[6 months later]

A stormy night, the sky marred with dark clouds. Howling winds lurked through the mountains, a decadent rain flooded every inch of ground. A castle stood resolute within the storm, thunder burst through the horizon, striking the barriers of the fortress.

As lightning met magic, a wave of power resonated among the hills, and the figure of a man emerged from the aftermath. His state could only be described as dastardly. Ashen skin, with pale red lips and ivory hair, stumbling towards the castle as he clutched a decapitated head in his right hand. The man had blood gushing through his left shoulder.

A ripped sleeve on the left side, reminiscent of an arm that had seemingly been sliced off. Yet he showed no signs of pain. Walking through to the gates, the man phased across the barrier.

This was none other than Nosferat, returned from a voyage many were unaware of. He had accomplished the goals he set out to, evident from his pompous smile and the head of his enemy in his grasp.

Beckoning his servant, Nosferat stood in his garden, and immediately red wisps collected to form a a man, ready to serve. Nosferat chucked the head to his butler, giving a few instructions as the latter listened on. The vampire proceeded to regenerate his missing arm, trivial to his power. As red hue collected on his shoulder blade, condensing to form the limb.

However, during all this, Nosferat also felt two curious eyes peering through at him, from the window of his mansion. A slight smirk escaped his lips as he found his adopted grandson awake and cautious.

The count made his way inside his home, lounging in the study. Despite returning from his journey, he was still quite busy with work as a stack of papers had piled up during his absence. Living or dead, bureaucracy haunts everyone all the same. Nosferat shook his head in annoyance, but began reviewing every paper, managing the empire he had built in Europe throughout centuries.

As he had expected, soon he heard two light footsteps shuffle down the stairway. Probably the boy, he thought. Of course, his grandson was quite an interesting little bugger. His talent in magic, was quite incredible, but it was his mentality Nosferat really approved of.

Once he had read the boy's mind, and it was astounding. Plans upon plans, the desire to get stronger. He couldn't understand what it was based on. But the determination was admirable. Even in the face of primal fear, this kid had somewhat remained calm.

Nosferat liked ambition. He appreciated his grandson's desire. It was one of the reasons he didn't mind tolerating incessant questions. He also planned to grant his blood to the boy, turning him into a vampire through a ritual.

But that was far off into the future, the boy was not ready yet. Neither would he agree, and unfortunately, the ritual required a sound mind, consenting to go through. Otherwise, the implications were horrifying. A mindless ghoul.... of no use to anyone.

Just as Noferat poured himself a lovely glass of red wine, he heard the heavy wooden door slightly open, and Zack stepped towards the library. His eyes were of course glued to Nosferat's left arm.

Expecting another burst of questions to answer, Nosferat grunted a sigh.

==========================================================

A thunderbolt burst into the fortress barrier, and I could see the light scatter away as a loud blast reverberated in the walls.

I saw a figure shuffle through the dust clouds, and with a glance, I could recognize it to be Nosferat.

But.. he had a missing arm, and in his right hand. I could barely make it out.....

Surely, that was someone's head, as I saw blood tepidly dripping down from severed neck.

Insane....I didn't care about the decapitated head...No, I was more worried about an existence capable of pushing Nosferat to losing a limb in battle.

I couldn't even imagine a fight so gruesome. Clearly, this was an assault between high class combatants. However, Nosferat outclassed him enough to trade an arm for the latter's life.

Then I spotted Nosferat regenerating his arm, and the extent of his powers was deeply ingrained in my mind. Regenerating missing limbs was difficult for wizards, it could definitely be done. However, it was a tedious process involving potions, charms and the lot.

I knew due to my extensive research in abstract subjects through my reading. Yet, Nosferat had regenerated it almost instantly....astounding.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Seeing him come inside, I knew exactly where he would go. The one spot he dearly loved to laze around in. It would surely be the library.

Shuttling down the stairs I made my way to the library, aiming to greet the count and perhaps share some stories on where he had been all this time.

Six months had passed, and he comes back with a battle trophy and an injury. Of course, this smelled like backstory to me. Perhaps staying in my room all day and studying magic 24/7 had really bored me to my core.

Right now, I was far more enthralled by Nosferat's wild story. I don't know if I would get to hear it. But I was sure as hell going to try.

Reaching the study, I slowly shoved the door out the way, and I could see the old man pouring himself a nice glass as he sat down.

"Good evening" he greeted, quite calmly.

"Likewise. However, where have you been this whole time?" I asked, my gaze still glued to the new left arm.

"I've been quite occupied, taking care of old business. Nothing too eventful." He gulped down a large sip of wine as he ended.

.....Not eventful? Yeah right. I expected some willful ignorance on his part... but nothing this transparent.

"I saw you regrow an arm. How did you do that?" Naturally, I couldn't just fuss on about his boring response. So I decided to ask some other questions.

He silently took a few sips of wine, contemplating a response. He seemed more like an annoyed snob. Perturbed that I had interrupted his drinking. Which to be honest, he actually was.

"With some expertise, Vampires can control their blood to perform many actions. Regenerating a limb, is possible through blood magic." He explained.

But I badgered on quite longer than he had liked.

Of course, all my questions about the head, were willfully ignored and all I got was a cold stare down. So they weren't a viable option.

Instead, I stuck to inquisitive ones.

-How did you make the lightning? Did you apparate? Can I do blood magic?

Unfortunately, the answer to most was no, and that he had used magic exclusive to vampires. Quite discriminatory if you ask me.

You might have noticed, my questions were intricately all pertaining to magic. Well when you spend half a year studying almost all magical knowledge available for typical advanced students... Your mind tends to get influenced towards known subjects.

The me six months ago? He couldn't even hold a candle to my knowledge and power right now. The flux period wasn't dubbed carelessly. I dwarfed myself in power compared to six months ago. In fact, the difference is so evident, that I could painlessly end his miserable life had I fought myself from the past.

Knowledge truly was a weapon. Transfiguration was my main interest. Essentially, right now I was about at 1'st years level expertise. Yet all my transformation magic, was lethal.

Really scramble your thoughts for a bit. How many things can you truly turn lethal, if you could just turn them sharp? Could you even reasonably count them? I will save you the time. The answer is, infinity.

From simple blades of grass, to petals and even rocks. Possibilities were endless. I might even try my hand at assassination in the future. It would surely be a painless and ignorant death for any of my victims.

On the other hand, surprisingly I was quite an expert at charms. Most of my magic had been charms, and so the knowledge easily carried over. Without even trying, I could definitely surpass a 2nd years knowledge about charms.

Learning charms was the easy part, mastering them was quite a journey. I had learned a plethora of charms during my short study. Mastered only a handful, and yet. I was confident it was beyond the reach of a typical child.

Mastered was truly a stretch. I was competent at them. See I had learned that, mastering magic.... was an endless journey. Any insightful mage would have different interpretations of magic... even common magic varied drastically in different hands.

A levitation charm could turn into a flight spell or a weightless charm. The possibilities that had come into magic, was due to the differences in perspective on simple spells, that truly branched out towards different fields.

Want to freeze something? Transfigure it to be within ice, or conjure it within ice.... Perhaps, lower its surrounding temperature until it naturally freezes over.

Congratulations, I just told you how to accomplish your goal, in three different ways. Which way was the best you ask? That truly depends on the caster.

The real amazing phenomena were the different iterations of spells or magic through hundreds of years that had evolved to what we know now. Knowledge compounded over centuries, were the real treasure.

Magicians who had spent their whole lives just to discover a variation of a spell that already existed. It really showed the importance of perspective.

Likewise, my perspective on transfiguration? It was a tool. A tool to accomplish any goal. Whether that was to harm, or to help. Transfiguration would always be useful. However, the same couldn't be said about other branches of magic. Hence, my focus on this field instead.

On that note, I was tempted to learn dark magic.... No it's best to say that I did learn dark magic.. The basic jinxes and hexes anyway. However, I had heard many negative setbacks due to dark magic. For now, I was refrained from trying anything on my own.

Lest I be stuck with an injury for life... I was perfectly fine sticking to the "safe" and "acceptable" fields of magic. However, in the future, once I got on my on two feet regarding my magic.

I would chase magic, regardless of origin. After all, demonic or holy, magic to me, was a means to an end. The outcome was what truly mattered. Power, the truth of the world was power.

Sensing that Nosferat wasn't going to entertain my incessant questions any longer, I decided to return and work on my magic. I vividly remember Ivan's warning to not slack off. I don't know what he was planning in two years time...

In two years, I would be about 10 years old.... Finally, just one year off getting a wand. I was truly hasty. But soon, my journey would officially begin once I get my wand. For now, I was going to continue laying a foundation.

A foundation solid enough, that no power could break down. Soon, it would all begin soon.

========================================================

A/N: Hi guys, sorry for the late chapter. Uni has been hectic, anyhow, I hope you guys liked it. Don't forget to leave a review!