AN: Yo, sorry for the wait. I got a few notes here.

1 – I really need to set up a FAQS page. I will always try to do my best to answer questions or concerns from readers, and often time I get new inspirations from just trying to answer things, but I really don't want to start snapping at people for things I already answered. I appreciate all the comments and criticism.

2 – The charms vote. I tallied up all the votes, and I'll be posting the top 10 choices after this chap. I ask once more for a vote for a simple reason. I'll be throwing up a detailed answer for how I see the final top charm choices working, what limitations I may apply to fit them into the story, and whatever thoughts I have. Please take a second to vote once more once you know what to expect.

3 – IMPORTANT – Thanks to inspiration from a reader, I'm re-vamping how I'm using Parseltongue in this story. I'm aware its not how other stories do it, but I loved the idea and wanted to run with it. I'm going back to make MINOR edits to all mentions of Parseltongue. *[All you have to know is = Jin was never able to use it to cast magic.]* All the unspoken charms he casted were done in Latin. He still used it to speak to snakes and open the chamber of secrets normally. *[But when he tried casting a charm in Parsel, he failed and felt lightheaded.]* I'll add more notes on it next chapter when he finds out the secret.

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Thanks everyone for the love and support. Let's see how far we can take this story.

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5.12: The Third Ritual and a Debt Owed.

Gol dutifully stood aside, silent and invisible as always, watching his lord fight the fearsome eight-legged creatures.

Well, fearsome depended on whose point of view one chose to look at. To Gol, fighting such a creature would be suicide, but to the spiders, fighting his lord was suicide.

Gol's eyes tracked his lord's dimly glowing blue frame as his nails glinted in the firelight, tearing through the larger creatures with ease. His axe was constantly in motion, being banished and summoned from various angles as his lord struck down his enemies.

The earth would harden and be used to smash, fragments of stone would be launched as shrapnel, high-temperature steam would burn, low-temperature mist would obscure and be turned to ice shards, ropes of mana would pull him out of harm's way, and Gol occasionally saw him launch blades of drills of blue flames.

His lord was a wolf among the sheep to the spiders, and yet they came on undaunted, unfeeling, uncaring, all in a seeming primal desire to eat and kill him.

Gol was proud to serve such a strong and fierce lord. Sure, the young man was….strange sometimes with his requests, but his previous lord was as well. 'Maybe all wizards are simply strange. Perhaps they should try working more, it's wonderful stress relief to see filth be wiped away.'

The older house elf noticed the fighting come to a close and stepped into the clearing to approach the small hill of corpses his lord sat on top of. His eyes took in his lord's panting, bloody, and burning form atop the corpses of his fallen foes, and Gol's respect for the young man rose another notch. A strong lord meant a strong family to serve, and Gol had no desire to lose his family again. "Sir."

Jin's animalistic eyes locked onto the sound in a second as his hand twitched, but he calmed down with a sigh when Gol faded into view. "Hey Gol, Fleur tell you to watch me again?"

Gol nodded and summoned a wet towel to float over to his lord. "Indeed sir. The miss was worried you would overexert yourself again."

Jin shook his head with a wry smile and accepted the towel. "She's such a worrywart. I managed until now didn't I?" He wiped his face of the bloodstains, dying the towel a blemished red.

"Of course sir, I'm sure the miss is just concerned. You only just finished your ritual, and then spent days in research on Apparation before diving into combat."

Jin groaned at the reminder. "Yeah, for all the good that time I wasted did for me, why can't anything ever be simple for me?"

After Fleur's observation, Jin dove into research on Apparation and confirmed he was indeed capable of it. The only issue was that unless he overwhelmed his magic-resistant skin, he would be teleporting without said skin and likely die quite soon after that. He knew how to do it, he just had to figure out how to get around his skin, and he was golden.

Gol silently let his lord lament before speaking up. "Sir?"

"Hm?"

"What drives you?"

Jin looked back down at his house elf with a raised brow. "What do you mean?"

Gol eyed Jin's bleeding wounds, already slowly healing. "Why do you push yourself so far? My last master didn't put in a fraction of the effort you do in every single day. If you are not with the miss, I rarely ever see you not striving to push your skills further. You suffered great pain in your last ritual, and yet you come out here to fight with zero hesitation. Do you not fear death?"

Jin blinked at the sudden question and hopped down from his seat as the blue flames on the corpses petered out without his mana infusion. "Can I ask what brought this on?"

Gol pointed at the pile of dozens of corpses. "No matter how many times you come back here. You never call for my aid to retreat. No matter how many times you get injured, you come back. In the last hour, you were smiling as you fought them. I admire your strength and will, but I cannot help but question why."

Jin rubbed his chin and considered it. "Well, do you remember that chamber under the school we went to a while ago? The one with the big snake?"

"I do."

"Do you remember that inner room I asked you to help check for curses? The one with a simple desk and chair."

"I do."

Jin idly cast a cleaning charm on the towel and hung it from his shoulder. "That room belonged to an old wizard. One of the founders of the school. I read his journal, something written at the end of his life, and you know what I felt from him?"

"Glory perhaps?"

Jin looked up at the web above with distant eyes. "Defeat. I felt a man who achieved great things feel defeated at the end. Most of his friends and family had passed away, his ambitions had burned out, and he was ready to die and move on to be with them again." A gentle breeze flew through the near-silent nest to accompany his words.

He gaze dropped back down to his head elf's searching eyes. "Something was born in me that day. I was kind of just going with the flow before that, not really living but reacting as best as I could. I woke up and got dropped in a fantasy world, and just took things as best I could without any real serious inflection. I found you and the others by pure luck and chance, you know?"

He chuckled to himself for a moment before it died down and Gol's gaze widened slightly at the passionate flame that ignited in his lords eyes.

Jin's voice deepened as he clenched a fist. "But in that room, no, in that tomb where the great Salazar Slytherin lost his flame, my own was lit. Do I fear death? I do. But I fear defeat more than that. The defeat that stops me from rising up again every time I get knocked down. I don't want to die, I don't want my life to end, I don't want to be chained or lose the things precious to me. So I fight, and if I happen to find joy in the action of fighting, well, that's a nice bonus there right?"

Gol stared into the smiling face of his lord and bowed his head in respect. "Right, sir. Thank you for indulging me."

Jin chuckled and patted the smaller elf's shoulder. "Don't worry about it man. Feel free to ask questions if you're curious. But for now, let's get out of here; we only have a few more minutes before the spiders notice something is up."

"Of course, sir. Would you be needing stitches today?"

Jin eyed a cut on his arm, slowly sealing itself on its own, and shook his head. "Nah, I think I'm good. I could use a meal though. All that healing made me hungry."

"Right away, sir."

Gol watched as his lord summoned the questionably sane young Bron and set him to dissection before he began walking away, slicing trees at the base as he passed. His large back seemed so solid and reassuring to Gol's gaze. 'Chance, luck, I don't believe it matters. I thank you for calling out to me that day, my lord. I'll endeavor to support you.'

"Yo, Gol, come on man!" Jin's voice called out to him and snapped him out of his thoughts, and the house elf popped away to appear at his side.

"Of course, sir."

"Gah! Put a damn bell on you."

Gol chuckled and silently followed his grumbling lord as they left the spider's nest.

However, deep within said nest, eight large black eyes opened and stared in their direction. 'The time approaches, young warrior. Come, come and end my hell.' The eyes closed again, and a commanding screech sent dozens of spiders forward to replace the lost ones as the nest's numbers dwindled further.

00000

Jin finished pouring out a barrel with an expectant smile. "Go on, tell me what you think."

Four pairs of silent judgmental eyes met his own before they all looked at the liquid before them and bent their necks for a taste.

High society palates sampled his product, tongues rolling through the liquid, mouths swooshing it around, before they all swallowed as one.

Jin's eyes trailed the visible shiver that went down their spines as his smile grew wider. "So?"

His four guests eyed each other silently before the first from the left held up a sign. [7].

"Really?"

The voter huffed and looked away haughtily.

The second lifted a sign of their own. [9].

"That's what I'm talking about." Jin got a noble nod of a head from the second.

The third hesitated for a moment before lifting his own. [8].

"Fair. Harsh but fair." The third stepped back.

All three turned to look at the final voter as he eyed Jin.

Amber eyes stared into brown.

"Come on man, my hope is on you now."

The final voter bent for another drink under the patient eyes of the rest and finally made his choice. [9].

Jin threw his hands up in cheer. "Yes! I told you this was good shit Alfred; how could you doubt me? We're drinking buddies."

Alfred snorted and dropped the sign from his teeth as he held his head high.

"Ok, ok, I know I haven't been around as much the last few weeks, but I was busy. I brought apology liquor, so don't be mad bud."

Alfred gave him a one-eyed look before nodding in acceptance and going back for a drink. Jin laughed and patted his friend's side. "Thanks bro. The centaurs are crazy about this stuff. I negotiated with Rakor for weeks just to get a few dozen barrels of their homemade liquor. You're drinking Blue Draconic Ale; that's where the static feeling comes from. But I also got my hands on Green, Red, and Amber."

Alfred's eyes widened as he nudged Jin with his head.

Jin smirked and whispered so the others couldn't hear. "Heh, I'll share some later. I've only got so much, so keep it between us."

Alfred nodded seriously and subtly blocked the other horse's view from Jin with his body while Jin laughed.

He looked outside the barn and smiled at the melting snow. It was mid-April, and things were finally warming up again. "I think it should be fine to go on a flight tomorrow. What do you think?"

Alfred neighed in agreement but tried to push Jin toward the door. "Oi, no. That ale is strong shit, and we almost got caught the last time we drunk flew. Maxine was giving me the stink eye for weeks. I'll fly with you when you're sober."

The sheer offended look Jin got from the claim made his day. "Semi-sober."

Alfred huffed and finished off his ale while Jin marked down the grades in his journal. He wanted to know what liquor was the highest quality, and the horses were the best drinkers around outside McGonagall. 'Then again, she's not really an alcoholic, she's just Scottish and stressed.'

Deep in Hogwarts, McGonagall paused in her class lecture as she looked up. 'Why do I feel the need to give someone detention right now?'

Back in the stables, Jin looked at the scores. "You know, I think this booze got a higher score than Fleur did in the tournament."

Jin's pen froze at the same time Alfred did as the horse gave him an incredulous look.

"…."

"…."

"Did I just say that out loud?"

"Neigh."

Back in McGonagall's class, a sudden flare of killing intent rolled off Fleur, unfortunately making Roger Davies in the row in front of her faint from being in the direct line of fire.

McGonagall paused again. "Ms. Delacour, is there something you wish to share with the class?"

Fleur's quill turned to charcoal in her hand. "I have a sudden desire to burn my paramour ma'am."

McGonagall eyed the destroyed quill with a nod. "Very well, but save it for after class dear."

"Yes ma'am."

Back in the stables, Jin elbowed his buddy. "I never said anything, we clear?"

Alfred gave him a long look and subtly kicked his empty drinking bowl with a meaningful look.

Jin winced. "I only have so much…."

Alfred just kept looking at him until he wilted. "Ugh, fine, run interference."

Alfred neighed loudly, got the other horses' attention, and pointed a hoof at the far wall. Jin took the moment they all looked away to drop another mugs worth of ale in Alfred's bowl. By the time they looked back, Alfred was calmy drinking like nothing had happened.

Just then, Sil popped into the stables. "Master, a letter arrived Sir Gorluff."

Jin snorted and accepted the letter. "Drop the sir, that damn goblin is better called a bastard. Dude still owes me for the poker game."

Sil chuckled awkwardly. "Of course master. Would you like me to return a message to him?"

Jin idly bewitched the letter to open and levitate before him while he threw an arm around his house elf's shoulders. "I'd appreciate it bro; and you sure you're comfortable calling me master? Gol just calls me Sir, and Bron uses Boss."

Sil flushed and looked down with a smile. "I prefer master, master. Gol is a wise elf, not many live as long as he. And Bron….is Bron."

Jin chuckled and patted the guy's arm. "I know right? That little dude worries me sometimes, but if he enjoys the bloody work, then why not. How's life in the castle been treating you?"

Sil looked up with excitement. "It's the best master! So much work to be done. I've been working under the head chef elf, she has been showing me how they make the wines for the school."

Jin raised an interested brow. "Oh? I know you made all my meals, but I didn't know you were interest in brewing."

Sil flushed again. "I like it. It's soothing, going through each step and knowing the final result can change based on my efforts. So many possible combinations, so many possibilities, and seeing someone enjoy my efforts fills my chest with pride." He looked up at Jin, slightly worried. "Is it ok, master?"

"Is what ok? Having a hobby?"

Sil waved his smaller hands rapidly. "No, no, I wouldn't call it a hobby, master. More of a preference."

Jin chuckled and turned away from the letter to drop to a knee and look his house elf in the eye. "Sil, bro, I asked you all to find hobbies. Nothing would make me happier than if you three found things to fill your time with that you enjoy. I'll never stop you from having fun. If you want to brew liquor, brew away. I'll get you anything you need."

Sil blinked away a tear and looked at him in hesitation. "Are you sure, master?"

Jin smirked. "Trust me. Just let me get a taste of your final products sometimes, alright? I'd love to see what my trusted house elf could create."

A large smile grew on Sil's face. "Thank you master, you're far too kind to us."

"Nonsense, I do what I want. Besides, your meals are great stuff." Jin gave him a meaningful look. "You're not feeding me magical creatures right?"

Sil shook his head. "No master. Not since the chamber incident."

Jin grimaced at the reminder of his meals before then but nodded and pushed through. "Good man, you have my trust. When we travel to future worlds, I'm sure you will find more interesting liquor samples and techniques to learn."

Sil nodded his head in excitement. "I can't wait master."

Alfred stuck his head in at the mention of foreign liquor, and Jin pushed his head away. "Oi, this a private bro moment."

The horse didn't seem to care and pushed through anyway. Jin laughed and idly pushed him back with a hand as he finally read through the letter. "Hey Sil."

"Yes master?"

"Never mind the letter. Just go tell Gorluff I'll be at his office tomorrow at noon."

"Of course master. Do you need me to prepare a meal for your trip?"

Jin smirked. "Maybe get me a bottle of your best wine. It seems we're going to visit a goblin smith."

00000

Jin pushed open the door of Gorluff's office with a bag in hand. "Oi, Gorluff you fuck, where you at?"

"I'm in the back shit stain, get over here!"

Jin chuckled and walked past the front desk toward the hall with private conference rooms. "Number three?"

"What do you think? Hurry up, we're on the clock."

Jin came into the room with a raised brow. "Did your voice just crack?"

Gorluff looked up from where he was staring at a gold coin. "Shut ya trap Jin, do you know how big an honor it is to meet a Goblin smith? I had to spend gold and call in favors for months just to get you this meeting."

Jin plopped down in a leather chair across from him. "That's fair I guess. I'm guessing that coin you're staring at is a portkey?"

"No shit."

"Where we heading?"

Gorluff sighed. "I got no clue. Goblin Smiths live secluded lives, everyone's after them for what they can do. I had to sign a contract not to share anything I see with others. Speakin of which." Gorluff slid over a folder.

"Why does everything with you end in a bloody nose or paperwork?"

"Welcome to the life of a Goblin."

Jin snorted and read over the document. "I'll pass."

The page was short and sweet, without any of the usual flowery words to trick people with hidden clauses. Just a non-disclosure agreement. He signed his name and stamped it with a bloody thumb. "Alright, done; we good to go?"

Gorluff swallowed and patted his forehead with a handkerchief. "Yeah, just give me a sec."

"Dude, we killed a fifty year old Acromantula queen, drunk, in the center of her own nest, and I can't remember shit. Relax."

Gorluff eyed him for a moment before sagging with a chuckle. "Yea, you're right." He slammed a fist on the table. "Enough of this weakness crap. Come on, let's go." He grabbed the coin, held out his arm as Jin laughed, and the younger man caught it in a warrior's shake.

"That's what I'm talking about."

Gorluff smirked and said the activation word as the two were whisked away. The magic imbued in the port key was prepared specially by Gorluff to overcome his mana-resistant skin.

Their perception turned into an acid trip of colors for a few seconds before they landed in heaving breaths somewhere deep underground.

Jin bent over with a growl. "Fuck, that wasn't fun."

Gorluff hissed and took a knee. "Never is. That was a far jump."

"O' course it was ya twerps. Welcome to me forge." An aged and rough, craggily voice called out, and the two guests looked up with a blink at their surroundings.

A pool of natural lava on the chamber's far end bubbled and glowed brightly, along with floating lights to illuminate a massive metal space.

Workbenches, anvils, and all kinds of tools and objects took up the space, the far walls lined with hundreds of cold weapons glowing with enchanted effects, but at the center of it all was a massive furnace that seemed to pull the lava from the pool.

The two marveled at it all as the same rough voice chuckled. "She's a beauty aint she? Nevr, get tired of seein them awed faces."

Jin came out of his daze and focused on the source of the voice. A goblin, similar looking to all the rest he'd seen, if not for the thick bushy beard, an eyepatch, and the arms with muscles the size of his head. Jin wasn't proud of the first thing he blurted out. "You never skip arms day do you?"

The smith eyed him up and laughed. "Aye!" He slapped his bicep carved from stone.

Gorluff elbowed him with a look to shut up, and Jin coughed awkwardly. "Master Ragnok, it's an honor, sir."

"Bah, screw the niceties lad. Real warriors are always welcome in me forge. You fight in the pits?"

Gorluff weirdly flushed in pride for the first time since Jin had met him. "Yes sir, got to me eight round."

"Ha! Good on ya. Come back when you're rich or ya make it to the twentieth, and I'll forge ya somethin nice."

The younger goblin's eyes shined. "Thank you sir!"

The older goblin nodded and turned back to Jin. "And you, me paying customer eh? What did you kill lad? I got nothing to make for a fool who be bathing in Doxy blood."

Jin blinked at the mention of the annoying little pixie creature. "Acromantula sir. I've been fighting their nest for months."

Ragnok's sole eye studied him. "Them spiders you say? Now that be good hunting lad! How many ya take down?"

Jin scratched his chin in thought. "In total or in a day?"

Ragnok smiled widely. "Now that be a real answer! Enough said lad, ya got my attention. Ya gold helped as well."

Jin twitched at the mention. 'I forgot to ask how much this was charging me.' He coughed into a fist. "How much gold exactly?"

Ragnok chuckled and ran a hand through his beard. "6 big ones, and a crate of that raw spider silk I heard ya got. Take it or leave it lad. I ain't negotiating."

"Er…" Jin's face scrunched up at the price.

Gorluff whispered harshly from the side when Jin hesitated. "That's a great deal! He's being nice, take it you idiot!"

Deciding to offer his ally, who hadn't let him down yet, some faith, he nodded. "Alright, deal."

Ragnok laughed and extended a hand. "Shake on it lad, ya word be binding in me forge." His sole eye shined in an eerie light, and Jin suddenly took notice of quite a few runes carved into the metal where he could make them out.

"Right, deal." He met the older goblin in a forearm shake as a sound in a language Jin couldn't place echoed throughout the forge. A flash of magic passed between them as Jin felt something bind to his magic, and Ragnok raised his brow.

"Got some interstin skin there lad, took a bit more to seal the deal than I expected."

"Yeah, I get that a lot. What was that?"

"Ancient Gnomish, best way to seal a deal, ya hear?" The older goblin winked at him and waved a hand. "Come on over to me workbench."

He walked into the forge, and Jin shot Gorluff a look. "What the hell's ancient gnomish?"

Gorluff kept his voice down. "Compare it to ancient druid ya dolt. The ancient tongues before modernized language have deeper power."

Jin's mind flashed as he considered that. 'So it's not just the Druid language? Is that why my Parseltongue has been so...-.'

"Oi, I don't got all day lad!" Ragnok's voice cut off his thoughts, and Jin hurried to catch up.

Ragnok cleared a bench and brought out measuring instruments. "So, what ya be needin lad? Agreements only for a single small piece of armor or a single weapon, choose wisely."

Jin smirked at the older goblin. "How do you feel about axes?"

The smith's eye shined. "Ya speaking like a real warrior lad! Ha! Speak ya thoughts."

The two talked for another hour longer before Ragnok waved him away. "Ya got it. Give me two, maybe three weeks tops, and I'll have it delivered." The goblin started sketching without another word, and Jin and Gorluff took the hint to leave.

00000

Two weeks passed in the blink of an eye.

Jin took back half his investment of three thousand galleons from Gorluff for the charms tomes he asked the goblin to search for. It had been months, and the goblin was struggling to find him anything. He made a mention of a black market auction going off soon, but with a letter arriving from Sirius inviting Jin over to the Black family manor the following week to collect his pay, he wasn't as interested in letting his money sit.

Instead, he decided to spend the sizable portion of money on goods he had been eyeing for some time.

A thousand went to the saved five thousand galleons set aside for the smith to pay off the total price, but the last five hundred went toward crates of Firewhiskey, Butter Beer, spices, pans, sheets, and everything else he would need to outfit his future home with.

Fleur let him know the tents were in production. Her connection told her they would be done by the end of June, giving the two of them a full month to get them set up.

Some items were too low quality for his tastes, so he gave Gol some currency and had him exchange them for goods in muggle London. According to Gorluff, there are laws about magicals heading into the non-magical world and causing trouble. If it was run by the British Ministry of Magic, Jin probably would have ignored it and just gone to rob a jewelry store, but apparently, it was run by the actual British government.

A well-known secret among the smarter magicals was that the muggle governments knew quite well they existed. The British were off-hand about things, but whenever a witch or wizard decided to start brainwashing muggles for fun, they often disappeared in a few days. America was even run by the magicals behind the scenes.

As long as magicals acted within magical communities and areas, there was no crossover.

It was an interesting aspect that Gorluff explained to him when Jin asked why goblins didn't go take gold from the muggle side of the world. After all, the vast majority of muggle-borns that got rejected by magical society had to go somewhere, and the governments were all too happy to accept them. After generations of discrimination, Jin figured world war three wasn't going to be pretty.

But back to the point, Jin spent five hundred galleons to acquire all the appliances he would need, along with luxury goods like magical liquor. It was all stored in expanded trunks inside his warehouse until the tents arrived. Alongside the dozens of stacked barrels of magical liquor he got from the Centaurs, and all the miscellaneous items he gathered from the Room of Requirement.

The only other thing he was waiting on was the Acromantula silk. He traded much of what he gathered to the centaurs for the liquor and martial training, while the rest went to his tailor for his clothes alongside the basilisk hide leather. Jin made sure to include enough material for both him and Fleur to be outfitted.

Unfortunately, he had to stop harvesting for a time to enact his plans for the nest, but soon enough, he should have as much silk as he could ever need.

00000

The sound of metal on metal rang out in the forest clearing as two combatants traded strikes.

"Good! You've improved drastically in a short time."

"Of course I did! I had great training partners!"

Orios laughed and swung his blade faster than Jin's eyes could track, knocking the axe from his hand and pushing his offhand claws out of the way before the sword came to rest near his neck. "You're improving Jin, but you still have a long way to go."

Jin eyed the metal at his neck in distaste. "Damn it, this would be so much easier with magic."

Orios took back his blade with a chuckle. "But then it wouldn't be training. Combining your abilities for combat is ideal, but if you want to improve the whole, you have to work on the smaller aspects. Your claw style, your axe, your footwork, senses, spatial awareness, reflexes, spell casting speed, Power, Mana pool, you have many areas to yet improve."

Jin sighed and tapped his watch to take out a towel and wipe his face. "I know, I know. I made a scale for myself to track my own growth, at least on the magical side."

Orios nodded and took a sip from a canteen. "Very good. Know yourself and know your enemy, and you shall never fear the result of a battle."

Jin blinked and looked at the centaur weirdly. "Did you just quote Sun Tzu?"

"Who?"

The confused look on the man's face sold it. "Forget it; it was just a wise man in muggle history."

"He must have been a great warrior then."

"More like a general but I said forget it." Jin looked up at the setting sun. "I guess it's almost time to head over."

Orios hummed. "You know, it's quite rare for rituals to be held so often."

"Really? Magnie said it could be done once a month."

The centaur waved a hand. "It could, but its not that common. We tend to do only a few a year at all. As a species in tune with nature, we often choose to live as nature intended."

"So you guys have all these incredible rituals and never use them?"

Orios barked a laugh. "Ha! Of course we do. We just live longer natural lifespans than you wizards and spread out our choices over the course of the decade of allowance we have. It's only three choices every ten years, and Magnie can be quite picky about what she's willing to allow. Unless we go hunt spider fangs for her." He mumbled the last line, but Jin caught it with his sensitive hearing.

'Huh, I guess she really hates the spiders.' They passed some running kids play fighting with wooden weapons and waved. "Is it because of that Dryad language? She seemed tired every time she used it."

Orios froze mid-step and snapped his head to him. "She used the ancient tongue?"

Jin realized Orios had stopped walking and turned to look at him. "Yeah? Is that weird?"

Orios studied him thoughtfully for a moment before nodding. "It's…..uncommon. Very uncommon. But if she chose to use it willingly, I have nothing to say."

The centaur kept walking normally and left Jin feeling confused. "Is there something I'm missing here?"

Orios scoffed and side-eyed him. "Ancient tongues can be spoken normally just fine. But casting magic with them always has a cost. Keep that in mind."

"What kind of cost?"

Orios shrugged. "I have no idea. You would have to ask someone who actually used it."

Again, Jin's mind returned to his issues with Parseltongue and his failure to use it effectively for casting. He opened his mouth to ask more but got cut off by a voice calling out from ahead. "Jin~!"

The two males followed the voice to the running Saya, waving her hand with a smile. Orios elbowed Jin with a smirk. "You gonna make an honest woman out of our dear Saya yet?"

Jin shot him an annoyed look. "I made myself perfectly clear the last dozen times, that was a one time thing."

"You sure she knows that?"

"Yes! I told her to her face."

Orios just gave him a shit-eating smirk and stepped away. "Sure, sure. Enjoy the ritual; I'm sure the pain will be fun."

Jin's response was to flip him off as the man laughed, and Saya came up to him. "Hm? Was I interrupting something?"

Jin waved a hand lazily. "Nah, he had to go home and nurse his wounded pride." Orios tripped in the distance and flipped Jin off from where Saya couldn't see him.

Saya nodded innocently. "That's good. Grandma was calling for you."

"What for? The rituals not for another few hours right?"

"Right, but we need to prepare you in advance."

Jin raised a brow. "Prepare what?"

Saya's eyes gleamed. "Come with me." She grabbed his arm and dragged him off to a tent near Magnie's large blue one.

Jin's eyes took in the tent's contents with a deadpan look. "No."

Saya giggled and patted his shoulder. "Yes."

"This can't really be necessary."

"It is, now strip."

"Saya."

"Don't Saya me Jin, I've seen everything you have to offer, I don't see why your shy now."

"It's not shyness, it's annoyance. Do I seriously need to get a tattoo?" He eyed the paints, open scrolls with designs, and sharp needles with a twitching brow.

Saya scoffed. "It's not a tattoo, it's ritual paint."

"Then whats with the needles."

"It's to make the paint reach deep enough for the ritual to take effect."

"Uhuh, and then it goes away."

Saya looked away and closed the tent's entrance.

"It goes away, right Saya?"

The beautiful young woman didn't meet his eyes.

00000

After almost two hours, a twitching Jin looked up at Magnie's smug smile covered in fresh ink. "I don't remember getting tatted up being part of the ritual plan."

"Ha! I had to figure out how to get around that magic resistant skin of yours. We could always tat up your mouth if you want."

"…."

"That's what I thought. Now stop being a wuss, it looks good, right lasses?"

The nature mage centaurs around the clearing all gave him thumbs up, and he sighed. Fleur had shown up partly into the tattooing process and promptly jumped on board as long as she could add her input for the final result.

Jin just gave up. 'It's not like I really care. But I would have preferred a single arm. Not all this.' Tribal-like lines traveled in patterns over his pectorals, shoulders, upper back, and down his arms to his wrists. Jin chuckled the first time he saw the full image. 'It looks like the black lines from my tiger form transferred over to my human form, just without the fur.'

Outwardly, he waved a hand. "Whatever. This stuff isn't going to be a permanent weakness to my skin's defense right?"

Magnie scoffed. "As if I would do something so amateurish. The magic of the ritual will seep through the mana trapped in the ink and fuse it to your skin, becoming one with your stupidly strong mana resistant skin. Seriously, how is a wizard more mana resistant than us? Your on par with giants for fucks sake."

Jin rolled his eyes. "Who knows." He eyed the ink in interest. "How did you make this stuff anyway?"

Magnie smirked. "Trade secret. You ready to get started lad?"

Everyone stood in the same grotto as the last two times, and the full moon was high in the sky. "Yeah."

Jin waved to Fleur and got a blown kiss in return as he walked to the center with Magnie. "Hey, I got a quick question."

"Hm?"

"The ancient language you have been using. Whats the cost of it?"

Magnie's step paused for a second before she resumed without any other sign. "Just some mana is all."

Jin was paying attention and caught her twitch. "Magnie, whats the cost?"

She side-eyed him with a smirk. "What, you worried about lil ole me?" Her hand came down in a speedy opened-handed smash, and for the first time since they met, Jin twisted out of the way and avoided it. "Huh, you've been training."

"Killing spiders will do that for you."

Magnie chuckled and looked him in the eye. "I'll tell you after we're done here."

Jin held her stare for a moment and nodded at the resolution he saw. "I'll hold you to that."

"Just like you held me that night in my tent eh?"

Jin's face flushed at the memory of the time he was helpless in her tent, with Fleur being entirely unhelpful. Magnie saw her chance and used a root to slap him on the back, launching Jin's nude from the waist up body into the water. "I told you to keep your head on a swivel boy!" Her laughter rang through the clearing.

Jin pushed himself out of the water with a growl. 'Don't attack the bombshell GILF Jin, you still need her. And she will probably kick your ass unless you use magic. And she'll never let you forget it.'

Magnie laughed harder as he visibly restrained himself. "Careful lad, wouldn't want you blowing a blood vessel. Or is there some other kind of blowing your thinking about?"

The memory came up again, and Jin growled louder. "Can we please just start before I attack you or rip off your clothes?"

"In what order?"

"Yes."

"Ha! Alright, alright, enough fun." Magnie turned to her mages. "Oi, lets get started!"

Her group of nature mages nodded and began chanting, channeling their mana into the grotto as the moss came alive with light.

Magnie came closer to the pool of water and looked down at him. "You know what we're doing here right?"

Jin spat out some water and nodded. "Improving my connection to my Animagus spirit. Why?"

Magnie sighed and pointed a finger at him. "Cuz this ain't a normal ritual lad. The first ritual enhanced your claws and hand bones, it caused you physical pain. The second one enhanced your bloodline; it also caused you physical pain. This time we're aiming at something much deeper, your soul. There will be no physical pain."

Jin raised a brow. "Isn't that a good thing? And I thought you all treated souls as something sacred?"

Her eyes hardened. "We do. And it being a good thing is subjective. Jin, this will be the most dangerous process of all."

He stilled at her using his actual name and listened closely. "Go on."

She nodded at the seriousness of his expression. "To enhance your connection to your animal spirit, we need to bring you to your spirit, which is housed in your soul. I would rather die than do anything to alter a soul, but this is acceptable as we are only bringing you to the entrance. You need to face your animal spirit and become one with it, much more strongly than when you first became an Animagus. After that you will gain much more from your bond."

"Ok, that sounds great. I'm assuming from your tone there's a risk?"

"If you lose the fight to your animal spirit, it will take over your mind and we will be forced to put you down. If you cripple your animal spirit, your soul will be injured and you will lose the ability of your animal forms. And if you take too long to reach a conclusion, you will be lost in a coma you can't easily wake from. We are the ones supplying you with the mana for this process after all."

Jin took that all in with his usual thought process. "So, don't lose, don't cripple myself, and make it snappy?"

Magnie cracked a smile. "Yeah….yeah, that's all. Still haven't lost that steel pair on ya huh?"

Jin grimaced. "Can't say I'm happy to be back in this water, but at least the pain isn't going to be physical this time. Bring it on." The memory of the last time he was there flashed through his mind, and the phantom pains made him want to twitch badly, but he pushed it down.

Magnie shook her head and stepped back. "If only I was a young lass again… that young birds got a hell of a catch with ya."

Jin laughed. "Who said I would accept you?"

She laughed right back. "Who said I'd care what you thought?"

The two shared a humored look before Magnie winked and took out her staff. "Come back in one piece, ya hear?"

He shot her a thumbs up. "I'll do my best."

She nodded and slammed her staff down as the accumulated mana began to converge under directions. She chanted out loud along with her mages, speaking in an old tongue, but not an ancient one.

Concentric circles of runes lit up around the pool, and Jin suddenly found the moon to be far more interesting than before.

The chanting picked up in pitch, and like a siren's call, Jin couldn't remove his amber eyes from the celestial body high above.

It reflected in his pupils, and unknown to him, the tattoos across his body began to all light up in a silvery light, seemingly absorbing something from the moonlight.

The chanting reached a climax, and Magnie's eyes hardened once more as an inhuman sound left her throat. To the rest of those in the clearing, it sounded like a crack of thunder, but to the target of the word spoken, it was like the gong of a bell being struck.

Jin's eyes rolled up into his head as he fell backward, floating idly in the water as the tattoos continued to glow.

Magnie waved a hand, and the chanting lowered down to a low volume.

Fleur poked Saya from the edge of the clearing. "What are they doing?"

Saya whispered back. "Conserving and recharging mana. They need to keep a constant flow going to Jin, and the longer they can last, the more time Jin will have in his inner battle."

Fleur looked at her lower in slight worry, overwhelming her excitement at new knowledge. "How long will they last?"

Saya eyed her grandmother standing tall from behind. "The mages, maybe a half hour with Jin's mana resistance. But my grandmothers the strongest nature mage in generations. She could last two hours with this much support."

Fleur sighed in relief and focused back on her notes, content to trust the experts and wait. While Saya continued to watch and learn as much as she could.

Unbeknownst to the two, Magnie used a vine to wipe away a trail of blood at the corner of her mouth. 'I can manage one more. Come on Jin, don't let me down.'

Her eyes bore holes into the young man floating in the water. 'I'm betting everything on you.'

00000

Jin was experiencing something strange.

The second the sound of a gong rang out, it was like a hook dug into his naval and dragged him down a hole, smashing a door he never even knew was there off its hinges and descending deep into a dark space where a sole light shined.

A floating crystal, glowing with an inner light, shined through the dark space like a lighthouse.

The pulling sensation didn't stop until he was deposited right before the crystal, where it unhooked from him and seemed to fade into the void like it was never there.

Jin looked down at himself, seeing a spiritual body like a ghost from Hogwarts or a ghostly apparation from Skyrim. 'Surreal….'

He felt real, but he could also see through himself like he wasn't even there. 'Wait, I need to focus. I'm on a clock.'

He tried to ignore the weirdness of it all and get a handle on what he was supposed to do.

The crystal rotated slowly like a planet as Jin's eyes roved over it. 'I know what material this is….Carnelian, the crystal representing will and courage, heavily related to the tiger….why do I know this?' He cast a confused look at the crystal before it hit him. 'Is this…'

He looked around the space once more and felt something inside him tell him he was right. 'This is my soul.'

The floating crystal was the size of a softball or a grapefruit, yet it glowed with a powerful light to its surroundings. Surroundings that suddenly didn't seem as dark as he once thought.

A narrowing of his eyes saw dark blue veins of flowing particles moving around. 'And that's…my mana, but where's it going?' He tried to track its journey through the darkness of the space before his form flickered. 'Shit, right, I just told myself I'm on a clock, focus.'

In the real world, Magnie stifled a couch as the flow was disrupted for a bare second. Blood seeped onto her palm, and a few nature mages looked at her weirdly as they felt the disturbance in the ritual, but a glare from her had them all focusing back on their roles.

Back inside, Jin tried to look for what to do. 'Ok, my soul's a crystal. Cool. Mana is flowing around back there. Great. What else?'

He tried moving his spiritual body around his soul crystal and caught sight of something else that was initially hidden behind the crystal. A small glass bead-like ball, shining dimly with a kaleidoscope of colors. The more Jin stared at it, the more the space around him began to shake.

In the real world, blood began to seep out of his orifices as Magnie looked on in shock. "That's not supposed to happen." She hurriedly channeled more mana into the ritual, rapidly shortening Jin's time.

Back inside, the mana infusion snapped Jin out of his trance as he rapidly shook his head, avoiding looking at the bead with a trace of genuine fear. 'Don't look at the bead.' He almost lost himself in less than twenty seconds of just looking at such a thing. 'Zelretch mentioned the magic of the Kaleidoscope was attached to my soul, I guess this was the final result after he altered things. I fear whatever it looked like before he gave me a hand.'

He tried to shake off the experience and push it to the back of his mind as he continued his search, but ultimately, there was nothing else around.

'Damn it, what am I missing?' He tried to reflect on his first encounters with his animal spirit before becoming an Animagus. 'Back then, I just seemed to be able to enter some kind of mental space like a jungle and meet my spirit. Whatever happened to that?'

As soon as he had his first transformation, he could never return to that mental space again. Or at least, what he thought was a mental space. Jin's eyes narrowed on his soul crystal. 'Maybe it wasn't a mental space at all. Maybe it was just a temporary backdoor into something much deeper.'

Jin approached his soul and reached out a spiritual hand. The second he came into contact with it, his form flickered as his mind was drawn into a third layer, leaving his spiritual body behind as he fell deeper into a new space. A space he was ultimately familiar with.

Jin's new seemingly physical body pushed off the dirt ground and looked around the jungle clearing as he locked onto a pair of amber eyes, so like his own staring out at him from a tree branch. The tiger growled threateningly at him as a smirk grew on his face. 'That's more like it.'

00000

Long minutes passed in the clearing as one nature mage after another collapsed in mana exhaustion. Jin's little issue with looking at the bead having caused Magnie to spend much more mana than she would have wished.

Sweat dripped from her brow as she leaned on her staff and kept the ritual going, long breaths escaping her lungs as she held on with a white-knuckled grip. 'Come on Jin, hurry it up.'

Suddenly, a fresh line of moss lit up brightly and Magnie's eyes widened at the new potent source of mana. Her head snapped to the side and took in the closed eyed focus look of her granddaughter, connecting with the ritual and pouring her mana into it, glowing with the green energy of nature.

Magnie's features softened as she proudly looked at her granddaughter and star pupil managing to enter a ritual already in progress, and connect with it so smoothly without disrupting a thing. 'If only your parents could see you now. You've come far little one.' The memory of the tiny lost little thing running after her, begging to be taught about magic echoed in her mind fondly.

She turned back to the pool of water and refocused herself with a small smile. 'How fast time flies. It seems I picked a good year to pass on the torch.'

Her staff cracked under her tight grip. 'But first, I need to finish this. You better not fail Jin, don't waste my final hurrah.'

00000

Claw tore into hide and vice versa as the jungle clearing was slowly painted red.

In his tiger form, Jin fought a vicious battle against his spirit as his magic was sealed in the space outside his Animagus abilities.

He roared and jumped backward as blood blinded him in one eye, and he was forced to put his weight on his off leg.

His tiger spirit was looking better than him, and casually started licking a paw while staring at him.

An annoyed growl rang in the back of his throat. 'I can't lose, I can't kill you either; what the fuck am I supposed to do?! Dance with it?"

The longer the fight went on, the harder and harder it got to suppress his animal instincts. Jin had learned through trial and error how to clear his head in a fight, and that worked by pushing down what his tiger spirit wanted to be in control.

But the more injured he got, the more frustrated he got, the angrier he got, and the harder it was to suppress his primal instincts. That thought stuck with him. 'Maybe that's my problem. I'm afraid of letting loose.'

The memory of the first time he lost himself to his tiger spirit and tortured the spider, tasted its flesh, and made it suffer for his amusement flashed through his mind. 'I don't want to be that. I refuse to be that.'

His tiger spirit seemingly picked up on his thoughts and growled angrily at him.

Jin met the look with his own. 'I won't be you!' He dove back in as he got wilder and wilder.

Blood spilled.

A roar of victory rang out.

And a new balance was reached.

00000

Jin's body twitched in the clearing, and the moonlight intensified on his floating chest. Magnie had fallen to her knees, the last of the mages in the clearing still awake as she smirked. 'About time.'

She pushed herself up on shaky legs and twisted her staff in the earth as she inhaled. 'One last time.' A sound like a single drop of water splashing into a clear, calm pond rang distinctly through the clearing, and Jin's spiritual body was hooked once more as it was dragged to the surface.

The last of the mana petered out, and the clearing grew dim as the half-conscious hopeful nature mage stared ahead at the body floating under the rays of moonlight.

Eyelids snapped open as wild amber eyes glowed in the dim lighting. Jin's prone body slowly rose as his lungs expanded, taking in air rapidly before his veins bulged. A primal roar from the soul boomed from his lips, drowning out the sounds of nature as an alpha predator appeared to quieten everything around it.

His frame grew by inches, silver claws shining in the moonlight popping out, muscles writhing and expanding, a tail three feet long sprouting from his tailbone, and finally, dark orange fur sprouted all around his body, interspaced with black lines. In contrast, his chest, stomach, and groin grew fur white as snow.

The two young women at the edge of the clearing held their hands over their ears from the pain of the shout that rang out and watched with wide eyes as the new Jin flexed his claws and stared straight at Magnie like prey.

The older centaur's vision grew blurry as blood leaked from her own orifices. 'Did we fail? Did you come back the animal Jin?' Her consciousness began to fade as she fell, and Jin pounced.

Fleur rushed forward to intervene, but she needn't have bothered.

Magnie's body never hit the ground as strong yet gentle arms caught her. A deeper voice than she was accustomed to hearing from the young man rang in her ear. "Rest Magnie. Thank you."

A chuckle bubbled from her throat as she faded. "If only I was younger…."

Jin's new form looked down at her with a wry smile. "You don't look that old to me woman." He looked up as Fleur approached and smiled at his lover. "Hey Sparkles."

She approached him on light feet without hesitation and placed a petite hand on his white-furred chest. "Mon Tigre?"

He lowered his larger head to her. "Yeah, still me, Mon Soleil." The memory of the first time he transformed and freaked her out reached both of them.

A watery smile grew on her face as she jumped at him. "You worried me there for a second you idiot!"

A guttural chuckle rang in his lungs and vibrated his chest against Fleur's nuzzling head. "Sorry about that, couldn't help my instincts."

Saya approached and knelt by her grandmother in worry. "What happened in there? The ritual should have lasted much longer. What happened to my grandmother?" Her voice shook with still rising shock at seeing her grandmother in such a state.

Jin followed her gaze to the smiling and pale face of the older centaur. His enhanced eyesight which could see perfectly in the night, zeroed in on all the pale-faced collapsed centaur mages, and he knew they went beyond what was necessary for the ritual he paid for. "It was a close shave. I think she saved me, but as for what happened to her, I think we both want answers to that." He patted Fleur's back. "Come on girls, let's get her back to her tent and call the others to help retrieve the rest."

He owed them, and a debt would be paid.

But first, he would wait till he heard answers from the woman at the center of that debt.

End.

AN: Thoughts?

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Response to Reviews:

/: OoOXylionOoO, Guest - Thanks! Hope you enjoyed the new chap.

/: Raidentensho – I sadly did not think of that joke, but good call. Toriko is def somewhere in the future, but that's mid-late game. That world scaling is insane even if I love it.

/: Narigo Kurimaki – Good catch. I added a line for that this chap. Thanks lol.

/: Sakra95 – Exactly! That's why I'm making my system at all. If you ask 90% of readers, they would say HP magic is kinda trash compared to other worlds. They will say it's too low scale. But what if you could take the same exact magic and increase the power of them. More mana + control = more power. And the faster you can get out a pumped up spell, the more deadly you are. Thats another reason I tried so hard to limit what he can get. Cuz he really doesn't need anything else from HP.

/: randomguy9005 – 5 - 15, will be the last part for HP.

/: HughJasz – Lol nah. The purpose of the scale is not to grade others. It's sole purpose is to track his own growth. Hope you enjoyed the chap.

/: Deathunterz123 – LOL. My apologies. Hope you enjoyed the new chap.