Chapter 151: Superficial Wealth

In fact, most of the pure-blood families with glamorous appearances are merely superficial.

They are considered superficial because they have almost no sources of income.

What kind of wealth does a typical pure-blood family possess? One can refer to the Malfoy family or the Black family.

They own a magnificent and grand estate, usually with a house-elf responsible for its upkeep, and they collect many antiques, gold, and silver items with centuries of history.

They typically have a family vault at the lowest level of Gringotts, filled with mountains of gold.

However, the estate is usually their ancestral home, invaluable but impossible to liquidate. 

House-elves cannot be traded. Although antiques seem valuable, if you try to sell them for cash one day, you'll find that you won't get much Galleons for them.

Moreover, the gold in most family vaults dwindles with each generation's consumption. 

This gold is often accumulated over several generations by the ancestors of pure-blood families, either through wealth obtained from alchemical creations, brewing potions, or through trickery and deception in front of Muggles. 

It might even be from discovering treasures or gold mines...

But as time passes, accumulating wealth becomes increasingly difficult.

With the continuous development of Muggles, obtaining wealth from them becomes more and more challenging, especially after the enactment of the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy. 

Using magic to obtain wealth from Muggles is completely prohibited—except for Alaric's methods, as it's merely Muggle-style investment.

As the wizarding society continues to develop, the monopoly of education in magic by pure-blood families is soon broken by the emergence of various magical schools, led by Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. 

These public educational organizations brought about a renaissance in the wizarding society, continuously revealing knowledge such as spells, alchemy, and potion-making. 

Masters of alchemy and potion-making emerged among half-blood wizards, increasing competition. 

As a result, the prices of magical items and potions continued to decline, and pure-blood families could no longer rely on alchemy and potions to obtain large fortunes.

However, in the wizarding world, apart from the production of alchemy, potions, and herbs, there are few other sustainable industries.

In fact, this world has reached a stage of great material abundance, almost reaching the threshold.

Although the magic in this world lacks lethality, it is extremely powerful in terms of production and daily life. 

This directly leads to the most basic survival resources such as food, water, and clothing becoming quite inexpensive.

Of course, this is not solely due to Transfiguration.

In fact, there are five major exceptions to the fundamental law of Transfiguration: food, magical items, magical creatures, non-existent entities, and concepts without specific forms. 

These five exceptions are beyond the reach of Transfiguration.

However, magic can achieve this through other means.

Regarding food, magic can multiply a small amount of food, with the most typical spells being the Enlargement Charm and the Doubling Charm. 

Magic can also accelerate crop growth, ensuring abundant harvests even in barren fields. 

Even Hagrid, who is not skilled in magic, can use the Engorgement Charm to make his pumpkins taller than adults.

As for water, a simple Aguamenti spell can solve all problems.

In terms of clothing, furniture, or even houses, manufacturing through magic is quite convenient.

Manipulating the movement of matter itself is the most basic spell, and Transfiguration has excellent effects in producing these everyday items.

Some highly skilled wizards can even simplify the complex processes of making furniture or dishes into a single spell.

In other words, with the right materials and knowledge of the corresponding spells, even a witch who has never entered a kitchen can cook a chicken.

In fact, books on magical cooking and household chores are quite popular among housewives.

Take the Weasley family, for example, a poor wizarding family. They worry only about affording books and wands for their four or five children's education.

Even though they can't afford a single Galleon, they still live in a large house of over a hundred square meters, with a vast yard, and the whole family can eat whatever they desire every day. 

But for many Muggles far wealthier in terms of wealth, this remains an unattainable luxury.

Therefore, for wizards, apart from producing magical items, all other industries are worthless—why spend money to buy something that can be obtained through magic?

However, for a pure-blood family, maintaining the luxurious lifestyle of the family, socializing with other families, and making connections across all social classes consume a vast amount of wealth every year. 

And this expenditure far exceeds what can be earned from holding a position at the Ministry of Magic or operating one or two shops selling alchemical items or potions.

All of this leads to their continuous decline and corruption.

In fact, many old pure-blood families have become obscure and abandoned their last bit of dignity due to financial difficulties.

Many families can only survive by borrowing from Gringotts.

And this is also one of the reasons why the pure-blood supremacy ideology inherited from Salazar Slytherin by Voldemort, or the wizarding supremacy ideology of Gellert Grindelwald, can attract these pure-blood families.

According to Voldemort or Grindelwald's ideas, wizards can abandon the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy, voluntarily appear in front of Muggles, defeat and control Muggle society through magic, plunder Muggle wealth, and enslave Muggles. 

Through such means, pure-blood families can obtain vast wealth and resources from Muggles once again, replenishing their family vaults at Gringotts and allowing their families to continue to enjoy the same luxurious lifestyle!

Among them, Voldemort goes even further than Grindelwald. 

He not only wants to enslave Muggles but also discriminates against wizards born to Muggles and looks down on half-blood wizards.

He hopes to establish a wizarding society where power is in the hands of pure-blood wizards. 

In such a society, pure-blood wizards are the privileged class. 

They exploit half-blood and Muggle-born wizards and reject the emergence of Muggle-born wizards. 

Since Muggle-born wizards have no contact with the wizarding world before awakening their magical abilities, whether they can access magic depends entirely on the initiative of the wizarding world. 

In this way, their power can be completely controlled by pure-blood wizards, and they cannot resist.

In Alaric's view, Grindelwald's ideas are quite ridiculous, while Voldemort's strategies are more feasible.

Because the wizarding world's demand for the Muggle world is not as great as imagined.

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