Brandon Varnell's Blog, page 22

Ashikabi no Shinobi, Chapter 26

Chapter 26Before I begin the Question and Answer, I would like to say something, metaphorically speaking because I'm not actually talking, I'm writing. Anyways, first, while I do appreciate the support you guys have given me when mentioning how you like my work as opposed to Arthain's The Ninth Sekirei Pillar, I don't want you guys bashing his work because of something I said. What I wrote in my little anecdote at the end was purely my own thoughts and feelings. I've read his story and honestly believe it is better than my own. I won't go into details, since I would have to spend several thousand words to do so, but this was simply my own belief that his story is better and more original than what I have, since my story is essentially a godlike Naruto being copy and pasted in Minato Sahashi's place.I also found it kind of amusing when people mentioned how Arthain's Naruto was more of a Gary stu than mine. I am going to be honest here. The Naruto in my story is for all intents and purposes a God, and not like Pein's 'I am god' spiel, but an actual God. I'll reveal more later on, but suffice to say my Naruto is so far above everyone else in this story that if he were to get directly involved in the Sekirei Plan, he would stomp a mud hole in everyone's ass and leave them a broken mess of flesh and blood that could hardly be considered human.Why do you think I haven't had him get involved in much of the fighting aside from the beginning where his body is out of shape from disuse?Now, onto the Q&A! A Simple Fool:  I think you are forgetting something when I mentioned that Naruto has created harems in the past. He did not become a cold and heartless bastard right after the Fourth Great Shinobi War. I mentioned before that he had wandered the world trying to bring about peace for several thousand years BEFORE he gave up and became an empty shell of a person. In fact, he has only been an emotionless husk incapable of truly feeling human emotions for the past 1,600 years or so. That leaves around 4,000 or so years where he was NOT an emotionless human being. If you think along those lines, Naruto could have very easily created several harems in his lifetime.As for the three goddesses, I actually plan on giving him a history with them. I won't reveal much because I don't like spoilers, but I will tell you they are not actually goddesses.There is also another reason I brought this up, but I'm going to leave it to you guys to figure out why. It wouldn't be fair if I just gave you all the answers. Ufufufu. shuriken200:  Yes and yes. There will be a sex scenes, multiple, but not for a while, and yes, there will be a big reveal about Naruto's immortality. I won't tell you when or how, but it should be obvious that there will eventually be one since his immortality is a driving point for my story. Arthain:  No, I definitely meant fleas. Damn bugs are annoying, but warm. Kidding. Anyways, I thought about revealing Naruto's history here, or at least a bit of it, but it didn't really feel right. One thing you must know about Naruto is that he's stubborn. Canon Naruto is ridiculously stubborn and my Naruto has a couple thousand years to be set in his ways. His stubbornness knows no bounds. He's not going to just cave and tell Miya something because she wants to know. This secret has been one he's kept for a long time, so long that the act of keeping it a secret is pretty much an ingrained habit, and there are actually a number of reasons for that, which will be revealed in time. Suffice to say, there will eventually be this big reveal where everyone learns that Naruto is immortal, but it won't be for a while. Casard:  You're surprisingly polite for someone who says they're very blunt. Lol. Honestly, don't worry about whether you sound blunt or not. If I can take people flaming my work, then I can easily accept your constructive review and use it to better my writing.As to things you feel should have been mentioned, I actually have a few reasons for not revealing. To the first, the answer is rather easy.Tsukiumi has not said anything about the giant head cleaver people call a sword because she was honestly just too preoccupied by everything that happened to focus on it. She was chased all across Shinto Teito, captured, rescued by the person who is destined to be her Ashikabi, accidentally 'kills' her Ashikabi, watches him 'rise up from the grave' so to speak and then level fives one of the Sekirei chasing her, followed by her passing out from exhaustion after deciding to let him wing her and finally gaining her wings upon waking up. The fact that he was wielding a large ass sword was simply not on her mind at the time, and by the time she came to, the sword was pretty much forgotten. I believe the term overwhelmed fits her feelings here perfectly.Matsu's reason is even easier to answer. She saw how Naruto reacted when Miya spied on him and she knows how zealously he keeps his secrets. She's not going to mention anything about his weapons or his fight with Mutsu, nor is she going to mention it unless he talks first.Miya's sort of in the same boat as Matsu. Having already been on the receiving end of his anger, she's not going to push him. She may try to gently coax the answers out of him, but if he doesn't want to talk about something, she's not going to try and force him to.Now your second issue, the one with the 'dark silhouette'. Naruto actually does know about it. I'm simply not revealing it until I feel the time is right. Don't worry, when I reveal it, you'll know what it is and why I kept it a secret until then.Tying your third issue and the last one together, I will let you know what happened to Kurama when I give the big reveal on Naruto's past. Eventually, you will learn everything that happened in the Fourth Great War. How Naruto gained his immortality, whether or not Kurama is still a part of Naruto, all will be revealed in time. I can't say how many chapters it will be until then, because I honestly don't know. There is a very specific arc that needs to happen before I have Naruto reveal his past to the members of Maison Izumo, and I don't know how many chapters that will be.Finally, Kazehana will play an important roll in the story. I won't be giving any spoilers, but I will tell you that much.Concluding Statements:A lot of people have noticed that I changed my name from Pokemaster12 to The Engulfing Silence. I have received upwards of 32 PMs asking me about this, so I decided that rather than answer each PM individually, I would answer them all here.Yes, I did change my name. The reason for this was actually very simple. I felt it was time for a change, as I have never written a Pokemon story before.When I first made this profile, I was in the Pokemon phase where I still enjoyed playing the gameboy Pokemon games and actually watched the anime and read the manga. That was why I picked the name in the first place.
I have not read or watched or played Pokemon for 4 years now. There was really no reason for me to be Pokemaster12 when I don't have much to do with Pokemon these days.

Ashikabi no Shinobi, Chapter 25

Chapter 25ShadowStar91: Yes, Minato will play a roll in this story just like Yukari. It won't be a very big roll, but there will be a roll for him to play nonetheless.kleshchevand: Honestly, I don't know how old Chiho is, but I do know that the legal age for consent in Japan is 13. That means if you are 13 years old, you are legally able to have sex without worry about being arrested or something.marcusrose: Yes, Naruto has been a father. I've actually alluded to this several times without really mentioning it. Don't know if you can figure out how, but anyone who does will get a cyber cookie!My own Thoughts on Ashikabi no Shinobi:Not many people had any real long questions for me to answer, so I figured I would talk more about my experiences with writing.Ashikabi no Shinobi is definitely one of the more interesting stories for me to write. This is due, in large part, to just how many characters I contain in any given seen. Sometimes I'll only have one or two, but there are many other times where my story will have six, seven, eight, or even nine people all together, all talking at the same time. It can get very confusing to write more than one conversation at the same time because you need to space both conversations out between each other without confusing your readers.I think this is why most people stick with only having a few characters that matter in any given scene. Oh sure, they might have eight or nine people within a scene, maybe even more, but only two or three will actually have any importance to the dialogue.Of course, that just makes me see this story as an intellectual exercise. It's a challenge to find the right combination between two or more conversations that are happening simultaneously.
And this isn't even going into how fricken difficult it is to write a story about a completely overpowered god-like Naruto's journey from cold, unfeeling bastard to a less naive version of who he used to be. That's even more difficult than engaging in several conversations at once in a single scene!

No Game No Life

Out of all the anime in the 2014 Spring line-up, No Game No Life is definitely one of the better ones that came out. The story of Sora and Shiro, a pair of Hikikomori NEETs who form Kuhaku, four undefeated online gamers who are considered urban legends, are summoned by God to a fantasy world in which all violence is forbidden and everything must be solved by playing games.

Yeah, you heard me, everything in this world is solved through playing games. It can be any game you want, and the stakes can go as high as you dare them to, just so long as you don't break the rules set down by God.

Let me just start by saying that this anime is quite possibly the most original anime to have come out in the past couple of years. These days, most of what you see is a rehashing of the same old cliche's we've come to expect from anime. No Game No Life takes concepts that I've never seen before and creates an incredible story that is both amusing and terribly addictive.

As mentioned, No Game No Life takes place in a world called Dishboard, a fantasy world that is a separate reality from the real world. Sore and Shiro, two gamers who form Kuhako and have won over 280 different types of online game competitions, are summoned by God to the world of Dishboard after Sora and Shiro beat him in a game of chess.

Within the world of Dishboard there are sixteen different races, with Imanity (Dishboard humans) is ranked last. This is due to the fact that unlike the other races, Imanity has no magical power or special abilities. To put it quite frankly, they suck, their weak, the lowest of the low, a race that everyone looks down on. Harsh? Yes, but no less true.

Imanity's weaknesses aside, the story is a wonderful mix of classic comedy taken to the extreme and made more original by adding an unusual amount of twists, an original storyline, and an interesting take on how games are played and the logic used to play them. Anyone who wants a good story would definitely find one here.

Overall, I would rate No Game No Life with a 9/10 and recommend it to everyone regardless of your preference in anime. This is truly one that you won't want to miss.

The Ten OathsAfter the all the other Old Deus defeated each other in the eternal war, Tet became the One True God of Disboard by default. He introduced The Ten Oaths to prevent any war or fighting from ever occurring again. The Ten Oaths apply to every race in Disboard, even Sora and Shiro, who are from the other world, and they must always be complied. The Ten Oaths are:All bloodshed, war, and pillaging is forbidden throughout the world.All disputes are to be resolved through the outcome of games.In games, wagers will be made on what both parties decide to be of equal value.Unless contrary to "3.", the game content and the things wagered do not matter.The challenged party has the right to decide the contents of the game."As per the Oath", the wager will be unconditionally adhered to.All matters for group conflicts will be decided by a representative.If cheating is detected during a game, it will be regarded as a defeat.The above rules are unconditionally everlasting, upheld in the name of God.Everyone should get along while playing games.

Harry Potter and the Heir of Slytherin, Chapter 20 Q&A

A3vum: Nathaniel Greengrass' character is something that will be explored in a lot more depth later on, around Book 5. I actually have really big plans for a subplot involving Daphne, Astoria and Nathaniel that should blow your mind.

Dark Serpent Cat: What makes you think Harry isn't doing what he can to get stronger? In case you haven't noticed, Harry is getting really far ahead in his studies. You must also remember that there is very little Harry can do with the resources he has right now. The only way he could get better at, say, dueling, is if he had someone who was willing to train him. Right now there is no one who would be willing to do that because of how young he is.

Harry will eventually, at some point, start training his friends, but it won't be for a while. Likely until Voldemort has already returned. Right now, he has enough on his plate that adding training a bunch of children to fight against a currently NOT resurrected Dark Lord and his death eaters is not something he is capable of. He isn't superman.

And I have no considered using plant magic, but will certainly think about it. Thank you for the idea.

nogoalielikeme: Don't worry about being harsh or critical. You have a point and want to make it. Now allow me to make a counter to your point. Harry is perfectly aware of what's going with Lisa, at least on his side. He simply in denial. From his point of view, until that moment where puberty hit him harder than a bludger, Lisa Crawft has always been something of a little sister. But now he's seeing her in a whole new light and doesn't know what to do. Naturally, he is simply going to shove these thoughts to the side, deny they exist, and try to live like nothing is happening.

Concept human: Just because he knows what spell chains are doesn't mean he can perform them. Chaining spells is very advanced magic, far above NEWT level. The fact is, Harry is just not that skilled yet. He'll get better with practice, but that'll take time.

PaultheEwok: Harry Potter got trapped by Lucius scheming because despite what everyone seems to think, he is not perfect. He can be fooled. Lucius Malfoy has decades of political experience under his belt. Harry has only been in the political arena for a little over a year. He might have read a bit on politics, but let's face it, books aren't everything. You can't learn everything from a book, and sometimes the only way to become good at something is to experience it first hand.

And yes, the only reason Kingsley Shacklebolt was brought into to teach defense was because of the Chamber of Secrets. The reason he was not the defense teacher at the beginning of the year is because of his work as an auror. The fact is Shacklebolt only became the teacher because Madam Bones is loaning his services to Dumbledore. No other reason.

serialkeller: sorry, I don't write Gary-stu characters.

sanbeegoldeiwhitey: His political skills have not regressed. The difference between this Yule Ball and the one last year is that Harry has lost almost all of his advantages. In an even playing field between Lucius and Harry, Lucius would win simply because he has more experience. That's what happened here.

Killing off Hermione Granger

Just as I predicted, there are a number of people who are upset that I killed off their favorite bookworm. A few people have left scathing reviews, and a number of them have abandoned this fan fiction altogether because it's suddenly "become horrible" due to me killing off their favorite character.

Before I get into my explanation on why I killed Hermione and not some other character like Susan Bones or Lisa Turpin, allow me to just say that while I am not surprised by how shallow minded people are, and I include myself in this because if I read a book that killed off my favorite character I would stop reading as well, I am a bit disappointed. While I've never out righted stated that I plan on killing off main canon characters, I do remember telling everyone that this story was more adult oriented. That more or less implied that someone was going to die during the Chamber of Secrets incident in the second book. The fact that Rowling wrote the book without anyone getting killed always bugged me because of how unrealistic it is. But then, her story is for CHILDREN so that's to be expected. Mine is not.

Now, as for why I killed off Hermione Granger instead of someone else, there are several reasons for this, which I will list off to you:

1. Hermione Granger is a muggleborn: out of all of Harry's friends, Hermione is the ONLY muggleborn of the group. The others are either pureblood or halfblood. Between these three groups, who do you think Tom Riddle, Muggleborn hater extraordinaire, is going to go after? The Pureblood? The halfblood? No. He's going to go after the one with muggle parents.

2. Hermione Granger is one of the most intelligent witches in her age group: not only is Hermione a "mudblood" she is also insanely intelligent. The only reason she is not on par with Harry academically is because Harry has the advantage of perfect memory. Were that advantage not present, she would be every bit his equal. The fact that a muggleborn can be so much better at magic and magical theory than a pureblood is something that rankles on Tom's nerves, thus, killing her would bring him great pleasure.

3. Hermione Granger is in Gryffindor: the feud between Slytherin and Gryffindor is well-known. Even before the start of the books these two houses had a heavy rivalry. If Tom Riddle was going to kill anyone, it would be the "mudblood" who is too intelligent for her own good AND in Gryffindor.

4. Hermione Granger is Harry Potter's friend: In canon, Tom Riddle went after Hermione because she was friends with Harry and he wanted to get Harry's attention. What in the seven hells makes you people think he wouldn't go after her again for that same reason? Come on people! Think!

5. Hermione did not have all of the information that she did in canon: in canon: Hermione survived being assaulted by the Basilisk due solely to the fact that she had several key bits of information that the Hermione in MY fan fiction did not have: the spiders fleeing from every scene where someone was petrified, the fact that each person petrified had something that protected their eyes (a puddle, the lens of a camera, a ghost, already being dead, you get the picture), Harry hearing voices that no one else could, and learning that Harry was a parselmouth. With these four pieces of information, Hermione was able to deduce not only what the creature attacking students was, but also how it moved through the castle without anyone noticing. The Hermione in my story did not have ANY that information because she listened to Harry's advice and did not get involved, therefore, when she was attacked the Basilisk killed her. It's as simple as that.

6. Someone was going to die in this book. Like I said previously, someone in this story was going to be killed off. I had always found it completely unrealistic that something as powerful and deadly as a basilisk could go around the school and not kill a single student. JK Rowling can be forgiven for this because her book is for children, but I cannot, because Harry Potter and the Heir of Slytherin is NOT for children. It is rated M for a reason. There will be death, there will be sorrow, not all hardships can be overcome so easily, and the characters in my version of the Harry Potter series will experience pain just as they will experience happiness and joy. I had always planned on killing someone off in the second book and, like or not, Hermione Granger was the most logical choice due to the reasons mentioned above.

7. Lastly, Hermione was expendable: I know this is going to be hard for Hermione fanboy/fangirls to hear, but in my story, Hermione Granger is a secondary character of no real importance. If you look at my story objectively, you'll see that Hermione doesn't really play a serious roll, and much of her value as an intelligent character who has an answer to every problem has been taken over by Harry. In the end, unlike the other characters who will all have their own part to play, Hermione's character does not, making her expendable.

So, there you have it, my reason for killing off Hermione. You can accept these reasons, or you can complain, but just know that complaining will not change my mind. Hermione's death was a foregone conclusion in my mind, and was something I had planned from the very start of this book.

Now, if you have any questions, comments, or would like to complain, you're free to post a comment.

Harry Potter and the Heir of Slytherin, Chapter 19

Chapter 19
Saphira113: I'll certainly see what I can do about Blaise. Eventually all of the characters that are in Harry's “Inner Circle” will get their spotlight time, but it's a bit harder to make some of them more established right now because their parts simply aren't as big. Blaise is a support character unlike, say, Daphne, who is a Main Character. It doesn't help that he's more the “silent and observant” type unlike Tracey and Terry who are constantly getting “screen time” because they're always arguing. But don't worry, Blaise has a part to play and it'll come when it comes.
Lucius' dislike of Blaise's mother has less to do with her antics and more to do with her power. Lucius knows that if she wanted to, Blaise's mom could easily cause him trouble. She just doesn't right now because A) she has no reason to and B) she finds it amusing to watch others squirm.
As for Selene, I have already said this but she will not be around until the Fourth Book.
Serialkeller: No. Harry Potter has perfect memory, not a Sharingan. Being able to “see” someone do something means absolutely nothing if you don't understand “how” it's being done. Just because Harry sees someone do something does not mean he'll be able to replicate it.
FreeTraderBeowolf: Big chamber of secrets scene? I think you're mistaking something here. My story has next to nothing to do with the chamber of secrets. The chamber of secrets is merely JK Rowling's plot running parallel to my own. Sorry if you think the story is moving slow, but I think that has more to do with your perception of what the plot is, rather than what the story is really about.
I am glad you like my version of Dumbledore. Too many people turn him into either a “Manipulative 'Master Chess player' (just what does that mean anyways?)” a “Dark Lord in Disguise” or a “Misguided old fool who makes mistakes no one in charge of a school full of children should make.” While I get why people feel Dumbledore may be one of those three, I never understood why those versions were so popular other than because of how easy they are to write.
CapJackSparrow21: Why did anything in the original Harry Potter happen? Because that's how JK Rowling “wanted” it to happen. All the things that happened, none of that is Dumbledore's fault. It's Rowling's for not thinking about how some readers might take his actions. Dumbledore is merely a plot device used by Rowling to take her plot in the direction she wants it to go.
Iryelb: Patience. Luna has only just been introduced. Don't worry. I'll explore her character in more depth a little later. She's just not that important to my overall story right now. I really only added a scene in her perspective for the comedy.
NarutoDkurosaki: Harry hasn't done anything about Sirius because he doesn't even know Sirius is innocent. Please remember that Harry only remembers things that happen around him while he's awake. If something, like, say, Peter Pettigrew becoming the Potter's Secret Keeper happens when Harry is not around or sleeping, he's not going to know about it happening. The truth is that Harry has no clue that Sirius was not the Secret Keeper. He doesn't even know about the Fidelius Charm that hid his home because he was not present when it was cast.
Dante 101: Harry performed silent casting when they were practicing because he was not giving a demonstration. As a rule of thumb, he prefers to cast his spells silently because it's more efficient than saying the spell every time he casts it. He simply didn't want to case silently when he was helping Shacklebolt by demonstrating how to use the spell in front of class because it wouldn't have helped those who were watching if he did.
Fabian Firman: That's something I can't tell you. I'm not one to give spoilers away.
Totalsolution: Normally you would be right, Harry isn't the type to rely on one law. But in this case that one law is all he has. It's literally the “only” law he can rely on to get a favorable outcome. There are no other loopholes that can be used to get Daphne out from under her father's thumb. Don't mistake “not wanting to do something” with “he has no other option but to rely on this one small hope.” Those are two very important emotional differences.

Maesde: He still has it, he just doesn't show it off.

Harry Potter and the Heir of Slytherin, Chapter 18

Chapter 18Alright, so I've got a lot of people who reviewed this chapter and therefore a lot of people who asked questions. I'll try and get to all of them, but there were quite a few so bare with me.To start, while Iryelb did not ask a question, he or she did make a comment about how easy it should be to realize to 'jump to' the correct conclusion about the Chamber of Secrets:I am taking this comment to mean that it shouldn't be hard for Harry, or anybody else for that matter, to realize what is really happening; that being that a Basilisk is the creature that has been petrifying people. There are probably a number of you who feel the same way and think Harry or Dumbledore should be able to realize what's going on and stop it.I disagree. All of us think it should be an easy mystery to solve because we have read the books. We know what's going on because we have that knowledge already. Neither Harry nor Dumbledore know what we the readers know. They only have what they know from their own observations, and both of them have a very incomplete picture of the situation, not at all like us, who have read The Chamber of Secrets and therefore know exactly what is going on.Take this information into account and you'll see my point. Dumbledore knows that the Chamber of Secrets was opened once before, and he knows that Myrtle died in the girls bathroom. However, he also knows that the Chamber was opened by Tom Riddle, and that only an Heir of Slytherin, in other words, a parsel mouth, would be able to open the chamber. What's more, no one has died yet, but been petrified.Now, we all know that the reason for this is due to the fact that neither Lockhart nor Misses Norris were killed is because they were not looking directly at the Basilisk when it stared at them. However, Dumbledore does not know that. A Basilisk's stare is supposed to be deadly, period.Even if Dumbledore suspected that the creature within the chamber is, in fact, a Basalisk, he would not believe it was the cause of the petrifications. Why? Because A) only the Heir of Slytherin (aka Tom Riddle) can open the chamber and control the Basilisk, and B) no one has been killed, only petrified.The logical conclusion to this would be that someone is simply using the Chamber of Secrets as a means to terrorize the school,. but is actually using a magical artifact of some kind to petrify people.To Dante 101. The reason Collin did not get petrified was because he was not outside at night. Remember, the reason he was petrified in the novel was because he had been going to see Harry in order to take a picture of him while he was in the hospital (which is really creepy). As Harry was not sent to the hospital, Collin had no reason to leave the Gryffindor Common Room, therefore he did not get petrified.And the reason the aurors never showed up in the original is likely because it would have ruined JK Rowlings plot. Remember, this story is actually a children's novel meant for kids, so she can get away with glaring and illogical plot holes like this.To The Prime Cronos, I make no comment on whether there will be any deaths. However, consider this... Rowlings story was a tale meant for children, mine is not... just some food for thought.ultima-owner, the 'old married couple' are not in love... yet. Remember, they're only 12. However, no one knows what the future holds and Tracey and Terry might become a minor pairing in later stories.Sorry for the confusion Dunstan Xenon. To answer you, this story will have Harry in a multi-relationship, meaning he will be with more then one girl at the same time. Or, if you want me to be blunt, this will be a harem. It's actually an integral part of my stories plot. Also, do you remember the conversation between Harry and Daphne at the New Year Gala in my last fic? That was me hinting that Harry will be with more then one girl, though I have decided there will only be 4.For the one anonymous reviewer with the original name, Guest. When has Harry Potter ever been realistic? This is a story about children learning magic at a magical institute. It is also a story where 12 year old children are apparently more capable of solving mysteries (like what was petrifying students when the Chamber of Secrets was opened) then adults. I find it highly unrealistic that a 12 year old girl (Hermione) would discover that the thing in the chamber was a Basilisk that has been moving through the pipes while the adults stand around like a bunch of idiots, doing absolutely nothing to try and solve this mystery before someone actually dies. You know, like what happened the last time the chamber was open. How is that for unrealistic.0 Jordinio 0. While you're idea is interesting, I don't think I would ever do something like that. It's smacks too much of something an Newbie writer would do to 'show off Harry Potter's greatness to everyone'. Aside from the simple fact that I don't want to Marty-Stu Harry, I think that the mystery of people 'knowing' that Harry slayed the beast in the Chamber of Secrets, but not actually knowing 'how' he did it would spread his infamy much more thoroughly because people would then begin to speculate about how he did it, leading to the tales being told getting larger and more exaggerated until Harry is turned into this mythological and legendary figure the likes of which has not been seen since Merlin.Fury074. Then this will be an AU. Truth be told, I never liked the part where Lockhart brought in Dwarves to sing Valentine day songs. It smacked of a child fanservice, and while I understand that this is a story for children, I've despised fanservices for children since the creation of Jar Jar Binks.marcus nightfire. No. I have no plans on either Dumbledore or Moody taking Harry on as an apprentice. Why would they? They're going to be busy trying to figure out who among the students was responsible for petrifying Lockhart and Misses Norris, as well as trying to find some way to get evidence that Lucius was responsible for this entire fiasco. Even if they were inclined to take Harry on as an apprentice, they wouldn't have the time to teach him anything.To CuriousGuest. For the answer to your first question, look at my answer for Dunstan Xenon. To answer your second question, no, I will not start a poll for the pairings because if I do that, it will force me to write along a path that this story may not be going towards, thereby not only changing my story into something it is not, but also causing me to lose interest for that very same reason. I already have the girls Harry is going to be paired with planned out.Now, there are two more matters to state before I end this. First, let me give props to all those who figured out who I was talking about when I mentioned the American Wizard. Yes, it is Stephen Strange. For those who are wondering, no, he will not play a part in this series... though, if I decide to make a Marvel/Harry Potter crossover AFTER this series is complete as some kind of closing sequel... well, who can say?And finally, this is for all those who are wondering about our favorite vampire. Selene WILL NOT be appearing in this story again. Her moment came and went, now you will have to wait for her to reappear in Book 4, which she will show up in briefly, before becoming a more permanent member of the cast in Book 5.Well, I hope I answered your questions in a satisfactory manner. If you have questions, comments, rants, or want to tell me I should burn and die, just leave a comment.
Now, I am off to trim my nose hairs. Cheers!

Harry Potter and the Heir of Slytherin, Chapter 17

Chapter 17Dante 101: To answer your first question on how I come up with my theories for Transfiguration and Alchemy, I would have to say I use a form of logic, reasoning and information gained from other stories that use similar forms of magic. Well, at least I do for the Transfiguration aspect. My thoughts on Alchemy was actually taken straight from Full Metal Alchemist. On the other hand, the laws I had created for Transfiguration is canon knowledge combined with various sources such as anime, manga, tv shows and video games that have similar transformation magic but different rules. I suppose you could say I combine all of my favorite ideas in a way that makes sense.As for Daphne, I want it known that her feelings for Harry are completely legitimate. If anything, she is LESS affectionate than she wants to be because she does not like the idea of her father using her to control Harry. I won't say anymore on that. You'll understand Daphne's feeling soon enough.CheeseyCraziness: Please don't forget that Harry is still 11 years old, regardless of how intelligent and mature he can be. That means sometimes he will think or say things that aren't exactly nice or well thought out. His thoughts about girls not liking martial arts isn't really a comment made due to sexist thoughts, but one he felt has a basis in fact. Most of the girls he knows do not like martial arts, Lisa Crawft being a prime example, therefore, his belief is based on this knowledge. Have you ever heard of that old saying 'our reality is based on what we perceive is real'? It's similar to that. With knowledge that the only female he knows who like martial arts is Katrina, he believes that girls just don't like fighting and that Katrina is one of those one out of one million girls who just happens to be the odd man out, so to speak.Akuma-Heika: It's like I said, Transfiguration is a very precise branch of magic and, at the moment, he is not skilled in transfiguring inanimate objects. I never explicitly said this, but Harry's skill in transfiguration is very specific. He excels at transfiguring living creatures and self-transfiguration. In other words, the two branches needed to become an animagi. However, while he is good at those to branches, he is only slightly skilled, comparatively, at inanimate to inanimate transfiguration, meaning he has the knowledge and skill of a third year student. Large scale transfiguration such as what you are talking about is currently beyond his reach.And when Tracey said she didn't know what she was doing, it was not that she did not know what she was doing, but that she did not really know HOW she was doing it. Tracey has the innate ability to learn most spells with ease, but is absolutely abysmal when it comes to theory. Therefore, she can learn any spell easily, but will not understand HOW she is doing that spell because it's all instinct. In a way, you can think of her as the opposite of Hermione in that regard.Concluding thoughts: So it looks like this chapter wasn't quite as well received. It has gotten far less reviews than my other chapters. I suppose at least part of the reason for that was poor English. To be honest, I am aware that this chapter was not really up to par as far as my writing goes.
The truth of the matter is that when I normally post a chapter, I will have read it over and revised it at least twice before posting. Because I had not managed to finish this chapter as quickly, however, meaning I finished it Thursday night, I did not get the chance to revise it. That means the chapter was... well, I don't know if you could call it unbeta'd since I do not have a beta reader, but it wasn't edited. That's why there were more spelling errors and grammatical mistakes than usual.

Harry Potter and the Heir of Slytherin, Chapter 16

Chapter 16 JordanMathias ,  ManlyMonk ,  Juli Beawr ,  evelsaint93 : I know that a lot of people want to know where Selene is, and when we'll see her again. Like I said in my previous blogs. Selene's part in this story is DONE. You will not see her again until Book 4, where her role in this series will pick up again. Anime Princess : The reason Daphne has so much screen time is because her role has greater importance than any of the other girls. The problems she has are tied much more intimately to Harry's than, say, Hermione Granger or Tracey Davis. Thus, you see more of her then you do the others.And the reason Hermione doesn't play a very important role is because she's not really needed. Think about it. In the original series, Hermione is pretty much the Mary Su of Harry Potter. She's the most intelligent witch of her generation, has all the answers to every question, has a spell for every occasion, is often times the voice of reason and has an OC rebellious streak against authority figures when they fail her. Really, the only thing Hermione doesn't have is a scar on her forehead proclaiming her the Girl-Who-Lived.In my story, Harry is every bit as intelligent as Hermione and has perfect memory. Her role in the original, JK Rowling plot, simply doesn't exist. mind liger : The ratio of magical to non magical humans in my story is about 1:10,000. So if there are 4.5 billion people in this world, it means there are only about 450,000 witches and wizards in the world.I'm sure all of you noticed that I finally added Luna. A good number of chapters ago, chapter 11 or 12, where people asked me to bring her in. It was a bit difficult, because I didn't just want to randomly have her come into the story, but I've finally managed to fulfill that request.
If any of you have anymore questions, feel free to ask.

Harry Potter and the Heir of Slytherin, Chapter 15

Chapter 15Faraway-R: That has to be the best explanation for why Chuck Norris did not star as The Force that I have ever heard. And to answer your question, no, Snape does not know about Harry's perfect memory.Kid Coheed: I've always felt that Snape is a very complex character, quite possibly the most complex of all JK Rowlings characters. Now, I won't go into detail about what will happen between these two in the future, but I will tell you that their interactions will be some of the most interesting later on.And I'm not even going to mention my pairings. Like I said, I have some minor romantic moments here, but the romance won't really get started until Book 3 and won't get too physical (meaning kissing and snogging) until Book 4.adrian11: It's not just a matter of consulting. I didn't go into details of the contract that Harry has with Nimbus Racing Brooms, but essentially, the first group of Nimbus 2001s that get produced, are done so with his name on them as a limited broom, and the rest that are made after that do not have his name on them.So let's say that the contract states that the first 1,000 brooms produced are limited edition Harry Potter Nimbus 2001s, that means that Nimbus Racing Brooms HAS to make the first 1,000 brooms limited edition Harry Potter brooms. In the canon, Lucius Malfoy bought the Nimbus 2001s for Dracos team hot off the market, meaning they had either just come out or were coming out. This means that when Lucius tried to buy them this time, they had given him the limited edition ones and he demanded normal Nimbus 2001s.Now, because of the contract, Nimbus Racing Brooms cannot make anything other than the limited editions until after the first 1,000 brooms have been produced. To do so would be a breach in contract. Harry found out about this and told them 'if you sell him those brooms without them being the limited edition ones, I will consider this a breach in our contract and take my business elsewhere'. Basically, they had to do what Harry said because of the terms of the contract. Make sense?SweetSouthernGal: Actually, the reason was stated in Chapter 11. Remember, Harry assaulted Draco and his gang and went all Sith on Draco?ImaDenarianLordX: Actually, if you'll recall, Harry first heard the Basalisk when he was serving detention with Lockhart, which cannonically speaking would be about the same time as now. The first attack was on Halloween, and Harry heard it's voice again which led him to finding Mrs. Norris petrified. While it's easy to see why you would forget this, please try to make sure your critiques are accurate before giving them.0 Jordino 0: Well, I am sorry you feel Ice Potion is a bland name, but if you feel that way, then you should take it up with JK Rowling, who gave it the name Ice Potion. Just so you know, this is a canon potion that I looked up on Wikipedia, so it's not like I'm making this stuff up. Otherwise, I would have called it something like Flame Deterrent Potion or something.Which might not be much better.Tano Narhuine: I am actually well aware of what Eidetic Memory is. I looked it up just for this story. Granted, I will admit I boosted it's abilities because Harry is a wizard, therefore his memory is enhanced by his magic (meaning that instead of simply being able to recall fuzzy images until he actually thinks about a specific memory, he can recall everything perfectly all the time), but that's about it.To be perfectly honest, I didn't think I needed to mention that Harry is naturally intelligent for people to realize that. Canon Harry is actually very smart, he's just incredibly lazy thanks to Ron rubbing off on him and him wanting to fit in with everyone else. Basically, JK Rowling's Harry wants to be 'normal' and goes to great lengths to be 'normal', including not using the intelligence he was given to become better. It doesn't help that he used Hermione as a crutch on top of being as lazy as Ronald Weasley.Truth be told, I've always thought that Harry was just as intelligent as Hermione, but never used it because of the abuse (aka, mental and emotional abuse via isolation and sometimes physical abuse from his cousin and friends. I don't think the Dursley's ever raised a hand to him physically (Dudley being the exception rather than the rule) except for when they were manhandling him like when Vernon threw him into the cupboard after the Boa incident in the second chapter). By the time he got to Hogwarts, he was this meek little boy who just wanted to fit in and latched onto the first person he met (Ron) that didn't strike him as a complete ponse (Draco) and tried to make Ron like him by dumbing himself down to Ron's level of intellect. Had Harry met Hermione first, he would have probably been more like her than Ron.In either event, in my story, because Harry is not this meek and pathetic child looking to fit in and is actually showing ambition, he has no trouble using his natural intelligence on top of enhancing it with his Eidetic Memory to be the best student in class.To Guest, Drewz05, amoghtalwar: The reason the story feels like it's going slow is because right now, I have Harry doing a lot of things in a very short amount of time. The start of the term at Hogwarts is September 1st. I needed all the things I just had in the past 4 chapters to happen BEFORE Halloween and the first attack of the Basalisk on Mrs. Norris. All of the stuff I have in those 4 chapters is relevant to MY plot.Please note that I put down MY plot and not JK ROWLING'S plot. This is something a good deal of you still seem to not realize. JK Rowling's story is about the Chamber of secrets being opened and Harry, Hermione and Ron trying to solve the mystery behind the Chamber. My story is not about the Chamber of Secrets being opened, it's just running parallel to the original canon plot dictated by JK Rowling and will influence the eventual outcome of the canon plot.My plot is about Harry Potter trying to leave his mark on the Wizarding World by becoming it's most powerful and influential member of society since Merlin himself. All this stuff that Harry is doing right now is to help facilitate this rise. He is taking an active role in politics, cutting deals and making contracts with leading Broom making companies, suing people for unlawfully using his name in fictional stories, creating a potions making business, trying to change the school curriculum while still being a student, hoping to erase House Divisions and creating a better facility for learning. Everything he does is to further his goals of people realizing that, yeah, Harry might have 'defeated' a Dark Lord when he was a brat, but that's not the only reason we (meaning the sheep of the wizarding world) should be so awed by his presence.

Basically, he's trying to do what Voldemort did, only taking the opposite approach and becoming respected and loved instead of feared and hated, and he's ambitious enough that he is starting as early as his second year to do this.