Harry Potter: The Mage's Path Chapter 8

Hi all,

This chapter doesn’t feature much story progression, just some world-building and grinding.

24th June

Harry woke up on Monday morning and was immediately raring to get the day started. He was so impatient that he was out of the cupboard and in the shower within two minutes. What had him so excited? Last night, while he was looking at his skills, an idea occurred to him when he was reading the description on his ID Create skill. Deciding it was too late in the evening to try it straight away, he left it for the next day. Maybe that was a mistake because he found it hard to sleep.

However, the main reason for his lack of sleep was that he couldn’t stop thinking about his mother. He wanted to head to Godric's Hollow immediately, but then he reconsidered when he thought about the meeting with his Account Manager tomorrow. Maybe he could find out the exact location of the property and any other relevant information before he went on the excursion.

It occurred to him while he was under the hot spray that he should demand a room of his own. Now that he had some leverage over the Dursleys, he could sleep in a real bed. Should he bother since he wasn’t going to return next summer? He was undecided. While he would feel some satisfaction from threatening the Dursleys again, he didn’t want to potentially kick up a hornet's nest for such a minor reason. Harry had slept in the cupboard since he was a toddler; it didn’t matter if he had to sleep there for a little longer. Although, if his idea panned out, he wouldn’t have to sleep in the cupboard anyway.

After getting dressed in loose shorts and a singlet, he was out the door. Now that he could prepare his meals in bulk and store them in his inventory, he didn’t have to linger and make his breakfast.

Harry decided not to visit his little hideaway and headed towards town instead. After all, he still needed to complete his fitness quest. If he were strict with himself and did it daily, he would decrease his malnourished detriment by six weeks.

“Where are we going?” Celeste asked, flying invisibly beside him.

“To the park in town,” Harry replied, jogging down the street. “There’s something I want to try, but I need to go to the Gym later and potentially the library, so I thought a change of scenery was in order.”

Above them, Hedwig followed along like a silent sentinel. She wasn’t going to let him out of her sight so soon after bonding, not that he minded.

Harry stopped at a small park a few blocks from the Gym. At this time of the day, the park was deserted, so he didn’t have to watch out for prying eyes. He climbed the fort to the top and sat down. Taking out four breakfast burritos, he devoured three of them and gave the last one to his familiars. Hedwig took the bacon for herself since it was apparent that she loved the stuff.

He discovered some nuances in his Cooking skill after preparing plenty of meals. The recipe had to be complex enough and take a certain amount of time to be qualified as a recipe that gave him a food buff. Simple recipes like [Bacon] and [Eggs] didn’t give him anything. No, they were composite recipes which combined with other things to make up a meal.

For example, the [Breakfast Burrito] he ate had bacon and eggs, but only the full meal gave him the benefits. It gave him a Vitality bonus of three for the next two hours, which was pretty helpful since it was his lowest Attribute.

“So what is this idea you have?” Celeste asked, licking her fingers. Hedwig perched on the post above them.

“Well, the Dungeon slows time by a factor of three, right?”

Celeste nodded.

Harry opened his skills menu and pointed at his ID Create skill. “It says here that I can create an Empty Dungeon, which means I can take advantage of the time dilation without any of the danger.”

“Why don’t you want to rerun the Dungeon? It's better to have practical experience.”

“I want to focus on the books that need to be still read. If I can get some useful skills and spells from them," Harry explained. "Only then will I enter the Aspen Horror Dungeon again. I survived the boss last time by sheer luck. I don’t want that happening again.”

“That’s a good idea,” Celeste agreed. “However, there is one caveat. It will still age you at the same rate as the Dungeon so that you will age three times as fast.”

“That is not a problem, considering the benefits. I can do many things, like levelling up my skills faster. The main benefit is that it would shorten the time of my detriment,” Harry said excitedly. “I don’t have to use it forever, just enough to give me a good foundation.”

{Hedwig} ‘You are forgetting something else, hatching.’

“What is it?” Harry asked, trying to think of something he had missed.

{Hedwig} ‘It will also affect the time limits on your quests.’

“Of course,” Celeste said, looking at Hedwig with approval. “You're not as dumb as you look.”

{Hedwig} ‘Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for you.’

Harry snickered, finding it funny that Hedwig had outwitted Celeste. The fairy huffed and turned her back to them.

“All right, enough bickering,” Harry turned serious. “Since you are my familiars, you should be able to benefit from this as well. Celeste, you are not far from levelling up, and we can start training together to form an effective team.”

“All right, let's go,” Celeste cheered.

‘ID Create, Empty Dungeon.’

They vanished, reappearing in a space that was completely white all around. It would have been very disorientating if it wasn’t for the solid ground beneath him. There was nothing to use as a reference point.

“What an awful place,” Celeste complained, flying around before landing on the ground. She moved around like she was drunk. Hedwig landed next to her.

{Hedwig} ‘I agree with Celeste. It may take us some time to get used to the disorientation.’

Harry nodded before retrieving a Shadow Essence and handing it to her. “Then you can start by absorbing this, Celeste.”

Celeste sat down and began absorbing the Essence. Harry turned to Hedwig.

“Hedwig, I noticed that you have a Wind Affinity. Is that talent you were born with or did you have to work at it?”

{Hedwig} ‘I was born with it, hatchling. I don’t know how I would go about increasing it.’

“I can teach her meditation to get her started,” Celeste said, opening her eyes.

Harry nodded. “That would be great, thank you.”

He watched the amusing sight of his two familiars together as Celeste tried to teach Hedwig how to meditate. As usual, Celeste was not the best teacher, as she kept insulting Hedwig, only to get a slap from one of Hedwig's wings.

Harry turned his focus back to himself and retrieved every book he had, and placed them on the floor. There were the four library books that he had borrowed. He put the Meditation book aside since he didn’t need it anymore but then had an idea.

“Hey, Hedwig. Can you read?”

Hedwig bristled. ‘Are you implying that I’m stupid?’

“Not at all,” Harry waved his hands, intimidated by her gimlet stare. “It’s just not something that would be usually taught to a post-owl, right?”

{Hedwig} ‘Well, I am different. The breeder who raised me noticed my unusual intelligence, so he taught me a lot more than the usual post owl.’

Smugness could be almost seen radiating off her body.

“Why did I get two get conceited females as my familiars?” Harry muttered under his breath.

He didn’t think he had been quiet enough from the evil stares he had received. Harry offered the book as a peace offering. “You can also use this book to learn Meditation if you can flip through the pages.”

{Hedwig} ‘Place it down in front of me.’

Harry placed the book down but stared at Hedwig strangely. He noticed a slight green aura radiating off her before, and a small breeze appeared out of nowhere. As it had a mind of its own, the breeze lifted the book’s cover, and Hedwig placed a claw down to keep it from closing.

“That’s amazing,” Harry exclaimed.

{Hedwig} ‘Of course, it is me, after all. However, it is not something I have practiced a lot. So, I can’t do much more than this at the moment.’

“That’s okay,” Harry said. “Once you have learned Meditation, you will be able to restore your Mana, so you will be able to practice all you want.”

“Yeah,” Celeste piped up. “Hurry up and become useful, like me.”

{Hedwig} ‘You're useful all right; if annoyance were a status effect, then you would undoubtedly be the most proficient at it.’

Celeste opened her mouth to reply, and Harry left them to their argument.

The other three library books were: Introduction to Latin, Beginner Construction For Idiots, and Basic Hunting Skills For A Successful Hunt.

There was also the Occlumency book he received from Tonks. Andromeda had approved of his desire to learn and even invited him to the Tonks' residence for dinner, and she said she would help him with the discipline.

Next was the books he brought from Diagon Alley, which were the school books and another dozen or so that looked interesting. He rubbed his chin, undecided on where he should start.

Harry chose The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1 and made himself comfortable on the floor. He should bring some to sit on next time.

A couple of hours later, Harry had read the book from cover to cover. He received a notification after closing the book.

=====

You have learnt:

Wand Lighting Charm

Wand Extinguishing Charm

Softening Charm

Fire-Making Spell

Unlocking Charm

Levitation Charm

Locking Spell

Mending Charm

=====

Congratulations!

Since the player has learned more than ten Charms, he has unlocked the special skill: Charms Mastery!

By unlocking Charms Mastery, you have unlocked the Charms Grimoire!

=====

Charms Mastery | Passive | Level:2 | Next: 10% | Cost: 0 |

Description: Simply put, a Charm adds a property to an object or creature. It is the broadest school of magic, with different subtypes under its purview: Charms, Jinxes, Hexes, Curses and Enchantments. Every Charm spell learnt by the player will level this skill further and gives bonuses to all Charms.

+10% insight learning new Charms.

+10% speed increase to Charms levelling.

+10% damage with all Charms.

+10% Casting speed with Charms.

-10% Cost with all Charms.

+1% Control when casting Charms.

=====

Harry took the Charms Grimoire out of his inventory and opened it up. It listed all the Charms he had already learnt. From what he understood, the spells still had to be levelled individually, but he got an overall boost from the Charms Mastery skill. It was an impressive skill, and he had to ensure he learned as many Charms as possible to gain even more benefits.

It also sorted all his Charms into one location and didn’t clutter up his skill list. He imagined what a nightmare that would be once he learned dozens of spells.

Harry looked at the first spell in his Grimoire; the Wand Lighting Charm. He was interested to note that he already knew one of the spells in the Grimoire, the Severing Charm, which he still hadn’t learnt to cast correctly. Even if he had learnt the skill technically, it didn’t mean he could use it immediately. This was the disadvantage of being a Mage, as learning more technical spells that took more control would be harder for him than average Wizards.

He remembered the steps Celeste had spoken about before, although he didn’t have to use a wand movement. Staring at the tip, he imagined it lighting up, the brightness illuminating the surroundings.

“Lumos,” he spoke confidently.

The tip brightened and released a soft light. It wasn’t that strong, probably the same illumination as a candle, but Harry imagined it was simply due to the spell's level.

“Well done,” Celeste cheered, stopping her training with her Shadow Spike skill.

‘Yes, that was amazing, hatchling.’ Hedwig approved.

Harry scratched his head in embarrassment. “Don’t get too excited; that was nothing.”

Harry looked at his watch, which showed that only forty-five minutes had passed in the real world. It was strange that his watch still worked the same, but he couldn’t complain. He quickly calculated and figured he still had a bit less than fifteen hours before lunchtime. He was going to grind the Wand Lighting Charm along with his Meditation. The sooner he increases his Mana regeneration capabilities, the easier it will be to learn new spells.

He still had the Basic Mana Potions he received in the Dungeon, but he wasn’t going to waste them―Harry facepalmed when something occurred to him. Why didn’t he go back to inspect the potions when he obtained the ability to gain blueprints? It had never crossed his mind to go back over the items he had received before. Feeling stupid, Harry took out the two potions from his inventory and observed them.

=====

You have received the Blueprints for Basic Energy Potion and Basic Mana Potion.

=====

He quickly took out the two blueprints and tried to read them.

Potions Level 3 Required.

He was curious now to see if he could create the two potions. It would be a massive boon if he could have an endless supply of Mana Potions, although he didn’t know what ingredients it would require.

Harry was about to take out his Potions equipment when he spotted the Potions books lying on the floor. There were still four books on the subject that he had yet to read, and he wondered if he read them, if he would gain any experience from them. Since he had to read them eventually, he may as well start now.

He immediately discounted One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi. It sounded more beneficial for his Harvesting skill. He placed it aside but made a note to read it later. He grabbed another book, Potion Reagents: Interactivity and Affinity. It was a hefty book; Harry got comfortable again as it would be a long reading session.

Seven hours later, with a break in between to feed himself and his familiars, Harry closed the book with satisfaction.

=====

Due to gaining a lot of knowledge on Potions, the Potions skill has levelled up three times!

=====

Potions | Active | Level: 4 | Next: 34% | Cost: 0 |

Description: The art of making Potions is a highly exacting discipline and can be dangerous in the wrong hands. Potions have many uses in the magical world, and Potion Masters devote their lives to creating new recipes. The higher the skill, the higher the chance of creating perfect Potions with no side effects.

+4% brewing speed.

+4% chance to create a perfect potion.

+4% fewer ingredients wasted in preparation.

+2% chance to gain inspiration for a new recipe.

=====

Congratulations!

You have learnt a new skill!

=====

Bookworm | Passive | Level: 1 | Next: 45% | Cost: 0 |

Description: A bookworm is someone who gains pleasure from reading a vast range of books and has a lot of knowledge on different subjects. At higher levels, the player can read texts a lot quicker, and the further proficient he becomes in word variety and complexity.

Reading Comprehension + 5%

Reading Speed + 5%

Discern and summarise important information + 5%

=====

“Yes,” Harry cheered, relieved that his long hours of reading had paid off in the end.

Celeste flew over and read the screen beside him. “Man, this ability is a cheat.”

Harry raised his eyebrows. “You are benefiting from that ability.”

“Eventually,” Celeste sniffed. “I’m getting bored. Let me go out.”

Harry pushed his glasses up his nose. “I should have brought some stuff in here for us to do besides studying. It can get tiresome. Are you going to explore town again?”

Celeste shook her head. “There is something I want to check out. I may be gone for a day or two.”

“Is everything okay?” Harry furrowed his brows. “Do you want me to come with you?”

“It’s nothing dangerous,” Celeste sighed. “I’m going to see if an old acquaintance of mine is still alive. I was trapped in that horrible lab for a long time. I will return before the trip to Godric's Hollow.”

“Well, okay,” Harry shrugged. “There’s something I meant to ask, though. You are from this world, right? So how is it you ended up trapped in a Dungeon for decades, long before they become a thing?”

“I don’t know,” Celeste said, fiercely waving her fist. “I was brought into that place by a man. The only thing I knew about him was that his name was Victor. He disappeared after a few years, and I never saw him again. If I can find him, I will torture him until he wishes he was sent to hell.”

=====

New Quest Received!

To the Victor, Goes the Spoils

Description: Celeste was captured by Victor, who experimented on her for years and created monsters out of her magic. How could he access the Dungeon a few decades before they started appearing? Who is this man? Why did he disappear?

Current Objective: Find information on Victor.

Time Limit: None

=====

“Well, it seems Gaia wants me to find the answer as well,” Harry said.

“I wouldn’t worry about it for now,” Celeste frowned. “He is way above our pay grade. He captured me easily, and this was when I was at the height of my powers.”

“Sure,” Harry shrugged before looking at the quest description again. “So, how did he create the monsters from your magic? Isn’t Shadow magic not inherently evil.”

Celeste sat down and placed her chin in her palm. “How do I explain it? Every magic has an inherent characteristic and may affect the caster, depending on where it sits on the spectrum. Here, I will show you.”

She used magic to trace words in the air, and Harry looked at them in interest.

.Divinity>Light>Grey>Shadow>Dark

Celeste continued. “Either end of the spectrum is known as extremes. They have the most powerful magic but heavily influence the caster’s thoughts and can corrupt them if they don’t have a strong enough will. Dark can lead to thoughts of pain, cruelty, humiliation, slaughter, etc. While Divinity sounds pure and good on the surface, it can also lead to thoughts of conformity, intolerance, righteousness, and arrogance. Shadow and Light are lesser versions of these two, where anyone can comfortably exist but still risk slipping towards the extreme. Grey is the most balanced, where the practitioner wields both light and dark magic, but is careful how they use it on themselves and others.”

Harry spotted a problem with her explanation immediately. “Wait a minute, isn’t Shadow an elemental affinity? Like the two of us have?”

“It is both,” Celeste replied. “An elemental affinity is pure Mana that has been transformed from its natural state. Whether due to the environment, an object, outside contamination, or because it has been saturated with so much magic from powerful spells. When enough elemental affinity is cycled through the World's Leylines and the Aether Currents, it becomes permanent and part of the world’s magic. Every breath of air you take, every animal or plant you consume, is made up of all these elements.

“When magic was in its infancy, it was a chaotic time. There were no rules, restrictions, definitions, or understanding of what we know today. Magic has always had characteristics, but because so many were reckless with their magic, they became elemental affinities themselves.”

Harry nodded, fascinated by this aspect of magic. “So Victor stole your magic and transformed the trees and beasts into monsters?”

“I don’t know what he did,” Celeste confessed. “All I know is that he stole my magic somehow, and it was a fair amount. Although the process was slow, I kept getting weaker and couldn't regenerate my magic.”

He should have looked around more when he was in the lab. It should still be there when he repeated the Dungeon, surely. Not that he was interested in replicating any of Victor's experiments. Maybe he could find a clue to the man’s whereabouts, though.

Harry turned to Hedwig, who was still meditating after all this time. She sure had a lot of patience. “Hedwig, Celeste is going to leave the Dungeon. Do you want to be let out as well?”

{Hedwig} ‘Where will you be? I don’t like leaving you on your own.’

“I will be in here until lunchtime on the outside,”

Harry said. “We will have lunch somewhere before I go to the gym.”

{Hedwig} Okay. I will go and do some exploring.’

Harry used ‘ID Escape’ to let them out of the Dungeon, hoping no one was there to see them return. Thankfully, it was all clear, and the two familiars flew off.

He returned to the Empty Dungeon and took out the blueprint for the Basic Mana Potion. The key ingredient he needed was the Witches Cap and then two more of the Dungeon ingredients he brought from the shop in Diagon Alley. He counted them up and figured he could make sixty potions if he did not make any mistakes.

Taking out his potion equipment, Harry got to work. With the size of his cauldron, he could create twenty vials of the Mana Potion at a time, but it would take an hour to prepare the ingredients and make the potion.

Three hours later, Harry sat back in satisfaction, looking at the sixty bottles of Mana Potion on the floor.

=====

Congratulations!

You have created The Basic Mana Potion from the blueprint. It still does not exist anywhere outside of the Dungeon. Do you wish to rename the potion?

Yes/No

=====

Harry bit his lip before deciding to change it to Mana Potion. He did not doubt the potion had already been discovered in the Dungeon, but he didn’t see any in Diagon Alley. They would be pretty rare and sell out immediately. Most Wizards would keep it for themselves.

Could he make them and sell them for a profit? He immediately dismissed the thought. He wasn’t hurting for money and didn’t want to spend copious amounts of time creating potions. He had better things to do. Maybe he could sell the recipe for a one-time profit?

The problem was that he lacked two of the ingredients. He could farm the Witches Caps, but the others he would have to purchase. He could ask around and find the Dungeons where people found those ingredients.

Harry shook his head and left the idea alone for the moment. He picked up a vial and inspected it.

=====

Mana Potion | Consumable | Common | Grade 1 |

Description: A basic mana potion that restores a small amount of Mana. It was created by an aspiring Potions master, but he has made an inferior potion due to a lack of skill.

Restores 50 Mana

Chance to reverse the beneficial effects + 25%

Toxicity + 10%

=====

Harry frowned. A twenty-five percent chance to lose Mana was not ideal. He inspected the other potions and found that the other two batches were also C Grade, so they weren't any better. But what did Toxicity mean?

He knew one way to find out. He accessed the Database Menu and looked up the term. Every time he came across a new term or information, it would update, so he should check it more often.

=====

Toxicity

When an imperfect potion is created, it will contain toxins that harm the body. When Toxicity reaches 100%, the player is severely poisoned and cannot be healed for three days. He has to keep his Energy topped up constantly, or the poison will affect his body when the Energy Shield fades, which will usually lead to a quick and painful death. Toxicity decreases with time, depending on the player's Vitality Attribute.

=====

Well, it was a severe impediment to his plans. It meant that he was limited on how many potions he could consume at once, which defeated the purpose of using them in the first place.

At least he gained a couple of levels in the skill, but he noticed that the experience quickly diminished for every potion he made. The third batch of Mana potions gave him barely any experience at all. He would have to level his skill by creating different potions, and one day he would be creating perfect potions every time, and Toxicity wouldn’t be an issue anymore.

While in the database, he decided to check something else that made him curious.

=====

Equipment Rarity

The higher the Rarity, the better the stat range and abilities that can be found on the piece of equipment. However, they are also rarer and more difficult to obtain, such as being protected by high-level monsters or dangerous hazards. If the item is craftable, the more difficult it is to create, the higher the Rarity.

Item Rarity

Similar to Equipment Rarity, it is scaled a bit differently because it is a consumable with a temporary or one-time effect.

Other Rarities

Other specific things scale to Rarity, such as familiars. These may have their own particular rules and aspects.

The scale of Rarity from weakest to strongest:

Common | Uncommon | Rare | Special | Heroic | Legandary | Mythical

=====

The highest Rarity he had seen was Celeste, who was Legendary. The highest Rarity for equipment was the Wardstone, which was Special. It also was Grade 5, which meant that it was of the highest quality for that rarity.

Curiosity satisfied, Harry closed the screen. He stored the potions in his inventory and decided that he was going to go with his previous plan of utilising Meditation. It would take longer, but with a lot more time on his hands, it wasn’t a significant issue. He would alternate between spamming the Wand Lighting Charm and Meditation.

He still had around six hours left before he had to go and before he was driven stir-crazy by the complete whiteout. He wished he could build something here to have better scenery―Harry looked at the books on the floor. When he had left the Dungeon before, he had left them there, which was pretty stupid in hindsight. He didn’t know at the time if items were destroyed when he used ID Escape. Thankfully, that was not the case. It meant that objects stayed in the Empty Dungeon even when he was not present. The possibility of building his own sanctuary was appealing.

But there was one thing that troubled him. The other Dungeons had gateways that people could enter from the real world. It is how others entered the Dungeons, but he had his ID Create skill, which teleported him to the Dungeon. The only reason he didn’t have to enter the gateway for the Wandering Aspen Horror Dungeon the first time was that he was unlucky enough to get caught in the exact location it manifested, or it had something to do with Gaia.

So, did the Empty Dungeon create a doorway when he was inside? How would he even know? Harry smacked himself when he realised he could ask Hedwig since she would return around lunchtime.

That led to another thought, though. Could he communicate telepathically with Hedwig from inside a Dungeon? Another thing to test out.

Harry grabbed his practice wand and began casting the Wand Lighting Charm. Time to grind.

Six hours later, Harry stopped Meditating and checked his progress.

=====

Wand Lighting Charm Level 1 > Level 3

Meditation Level 1 > Level 3

=====

At its current level, Meditation didn’t even restore his Mana after six hours. Still, at least the Mana Regeneration increased by a fair amount at every level, so he just needed to be patient.

Looking at the time, he decided to try and contact Hedwig. She was probably already waiting for him.

‘Hedwig, do you hear me?’

‘Hatchling, where are you?’

He could sense the confusion in her voice. ‘I’m still inside the Dungeon. I was experimenting to see if the Dungeon affected our communication ability.

‘Oh, I see. So a Dungeon is not the same as distance? You would not have been able to contact me ten minutes ago when I was far away.’

‘As long as you are in the same vicinity as where I used ID Creation, it should work fine. Listen, is there something like a gateway on your side?’

Harry could hear the faint surprise in her voice.‘I see a faint outline of one, but I can’t enter it.’

So he didn’t have an overpowered hideaway to escape at any time. What did it mean that the gateway was not fully formed? Is that how a Dungeon respawned in the world? And how long did it take? Was it based on a set amount of days in the real world? Or was it based on how long he spent in the Dungeon itself? The latter seemed more likely.

Would the Ministry of Magic be able to detect his Dungeon manifesting? Or could he hide it in a secret location and remain anonymous? Harry sighed in frustration. It looks like he would have to test it out because he didn’t want somebody walking into his Dungeon and discovering him.

"Time to go to lunch."

SoSo, what do you think? Next chapter is the meeting with his Account Manager and the visit to Godric’s Hollow.

Cheers.