Chapter 70: Aftermath: Questions Answered (2/2)
”First, let's take an example of how it amplified your emotions from something small to an exaggerated state. Your first duel in that dueling club of yours.”
The mention of the event bought Quinn's memory of the duel against Miles Bletchley to the surface.
”You felt a little insulted by the way he looked at you. Tell me, what would you have done if you had another chance and weren't influenced by the curse.”
Quinn didn't have to think much about it, and he answered, ”A single Disarming spell and end the duel within seconds. I would have ended the duel so fast that he wouldn't have a chance to even twitch a muscle, but I wouldn't have humiliated him by not even drawing my wand. That was too flashy for me.”
Quinn could hear Alan's footsteps as he walked around, ”That was wrath. He insulted you, and that triggered wrath. Your opponent just looked at you funny, and I think you decided to humiliate him even before the nasty spells he shot.”
”I guess you are right,” Quinn thought about the times he had been angry in the last few months. Some regrettable decisions flashed through his mind.
”Next, let's move on to the times where the curse took advantage of your body to take effect,” Alan spoke, moving on to the next observation. If Quinn could see his teacher's face, he would have found a huge shit-eating grin on the old man's face.
”Body? When did the curse affect my body?” Quinn wasn't sure there were changes to his body. Quinn was sure that his body wasn't touched by the curse.
”I am talking about puberty, Quinn.”
Quinn froze in his bed, and he immediately knew Alan was talking about lust.
”I am sure that you wouldn't have included those memories in the memory package, but you were working with logical thinking that spanned for days on end. So, a lot of those ended up in there.”
Alan laughed for a while before continuing.
”Lust triggered in short, but many bursts, and that was because of your hormones. You were so affected by it because you started to feel attracted to the fairer sex.” Alan chuckled at the embarrassment his student was feeling. ”Lust just took over from that point on. I really saw youth in there.”
Quinn had spanked the monkey, jacked the beanstalk, auditioned with his hand puppet, charmed the snake, took the dog out for a walk, or wanked... twice a day without fail.
Now laying in his bed, Quinn remembered the times he had been doing something and just ended up staring at the passing by girls. Then there was the incident with Daphne.
'Dammit, why did I have to say that Daphne,' Quinn mushed his face into the pillow. Lust might have been the most enjoyable, but just like others. It made him do things he regretted.
”Let's move on, please.”
A muffled shout from Quinn made Alan laugh.
”Alright, let's move on to the case where curse made sure that you won't go back to the antechamber. Only one sin kept you away from the vault.”
Quinn gritted his teeth and almost snarled, ”Sloth.”
”Yes, sloth.” Alan had gone through Quinn's memories, and the one sin that was as far away from Quinn was the sin of sloth.
Quinn West was a busy person. He had magic to learn, and Quinn made sure to spend every productive minute of his time learning magic. So, Sloth was Quinn's mortal enemy.
”Surprisingly, it didn't affect you that much, didn't it? Except making sure that you didn't go to the antechamber, skipping your morning runs, and the frequent short flashes of zoning out, all you got was becoming extremely rowdy if you were awake past your bedtime.”
Quinn didn't say anything because it was true. The reason sloth didn't take root inside Quinn was because...
”Greed didn't let me be lazy,” said Quinn as he stood up from the bed. The talk about sloth made him want to get away from the bed.
”Right, about that. I never understood why you spent that much time in the library? I know you like to learn, but the time you spent in the library was unusually lengthy. I, for a fact, know that you like to use magic as much as you like to read about it,” asked Alan as he watched Quinn stand up from the bed and stretch.
Quinn spoke while he stretched his body.
”I had tricked a professor into signing a pass to the Restricted Section of the library. The problem was that there is a curse on the position of the Defense Against Dark Arts position. No professor lasts more than a year. I think it has been going on for decades. The teacher I tricked was the Defense Against Dark Arts professor.”
A strange flash passed through Alan's eyes as Quinn mentioned the Defense Against Dark Arts professor.
”I was sure that the professor would be gone by the end of the year, which meant that pass would only last for a year. So, I had to make sure to squeeze the maximum out of the one school year I had,” Quinn made eye contact with Alan and continued, ”My magic was increasing by the day, and my control was getting better, so the decision I made was to spend all my time in the library.”
”Now that you mentioned the sins, I think greed was the most prominent sin out of all seven. It was always present in the back of my head. Guiding me to learn more and more,” Quinn sighed as he leaned against a wall with his hands behind his back.
”Sitting in that library made you happy, and that was because greed made it such. Your greed for knowledge was fulfilled while you stayed in the library, and it affected your emotions, making you happy,” Alan made some conclusions out from the knowledge he had.
Quinn nodded, but then he pushed away from the wall and point-blank asked.
”Enough of this. Tell me what had happened to my magic?”
Alan stopped his walk and turned to face Quinn. The two stared at each other for a moment before Alan spoke up.
”Your mind, soul, and magic are fine. They don't have anything wrong with them. The problem is that while the curse was active, it increased your capacity and focus, but the way it was achieved was not natural, or should I say the process was artificial.”
Quinn felt his heart beat faster as Alan continued to speak.
”I don't think that curse was supposed to break down. I don't know what it was designed to achieve, but it wasn't meant to break down in the middle like it did in your case. With my knowledge, it was meant to go until the end, whatever the end was.”
All of this was what Alan had been able to find out from Quinn's memories and an entire night of diagnostics on Quinn while he slept.
”The curse had total control over your focus abilities as it was raising it artificially. So when it came undone, your bond to your magic which was being raised artificially broke down and with it everything you had worked hard to established.”
Alan pursed his lips when he saw the despair on Quinn's face. He knew that Quinn had worked hard to build his control since he was five years old. But now, it was all gone.
”O-Okay... Mr. Alan, this isn't helping me,” Quinn's voice had a shakiness and desperation in his voice. ”W-What does this mean?”
Alan knew what was coming, but he had to continue,
”Your focus ability is gone completely, Quinn, and the reason your magic is lashing out is that it was had been artificially raised. You weren't meant to gain that much magic in that short amount of time. Your own magic is rejecting itself and is trying to get out.”
.
-*-*-*-*-*-
.
Quinn West - MC - No control over his magic.
Alan D. Baddeley - Teacher - Breaker of bad news.
FictionOnlyReader - Author - Don't worry, things will be fixed in the next chapter. (I hope nobody reads this because I am kind of building tension here, but... I know what happens when I do it.)
.
-*-*-*-*-*-
.
[
Webnovel has been 'shadowbanning' comments recently. This means that any comment that contains profanities in any form, will be automatically deleted.
So, if you are commenting with curses and profanities, censor a single letter or get creative.
]
.
If you have any ideas regarding the magic you want to see in this fiction or want to offer some ideas regarding the progression. Move onto the DISCORD Server and blast those ideas.
The link is in the synopsis!