Justin did the first thing that came to mind – he ran. More specifically, he teleported.
"Transportium next orbitorium!" he tried, teleporting himself to the first place he could think of – Mars.
He arrived on the surface of the red planet, in a rather random location. He realized that either those guys weren't wizards and wouldn't know where he was, or they were and he would be easily traced. There was no way for him to keep a low profile now. He figured that if they were wizards, the assumption upon which he would operate to be on the safe side, he would have merely minutes before they traced his energy signature. He considered his options. He couldn't really run, because there was no cover around here. They would be able to see him for miles. He couldn't go invisible and then run, because they would surely have the invisibility sight spell handy. He even thought about trying to lay a trap, but couldn't come up with anything that would trump practiced wizards. So he simply waited, prepared for the fight of his life, for about five minutes. After that, he got bored and decided that if they were coming, it wouldn't be right at that moment. It was possible that they weren't wizards and had no idea that magic existed until that point, although clearly someone in the university did. They might be coming after him later, when they could get a real wizard to help them, but by that time his energy signature would probably be dulled.
What he wanted to do now was set up a new base of operations on Mars. The transport spell itself took care of the breathing problem, and he could conjure up food, but what he really wanted was a dwelling of some sort. He decided to use the house-conjuring spell. It would require a great effort and some deal of time, and it was a gross affront to the laws of thermodynamics, but it would be well worth it. The spell would of course only create unfurnished concrete prefabricated buildings, but he could also conjure up the furnishings later.
He drew an outline of the building he wanted in the sandy Martian soil. This was the first step to casting the spell. He stuck to a rectangular shape, and included a 'study', 'bedroom', 'kitchen' and 'bathroom' in his floor plan. One would enter into the study, off of which the doors to the other three rooms lied. When he was satisfied with the basic plan, he drew in a fireplace in the study. This was also possible to add in with the spell, and it would be useful for those cold Martian nights.
With that finished, he next had to trace over every line again, saying the first part of the spell. Over and over he had to repeat it, until he had retraced every mark. Then he stepped back and said the completing phrase. He watched as, upon uttering the final syllable, walls began to grow out of the ground, and then a cement floor began to fill the spaces between. Finally, a ceiling also grew across the walls, and he had himself a small abode. It had a door and three windows, one each of the study, bedroom and kitchen. His next task was to make panes for the windows. He gathered up sand, put it in three small piles, and cast a transmutation spell over it. Justin was lucky that Max had taught him a bit about matter transmuting before they had begun this competition, or this might not have worked. He made sure to make the panes just big enough to fit into the windows, which he placed in and then magically sealed. (Magic makes a fine sealant and is much less messy than caulk.) Then, he stood back and looked at his work. It wasn't much to see, but it was his and he was proud of it. He opened the door (doors are done by the house spell) and went in.
The first thing he did was light a magical fire in the fireplace, and then he conjured up a desk and chair for his study. He them some distance from the fire, and then decided that he really would like to sleep – all this casting made him exhausted. So he went into the bedroom, summoned a small cot and blankets, and went to sleep only after casting multiply redundant wards and shields.
He woke up a few hours later, mostly refreshed. Fresh enough, at least, to begin his study of the Necronomicon. He went into his study and sat down at the desk. Despite the minimalism of the room, his chair and desk were quite comfortable. He sat the book down and opened it to the first page, which turned out to be a forward of sorts. The translator felt that some explanation was needed, so they left a guide to reading it. There was a sort of table of contents, or at least a summary of what different sections entailed. Most of them dealt with the summoning or invoking of beastly entities, with which Justin did not want to muck. Nevertheless, that may be the route to true power, so he wasn't going to put it totally aside. He would consider that for later, in a manner of being a last resort. The section he was most interested in was the selection of spells. He flipped to that section, hoping he wouldn't go mad.
Fortunately, Justin did not mad merely by perusing the spells, though many of them seemed to cause irrevocable insanity in the caster. He skipped over those for now, and read some of the others. Most of them were complicated and required very specific celestial alignments. There were even spells that, as far as he could tell, could not be cast on Earth. They required a planet's two moons to be in certain alignment, or a planet with a moon with a retrograde orbit, or some other unlikely event. Perhaps he could cast one of them while on Mars, but they also looked to be of the "drive you mad" variety. Still, this suggested that the author had a source other than his own trial and error. Pulling a pen and paper from the desk (his favorite part of the desk spell), he performed some quick calculations to figure out what the stars would be like for the next few days. He also calculated the next time at least 7 of the planets would be aligned – yes, Pluto counts (although science doesn't know this, Pluto is a planet by virtue of its occult powers it has on the solar system. To be fair, so do some planets that science doesn't know of yet, objects beyond the Kuiper Belt and all.) - but it was too long to bother with. This was too bad, there was a spell of particular potency that required such.
There was one spell which, according to the author, would expose the truth of the interconnectedness of the universe to the caster. It relied on the moon being right, but he was in luck, that was a celestial event that occurred frequently. It could only be cast during a new moon, though he wondered about the phases of the moons on Mars. Of course, he could always teleport back to Earth and cast it there. There was one condition: The true knowledge of the universe could very well drive him mad. This was a chance he was willing to take on the route to true power. According to his calculations, the moon would be new in New York City in just a day. He would teleport to Central Park and cast the spell at midnight. In the meantime, he would have to gather the materials required to cast it. It was a macabre shopping list – virgin blood, blood drawn from the caster, (Justin's qualified for both), ground unicorn horn, a live salamander, a live dove, a live rodent of any sort, and a live frog, which all had to be killed, and then a number of other knickknacks that could be purchased at any magic shop worth its salt.
For now though, he felt he had to get started on the list. First, he conjured a bow and quiver of arrows. Tradition dictated that he hunt with a bow. He then teleported back to Earth, to the unicorn reserve in Montana. Although it was illegal, he would hunt down a unicorn himself – that was the only way he could get a unicorn horn. He began to track – their horselike hooves made distinct patterns in the grass, which, after a few minutes of searching, he picked up. He followed it, carefully, slowly.
It lead to a small lake, which Justin assumed would be used by the docile animals as drinking water. He sat behind some conveniently placed bushes and waited, with bated breath (there's no other way to wait), until a group of unicorns came by to drink. He slowly rose out of the bushes, notched an arrow and let it fly. Although he was not extremely well-practiced at it, he managed to injure one, which ran off. Justin cursed, and bounded after it. He chased it through the grassland, until he found another set of bushes, behind which he waited. Eventually the unicorn, noticing it wasn't being followed any longer, stopped running, and lied down. Justin carefully approached, and fired another arrow into its vital area. It bounded off again, and Justin once again ran off after it. He lost sight of it this time, and tracked by its blood. It had run into a small grove of trees, and in a clearing he found it lying down. It was breathing heavily, but still not dead.
"Gladius," He said quietly, casting a spell. It summoned a small dagger to his hand – though the spell would produce anything from daggers to dirks to swords, a dagger would suffice. He used it to finish off the unicorn and harvest its horn.
The rest of the list, he harvested in similar fashion, excepting the blood which he would draw from himself at casting time. This took him most of the day. He eventually teleported back to his base on Mars (which he was able to do, having been there before), and slept again. When he awoke, when it was nearing midnight in New York City, he gathered his materials, and teleported to Central Park.
He drew a large circle on a path with his piece of red chalk, one of the materials required. Inside it, he drew the sigils as outlined in the Necronomicon. He then placed the rest of the materials, animals in their cages, unicorn horn being ground with pestle and mortar, at various locations on the design.
"Phn'glui mgah'nafh Cthulhu r'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!"
He plunged the knife into the salamander.
"Ia Ia Cthulhu fhtagn!"
He killed the dove.
"Hastur hastur hastur"
He offed the squirrel he had caught.
"That is not dead which may eternal lie -"
He killed the frog.
"And with strange Aeons even death may die."
He cut himself, drawing the blood for the virgin sacrifice. He then walked to the center of the circle.
"My God, I can see forever!"
He cut himself again, this time providing the blood from the caster necessary.
Suddenly, he was filled with knowledge. Knowledge dreadful and chaotic, knowledge powerful and malevolent. Knowledge beyond which man, wizard or mortal, cannot fathom. He sat there, reeling, curled into a ball, contemplating what he now knew.