Chapter 13: Art Of Legilimency, and Aiming To Be The Greatest (1/2)
Quinn looked at Alan, who was sitting in front of him.
They were sitting in their usual room. It was their first lesson after Alan's break. The old mind-arts teacher had his usual relaxed grin on his face, but there was something different about him.
”You got tan.” That was it. Alan had gotten a tan.
Alan's smile widened as he told what he had done on his vacation, ”I spent an entire month near a beach. Fantastic Weather, relaxing atmosphere, and amazing people. I had the time of my life. Sun is good for a person my age.”
They chatted about the things they did during the break. Quinn told Alan about his progress with his occlumency.
”I have increased my primary shield from ten layers to fifty layers. My secondary layer has also gone from five layers to twenty-five layers. I have also worked on my detection layer.”
Alan gave him some tips, before deciding that they had done enough catching up and it was time to start learning.
”That was enough catching up. Let's start with our lessons. From now onwards, we will learn legilimency.” Alan said before continuing. ”Legilimency is the act of magically navigating through the many layers of a person's mind and correctly interpreting one's findings. We know a person who practices this art as a Legilimens. The uneducated might call this mind-reading, but practitioners disdain the term as naïve. And, legilimency isn't just restricted to navigation of the mind, but also affecting the same minds to an extraordinary extent.”
Alan spread his arms and declared, ”Mind-control, emotion-manipulation, body possession, hypnosis, and many other things. Legilimency is a mind-magic; magic that strives to better understand the workings of the mind. A beautiful magic that has been tainted. Tainted by uneducated people, who only think of it as a means to spy on other's thoughts. Legilimency can be used to help people.
Do you know the profession of Mind healer, Mr. West?”
Quinn nodded and answered the question. ”A healer who specializes in mind-related problems and diseases. They heal people whose minds have been disturbed.”
Alan nodded and shared, ”Every Mind healer is a legilimens. They know the mind from a healing point-of-view. A noble profession that shows and proves that legilimency can be a virtuous branch of magic. Mind-healer brings their patients' minds to peace and helps them through the healing of the most intricate part of their being, their mind.”
He pointed at himself and revealed, ”Mr. West, I have made mistakes while pursuing the art of mind-magic, and many times have caused damage to my mind. I have taken steps that weren't correct and not a few times that has jeopardized my mental health. But every time, a mind-healer had been there to monitor my recovery and make sure that my mind didn't suffer permanent damage. I, who value my mind above all else, see mind healers in high regard.”
Quinn could practically feel Alan's respect for mind healers and the art of legilimency. Which was cemented by what he said next, ”Mr. West, I charge a lot for my services. I was bought up in a poor household, so I didn't have any luxuries, so I value money a lot and consider money to be one of the things a person needs to live a happy life. But, whenever I am asked to appear as a guest lecturer to share my knowledge of mind-arts at mind healer conventions, I don't charge a single piece of copper because I know that sharing my experience with them is the betterment of the magical art I love. It is my way of returning to the community that helped me become what I am today.”
He looked straight into Alan's eyes and spoke, ”So, before we start learning, I would like you to understand that legilimency is not just a magic of harm but also an art of healing. It could do as much good as it can harm. I hope you would understand what legilimency represents and that people don't understand the true essence of this magic.”
Quinn's eyes were wide by the time Alan finished his passionate rant. ”Mr. Baddeley, I understand what you are trying to convey, don't worry, I won't dishonor the art of legilimency. I understand that there are two sides to a coin.
Now, would you like some water?”
Alan silently nodded as Quinn poured him a glass of water with magic. The old teacher received the glass and gulped it down in one shot. He once again looked at Quinn and expressed. ”I apologize Mr. West. I let my feelings overcome me there for a second. I am a bit too sensitive when it comes to mind-magic.”
Quinn nodded with a smile, ”I noticed. It just shows that you love what you do.”
The tanned old man cleared his throat and decides to go back to his lecture, ”Now, unlike occlumency, which requires you to work inside your own mind, legilimency requires you to work in the mind of others. Accessing your own mind is simple, as it is yours to command, but other's mind is foreign territory. So, the question that presents itself is how to reach out to someone else's mind? How does one open a path to someone's else mind knowing that the two people have no connection?”
Alan stared straight into Quinn's eyes, and Quinn felt the familiar heaviness from his detection layer. Quinn instinctively pulled up his shield to an active state.
”How does a legilimens accomplish this? How am I able to stretch my magic to your mind?” Alan said as he retrieved his legilimency probe.
Quinn thought about the question for a while before answering. ”You once said that eyes are the gateway to the mind.”
Alan nodded his head in agreement, ”Correct, eyes are the easiest point of entry to the mind, but if you are proficient, you can access the mind without going through the eyes. And, beginners start by trying to access the mind via a person's eyes.”
Alan pulled on his sleeve to reveal his bracelet. ”The only reason I agreed to teach you legilimency is because of your unique capabilities.” He pointed at his bracelet and continued, ”Beginners need a magical focus to perform legilimency, but I wanted to see if you could perform focusless legilimency right of the bat.”
Alan paused for a moment before remembering something,
”You know you are lucky that your grandfather didn't study legilimency. Otherwise, you wouldn't be able to learn legilimency without arising suspicion.”
Quinn's eyes widened like saucers as he slapped himself on his head, ”Damn it!” Even though it had caused no problems and Alan had taken care of this problem, this could have turned into a big problem. If his grandfather had caught onto this fact, then Quinn wasn't sure how to explain things. And Alan couldn't tell the reason because of his contract.
Quinn massaged his temple as he thought, 'I have to be more careful in the future.' A sigh escaped him as he decided to triple-check his plans in the future. He looked at Alan and asked, ”I assume that you already knew that my grandfather didn't know legilimency.”
When Alan nodded, causing Quinn to sigh, ”I am not going to ask you how you know that.”
Alan shrugged and continued teaching. He instructed Quinn to follow his instruction, ”Mr. West, I want you to look into my eyes and try to sense my mind. It will take some time, but you will be able to sense it in time. You know that there is a mind that you can access. You just need to believe that you can reach my mind through my eyes, and find a way to connect to it.
Now, please try it out.”
Quinn nodded and stared into Alan's eyes while trying to sense anything through his mentor's eyes, but he couldn't find anything. He tried to spread his magic, get it closer to Alan, molded his magic in different ways, but nothing happened.
He continued to try, and somewhere along the way, Quinn started glaring at Alan, which made the older man joke, ”Mr. West, you are trying to find my mind, not drill a hole through it.”
If it had been any other time, Quinn would have laughed, but currently, he was concentrating, so Alan only got a grunt in response.
It was an hour, multiple attempts, and Alan's patient guidance before Quinn got a hit. He had changed his approach five times, and the fifth time was the charm as Quinn felt the presence of something that felt familiar to his own mind.
Quinn, who was concentrating on Alan's eyes, focused on his whole face before speaking a bit too loudly in exclamation, ”I felt something! Was that your mind?”
Alan smiled as he nodded, ”I felt your probe. It was weak, but an excellent result for your first time. And yes, that was the edge of my mind that you sensed.”
Quinn breathed out a sigh of relief. He looked at Alan and then frowned. ”Mr. Baddeley, did you blink because I can't remember you blinking?”
Alan chuckled and shook his head, ”I used magic to keep my eyes moist. A handy spell I learned to teach legilimency.” Alan quirked his eyebrows and displayed a proud look on his face.