HP 8

The outing to Knockturn Alley brought quite a few benefits to the table. I've gained five levels for my Wizard class, while at the same time raising my [Mana Manipulation], [Charms], and [Transfiguration] skills by a few levels each. [Dodge] and [Mind Arts] have also leveled up a few times, but I've also gained a new skill by the name of [Acrobatics].

[Acrobatics LVL:1/100]

- Increases the user's balance by 5%/LVL.

- Increases the user's flexibility by 2%/LVL.

However, the benefits didn't stop there. The knowledge I plucked from the Hag's mind, the books I've bought, and the ones I freed from the confines of the hidden stash, while threading carefully, allowed me to start learning the darker aspects of magic this world had to offer. Despite practicing some of the vilest and most horrible spells I could find in those memories and books for a week straight, I didn't feel any different. Knowing what I knew, I should have lost some of my emotions and started developing questionable tendencies, but non, except for my standard ones, showed up. To my knowledge, dark arts tainted the soul, but they seemingly had no effects on me.

If I remembered it right, the [Soul Shield], a system upgrade purchasable from the System Upgrade Store, not only hid the Library hosts soul from the gazes of other entities but in its description stated that souls differ from world to world.

Was the fact that I'm an otherworlder and my soul differed from the people of this world, keeping the taint abbey? I wasn't sure, but the fact that it did not affect me, allowed me to delve deep into the subject.

I didn't touch on the ritual aspect of the arts, because they required an in-depth understanding of runes, which I currently didn't poses, but I experimented with most curses. This led to me discovering something fascinating, some tidbits hidden in plain sight.

Curses and charms were the same things.

To make the explanation simpler, let's take the heating charm as an example, it was used to heat up something and keep it warm, while casting the spell, mana always followed the same exact paths, and the will of the caster had to be focused on what was affected and how hot it was supposed to be.

Now, there was a dark spell that made mana follow the same exact mana paths, but required you to focus on the blood of the target while willing it to start boiling. The Blood Boiling Curse and the mundane Heating Charm were the same exact thing but used in two different ways.

That made me realize that wizarding spells not only relied on mana manipulation resulting from their wand movement but also heavily relied on the will and imagination of the user. This information was going to be crucial when I started creating my own spells.

After a week of study and comprehending what I could from that side of magic, I focused my attention back on [Alchemy] and read through the full 7-year course in about three days. The increase in my reading speed, allowed me to promptly go through the six remaining Potioneering and two Alchemy books, but as I didn't have the equipment to practice, the skill only went up and stayed at level 40. This made me realize that knowledge wasn't nearly enough to raise the level of skills, practical experience was also required.

Despite my busy schedule, I also made time for some light exercise and going on dates with Olivia. Our relationship was progressing in a good direction. The furthest we've gone was second base, and she was the one initiating it, however, to my dismay we never went further. The girl had a dirtier mind than me, but due to society's standards in this era, even after a month of dating, she was hesitant to take the last step, as she would be labeled as "easy" if we were to take our relationship to the next level. Despite this, the sexual tension between us continued to build, and I was pretty sure she will bend, in more ways than one, in the foreseeable future.

I had to be honest with myself, whatever was forcing us towards each other succeeded, as I was starting to develop sincere feelings towards the girl. Not only was she affectionate, supportive, and communicative, but she also kept popping over with food every now and then, while lying that she made too much for herself. She once even jokingly said that according to her grandma's words, the way to a man's heart was through his stomach. Maybe her grandma was right because she started to worm her way into mine.

During the one month, I'm not sure when, but I completely stopped reading her mind, I had learned to trust her, and I was more eager to experience whatever she planned to do than to find it out with a single glance.

Unfortunately, during the month I've been living here, I've also been captured multiple times and had to spend up to three hours in the company of Mrs. Mabel. Forced to listen to her repeating the same story over and over again. If not for her delicious cookies, I would have Obliviated her and moved on. Thankfully, the 'magic' she could perform in the kitchen, saved her from demise.

The start of the school year was approaching rapidly, I still had about forty days before it officially started, but honestly, I wasn't eager. Don't get me wrong, the castle and all of its secrets were my top priority, but teaching disrespectable little dip-shits wasn't. I had to sigh, teaching wasn't something I was waiting for, but the quests required me to get into Hogwarts, and without the Reincarnation System, becoming a teacher was the only other way I could get in.

[Skill: [Herbology] unlocked.]

[Skill: [Mathematics] unlocked.]

[Skill: [Runic Language] unlocked.]

[Skill: [Enchanting] unlocked.]

[Skill: [Spellcode] unlocked.]

By the time August arrived, I had completed the Hogwarts curriculum. [Herbology] provided me with a skill that allowed the growing and harvesting plants to become instinctual, while at the same time, it increased the chances of correctly identifying a plant, even without any background information about it. This skill was incredibly useful, allowing me to identify poisonous plants and useful crafting materials in even other worlds.

Arithmancy, however, was a surprise, the ability to predict the future using numbers, within the library system actually translated into [Mathematics]. Which, to be honest, was quite the powerful skill, as it increased the speed of mental calculations by 0.1% per level. That might not seem a lot, but at high skill and intellect levels a 10% increase in calculation speed was too large of a boost to ignore. With that skill however I ran into a new problem, the simple mathematics formula and exercises I had access to, refused to make the skill advance in levels after reaching level 35. I had to set aside a day and go find a bookstore selling some advanced calculus or something similar.

That skill actually answered one of my questions on how skill leveling worked. Knowledge alone couldn't make it reach the maximum potential, not like level one hundred was that anyway, nor could it practice alone do it, the combination of both was needed to reach a higher level.

After a meticulous study of the subject called "The Study of Ancient Runes", a fascinating skill called [Runic Language] was generated. Not only did each level increase the understanding of runes by 5% for each level, but at the same time, by guiding me, it decreased the chances of failure when using runes by 1% per level. Knowing all of that, I was looking forward to visiting a world with a runic magic system and attempting to create new spells.

After I had a good understanding of runes, I gave a look at Rituals, surprisingly, however, I didn't get any skill from it. The topic was intriguing, but quite gruesome and unnecessary in my option, sometimes even requiring newborns as a sacrifice. The momentary power the rituals offered, while inciting to some, didn't actually pike my interest so much. The only ones that actually interested me were the summoning, familiar and similar rituals, but knowing that without the correct system, I couldn't currently take out a beast from any world, I had to ignore these rituals for now.

Interestingly, Charms, Arithmancy, and Ancient Runes directly tied into [Enchanting], as in this world there were two types of enchantments, temporary ones created by the usage of charms, or permanent ones created with arithmetical calculation and runes, using a tool named Inscriber.

The former method made the items lose the magic invested into them over time, making the enchantment only temporary, lasting only from a day up to a few decades. It all depended on the power invested into the charm by the wizard or witch who cast it. Items enchanted this way were popular because they were way cheaper than the permanently enchanted ones.

The latter method, as previously mentioned used a tool called Inscriber, which allowed the insertion of magical runic scripts into an object. These enchantments, contrary to the ones created with charms, were robust and could last for centuries, while at the same time, they frequently are a lot more complex.

Depending on how complex an enchantment was, the object could draw power from the wizard or directly from the environment. That, however, had its own drawbacks. Atmospheric mana in this world wasn't constant. Mana was concentrated in specific areas around the world, the same places where wizards were frequent.

This led me to question the origin of mana in these areas. I had two theories: either there were mana-rich lay-lines under these specific areas, saturating the environment and drawing in wizards, or mana was drawn to the area due to its frequent usage by wizards. Unfortunately, I had no way of confirming either theories, as I had no time for an extensive study of the subject.

Finally, after going through all the course books in addition to the ones I bought in various shops, counting in the prank spells and the surprisingly useful household charms, I could delve into the secrets of spell crafting. As a preparation for all of this, I already bought multiple notebooks, so I can write down all my finding and maybe form some kind of spell creation guide for my future companions if I ever gain some.

As stated prior, a spell is formed by the combination of the will of the caster and the path their mana took. Wand movements make mana circulate in specific directions, and the will of the caster actualizes the spell, while chants were there to help visualize it. This whole system however brought with itself a small problem, double or multicasting with the wizarding magic was almost impossible. Only spells that drastically differed in their mana pathways could be cast simultaneously.

It was actually funny how that system worked. If you knew the description of the spell or had seen it in action, it was easier to associate the spell with the chant, allowing easier spell casting. But in honesty, the chant wasn't needed nor were the wand movements. All that was required for you to cast a wizarding spell was imagination, will, and the ability to manipulate mana.

So for my first task, I mapped out all the wand movements and correlated them to the movements my mana made inside of my mana channels. While doing so, I kept getting 1 XP for each page I wrote down in my notebook, courtesy of the Scribe class that I earlier maxed out. The notifications started to become annoying and I ultimately just turned it off. The mapping of mana channels was a monumental task keeping me up for almost two weeks, but that alone wasn't enough to craft a spell. Each of the paths mana took, also correlated to a specific action the spell would take and required the caster to focus his will on specific things, so for an additional week, I mapped out all of them and finally gained a new skill.

[Spellcode LVL:1/100]

- After understanding the magical system, allows the user to analyze, modify or create spells.

- Increases the chances of successfully analyzing, modifying, or creating a spell by 0.1%/LVL.

If I had a Skill Rarity System, I was sure the skill would show up as legendary or at least rare. It was an overpowered ability. Not only did it allow me to analyze, modify or create spells, but it also increased the chances of doing so. Even if the percentage were low, it will be a tremendous help in the long run.

For my first attempt at spell crafting, I went for a good old fireball. The spell couldn't be more simple, but as it was my first attempt, it did cause a few headaches. Using Incendio as a base, I disassembled the spell to its base mana pathways and the will required to cast it. Changing up some of the pathways and will, sometimes caused the spell to go haywire, or just straight up blow up. I was thankful to my Wizard class, as the damage reduction against failed spell casts this time did come in handy, and so did the few healing spells I picked up.

I was scratching my head in frustration, till I realized that I'm an idiot, picking apart the Lumos spell and adding its mana pathways to the spell, I was slowly but surely progressing, and I could feel that I was on the correct track. On my fifteenth attempt, the will required finally clicked, the mana pathways aligned, and accompanied by a system notification, the spell was finally cast.

[Spell: [Pyroblastus] learned]

A ball of crimson flame formed on my palm, heating the air around it, but not burning me at all. The spell wobbled in the air waiting for my command, while licks of fire danced around. With the wave of my hand, it flew away at high speeds hitting the designated target and exploding in the process. Showering me and the rest of the living room with wooden chips.

"Maybe it wasn't the smartest idea doing this inside of the trunk." I mumble under my breath, then shrug and Aguamenti to put out all the spreading fire. All of that was followed by a Reparo and cleaning charm to fix up the room and remove all the char from the nearby walls.

The spell I just created was powerful, and similarly to other Wizarding spells, cost almost nothing to cast. During the crafting process, [Spellcode] has reached level seven, while [Charms], for some reason, jumped a single one.

Not satisfied with only one self-made spell, I focused on refining the invisibility spell. I needed something powerful, to hide me in plain sight, and allow me to infiltrate guarded locations, without being noticed or pulling suspicion towards me. The spell had to have multiple effects, like masking my scent, and sound, while keeping me away from prying eyes. As I went through the list of spells I knew I started formulating plans of which ones I will be using as components for the new spells.

I finally reduced the list to only five spells, and after borrowing parts of the Obliviate, Disillusionment, Tergeo, Notice-Me-Not, and finally Muffliato charms, I started the spell crafting process. Hours upon hours of only failures, multiple backlashes, and a few explosions later. I succeeded in casting the first variant of the spell.

The spell not only hid you from watching eyes, but also masked your scent, the sound you made, and any directs actions you took. In addition to all of that, it made people forget you were even there. However, your indirect actions were still observable. Picking up a ball made others ignore it, but throwing a ball and hitting something or someone, made others notice something was wrong. The spell was honestly, a pervert's dream come true.

The first variant of the spell, however, had a huge drawback, even the caster forgot he ever cast the spell. I only noticed this when I started to feel my mana depleting at a high rate. In my attempts to test out the spell's effectiveness, I cast it 7 times in a row. Then like a total idiot, forgot I've ever cast it. The coffee table in the living was littered with seven items, all previously invisible, some of them even from other rooms. I could only sit there in amazement and scratch my head in confusion, as I couldn't even remember when I brought those over.

It took quite some time to figure out how to prevent all of that, but in the end, I succeeded. After my first attempt at casting the new variant of the spell, the system finally recognized and added it to the grimoire tab, while announcing it with a notification.

[Spell: [Furtim] learned]

However, the infiltration missions had to wait, the first and most important requirement was information, and I didn't know where half of the things I needed were located at. That's why the first location I had to visit was Hogwarts, its huge library not only allowed me to expand on my already vast magical knowledge, but its staff's memories were a treasure-trove of magical secrets and information. But all of that could wait the nine days before the school year started, as today something else had to have my full focus. I had to prepare for a Friday date night at my place with my bombshell of a girlfriend.

Exiting the trunk, I levitated all of the ingredients I would need to make the dinner I was planning, after placing them on the counter, I shifted the trunk back to its necklace variant and placed it inside my inventory. There was no need to let her accidentally stumble upon it.

The apartment barely looked lived in, so I had to remedy that, a few cleaning, repairing, and transfiguration spells, fixed the ambiance of the place, and now it looked homey. The upkeep on the transfiguration was minimal so keeping it up even for a full week wasn't an issue.

I moved to the bedroom and used the [Orchideous] spell and summoned roses, that spell was perfect for last-minute valentine's day presents and occasions like these. With a wave of my hand the rose red petals littered the ground and the sheets, at the same time some petals were transfigurated into candles, waiting for the right moment to be lit. The atmosphere I creates, was quite romantic if I had to say myself.

Back in the kitchen, I was just finishing my last-minute preparations, when the knock on the door resounded. The time has come, and the main actor of the evening has finally arrived.