thing Kai was sure of was that Petyr wasn't subjected to these things. Neither Occlumency nor any similar trick would work on the soulless character.

A giggle escaped Item-M's old mouth. "We are not limited to Harry Potter World, master," she said, easing him. "We have Chaos to look after us. It blocks all thoughts, memories, and even emotions related to the Primordial Tower or anything related to the Contestants from the most talented magicians. Yes, it still doesn't stop them from accessing your mind. That's why I am putting so much effort into this subject. In the days before reaching Pentos, I will teach the basic theory related to both Occlumency and Legilimency in the best manner I can. But…"

"Hmm…" Kai raised an eyebrow.

"…" Item-M took a deep breath. "I would counsel you to go to the Temple of Byagoona and use your candidacy to learn these arts from a Faceless Man. Some Priests there have even surpassed the existing magicians from the Harry Potter World because of combining these arts with many external agents. As I have been insisting on it, there is no limit to Multiverse Interdependency. Those who have a knack for it have already etched their names into the history of the Primordial Tower."

Kai could tell how much it must have pained her to give this suggestion, but he was also glad that her past wasn't hindering her from thinking of the methods that suited him the best.

"What about the Wandless and Nonverbal Magic you mentioned once?" Kai asked, suddenly remembering the words as they were on the relevant topic.

Item-M shook her head. "Only Contestants above the 4th-Set have the luxury to indulge in these foolish things, master."

"Foolish?!" Kai couldn't fathom how practicing magic without a wand and chanting spells was foolish.

"Indeed," Item-M said, surely. "If we were not Contestants, and had resurrected only into the Harry Potter World without the Systems, knowing nothing about the existence of the Multiverse, then Wandless and Nonverbal magic would have some meaning to us. Tell me, my lord, how casting a nonverbal Expelliarmus wandlessly is any different from you snatching the three wands out of the wizards' hands using Telekinesis."

Kai's eyes widened.

"So you've realized," Item-M said, smiling, and seeing his expression. "What are Skills and Abilities, if not a form of Wandless and Nonverbal Magic?"

Then what's the reason for such a high demand for the wands among Contestants? Kai needed not to ask this question. It wasn't little tricks Contestants were after, but complex and high-level magic that can't be replicated using any Skill or Ability. Not to mention, Item-M had repeatedly told him that true Wands, not the fake kind he had hoodwinked out of Arlen, could use the Mana in the surroundings, greatly assisting Contestants' own MP reserves.

'So that's how it is,' Kai nodded to himself, and found that he was almost finished with the task that had occupied him for the entire night, and a good part of the morning already.

"Anything else?" he asked, excitingly. These talks of magic bubbled something in his heart. A feeling that matched the feelings every time he looked at the snaked-skull and crossed-sabers Jolly Roger dancing over Actaea's foremast.

To his relief and surprise, Item-M nodded. "I have prepared a list of the main-storyline characters as whom you can reincarnate in your next mission," she told him. "There is no true Time Limit for missions. Generally, it takes a year to ascend the 1st Set by lone and rogue Contestants. And anywhere between 3-5 years to ascend 2nd Set, if one is lucky enough. So you will have at least that much time for yourself."

Kai agreed. He stood up and faced her. He was shirtless, and his chiseled muscles seemed to pulse and shine, a trickle of light getting reflected by the sweat drops. Item-M gawked at him, gulped, and looked away.

"Continue," Kai said, feeling quite amused with himself. "What? Would you like to have another inspection? Two times you have made me lose my clothes already after leaving the harbor in the name of studying my features, haven't you?"

She snapped her head towards him. "I was inspecting to improve my Ability, master," she said, icily. "As I was saying, you would have 3 to 5 years to complete your Kill Count of 5th and 6th floor. (-to leave the Primordial World, he must clear 4th-floor Kill Count first, Kai knew already-). Then you said there would be no true Mission Objective. I guess Chaos would still give you something to do as per its nature of spreading chaos, and that would be an arduous task if you were to reincarnate into a child."

This, too, Kai agreed with. "Now that you mentioned it," he said, sitting on the same cask as her, their sweaty bodies rubbing at each other, "didn't you say that main-storyline Characters' strength depends on the most powerful Contestant allowed into that Random World."

Now knowing well that Kai was teasing her, Item-M ignored his advance but blushed the same. "Yes," she whispered. "That's the crucial thing in your case, master. All we can do is conjecture from this point onward. First, you will reincarnate as a main-storyline character, then we can assume, like the Pokemon World, every other main-storyline character that you could interact with would not have any Contestants as guards about them."

This was a complex conjecture, Kai knew. So he repeated the reasoning behind it briefly.

They had already figured out why Bianca, her grandfather, and the Latias from the original storyline didn't have any Contestants guarding them. It was because their existence came under the purview of his Mission Objective. In the same sense, Pokeball Expert Kurt and Professor Elm had guards because his Mission Objective had nothing to do with them.

If they were to expound on this theory, then given that he would have no true Mission Objective while reincarnating into the Harry Potter World, then all main-storyline characters would come under the purview of his Mission. This didn't mean that there would be no Contestants other than him, but it was almost sure that no top floors' Contestants would guard the Characters. In that case, the limit of his Harry Potter World would be 6th-floor Contestants, as that would be his level before leaving in the end.

"Second," Item-M continued, "as the most powerful Contestant in your Random World can be from the 6th-floor, then the strength of the top wizards and witches in the Harry Potter World would be equivalent to a top 7th-floor Contestant max."

"7th-floor?" Kai asked, puzzled. "Why not above 7th?"

Item-M pushed him away a bit. "Let's say you have 5 properties that make you a mortal, master," she said, "then the 6th floor is the limit to which these 5 properties can stretch themselves. The moment a Contestant ascends to the 3rd Set, one property out of the rest transcends its mortal limit forever, hovering in between mortal and immortal. That's why there is no comparing a 7th-floor Contestant to even hundreds of 6th-floor average Contestants."

'Interesting!' Kai recalled the privilege of Life Halt and couldn't help but nod in agreement.

"A particular Timeline's strength depends on the strength of the top individual within it," she continued. "This means, the level of Dumbledore, or Voldemort in his prime, would be equivalent to a top Contestant of the 7th floor, or a Contestant who had just stepped into the 8th floor. It's all I have thought of up to this point. So, my recommendations are based on these points as well."

"Let's hear them," Kai said gravely. He would never make slight of Item-M's suggestion or anything that would definitely affect his future, and prospects of attaining unmatched power.

"At the top is none other than Harry Potter, the boy-who-lived," she said, looking into his eyes. "Just before he had entered Hogwarts, not before or after. It would give you enough time to figure things out and not miss the starter magical lessons. After him comes Ronald Weasley. You would be poor, yes, but because of their history and the sheer number of siblings, you could use his story to your advantage. Then I would recommend Draco Malfoy, just before entering Hogwarts as well…"

On and on, Item-M kept listing out names after names, and when to reincarnate into their lifetime. When she was finished, and they had been silent for a while, Kai said, "Why not a Professor? Why not Dumbledore himself?"

Item-M collected herself before answering. "We don't know about their childhood, master," she said. "I know a few organizations who have explored all Professors' lives, including the lives of Dumbledore, Grindelwald, and even some ancient wizards, from their births to their deaths. But to even think of accessing that information is like going out on the deck, and taking the form of your Dementor's blood essence."

Kai let out an exasperated sigh. He stood up, ran his hands through his sweaty hair, and vigorously shook his head.

'One step at a time,' he repeated. 'One step at a time.'

He approached the enormous weapon lying on the floor and lifted it, the muscles and veins of his hands tightening all the while.

"Is it ready, then?" Item-M asked, returning to the question she had asked in the beginning. "Surely there was no need to go to such lengths for Andrik."

"You won't understand," Kai said through gritted teeth. "With this, I will let my loyal servant brand the mark of White Serpent Pirates on this entire Timeline. You will see."

In his hands, there was a curved steel handle, as tall as two hands combined. And at the end of this handle was a blade, looking like an ax, made of bone. A blue luster was pulsating within it, imperceptible to unfocused eyes.

But even in the darkness, Gyarados' bone seemed to glow with the colors of violence, destruction, and unmatched fury.

"This Battle-ax would be the nightmare of countless enemies," Kai proclaimed. "With this Battle-ax, I will conquer the Narrow Sea."

************

AN: By tomorrow you can access upto 15 chapters ahead of Webnovel on Patre0n. Thank you.

There are many things in this chapter that might feel overwhelming. I will reply to all doubts one by one, if asked. Regardless, I will discuss all these points again, in separate chapters, in the next volume when the time comes.

Image Reference to the battleax is available on Discord.