Before advancing to a Formal Wizard, Damian could use Transfiguration to animate giant trees. However, he definitely couldn't perform the large-scale micro-manipulation required to instantly slaughter a dozen Two-Headed Giant Ravens simultaneously.
Moreover, he wasn't even using his wand!
By permanently engraving Transfiguration as his Innate Spell, his mastery had reached a terrifying new level. He could now seamlessly manipulate a massive area of the ancient forest using nothing but sheer mental will.
Damian stared at his right palm, sensing that his Innate Transfiguration was capable of even more. His right hand began to violently twist and deform. Moments later, his arm transfigured into a much more slender, feminine limb.
"It really can be done..." Damian murmured.
Suddenly, his entire face began to shift. Something seemed to squirm rapidly beneath his skin as his eyes, nose, mouth, and ears melted like wax, his features constantly deforming.
His hair lengthened into wavy chestnut locks, and his pupils shifted into a deep emerald hue. A series of sickening cracks echoed from his body as his bones rapidly realigned, forcibly shrinking his height.
Moments later, Damian had flawlessly transformed into Madam Alsha. His appearance, height, figure, and clothing were perfectly identical to the imprisoned Syndicate Boss. Even the servants who had served Alsha for over a decade wouldn't be able to spot a single flaw.
Damian's Transfiguration mastery now allowed for complete human Transfiguration! It was important to note that Damian was not a natural Metamorphmagus, nor had he ever learned the Animagus transformation.
Yet, by engraving the spell directly into his Sea of Spirit, he had bypassed those limitations entirely. He now possessed an innate, shapeshifting ability that rivaled a Metamorphmagus.
While researching Transfiguration, Damian had once read that the first Dark Lord, Gellert Grindelwald, could seamlessly transform himself into another person without Polyjuice Potion. He had never witnessed such profound Transfiguration firsthand, but his own mastery had now definitively reached that legendary tier.
Damian canceled the magic, and his body and clothes instantly snapped back to their original state.
He experimented a few more times, discovering a crucial detail. Transforming into someone he had previously impersonated using Polyjuice Potion—like Madam Alsha—was incredibly smooth.
However, transforming into an unfamiliar target left minor physical flaws. For instance, when he attempted to transfigure his face into Lord Voldemort's, the result felt distinctly disharmonious.
At that moment, a swarm of magical creatures approached, seemingly lured by the scent of blood from the slaughtered ravens. They resembled massive, cockroach-like insects, each the size of a basketball.
Countless giant cockroaches swarmed the clearing, aggressively tearing into and devouring the carcasses. In a mere twenty seconds, the raven corpses completely vanished, leaving not a single bone behind.
After stripping the ravens clean, the ravenous swarm turned its horrifying attention toward Damian. He frowned in deep disgust.
Waving his hand, Damian instantly transfigured the surrounding tree trunks into a cloud of fine, airborne powder. He then transfigured that scattered dust into a crackling, massive net of raw lightning.
The massive cockroaches were instantly electrocuted, dropping to the forest floor as the foul stench of scorching chitin filled the air.
Before engraving Transfiguration into his Sea of Spirit, such an elemental shift was impossible. While he could previously manipulate fire, water, and ice, transfiguring physical matter directly into volatile lightning was far too complex.
Now, as a Formal Wizard, he executed the massive-scale elemental transfiguration effortlessly.
This breakthrough had exponentially enhanced Damian's combat power. Even though his raw magic was still chaotic and he hadn't stabilized his Sea of Spirit enough to engrave ordinary Runic Models, he could easily slaughter his past self.
Having thoroughly tested his Innate Spell, Damian decided to leave the Winter Forest. The commotion he caused was bound to attract far more lethal entities from the Deep Area. Since his magic was still inherently unstable from the recent promotion, engaging in high-intensity combat was highly unwise.
Flawlessly transfiguring back into Madam Alsha, he cast the Invisible Hand spell. Utilizing the runic magic's sustained flight, he swiftly launched himself into the sky and traveled back to White Stone Manor.
"Madam," the servants in the corridor bowed respectfully as he entered, failing to notice anything unusual. "Madam Alsha, your luggage is completely packed and ready for departure."
Even these deeply trusted servants, who had managed Alsha's estate for years, were utterly blind to Damian's human Transfiguration.
"We will depart this afternoon," Damian ordered coldly, perfectly mimicking her tone. "I am going to my room to rest. Do not disturb me."
Damian fully intended to exploit Alsha's identity during the upcoming trip to the Royal Capital. A letter from the central Court Wizards had recently arrived, officially reassigning Alsha back to the Kingdom's hub. By stealing her life, Damian could siphon significantly more resources.
White Stone Town was ultimately a remote, border-town with scarce magical wealth. Several high-end substitute materials Damian desperately needed to refine the Philosopher's Stone could only be purchased in the Royal Capital's centralized markets.
Many of the esoteric ingredients required by the original HP formula were nearly extinct. Nicolas Flamel had crafted the last Philosopher's Stone over six centuries ago; materials that were common during his era had long since vanished from the modern wizarding world.
Fortunately, the Analyzer located on the Wizard Tower's second floor was incredibly powerful. After expending a massive amount of the Tower's stored Degrees, the device had successfully reverse-engineered the formula and provided valid, cross-world alternative ingredients.
Without Tower Spirit Zero's calculations, Damian's own alchemy skills would have never been enough to safely modify such a mythical artifact. In the highly developed commercial districts of the Royal Capital, he was confident he could purchase the remaining Other World substitutes.
Furthermore, assuming Alsha's rank provided the perfect solution for his long-desired High-Level Meditation Method.
When Madam Alsha had advanced to a First-Level Sorcerer, she gained the official right to exchange her accumulated contribution points for restricted Court Wizard meditation techniques. Because Damian had violently ambushed and captured her shortly after her promotion, that untouched opportunity now belonged entirely to him.
He could openly browse the Northern Wizard Alliance's restricted library to select a technique tailored for his evolved Sea of Spirit.
Returning to Alsha's private chambers, Damian disabled the protective runic arrays on her desk and retrieved a small, unassuming handbag. He had cast a potent Undetectable Extension Charm on the bag, creating a localized spatial pocket where the real Madam Alsha was currently imprisoned.
Because his metal disc could not safely transport conscious, living passengers between dimensions, keeping her sealed in a magically expanded coma was his only option.
The bag's internal space was grim and cramped, containing only a single long table. Alsha lay securely strapped to the wood, her entire body suppressed by magical shackles and her core completely sealed.
Stepping into the expanded space, Damian meticulously checked his prisoner's condition. Finding no abnormalities, he pressed his finger directly against her glabella.
Mobilizing his vastly enhanced mental energy, Damian violently injected his power directly into Alsha's spirit crystal core, shattering through her innate mental barriers to invade her Sea of Spirit.
Deep within her mind, he made contact with her dormant consciousness. While Formal Wizards possessed highly fortified cores, their minds were still tethered to their physical bodies; thus, her medically induced coma forced her spirit into a deep slumber.
Rumors stated that once a sorcerer promoted to a Second-Level Wizard, their consciousness could exist entirely within their crystal core, meaning the destruction of their physical body wouldn't result in true death.
Confirming he held absolute dominance over her mind, Damian coldly withdrew his mental energy.
Imprisoned in a coma for days, Alsha's magic was severely depleted, and her Sea of Spirit was dangerously drying up. Yet, she was still a Formal Wizard.
The inherent mental fortifications of her qualitative change had been utterly impenetrable to Damian when he was merely a Third-Level Apprentice, which was exactly why his HP Imperius Curse had previously failed against her.
Now, standing on equal footing as a Formal Wizard, his mental force easily crushed her defenses. His Imperius Curse could absolutely dominate her now.
However, Damian actively chose not to enslave her mind just yet. Prolonged exposure to the Unforgivable Curse allowed victims to build resistance, and if Alsha's latent willpower proved too strong, she might eventually snap the mental leash.
Damian wasn't a dark arts master like Voldemort; his proficiency with the Imperius Curse was merely functional. Unwilling to risk any fatal accidents before he completely drained her identity of all its political value, he decided to maintain the status quo.
He carefully force-fed Alsha a native Invigoration Draught to keep her Sea of Spirit from collapsing, followed immediately by another dose of Snape's sleeping potion to ensure her prolonged coma.
Over ten days later, Damian sat comfortably inside a luxurious carriage, flawlessly disguised as Madam Alsha. He was traveling with a massive convoy consisting of a dozen armored carriages and over twenty towering, two-legged pack beasts.
This heavy merchant caravan was directly affiliated with the Northern Wizard Alliance. Primarily responsible for securely transporting regional taxes and magical supplies, the Court Wizards also accepted highly lucrative external freight commissions.
Traveling under their official banner guaranteed a significantly smoother journey to the Royal Capital. Any short-sighted highwaymen or wandering beasts would be instantly annihilated by the heavily armed sorcerers guarding the cargo.
"Madam Alsha, we have arrived at the Royal Capital," the hired coachman announced, gently knocking on the reinforced carriage door.
Damian pulled back the velvet curtains. In the extreme distance, piercing straight through the thick cloud cover, stood a colossal, sky-scraping spire. It was a functioning Wizard Tower—the central headquarters of the Court Wizards—reportedly constructed by a legendary Great Wizard over a millennia ago.
The entire Royal Capital of the Blizzard Kingdom had been built in massive concentric circles expanding outward from this single ancient structure.
Originally starting as a small gathering of wizarding families and servants, the settlement had explosively evolved over centuries into a sprawling megalopolis officially known as the Sixth Ring Wizard City.
Massive, magically fortified walls divided the city into six distinct, nested sectors. The innermost First Ring exclusively housed the Wizard Tower. The Second Ring served as the heavily guarded political epicenter of the Blizzard Kingdom, containing the administrative offices of the Court Wizards.
The Third Ring was the luxurious residential district reserved strictly for Kingdom nobles and high-ranking sorcerers. The Fourth and Fifth Rings were booming commercial and alchemical trade hubs, while the massive, outermost Sixth Ring housed the commoners.
While the outer rings were open to the public, entering the Third Ring and beyond required strict magical identity verification.
The convoy slowed to a crawl as they approached the colossal outer gates of the Sixth Ring. A massive queue of travelers and merchant carts stretched for miles, waiting for the city guards to conduct their mandatory entry inspections.
Depending on the apparent wealth of the travelers, the guards would either ruthlessly tear through their luggage or perfunctorily wave them through in exchange for a few copper pennies. Eventually, Damian's heavily armed convoy reached the front of the line.
Damian wordlessly passed Madam Alsha's enchanted Level 5 Adjutant badge through the carriage window. The coachman hastily scurried to the front of the convoy, presenting the official insignia to the heavily armored gate captain.
The guard captain inspected the encrypted magical signature, his posture instantly straightening. He returned the badge and ruthlessly blocked a rival merchant team that had just finished their inspection.
"A Court Wizard Administrator is present," the guard barked expressionlessly. "Clear the path! The Alliance caravan has total priority."
The rival caravan leader initially looked furious at the delay. However, the moment he heard the title 'Administrator,' his anger evaporated into terror. Rubbing his hands together obsequiously, the merchant quickly bowed. "Of course, of course! We yield the way to the Honorable Adjutant!"
Observing the scene from behind the velvet curtains, Damian gained a profound new appreciation for the sheer political dominance of the Court Wizards. He had only expected the badge to bypass the luggage search; he hadn't anticipated it granting a massive, twenty-carriage convoy absolute, dictatorial right-of-way.
Reclaiming the badge, Damian sat back as the convoy marched uncontested through the towering stone arches. The Sixth Ring Wizard City was breathtakingly vast, spanning thousands of square kilometers.
Passing the outer wall merely placed them in the sprawling, forested suburbs of the commoner district. The inner wall leading to the Fifth Ring wasn't even visible on the horizon—the geographical distance between the districts was simply too massive.
After several hours of travel, Damian's personal carriage separated from the main freight caravan. While the heavy cargo was destined for the commercial warehouses in the Fourth Ring, Damian was heading directly for the Third Ring, where Alsha maintained an upscale private residence.
In theory, a localized Spatial Teleportation Array existed near the gate. If Damian had been traveling alone, he could have instantly warped to the Third Ring. However, since he was dragging along Alsha's mundane servants—who lacked Court Wizard clearance—he was forced to travel the long way to avoid paying astronomical fees in magic stones.
Peering out the window, Damian noted the stark difference between the Royal Capital and White Stone Town. The remote border town had felt distinctly akin to Muggle medieval Europe, with magic rarely utilized outside of heavy combat or primitive alchemy.
In contrast, the Sixth Ring Wizard City was an industrialized magical metropolis. Damian's True Magical Perception easily picked up the distinct, rhythmic hum of automated Runic arrays powering massive production factories. Thanks to this widespread magical infrastructure, even the lowest commoners never suffered from food shortages.
The technological disparity was dizzying; it felt as though he had stepped out of the Dark Ages and directly into a magically-fueled Industrial Revolution.
The carriage trundled along the wide, white-stone avenues for three agonizing hours before finally crossing the checkpoint into the Fifth Ring. Because the inner rings were exponentially smaller, the walls of the Fourth Ring were immediately visible upon entry.
After another grueling hour of travel and a rigorous identity check performed by Wizard Apprentice-level guards, Damian finally arrived at his true destination—the elite, highly restricted Third Ring of the Royal Capital.
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