The Outset (VI)

Six months had passed since Maverick started learning magic.

The past half-year had been incredibly fulfilling for him. Now, after spending all that time in the wizarding world, he felt sure no one would mistake him for a beginner.

He'd learned tons about the wizarding world, its history, and so much more. From what he'd picked up, he was certain that the world he once knew and the one he was now a part of were not exactly the same.

According to A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot, the wizarding world didn't just revolve around Britain. Every country had its own magic, unique spells, and mystical alchemy.

And evil wizards weren't just a British problem. They showed up in other places, especially in Europe, Russia, China, Japan, and even the United States.

The most recent infamous wizard seemed to match what he remembered: Gellert Grindelwald. But something was off—apparently, Grindelwald had teamed up with a very familiar terrorist group from Maverick's memory.

Even his downfall was different from what Maverick remembered. Dumbledore, who defeated him, supposedly got help from a Muggle international agency—another group Maverick recognized from his previous life.

Both Muggles and wizards fought, and the whole thing was on a much larger scale than what was shown in the Fantastic Beasts movies. But in the end, the good guys won.

The International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy also wasn't exactly how Maverick remembered it.

In one of Bagshot's other books, he read that the Statute was first signed in 1689 and put in place by 1692, just like in the Harry Potter stories. But in this world, there was a key difference: the statute had been revised in 1957, a few years after World War II. The book specifically called it World War, not Wizarding World War.

During the war, the wizarding world had been exposed quite a bit, so Muggle and magical governments made secret agreements to keep each other in check.

This meant that high-ranking Muggle officials actually knew about magic and wizards living among them. With the chaos of the war and the limited technology at the time, the two sides were able to keep the magical world hidden from the general public.

But Maverick was still curious: if the wizarding world had already been exposed, why not just introduce it to everyone?

The answer in Bagshot's book was vague and, frankly, suspicious. There were no details about what was discussed between the Muggle and magical leaders. All it said was that both sides agreed to keep magic hidden.

And this new secrecy law seemed both stricter and more lenient than in J.K. Rowling's stories.

For instance, wizards couldn't just mess with a Muggle's memory even if they found out about magic. They'd have to go through specific Muggle government departments that dealt with, well, "extraordinary matters."

The Obliviate spell, along with other memory-modifying spells, was now ranked "EX" and strictly controlled. Only witches and wizards with special licenses were allowed to use it.

Maverick had also read about spell ranks in another book. "EX" spells were the most restricted, reserved only for highly trained wizards.

Interestingly, wizards could now work within Muggle governments, but only in special departments that handled the supernatural.

Many countries' governments had such departments now, making cooperation between Muggle and Magical societies more common.

Every country now had powerful wizards ranked higher in their armies. They shouldn't be as strong as Dumbledore, but still, pretty darn good.

The wizarding world wasn't as out-of-touch with Muggle technology anymore.

Another thing that stood out was the power hierarchy among wizards.

Dumbledore was still considered a powerhouse, but opinions on his rank varied—some saw him as "Warlock" rank, while others thought he was a top-tier "Arch-Magus."

Arch-Magus were incredibly rare, with only seven known to exist in the world today. Warlocks, however, were even more legendary, with just eight recorded throughout history. Yet, none appeared to be alive in the present day, as the books he read hinted at their fate with ambiguous references.

Then there were Great Magus, another powerful rank with less than 100 wizards alive worldwide.

The difference in power between a Great Magus and an Arch Magus was immense. A Great Magus could level a small town if they went all out, but an Arch Magus could achieve the same destruction with far less effort, using only a few measured gestures.

So, any Witch or Wizard who's become a Great Magus gets some noble status from their government. But if they're up to no good, the wizard governments come down on them hard.

This was especially highlighted and became law after a lunatic named Voldemort—a recent Arch Magus—caused havoc in the UK about a decade ago.

However, due to some inexplicable reason,—one not clearly mentioned in any of the books he had bought, —the evil wizard had parished in the hands of a newborn.

Afterward, his followers were hunted down and put on trial.

Of course, corruption is something that no world is safe from. Some, rich and powerful people connected to Voldemort did escaped punishment, and Bagshot didn't hold back on mentioning this in her latest book.

Since Voldemort's fall, evil wizards followed an unspoken rule: no killing Muggles in public or revealing magic to the world.

Breaking this rule didn't just attract the British magical authorities but also brought in the International Confederation of Wizards and even special Muggle government agencies. Together, they'd hunt down any threat, magical or not.

But enough of the history lesson! Maverick hadn't just studied history these past six months—he'd added plenty of powerful spells to his collection, too.

Learning new spells had gone pretty smoothly for Maverick.

He had already picked up nearly all the spells that Hogwarts would typically teach over seven years.

Now, you might wonder, how did he do that so fast? Well, it turned out that just learning the basic version of each spell wasn't all that hard.

Some spells showed up on his system panel even when he didn't get them quite right.

For instance, the first time he tried the "Lumos" charm, the tip of his wand only gave a tiny flicker of light, barely visible. But the system immediately recognized it, marking him as having basic knowledge of the spell.

He figured that as long as he got the general idea of a spell, the system would add it to his list.

Excited, he jumped straight from "Lumos" to the "Patronus" charm, which was famously tricky—an internationally recognized "A Rank" spell.

He tried to cast it, summoning happy thoughts from both his current life and his previous one. But...nothing. The system didn't even acknowledge his attempt.

Two weeks ago, after he had learned a ton of other spells, he decided to try again. It took him a whole week of trial and error to finally get the spell to register as beginner level. But that was all he needed—the system could work its magic from there.

Despite all his experimenting, he still couldn't figure out exactly how the system decided when he'd "learned" a spell at the beginner level. Some spells got listed instantly, while others took him days or even weeks.

Thankfully, more than 90% of the spells from first to seventh-year Hogwarts books were quick for him to grasp. Once they were listed, he could just use his cheat to boost their levels.

With over 1800 points, he leveled up some spells to advanced and kept most of the rest at intermediate.

And that's how he got through almost all the spells listed in the Hogwarts curriculum, learning nearly every one of them.

Of course, there were way more spells out there than just the ones in school books—daily-use spells for cleaning and lighting, plus loads of combat and defense spells. No way he could learn everything in just six months.

Still, he was pretty pleased with what he'd managed to accomplish in that time.

[ Name: Maverick Caesar ]

[ Class: Wizard ]

[ Rank: Mage Apprentice ]

[ Magical Energy: 41+ ]

[ Points: 182 ]

[ Extraordinary Characteristic Points: 0 ]

[ Extraordinary Characteristics: Excellent-grade spellcasting ]

[ Talent: ]

[ Transfiguration (Advanced +) ]

[ Potions (Beginner +) ]

[ Alchemy (Beginner +) ]

[ Spells: ]

Flipendo (Advanced +)

Bombarda (Advanced +)

Expelliarmus (Advanced +)

Protego (Advanced +)

Finite Incantatem: General Counter-Spell (Advanced +)

Petrificus Totalus (Advanced +)

Stupefy (Advanced +)

Patronus Charm (Advanced +)

Episkey (Healing) (Advanced +)

Reparo (Advanced +)

Revelio (Advanced +)

Disillusionment (Advanced +)

Wingardium Leviosa (Advanced +)

Descendo (Intermediate +)

Depulso (Intermediate +)

Flipendo Maxima (Intermediate +)

Bombarda Maxima (Intermediate +)

Confringo (Intermediate +)

Diffindo (Intermediate +)

Incendio (Intermediate +)

Carpe Retractum: Seize and Pull Charm (Intermediate +)

Confusion Hex (Intermediate +)

Riddikulus (Intermediate +)

Protego Maxima (Intermediate +)

Protego horribilis: Powerful Shield (Intermediate +)

Bubble-Head Charm (Intermediate +)

Glacius (Intermediate +)

Arresto Momentum (Intermediate +)

Reverte (Intermediate +)

Repello Muggletum (Intermediate +)

Lumos (Intermediate +)

Levioso (Intermediate +)

Accio (Intermediate +)

Alohomora (Intermediate +)

Appare Vestigium: Tracking Spell (Intermediate +)

Engorgio: Engorgement Charm (Intermediate +)

Flagrate: Writes in midair with firey marks (Intermediate +)

Homonculous Charm: Tracking (Intermediate +)