Replacement Boy That Lived Part 3 (Patreon)

"Sleeping in a bed has restored your mana and health to full," the female voice announced.

Myst yawned and looked around the unfamiliar room until he noticed the clock on the hotel room desk. 'Six fifty nine? Automated wakeup and the clock being a touch slow or just issues with sleeping in strange places?' he mused as he slipped out of the bed that he shouldn't be in. He glanced around the room then carefully made the bed so that no one would notice he'd 'broken' in to grab some sleep.

He glanced towards the bathroom then shook his head. 'You can grab a shower when you pay for it,' he told himself then focused on his teleport power and teleported to the Knockturn Alley dungeon, figuring he'd do a bit of shopping before trying to tackle the goblin dungeon again.

Myst froze when he spotted an old wart covered hag looking at him like most people looked at a delicious looking steak. 'Shit.'

"What do we have here?" the hag asked in a sickly sweet voice. "A child where he doesn't belong."

Myst teleported across the street and dashed into one of the shops, figuring the hag probably wouldn't follow him. He glanced around at the mismatched collection of wooden shelves filled with used books then focused on the attractive blue haired lady standing behind the counter that looked to be in her early twenties.

"Welcome to the Arcana Maledictum, how can I help you?" the lady behind the counter asked with a smile as the kid walked over, wondering if the strangely powerful kid was the reason her mother had insisted that she open the shop early.

Myst stared at the woman's dragon-like eyes for a couple of seconds then smiled. "I'm looking for books on ritual magic or runes and enchanting."

Selena studied the child for a couple of seconds then turned and grabbed a book off the shelf and a scroll when she realized he was serious. "I'm afraid I just sold my last copy of an enchanting manual that wasn't cursed but I can help you with runes and the odd ritual scroll for the right price," she said with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.

"How much?" Myst asked warily.

She set the book and scroll on the counter. "One galleon and eight sickles for the rune book and I'll want five mana stones for the ritual scroll."

'Since when do wizards care about mana?' Myst frowned. "Where do I get mana stones?"

"With the ritual on the scroll, certain squibs and hags pay decent money for the stones because they can be used to power certain artifacts and rituals," Selena explained.

"I'd need to look at the ritual to create the stones," Myst pointed out as he walked over to the counter.

"That's not a problem," Selena replied with amusement. "I have faith that you'll want more rituals and a copy of the ritual which means you'll come back with five mana stones."

"Fair enough," Myst agreed as he pulled two galleons out of his inventory and paid her for the rune book.

Selena handed him his change and the book and scroll. "Come back when you've created five decent sized stones, I'll give you a bonus for exceptionally large ones."

'Probably just as well I didn't get a quest notice,' Myst mused as he read the scroll.

"New ritual acquired: Mana Gem unlocked." a female voice announced.

Myst pulled up his ritual page and looked at his new ritual. 'Okay, that's remarkably easy, if inefficient.' He selected the twenty five point mana gem and spent the hundred mana it cost to create it. He stuck his hand out and turned it so his palm was up then chanted, "Magia gemma."

Selena covered her surprise with a smile when a pinky sized blue gem formed in the palm of the kid's hand. "Not bad for a first attempt..." she trailed off as he set the gem on the counter and repeated the phrase, creating an identical gem. "If you can give me three more like that, I'll give you something extra special."

"Deal," Myst replied with a grin as he set the gem on the counter next to the other one. He pulled a mana potion out of his inventory and drank the blackberry flavored potion. 'At least it doesn't taste bad.'

"Mana potion?" Selena asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, I'd rather not run out of mana," Myst replied as he stuck the empty potion bottle back in his inventory. "Magia gemma," he chanted, creating another mana gem.

"Are you going to get in trouble for using an expensive potion?" Selena asked in concern.

"Nothing I can't handle," Myst replied as he set the gem on the counter. "Magia gemma," he chanted, creating another identical gem.

"You're a natural," Selena offered as she grabbed two scrolls off the back shelf.

"Thanks," Myst replied as he set the gem on the counter next to the rest. "Magia gemma."

"Ritual Magic increased by 1," the female voice announced.

Myst grinned as he set the gem on the counter next to the other four stones. "Paid in full."

"Excellent," Selena replied as she handed Myst one of the scrolls. "This should give you the ability to craft moving tattoos, fair warning the process is extremely painful and a bit dark."

"Dark?" Myst asked.

"It's basically blood magic, it ties up a small portion of your life force and magic to create the tattoo which you won't get back until your minion dies," Selena warned him.

Myst stared at Selena for a couple of seconds, wondering why the fuck she'd give a dark ritual to a child then quickly read the scroll before she could change her mind.

"New ritual acquired: Blood Tattoo unlocked." a female voice announced.

Selena handed Myst the other scroll with a grin that sent a shiver down his spine. "I'm going to want a wolf cloak for the next scroll."

'Yeah, because that doesn't sound ominous.' Myst read the scroll.

"New ritual acquired: Wolf cloak unlocked." a female voice announced.

'So much for this version of Knockturn Alley just being a little suspect,' Myst mused after reading the description of the ritual that would let him turn five werewolf pelts into a cloak that would let the wearer change into a wolf whenever they wanted. He glanced at the ritual for the magical tattoos as he stuck the runes book and scrolls in his inventory. 'Yeah, I can't see Voldemort weakening himself to strengthen his minions or allowing someone to use it on him considering the mental influence the caster gets.'

"I'll see what I can do," Myst replied as he turned his attention to the shelves. "Do you have any books on potions that might come in handy?"

"For the young dark wizard, of course," Selena said cheerfully as she walked out from behind the counter and over to one of the shelves. "Let's see, Potions and Elixirs Most Foul, Confusing Concoctions, Bubbling Brews and Bartholomew's Guide to Alchemy ingredients."

"How much for all of them?" Myst asked, figuring he might as well get started building a decent library.

Selena quickly checked the tags after collecting the books. "How does ten galleons sound?"

"I'll take them." Myst pulled ten galleons out of his inventory and handed them to her.

Selena pocketed the money and gave the kid the books. "Best of luck."

"Thanks," Myst replied as the front door opened and a familiar looking man with dark hair walked into the shop. 'Shit, so much for Dumbledore not being able to track me,' he thought as he turned so he wasn't facing the guy that was probably his future potions instructor judging by the fact that he looked like a younger Alan Rickman.

"I'll be right with you," Selena called out as the kid made the books vanish in an interesting display of wandless magic. 'Mom was right, it was worth getting up early.'

"Not to worry," Severus assured her as he walked over to the shelf where some of the darker books were stored.

Selena turned and smiled at Severus when she recognized her friend's voice. "What brings you to the shop, Severus?"

Severus glanced at the child that was looking at some of the potion books then focused on Selena. "Some associates are looking for a couple of rare books."

"Are these the same associates my mother tossed out of the shop a couple of weeks ago?" Selena asked with a raised eyebrow.

"They might have mentioned something to that effect," Severus admitted.

Myst shivered as he saw a flash of green light in the back room and felt like he was walking through the wrong part of town at night with a thousand eyes staring at him for a couple of seconds before the disturbing feeling faded. 'What the hell was that?!'

Selena shook her head. "You know the rules, I can't in good conscience sell you anything useful that you'll turn around and give someone that was tossed out of the shop for being terminally stupid."

Severus glanced at the scruffy looking child then focused on Selena. "That depends on your definition of useful, one of them crossed some lines and I need something that will teach his friends that there are lines you don't cross."

A tall woman with long dark purple hair stepped out of the backroom wearing a black silk dress that clung to her generous curves and holding a black leatherbound book that seemed to drop shadows. "I have just the thing."

Selena turned to look at her mother. "No plagues or traps that summon eldritch abominations."

Selena's mother stuck the book into a pocket in her dress with a sigh then pulled out a different book. "I still have just the thing."

Myst waited until the adults started discussing which book to curse then turned and headed for the door. 'At least he wasn't looking for me,' he mused as he opened his teleport menu and looked for interesting dungeons. 'Gremlins and junkyards, I think I'll pass until I can fly over the area and just blast everything that moves. Banshees? No thanks, I don't need to fall over dead.'

He almost walked into the door when he saw the dungeons in Godric's Hollow. 'Haunted Graveyard and Madness?' He placed a marker on the ghost dungeon for later then slipped out of the shop and glanced around the alley. 'Shit,' he complained when he spotted the hag from before leaning up against the opposite wall watching the door with a twisted smirk.

'So much for shopping.' Myst selected the Madness dungeon as it was the least dangerous of the two Godric's Hollow dungeons. He glanced at the dungeon stone peeking out of an overgrown hedge next to a barely visible metal arch then turned and looked at the partially destroyed stone cottage that was missing half the roof.

"Lovely," he muttered as he stared at the overgrown grass and blackberries that had been allowed to grow everywhere. Despite the fact that he wasn't Harry and it wasn't really his parents' house the sheer level of neglect made him want to burn the ministry to the ground or at least smack the shit out of Dumbledore with a dead fish.

"Screw it," Myst muttered as he turned around and touched the arch with his fingers, causing a swirling multicolored portal to open in the arch, the colors changing between one second and the next, some of them seeming blank, as if there was something there… but he just couldn’t see it, making him shudder. 'I've got enough mana to take a look as long as I'm careful.' He stepped through the portal and onto a dirt path surrounded by a dark forest that sent shivers down his spine. He glanced up at the full moon in the night sky then looked behind him at the glowing portal that should take him back to Godric's Hollow.

He conjured his bow and a quiver of arrows then quietly made his way down the trail, fairly sure he was making a mistake but curious enough that he didn't care. He'd barely made it a hundred feet down the trail when he heard chanting and saw what might be a person in a cloak in the distance.

"Azoozol! Hear my call!" a cloaked figure called out.

Myst frowned when two pinpricks of red light appeared near the figure. 'Great, he's summoning demons.'

"You have called the great and powerful Azoozol, what is your desire mortal and what is your offering?" a disturbingly clear voice asked in a gravely whisper that was easily heard despite the distance.

"Take my sister's soul and give me immortality," the man called out.

The demon laughed. "You don't own your sister's soul and one soul isn't worth immortality."

Myst watched the red eyes vanish then nocked an arrow and shot at the cultist, more than a little surprised when he heard a gurgling scream followed by the cultist turning into a collection of motes of light that faded away. 'That was easier than I was expecting,' he mused as he nocked another arrow and worked his way closer, half expecting something to jump out of the shadows at him.

Myst grinned when he found a scroll lying on the path where the cultist died. He picked up the scroll and awkwardly twisted it so that he could read it in the moonlight without dropping his bow.

"New ritual acquired: Demon of Greed (Summoning) unlocked." a female voice announced.

'Yeah, that sounds like a good way to die screaming,' Myst mused as he stuck the scroll in his inventory and continued walking down the path after making sure his arrow was ready to fire. He paused when he saw an attractive looking naked woman in her early twenties with blonde hair walking a fat man in a priest's robes down the road on a leash.

'Huh, at least she's attractive even if she has weird taste in pets,' Myst mused as he watched the couple walk down the path, the woman occasionally skipping along which caused her generous bust to bounce in a distracting fashion. "Hello?" he called out when they got within thirty feet.

The woman waved. "Are you looking for the cultists?"

Myst glanced at the man with a neatly trimmed beard in his late twenties or early thirties wearing priest robes then focused on the naked woman as they walked a bit closer, stopping ten feet away. "Probably, do you know where I can find some?"

"Yes!" the woman replied cheerfully and pointed down the trail with her free hand. "If you keep following the path, you'll come to a grove, the idiots are trying to sacrifice a bunch of people to summon a demon to take over the kingdom."

"Evil king?" Myst asked thoughtfully as he pulled his gaze back up to her eyes rather than wonder if her hair matched her non-existent carpet.

The man snorted. "No, they're just assholes."

"Fair enough. How many cultists are there?" Myst asked, trying to get an idea of what he was walking into.

"There are six black robed cultists that can use magic and a dozen idiots in white robes that they convinced to help them with the promise of money," the man explained.

The woman nodded. "You should hurry."

"Thanks," Myst replied as he started jogging down the path, doing his best to avoid tripping on the occasional root. He shivered and increased his speed when he saw something move in the trees or at least he was reasonably sure there was something monstrous in the darkness. 'I need to pick up a Hand of Glory or something that lets me see in the dark.'

"We call the Devourer of Sanity!" one of the cultists called out as Myst reached the small clearing.

Myst had just enough time to take in the five large stone altars set up in a star pattern in the middle of the clearing, the cultists wearing dark robes, the dozen men in white robes scattered around the altars and the peasants chained to the altars before he shot the dark robed cultist that was chanting with an arrow. He pulled another arrow out of his quiver and shot the next black robed cultist while they were trying to figure out what was going on.

"Intruders!" one of the four surviving black robed cultists shouted at the same time one of the white robed cultists shouted, "To arms!" and charged the path.

Myst dropped the bow and tossed a fireball at the black robed cultist then screamed as one of the black robed cultists filled the area he was in with lightning, cutting through three of the white robed cultists without a care in the world and dropping him to the ground as his muscles stopped responding.

"Grab him!" one of the surviving cultists shouted after ducking behind one of the stone altars.

"Save me Loki!" Myst teleported to the other side of the clearing. He waited a couple of seconds for his hands to start working again and for the white robed cultists to rush out of the clearing with one of the black robed cultists leading the way then tossed a firebolt into the back of the cowering cultist. 'You need to stop tanking shit, you're a magic user and a kid.'

He dropped the other cultist with a firebolt then pulled a mana potion out of his inventory and drank it, knowing he'd need the mana for the next part of his plan. He waited for his legs to stop tingling then started crawling towards one of the altars so he could use it for cover. He waited until three of the men rushed back into the clearing in front of the remaining black robed cultist then unleashed a stream of lightning at them, feeling a bit like a Sith Lord as the cultists screamed and died.

He scowled as he watched his mana bar quickly drain as he fried the rest of the cultists as they charged him like mobs in a game or idiotic fanatics. 'I love the damage but the mana cost sucks.' He glanced at his health bar, more than a little annoyed that the cultist had almost managed to kill him with one spell. 'It's like playing fucking rocket tag.'

He pushed himself to his feet then walked over and looted the piles of gear the cultists had dropped, netting himself three scrolls, a potion, two silver rings, a book and a dagger.

"Can you untie us?" one of the female prisoners asked hopefully.

"Sure," Myst replied as he walked over and cut the rope securing her to the altar with the cultist's dagger. "Do you have any idea what they were trying to do?"

"They were going to summon a demon to destroy things you stupid little shit!" one of the prisoners snapped.

Myst turned and looked at the chained up man that was dressed like a priest. "I meant specifically."

"Does it matter? They were heathens!" the priest screamed.

"If it wasn't for the girls, I'd say I made a mistake killing the cultists," Myst grumbled.

"Little boys should be silent," the priest snapped.

Myst walked over and cut part of the priest's sleeve off.

"What are you doing!" the priest demanded.

"Saving your life," Myst replied as he stuffed the cloth in the priest's mouth to shut him up before he sacrificed the priest himself. "The path should be clear for anyone that wants to leave," he assured the prisoners as he went to work cutting the next prisoner free, only half paying attention to the fact that she was a rather cute teenage girl with red hair.

The old woman tied to one of the altars slipped her hands out of the ropes that should have been restraining her. "Thanks for the help."

"Let me guess, they screwed up tying the ropes?" Myst asked as he continued sawing at the rope he was working on, doing his best not to cut the girl's expensive looking dress as he didn't want to piss her off and he wasn't in a hurry.

"Nah, I've just had a lot of practice getting out of ropes over the years," the old woman replied with a smirk as she headed for the path.

Myst shook his head then finished cutting the rest of the prisoners free other than the priest. He wasn't surprised when most of them ran out of the clearing. "Let me guess, you want me to be your escort?"

"If you don't mind," the red haired girl replied as she reached into her belt pouch, pulled out a scroll and tossed it to Myst. "Is this enough to cover the escort fee? I might be a princess but I'm only the third daughter, my allowance only covers so much."

"Is there any reason the cultists didn't steal your belt pouch?" Myst asked as he stuck the dagger in his inventory and unrolled the scroll.

"It's enchanted so that people that want to hurt me or want to steal from me don't notice it," the girl replied smugly.

"Nice…" Myst trailed off as he opened the scroll and realized what it was talking about.

"New cooking recipe acquired: Cannibalistic Magic Enhancement Food Prep Ritual unlocked." a female voice announced.

Myst rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Where did you get that?"

"Hypothetically?" the girl asked with a mischievous grin.

Myst laughed. "Sure."

"I might have swiped it from the cook because he's a creep, why?" she asked.

"Just curious," Myst replied as he looked at the rest of the scrolls he'd picked up from the cultists, fairly sure the princess wouldn't want to know what she'd been eating. 'Assuming she wasn't just created by the dungeon.'

"New ritual acquired: Corruption Reduction Ring unlocked." a female voice announced.

"New spell acquired: Mana Drain unlocked." a female voice announced.

"New ritual acquired: Share Corruption unlocked." a female voice announced.

He put the scrolls away and looked at the description for the corruption reduction ritual. 'It creates a ring out of a sample of metal and a gem that reduces incoming corruption based on the value of the components, that's either nearly useless or completely broken depending on how much corruption it can absorb.'

He looked at his Share Corruption ritual. 'Allows you to divide all of the corruption you'd acquire between the participants in the ritual until they leave the ritual circle, using the ritual on unwilling participants gives you 1d4 corruption per participant before the ritual starts working.'

"Are you lost in thought?" the princess asked.

"Yeah, sorry," Myst replied as he found the corruption stat he'd missed before or hadn't noticed. 'Minor corruption causes occasional bouts of insane laughter, flaws in judgement while higher levels of corruption causes insanity, excessive mustache twirling and a refusal to follow the evil overlord's handbook in addition to various physical issues. Yeah, let's avoid that.'

"What are you thinking about?" the girl asked.

"I'm thinking about testing some dangerous rituals on the priest," Myst admitted as he examined the dagger. 'Athame of magic stealing, by killing a creature with the dagger you permanently acquire a point of magic if their magic stat is higher. Nice, now I just have to find a dungeon with monsters that have more than fifty points of magic that I can actually kill, yeah, that might be problematic for a bit.'

"Will his head explode?" the girl asked hopefully.

Myst glanced at the red faced priest that was trying to talk through this gag. "Not a fan of priests?"

"No, they're always preaching about how magic is evil, witches should be killed and how little girls are filled with sin and must be beaten daily or spend time with the priest cleansing their evil by doing all of the things they claim are evil in the first place," the girl replied. "I mean, I'm a hedonistic nudist that can barely keep her clothes on at the best of times, so he's not wrong about being naughty, but he's still annoying and a major hypocrite."

'I'm going to have to see if I can spring her from the dungeon,' Myst mused as he handed her one of the corruption reduction rings. "Any objections about killing the evil priest?"

"Nope," the girl replied.

Myst pulled his dagger out and slit the priest's throat, not seeing a point in freeing him on the off chance that he'd survive to spread his evil. He blinked as he found himself back in the overgrown yard with the princess and the priest's loot at his feet. "Huh, you count as loot."

"What did you expect? I'm a princess, you're a hero," the girl replied smugly.