For a change in scenery, Alan and Quinn sat in the garden canopy for their lesson. Quinn watched as Alan waved his hand and performed a spell. Quinn noticed Alan didn't have a wand in his hand.
So Quinn inquired, "Mr. Baddeley, it seems you can also do focusless magic. What spell did you just use?"
Alan cocked his brow and shook his head, "You are mistaken, Mr. West. I have spent my life pursuing mind arts. The art of focusless magic is not my forte. I can only perform mind magic without a focus, and even that in a limited capacity. I am still in need of a focus to perform magic." He raised the hand that he had waved to cast the spell and pulled his sleeve to show a silver bracelet fitted with an opal gem in the middle.
"I use a gem-fitted bracelet as my focus." Quinn stared at the bracelet and thought back to his travels. Gem-fitted bracelets were the norm around the continent of Africa. He had seen African magicals use various metals and gems to craft bracelets. The process was the same as their wand counterpart.
Quinn removed his eyes from the bracelet and asked the older in the pair a question that plagued his thoughts, "Mr. Baddeley, how do you disarm a bracelet user. A Disarming Charm can strip wands off from their user, but what about a bracelet focus? How does one disarm a magical such as you who uses a bracelet?"
Alan traced his finger over his bracelet while replying, "Bracelet users also have their own version of Disarming Charm; but as you might think, the bracelet might not come out off from their owners' wrist.
So, the Disarming Charm for bracelets is a spell that would disrupt the connection between the owner and the focus, resulting in them not being able to cast magic. The spell's effectiveness not only depends on the caster's power and proficiency, but also on the target's abilities. A good bracelet user could counteract the spell's effect by reducing the time of disruption, if not totally dismissing the spell's influence.
And, let me be clear, we do not call this spell the Disarming Charm. The spell is just a counterpart to Disarming Charm for wand-type focuses."
Alan finished his explanation and finished by saying, "As for the spell, it was just a privacy ward for our lesson."
Quinn nodded and thought if, in the future, he would be able to recreate a spell that won't disarm a person but temporarily disrupt the connection between the target and the target's wand.
- (Scene Break) -
After the discussion, the pair returned to the occlumency lesson at hand. It was finally the time for Quinn to start with the efficiency aspect of occlumency.
Alan, with his usual smile on his face, started. "The efficiency aspect of occlumency is tremendously helpful to many people. A study done in Argentina showed that the efficiency aspect of occlumency is the most popular aspect among magicals around the country. And, people who know multiple aspects of occlumency are most proficient in the efficiency aspect. Magicals are more interested in the efficiency aspect than the defense aspects.
Many professions require in magical research are proficient in the efficiency aspect. It helps them keep memories for a longer time and stimulates their minds to process things quicker. Many people in legal practice also learn this aspect. This aspect is prominent in any line of work that might have a requirement of a fantastic memory."
He then pointed to himself and remarked, "As you might know, magicals live longer than our non-magical counterpart. With old age comes memory problems; I am over 150 years old. How much of my childhood and youth do you think I would remember if I wasn't an occlumency master.
But, because I am a master, I remember every single moment of my life. I can recall any moment of my life with a snap of my fingers. So, the aspect of efficiency is also popular with older people as it allows them to keep precious memories that they might forget with old age."
He then gave another example, "Your grandfather is an example of a master of efficiency aspect. He has a business empire to manage, so I am sure that as he worked on the business, he also worked on his occlumency."
Quinn thought about his grandfather and remarked, "My grandfather might be proficient in all three aspects."
Alan nodded and noted, "He has a defense. I confirmed that the moment we met." Quinn cut Alan and exclaimed, "You used legilimency on my grandfather on your first meeting?!"
The old master shrugged, "It is an occupational hazard. Can't seem to get rid of this habit." Alan smiled and didn't look like he wanted to get rid of this particular habit.
Quinn sighed and advised, "You might get in trouble, you know."
Alan scoffed in reply, "I am an old man who has been doing this long before your grandfather was even born. I can check out a person's defenses without getting caught." Quinn could feel the confidence and pride Alan held in his capabilities.
Young Quinn had no problem with it as Alan was in the right to feel that way. In Quinn's eyes, Alan D. Baddeley was a beast who was at the top of his field.
Alan finally began explaining how to get started with the aspect of efficiency, "One of the sub-aspects of the efficiency is memory. Let's first understand what is memory?"
Alan paused before continuing, "Memory is the ability to both preserve and recover information we have learned or experienced throughout our lives. As we all know, however, this is not a flawless process. Sometimes we forget or misremember things. Sometimes things are not perfectly stored in memory.
Memory problems can range from minor annoyances like forgetting where you left your glasses to diseases, like dementia, that affects the quality of life and the ability to function."
Alan waited for Quinn to note down everything before moving on, "To improve your memory, we have to find ways to retrieve our memories from our mind. Usually, stored memory lies outside of our awareness most of the time, except when we actually need to use it. The retrieval process allows us to bring stored memories into conscious awareness." He finished as he pointed at his temple.
"Now, to use the information that has been stored into memory, it first has to be retrieved. There are many factors that can influence how memories are retrieved, such as the type of information being used and the retrieval cues that are present.
Of course, this process is not always perfect. Have you ever felt like you had the answer to a question right at the tip of your tongue, but you could not quite remember it? This is an example of a perplexing memory retrieval problem known as the tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon."
Quinn clearly understood the feel of having the answer on the tip-of-the-tongue but not being able to remember.
"You want to use memories, and your mind takes care of it by providing you information from your memories. But, can we do better? The answer is yes, we can do better. We can do much better. And, I will be teaching you how to get your memory better.
Do you know what a mindscape is?"
Quinn shook his head in reply, and Alan described, "The Mindspace is one of the most powerful memory techniques I know. It is building a space in your mind where you can organize and store your memories. You can strengthen the connection to your memories and improve your retention.
Non-magicals use a similar method known as Mind palace, but it is but a copy of mindscape. A mindscape is much more powerful. If developed properly, you can remember every single second of your life."
Alan leaned into this chair and revealed, "Sometimes, I just kick back and dive into my memories, reliving good times. I can do it because I can recall every single thing that I have experienced in my life." He looked straight into Quinn's eyes and said, "I can even remember what it was like to be in my mother's womb. A memory from before I was born."
Quinn's eyes widened in shock at hearing the revelation.
'What kind of work did he put in to remember that. Magic can really make impossible things seem possible.' Quinn once again felt that he had been underestimating magic.
Alan sat up straight and taught, "Let's talk about how to build a mindscape.
First and foremost, you will need to pick a place that you are very familiar with. The technique's effectiveness relies on your ability to mentally see and walk around in that place with ease. You should be able to 'be there' at will, using only your mind's eye.
Do you have a place like that?"
Quinn immediately turned to look at the West Manor before turning back to Alan. "I have been at the West Manor for most of my life. I can walk here with my eyes closed."
Alan nodded with a smile, "One's house is usually people's first choice. Remember that the more vividly you can visualize that place's details, the more effective your technique will be.
For the next lesson, I have some homework for you to do. I want you to roam your house and strengthen its picture in your eyes. I want you to remember every corner and corridor of your home. You don't have to memorize the layout of furniture in your house, only the paths, and structure."
Quinn nodded, and the lesson ended for the day.
From that day, Quinn roamed the halls of West Manor. Taking in every nook and cranny of his home. He reinforced the details of his home in his mind. He read Alan's book and saw what he needed to do to build a better mindscape.
He spent hours walking around, stopping at every door, and memorizing the door. Quinn opened every door in the manor and did it multiple times. He had Elliot (butler) give him the keys to every room in the manor. Quinn visited rooms that weren't being used and opened every door so that he could remember every room.
Quinn walked around the house early in the morning and in the night's cover. He walked with his hands brushing against the walls. He walked backward. Quinn tried writing what he saw, speak what he was seeing as he roamed the corridors of the West Manor.
He even had Elliot take him up in the air with a broom so that he could have a look at the manor from the sky above. He memorized the scenery of the entire premise of the property.
Quinn had to say it was fun to walk around the house. It felt that he was an explorer on an adventure. Finding things that he never knew were in his house.
- (Scene Break) -
In the next lesson, Alan began with Quinn build his mindscape. He had Quinn lie on a sofa and relax. "Mr. West, close your eyes, and focus on my voice." Quinn closed his eyes and focused on Alan's voice.
"Relax, Mr. West. Let your body relax. I want you to dive into your mind. Imagine a white space with nothing in it." Quinn didn't know if Alan was using any mind arts because he felt a strange appeal in his voice. It was a soothing, baritone voice that made Quinn relax his mind and body. He felt himself following Alan's instruction, and suddenly he blacked out.
When he opened his eyes, he was in a pure white space with nothing in sight. He couldn't see any end to this white space.
"Mr. West, can you hear me?" Quinn heard a voice but couldn't find the source of the voice.
"Mr. Baddeley, is that you?" Quinn looked around expecting to see Alan but found no one in the white except him.
Once again, Alan's voice entered his ears, "There is no need to look around, Mr. West. You are inside your mind, and I am talking to you from the outside."
Quinn sighed and spoke with a slight bitterness in his voice, "You bypassed my defenses without me even knowing. Ugh... I swear one day I will make sure that you can't enter my mind."
Laughter boomed around him as Alan spoke, "I am sure that you will keep me out of your mind, but that will be after I am dead. I ain't going to be defeated by a wee little boy."
The banter with his teacher had calmed Quinn. He felt comfortable in the seemingly infinite white space. "So, why are we here?"
Alan's voice came from everywhere and nowhere, "This white space is your undeveloped mindscape. As the first step of strengthening your memory, we are going to develop your mindscape."
Quinn gazed at the endless white space and spoke, "How are we going to develop this? There is nothing in here to develop."
"We are inside your mind, you can develop your mind any way you want. You are going to imagine the West Manor and give it shape in your mind," Alan's voice instructed. "I want you to start by imagining ground. Imagine grass and dirt spanning across your mindscape."
Quinn knelt on the white surface and placed his hands on the surface. He closed(?) his eyes inside his mindscape. "Visualize the feel of grass against your hands as you weave them through a patch of grass, the length of grass that you are familiar with. Imagine the scent of freshly cut grass. Think about the rustling grass makes. Underneath the grass, feel the ground on which the grass grows."
Quinn followed his mentor's instruction, and in a span of minutes, Quinn felt the texture of grass against his hands, heard the rustling of grass through his ears, and could breathe in the scent of grass.
"Mr. Baddeley, I-I can feel grass and ground," Quinn was thrilled by feeling grass and ground, which was not there before. His imagination was roused as he was dying to open his eyes, but Alan had said not to open them till he said so.
"Excellent, now slowly open your eyes to see the great expanse of green grass." Quinn opened his eyes and saw grasslands that stretched to the horizons.
The grass felt extremely real to all of Quinn's senses. The only thing that made the whole experience unrealistic was the white 'sky' above that caused strife in the scenery.
"The white sky is weird," Quinn complained to the old master monitoring him from the outside.
"We are going to take care of that. Look at the white nothingness and imagine the sky. The color of the blue sky, if you want clouds, add them to the sky. Imagine the type of clouds you want."
Quinn stared at the sky for another couple of minutes, and slowly the blue begin bleeding into the white sky. Then came the fluffy white clouds that actually moved in the sky.
Quinn looked at the horizon where blue and green met, and the whole scenery was perfect. No sense of strife or any unnatural feel to it. He took in the scene for a while before asking, "Ok, what is next?"
Alan instructed, "We just completed the base for your mindscape. Now, let's create the structure that will act as the access point between you and your memories.
Remember that your memories reside in your subconscious, and your mind provides them to you for use. The structure we will be building will expedite that process. A doorway to all your memories. A magic that will allow you to harness every single life experience you have.
As we talked about in the last lesson, we are going to use West Manor, your home, as your mindscape. Once again, visualize the West Manor and wish it to appear in front of you. Keep in mind that you have to visualize your home from all directions. I want it to be an exact replica of your home."
Quinn did what he was instructed. He visualized the West Manor, and it took him an hour to get a shoddy replica of the West Manor. Quinn's replica blurry and was missing components that lead to pitch-black blanks on the outside of the building. He wasn't even sure what was inside the Manor in front of him.
Quinn wasn't sure if he had followed Alan's instruction correctly.
Alan felt his student's emotion about the resulted replica and assured, "Mr. West, you don't need to worry. Your replica is extremely good for the first time."
Quinn frowned and snorted in disbelief, "You mean this blurry building with black blanks is an excellent result?" Alan's voice replied, "Yes, if building a mindscape was easy, then everyone would be walking with a perfect memory."
Quinn wanted to improve his mindscape, but Alan called out, "Mr. West, it is time to come out of your mind. We have accomplished our goals for today."
Quinn closed his eyes, and the next time he opened them, he was in the usual room, on the sofa with Alan sitting near him.
Quinn sat up with a groan and suddenly felt tired as he leaned back into the coach. Alan handed him a glass of water that he accepted. "Thank you."
Alan answered the reason behind Quinn's sudden fatigue, "It was your first time accessing your mindscape. Feeling tired is perfectly normal. It will get easier with each successive try."
Quinn downed the water in the glass and asked, "What comes next?"
Alan chuckled at his student's eagerness, "We are going to fix your replica till it becomes identical to the real thing. We are going to fix it bit by bit. Bringing definition to the building and filling the blanks in your replica."
Quinn nodded and immediately asked, "Can I do it on my own?" Thinking if he could improve his mindscape between lessons.
Alan laughed as he was expecting the question, "Yes, you absolutely can. I will teach you how to enter your mindscape at will."
Quinn nodded as he resolved himself to fix the replica West Manor by the next lesson.
-*-*-*-*-*-
Quinn West - MC - About to turn nine years old - Playing with Mindscape.
Alan D. Baddeley - Teacher - Can remember memories from his womb.
Elliot Dalton - Butler - Broom Driver
-*-*-*-*-*-
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