Chapter 80

Harry Potter POV

Once again, it was a beautiful day. The sun shone on the horizon as Harry was enjoying his lavish breakfast on the balcony of the tallest tower of Viscount Jackson's former castle.

Well… Former Castle because, in all but its official name, it had become his personal residence and the headquarters of his organization over these last one and a half years he had spent in Extreme Night City.

Like so often he couldn't really enjoy his breakfast, even though he had a nice view, landscape-wise, and by the people around him; after all, Neela, Bicky, Bessita, and Celeste were all beauties in their own styles.

He lives a life of luxury even compared to his previous life in a modern world. Sure, he was missing the modern appliances; they're replaced by the servants taking care of his needs.

And even then, every day he has this feeling of unrestness.

After all, he was sent here by being reckless. While he had made sure that everything was taken care of if something like this would happen, which seemed to have worked since he wasn't dead yet through his contracts.

Harry, in fact, hadn't been really prepared for this to truly happen. He had gained so much fundamental knowledge that had been really helpful, especially in the Science and Soul department. But the price hadn't been worth it.

How are the others on Skagos? Are they safe?

Well, they should be; logically, there should be nothing that could threaten them. While the people around him were not strong enough to conquer the world, their powers and the islands natural defenses made it impossible for it to be conquered by anyone in the world.

At least as far as he knew. There was still that thing up north. But it hadn't moved in thousands of years, so why now?

Still, he was missing them. He was missing Lust, Robin, and the others. His partner, Tiamat, probably has grown massively in these last three years he has been missing.

It's sad that he was missing all her growth, but if he focuses really hard, he was able to feel her presence in this strange and disorganized way, but she was alive.

Then there were the many other questions he had. How are the players in SAO? Did his assistance, even while not longer being there, save many lives?

After all, they should be through with the game by now.

Did some players choose to stay on Skagos?

How was the war going in Alagäsia? The timeline of the original story is a bit hard to track, but it should also be coming to an end by now.

Galbatorix should have discovered the true name of the ancient language at this point.

Did the people of Amestris beat Father and survive? These events should have happened a few months after his disappearance.

Man, he hated that he had missed the reunion of Lieutenant Colonel Huges and his family. He is such a nice character that Harry had made a point in saving him.

"Are you okay, Harry?" Neela asked him as she looked at him with worry.

They had become more perceptive of his moods after advancing to the level of an official magus, probably because their senses had improved.

Yes, Neela, Bicky, Celeste, and, of course, Bessita had all become official magus already.

"I am fine. Just a bit melancholic." He replied as he observed them.

They were coming along nicely; the meditation techniques he had created for them were really fitting. A result of his continuous research in Extreme Night City.

"Don't worry, Harry, we will help you get home. I really want to see your home too." Bicky added encouragingly as the other three girls nodded.

Celeste said, "We could always use that method."

"No. That one is too risky. Such a move has put me in this situation in the first place. It is Plan B if my advancement to Rank 1 Magus shouldn't reveal a path forward." Harry said firmly.

Yes, he still was a peak Rank 3 acolyte, not an official magus.

[Harry Potter, Rank 3 Acolyte, Strength: 8.9, Agility: 7.9, Vitality: 9.1, Spiritual Force: 15.8 (223), Magic Power: 238, Status: Healthy. ]

In fact, he is ready to advance anytime now and didn't even rely on Potions, unlike the other members of Dragon's Gate. His foundation was as stable as possible.

But it wasn't really the right time for himself to advance yet.

While he had an in-depth understanding of the advancement to Rank 1 Magus, thanks to the many branches of research his organization had performed.

He had recorded and analyzed the changes in the process very often by now. The very first acolyte in Dragon's Gate had been Murphy.

The old man had a very stable foundation, being a peak acolyte for decades. While becoming a bit rusty, having not practiced his spell models. It hadn't hurt his cultivation.

All he had always lacking was an actual way to become a magus, and as he got older, Grine Water was no longer an option, and Advanced Meditation Techniques were extremely regulated or rare.

Not even a week after getting an Advanced Meditation Technique, Murphy had become a Rank 1 Magus, while Harry had collected valuable data and an extremely knowledgeable follower whose livespan has effectively doubled, with a big information network that he had build over the years.

With the Potions that enhance Spiritual Force, Harry also had an easy way to cultivate more and more Rank 1 Magi. Of course he had abused his control over Extreme Night City to build the necessary infrastructure to grow more of the needed ingredients.

Dragon's Gate was steadily growing. While it was only a secret organization that spread over mouth propaganda, its members knew many wandering Acolytes who once again knew even more.

It was steadily growing unoticed from any of the established organizations since the binding contracts were watertight and prevented the information from truly spreading.

The possibility of advancing to the level of a Rank 1 magus was just too alluring, especially with an advanced meditation technique that had a far bigger success rate than the Grine Water Method.

This fact allowed Dragon's Gate to grow exponentially. Now secretly spread all over the Dark Magus Territory with an extremely profitable network, giving Harry to different Magus Markets all over the continent.

At this point, he had hundreds of Rank 1 Magi under him and ten thousand Acolytes; even Neela and Bicky had brought their families in. After they realized the two of them had become Official Magi, they had become effectively the leaders of their respective families.

Every member was contributing in some form, be it resources or knowledge.

While everyone joining Dragons Gate had the right to an advanced meditation technique, resources and other knowledge still needed to be exchanged for contributions.

After all, Harry didn't gain anything from hoarding his meditation techniques; his contracts were foolproof. With more people practicing them, he would gather more data.

And wandering Acolytes had a lot of different types of knowledge.

Some new recruits contributed even different incomplete meditation techniques, and while not really usable to advance to Rank 1, it still gave Harry insight into different approaches.

While on one person alone, each bit of knowledge was kind of esoteric and limited, but gathered together gave him a very extensive database of information.

Resulting in having a very thorough understanding of at least the first level of the Magus Path.

Unfortunately, this was the limit he could gain from wandering Acolytes and most organizations. Anything related to Rank 2 and higher was zealously protected by any organization in the South Coast.

But he wasn't without hope for higher-level information. He still had Keyomin's pupil as a base, gaining more knowledge through Bessita.

And after he finally managed to complete a fully functional sub-AI chip, her efficacy and data collection had improved trendemously.

Unfortunately, while he could produce as many sensor rings as he wanted, fully functional sub-AI chip rings were far more limited. Limited by one thing. His own soul.

The method he had come up with was effectively creating a smaller version of an Horcrux, which he calls Soul Seed, and putting it into the Ring. He was limited by the amount of soul seeds he could create because he didn't want to damage his own soul.

Creating one soul seed at once allows his soul to recover naturally after a few days. But the more soul he used at once, the weaker he got.

That's why the Sub-AI Chip Rings were only spread to the most necessary people, his inner circle, and the best researchers in the organization, like Murphy.

Bessita and her Keyomin's Pupil technique weren't the only sources of information he had on how to evolve into a higher being. After all, the path of a magus was nothing else than using sense and natural phenomena from different worlds to evolve into a higher being.

And he had one thing that fit into this description perfectly, or rather a small collection of these things. Devil Fruits.

This was the research Project Neela, Bicky, and Celeste had been responsible for.

The first step had been to acquire all fruit orchards and similar places around Extreme Night City.

Meanwhile, the three girls had established their laboratory down in the Dungeon. Every criminal in the city had become their experimental subject.

First they had forced them into slavery contracts before feeding them a devil fruit and beginning to experiment, dissect, and study them. Until these prisoners died.

Since they have control over all fruit-producing places around the city and the region, the Devil Fruits would reappear in one of them and find its way back to them. This was a very effective method.

Until now, Harry had only to go out twice and locate the Devil Fruit himself again because it had moved out of their reach.

Devil Fruits were an extremely fitting study subject for Magi.

While their effective evolution was a bit limited in the scope of abilities one could use, the resulting mutation through eating a fruit with enough training could reach the strength of a Rank 3 magus at the very least.

More powerful fruits like Logia's, rare Paramecias, or Ancient and Mythical Zoans were even comparable to Rank 4 or 5 Magi.

This allowed Harry to develop new advanced meditation techniques with at least two levels completed. These were the ones his inner circle was using.

Neela had become a fire magus, based on a meditation technique of the Mera Mera no Mi. Bicky a Lightning Magus with a technique based on the Goro Goro no mi.

Celeste had used a meditation technique based on the Bari Bari no mi, which made her a Particular Valuable Magus in any organization because this allowed her to create different barriers around their territory. Ranging from defensive to even more specialized ones like concealing ones.

For now, their limit was Rank 2, even if they are still a bit away from that level. But Harry simply lacked any higher-level meditation technique for reference.

He had started using less talented members of their organization by granting them experimental versions of higher levels for their respective meditation techniques, just like the Ancient Magi had developed higher levels.

But the progress was slow.

Pupil as a perfected meditation technique alone was simply not enough as a reference. Especially since it only relied on a bloodline. He would need to get more.

He had come far, but he still wasn't sure how he could safely return home to Skagos. All his newfound knowledge and influence didn't grant him an answer.

In the end, this particular morning turned out to be different.

They were in the middle of discussing their upcoming plans, as Harry, Neela, Bicky, and Bessita all suddenly stopped while Celeste looked at them confused.

"What happened?" She asked, unsure.

It was Harry that responded, "The Abyssal Bone Forest Academy has sent us a message. The war has ended."

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