Chapter 81 - More Academy days

The academy days continued and I progressed rapidly in my selected magical fields and exercises.

I quickly impressed Healer Sesha with my intelligence and she even allowed me to treat some low risk patients which gave me the much needed experience and confidence. She worked me to the ground and taught me many things in healing after seeing my talent. I too helped her a lot in her Healer duty and in her medical research.

One day while I was ȧssisting Healer Sesha in the hospital, I heard her hissing during treatment process. I was shocked and delighted after hearing that. After the treatment was completed and we were back in her office,

I asked, "Did you just use parselmagic to heal that patient? I did not know you were a parselmouth, Teacher?"

She smiled and replied, "Yes that was parselmagic. Most of the powerful healing spells are part of parsel magic. My family is full of parselmouths and possessing it is the main reason why I chose the healing profession."

I was delighted after hearing this. One of the main reasons for my trip to India was to search for some way to become a parselmouth. I had searched the whole library for some way I could get the gift but was still had not found anything. The only thing I found was a paragraph in a book on rituals that confirmed that such a ritual that could be performed to gain the gift existed which but other than that I did not find anything else. There were no books on the ritual and the steps to be performed to complete the ritual. There were books written in parseltongue in the library but they were useless to me without being a parselmouth. I was almost on the verge of given up hope.

I asked "Teacher, is there any way I could become a parselmouth?"

Healer Sesha laughed and replied "I have been waiting for this question. I knew you would ask me this after the parselmagic demonstration. You are not the only one though. Every Healer asks this question when they see the usefulness of parselmagic in healing. Coming to the answer to your question, the answer is Yes. There is a ritual that could can be performed to become a parselmouth. But don't get your hopes up because the main ingredient of this ritual is very rare and hard to find."

I was excited now and asked "What is the main ingredient Teacher?"

She replied "A class XXXX or above magical snake which is atleast 500 years old. A snake meeting these conditions has not been seen for many years. Many people have tried to find such a snake in recent years but no one has been successful. There is a high reward of 1 million Galleons for anyone that can find such a snake and capture it alive. The task has been there for the past 100 years without anyone completing it. So don't get your hopes up."

I was extremely delighted after hearing that but did not show my joy on my face. Due to the 1 million galleon reward, if someone realizes that I know the location of such a snake then I would have to fear for my life. I was strong but the wizards here were many times stronger than me.

I asked "Is the ritual instructions available in the library teacher? I would like to make a copy just in case. I am hoping I will be lucky to find a snake that meets the criteria during my life time."

Healer Sesha smiled and replied "No the instruction are not available in the public library. Due to the rarity of the main ingredient, some elders decided to remove information on the ritual from the library. A selfish decision by them as they did not want others to use the ritual when they cannot."

I asked "Is there any way I can get a book on the ritual teacher?"

Healer Sesha "Yes there is a way. Become an elder of the academy and use the power gained on becoming one to ask for the book."

I said "But teacher, you know I cannot become an Elder here. I have responsibilities back home and there is no way I can leave all that to become an Elder here. Is there any other way?"

Healer Sesha "There is another way but why are you in a hurry? I will promise you I will gift you the book when you become a Master Healer so you don't have to become an elder."

I replied "What if I come across such a snake tomorrow? I don't want to live with regrets. I am not even a healer currently. It will take me atleast 3 years to become a Master Healer. I cannot take the huge risk. Can you please tell me the other way teacher?"

Healer Sesha "You really want this badly? The other way is for me to get the book from my tribe's library. But I cannot give you the book for free since it is my tribe's property. Tell you what, you help me with completing my current research and I will get you the book. I can use the excuse of you helping me to complete the research to get you a copy of the book. I need some very rare ingredients that can be found only in dangerous areas. I hear you are excelling in your duelling classes. So you will be able to get me those ingredients. When I complete my research, you will get the ritual instructions."

The things she required were spread over all of India and some parts of China near the border with India. All were dangerous places were people rarely went. It was obviously going to be dangerous since otherwise she would not need my help. But to achieve my dream of becoming a parselmouth I was ready to face the dangers.

My first adventure was nearby in the Himalayas. The objective was to search for a mountain Yeti cave and collect certain parts from the Yeti and also collect certain plants that grew only inside the Yeti caves.

I was really surprised by the fact that the Yeti was real. It was hard to believe because I thought if a Yeti existed then non magical people would have confirmed its existence by now due to the fact that the Himalayan mountains were frequented by tourists. Maybe it was the work of the obliviators.

The Yeti were endangered species of magical creatures and their population was already very low so I was told to not kill the Yeti by the Elders. Due to this I knew the battle was going to be tough and the Yeti was going to be hard to subdue since it had magically resistant skin.

Hence I took a helper along with me. Rohit readily agreed to come with me. He wanted to compare his physical prowess with that of the Yeti. We took of one day early morning from the academy and started searching.

I found the Yeti quite easily. The mage sight was a cheat ability for hunters no wonder my ancestors were famous for it. The Yeti looked like a huge white Gorilla but almost human like. It used hands and legs like humans and could be seen as a beastman. It had two horns on the head that looked very dangerous.

The battle was not too tough. Magically enhanced Rohit at full power was only slightly weaker than Rohit and I used the distraction of their battle to conjure strong unbreakable ropes and tie the Yeti up. Rohit was satisfied with the short fight that I allowed him to have. After that getting the ingredients was very easy.

The next adventure was with Aryan whose flying ability came handy in the task. I was slowly learning flying from Aryan but it would take me a long time before I could smoothly fly like Aryan. The objective was collecting some eggs of the giant magical bird called Garuda. I used my falcon form to find the next first and the nest day came back with Aryan for stealing the egg. While he flew to the nest to get the egg, I continuously cast magic on him to hide him from the mother bird. The task was accomplished flawlessly.

Next came the parts of a five headed snake and after that was the tusk of a magical elephant from south India. Some other trips to a dark forest and the Indian Desert later, I had collected everything on the list. I took more of my new academy friends with me during my adventures and had loads of fun.

The success in her research allowed Healer Sesha to be promoted to become a Master Healer. She was so happy with her promotion that she went to her tribe the next day and got me a copy of the book that I required. The book was the real deal and provided detailed instructions about the ritual. It gave a brief introduction about parselmagic and then went on to explain each ingredient and its use in the ritual.

I searched for the required ingredients that were needed for the ritual and stored it in my trunk under a stasis charm. The ingredients were indigenous to India and could not be found in Britain.

Despite becoming a Master Healer, Elder Sesha still followed the same routine. So my healing studies progressed without any disruption.