After finishing his tests with the Beyonder Characteristics, Loki crashed into his bed as he pondered about Randolph's offer.
'*sigh* I can't in good faith take up Mr. Spudmore's offer since I'm already adopted by the Black Family and above all that I'm already a beyonder.'
'I think it would be rather ridiculous if I take advantage of the situation, especially when I might get caught if they ask me to take a potion from the savant pathway.'
'And I'm sure I'll eventually find some books in the Black or Hogwarts Library to figure out a way to craft better Beyonder items.'
"What do you think?" Loki asked the chubby Niffler who was pretending to be asleep on his bed.
Sunny just rolled over and slid deeper into the covers to avoid answering Loki's question, leaving him hanging and forcing him to decide about the matter by himself.
'There's also the matter of him being from one of the sacred twenty-eight. I doubt he'd like it if I were to hide the fact that I'm affiliated with the Black family.'
'Perhaps I should tell him that I am already a Darkness pathway Beyonder and have already been adopted by the Black family?'
Drifting along with his thoughts, Loki eventually fell asleep after having decided what he would do the next day.
Loki woke up early the next morning and religiously studied the ring that Randolph had given him, attempting to learn more about how the Beyonder item was crafted.
There were several runes and Loki did his best to learn all the unique ways the runes were used while also making note of any new runes that he didn't know about to look up in the Black library later during the summer.
Eventually, when the grandfather clock struck ten thirty, Loki called out for Kreacher, "Kreacher!"
"Yes, Master Loki?"
"Teleport me to Diagon Alley please."
"As you wish.", Kreacher said with a polite bow and held Loki's hands.
With a quick *pop*, Loki and Kreacher reached the entrance of Diagon Alley from where Loki departed towards Fawley's Store of Enchantments and Engravings.
Before Loki could knock, however, he found the door opening and Randolph looking at him with a bright smile.
"So what is your answer young man.", Randolph asked pulling open the door and inviting Loki inside where Fawley and Bilton were patiently sipping on some milk tea.
Loki with a polite smile on his face, pulled out the ring that Randolph had given him earlier.
"Huh? What happened to the ring? Did it break?" Randolph asked picking the ring from Loki's palms and examining it closely by covering it in his spirituality to observe the runes engraved onto it.
"No Mr. Spudmore, I'm afraid I cannot accept any Beyonder items.", Loki said calmly.
Immediately, Randolph, Bilton and Fawley's eyes widened as they all looked at Loki in shock.
"Yes. I know about Beyonders." Loki explained and continued, "I learnt about them at school when a senior student explained to me about them." Loki bluffed.
"If you know about them then why don't you want to become one? There couldn't be a better opportunity for you than working with us, right?" Bilton immediately asked.
"Unfortunately for you Mr. Bilmes, I have already become a Beyonder. I'm a Beyonder of the Darkness pathway."
"Darkness Pathway?" Fawley said with slight apprehension as he looked at Loki and then asked, "The Black Family?"
"Yes. I've kept this a secret from everyone but I was adopted by Walburga Black into the black family about two years ago."
The eyes in the room that were looking at Loki widened with shock.
But Loki didn't mind and did a formal bow and apologised with sincerity.
"I'm sorry for disappointing you Mr. Spudmore, Mr. Fawley and Mr. Bilmes, but I cannot join you in learning more about how to create Beyonder items.", Loki said with clear sadness in his tone.
The room turned silent and Loki understanding he had to give them a little space to digest what he'd just said, began to walk out of the store, to go back home so that he could avoid the awkward situation that was boiling up.
But just as he was about to exit the store, a hand gripped his shoulder.
"Huh?" Loki turned around with a little worry, wondering if he'd made the trio angry to the point they wanted to take revenge, but as soon as he turned around it was his turn to become stunned with silence.
The trio all had wide smirks plastered onto their faces.
"Did Walburga stop you from apprenticing under anyone else?" Mr. Fawley was the first to ask.
"Erm…no, not really." Loki replied. 'She'd probably be mad if I did though…not like she's going to know since she's six feet under right now…'
"Then what's there to worry about!? Although unfortunate that you can't become a Beyonder of the Savavnt Pathway, I don't think it'd be wrong for you to learn under us."
Loki's eyes widened at the words as his heart began to beat a little faster.
"Seriously?" Loki asked in shock. "You will allow me to apprentice under you even if I'm not going to take up the Savant Pathway?"
"Yes. I'm serious. You're just that much of a genius." Mr. Fawley said and then looked at the other two who nodded with equal seriousness in their eyes.
Loki's mouth opened and closed for a little while until Randolph patting his shoulders broke him out of his reverie.
A wide smile blossomed on Loki's face as he did a ninety-degree bow once again and spoke with a faint bit of happiness, "Thank you for accepting me as your apprentice!"
"Hahaha~! Don't worry about it. And given how you're from a different pathway I expect you to work hard to cover the gap between other Savants of this profession." Fawley said with a smile.
"Yes sir! I will give it my all!"
And so Loki began to study under the trio of old men about how Beyonder items were made.
His first classes for nearly a week were only composed of reading several books about the various muggle sciences so that according to Fawley, 'He'd catch up with the basics.'. His enhanced brain took no time to learn and memorise while it was only from the second week that he began to learn about runes involved in Beyonder item making.
"Yes, all Beyonder Characteristics have a remnant will in them that reacts once infused with spirituality to create special effects."
Loki nodded as his suspicions from examining the ring that Randolph had given him were confirmed.
"It is this same will in the Beyonder Characteristics that give rise to various flaws in the item made from it, leading to several unorthodox methods of sealing the items so that they do not cause harm when unused."
"But why didn't the ring you gave me have any sealing conditions?" Loki asked.
"Because it was made from a low Sequence 7 of a Solar High Priest of the Bard pathway. The lower the Sequence number, the easier it is to make items without any negative effects by suppressing the will in the item with your own." Randolph said and looked at Loki who was looking at him and nodding as he absorbed the information.
"Of course, I don't expect you to be able to make such items since it was only when Mr. Fawley became a Sequence 6 Artisan that he was able to remove the flaws of the item, but I'm sure if you practice enough, you'll eventually get to the same level."
"Thank you for your vote of confidence Randolph.", Loki said with a smile as he continued to learn from Randolph.
The reason Loki was happy to learn about runes was not just to geek about them, but because he had a theory that they'd help him later down the line when he became a Sequence 6 Prometheus. Since then he'd be able to steal other people's abilities.
What he expected was that from when he'd become a Prometheus he'd be able to see other people's abilities as runes. This wasn't just his guess but also something the image on the Error Blasphemy Confirmed.
The Sequence 6 Prometheus page had the picture of a woman extending her hand towards a rune which started flying towards her from her generic target.
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