Potions—nasty nastiness. Undisputable fact. For a strange reason, any healing potion can kill you with its taste. And the stronger this deadly taste, the stronger the potion—so it was even in the memory of the shards.
Following the prescription, I took potions every day, three times—morning, lunch, and evening. Before eating. Terribly unpleasant things, but already on the third day the consequences of my magic completely went away, and the brain recovered. Smethwyck prescribed drinking for ten days, which means I will drink them for ten days, but now, on the third, I can at least return to elven training, otherwise it's not right to drop them like this because of the inability to normally force life energy to circulate in the body. What psychological stress it was—violation of an iron habit!
The day after returning home from France, Macmillan sent Khrustik back to me. Ernie wrote that Khrustik is funny, but no one in the house likes him because he loves to gnaw insects. No, well, it's an owlet—what did you expect from him? As if some eagle owl that loves rodents and other small animals and birds—is straight up the height of aesthetics, especially pellets.
The tiny owlet was glad to return to his house, which we placed in my room, and often flew around the house, amusing everyone. To the great joy of the family, he didn't crap all over the apartment and generally, was suspiciously clean, and even flew outside to the toilet.
By the end of the first decade of August, Hermione and I had completed all homework in all subjects, and even those that I personally won't have—what else to do? My sister looked condescendingly at my physical training. It seems a stereotype works in her head that a sporty guy cannot be smart and well-read, and these are, perhaps, the only qualities she really valued in people. Well, and wanted to see in herself. Of course, there were other qualities valued by her, but the abyss of priority difference between them, and those very reading and intelligence, is simply huge.
Since I already decided that I would conduct the affinity ritual for the energy from the Thunderbird feather, my main task was solving just one single problem. After establishing a connection with the dimension of this or that energy, one needs to use this energy a little bit, but on a constant basis, for a week, plus or minus, so that the channel does not collapse and "fixes" in the soul and body. This is the most difficult problem in this world, because there are no magic accumulators here as a class, and I don't know how to make them even in theory.
I solved a similar problem with life energy easily, because at my disposal were a couple of healing circuits, comprehensively ingrained in the memory of the elf shard. It is one of them, albeit modified, that I still periodically update on myself, and will do so until about twenty. But from which side to approach "storm" energy—is unclear...
It was over this question that I racked my brains. And almost broke it, honestly, but Hermione prompted me to a solution option. She wanted to practice gestures and words of covered spells, simultaneously practicing diction. Glacius. Freezing. I took out the feather, tried to feel the energy in it. Something akin to air, water, ice, electricity was indeed felt there, and the image from this energy is a storm. Sounds cool, of course, but these are just associations. The more multifaceted the energy, the weaker it is in a specific manifestation. And therefore the Phoenix, which is fire, is always absurdly strong, and the Thunderbird—only at the peak of its development.
In general, I again took the hammer and interchangeable heads for it in my hands. Forged a rather simple thing based on two spells. The design is simple—a metal flask with forged warming charms, and inside it a flask with freezing ones is placed. Well, and with water, of course. I forged the outer flask immediately, but the second one will need to be made later, when the connection with the dimension of storm energy is established. At that moment I will create this spell using this energy, apply it to the head and forge the flask. Thus, an artifact will turn out that will pull storm energy from me for its work, and neutral—for warming charms. The volume is not particularly important, the main thing is constancy.
Amusing moment, by the way. No one hears my experiments with forging. It seems this is some kind of magical effect only on me. The only thing heard in the house is the light clink of metal on metal. Very light, at the level of a key falling on the floor.
In general, by the end of the first decade of August, I was fully ready to conduct the ritual.
In the evening, when everyone had gone to bed, I took out the Thunderbird feather, sat on the floor, put the feather on my legs, and concentrated. Started doing everything as in the case of life energy.
A feather is not tree leaves that I used then. No need to cause energy resonances—it is here anyway, albeit little. But in the leaves there was generally a minimum amount of it. Concentrating, I pulled storm energy from the feather. It was, in essence, alive, and responded to my efforts with a slightly intensified current of energy—now definitely enough.
Accumulating a little energy in the body, but no more than that tiny possible maximum, visualized the "Accumulation-Transfer" seal inside the body, and activated it with storm energy with an admixture of neutral—to "finish off" the volume. I expected the body to glow somehow, as last time, but no—air slowly spun around me, slightly blowing and cooling the skin. Not lightning, and okay. Moving on to the second stage.
Mentally began to build a sphere of many runic circles in different planes to each other around myself. Energy reverse seal, to direct energy not by standard, from soul to body, but vice versa.
Finishing with building the sphere, connected the "Accumulation-Transfer" seal to it, in which energy resonance caused an exponential growth of storm energy power. Three seconds to activation. Energy leak—absent. Gorgeous, just like last time. And now—going into meditation to disconnect the mind from the body, because I know what it's like...
Pain. Sharp and strong, unbearable. Bodily and spiritual, and you can't escape them—only endure.
Endless two seconds of hellish pain, and everything returned to normal. The seals went out, and the mind returned to the aching body. Listening to my energetics, felt storm energy in the soul. The sensations are correct and cannot be confused, it's like understanding—it is there and that's it.
Well, and now the last stage—activation of the circuit in the soul, which will rock the volume of storm energy currently stored there with resonance, and that, following the changed vector of energy current, will pour not outward, but inward, breaking through to the related dimension.
It took several minutes, and the soul became uneasy—a side effect. Naturally. The soul will be uneasy when it, this very soul, swells with energy.
While the connection process is underway, I busied myself with forging. Prepared a flat anvil on wheels, from the very fact of existence of which the dwarf shard sheds bloody tears, a hammer, a head, a flask-blank. Pulled a little storm energy from the Thunderbird feather, took the wand and... Stopped. Magic outside school—is an interpretation. Magic in front of Muggles—official wording. Parents are sleeping, silence around, window curtained. Purely technically, there shouldn't be problems.
Exhaled, again pulled storm energy already managed to dissipate from loss of concentration from the feather, began to cast Glacius, adding this energy, but acted as with arrowheads—focused the flow of magic from the wand, not letting it scatter, and directed it to the hammer with the head. Casting was very difficult, and it seemed to me as if the wand picks up missing magic from the outside, because mine is almost inaccessible now. In principle, the wand indeed picked up part from the Thunderbird feather. Cunning artifact.
The head began to freeze literally immediately. Taking the hammer in hand, continuing to hold the wand with the other hand and hold Glacius, struck the blank. Ringing, sparks, nothing new. Removing the wand and hammer, took the resulting flask—chills, and very noticeably. Poured a little water there, screwed the cork, placed the flask in the already prepared warming one—fit perfectly. Screwed the second lid, on which there was a loop, threaded a thick hemp string and put it on the neck—doesn't chill, doesn't burn. Just a body temperature amulet.
At about the same moment, a certain invisible string seemed to tighten in the soul, and I knew for sure that the connection with the dimension of storm energy was established. The rocking seal fell apart, and with it the seal of energy flow reverse. Everything. Listening to myself, felt how crumbs of storm energy in an even trickle reached for the artifact on the neck, allowing it to freeze water, and crumbs of neutral—into the warming part.
"Heh-heh..." I couldn't suppress a chuckle.
What was I laughing about? Just funny. I sort of put a heater in a refrigerator to see who wins. Only vice versa. And also I had a joking desire to concentrate storm energy in my hands, with a willful message create discharges of electricity, and with the insidious voice of a villain exclaim: "Unlimited power!" Wonder what that's about?
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