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January thirty-first, after midnight. Ancient Hogwarts Castle, Room of Requirement.
Responding to my thoughts, the room changed. Endless shelves with all sorts of literature moved to the sides. From somewhere in the distant parts of the hall, a rustling sound was heard. A moment later, I saw several dozen cabinets with many shelves floating towards me from the far wall.
Approaching one of the cabinets, I once again glanced at the books to which I now have the "right of access". Well, the first time I decided to check these tomes, I was very surprised. It so happened that I lost consciousness before the spirit reported the result of my promotion. Well, apprentice of the School of the Five Stars Space. This is strong, this is powerful, and this, most importantly, is a lot of knowledge.
Once I saw this magnificence, I was lost to the world until I read everything available. Well, the answer I was looking for was found. Although not in full, the second part is in the school of metamorphism, as well as in the primer of runes.
What is my idea: change the property of the spatial pocket of metamorphs to suit your needs. That is, they store flesh or ready-made forms in their pockets, but I want to change the properties of space so that it can store prana.
Is it possible? Yes, it is. As I learned from the book, most accumulators work exactly according to this feature. A pocket with certain properties is artificially or naturally "generated" in a precious stone. Ruby is a good accumulator of prana. Sapphire - mana. Agate - psi.
Of course, there are both absolute accumulators (suitable for any type of energy) and those that are suitable for a certain type of energy without taking into account those already mentioned. Only at this moment in time this information does not interest me very much. The most important thing is the specificity of the pocket for the non-living (an artifact, a gem, even a bone and a brick), and the living (a familiar, some kind of animal, or the magician himself, or rather his soul). The example of those who are not alive is clear. The living ones include, to some extent, vampire thralls. These are people enslaved by the fanged ones and artificially changed by their magic. The body of such people is modified for two properties: to produce prana at an accelerated pace and to store prana without leakage.
It's funny, but the books don't talk about it directly, only scraps of information. For example, the spacers talk about the possibility of changing a person into a prana wineskin, creating an artificial pocket. The metamorphs talk about the properties of such an organism. The healers talk about ways to treat the problem and what causes it. Comparing these facts, it becomes clear that vampires use blood magic to distort the human body, expanding it in spatial prana. I wonder how many of them realize what they are doing?
As soon as I found confirmation of my thoughts, I immediately began to develop a ritual with the replacement of the flesh component with prana. Due to my previous preparation over several months, I managed to finish it literally yesterday. Now I have in my hands a completely working version of the solution to my problem, with the only amendment that it needs to be tested on "volunteers".
Of course, everything was not so rosy. During the solution, I encountered several problems. First, the books on space described only the difference between different types of space. Second, the runes in the ritual of the metamorphs were suitable specifically for flesh. Because of this, I had to look for dictionaries and primers of runic languages and learn them (which was done a long time ago, just a reminder). Third and most importantly, the calculations given in the books of space were only for inanimate objects (what spells are cast on), as well as for objects and living (what will be stored). There were no specifics of flesh. It had to be taken from the ritual of the metamorphs, fortunately it is described there quite worthwhile.
Next - changing the ritual runes to suit my needs. Not everything changes, but only about fifteen percent (it was the properties of the stored "material" that changed). There were no particular problems with this, since the ritual is very simple.
And after several dozen hours of writing and digging, I drew a drawing of the ritual on paper. Many double-checks did not find any errors, so I was confident in the calculation. Now all that remains is to test it. It is advisable not only on non-magicians, but also on magically gifted ones. The only question is where to get them? In the summer, I can easily drive to a leaky cauldron, and there will definitely be a couple of volunteers in the hot spots.
Well, once again making sure that the scheme works (theoretically), and also checking the possible consequences for me after using such ancient genetic material. By all indicators, my body will be able to withstand until the end of August, without using the gene, I would be able to hold out for another six months to a year. However, I don't intend to miss the chance.
A small message to the room and the ripples covered the hall. The first times, before studying the school of space, I could not feel how exactly the room changes. Now it is clear to me that it changes through a spatial shift. Very interesting. I really want to know how exactly the founders created this masterpiece.
The space floated and became blurred, only to regain clear outlines a few moments later, only this time in a different place.
Ritual hall for training metamorphs. The most important thing is that it is here that the runic circle of stabilization is located, which forcibly holds the flesh in one single piece. So, if the basilisk blood is too powerful, then I will still absorb it, the only difference is that I will not introduce it into the body, I will simply store it until the moment I can use it.
Slowly taking off my clothes (there are different transformations, you never know...) I headed towards the center of the picture. Standing in the center of the empty space, I vaporized the ice vial with one desire.
The viscous, dark red liquid hovered above my palm. Now that it was no longer bound by ice, I could clearly feel the simply gigantic volume of prana hidden in it. It was overwhelming. Not the blood itself, no, but the prana itself. There was much more of it than the wyvern had. And I used it after most of the prana had already run out. However, I had similar genes (Norbert), so I wasn't too worried then.
Well, as they say: not a step back. The skin on the arm parted, revealing muscles and veins to the world. The blood flowed neatly into the wound.
That's it, the basilisk blood is in my body. Now is the time to act.
*****
In the vast hall, right in the center of the ritual drawing, there was a young man who looked with some expectation at a drop of blood hovering above his palm.
A second later, the skin on his hand parted and steaming blood flew into the resulting wound. A slight smile blossomed on the guy's face. It was time.
Seconds of waiting passed, during which nothing seemed to happen. However, this is not so, the runes that previously served as a regular design began to slowly light up.
One, then a second, followed by a third. The guy's flesh began to move in waves. In some places it swelled, in others it burst. However, not a single muscle on his face moved. He foresaw all this.
As soon as every rune that covered the floor and walls lit up, multiple crunches were heard from the guy's body.
Bones broke, the body arched, muscles tore. Gradually his body began to grow, his legs merged into a single limb. Green scales began to appear all over the skin, and bone ridges appeared on the head, resembling a crown.
With each passing second, the boy looked more and more like the basilisk whose blood he had absorbed. Now his face stretched out, and two giant fangs appeared from under his upper lip.
When the body finally stopped growing, it was the turn of the eyes. Once blue, they were now filling with yellow. With each passing second, the yellow color became more and more. It seemed that just a little more and he would finally turn into a snake.
However, it was not destined to happen. One step before, everything went backwards. The body shrank, fangs, scales, combs, yellow color from the eyes disappeared. A minute and the same guy is standing on his feet again, all sweaty, trying to catch his breath. But it was him.
*****
It was hard. As soon as I grafted the basilisk genes onto myself with the help of metamorphism, they began to absorb all the prana and mana at an accelerated rate. Under the influence of blood, the body began to change. I did not interfere with this as much as possible, fully aware that I could stop the process at any second and return everything to its previous state.
Finally, when the genes had absorbed all the prana and mana, the process went into reverse. The mana and prana returned, becoming purer and stronger. The sources themselves changed, becoming more perfect.
A flow of psi also came into my mind. Having absorbed it, I realized that I could now speak with snakes, provided that the basilisk genes were active. Well, what can I say - it's expected.
Another surprise for me was that the genes of the wyvern and the basilisk intertwined, forming something new and different. Hmm, I read somewhere that magical snakes and wyverns are descendants of dragons. But I didn't believe it, because there may well exist some kind of ancient snake, the ancestor of all creeping things. Well, now if they have more than one ancestor, then they are at least somewhat similar to each other, because such a connection would have been formed.
Of course, I can separate this "mash". The body is my field, here I am the ruler. But why? Their relationship is completely harmonious, complementing each other.
Well, further inspection confirmed my predictions. The quality and speed of prana production have increased. August is the final date if my calculations for the ritual do not work. Although I have another option.
What I didn't expect was a change in the quality of mana. Still, I was guided by how the body behaved after the wyvern gene (although it was the mana that changed). Although this makes sense, the Basilisk is incredibly ancient and magically charged. So that's just a plus.
The exact changes will still need to be clarified (don't forget about Psi!), but for now I'm happy with everything.
Having carefully dressed, I headed out. Mana and prana gradually changed the soul and body, making them stronger, more perfect, which was more than satisfactory for me. Of course, this process is not endless, only until equilibrium appears.
Eh, but I will need to check and compare everything. Create more "ideal" forms. Remove now the unnecessary or superfluous. And also the ritual.
Well, I won't be bored...
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