Christian took a moment to ensure his Occlumency was operating at the highest level before slowly approaching the tree. At first, he felt nothing until he was about 20 meters from the tree, where he began to hear voices. At first, they were just murmurs, but he could hear them clearly when he was 15 meters from the tree.
"Come…Come to my embrace."
"Close your mind. Forget your worries, and you'll find eternal peace."
Christian stopped as he sensed he could not stop these words from entering his mind, no matter what he did. He searched his mind and realized that nothing was wrong, except for the auditory illusion. So, he gritted his teeth and continued forward.
Ten meters from his target, Christian had to stop a second time. His superb control over his mind allowed him to realize that the voices were agitating his emotions.
'Despair,' Christian thought. 'To be precise, my sense of hopelessness has increased. If I give in to this emotion, it will become easier for me to give in and allow the tree to enslave my mind.' Christian realized he was indeed in dangerous territory. Any move forward was a significant risk. He focused his mind, trying to reinforce his defenses, but to no avail.
'No, I need a different approach.' Christian realized that forceful defense was the worst way to defend himself. He thought deeply before coming up with a solution: 'Maybe I can isolate the voice's effect to one layer of my mind and ensure the effects do not leave that area.' This approach was feasible.
He focused and took one step forward. As soon as he sensed his emotions were about to be affected, he immediately isolated the effect to one layer of his mind. Christian ensured this layer had countless defensive layers while separating from the rest of his mind to limit its impact on his memories and emotions.
'It worked,' Christian thought, his eyes shining with the light of wisdom. He continued forward, and the closer he got to the tree, the more potent the influence on his emotions.
'No, at this rate, one layer is not enough to contain such immense negative emotions,' Christian analyzed before creating more layers to contain the voice's effect. Then, slowly and methodically, he reached the tree's protective shield. Christian slowly raised his wand while ensuring his Occlumency still operated at a high level.
'Damn it,' Christian cursed as he stopped midway through his action. He realized casting another spell while his mind was focusing on defending this tree's mind attack was not as easy as he thought. Christian performed a brief breathing exercise to maximize his focus to the highest level.
The intense flame from the tip of his wand pierced through this magical shield before engulfing the enchanting tree. Christian heard an intense scream in his psyche that shook his Mind Palace. The pain was too intense, and he held his head in agony. His mind felt blurry, but he knew it was imperative that he did not lose consciousness.
Christian acted swiftly by diverting the effects of that scream to his second Mind Palace, which contained Jim's memories. His quick thinking saved him as the two palaces successfully bore this terrible attack. Meanwhile, the intense flame had occupied the tree's focus, allowing Christian ample time to regain his bearings.
He immediately sensed his conjured flame was slowly abating. Although he did not know this tree did it, he understood he could not allow it. So, Christian conjured oxygen to increase its concentration in the environment. With new fuel, the flame burned even brighter.
The enchanting tree screamed again, but Christian was already used to this attack, so he effortlessly blocked it. He cast the Flame-Making Charm a second time, accelerating the tree's demise. Xin'er was correct. At the center of all the ashes, Christian saw this bright red crystal beating like a heartbeat. He conjured gloves to protect himself in case something was wrong with the crystal. Finally, after securing the material, Christian returned to the team, who met him halfway.
"Is there a specific way I need to preserve it?" he asked
"Just put it in water, and it will be fine," Xin'er replied, staring at the crystal. She had read about it in books and seen its picture, but this was the first time she had personally seen such a valuable herb.
Christian followed her advice by transforming a rock into a bucket and conjuring water to put in the heart. Finally, he placed them inside his bag of holding. "Someone needs to carry my bag. I will be back in half an hour." He did not wait for the team's response as he activated the bag's Shrinking Charm to enter.
One layer of his mind contained a lot of negative emotion, and Christian needed to discard it. Otherwise, if they escape their prison, he will become a terrible, dark wizard and affect the other layers of his mind. The process took him more than 20 minutes of meditation and intense application of Occlumency.
'Dark magic relies on negative emotion as an [Intent],' Christian thought, suddenly feeling inspired. 'It should be the same for white magic. However, the Patronus Charm is the only spell I know to use positive energy. Could there be a technique to add positive energy as an [Intent] to every spell?'
Christian swiftly conjured a pen and paper to write Entry 35 of his journal. He nodded in satisfaction as he felt this entry. Once he was done, he left the bag.
"Was he just inspired to create Advanced Charm Magic?" Mimir asked.
"Reality 7 might be a desert of knowledge, but that is not entirely a bad thing," Vincent responded. A lack of knowledge or challenging conditions can inspire people to innovate with what they have.
"I understand why you wanted to start gathering support for him," Mimir said as she licked her paw. Vincent smiled as he knew his actions could not escape Mimir's sight. Liu Xing and Kerma might have been exiled, but this did not change the fact that they were legendary wizards in their own right.
"So, what do you plan to do? Do you want him to continue exploring independently or give him a few books to accelerate the process?" the cat asked.
"There is no time for him to explore alone," Vincent responded calmly.
"Maybe there is a way to have both."
"Didn't he say his mother trained him? Give her the book while encouraging him to explore. When the right time arrives, she can teach him, and the inherent ideas and concepts of the book won't shackle him."
"That's a great idea," Vincent praised.
"Of course. After all, I am Mimir, the wise cat."
Vincent shook his head with a smile before continuing to watch.
After leaving the bag, Christian found the team awaiting him. However, before he could utter a single word, an open iron gate more than 15 meters tall instantly captivated his mind.
"This is?" Christian asked.
"I believe this is our next destination, obviously," Lucretia answered while rolling her eyes.
"Not that we could detect."
Christian cast a few spells with similar results. "In that case, let's just enter." Everyone looked at each other before slowly entering this intimidating gate. The team found themselves in this dimly lit area, but the odd thing was that the door behind them had disappeared.
"Is this some kind of dungeon?" Lucretia asked. Everything around them felt like they were in an underground area.
"No, not a dungeon — a maze," Christian revealed, his tone slightly off. There were two things he never wanted to deal with — large forests and mazes. All these things were a nightmare to navigate by regular people, let alone someone like him.
The group looked in his direction and noticed an entrance area with walls surrounding it. Their location was slightly elevated, allowing them to see a rough outline of a maze with towering white walls.
"Is everything alright?" Xin'er asked, sensing something was off about him.
"No, nothing," Christian replied. He conjured a small bird and sent it flying above this maze. As expected, an unknown force sent the bird crashing down to the earth. 'I guess we can't fly over,' Christian sighed.
"Lucretia," he said, looking at this noble lady. "You continue leading in front, and I will mark the places we've passed. Menes, can you also leave scent as a double insurance?"
"No problem," Menes nodded. His plant magic could do something so basic.
"Xin'er, you know your role," Christian added. Xin'er only needed to protect herself and warned them of the things they knew nothing of. The team headed to the entrance, and Christian immediately acted.
"Flagrate!" Christian said before using his wand to make a small [x] on the wall.