stonecrandall Chapter 227 The Battle of Minds
Chapter 227 The Battle of Minds
Chapter 227 The Battle of Minds
After deciding to practice Occlumency first, Nico decided to adjust the plan, allowing Karen to delve deeper into the practice for a period of time. Following three days of intensive basic meditation training, Karen's perception and initial guidance of his own "flow of thought" showed significant improvement. On the afternoon of the fourth day, when he stepped into the practice room again, Castor appeared. Previously, after successfully guiding Karen into the basics, Castor had stopped instructing him and allowed Karen to practice on his own; he hadn't expected him to appear today.
"Theory is the foundation, practice is the crucible." Castor's voice was completely flat, as if stating a predetermined procedure. "Now, take up your 'shield,' Karen. I will try to push open the crack in the door of your temple of thought."
Karen's heart skipped a beat, but she quickly regained her composure. She hadn't expected the sparring to start so soon.
He sat cross-legged opposite Castor as instructed, adjusted his breathing, and quickly entered a meditative state. A surging river of consciousness flowed "before his eyes," and he tried to maintain a steady gaze on the riverbed while making the surface currents appear natural and lively.
"The goal is simple." Castor hadn't made any move yet, but the invisible pressure was already there. "I'll try to directly 'see' what you had for breakfast today. Are you ready?"
"Ready, teacher," Karen replied in a deep voice, her mind on high alert.
There was no dazzling light, no loud noise. Suddenly, Karen felt as if a cold, invisible probe had pierced his temple! A powerful, purposeful intent, like a foreign torrent, forcefully tried to flood the river of his mind!
"Ugh!" Karen groaned, his body tensing instinctively. A bizarre sense of "foreign intrusion" and a dizzying feeling of his thoughts being forcibly pulled swept over him! It was as if someone had hooked his cerebral cortex, trying to yank something out of it!
Resist! Build a wall! A strong sense of crisis made Karen almost instinctively want to build a mental dam at the point of invasion! This was muscle memory formed through past practice.
"The river!" Castor's icy voice was like a warning bell, instantly pulling Karen back from the brink of error!
Karen jolted awake! He forcefully suppressed the urge to "build a wall." He immediately submerged all his thoughts in the surging river of consciousness! He released the surface! He no longer resisted the piercing sensation of the probe, but instead "allowed" it to enter his river. In an instant, countless chaotic thoughts—the feel of the carpet, the birdsong outside the window, the tension of training, even fragments of last night's dream—like surging waves, instantly enveloped, impacted, and carried away the invading thought from its original direction of exploration!
He simultaneously began to guide the flow. His mind raced, "dissolving" a powerful, harmless yet captivating stream of information into the waters near the probe—a memory of the imagined sound of the high-speed drill at the dental clinic, mentioned in Fabian's letter! A sharp, continuous, and detailed "buzzing" sound was instantly amplified in the area touched by the probe!
The urge to invade paused noticeably, seemingly bewildered by the sudden, intense sensory information unrelated to breakfast. The pulling sensation abruptly lessened!
"Interference successful!" A faint sense of joy rose in Karen's heart.
However, Castor's mind, like the most experienced hunter, instantly broke free from the noise of the drill and ignored the surging waves of distracting thoughts. The probe suddenly became more focused and sharp, bypassing the surface chaos like a venomous snake, and precisely pierced an island of memories about breakfast that Karen had subconsciously "marked" below the river—that body of water clearly "reflected" a slice of toast covered in orange marmalade!
The cold probe touched the island!
brush!
The image of breakfast was instantly "extracted" and clearly appeared in Karen's own perception. It was as if Castor "saw" two slices of slightly charred bread, exuding the aroma of wheat, with a thick layer of bright orange jam spread on top, the sweet fragrance of the jam still lingering on her nose.
"Orange marmalade bread." Castor calmly put away his wand, and the cold, intrusive feeling and pulling sensation vanished instantly.
Karen's eyes snapped open, his cheeks instantly flushing crimson. A surge of intense shame and anger overwhelmed him. He had failed! Although he had successfully interfered once, his core memories had still been easily read! He pursed his lips tightly, his fingers unconsciously gripping the carpet's fibers.
"The reaction speed was acceptable; the intrusion was initially identified." Castor's voice remained devoid of warmth as he calmly analyzed the results. "The interference strategy was successfully employed, creating a fog of thought—that's the highlight." He then changed the subject, "But, you've marked the target's memory."
Karen was taken aback: "I marked it?" He recalled the process just now. In order to practice recognizing memory nodes, he had subconsciously lit up and marked the memory island of "breakfast", as if he had planted a conspicuous flag on the mental map.
“Yes.” Castor’s gaze sharpened. “You marked it. In the face of a real enemy, it’s like drawing a red circle on a treasure map. No matter how turbulent your river, how thick your fog, any experienced Legilimency will immediately lock onto it when the target itself is highlighted. Remember, true defense requires its core secrets to be buried deep beneath the riverbed, without leaving a mark. The ‘false target’ you want to release, however, requires you to actively and subtly ‘dissolve’ it in the appropriate place within the river, making it appear as if it has emerged naturally, rather than as bait you deliberately placed.”
Karen's shame and anger were quickly replaced by reflection. Ah, so that's it! The act of marking itself was the biggest flaw! He had overlooked the most crucial requirement: "naturalness."
"Furthermore," Castor continued, "when you successfully disrupted my first probing, your stream of thought experienced a fleeting ripple of 'triumph.' This minute emotional ripple, in the eyes of a master, is also a signal pointing to your true state of mind. At all times, the appearance of the stream must be coherent and natural, regardless of what turbulent waves lie beneath."
Karen took a deep breath, suppressing her turbulent emotions, and nodded earnestly: "I understand, teacher. Marking is a mistake, and emotional control is also a flaw."
"Take a five-minute break. Review your mistakes." Castor said no more, just like the strictest instructor.
Five minutes later.
The cold probe pierced her again! This time, Karen forced herself to get into the zone even faster.
A foreign object sensation! A pulling sensation! Target: Breakfast! Karen instantly recognized it. He immediately released the surface layer, letting countless trivial thoughts envelop and impact the probe like turbid waves. At the same time, he stopped "marking" any memory islands, and instead, relying on his familiarity with the river of his own thoughts, he quickly moved upstream, far from the "breakfast" memory area, dissolving a completely harmless and natural "false target"—the reflective details of sunlight on the petals when observing the magic rose in the garden yesterday—into the waters near the probe. The sunlight, the veins of the petals, the refraction of dewdrops—this information naturally emerged, as if naturally washed to the probe by the current.
The invading thought was once again drawn to this vivid sensory information and paused. This time, Karen suppressed any emotional fluctuations that might reveal the "successful interference," keeping the appearance of the entire river of thought flowing in a state of "unawareness and unconsciousness."
The probe lingered and probed the waters of the "sunshine petals" for a moment, seemingly confirming its authenticity.
Time seemed to stand still.
Finally, the chilling feeling slowly faded. The wand was put down.
"Very good." Castor's voice carried a rare, almost imperceptible hint of approval. "The interference was effective, the target was concealed, and the emotional control was satisfactory. You've made rapid progress."
Karen snapped his eyes open. This time, his face showed no shame or anger, only the exhaustion of intense competition and a hint of relieved exhilaration. His back was soaked with sweat again, his temples throbbing. The mental strain was even more intense than a high-intensity Quidditch training session. But he had done it! Under his teacher's guidance, he had successfully used the "River" tactic to fend off a spying attempt!
"That's all for today." Castor stood up. "Remember the state you were in when you succeeded. Continue tomorrow, but don't get too cocky. My probing today was actually quite obvious. A true master of Legilimency wouldn't feel such a strong sense of intrusion when probing for these superficial thoughts and memories. Also, the intensity will be higher tomorrow."
Karen stood up as well, her body weary, but her eyes brighter and sharper. "Yes, Master." She understood that in the battle of wits against Voldemort, Voldemort's Occlumency might not be effective—after all, such a suspicious person had virtually no one he could trust. However, because of Voldemort's mastery of Legilimency, Karen's Occlumency training had only just begun. And the "shield" and "key" in her hands would gradually become more and more tactful under her master's refining of offense and defense.