Chapter 84: Blood Family
Christian pointed his wand up and down at the girl while releasing a green light.
"What are…you doing?" she asked in a frail voice.
"Diagnosing you," he replied. "Your ribs are broken, internal organs are bleeding, your femur is fractured, and you have cuts and bruises all over your body."
"Don't worry. I'll be fine after a night's sleep."
"Yes, you'll be fine," nodded Christian. Although he did not know why this girl was so strong-willed, he understood she must have a reason. He took and fed her two Wiggenweld Potion vials and a Blood Replenishing Potion from his bag.
"What are those?" she asked.
"Healing potions."
"Oh." She swallowed without hesitation. "This is going to hurt," said Christian before repairing her broken ribs and femur, followed by healing cuts and bruises with Repairifors. She did not utter a single moan or cry.
"Hmm? I'm actually perfectly fine," said the young Veela girl as she sat on the bed.
"No, you're not. Your organs will take at least a week to completely heal, and your bones will take three days."
"But I feel alright."
"That's only the appearance."
"Is that so?" she muttered before looking at him. "I did not expect your spell category to be so versatile: invisibility, medicine, and potion. What's your name, and who is your teacher?"
"I'm Christos, and my teacher is my mother."
"Your mother must be a very powerful, bloodless wizard."
"I guess she is. What do I address you?"
"Kallista."
"Kallista? Derived from the word Kallos, meaning beauty? That's fitting."
"Is it?"
"That's what I said."
"But why aren't you affected by my natural charm?" asked Kallista.
"My Occlumency is very powerful."
"Occlumency? The magic of mind protection? You even know such a rare magic?" Christian did not know what to say, as he had not expected Occlumency to be a rare form of magic in this era. However, considering the strict control of magic, it's understandable.
Kallista realized she had made a faux pas by asking a wizard about their mastered spell, so she changed the topic. "I haven't had a chance to thank you both for standing up to him and healing me," she said.
"I only did the right thing."
"Yes, but you're the only one who chose to do the right thing."
"Fair."
"But you should be careful of the Pytherias family and their infamous poison magic."
"Poison magic? That's new," muttered Christian. "Are they a Blood Crests Family?"
"You don't know?"
Christian paused, "To be honest, I'm new to this place, and it was my first time hearing about blood and blood crest families."
Kallista nodded, thinking maybe that was why he was more willing to help her. She decided to repay him by sharing common knowledge with him.
"Blood families are wizards who have successfully stored and passed down certain magical skills or spells to their descendants."
Christian immediately thought of the Gaunt Family, descendants of Salazar Slytherin, who could inherit the Parseltongue ability. Nimphodora Tonks' son, Teddy Lupin, also inherited his mother's metamorphmagus abilities.
"Blood Crest families are a higher level of these families. It's very normal for blood families not to have a single heir in a generation with their magical ability; that's why they interbreed so much," said Kallista with disgust and disdain.
"Meanwhile, Blood Crest families have successfully condensed their abilities into a Blood Crest, and they can choose any of their descendants to inherit the crest and their clan's magic. The chosen heir will then dedicate their life to improving the abilities in the crest before choosing an heir in the next generation."
"Is that why everybody wants to enter the library?" asked Christian.
"Yes. Bloodless wizards want to find the magic to store their knowledge or skill in their bloodline, blood families want to condense a crest, and blood crest clans want to increase their family's magic so the next generation can be more powerful than the previous."
"Since everyone wishes to have a bloodline ability, there must be an advantage besides the obvious social and political power," asked Christian.
"The magic or spells stored in blood crests have been studied and optimized for countless generations, so you can imagine how powerful they are," Kallista explained.
"Then, why do I sense disdain in your voice regarding the blood crest families? Is it because they also practice inbreeding?"
Kaliista was surprised. Then, she smiled before answering, "Not just that. It's primarily because their path is an extreme and twisted form of an originally good idea."
"Oh?"
"Bloodline magic was created long ago by wizards who wanted to secretly preserve their unique knowledge while giving their descendants a starting advantage."
Christian nodded in understanding. Magical talent was not a genetic trait that was guaranteed to be inherited, and the bloodline magic countered this fact; it even allowed the passage of knowledge through genes.
"But the blood crests took things to the extreme. After so many generations, these families have now lost the ability to cast any other spells besides the one engraved in their crest."
Christian's brow furrowed, "Are you saying that the person who inherits the crest cannot use other forms or magic, or everyone in the family?"
"Everyone in the family."
"That is indeed extreme," uttered Christian. He could not accept being limited to using only one spell, even if it were extremely powerful; he felt it was not worth losing the diversity or versatility of being a bloodless wizard. Of course, given the limited spells and magical knowledge in this era, others will not feel this way, so the bloodline magic path is the best route for most wizards.
"Now that you know the truth, do you also want the bloodline magic from the library?" asked Kallista.
"No, I prefer to remain bloodless."
"I had a feeling you were a kindred spirit," said Kallista with a smile. "I'll tell you a little secret: the Crest Inheritance Ceremony will drastically reduce your lifespan; that's why most heads of crest families do not live past 70."
Christian was surprised by this revelation, but then looked at Kallista strangely. "How would you know such a secret?" he asked. He ventured that the blood crest families would do everything possible to hide such information. Christian noticed her body visibly pause and quickly said, "I apologize if I asked something I shouldn't have."
"No, it's alright," said Kallista. "I'm from the Veela Kingdom, and my family is…I learn many secrets while living there."
"A kingdom of Veelas? That sounds like a wonderful place."
"It used to be," she muttered.
"I'm sorry."
"You have nothing to apologize for," replied Kallista with a beautiful smile. "It's time for me to leave."
"Your injury?"
"I can heal at my hotel," she said. "You should be careful. The Pythorias family won't do anything to you now because the Curator has jurisdiction over the exam, but once the tests finish, they won't have any misgivings."
"I understand," nodded Christian, so Kallista prepared to leave.
"Hold on," said Christian before holding the bed's cover and bewitching it with the Disillusionment Charm.
'Is that a [blessed] wand?' thought Kallista.
"Here," said Christian, putting it over her. Kallista watched as the covered part disappeared.
"It will only last four months because of the poor material, but it should help you."
"Are you an Enchanter?"
"You could say that." Enchanter was once a title for wizards whose profession was bewitching items to turn them into magic tools or artifacts. However, the term was no longer popular in his time.
"You're really like how I picture a real wizard: knowledgeable and versatile."
"Thank you?" Christian did not know how to respond to these words, so Kallista chuckled.
"Once again, thank you. And I hope we don't become enemies in the next test."
"Me too."
She covered herself with the cover and secretly left the hotel. Christian followed her method to leave, heading to Neos and Andreas' house to say goodbye. He did not want his presence to affect them, so he went to another hotel after changing his visage and skin color.