Time is going slow when you are doing something not fun. In my case, it constantly goes slow.
I spend so much time grinding that it horrifies me to even think about what will be in the future. Moreover, thanks to degradation, I understood that I need to concentrate on the important stuff and treat other skills as a bonus that comes along. I mean cooking skills probably won't save me from anything, while magic skills can help me in a myriad of ways.
Anyway, I still get more than enough experience with my main skills. Plus, my main skills give me more experience than other ones because they have grown over 30 mark. It seems like every 10 points experience, given by a skill raise, increases exponentially.
My main concern is how to practice legilimency. The problem is I don't have books. In addition to this, I can't cast magic during summer thanks to "Trace". However, here is an interesting fact - it has one weakness. It can't track self-contained magic.
For example, flying magical devices (e.g. brooms) contain magic inside and fly due to enchantment applied to it. However, due to my knowledge in enchanting and magic theory, I found out that even that is not entirely correct.
Every wizard/witch/magic artifact constantly emits magic. Even brooms. However, self-contained magic emits especially small amounts of magic. Moreover, they consume the same amount from the atmosphere to cover for emission. So, I have 2 theories here. Either "Trace" is limited in the detection spectrum or the consumption of magic can cover for its emission.
First can be applied to the fact that Animagus form and magical creatures can't be tracked. Because the magic is their form, not what they do with that form. So, we can assume that ancient wizards who came up with the spell have made sure that "Trace" won't be activated whenever some magical creature does anything near children.
Here is the proof, elves are capable of the apparition, but that doesn't affect trace, because it is their natural ability. Only when they actively cast magic it activates. Otherwise, elves moving stealthily around will ring alarms every few minutes.
On the other hand, the second idea about consumption covering for emission can be quite valid as well. If you think about it, all magical spaces, such as Hogwarts, Diagon Alley and etc. consume a ton of magic from the atmosphere to upkeep all the charms and enchantments that were cast upon them. That can explain why "Trace" doesn't work there.
Another proof is the magical train that goes to the school. It's basically a huge magical artifact in and of itself. That's why magic, done inside of it is untraceable.
'Unfortunately, knowing all that isn't very helpful to me now. Plus, it's only my theories. How it really works, is a complete mystery.'
As for the books' problem I have 2 ideas as well.
The first is to steal books via inventory. I know for sure that books are not tracked inside Hogwarts, but I am not sure if I will invoke some kind of a defensive mechanism outside of it. So, it's not the safest option.
The second one is to buy books about legilimency in Diagon Alley. And personally, I incline to this solution. Reason being the fact that books in Hogwarts give too little information about the art. So far, I was only able to find books that have only superficial information about the topic. And even those books took me a lot of effort to find.
However, in shops, I can probably find specialized books with descriptions and applications of legilimency. The problem is that legilimency is not exactly a good type of art. Some of its applications are quite questionable. Thus, the ministry likes to control sources of information on the topic.
However, finding books is not a problem, because the more you prohibit something the more source there will be for the procurement of the forbidden things. The real problem is finding authentic books about legilimency amongst a ton of fakes and the price of those books.
I just hope I will have enough for 2 or 3 good books. As for how to differentiate between fakes and real, I can probably rely on the system inventory. The issue here is that it can scan books on the existence of useful knowledge, but not its amount.
*Sigh*
'So hard… so much to do…'
There is also the reward for basilisk quest.
I entered the Journal to check logs after the battle.
[Quest is complete!]
[You have killed the monster in the chamber of secrets, the legendary basilisk. You have accomplished this feat with hard work and great magic.]
[Rewards will be given out based on accomplishments.]
[Rewards are being affected by the system upgrade. Rewards are being converted.]
[Rewards are calculated. Due to fighting against basilisk and succeeding in killing him, your soul will get saturated by basilisk energy. You receive one Animagus ritual set.]
I checked the Animagus and how to become one before, so I knew that the reward is great. However, the ritual to turn into an Animagus is a very complicated one, that at the very least takes one month to finish. Plus, it's not something that can be easily hidden.
I mean if you keep a leaf of mandrake in your mouth for a whole month it's not something you can just hide from others. And I don't want to become Animagus openly or to be registered. I bet I am already being monitored by ministry due to all those robberies and stuff. No need to get even more attention by becoming Animagus.
Therefore, finding a quiet place to become Animagus is another worry weighing on my mind. So, I really need to consider if I want to stay with Grangers this summer. Not staying with them will be suspicious. While staying with them will not allow me to go with the ritual.
'I need to think about it more…'
* A few days later, on the train back home*
I read a book provided by the system about the ritual and it seems like fundamentally changing the ritual is my only choice, huh? There was no one who was brave enough to play with a ritual that can potentially mutilate you forever. Therefore, it mostly remained the same since… well... ancient times, I think.
However, I am different. I have Save&Load. The problem is that extensive experimentation has a small chance to still kill me, even with saves. For example, if I faint very fast, the system can't auto-load me back, when I am unconscious. Or if the change will affect my brain, then I won't even notice how I died.
Thus, I need to change the ritual very carefully and only if I know what possible consequences it may bring. Thankfully my knowledge is substantial enough to compare with year 5 or even 6 at the Hogwarts, so I think I can modify the process. Maybe even shorten it.
However, I don't think I will be able to substantially improve the ritual, so I am not sure if it's worth it to meddle with it if I can't improve it that much.
*Sigh*
I need to research it. Hopefully, I will be able to become Animagus by the end of the summer. I am still undecided about staying with Grangers. I have no real need to stay with them anymore. I have money, transport (broom) and soon I will buy all the books required for grinding.
However, living on my own will be suspicious and probably even dangerous. After all, I don't know what dangers there are for a lone child in the magic London. So, before that, I decided to live with Grangers for the first few weeks and then maybe I will move out by bullshitting. Something along the lines: "... I need to go to my country to visit my orphanage to fix some documents" or "... my best friend is in trouble and he sent me a letter...". Anyway, I will come up with some kind of a lie, but with 2 abilities in the Speech, I highly doubt that they won't trust me.
*2 days later*
Everything was going as planned.
The day before yesterday, I and Grangers' family reached home. We had a very good evening and I informed everyone that I will go check for any jobs in the neighborhood. They were against it, but I insisted.
'How else would I have a legit reason to get away from the house? I need to buy books.'
Thankfully my persuasion skills are insane, so it was a piece of cake to convince them.
Then, yesterday I went to Diagon alley to find and buy books. I also put my concealment bracelet on, so that others won't pay too much attention to me. Using inventory in combination with Save&Load I was able to find 3 very promising books about legilimency.
In addition to this, I also got a book talking about a connection between transfiguration, animagic and enchantment. In the end, I spent all the wizard's money I had on these books, but whatever. If I get skills, then it's worth it. Plus, I still had muggle cash on me.
Today, I officially delved in legilimency with normal specialized books. My progress skyrocketed due to this. To avoid unnecessary questions, I was doing it outside of the house, because currently I was "working" on my recently found job.
I was also trying to see if I can shorten or at least change Animagus ritual to something more inconspicuous. After all, the ritual is the only reason I need to escape from Grangers. If I can become animal magus without attracting any attention to my persona while staying with other humans. That will be even better.
However, so far, I have no good ideas to go with. Maybe, after studying a recently bought book on the topic I will have more ideas, but for now, let's take it slow. I have months of time ahead of me.
*Week later*
Form!
That is the answer!
Or to be more precise form of the magic! During this week I read the book I bought recently twice with my insane WPM of more than 600 and I mulled over dozens of ideas but got nothing.
However, this morning, I got enlightened when I thought about how full-bodied Patronus resembles your animal after transformation.
I already knew that Animagus is essentially enchantment of the body with transfiguration spell. However, after thinking about it deeper, suddenly everything I knew just clicked together and I came to an insane idea.
'What if everyone's source of magic has a form? Let's look at Patronus first.'
Essentially, full-bodied Patronus is a big clump of magic infested with positive energy. However, both small and full Patronuses are filled with positive energy. Then what if the form is given not by the positivity or its amount, but by magic itself.
I know that the most distinct features of a full-bodied Patronus are a huge amount of power and ability to sustain itself for a long amount of time. Therefore, I assume it contains a huge amount of magic that was pumped into it. Then this amount of magic tries to take a form that's natural to it. Same one it picks while inside of your body…
Then if we shed a human body and leave only magic without the soul it will take a form of an animal. Then essentially what Animagus ritual does is first to enchant a body to contain magic naturally. Then it enchants your magic source and grants the ability to fill in the body with magic to essentially make transformation instinctual.
Plus, I checked the translation of the incantation for the spell. I specifically went to the local library and got a Latin dictionary for it.
Spell:
"Amato Animo Animato Animagus"
Official translation:
"My love brings me life, I am obliged to become an animal wizard.".
However, if you look at words more carefully you can translate it to something like this:
"I am obliged to be filled with the breath/air to become animal wizard".
Or something similar. Then I thought about the possibility that new wizards have interpreted "breath" as "life" because "animo" can also mean "make alive". However, I think that ancient wizards considered magic as breath or air because it was all around them in the atmosphere.
So, they literally meant to fill the body with magic to become an animal wizard.
Then, the last step is to drink special potion during the lightning storm to… well... here I am not that sure yet. I am still in the process of understanding. I think it is more of the first awakening to get the body ready for the first transformation.
Anyway, I finally got the main principle standing behind the Animagus transformation. I think I can change the ritual now or maybe even improve it.
Moreover, thanks to the ability provided by the system I should have 2 independent magical channels. Then does it mean I have 2 magic sources?
I can't wait to do all the experiments I have in mind. And with my new understanding, seems like I don't need to leave Grangers anymore. Although, it still will be dangerous, but at least doable.
'Seems like I need to clean up some saves. I will need them soon…'
*Progress*
『 Alchemy 31 | Sneak 25 | Speech 31 』
『 Studying 36 | Wand Making 26 』
『 Herbology 29 | Magic Channeling 36 』
『 Magic Chanting 29 | Magic Gesturing 29 』
『 Magic Theory 41 ➔ 43 | Astronomy 27 』
『 Riding Expertise 21 | Crafting 23 』
『 Playing Games 15 | Enchanting 28 』
『 Cooking 23 | Training 22 | Physical Activities 17 』
『 Programming 26 | Dancing 0 』
『 Legilimency 19 ➔ 22 』