Laying on a recliner lay Alaric. He was lazily looking and enjoying the sunset on this fine evening. Mulling over his thoughts.
"Lemonade, sir?" a voice came from behind him.
"Coke, with a slice of lime."
"It will take but a second, sir." James answered, before swiftly walking in a direction.
Yes, James. After having worked on him for nearly 3 weeks Alaric finally turned James into the vision that he had for him. An assistant that's there to make his life easier and exempt him from the dull tasks in life.
He even got himself a personal area in the cooled part of the kitchen after having bribed a cooking aid. Forbidden, but nothing that any magician would care even slightest about.
His thoughts drifted to the gods of this place. The gods of the Might and Magic franchise – mainly worshipped in the form of gods.
The 2 primordial gods:
Asha – The Dragon of Order / Lord of Life, Death, Fate and Time. Asha according to legend having created the world and afterwards retreating into the moon to watch upon its creation from afar.
Among it's followers are Necromancers, Wizards of certain philosophies and those who seek knowledge tied to fate.
Urgash – The Dragon of Chaos / Lord of Fire, Destruction and Madness. The complete opposite to Asha, where Asha is the creator, Urgash is the destroyer.
Worshipped by the demons he created to help him in the destruction.
Then Asha's 6 children.
Sylanna – The Dragon of Earth / Lord of Eart, Nature, Balance and Growth.
Mainly worshipped by elves.
Shalassa – The Dragon of Water / Lord of Water, Change, Wisdom and Dreams.
Among its worshippers are the Nagas and people of the sea.
Arkath – The Dragon of Fire / Lord of Fire, Strength, Destruction and Creation.
Worshipped by the dwarves.
Ylath – The Dragon of Air / Lord of Wind, Thought, Inspiration and Mobility.
It has a diverse fellowship of Nomads, inventors and people that worship the sky.
Elrath – The Dragon of Light / Lord of Light, Justice and Order.
The Dragon worshipped by most normal humans.
Malassa – The Dragon of Darkness / Lord of Darkness, Secrets, Deception and Depth.
Mainly worshipped by the dark elves. As well as assassins and informants.
It's an interesting thought. Godhood – he mused. In Douluo Dalu everyone could become a God after reaching level 100 and claiming a God's position / creating their own. In this world the gods were born at the start of all creation.
I wonder which one of them is stronger. One being born as such, the others clawing their way to the top trough countless bloodshed and indomitable will.
"Please enjoy, sir" James handed him a glass of coke with a beautiful slice of lime. Picture-worthy he thought.
"Thanks." He said, returning to his thoughts.
If I start thinking about the difference between gods of different universes, I also need to think about the different energy that they use.
The energy that I alone use are already plentiful and there will be even more. I need to get a grasp on how to advance all of them to meaningful stages.
Soul Power - The energy of Douluo Dalu. An energy that mainly strengthens the body. It's not malleable in the sense of using it for a magical spell, but rather enhances the body and is only really usable outside of that in conjunction with a spirit ring.
Magical Energy – The energy that Alaric uses mainly here. It is quite diverse, but does not really strengthen the body in any form. It's use is strictly for external activation.
Mental Power – The energy that is used mainly by the mind. It helps retain memories, but can also be used as an attack point. The only real starting point that Alaric has here, are the few books about it in the library, which really didn't help much. And his knowledge about Occlumency and Legilimency in Harry Potter - which would be of no use right now.
He sipped the drink slowly. The lime cut through the syrupy taste just enough to make it sharp. Like clarity wrapped in comfort. His mind drifted again, no longer between gods or energies, but something else.
Spirit Rings. I have already reached level 10, but I don't really want to absorb any spirit ring, he mused.
His thoughts were that if he managed to master the energy of Soul Power, Magical Energy and Mental Power well enough in the first place, he could greatly increase the maximal age of the spirit rings.
And then he also didn't want to just absorb random spirit beasts spirit rings. No, he wanted to craft his own. In the future, when he had the ability to do so.
A guy like him who planned to achieve immortality would after all under no circumstances even think about absorbing some garbage that would make him regret it later on. It wasn't even funny to joke about for Alaric.
"Urgh, I will just continue to learn magic here until I'm old enough for Hogwarts. At that point my knowledge will expand by a giant step. The knowledge here, although probably more diverse – is way too unrefined compared to the theories of the Wizarding World." He thought, a little bit disappointed. The magic in this place was way older after all.
Over 10.000 years have passed since humans have first received the gift of magic in this world. Until the silver cities were established around 3.000 years ago, the magic knowledge of this world was constantly being lost, rediscovered and never really advanced as there was usually a master-disciple system in place. No schools or anything of the like.
And even then, the time since then has not really brought upon any great wonders in terms of technicality. The magic here was more basic, but looked more impressive simply because, the amount of magic that was present in the world was way larger. Quantity instead of quality.
Alaric took another sip and let the silence stretch. A warm breeze drifted across the open terrace, carrying with it the faint smell of burning incense from the street shrines. Probably a merchant praying to Elrath for fair trade. Or maybe to Ylath, asking for safe travels through the airways between the cities. The airships got shot down sometimes after all.But, he didn't really care.
His fingers drummed idly against the side of the glass.
"The problem," he muttered aloud, to no one in particular, "is that this place believes brute power replaces refinement. They think large mana reserves and dramatic effects make good magic."
James, currently tending a small magical kettle just to the side, chimed in.
"Would you like a biscuit, sir?"
"No, thanks," Alaric replied automatically, waving a hand.
He paused, staring into the distance.
"I wonder… if anyone has ever tried to combine system logic with a magical framework. Not stacking runes or circles. Actual code logic. IF/THEN parameters. Looping patterns."
The Vault twitched faintly at that thought.
Alaric blinked, then chuckled softly. "Of course you'd like that."
It made sense. The Vault didn't think in human terms. It responded to structure. To logic. To comprehension. Just like code. But the Silver Cities weren't there yet. Not even close. Most mages still treated magic like art mixed with science. Altough he treated it similarly, he thought further with things like engineering.
His eyes drifted toward the little notebook on the side table.
He reached for it lazily, flipping to the next blank page. He scribbled a few lines:
Project Idea: Integrated Spell Threads
Goal: Allow spell activation to carry layered conditional logic (ex: cast only if X = true).
Potential: Simplified automated enchantments? Smart summoning triggers?
He clicked his tongue in thought.
"Maybe one day I can install a watchdog protocol in James. Let him filter out irrelevant orders. Prioritize requests. Recognize danger."
A golem that learned through logic. Not AI. Not sentience. Just depth.
James returned to the recliner's side, silent and efficient. The perfect assistant. Exactly what Alaric had wanted. And yet—
"Sometimes I wonder if I'm making tools, or slowly creating people," he said.
James tilted his head, a preprogrammed gesture to indicate attention.
Alaric laughed once, short and dry.
"Don't worry. I won't give you a soul. At least not yet."
The wind picked up for a moment, fluttering the pages of the notebook. One of the diagrams shimmered faintly. Not with magic. With intention.
A glyph etched long ago on the edge of the page glowed softly — one from his early Vault studies. A comprehension rune.
"I guess that means you agree," Alaric muttered.
He leaned back again, watching as the sun finally dipped below the edge of Cael Varn, painting the clouds in rose and amber.
He still had a few years before Hogwarts. And in that time, he'd build.
Not just spells.
Not just constructs.
Systems.
Ideas given shape.
And maybe, just maybe, by the time he set foot in that castle, he would already stand far beyond what any first-year should be.
Not because of talent.
But because he prepared.
Because he understood.
Because he refused to waste a single drop of potential.
And that made all the difference.