The entrance to the base was where he'd left it, which was both expected and reassuring.
It was inscribed with simple runes to anyone without the attunement it looked like solid stone wall.
He didn't use complex and large number of runes as that would become too conspicuous in eyes of rune masters.
He pressed two fingers to the rune, felt it recognize him with a faint warmth, and slipped inside.
The base was same as he had left it, every shelf in the right place. The runic light fixtures throwing clean, even illumination across the workstation without the flicker that torchlight always insisted on.
Alister found himself a comfortable chair and sat down in center of room and reached into his pocket to pull out Herpo's 'Secrets of the darkest arts'. He spoke his thoughts as he held the book in his arms.
"It's been a while, Buddy. now we have a whole night for ourselves"
This book had passed through enough hands over enough centuries that it had accumulated considerably more than its original dark arts content.
It was less a book at this point and more an argument between dead experts conducted across several hundred years.
He ran his finger down the index and decided to learn his first Tier-3 spell.
He flipped through Non-Dark sections and opened the page on Apparition.
He read through it with the focused efficiency although It's mechanics were interesting as it recorded magical compression of physical space, point-to-point translocation through a act of focused will.
The problem was equally extensive and significantly less interesting.
In a text he'd read from the restricted section there were many documentations on what 'partial translocation' due to failed Apparition attempts looked like in practice.
He kept tapping on page with his fingers as he thought.
'Even with my perfect mana control, the margin for error in unassisted first attempts is documented at roughly thirty percent. Uncontrolled conditions can push that considerably higher.'
Although, he was not particularly attached to having all of his limbs in their current configuration, but he would definitely be attached to not having them in two separate locations.
'It would be foolish to attempt it now when It's only a matter of time,' he thought, turning the page. 'To find someone who's qualified enough to supervise my first attempt.'
He turned further into the section.
Legilimency and Occlumency occupied the next thirty pages, recorded by what appeared to be at least three different hands across two centuries, each one annotating the previous entry with varying degrees of criticism for their predecessor's conclusions.
Alister settled back comfortably on his chair, pulled the book closer, and began reading.
The first topic he came across was Occlumency, He began by starting from first page and quickly kept turning pages every five minuites.
Thirty minutes later he set the book down, closed his eyes, and tried Occlumency.
The construction of the mental barrier was straightforward. System has been managing his own mental architecture for long enough that the underlying principle was already second nature. This was simply the formalized, wizarding framework for something he'd been doing instinctively for months.
He immediately moved to Legilimency and managed to completely master it in 30 minutes too.
When he opened his eyes, The first thing that came out of his mouth was.
"The stupidity of these wizards never ceases to amaze me."
He pulled the book back toward him and looked at the recorded Legilimency and Occlumency entries again. Then he thought about the copies of the same spells he'd skimmed in the forbidden section of the Hogwarts library in first year.
The theoretical framework texts and the historical accounts of their application were exactly the same only used for reading thoughts and to counter the Legilimency.
Centuries has passed between the recorded version in Herpo's book and the most recent record.
Generations of wizards have been passing these techniques from teacher to student, practitioner to practitioner, across wars and upheavals and the complete restructuring of magical society at least twice over.
And in all of that time, across all of those minds, not a single innovation or application has been found or recorded.
'The barrier,' he thought, picking up his annotation notebook, 'is the fundamental conceptual error used to define Occlumency. Every recorded development of Occlumency treats it as a wall trying to make it harder to penetrate.'
He opened to a fresh page and reached for his pen but paused midway as he spoke looking at the ceiling.
"System," he said.
[Yes, Host]
"You've had considerable free time recently," Alister said. "Sitting back and watching me while Occasionally making observations that I didn't ask for."
[….]
"You can consider that era over," Alister said. "I need you to record what I say."
[Is this what humans mean when they say 'Life is too short for long-term grudges'.]
"Wh…What Grudge?"
[….]
"What? Are you trying to escape again? Tell me if you are gonna do it or not."
[When master commands, How can this slave not obey]
"…."
'You are insufferable,' Alister thought at it, without particular heat. 'Start a new file. Label it: Mind Arts'
"Occlumency first," he said quietly, half to the System and half to himself. Thinking out loud into a framework that would hold it.
"The fundamental recorded application is defensive barrier construction. Building a thick wall against intrusion. Every practitioner, every text, every annotated development for the past several centuries has treated it as exactly that and nothing more."
"The wall model has a ceiling. A barrier, no matter how well constructed, is a static defense against a dynamic attack. skilled Legilimens won't hit a wall and stop attacking, they will look for the edges to probe for inconsistency. They will eventually penetrate the wall if they are given enough time."
He paused.
'Record this as a separate thread,' he thought at the System. 'Now I will speak of interconnected applications that will inform each other.'
"Application one," he continued. "Instead of building a wall to defend against Legilimens , we will welcome them"
He stood up, which was how he knew he was getting somewhere, because he never stood up in the middle of theoretical work unless his brain had gotten ahead of his ability to sit still.
"An advanced Occlumens can construct a false surface layer of consciousness. When the Legilimens enters, he will encounter what appears to be the genuine unguarded mind, and begin reading. Except what he's reading are man made Fabricated memories, crafted with the precision and planted in a surface layer that looks like the thing it's replacing."
"The Legilimens will be forced to think he's broken through and is reading the target's deepest truths. But what he's reading is a story the target wrote for them, while they're in the lobby admiring the furniture, the actual mind is somewhere they cannot reach and cannot find because they don't know they haven't found it yet."
He kept walking back and forth across the whole room.
"The key variable is craft as the fabricated layer has to be psychologically coherent. It can't be perfect memories, because real memories aren't perfect. It has to have the right texture of imperfection for emotional inconsistency in the right places and the slight fuzziness of genuine recollection around the edges."
{A/N: Basically trapping the intruder in an illusion. Think of it like Genjutsu used for defense.}
'You really have a talent for this, System.' Alister thought, as he examined the notes written by system on the screen in front on him.
"Let's continue, application two," he said. "Combat."
"This one is simpler in concept and significantly harder in execution."
He looked at his hands.
"This application requires Clearing the conscious layer completely with no active thoughts and no spell selection happening in the mind where a Legilimens can read it. Fight entirely on trained reflex and muscle memory, which are the pathways that don't live in conscious thought because they've been drilled deep enough that they predate it."
'The challenge,' he thought, 'is that this requires a level of physical training that makes the body capable of functioning at that level without conscious direction. The Occlumency is the easy part. The body has to be worth trusting which won't be a problem for my tier 2 physical body.'
{A/N: Dragon balls fans won't have a problem understanding this part}
He filed everything needed including the physical training requirements and moved on.
"Now for the best part, Legilimency," he said, and sat back down.
"The recorded application is to navigate the layers of a mind and go deeper to find the memory or truth you're looking for." He opened the book again, looking at the relevant pages. "Its incredibly Crude and Slow. Even when a skilled Legilimens enters someone's mind it is not subtle. The target can feels it, which is precisely why Occlumency exists as a counter."
He turned the book face down.
"Application one. Surface reading."
"The surface of an unstable and untrained mind already broadcasts everything constantly whether its Intent or Emotion, Even the immediate next thought before it becomes action. A Legilimens who has refined their sensitivity enough doesn't need to navigate layers because the surface is already giving them everything they need in a duel."
He picked up the pen and actually wrote this one down in his own notebook.
"The gap between intention and action," he said quietly, "is where this lives. And that gap, even in the fastest duelists, is not zero.""The gap between intention and action," he said quietly, "is where this lives. And that gap, even in the fastest duelists, is not zero."
He made a note about experimental validation and moved to the second application.
"Healing."
"This one requires the most complete reconception of what Legilimency is for."
He was quiet for a moment.
"Trauma and Obliviation does things to a mind that aren't metaphorical. The records in the restricted section describe the psychological aftermath of both in terms of symptoms But only in physical terms Not in terms of what it actually looks like inside."
"This application," he said slowly, "is surgical. You go in to helping the patients find their own way through their own structure. Identifying where the damage is and what shape it has. Helping the mind's own repair mechanisms locate what they're trying to locate."
'This one,' he thought at the System, 'flag for separate extended development. The theoretical framework alone is a significant undertaking. Practical application requires a level of Legilimency refinement that doesn't exist in recorded literature.'
'Which means,' he continued thinking, 'I'd be developing it from first principles on both the technique side and the application side simultaneously.'
"That concludes the log. Archive the file, System."
"Let's begin by fabricating a false surface layer for my Occlumency shields; it will give me an opportunity to properly organize my thoughts. We can field-test the defenses against Dumbledore later."
"To get the Legilimency working, I'm going to need a live dueling partner to practice on. Artoria should be strong enough to make it worth my time, and smart enough not to ask unnecessary questions about my methods."
…
After making sure everything was back in it's place, Alister moved back to his dorm room and laid on his bed with his eyes closed, sinking into mind space.
END OF CHAPTER)
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