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The embodiment of life and the passion of creation, the symbol of rebirth, and the nexus of all Psionic energy in the universe, the Phoenix Force herself, had apparently taken advantage of the tiny crack Harry made and crashed his kidnapping.

Orange and red flames spread through the plane, igniting the darkness and casting out the irregular forms it took.

The sky itself shook as the last vestiges of chaos burned away while shuddering out, "This isn't over."

The shimmering flames died down and gathered together into the form of a woman who stood before Harry. "We don't have much time Harry Potter. And there is much to discuss."

Harry said, "Didn't you beat him?"

She shook her head, "No, I've only driven him back. This is not the Nether Plane, but a corridor to the Nether Plane that exists within the Darkhold. He can never be beaten in his own realm but he can't drag others there from earth without consent. Chthon was trying to trick you into thinking you were in a hopeless situation so you were more likely to give in. You did remarkably well and I was able to use the fissure you made in the corridor to enter and purge its connection to Chthon, but only for a short time. During this time however I can freely speak with you as this corridor operates outside the rules of noninterference higher beings have with lower ones. I have been watching you use my gift Harry Potter and so far I like what I have seen."

"Your gift?" he asked.

"Yes. Myself, Death, Eternity, Infinity, and the Living Tribunal forged the aspects of this power for you. In doing so we granted you freedom to break fate and the ability to go against destiny. We have no opinions on how you use it and even if you burn the universe down, none of us will stop you, but I doubt you ever would without just cause."

Harry tried not to think about the fact that the Phoenix Force did in fact have the ability to burn down the universe if she chose to do so. And although this answered some questions, it also raised so many more.

She continued, "I'm telling you this for two reasons. First, you need to understand that any power that takes control of you can control the fate of the universe. That is why Chthon desires you. Second, I have a favor to ask."

"Um. Sure, what can I do for you?"

"Around the time you died, I encountered a young and powerful telepath on this world who tried connecting to the mind of a dying friend and in doing so almost died herself. Someone who values life should in turn be valued, so I saved her and granted her a connection to my power. In time she would have become an avatar of mine, but since then, that connection has been sealed. I want you to find her and break the seal."

Since there was much written about the Phoenix Force in Kamar-Taj's library, Harry asked, "As your Avatar, wouldn't she have to go around the galaxy burning away useless worlds?" One of the primary jobs of the Phoenix was to 'cut away' parts of the universe which would then 'regrow.' A world destroyed by the Phoenix would always have new life rise from it, no matter how trashy the planet was before. It was the nature of her power.

"Eventually, but not for a long time. You could just as easily do it for her once you have risen in strength or you could do together, it matters not which. Chthon was right about something Harry Potter, you are only aware of a fraction of your gifts. You are both Obscurus and Mutant in addition to the gifts you have been granted and until now you have only scratched the surface of your full abilities. Many of them however your subconscious has locked until your mind becomes stronger. In this I can assist you. Agree to my favor and I shall give you a small portion of my power, a seed you can use to grow a mind strong enough to control the powers you don't even know you possess."

Harry considered it but was hesitating.

The Phoenix Force noticed this and said, "My Avatar will not be controlled by me in any way. She will know what I know when accessing my power and understand what needs to be done, but it is by her own will alone that she may choose to do it. That however is only if the seal is released soon. If not, her mind may be crippled by the seal and she may end up controlled by others. I can assure you releasing the seal will not cause any harm to come to her, in fact it will prevent possible harm that may occur if the seal is not removed soon enough."

With that Harry had no more reason to refuse and said, "In that case, I would love to help."

The human form Phoenix Force held out her hand and a small flicker of orange flame appeared and floated over to Harry's chest. It entered him and he felt a small warmth spread throughout his body.

*Ping*

[Phoenix Flame Perk Acquired

Psionic Path has risen to Rank 10.]

The corridor shook and the Phoenix said, "We're out of time. You can't remove the Darkhold from your Inventory without help from inside your inventory, you need to find the Book of Vishanti."

Harry felt himself return to his body but shouted, "Wait, how will I find the girl?"

The Phoenix said, "My flames will guide you," before Harry woke up in his body.

He took a look at a clock and found it had been about a half hour since he saw it even though it felt like so much longer. Once Harry returned to his body, he felt the Darkhold within his inventory return to life and once more try to drag him into the Corridor. The darkness that tried to take him however was halted by the embers of the Phoenix flame left to him, but just barely. If he tried to actively browse through the Darkhold contents or if he tried to use Battle Meditation he would certainly be dragged back. And since he could barely peak at the contents of his inventory without seeing the Darkhold, that meant he couldn't access other books in his Inventory either.

Even if Harry left it alone, the constant subconscious allure the Darkhold had would eventually draw him back. He considered pausing to see if the Darkhold's connection to Chthon would still be there if time stopped but when he tried he found that the Pause feature was not working. Harry figured it might be similar to the fact that Harry's wizard magic didn't react well to frozen time and the Chaos energy connection the Darkhold to the Nether Realm may have had the same property.

Harry took a few deep breaths to calm himself. He found himself wishing that Memory magic had an effect on him but the best he could do was use Occlumency to store the memories of what happened as far from his mind as possible.

Harry tried to create a portal to the Ancient One's study but he found that he was unable to do so due to the Dimensional Energy in his Heart Palace fusing completely with his Exotic Energy. He could still use Exotic Energy on its own but he'd never be able to use just Dimensional Energy on its own again unless he purged the energy from his body which was ridiculously dangerous and would make things worse. Every action he once did with Dimensional Energy he would have to relearn to do with his new dimensional energy.

Harry decided to just apparate to the park in front of the London Branch of the Sanctum Sanctorum and ran inside as fast as he could. He noticed that the Ward didn't look very hard at him since much of his energy was now invisible but that was the only real benefit at the moment. He entered the building and ran to the portal to Kamar-Taj on the upper floor and from there ran to the Ancient One's room.

On arrival he found the Ancient One and Wong having a discussion. She was about to give him a reprimanding glare but from the fear she saw on his face she realized the situation was outside the ordinary.

She asked, "Bad news I suppose?"

Harry gave a half hearted smile and said, "Very."

Her eyes widened just a little in surprise as Harry's definition of very bad closely resembled her own. It meant potential news of the world ending variety.

She turned to Wong and said, "I am sorry but it seems this will have to wait."

Master Wong didn't question her and left for the door.

Harry cast several wizard spells which would ensure the conversation could not be eavesdropped through any means and said, "I'll tell you the whole story later but the Darkhold is currently inside my inventory and Chthon is trying to drag my spirit into it so he can control me. The Phoenix Force showed up and told me to get the Darkhold out I need the Book of Vishanti. I have no idea where it is and if I don't get this thing out, Chthon will use me to rule the universe."

The Ancient One shook her head and said, "I shall decide on your punishment later. Follow me, the Book of Vishanti is in our possession."

Harry felt a wave of relief over that fact but had to tense himself up right away as the Darkhold tried to use his lapse in concentration to drag in back once more. He really wasn't to last much longer at this rate.

The Ancient One led Harry to the portal Harry which linked Kamar-Taj to the New York Branch of the Sanctum Sanctorum and up two flights of stairs to where the Relics were usually kept. Harry saw several items he recognized and several he didn't. A strange hovering cloak waved at him from behind a class case.

The Ancient One said, "The Symbol of the Sanctum Sanctorm is in fact the Symbol of Vishanti so we prefer to always have his book on hand. How much do you know of it?"

Harry answered back, "Ultimate book of White magic. Zero attack spells. And pretty much the Anti Darkhold."

"And you are aware of the risks of using it?" she asked for confirmation.

"Yeah, it falls into the same category as using the names of others to cast spells. They won't mind you doing so as long as you use the power of their realms as they would, but doing so means you owe them a favor and if they come to collect, you can either do the favor or permanently strip your access to their realm."

This was the main reason the Heart Palace was so valued. If Harry spent three months connecting to, absorbing, and tuning himself to Dream energy, he could summon a mist which could put people to sleep. If a Sorcerer who knew the approximate feel of Dream Energy simply shouted that they were calling on the Mists of Morpheus, the Lord of the Dream Dimension, they could achieve the same result or perhaps an even stronger effect. However if Morpheus himself asked of them a favor, they would have to do so or face the consequences. Harry however was not bound by this as he didn't use the assistance of others to use magic, only his own power.

There were no free lunches in the universe. Even the Phoenix Force could only give him access to her power after he promised to do her a favor to balance things out.

If he used the Book of Vishanti however, there was a risk the Vishanti would call upon him in the future. However it was a risk worth taking. The Vishanti were the three backers of the Sanctum Sanctorum and freely gave the power of their spells for its Sorcerers in order for them to protect the earth. If they ever did call upon him for a favor, it shouldn't be a bad one at least.

They entered a room and the Ancient One closed and locked the door. She then called the Dark Energy within her to dominate the space and an empty area folded away, revealing a hidden space containing a pillar and the book. What was impressive about it was that before the Ancient One opened the folded space, even Harry couldn't feel the presence of the book.

She picked it up from the pillar and handed it to Harry. He took it and said, "I'm going to set this spot as my respawn point. If this doesn't work.. You know what to do."

The Ancient One nodded without difficulty. How to kill Harry should he ever need to be killed was something they had in fact gone over more than once. It was one of the requirements for her to fully trust him and give access to her private collection.

Harry placed the book into his inventory and felt his existence tremble. His spirit was being drawn in, but not by the Darkhold. Harry concentrated with everything he had and dived in. He hoped this wouldn't end badly.

When Harry's eyes opened in what seemed to be the next moment, he found that his hand had been placed on the Orb of Agamotto which the Ancient One seemed to have brought out. It was glowing the same pure white color it had before when he touched it two and a half years ago which had Harry let out a sigh of relief.

The Ancient One noticed his eyes opening and his own relief which caused her own tension to lessen just a bit. She asked, "How did it go?"

Harry placed his hand into his inventory and pulled out the Cook Book with a ribbon tied around it and a moment later he pulled out the Book of Vishanti. Harry said, "Better than I expected. What do you want to do with the Darkhold? Place it on the far side of the moon?"

She shook her head, "No, it might still be found by the people living there if we did that."

Harry still had no way to tell if she was being serious or sarcastic.

The Ancient One cut the ribbon of the cook book and opened it to reveal the hollowed out portion that contained the ancient black book authored by Chthon himself. After just a moment of hesitation she closed the book once more. Harry wouldn't comment on the fact that she checked to make sure it was actually there and not still in his inventory. The Darkhold was temptation personified and if she didn't check, she would always have a tiny doubt.

She said, "I recognize the material this cover is made of. It will only hide the Darkhold for a short while longer. If it is removed from Earth, Chthon will be able to act in order to retrieve it and return it to Earth since it is only on earth that he is restricted. There is nowhere it is truly safe."

Harry thought about it and remembered something Chthon himself did. Harry said, "What if we sent it into the future? And the person we sent it to could send it further into the future, and so on and so forth? Chthon told me he allowed it to be sent into the future in order to get it to me, so if he hasn't retracted that from what he allows of his book, couldn't we take advantage of it?"

The Ancient One gave a pensive moment of silence before stating, "The Darkhold is not just a force of evil, it is also a tool for balance. Complete removal from the timeline would throw off the balance, so that wouldn't work or would have consequences worse than the Darkhold itself."

Harry considered it and realized she was right. If there are five bad ways for something to happen and you prevent all five, a sixth bad way will appear. If they tried complete removal, something would probably happen and make it worse in order to correct the balance. Harry said, "Then we pass it to someone from the future who keeps it hidden in that time for a year and after a year passes it once more to the future."

Harry took a few items out of his inventory and said, "I have an idea."

It didn't take long for the Ancient One to catch on to his idea though she was surprised Harry had acquired so much mithril and adamantium. Although Harry was still a fledgling crafter compared to the makers of the relics stored in the Sanctums, he was already very skilled for a human. Harry used some straightforward crafting spells to make a simple Mithril-Adamantine alloy and shaped it into a cloth paired with a small tablet. He then wrapped the cloth around the Darkhold until it was completely bound and asked the Ancient One for two drops of her blood. She knew he couldn't use his own for this so she consented.

The blood acted as an encryption which paired the charms on the cloth to the charms on the tablet. Once the spell completed, the cloth-like alloy was no longer cloth-like and had become not only hard, but completely indestructible. The only way to remove the cloth was the tablet and the tablet could also be used to find the cloth no matter where it was. In other words, the tablet's existence could remain in the world, taking the place of the Darkhold so that if the forces of balance required someone to use the Darkhold, it could still be accessed.

A moment after the spell was completed, a purple portal opened up in the room and a tall, beautiful blond woman wearing strange armor and a massive glowing heavy sword on her back came through.

The Ancient One and Harry both readied themselves for combat until she lifted her hand and showed them a tablet identical to the one Harry had just created. She gave the room a glance before taking a long look at Harry. Faster than either could move, she ran over to him, scooped him up into a hug and shouted, "Oh my god you're so small and cute!"

The Ancient One cracked a smile and said, "You are from the future I assume?"

Without letting Harry down who didn't bother struggling she said, "Yup, Illyana Rasputin, current, or should I say, future, Sorceress Supreme. I beat little miss Stark for the position last year and it's already been a wild ride. It's a pleasure to meet you Ancient One." She fully showed how honored she was to meet her yet treated Harry like a stuffed doll she won at a carnival game.

The reason Harry wasn't bothering to struggle was because he was too busy getting shocked at the power of the woman. She didn't have a heart palace like himself and the Ancient One, yet she contained massive reserves of white, black, soul, psionic, and even death energy. And yet she carried it all without difficulty. This was a woman who could heal, purify, summon demons, fight with a sword, and use telekinesis and necromancy.

The Ancient One had already used a few spells to determine the same thing Harry had and was equally if not more shocked.

After getting her fill of hugs, the future Sorceress Supreme put him down and said, "Stay put for a moment, I want a picture." She then got out what seemed to be a mobile phone and with the sound of a shutter took several pictures of Harry and the Ancient One.

The Ancient One got over her shock just a little quicker than Harry did and asked, "Who was your teacher?" She took a long glance at her glowing heavy sword then gave a small, but noticeable glare at Harry who simply shrugged.

She said, "Well, I was taught by a few people but the one I considered my teacher was Ororo Munroe, two of them actually. Different versions of the same woman from different realities. And yes, Harry did teach me his Wave Sword Style. I didn't ask for my Soul Sword to be this gigantic."

She removed her sword and displayed several moves that Harry often used when wielding his Eldritch Heavy Sword which confirmed the story for the most part. She continued, "Stephen taught me a bit as well but we have different specialties so I didn't learn much of him."

The Ancient One perked up at this and asked, "Are you Dr. Strange's replacement?"

She shook her head for a moment, "No, he retired into marital bliss a few decades ago and Wiccan succeeded him. Wiccan however has been stretching himself pretty thin on a lot of projects so he wanted someone who could devote more time to the actual combat part of defending the earth to replace him and if you hadn't noticed already, I'm a badass."

The Ancient One gave a slight glance to Harry who was still analyzing the readings he was getting off the woman and said, "Perhaps you should not reveal so much of the days to come."

Illyana smiled and said, "Naw, I was told that you already have your life and death planned out and nothing anyone says will change it. Harry on the other hand can't be changed. He, and I'm quoting here, 'takes all information as both truth and fiction and acts accordingly and not at all.' So nothing I say will change anything Harry intends to do in the future because he'll take into account both the possibility I'm telling the truth and that I'm lying. For example." She turned to Harry and said, "One of your future wives will be responsible for the deaths of countless people."

Harry remains unphased at the accusation though the fact that she mentioned wives, as in plural, was surprising.

Illyana turned back to the Ancient One and said, "Now that I've told him that, he'll consider that I could be lying, but also that I could be telling the truth. However he won't take any action other than what he feels to be right which won't change. There have been attempts to travel back in time and direct Harry before but none of them have ever worked thanks to his stubbornness. And due to the creation of the Time Shield, no one has been able to travel back into the past without clearance so that isn't as big a problem as it used to be. I have clearance of course." She pulled out a badge Harry recognized as something that contained not only Time energy but Exotic energy, his Exotic energy.

She put it away and said, "Alright, last thing before I take the book." She took a card out of her wallet and said, "Harry, think of a number between one and ten."

Harry recognized the question as a specific contingency he had and thought of the number 'Three.'

She then said, "Banana," and showed the card to Harry which had a picture of a banana on it which caused Harry to smile. That was the correct response, his thinking the number three was to throw off mind readers.

Harry handed her the bound Darkhold which she took and said, "Oh yeah, there was one thing I did have to say. I was told I already said this, so it's a self fulfilling prophecy and yada yada. Harry needs to start practicing control over his mutant powers and complete his highschool education at an actual school. I was told the Ancient One knows the one I'm talking about and he should start in the fall semester."

The Ancient One rose her eyebrow slightly at this and Illyana took another look at Harry and said, "Remember, don't take over the world, eat all your vegetables, and place silencing charms around your room when having sex."

Harry blushed at that last statement and heard the shudder of a camera and the shout, "Yes! I got it!" before the blond jumped back into her portal which then vanished.

Once she left Harry said, "I am so gonna prank her when I see her next."

The Ancient One smiled at that. Harry had to remain silent as there were specific guidelines one had to follow when conversing with a time traveling you've met in the future. You could ignore those rules of course but there were usually consequences and Harry didn't feel like dealing with them.

Harry sat down and looked at the tablet he just made and had been surprised that the plan he came up with on the spot proved to work so quickly. The future Sorceress Supreme would have to hide the thing for a year and then someone with the tablet and their own security measures would find her and take the Darkhold from her. The Tablet could always track the Darkhold, even through time, which is why she was able to come directly to them moments after its creation.

The Ancient One said, "We shall discuss this another time. For now, please tell me what happened today."

Harry obliged. He told her about the cooking contest and the book which was mailed to him and then told her about being drawn into what he thought was the Nether Realm. He gave the details of Chthon's seduction attempt and offer and why he refused. He told her about the fight, the permanent fusion of several of his energy types with Exotic Energy and his idea to use his rage to do something outside of Chton's plans which unlocked his suppressed knowledge and Dragon Chi. He then told her the spell he used from the Grand Grimoire and its near failure and the Phoenix Force's arrival. And last, he told her about Phoenix Force's request which he agreed to.

The one thing Harry did not tell her was the relationship between Chaos Magic and Wizard Magic. The more who knew that, the worse it would be. It was only because he knew of their relation that he knew that wizard magic could be used to bind the Darkhold when other forms of magic would likely be destroyed by the Darkhold itself.

After thinking it over for a few moments the Ancient One said, "All things considered, you did well. Resisting Chthon's temptations and manipulations in his own territory, even if it wasn't his realm, is not something I have ever heard done before and I must admit I am impressed. Now, tell me what happened when you placed the Book of Vishanti in your inventory. It has been three hours since then and I doubt it was so simple as placing the Book of Vishanti and removing the Darkhold."

Harry nodded, "To be honest, I'm not entirely sure what happened. It seemed shortly after I placed it in, I was able to pause. I don't know what I did while paused. Afterwards, I unpaused and did some stuff I don't know and lastly, I took all the knowledge I gained from both the Darkhold and the Book of Vishanti and locked it in my subconscious along with the memories I had while sorting it which is why I can't really recall what I did. I can't actively use the information and I don't even know what I know, but it seems if needed, I'll become aware of specific pieces of information that I may need."

"But you once told me you could not forget things or alter your own memory."

Harry nodded, "Yeah, my Psionic Path Rank increased from 10 to 17 while paused so I'm pretty sure I must've used some of the practices of Occlumency using Psionics to rearrange my head in a way which allows it. Most of my head seems a lot less cluttered than it was before, that's for certain."

That meant that Harry had in fact memorized, likely the full content of both the Book of Vishanti and the Darkhold, but was keeping the knowledge from himself unless he needed something specific. The Ancient One would have been more worried about that had she not just seen proof of the future just a moment ago. She had never really been able to get over the fact that she couldn't see into Harry's future, but the fact that a future Sorcerer Supreme cared greatly for him removed the last shred of doubt she had for Harry Potter. That and the fact that Harry had been able to resist the temptation of Chthon himself, something she doubted she herself could do was impressive. And that was even knowing how terrible of a being Chthon truly was.

Both Harry and the Ancient One knew that Chthon could not be trusted. For example even if Harry had accepted Chthon's offer, he likely would have been corrupted by 'her' and though Chthon promised not to personal take lives or cause the death of humans, Harry under 'her' control would not be limited by that promise and if he gave himself to 'her,' killing everyone for Chthon would be perfectly reasonable for Harry.

That however was only obvious in hindsight, thinking of it at the time would be close to impossible.

The Ancient One said, "Although it is not entirely your fault, you must still be punished for dropping your vigilance. Recently, there have been a few requests from some of the younger acolytes and I want you to take care of it."

"What kind of requests."

The Ancient One shook her head with a sigh, "They are requesting we install Wifi in Kamar-Taj and the Sanctums."

Since Harry was assigned the task of Wifi installation, he decided to do it with vigor. He did own several companies after all and knew a thing or two about electronics. Harry paid for the construction needed to have a dedicated fiber optics line installed from the nearest hub in Tibet directly to Kamar-Taj. For interior aesthetics to not be compromised he kept the lines out of sight by using transmutation spells to create openings in the walls to run Ethernet and Coaxial lines. And last, he set up a server room with the most advanced computers available personally built and engraved by him to protect against magic, wear, tear, and even technopathic hacking. The latter he had been looking into as it was considered a form of Sorcery that used electromagnetic energy rather than nature or dimensional energy.

Maybe he was going overboard, but he wanted to do it right.

The server room would host a Website that included a large amount of basic Arcane knowledge that Harry spent a month personally writing into the various web pages of the site. It wasn't knowledge on how to cast spells of course, but it did include very broad safety and awareness tips on magic and sorcery in general and also included direct definitions of Wizard, Witch, Sorcerer, Chi Wizard, Warlock, etc. Technically this was a breach of the International Statute of Secrecy, but the website itself gave the feel of Occult and never mentioned that such people were alive and still active. For example, it stated that Wizards in general preferred to live with other Wizards and strange things would happen when they were upset. The Website clearly stated that Wizards haven't been seen for centuries though it did hint that may have just been because they didn't want to be seen and if you did see one to ignore them unless you wanted to experience life as a frog as they disliked being bothered.

To make the site feel less real and more commercial, Harry included Advertising links to specific Companies he set up which sold Wizard and Witch paraphernalia such as replicas of wizard robes and different types of fake wands. He did so with several other companies, both ones he owned and third party ones. None of them actually sold real magical items though, only things which looked magical.

The largest section of the website included classifications on demons, demon sorcerers, magical creatures, and magic in general and gave simple ways to protect yourself if encountered any of them. Some of this knowledge came from Kamar-Taj's library which included Egypt's Golden Book of Life while other pieces of knowledge were taken directly from the Grand Grimoire, the Book of Vishanti, and even the Darkhold. Whenever Harry needed information and such information happened to be inside the Darkhold, he would become aware of it. This however only worked if he didn't think to look specifically in the Darkhold for it so it could only be accessed indirectly when a related subject came up. The Darkhold did in fact include a few means one could use to protect oneself from the darker side of magic, but those were actually used as parts of larger, darker rituals and spells which Harry couldn't consciously recall. Specific shapes and symbols could make demons uncomfortable even without active magic so Harry had a few jewelry and cheap trinket making companies make some things and placed Ads for them on the website.

Harry wasn't sure if it would work, but he also placed a powerful variant of the Notice-Me-Not charm on the servers which held the information. It was almost permanent and had no effect against people looking for specific knowledge within the site. What it should accomplish however was the prevention of people not looking for it from finding it. Anyone not looking for information contained within the site wasn't likely to notice its existence.

*Ping*

[Scholar Path has risen to Rank 42]

The moment Harry finished and launched the website he got his first Scholar Path Rank up this year. It hadn't increased since Harry learned a different Dimension's version of Block Transfer Computation and even trying to make his own hadn't gotten another Rank out of it. Harry knew the higher the path increased the harder it would be to increase further but this was getting ridiculous. It seemed that his website counted as a lesson taught to the whole of the world which was why he finally was able to increase it a rank. That made Harry wonder about his other paths so he brought up his stats.

[Harry Potter

Level 190 Age 14

STR 275 AGI 310

INT 415 WIS 400

LUK 20

Warrior Path Rank 26

Scholar Path Rank 42

Magic Path Rank 38

Tech Path Rank 28

Business Path Rank 16

Crafting Path Rank 17

Dragon Path Rank 5

Psionic Path Rank 17]

Looking at the new Psionic Path, Harry really did wonder how much time he must have spent Paused, working on his own mind for it to jump seven ranks. When he looked back into his mind he found there was literally nothing more he could do with it so he probably went all the way to the limit of internal Psionics. The funny thing was that Harry didn't actually block people from entering his mind, he simply did a ridiculous amount of complex things to make it very dangerous and unproductive to do so.

Psionics as a Path was different from magic. Magic was basically the manipulation of energies either found or created. Psionics was the power of the mind and was rounded off into three skill sets. Telepathy, Telekinesis, and Astral creation which were basically mind over mind, mind over matter, and mind over existence respectively. Harry's Battle meditation allowed him to take an astral form without a talent in Psionics but that was likely a part of the power gifted by the Phoenix Force. Astral creation itself was the field of using the mind to create mental or physical effects within astral or physical space.

There was some overlap of course as many abilities could be generated by either Magic or Psionics. Pyrokinesis for example could either be considered a Psionic Power or a Magic Power depending on the source of the fire. If someone generated the fire, it would likely be a magic based power but that person would not be able to generate infinite amounts or control fire not created through their magic. Their fire however would be very difficult to extinguish as it was a part of them. If they could not generate it but could control it, then it would be classified as a Psionic Power and the user would likely be able to control far higher volumes of fire as they wouldn't need to waste energy creating it as fire was something that could create itself if controlled right. However the fire would have the properties of normal fire and could be put out in the same manner.

After a bit of practicing, it didn't take much effort for Harry to figure out how to read minds since he had practice with Occlumency and Legilimency so it was just different tricks to achieve the same goal. Telekinesis was also pretty simple though he could only move things in general directions. Just like Magic, Psionics was a skill set that was powered by INT and WIS so this path came very easily to Harry thanks to the Phoenix Force opening the door for him.

His new Perk, the Phoenix Flames he acquired had two effects. First, it acted as a multiplier for the speed he could Rank up his Psionic Path. Second, it allowed him to use the Phoenix Flames skill which was an application of Telekinesis, Telepathy, and Astral Creation at the same time. It could burn matter, mind, and the soul, but the energy it left behind would return to the earth and express itself as new life. This also meant Harry couldn't absorb the energy of anything he killed with it for Experience and Levels. Though his use of it was very weak at the moment and far weaker than his magic due to the different in path levels.

As for his magic, he had been making some progress in creating new spells for his Strength and Dimensional energy which had fully fused into his Exotic energy. The Heart Palace technique basically accumulated a small portion of energy within the body and tuned it to the life and soul of the user making it a part of them. The user could then use that tuned energy to channel and control external sources of the same energy by first channeling it through their body. It was still the same Dimensional energy he was absorbing, but the part of him that directed it was now saturated with Exotic energy. Not only that, any Dimensional energy he used his body to channel would combine with the Exotic energy he naturally created due to the effect of the already fused Dimension energy directing it through his body.

The only way he could return to using Dimensional energy on its own again would be to purge his body and heart palace of the Dimensional energy. However, he only got it into his Heart Palace by imaging it as a part of him. If he rejected it, he would never be able to think of it as a part of him again so he would lose everything and be unable to ever regain it. There wasn't a single merit in doing so of course.

Strength energy fused with Exotic energy wasn't difficult to find some applications for. It was easy to use to directly strengthen the body but using a few new spells he hashed out could now allow him to create a Magic Shield using Strength energy even stronger than Dimensional energy shields. Exotic energy magic shields were only designed to block magic and were actually very good at it but were nearly useless against guns. Dimensional energy shields were like hardened glass planes and could stop a few rounds of bullets in addition to magic but nothing that high powered. His new shield though was far stronger than any previous shield he could use. His next step was to see if he could charge an item with this shield and give it to others.

Harry could still use constructs of Dimensional energy and use Dimensional energy to strengthen and move his body, but doing so used far more energy than it used to. However, he had figured out a way to charge his constructs with spells. For example, he could create a Bo Staff or whip that inflicted the Stunner Spell on contact or a Sword that used the Severing charm every time he swung it. He still hadn't figured out a way to create portals with his Exotic energy saturated Dimensional energy but he'd live without it for now since he could create and use Portkeys and Apparate long distances and even fly in his Animagus form.

His Anti Magic suffered the hardest though. He had a dozen Anti Magic Spells he had gotten quite good at but now he was reduced to the one and lucky to even have that. Anti Magic was a very difficult type of energy to reign in and control after all.

One thing he was truly thankful for was that although his Sorcerer magics contained Exotic energy, it didn't radiate out from the spell itself like his wizard magic did. This meant he wouldn't have to hold himself back from using it in tech filled areas. What was even better, was that unlike his wizard magic which couldn't be used while he was suppressing it to prevent all tech around him from crashing, his fused magics could be used while suppressing his Exotic energy emissions.

Not long after Harry finished installing Wifi and setting up the Website he dubbed Mystic Knowledge .com, the Ancient One called him in for a meeting.

She made the tea this time and once he sat down the Ancient One said, "I intended to bring this up with you regardless, but as Ms. Rasputin has recommended it, we can discuss it now. I'm sure you are aware of this, but you have reached the Rank of Master long ago. Usually at this point those who remain in Kamar-Taj start teaching others and start fighting in the front lines in the fight to defend the earth. Now however your Dimensional energy can no longer be felt by others who have mastered it which will draw suspicion if you continue to stay. In either case, the time for you to move on has come and Ms. Rasputin's suggestion was something I already considered. In New York there is a school called Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. It is High School level boarding school, and much like your previous one, it is not what it appears to be. It is in fact a place where young mutants can go to learn and train with their abilities. Enrolling you in the fall semester three months from now would give you time to adjust your new magics and prepare yourself. I understand you wish to continue your education as well."

Harry answered, "Yeah, the Goblins told me the cover I paid them to make won't hold up under intense scrutiny. I can get into a normal college well enough but a major one won't accept me."

The Ancient One nodded, "The Xavier Institute houses some of the finest minds on the planet. You will likely gain more there than you would at any other institute of higher education."

Harry asked, "But what am I going to say about my mutant ability? You I trust. I can't however just inform others who have not earned my trust about my abilities and many of them tend to stand out."

"Yes and I agree with you. It will do no good for the true nature of your mutation to get out as it would draw too much attention. The aspect of your gift that shields you from distant eyes and the eyes of those looking into the future will not stop others from looking at you should you stand out in the present. I believe we should choose a single aspect of your abilities and allow others to take that as your mutant ability."

"Umm. Which one?" Harry was essentially immortal, strong, fast, could use magic, mind arts, and immortal dragon chi. There was also his inventory, his crafting, and his overall intellect as well as his vast repository of knowledge and his inhuman learning speed.

"I can think of three options." She started listing. "You can walk the path of physical prowess and claim a dragon-like body as your mutant ability. You can use this as an opportunity to train your Dragon Chi while pretending that your healing ability and increased stats are all a part of your mutation. This would be the easiest to display and safest overall. No matter how strong, people tend to overlook the physical types so although you'd be standing out, it would not be as dangerous as standing out for your other abilities."

Harry nodded and thought it was definitely worth considering. His Immortal Dragon Chi and his Dragon Path were both things he had not been devoting enough time to practice even though their potential was in fact just as high as magic itself.

"Next, you can claim minor energy manipulation with a specialization in setting energy into objects. In other words an enchanter type power. This would be the most difficult as you would have to hide all your other abilities, but it would also allow you to continue your research and practice into relic creation."

Harry did want to continue his crafting and although he could continue solo, what he really wanted was a genius or two to bounce ideas off. There were likely a lot of things he was over looking just because he was looking at too large a picture and a new perspective could do wonders.

"And finally, you can claim your inventory and the abilities that come with it as your mutation. This would allow you to continue accumulating knowledge and give you the most versatility overall."

Harry said, "Isn't my inventory the most dangerous ability to show off?" Other things were basically power ups but an infinite, timeless inventory he could perfectly analyse anything contained within was a game changer at another level. If someone had some super secret data on a password encrypted hard-drive, Harry could place it in his inventory and directly read the very code off the drive, encrypted or not. If the encryption wasn't strong enough, he could learn the contents through guesswork. That however was not the scary part. Most computers had means to determine if someone has tried to access them. Those means wouldn't work against Harry's inventory. And that was just the advanced application. Undetectable smuggling of any size, the ability to steal anything from anywhere and get away with it, preservation and transportation of unstable limited shelf life products, and a hundred other things.

The Ancient One said, "Only if its full abilities were displayed. For example you can tell others you can only store things for a limited time or that you can only store up to a limited weight. You could claim to only be capable of storing pure and simple items or claim that the more complex something is, the less time it can be stored."

Harry realized the Ancient One had likely spent a long time thinking this over. He said, "Give me some time to think about it."

Harry headed over to a station of set up computers for Kamar-Taj and searched for info on Xavier's Institute. The search itself brought up far more on the man himself than his institute and his past work. First and foremost he was a Doctor. And unlike a certain honorary Doctor, Xavier had in fact written and published four dissertations that were reviewed and accepted by his peers with one of them being, 'Human Genetics and Mutation.' Harry had to hold back a laugh at that because this man was almost as subtle as Harry himself who just wrote a website on Magic 101 and signed his name at the bottom. Thankfully there were more Harry Potters in the world than there were Charles Xaviers so he could hide in plain sight as long he didn't openly admit to anything.

After doing his initial search, he started a deeper one. Although Harry hadn't figured out technopathy yet, he was still a hacker using an advanced computer he built using magic so there wasn't much he couldn't get if needed. The problem wasn't accessing it, the problem was making sure the places he accessed it from didn't track it back to him. That problem however was solved with a box that worked off quantum entanglement he called the remote hack box. He replicated the effect of quantum entanglement using magic and any information in one box would show in the other regardless of distance and in real time. This meant he could place the box in a New York Library and plug it into the phone line. When he was done hacking, a portkey within the box would trigger to teleport it to a set location where he could retrieve it later.

Harry still wasn't able to get much without drawing too much attention that someone was even looking, but he was able to get some info about the X-Men. From what Harry could tell, they were similar to Aurors for the Wizarding World. They were led by Xavier and dispatched during conflicts to mediate or deal with issues caused by mutants as quietly as possible in order to prevent the public opinion on mutants from taking a nosedive and to help others in general.

According to some records in Kamar-Taj, mutants have been around for thousands of years if not longer. What was interesting was that there were periods where mutant births peaked and periods where almost no mutants were born at all. However those times when mutants peaked always seemed to be followed by danger for the world itself. There was one record he found that showed a large period of mutant birth during the time of ancient Egypt and the records also showed some alien bug like swarm attempted an invasion during that period which was defeated by the power of the mutants during those times. Had those mutants not been born, Harry couldn't see any reasonable way for the people of the time to hold back an alien invasion, much less actually defeat it.

Harry wondered if he should make another website but decided against it for now. Unlike magic, mutants were an issue with a high level of exposure and he wasn't ready to show his name off to the world just yet. The magic website was to provide a base layer that could be built on by the world over time. People fear what they don't understand but if they think they know about it or at least know they have access to information about it they are less likely to do stupid things regarding it. Since Harry knew about technology, he knew that the Wizarding world would not stay hidden forever. The website was the first step in a long term assimilation plan. One day in the future the concept of magic will become commonplace and at that time, when the world discovers the hidden Wizarding world, Harry doubted it would even make front page news.

When he went back to the files on the X-Men, what stood out most was the so-called code names. Storm, Wolverine, Beast, Colossus, Angel. Everyone had a code name, even Xavier was called Professor X. None of the files had descriptions and even though Charles' file was the largest, they weren't even sure he was a confirmed mutant.

While considering the code names, Harry thought back to the options the Ancient One gave him. If he went the first path, he'd likely be called Dragon or something. The second path would probably make people call him Enchanter which of course shot the idea down completely. As for the last option, what would they call him? Backpack? Storage? Inventory? Not exactly the best power to be named after.

Of course Harry had more than just those options. The Ancient One was brilliant but her imagination was not as colorful as Harry's. The main problem with his inventory wasn't the ability to place things in but the ability to take them out. If lying was an option, he could just tell people he can't take out or place certain things into his inventory. Maybe something like he could only place things that were natural or something. In that sense, he could combine the Ancient One's ideas if he claimed adding certain things to his inventory granted him certain capabilities.

Maybe something like this: Harry Potter, mutant power, Assimilation. Can absorb and temporarily gain the attributes of things he has absorbed to increase his strength and durability, and maybe other things. He could claim different abilities depending on the different things he 'absorbed.' In that case, for all the things he could do, he'd probably be called Swiss Army Man.

For some reason, that term made him shudder as if he was recalling a particularly traumatic memory he wanted to forget. Ok, no Swiss Army Man.

With this description, he could even claim if he absorbed certain things, he could heal which would explain his healing if injured.

And as long as people thought his powers were limited by what he 'absorbed,' and could only be used if he 'absorbed' something, he could catch them off guard if they tried to take advantage of his 'weakness.'

Harry returned to the Ancient One and told her his idea. She approved of the premise and added in her own thoughts. They decided that Harry's limit was that he could only absorb food, books, and pure metals. Absorbed food would grant Harry the ability to heal and absorbed pure metals would increase his strength, durability, and speed. Books he absorbed would have their knowledge accessible for a few days and forgotten if not gone over repeated. They decided for now at least, to completely hold back on revealing his magic, psonics, or anything else.

Harry spent the next few months preparing for the next part of his life. He sent a letter to Hermione that he was going to finish high school in New York and she sent back that he should get a cell phone and give her his number. She already had one and used what she learned from Harry to make it work around magic so she could keep in contact with her family while in school. Harry didn't have a cell phone because, one, he didn't need it as no one he kept in contact with until now had one. Two, he could teleport so if he wanted to speak with someone he could just do it face to face. And three, Apparition would still fry a cellphone since the magic resistance only renders it safe from ambient magic. Hermione didn't know that as she wouldn't be learning Apparition for a few more years.

He thought of just getting one when he arrived but that meant calling or receiving calls from Hermione would be an international charge, so figured he'd just place a remote hack box at his London house, plug a phone line into it, and plug a phone wherever he was at into a paired one and use that. If he set up a phone number there, she'd be able to call it and it would redirect it to where he set up the other one. Was using high end physics and advanced quantum magic to get around long distance charges excessive? Naw.

Harry also informed the Goblins he was moving overseas and asked them to expand their joint business interests in the New York area. The main Gringotts branch in the United States was in Boston but there was a sub branch in New York they could use a few means to take over and spread out from. Most businesses were basically using money to make more money and the fact that Harry had metric tons of gold for capital and was willing to invest slowly meant his coffers were usually increasing rather than decreasing.

The Goblins asked if his move to New York would be permanent and Harry decided it might as well be. He would likely be making more friends in New York than he had in Britain and since there was a New York Sanctum Sanctorum Harry could use if needed, it was about as good a place to settle down as he was going to find. Besides, Snowy Owls were not uncommon that far north so he could fly around almost whenever he wanted.

They used their contacts to arrange for his muggle identity to get U.S. citizenship and set all the papers and files in motion. Harry had visited Gringotts two or three times a year for the last three years to update their computers and make sure they knew how to use the latest systems. Thanks to that, the Goblins of Gringotts were already some of the wealthiest Goblins in the world and they made no effort to hide that fact from other Goblins.

It wouldn't be much longer until P&G, Bank and Trust made its move to enter the larger world of business, but for now, they were still waiting. A foundation was not something that could be rushed. Rather than devote all their funds to a single field, they had been testing the waters and getting familiar with the various markets and how well they could be done using Goblin and Wizard magic.

The only pain in the butt was that since he was using his actual identity to run the company, he had to do the taxes in his name so people could indirectly find him if they put a lot of effort into it, though the best he'd let them do was find an untraceable phone number and P.O. Box for his mail. And since he was doing it the legal way, Britain would be heavily taxing the funds he transferred across the Atlantic and the US would then tax him every year for all the funds he possessed. However these were required if he wanted to set himself up legitimately in the future so he gritted his teeth and crossed his Ts and dotted his Is while signing all the paperwork the Goblins sent him with a Portkey Box he set up.

On the magic side of things during the final months, Harry decided to fully merge his other forms of magic directly into his Exotic energy. Doing so would make them harder to use, but would render them invisible. Although those who could sense energy were very few and far between, he still didn't want to head into the larger world with a giant, traceable energy signature. In addition to that, Harry didn't bother sleeping outside of the need to recharge for several months and was able to use his training during that time to add the energies of Ickthalon's and Balthakk's realm to his Heart Palace and fuse them with Exotic energy as well. Ickthalon's realm contained endless ice and cold energy and Balthakk's contained heat and light energy. The only energies he lacked compared to the spell repertoire of a standard master was Morpheus' dream energy, Faltine's mystic flames, and Farallah's hunter energy. Of course the other masters had to call out the names of the Lords of those realms to use all those types of energy for magic. Harry didn't.

The Mystic Flames of the Faltine was actually one of the strongest spells a Sorcerer could cast but it was nearly impossible to use the energy without invoking the name of the Faltines. That was because they were god-like existences of pure energy who were synchronized to the energy their realm contained and didn't like thieves. Harry didn't want to use any invocation magic and since his Phoenix Flames were just above the Faltine's flames, he decided to skip them. He also realized at some point he'd likely never be able to get any Dream energy from Morpheus' realm since he didn't like people visiting unless they were asleep and Harry didn't dream so he couldn't use Battle meditation on his energy to gather enough to set and tune through his Heart Palace. Farallah's energy was unique in that it was used to cast hunting, tracking, and trapping spells, but the energy level was very high, in the level 240+ range and Harry wasn't going to try and use it for Battle Meditation anytime soon.

And lastly, Harry had also been advancing his Wizard Magic. It seemed parts of his subconscious that had gone over the Darkhold and the nature of Chaos energy had decided he should put more of himself into his magic. One of the main differences between the Chaos energy Harry sensed from Chthon and his own was uniformity. Chaos energy was, unsurprisingly, Chaotic and nonuniform. Wizard energy however had properties that matched the Wizard who cast it so the more of himself he put into his magic, the more controllable it would become.

One reason Harry could never cast the unforgivables was because it required something he just didn't have. In order to cast the Killing Curse, one had to truly hate something and want it dead. Harry couldn't even hate Voldemort or the monsters he'd learned about in the world of business enough to want them dead. In order to cast the Imperius Curse or the Cruciatus Curse one had to truly want someone to suffer or truly want to control someone. Harry certainly enjoyed pranking, but his pranks were more geared towards allowing others who deserved it to make themselves suffer. And Harry didn't mind directing people as a teacher, but that was only after giving options. Directly controlling or only allowing someone to travel a path he decided for them was something he could never do.

Harry likely couldn't build enough emotion to cast those if he tried. The negative emotion suppression of his ability would hamper it. And even when that suppression wasn't there like when he faced Chthon, he still didn't think he could feel them. Anger was easy. Anger is natural. Hatred however was not something he could do. Harry didn't even hate Chthon or Voldemort. Harry didn't agree with them but they had their reasons for what they did, even if the reasons of the latter were stupid and the reasons of the former selfish.

Rather than make his magic more chaotic, he was making it more controllable using hints his subconscious figured out from reading the Darkhold. He was hoping this would eventually allow him to lesson the destructive nature of his Exotic energy against things like electronics and computers.

Before leaving, Harry said goodbye to the masters who trained him and told them he was going to complete his schooling in New York and they could call if they needed anything. None of them knew Harry's strength matched their own when they were using Invocation magic so they didn't feel anything was wrong with a child finishing his education. They did little more than wish him well as most were men of few words save Wong who told him to continue his studies and Mordo who told him to return when he was eighteen so they could make sure he hadn't gotten rusty.

The Ancient One was given a cell phone with Harry's number so there wasn't a need to say goodbye and after packing up and returning his monk's robes he headed for the London Sanctum. He had already arranged with the Ancient One for a new Wizard Section of the Library to be added in two months so they would not connect it to him and they would be provided the means and coins needed to enter and use the resources of the Wizard world as they wished. He also hoped one of the younger acolytes he showed the website too would take up the duties of monitoring the forum so they could use it to find evidence of threats to the realm sooner than before.

Next he visited Mr. and Ms. Black and their daughter, his goddaughter, Virgo Amelia Black. Being named after a constellation and a goddess of justice was appropriate considering her parents and also taking her parents and godfather into consideration there was a distinct possibility she may in fact die a virgin, the other meaning of her name. The Lord of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black and the former head of the DMLE staring down any would be boyfriends would see to that.

Harry had long since met Remus Lupin but as he was already an independent, pseudo adult, there wasn't much room for him in his life so they were simply acquaintances. When thinking about Remus, a piece of knowledge from the Darkhold appeared in his mind. His parents had of course told him about their friend's furry little problem and it turns out the Darkhold was responsible for the creation of both werewolves and vampires. However the means to permanently cure them that was contained within the Darkhold was a trap. It seemed Harry's subconscious had cross-referenced the details of the purification ritual from the Darkhold with cleansing rituals from the Book of Vishanti and found that the former rituals were completely lacking in safety and warning messages. There were too many ways it could go wrong and Harry doubted there was a way to perfectly use the ritual. Perhaps it would be useful for reference when finding an actual cure, but the Darkhold was not going to directly help solve a problem it caused. That was like studying a match to figure out how to stop a raging forest fire. A majority of the nice things inside the Darkhold were either traps or temptations to draw the reader deeper into the Darkhold to corrupt them to doing something terrible later.

Harry visited a few locations in London with an ID card to personally turn in some papers and sign some forms for his immigration to the U.S. He'd buy a ticket to the U.S. when finished so there was a physical trail people could follow if they decided to look that proved Harry Potter went to New York by airplane. Harry now knew a thing or two about tracking people so he wanted to make sure those looking at him didn't see anything that far out of the ordinary.

The following day, Harry took a plane to New York. The plane wouldn't be comfortable for Goose so he'd use magic to get his Flerken later after suffering the ten hour flight by himself. Harry wondered how much trouble he could get himself in living in New York. For some reason this thought brought a smile to his face.

New York was a place Harry liked to visit through the Sanctum Sanctorum branch here so Harry knew a thing or two about the area before leaving the airport. Kamar-Taj also had some masters who left the Sanctum living there who occasionally shared their homes with guests. Harry asked first and got permission from one of them to use his address as a temporary place of residence. On paper anyways. The Immigrations Office wouldn't just let someone come over without evidence they had a place to stay. There were other things Harry could have done of course but that would have brought attention to his vast wealth so he now had a place of residence he would only visit to give a thank you gift later.

Now Harry just had to figure out how to apply for a place that only sends invites. According to the Ancient One, Charles Xavier was a telepath and had a machine which amplified the range of his Clairvoyance. Clairvoyance itself was a Psionic skill that fell under both Telepathy and Astral Creation but it was also something that didn't work on Harry along with Precognition. Harry was rendered invisible to any paranatural means that allowed Farsight or Future Viewing.

This of course meant Xavier had no idea he existed even though Harry was in fact a very powerful mutant. The Ancient One stated that Xavier's machine allowed him to use the Astral Plane to visit nearly any location on earth, though he would only be able to sense the minds at those locations, not the content of the location unless he borrowed the senses of those he visited. She never approached him but did observe his passing a few times through the Astral Plane though he did not notice her. That is how she learned of him in the first place.

There were three approaches he could think of for first contact. One, he could catch a cab to the school and knock on the front door. Two, he could call ahead and ask for an appointment or meeting. Three, he could make a scene and have them come to him. Maybe he could do all three? Walk up to the Institute, yell profanities, and when they came out he could overcharge his flesh with energy and violently explode in front of everyone. Naw, pranks like that couldn't be pulled on the first day. First week on the other hand...

Harry had already decided to tell others his mutant power allowed him to temporarily increase his stats when he 'absorbed' metals, heal when he 'absorbed' food, and allowed him to memorize the contents of books for a few days when he 'absorbed' a book. Although it would limit him, it was the safest option for the long term and he decided that under no circumstance should he show off his magic.

*Ping*

[New Quest: Get Drafted with Style

-Go to the marked location and display abilities. Will become visible to nearby clairvoyant: Charles Xavier.

-Display use of magic and psionics to X-Men who arrive to meet you.

-Get recruited into the X-Men.]

Harry sighed and thought to himself, 'so much for that plan.'

After getting the quest pop up, Harry went over to a nearby Hotel Lobby and asked permission to use the phone to make a local call which they allowed. He went over the phone and removed the Hack box from his backpack and plugged the lobby phone's cord into it and made a call.

[Hello Harry, I wasn't expecting a call so soon.] The Ancient One seemed more than a little amused.

"Yeah yeah laugh it up. I got a quest to show off my magic and psionics and wanted your opinion."

[I see. We've discussed this before, but in all likelihood, your Quests are generated by the power of the Living Tribunal. There has yet to be a quest with negative consequences for completing it.]

"Yeah, only negative consequences for failing it. You think there might be a reason I need to show off my skills in the future?"

[From previous experience, that does seem more likely than less likely. However, did the quest say to show off your magic and psionics, or your full range of abilities?]

"It said, 'Display use of magic and psionics to X-Men who arrive to meet you.' So the former."

[Interesting. If I had to guess, a choice Charles Xavier will make in the future will be different depending on his knowledge, or lack of knowledge of the existence of magic or your psionic talents. Possibly both. If it is the power of the Living Tribunal that suggests informing him now, I would recommend doing so. Therefore, it would be prudent to ensure he knows at least most of what you are capable of. However, I do have a suggestion for how to keep with the original plan while displaying magic and psionics.]

"Please impart your wisdom to this lesser being oh great Ancient One."

[For that alone I should hang up on you and allow you the chance to grow by solving your own problems.]

"That is cruel and unusual and you know it as well as I."

[Indeed. Very well. Several of the companies you own that make jewelry use synthetic gemstones correct?]

"Yeah. Turns out the magic properties of some gems are even better when synthetic because they can be made 100% pure. Use them with the right symbols and talismans in jewelry and they can work as weak protection amulets even without a magic user charging them."

[Excellent, here is the plan.]

Harry had to cast a few discreet low power wizard spells during the call to prevent people from telling him to get lost after the call reached a half hour in length. Nothing nearby seemed affected though the phone may need to be replaced later. Thankfully it didn't seem like anyone really needed it as the lobby had a second phone line across the hall.

The Ancient One's plan was basically to get some large gemstones and have Harry claim the ability to use certain energies when certain gemstones were 'absorbed.' Like the ability to use Strength energy spells after absorbing a ruby, use Dimensional energy spells after absorbing a diamond, ect. He would also display his ability to sense energy. This however meant he would have to walk around with giant rubies and diamonds which was kinda tacky. He'd had to make them big too so people didn't think it could use magic with tiny ones, about the size of an egg would do. First he would need to reorganize a few things to make sure he had a visible means of acquiring such gems which meant he had to contact the Goblins. However one considered a few things, he decided this might be an opportunity.

At the moment, there wasn't any big company that made large amounts of synthetic gems of large size because there wasn't a need or market for one. However gemstones had far more uses than just jewelry. There were hundreds of uses for various gemstones in engineering and they only used synthetic stones. Harry however knew thousands of applications for gemstones. He had analyzed the Mandarin's alien tech and the Doctor's future tech. He knew that there was more to electronics and technology than copper, iron, and silicon. Almost all technology relied on properties of electromagnetic energy whether it be electricity, radio waves, or even colored light. However Harry knew about other forms of energy and knew the means to harness them. He knew properties of gemstones and certain materials that no one else on earth knew about.

Harry decided his first move into the direction of tech he was considering was to create a large company that mass produced synthetic gemstones of various shapes and sizes. Most of these would have commercial engineering applications and sold at the proper price, but the point was to find and get settled into a niche. Harry knew both mundane and magical ways to create gemstones and so did the Goblins.

After getting out a stack of papers and his portkey box from his inventory, Harry wrote down his intentions and plans for the future. Once the company had visible mundane means to create large amounts of synthetic gemstones, Harry would introduce the Goblins to the concept of the sonic screwdriver. Harry certainly couldn't build one at the moment, but he could create a massive machine that could do a few things a sonic screwdriver could do, like alter the properties of some materials without magic. Harry knew that some technologies required materials with properties that simply didn't exist yet. However if he used an imitation sonic screwdriver, even if it could only affect gemstones, Harry could alter the properties of some gemstones to get materials which had the properties needed to create highly advanced technology.

And that was just the long term benefit. By saturating the market with synthetic gemstones, those who measure their wealth in gemstones will find themselves poorer while those who don't measure their wealth in gemstones will be richer by comparison. Thus was business.

*Ping*

[Business Path has risen to rank 17]

Harry smiled at the pop up. That was a good sign.

In order to prepare his dastardly plan for the X-Men, Harry used magic to create three chicken egg sized gemstones of four different types and put each in a pouch Harry strapped to his belt. He used a Notice-Me-Not spell on the pouches so a pickpocket with a knife wouldn't pay enough attention to them to swipe for now. He wouldn't use it later though since that was a great weakness to have. The point of this charade was to demonstrate his magic and other abilities in a way that would allow people to believe Harry could be beaten in the right circumstances. In this case, deprive Harry of his gemstones. People were less likely to try to kill a person if they thought they could beat or control that person but someone could only be beaten or controlled if they had a weakness to exploit.

Harry wondered when the men in black suits would visit him and deprive him of his 'source of power' and threaten him. He figured he should start writing a list of pranks now to use on the unfortunate souls who tried it first.

Once finished, Harry caught a cab to North Salem which was where Xavier's Institute was located. However the map pointer was pointing to another area of North Salem, not the institute.

When the cabby realized the area they were heading, he declined going further and asked if he could drive around. It seemed that strange things went on in that neighborhood. Harry said it was alright and got out and paid the man with a nice tip.

The street he walked through was somewhat checkered. Several locations on the street seemed to be freshly made while other locations were old. Several of the various houses or store fronts had windows with cracks while others windows looked brand new. There were few if any buildings that didn't seem half old and half new. In other words, this street saw a lot of damage at one time or another. What stood out the most though was the lack of people walking around.

It didn't take long for Harry to reach the map marker so he just started wandering around.

"Hey, haven't seen your face around here before."

A young man looking about a year older than Harry shouted from an alleyway while approaching Harry. He looked tall for his age with a shoulder length unkempt mess of brown hair.

Harry said, "Well I'm new in the area. Just arrived actually. The name's Harry."

"British? Never met a brit before," he remarked. Harry could have dropped his accent but decided not to. It was a part of him and anyone who didn't like him for it could bugger off.

The teen said, "Well, I'm Lance. And this is John," he said motioning to another teen with blonde hair that stood straight up. The newcomer approached Harry opposite Lance's approach and were effectively surrounding him. Harry appeared oblivious to them.

"Nice to meet you Lance and John. Know anything fun to do around here?"

The blond chuckled, "Yeah, there's an arcade a few blocks down. Ah, that's right, I used up all my quarters doing laundry for the homeless. You got any cash on you?"

Harry said, "Perhaps, perhaps not. If I told you I only had British Pounds in my wallet would you believe me?"

Lance grinned and said, "You don't seem to understand the situation here you scrawny little Brit. We're members of the Brotherhood and we own this town. Unless you give us everything you got on you, you ain't returning to jolly ol' England."

Harry cracked his knuckles. "And who said Americans didn't know how to have fun. Come on them."

The pair glanced at each other for a full second before they broke down laughing.

John pulled out a lighter and said, "I think we should have a reenactment of the Great London Fire. What do you think?"

Harry was getting tired of these guys so he threw himself forward and smashed his fist into Lance's still laughing face. The force of the blow threw Lance's whole body back which spun three times before crashing into the side a garbage can on the other end of the street.

John nearly dropped his lighter in shock. Harry didn't bother using the opening and said, "All talk after all. So much for the colonies."

John was successfully enraged from the insult and flicked the lighter to cause a spark. Harry felt a rush of Psionic energy fill the flame which mixed into the air and grew large and larger. Harry sighed and thought to himself, 'Of course he's a pyrokinetic.'

Harry ducked under the oncoming flame rushing at him and made it to the street. The blond shouted, "You're gonna burn for that!" He agitated the flames to make them larger and larger and Harry just stood there.

Harry reached into two of his pouches, one had Smoky Quartz and one had Zircon. He said, "You got a nice trick there. Let me show you a few of my own."

Harry cast a Lumos spell within the egg sized orb of Smoky Quartz which shined brightly in his hand and then he took it back into his inventory, making it vanish. He said, "Hit me with your best shot."

John didn't need anymore encouragement and threw a large ball of flames at Harry just as Harry cast a Flame Freezing Charm using a massive amount of power. Several of the lamp posts exploded as Harry wasn't suppressing his Exotic Energy and was actively casting very powerful wizard magic. However the building behind him seemed to be abandoned so there wasn't anyone inside or any electronics close enough to get fried besides those lamp posts.

The fire heavily impacted Harry like a massive ocean wave crashing down on him but he withstood it using a proper stance and when the fire scattered, nothing had burned. One downside of Psionics based Pyrokinesis was that the fire they controlled was just fire. Unlike magic fire used by magic based Pyrokinetics, psionic based fire control had no means to prevent itself from being extinguished by normal fire extinguishing means and it had no resistance to magic. So each had their ups and downs.

John looked at Harry in absolute shock. He was also surprised that not only had his fireball not burned anything, it had actually gone out. The reason it went out was that the Flame Freezing charm prevented it from burning anything, even air, so it went out without anything else to burn. That trick doesn't work when it is burning wood, but air is different.

Harry then lifted his other hand which contained the lump sized Zircon and cast another Lumos Charm inside it. "Are you ready for my next trick?"

The shining Zircon vanished into Harry's inventory and golden chains erupted from the ground and bound themselves around the pyrokinetic and dragged him to the ground.

The shaggy brunette from before was still out cold which wasn't surprising for one of Harry's punches. Harry took a look at them both and had a nasty idea. He reached into his pocket where he actually drew from his inventory a sharpie. He then walked over to John who was shouting profanities at him and said, "You know if you want to act like the villain, you really should look the part." Harry then bent down and drew a villain mustache on the bound teen which caused another string of profanities, half of which Harry didn't even recognize, to run out of his mouth. Harry thought it was odd the man had a vaguely Australian accent when swearing.

Harry walked over to Lance and drew a matching mustache on him as well and said to the one who was still conscious, "You need to cool down a little or you'll burn yourself out. Have a nice day."

The quest display showed a check mark on the first item show Xavier probably saw him and would be sending his X-Men to scout Harry in a bit. The map marker showed another area Harry ran off to as he wanted to set up a few things for this confrontation.

The location the map marker led him to was at was at the edge of an empty, trash filled park and an abandoned construction site where some materials had been left around. Something about it seemed stereotypical but it was as good a place as any for a meeting.

A few minutes after he started waiting, Harry felt a tug and warming sensation from a certain direction. It was the Phoenix Flames gifted to him, trying to lead him some where. Though that seemed pointless as where it seemed to want him was moving closer. Harry was more than a little surprised that the one the Phoenix told him about was not only here, but on her way. He wondered if that was why the quest not only wanted him to show his magic but psionics.

The four types of gems Harry had in his prepared pouches were Smoky Quartz, Zircon, Quartz, and Emerald. According to his cover, those types of gems could be absorbed to use Wizard Magic, Binding magic, Psionics, and Illusion magic respectively. Any other type like Dimensional energy and such would be overkill for most as the Eldritch magics powered by Dimensional Energy had been honed and sharpened in combat for tens of thousands of years.

A black van with a red X within a red circle on the side drove up to the construction site and parked once they had a visual on Harry. A shorter than average man of indeterminable age and a gruff exterior exited the driver's seat and stood next to the door without approaching. The Van's side doors slid open and from one side came a teen with red sunglasses Harry sensed formidable power behind and from the other side a fair beauty with shoulder length red hair his gifted flame was excited to see. Their gazes locked and green eyes met green eyes. She turned away a moment later with a slightly self conscious blush. From the passenger side of the van emerged a young woman who, like the other, only stood next to the door.

The sunglasses-wearing teen and the redhead walked over to where Harry was sitting on a large piece of metal and watching.

"Hi there, I'm Scott, and this is Jean. Were you the one who got in a fight with some of the brotherhood earlier?"

Harry smiled. Who doesn't like a little comical misunderstanding? Harry had been living with monks for the last three years and hadn't had a good target for a prank in far too long. He placed the metal he was sitting on in his inventory which made it vanish before everyone's eyes as he got up and said, "Ah, I see, you must be a friend of there's."

"What? No-"

Harry dashed forward to nail Scott in the stomach but the teen shifted his weight and turned to dispel most of the force of the blow. He seemed to instinctively move to take his sunglasses off which caused Harry to jump back before a surge of red energy erupted from his eye sockets that threatened to gouge out the sky.

Jean shouted placatively, "No wait, we're just here to talk!"

Harry said, "Americans must have the most interesting conversations since those who talk can either make great big fireballs or shoot lasers from their eyes. Of course if that's how American's choose to converse, I'm happy to reciprocate."

Harry took out a large emerald from his pouch and took a moment to look at it before saying, "It matches your lovely eyes Red," which had her turn away from him. Scott had closed his eyes and was taking what appeared to be a visor from his pocket and putting it on.

Harry once more cast Lumos within the gem causing it to shine brightly before he placed it into his inventory while closing his fist for effect. Harry only had two illusion spells he could cast and the cover he was using would only allow him to use one spell per gem. Harry cast Independent Doppelganger which made four Harry Potters appear and start running around in accordance to Harry's will.

Two of the illusions rushed Jean while Harry and the other rushed Scott.

Jean pressed her hands forward at the illusions coming at her and Scott's visor released a thin red beam at the Doppelgangers which passed harmlessly through them. Had he started on the ones coming at him, he would have hit Harry first but instead he shot through the ones coming at Jean first with a sweeping motion. Harry accelerated before the beam reached him and delivered another gut blow, but this time he centered it not allowing Scott to throw off the force.

Jean released a field of psionic force which locked onto Harry and lifted him into the air.

Harry smiled at her and pulled out a large piece of Quartz from his pouch which started shining brightly in his hand before it vanished into his inventory. Harry then thought up what the Phoenix looked like in all its glory and concentrated on the image before locking in on Jean's mind and sending her the image.

Jean's focus on telekinesis was completely disrupted by the intense and vivid image sent through telepathy and the breaking of her concentration caused her a headache which made her groan slightly.

Harry safely dropped from the air and Scott noticed Jean get 'attacked' and shouted, "Jean!" before turning to Harry and releasing a high volume blast of red energy. That passed harmlessly through him.

The real Harry switched for an illusion the moment he hit the ground and Scott had been too distracted to notice it.

Harry had moved behind Jean who was still rubbing her head. A part of her wanted to get the image out of her head so she could focus on the fight but another part wouldn't let her ignore it.

Scott couldn't recklessly fire his optics blast when Harry was behind Jean so he would only watch Harry pull out another gem, Zircon this time. He noticed it was different than the previous two gems he pulled out but recognized the pattern and tried to shoot a pinpoint optics blast to shatter it. Harry ducked partially behind Jean and the Zircon glowed with the cast Lumos spell before vanishing once more.

Golden chains shot from the ground and just like with John, Scott was completely bound by them before he could react.

Harry casually walked over to the van and said, "That was fun. Do you want to talk?"

The gruff man said, "Naw, I'm not much of a talker. Fighting though... How about a little one on one?"

Harry smiled and took out another emerald from his pouch and it glowed once more. The gruff man said, "That's ain't gonna work on me brat," and rushed at Harry, the real one.

Harry figured he somehow could tell the difference so he dispelled them and moved to fight. He struck his side but those ribs reminded him of Chiantang's and when Harry blocked the man's counter it made his own bones ache.

Harry had long since figured that although stats were not always clear cut, they were usually straightforward.

An average adult human had ten of each stat. However an average adult man struggles with the newspaper's crossword and doesn't bother memorizing anything not related to his job or life. An average adult human can also deadlift about a hundred pounds. If that was broken down, then each point in STR was ten additional pounds that could be deadlifted. Harry once heard that the world record for the deadlift was over 1000 pounds meaning a normal human could in fact reach a STR stat of 100.

From the force of his blows, Harry figured this guy had a STR of at least 200. His own was higher at 275, but neither of them were going all out, that was just Harry's estimate for his max. Moreover this guy's bones had zero give and unless he was mistaken, the short man was at least four times heavier than Harry was.

The amount they held back lessened and lessened as blows were exchanged or dodged at faster speeds with heavier strikes. Harry wasn't nearly as sturdy but he didn't bruise and injuries recovered quickly which his opponent took notice of. Harry was shocked to find that this guy's combat standard was close to if not in the same realm as the Mandarin and even if Harry's strength and speed were a fraction higher, Harry was only keeping up because of how easy the man was going on him.

Harry rushed back while taking out his last Zircon and making it glow.

His opponent took a stance and though he was bound in golden chains a moment later, he was not taken to the ground. He smirked at Harry and with the sound of metal against metal, three shining claw-like blades erupted from between the man's knuckles. He swung up his arm and the nearly indestructible chain was cleanly sliced through.

Harry frowned. "Metal claws? I should have brought a diamond or a ruby. Well, live and learn."

Before the fight could continue Harry felt Scott's energy build up so Harry jumped away to dodge the sneak attack. Since Harry was using each gem stone to cast a single spell, he wasn't maintaining them so the chains binding Scott had faded giving the teen what he thought was an opening to strike.

Harry's opponent snarled, "Scott! What do you think you're doing?! I said this is a one on one fight!."

"But Logan, he hurt-"

The red head said, "I'm fine Scott, he didn't hurt me at all." She had recovered and was watching Harry's fight. Harry felt her mental probes and allowed her to scan his surface thoughts. She already determined Harry was just sparring. It seems Scott was the only one who thought the fight was serious.

Harry turned to the visor wearing mutant and flatly said, "You came here to talk. Words are cheap so I wanted to have a different type of conversation and you've said more than enough. Someone willing to shoot another man in the back isn't the type of person I want to have further conversations with."

He turned to Jean and said, "It was a pleasure to meet you." And he turned to the warrior and said, "It has been an honor to fight someone at your level. I'd like to continue but I'm just about out of gems." Harry flattened the pouch he took the last Zircon from to show it was in fact empty.

Harry then took out a Smoky Quartz and before anyone could react it glowed and vanished. Harry said, "It is a shame but my trip to the states seems to have been a waste." He glared slightly at Scott for a moment before Apparating away, vanishing before them all.

Or at least that's what it looked like he did. Harry apparated to the highest point of the construction site and shifted into his Snowy Owl form. Just to be safe he also cast a few spells to completely suppress his presence. From his new vantage point he saw a large raven perched on the top of one of the nearby trees who seemed to have watched the whole thing and was paying close attention to the X-Men. Harry also saw someone further down the street, a teen with white hair.

The man apparently called Logan growled out in a tone laced with sarcasm, "Way to go Cyclops. The future leader of the X-Men just showed a potential ally exactly the type of person he would be following if he joined up with us. Nice job displaying the virtues and values Charles took all that effort into shoving into your thick skull."

"But, but Jean-"

"QUIET!" he shouted. He then looked over to the red head and asked, "What did he actually do?"

"He sent a really detailed image into my head of a giant flaming bird. A phoenix maybe? It looked so real. It broke my concentration which gave me a bit of a headache, but that's it."

Logan asked, "He's a telepath?"

"I don't know. When he sent the image into my mind, he seemed to be a telepath. But while you were fighting, his mind didn't have any trace of telepathy."

Harry inwardly smirked. Telepaths have natural, passive defenses against mental intrusion. Harry simply withdrew them all and let her see his mind. However she saw only what his Occlumency allowed her to see.

Logan said, "So a telepath but not a telepath. Everyone noticed him using those crystals right? And didn't he make that metal piece he was sitting on vanish too?"

Scott seemed to try and be helpful by adding, "Yeah, I'm not sure about the metal, but he definitely pulled one of those crystals each time he did something. When I tried to shoot one, he moved it out of the way."

The woman who was still standing next to the van said, "So what? He absorbed those crystals for power?"

Logan shook his head, "He wasn't weak even without them Pixie. Kid was actually stronger and faster than me. He also has experience. Not practice, but actual life and death combat experience, and a lot of it. I think he might have had a healing factor too."

Logan narrowed his eyes and looked at Scott, "He was testing us. Not much of a point joining with someone weaker than you."

He turned and headed into the van, "Back to the Institute. Let's see if Charles can track the kid down."

Harry himself never planned on turning down their invitation, he was just playing hard to get. The fact that the quest hadn't failed proved that.

Once the van drove off, the white haired teen sped over to the area faster than a blur. A moment later the raven on the treetop flew down and transformed into a blue skinned woman with blood red hair. Now Harry was interested.