Any material that could potentially be considered infringement of copyrights and trademarks should be considered the property of their respective creators or owners. You are reading this of your own freewill, so please refrain from doing so if you don't like graphic violence, explicit sexuality, vulgar language, polyamorous relationships, or usage of drugs. If you have any comments, questions, or concerns you can leave a review or PM me. Also, if you would kindly review, favorite, follow, and/or share the story with communities, I would greatly appreciate it.

A/N: In this story, first year students at Hogwarts are the same age as freshmen in high school. This means that Harry, as a younger than average fourth year, will be turning eighteen before school starts (so that the romance isn't cringe inducing). I have also decided to update the world timeline of Harry Potter by thirty years, bringing it into the 'present' day.

Act One: First Dungeon and Boss

(Britain)

Skill Created Through Continuous Action: Mental Arts
Mental Arts Technique Created Through Continuous Action: Meditation

'Tutorial' Sub-Objective Complete: Learn How to Meditate
'Tutorial' Sub-Objective Complete: Successfully Meditate

Entered Dungeon: Mind-Scape

Objective Complete: Enter the Mind-Scape
Completion Reward: 100 EXP

Objective Unlocked: Explore the Mind-Scap

Shrugging, Harry opened his eyes and found himself in a dark space, with a spotlight on him and only him.

He didn't know where the inexplicable light was coming from, but he wasn't about to complain, since it allowed him to at least see something.

He stood up from the hardwood floor, wondering why his mind-scape was seemingly made of holly. "Well this place is oddly depressing," said Harry. It was all dark, nothing to be sensed at all. Of course Hedwig stated that his mind-scape would appear to be empty, because he hadn't yet explored his subconscious. Or something like that.

Then he heard it.

There was a baby crying out, somewhere in the darkness surrounding him. It sent a chill down his spine, and he decided to whip out his wand, which was somehow still on his person, even though he was inside his own mind.

However, as he walked, he noticed that the path he walked was illuminated by the spotlight as well. He began searching around, his eyes straining for the creepy infant.

He knew, from his many encounters with the dementors, that there were many things hidden within the dark corners of his mind that could bring him to his knees if he came across them, and he didn't want to be unprepared.

He was walking around for nearly five minutes, slowly coming closer and closer to the source of the wailing, until he finally found it. It was a baby, but not quite. It looked more like a fetus, pulled out of its mother and left in this dark place. But that didn't make any sense, because he didn't have any idea why something like this thing would be in his mind.

"What the... what are you supposed to be?" he asked softly as he approached, stopping just short of it. He wanted to poke it with his foot, but something told him that that'd be very improper and rude. Or something. His sense of humility was eroding quickly, and it probably had something to do with him now knowing that he was just a part of some elaborate videogame.

This space, the representation of his mind in such a way that he himself could perceive and interact with it, was nothing more than a simulation in a game. Probably.

Shrugging, he reached over to pick the child up. And as soon as he touched it, the crying stopped. In its place came high-pitched maniacal laughter, the kind that he was intimately and hauntingly familiar with. This baby had the voice of Voldemort.

He dropped the baby out of instinct, but it clung to his body, and he saw that his HP, MP, and SP were beginning to drain.

"Fuck," he said, trying desperately to rip the thing off of him. It took all of his might, but he ended up detaching the vampiric creature and throwing it like a football off into the distance. But the laughter never stopped. In fact, it only started to grow, and then it started to surround him.

Another spotlight formed, where he intellectually knew the baby landed.

But in its place was a copy of him, one that was laughing hysterically and had snake-like red eyes. Nothing too crazy; just the eyes of a person possessed by the shade of Dark Lord Voldemort.

"Fuck, Indeed," said the copy, his voice a dual-tone between Harry's own and Voldemort's. "I was wondering when you'd finally make your way down here. Although, I thought it'd happen after you started learning the mental arts... No matter. I'm going to kill you and take over your body now."

"Of course you are."

It was around this time that Harry realized that the being he was facing had a name floating over its head, much like Hedwig did. "Lord Voldemort's Final Horcrux?" he wondered aloud. Shrugging, not even going to try asking the freakish thing in front of him what a horcrux was, he pulled out his wand and entered a dueling stance similar to a fencer.

But then he noticed that, apart from the name, there was also a health bar below it.

HINT: You'll see the health bar appear around a non-playable character (NPC) when you've entered combat with them. The higher your PER and/or Observation skill is, the more information you'll be able to glean from an enemy in this manner.

The two mirror images gave each other bloodthirsty grins, before pulling their wands back. "Let's do this," said Harry, somewhat surprised by how eager he was to enter combat with a being that should by all rights terrify him.

It grinned back and said, "Yes, let's."

'Tutorial' Objective Complete: Explore the Mind-Scape
Reward: 100 EXP; Current EXP: 180/125

Level-Up Delayed! Dungeon Must Be Completed!

'Tutorial' Objective Unlocked: Kill Lord Voldemort's Final Horcrux

Project Wizard Soundtrack: An Erisian Autumn by Angel Vivaldi

Raising his wand, Lord Voldemort's Final Horcrux shouted, "Avada Kedavra!" A jet of brilliant green light erupted from the mental construct's wand, and Harry felt his stomach clench.

He remembered the odd dreams he had about his parents' deaths, the Dark Lord's cruel laughter followed by green light. He knew what curse the thing in front of him just cast. He didn't even need his measly perception to tell him what it did.

Instantaneous death.

Harry completely dropped to the ground, landing flat on his stomach and knocking the wind out of his lungs. But he survived the opening attack, and was ready to retaliate the moment he was marginally more safe.

Gritting his teeth, the boy shouted the first thing that came to his mind, "Expelliarmis!" It might not have been the most impressive spell to use against a dark wizard, but it was more than enough to test his opponent.

You Have Not Learned That Spell Yet!

And it actually revealed quite a lot, to Harry's shock and growing horror. He could not use any spells that he used to know prior to his life turning into a videogame, because he hadn't yet relearned any of them.

"Shit."

Harry's enemy just grinned at him. "You truly are a sorry excuse for a wizard, you know that? This is how you do it. Expelliarmis!"

And then something very peculiar happened. Because the spell was demonstrated for him from within his own mind... he intrinsically understood what the horcrux had done to cast it.

Harry could see the magic circulating through his enemy's body and wand. He could follow, understand, and perfectly mimic the adroit wand movement and exact specifications of Voldemort's mouth moving through the incantation, even as he dodged the incoming spell.

Now he knew how to use the disarming charm, again.

"Expelliarmis!" This time, the spell shot forth from his wand just fine.

An energy pulse from Voldemort's core reached the wand in milliseconds, just before he casually deflected the disarming hex by batting it aside with his wand, completely forgoing a shield altogether. In that moment, Harry discovered how to parry enemy fire, thanks to the battle being in his mind.

Magic Dueling Technique Unlocked: Wanded Parry

Realizing that his nemesis was allowing him to learn things preternaturally swiftly, Harry felt a shiver run down his spine. But now was not the time to celebrate. Now was the time to fight.

At that moment, Harry grimly realized that he had no cover to hide behind in the dimly lit wooden world. There was no way in any of the hells that he'd be able to take a fully-grown wizard on in a straight fight, let alone a powerful dark sorcerer known for being on par with Dumbledore himself. He needed somewhere to hide.

It was just as these thoughts entered his mind that walls began raising out of the floor up to about his waist in height, consisting of holly wood just like the floors. Now, he had some cover. Harry blinked at that, wondering how this came to be. He certainly didn't consciously try to change the terrain. Putting conscious effort into trying to trap his enemy in a wooden cage, nothing happened.

"Huh. Guess it's gotta be a subconscious need," said Harry.

Shrugging at that, Tom Riddle began waving his wand and shouting, "Impedimenta! Incarcerous! Stupefy! Immobulus! Expelliarmis!" Harry noticed that each spell made a tiny unique dent in his MP bar, as he learned it from the stupid horcrux that was feeding him spells but not enough to be too detrimental.

They were all non-harmful options, of which he was sure none would be very effective against his current enemy.

But therein lay the issue. On one hand he wanted to get out of mortal peril as soon as possible, as well as receive his experience and begin the process of leveling up. But on the other hand, something told him this fight would be invaluable to him.

It was a bit odd for him, having not expected his opponent to be as powerful as he was. However, none of his final opponents had been at their peak ability; they were all weakened by one thing or another, completely unlike the being that stood before him.

Voldemort kept stalking forward calmly, parrying each hex as if they were flies before the ultimate fly-swatter that was its wand. Harry's spells crashed to the ground and deteriorated before he could try doing anything else.

Harry was completely unable to land a hit on his opponent, and the demon-eyed bastard didn't even seem to be putting any effort into his parries as he relentlessly marched forward.

Then, when they were standing no less than ten feet apart, Voldemort unleashed his own volley of spells.

Harry thought that his spell-casting speed was pretty good. But in the face of the sheer cascade of spells unleashed on his position, he blanched and could only duck behind the wall. Sticking his head over, he saw his opponent gather an enormous amount of energy into his wand. With a contemptuous smirk, Voldemort release an extra-powerful, "Bombarda Maxima!"

Magic Dueling Technique Unlocked: Effect Amplification

That wall was now no more, but fortunately he rolled away in time, sacrificing some SP as he did so.

Harry almost laughed at that notification. At least he was getting something useful out of this near-death experience (or actual-death experience, since he wasn't altogether sure that he could escape this gaming sequence unscathed).

He hid behind another wall, if only to catch his breath for a few precious seconds. The wood lasted mere moments under an assault of a half-dozen, "Confringo" and "Reducto" spells raining down on it. Then things began to get much more intense; Voldemort upped the ante, as it were. And Harry's 'eyes' were greedily drinking in the details of his arsenal.

"Bombarda Maxima!" another explosion, though not supercharged. "Infriga!" causing the temperature to plummet and ice to form over the ubiquitous wood. "Confringo-Waddiwasi!" the resulting explosion shattering the ice and wood, using the splinters and debris in a manner much like a fragmentation grenade. Harry managed to evade most of the devastation, only receiving minor cuts and bruises for his efforts.

Skill Unlocked: Elemental Manipulation
Skill Unlocked: Shape Manipulation
Magic Dueling Technique Unlocked: Spell Weaving

His HP dropped about a twentieth from that, and he frowned at the loss of precious vitality.

Harry was panting just from trying to survive, and the being he was fighting still continued to march forward with nary a care in the world. "Agua Eructo!" called Voldemort, a laser-like beam of water erupting from the tip of its wand and easily piercing Harry's next wooden defense. A diagonal slash cut the wall in half, leaving rivulets of water running down the seemingly still solid wall to form tiny puddles around Harry's supine body.

The wall promptly slid down slightly. "Forzare Maxima!" called out Voldemort's hauntingly familiar voice. A concussive force smashed into the barely erect wall, destabilizing it. It almost fell on Harry, had he not rolled out of the way in time. "Gravitas Deprimo!" Voldemort cackled in amusement, increasing the downward thrust of the falling wall, the resulting impact causing a shockwave that knocked Harry back onto his butt.

There was also a dent in the floor, a small crater with hairline cracks leading mostly towards Harry, where all the water suddenly was. "Glacius Tria!" cackled the Monster, the water suddenly flash-freezing into a spear that leapt off of the ground and stretched towards Harry's bespectacled eyes.

"Impervius!" the Boy-Who-Lived screamed, while pointing his wand at his glasses, hoping that it would at least do some good.

You Do Not Know That Spell!
Lucked Out! Spell Was Actualized!

The razor-thin needle turned slightly to the right, before the whole spear cracked and broke apart from the strain of supporting its own weight. 'Thank the gods for Hermione's help during that stormy quidditch match last semester,' thought Harry. He was going to kiss her the next time he saw her, on the cheek.

Harry picked up the sharp tip of the broken ice spear, before tossing it straight up into the air. He could see the reflection of the world beyond his temporary sanctuary of wooden wall, if only for a brief, warped second.

Within a second, Harry pinpointed the Horcrux's location, pointed his wand at the ice shard, and said, "Waddiwasi!" Again, the drop in MP was negligible.

The point of ice shot towards his clone with the force and speed of a bullet, a sonic boom letting him know that it broke the sound barrier in the pursuit of his enemy. Since it wasn't a spell, the Monster wouldn't be able to deal with this attack in the same... In a daze, Harry watched his opponent lazily say, "Protego," creating a tiny shield around his wand tip, allowing him to parry it to the side all the same.

"Fuck everything in existence," said Harry, really fed up with the way things were going.

Spiny vines of wood began erupting from the floor, attempting to wrap around Voldemort. Harry would've like to take credit for getting his mind to do that for him, but it was more accident than anything else.

Rather than stand still and simply parry the vines, the Shade began actually evading these attacks. Perhaps it showed that he had a healthy amount of respect for Harry's mind, or maybe he just didn't see Harry himself as that much of a threat.

And seeing how the fight had been going so far, Harry wouldn't blame the Doppelganger.

"Fumos," he said, causing fog to cover his position. "Silencia."

You Do Not Know That Spell!
Lucked Out! Spell Was Actualized!

You Do Not Know That Spell!

He hopped over the wall as noiselessly as he could, since his silencing spell failed to go through, his approach hidden in the fog. He watched as his Clone cart-wheeled, rolled, flipped, handsprung, jumped, and sidestepped all of the tendrils and brambles of wood that were trying to ensnare and impale him, raining down on him from the ceiling above, or jumping up from the floor below.

Skill Unlocked: Evasion

Harry paused and watched as the being retaliated even as it dodged.

"Expulso!" came his own voice from the mouth of the Horcrux, bringing forth a pressurized explosion that whipped even Harry about from this distance. The world screeched a tumultuous scream in response and a wall of intense vibration smashed into the enemy, who faltered but still dodged the next wooden spike it landed on.

Harry began concentrating on gathering as much energy into his wand as he could, hoping that this would be safe. A dome of wood surrounded him, hopefully allowing him the time he needed to pull off his next feet.

The Monster snarled, "Incendio Tria!" resulting in a ball of flame that could be felt from dozens of feet away.

Harry's control over his own pooling energy slipped somewhat, and he could barely hold onto the stick of wood slick with his own sweat from stress. But the wood caught the spell, seeming to be somewhat fire resistant, so he allowed himself to continue focusing on the task he assigned himself.

"Forzare!" continued the Shade's assault, producing an invisible force that actually buffeted Harry's bunker, but the young wizard forced himself to block out any negative thoughts.

The intense blast of wind apparently lifted the entity high into the air, because a few moments later, Harry watched as Voldemort descended in a spinning freefall, gritting his teeth as he allowed his emotions to begin fueling his spell too.

"Deletrius!" screamed the Horcrux, generating a beam of eradication.

Harry jumped out of the way, though it caught the heel of his left shoe ever so slightly; the rubber was just gone.

His Doppelganger began screaming, even as he continued moving every single drop of his magic into his wand. "Sonorous!" screeched Voldemort, the world blurring as the air vibrated from his powerful hex.

Harry's eardrums burst, blood leaking down the sides of his face, yet still he continued. His blood was beginning to thump to a certain beat.

"Sectumsempra!" brought forth ethereal and invisible blades, though their frenzied slashes merely caught the wood behind where Harry had been mere moments before. "Diffindo!" followed by, "Defodio!"; severing hex followed by gouging, but neither hit their mark even if they were a bit closer. Voldemort began to growl, an almost animalistic sound, before standing up straight and entering a new stance.

Harry saw that his body was rippling with magical energy now.

"Agua Eructo!" the piercing water-beam.
"Glacius Tria!" the prickly ice-spear.
"Bombarda Maxima!" the massive explosion.
"Forzare Maxima!" the concussive force.
"Ventus Tria!" the tempestuous whirlwind.

Warily watching from his position, Harry noticed that the Horcrux's wand-motions were fluidly leading from one spell to the other, and he wondered if there was some significance to that.

Magic Dueling Technique Unlocked: Spell Chaining
Magic Dueling Technique Unlocked: Spell Ricochet
Magic Dueling Technique Unlocked: Spell Bending

Attribute Trained: PER!
Current PER: 1

Harry merely ignored the notification for the time being. Between the ferocity of Voldemort's casting and the sheer brutality of his choices in curses, nothing would be able to stand up to the Dark Lord's might. It was like sheet metal trying to withstand a Gatling gun, or even a sheet of paper for all the difference it made here.

But then things got even more dicey.

"Gravitas Deprimo!" sent the Harry straight to the ground.
"Orbis!" made the ground begin swallowing up Harry's feet.
With a smirk, the Horcrux said, "Fulminos!"
A bolt of lightning arced from the wand's tip to Harry himself.

Harry felt something deep within him, something that surprised even himself.

"Oh, I'm such an idiot."

The horcrux stopped its assault for a moment, surprise evident on its face. Whether that was due to Harry's declaration or Harry not being harmed by the lightning bolt, he would never know.

"I've got A+ Ranked Magic Resistance now."

Voldemort actually took a step back at that, as if it actually meant something to him. In that moment, Harry was reminded that it had tried to kill him, to take over his body, and was a part of the man who killed his parents so long ago. A shiver of pure, raw Hatred ran down his spine. It was both cold like the arctic and hot like a volcano. And it had a target.

Feeling that he had the adequate amount of energy to bring the fight to an end, Harry pointed his wand at the Horcrux. "REDUCTO!" he cried, an orb of destruction almost the size of his chest rocketing out of its tip. This time, a fourth of his MP was drained instantaneously, and he began panting heavily from the exertion.

His MP instantly returned to full.

"Protego Maxima!" called out his opponent smugly, lessening the damage by more than enough to simply tank the tiny remainder of the spell that got through.

They then both shot "Bombarda Maxima!" at each other, though neither expected the outcome of such a course of action.

Their spells collided in the air, before a bridge formed between the two wizards. All of the sounds of battle were overwritten by static, the colors of the world seemed to invert themselves, and Harry could feel the magic itself in the air. And then world seemed to implode around them, throwing them both brusquely to the floor.

Attribute Trained: LUK! X4
Current Luck: 4

"Was that a glitch?" asked Harry aloud, jumping to his feet and gain some more distance.

"Regardless of what that was, you're dead now, Potter," said the Ditto, a feral smile etched into its stony face. Drool was running out of its mouth as it contemplated him, its head twisting to the side like someone in dire need of an exorcism. And then all of its considerable attention was upon him.

"Shit, shit, shit," said Harry, as he began twisting and ducking, jumping and sliding to escape his imminent death. And he had no doubt that if he died in the confines of his mind-scape, that he would die on the outside as well. Nothing had outright told him this, but it was still something that he seemed subconsciously aware of.

Then the Boy-Who-Lived began to show He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named what his own medicine tasted like. He knew the incantations, the wand-movements, and the internal manipulations required for the spells. Now he just needed to let them fly.

"Incarcerous! Carpe Retractum!" he shouted, creating magical rope and using it like a whip, but missing his opponent who simply weaved in and out of the near-supersonic strikes. "Bombarda Maxima!" caused the ground to erupt into a pile of dirt, making his enemy jump straight into the air.

That crazed Monster was already retaliating in midair, using its supernatural agility to fire off two spells while still in the apex of its flight.

Harry frowned as he dodged a purple curse, seeing as it would turn his bone marrow into mud. It led him right into the red one, which would switch his oxygenated blood with hydrogenated blood. He simply parried it away, having not enough time to dodge.

He frowned as he dodged another spell, getting fed up with how things were going. He grit his teeth, thinking about a spell that he had only read about, but he'd seen Voldemort use multiple times over the course of their battle.

It took all of his concentration, but he was forming a tiny shield of sorts, one that could take moderate spell damage before exploding on him. Using his insane reflexes as a legendary seeker, he blocked the incoming projectiles that the Horcrux was shooting off.

Gritting his teeth, he pulled his arm back before chucking the blob of lethally charged ether. It moved at the speed of a regular spell, just shy of breaking the sound barrier, before it smashed into Vol-

Or at least, it would have if his opponent weren't good enough to dodge it. But Harry already had another spell on the way.

"Hold still!" shouted Harry angrily, right as his suped up stupefy hit the ground and exploded, a shockwave of stunning energy released and catching his enemy unawares.

The Monster froze up, falling over for a brief moment before staggering back to his feet. So it could still affect his opponent, but those shockwaves weren't nearly strong enough to keep him bound.

"Oh shit," said the Boy-Who-Lived as his opponent began firing off a spell every second. He also instinctively knew what each of those spells did, and learned just by watching his opponent how to do them. His spell repertoire was growing exponentially the longer this fight went on.

And they all looked really nasty too, the kind that would probably make him wish he were dead instead of whatever it was that they did.

Frowning, he formed another stupefy torpedo-thing, and launched it, before unleashing a slew of Voldemort's own spells right back at him, though not quite as fast. He probably needed to increase his agility before he could do much more than that.

The paralysis wave caught his opponent, as did two very deadly curses. One liquified his bowels, and the other reversed his skin. And just like that, his opponent was on the ground with only a sliver of health left. Deciding to end the fight with the same spell that began his opponent's opening salvo, he pointed his wand at the pathetic thing.

"Avada Kedav-"

"Wait," came the creature's pitiful cry.

He blinked and stopped the killing curse, intrigued at just how the Specter was going to try talking his way out of this situation. "And why would I do that? You just told me that you were going to kill me and take over my body. Am I supposed to forgive that kind of shit?" his voice was soft, an edge of steel waiting for permission to behead his enemy.

The horcrux shivered, and said, "Please, have mercy. I beg of you, let me live! I... I'll teach you how to protect yourself! I'll give you all of the knowledge I had in life as a Dark Lord-"

Harry gasped, and saw a menu appear in front of his eyes. It was a dialogue box again, making him think that it would only show up if he had a choice to make that would affect the progression of The Game.

Let the Horcrux Live?

Yes
No