A Web Of Magic

A month passed since the term started and the first-years got settled in. Magnus kept up with his good performance and was turning out to be one of the favorites of all of the professors. It was debatable with Prof. Binns and Prof. Snape, but the former wasn't very aware of his surroundings while the later only gave subtle nods once in a while. Magnus is yet to lose any points in his class so that's a plus in his book. He answered any questions asked in class to the best of his abilities and his homework was neat and legible while being concise yet matching the requirements set by the professors. In Prof. Flitwick's words, "It's a joy to correct his homework." Magnus was glad that it all worked out. His practice with the quill and parchment hasn't gone to waste.

Magnus spent as much time as he could in the library. If he wasn't in the library, he would be fooling around with his friends. His friends were all from Gryffindor though as his interests didn't match with his year mates in Ravenclaw. While he did form a friendship with them, Eva spent most of her time with the second-year girls and Roger and Noah spent theirs talking about quidditch with the senior boys.

Roger wasn't very pleased with how their classes were turning out. He didn't get to show off as Magnus got all the attention. Thus, he formed a one-sided rivalry to defeat Magnus at academics. Whenever Magnus sat in the common room with an open book, he too would start reading the same book. Magnus felt it was funny as he just charmed whatever book he's reading to look like another book. So far, he made Roger read History of Magic thrice. He's trying to see how many books Roger would read before realizing what's happening. As for what he's really reading, he decided to finish the Hogwarts curriculum for the senior years first. He can always read his personal books during the holidays but he has access to the library only during the school term so might as well make the best use of it.

Today Magnus was reading up in the library as usual when he heard a gentle chime going off in his head. His attention was gently tugged towards the interface which he willed to appear. He didn't open it often as he's yet to find a use for all the points he's hoarded.

[Magnus Webb

Title: Seer Descendant

Body: 2

Mind: 5

Magic: 7

Impact Points: 331

School: Divination Lv1 (95%), Healing Lv1 (80%), Charms Lv1 (95%), Transfiguration Lv1 (95%), DADA Lv1 (90%), Potions Lv1 (95%), Herbology Lv1 (90%), Astronomy Lv1 (80%), Magical Theory Lv1 (95%), Mind Arts Lv1 (20%)

Skills: Wand Magic Lv1 (90%), Wandless Magic Lv1 (60%)]

He took in all the changes that happened in his status over this month. His mind attribute has increased by1 and his Magic by 2. He believed it must be because of all the studying and practice he had been doing. His progress in the various schools of magic has increased too. That must be because of the teachings of the professors. They sometimes taught things that weren't mentioned in any of the books. He turned his attention towards the reason for the chime which was at the bottom of the interface.

[Requirements met: Mind-5, Magic-5]

'Requirements for what?' he wondered and soon the display changed to answer his questions.

[Instant Read: Can read any book you touch instantly. Start: 5 points]

'Instantly read a book? Is there such a good thing?' While Magnus was really tempted to try the new ability, he decided to do so only after some thinking. 'The requirements must mean something, right? Assuming that mind refers to my brain, my brain needs to be at a certain level to handle this ability? Will it affect my brain?' he listed the pros and cons of using the ability and decided to go with it. He has to know how it works at some point right? He pulled out his wand and kept it ready to heal himself in case something bad happens. He hoped his regular healing spells worked on the brain. He looked at his desolate surroundings and stretched his hand towards the bookshelf near him. A thin book flew out of the shelf into his hands. It was one of the basic wandless magic spells that he learned. He called it 'Pull' and its counterpart, "Push". Wandless magic spells didn't have incantations and names like their wand counterparts do, at least the version that was taught in Uagadou didn't. They were more about gestures and intent.

The book he just pulled had little content and had information on how to pack your luggage properly. As he touched the book the interface popped up once again:

[Instant Read: 5 points]

He put the book down and picked up the second-year charms textbook that he picked up. This time it showed:

[Instant Read: 15 points]

'So, the cost changes based on the content?' he put the charms book down and picked up the luggage book again. This time he chose to instant read the book. His points reduced by 5 instantly and information rushed into his mind in a torrent. Magnus cursed in his head as the rush barely lasted a second but felt like a few minutes. Once it stopped, the headache receded and was now barely a dull throb. He tried to cast one of the Pain-relieving charms that he learned, but it barely did anything. 'Figures! This spell is for wounds not brain damage,' he shook his head. After a few minutes the throb too vanished. As he went over what he gained, he was able to recall all the contents of the book as if it was a movie. He didn't understand the contents of course, only remembered everything. It would take some time to digest all of the knowledge and gain complete understanding. He thought it was fair. If he was able to understand a book completely instantly by touching and spending some points, he could probably finish off all the books in the library in a year or two. How can there be such a good thing?

He spent the next half hour digesting all of the information. Normally, he could easily read the book manually in half an hour, so while he did have an advantage now, it wasn't so overwhelming. The book only had two charms in total. Once he practiced them for a few minutes with the books scattered around him, he looked at the interface once again and noticed the new changes.

[Mind:6

Impact Points: 326]

Apart from the new changes, he also noticed that the two luggage charms are now in his skills section. 'Interesting. So, mind increases from stress?' While he did gain some understanding, he didn't want to experience the feeling too often. What if it was a huge book with a lot of content? Imagine the headache he would get then. Just then he noticed another detail he missed before. There was a "+" sign beside all the schools of magic whose progress was at 95%. 'Does that mean I can level up the schools too? What will that do?' Magnus took a deep breath and calmed his mind. Then he pressed on the "+" sign beside Divination. 20 points vanished from his pool and slowly knowledge and understanding filled his mind. Knowledge on things that his aunt taught him and how to improve it and do it better. He also gained knowledge of things not taught by his aunt. He didn't have time to question on how such a thing was possible as his mind was bloated with information. He held his head in his hands as he withstood the influx. As it abated a little, he picked up his books and went back to the dorms to sleep off the mental fatigue he felt.

[Impact Points: 306]