No Wonder Voldemort Chose Neville

No Wonder Voldemort Chose Neville. With the Memory Palace ability, Ted could now claim to have a photographic memory. His learning efficiency had increased nearly tenfold.

After all, he could memorize the books first, then go home at night and slowly digest them.

And after becoming a Mind Mage, he had also begun developing abilities related to the class.

The Mind Mage class he had taken should have originated from DND, from some world within the Dungeons and Dragons setting. It had its own list of psychic powers as well.

Aside from the abilities belonging to special branches, he could try developing all the others himself.

Oddly enough, Ted had asked around in the Muggle world, and this world did not have Dungeons and Dragons, that classic fantasy genre. Even Tolkien's older The Lord of the Rings did not exist.

I can understand there being no Harry Potter, but no The Lord of the Rings or Dungeons and Dragons either? Good thing I didn't go down the road of becoming a Wall Street tycoon. The major events of this world hadn't changed, but all the little details of culture and entertainment were completely different.

That made the Wall Street tycoon route uncertain. He might have ended up a negative tycoon instead.

A Mind Mage naturally had to study his own mind, so Ted found two psychology books at a Muggle bookstore.

Psychological Types - Individual Psychology, written by the renowned psychologist Jung.

Jung's writing was straightforward rather than obscure, full of suggestion and inspiration. It helped with personal growth and deepened one's understanding of other people and things.

The other was Social Psychology by the famous American psychologist Allport. This book marked the formal establishment of Social Psychology as a science.

To be honest, Ted felt he had learned quite a lot, but compared to the contents of those books, it was only a tiny fraction.

If he had the chance, it would be best to attend a Muggle university and study psychology properly.

Still, self-study had brought him gains, especially now that he had just awakened his psychic powers. This was the stage when Mind Power developed the fastest.

As a result, Ted developed three minor abilities.

The first was Reading Technique, which let words he recognized and images he could identify instantly imprint themselves in his mind.

Mind Power accelerated the speed at which his brain processed text and images.

He only had to pick up a book and casually flip through it to remember everything in it. Quantum-fluctuation speed-reading, basically.

It was not particularly useful on its own, but it worked exceptionally well with the Memory Palace.

That was why he had been voraciously reading books at the bookstore these past few days. The warehouse at Flourish and Blotts was Ted's favorite place.

Like a diligent little squirrel, he sorted, read, and stored books in his mind. He even volunteered to work overtime outside his working hours. The bookstore owner was so embarrassed that he wanted to raise Ted's pay.

Of course, perhaps it was because Ted's Charisma had increased, making it easier for him to gain the owner's goodwill?

Speaking of goodwill, the second psychic power was Goodwill Technique. With a peaceful and friendly state of mind, it influenced nearby sentient beings to feel a faint sense of goodwill toward him.

Those reclusive and sinister Mind Mages could not comprehend this ability. They were more likely to comprehend abilities that made people instinctively avoid or fear them.

Goodwill Technique was a passive ability that did not need to be activated.

The last one was an "active skill"—Conceal Thoughts.

It used Mind Power to shield his mental activity, preventing others from seeing through his thoughts and emotions.

With it activated, Ted would not fear even a lie detector.

Of course, he was not sure whether it could withstand powerful Legilimency.

As for magic, he began reading another book, A Little Surprise for Your Enemies. It was a book that taught "Dark Magic."

There was no need to be alarmed. Dark Magic had a very broad definition, including hexes and jinxes.

A hex was a spell carrying a certain degree of malice. Those prank spells all fell into this category.

That was what this book covered as well.

Ted learned the Tooth-Growing Charm. The incantation was "Tooth-Growing Charm!"

The victim's front teeth would grow as long as carrots, propping their mouth open.

To test it, Ted caught a rat and fed it well for two days. Yet when he released it, it was still cursing up a storm.

If Ted could have understood it, he probably would not have let it go.

After learning this prank spell, "Dark Magic lv1" appeared in Ted's skill list.

Old Tom now looked at the little handyman he had kindly taken in with new eyes.

Every day, Ted worked four jobs, then used the lights at night to study textbooks and spells on his own. He had kept it up for over twenty days.

Ordinary adults could not match that kind of discipline and perseverance.

And Ted's magical talent was high! Extremely high! Old Tom had seen with his own eyes that he had taught himself the Scouring Charm, Mending Charm, Water-Making Charm, and Tooth-Growing Charm.

For a Muggle-born Little Wizard to reach such a level through self-study, that talent was already astonishing.

"Maybe this is what they mean by children from poor families growing up early? He'll be starting school this year. Perhaps I should let him get to know Hannah." Old Tom muttered.

After that, Ted's meals improved considerably. Occasionally, he even got to eat meat and little cakes.

A few days later, he met Old Tom's granddaughter—Hannah Abbott. In another month, they would be classmates.

Ted met Hannah, a rosy-cheeked little girl with two golden braids.

Hannah Abbott!

Unfortunately, even the Iron-Hat King had not been able to preserve this world's pure bloodline! Neville as the Chosen One was truly unexpected.

However, what Ted had not expected was still to come.

On the last day of July, Ted finished his work handling medicinal ingredients at the apothecary. Since it was not time yet, he wandered around Diagon Alley to advance his exploration quest. It had now reached 87%.

Only a few shops remained that he had not entered. The quest would soon be complete.

Whenever he had time, he visited every shop to make himself familiar, like some street loafer.

Just as he was examining the never-opened doors of the Floo-Poom Company headquarters, which sold Floo Powder, a male voice came from nearby.

"Harry, what do you think of this Nimbus 2000? Shall I buy you one? Of course, that would be separate from your birthday present."

"No. I don't like flying brooms, and I don't like Quidditch either. Give it up."

Harry?

Ted's heart jolted. He quickly turned around and saw a well-dressed, long-haired middle-aged man with a small mustache, an elegant and gentle beautiful woman, and a bespectacled little girl about his own age.

Though the girl wore glasses, her expression was unusually lively. One look told him she was not the obedient sort.

Something was wrong. What was wrong? Before Ted could think further, he heard an employee from the broom shop address the man as Mr. Black.

Black? Sirius?! This little girl was Harry? No, Harriett?! This was like a bolt from the blue! Butterfly wings... the solar storm had struck again! Celestial Conjunctions was one thing, but even Harry had become Harriett! No wonder Voldemort had not chosen her.

Given Voldemort's personality, he definitely would not have believed his "great enemy" could be a girl.

Wait, did that mean Voldemort was sexist?

Where were the feminists? Go get him!

Just as Ted's thoughts spun out of control and his mind became a tangled mess, Black seemed to start trading barbs with someone.

Looking carefully, he saw that standing opposite the three of them was a father and son.

Both father and son were impeccably dressed, with platinum-blond hair and the arrogant bearing of aristocrats from high society.

Sirius wore a roguish grin. "Oh, Malfoy, you're out shopping in person too? Don't tell me you're here to collect rent?"

Old Malfoy maintained his so-called aristocratic poise, his expression unchanged despite the mockery. "I am at least your cousin-in-law. Is that how you speak to me, Black? Where are your manners?"

The father and son arguing with Sirius were, without question, the Malfoys.