What Powerhouse Ever Rose Without a Cheat? How Could Talent Be Dictated by Birth?

Sometimes inspiration simply made no sense. When he wanted it, he could not find even a trace of it; once he relaxed, it came on its own.

Roger was currently flipping through books in the Room of Requirement, where he usually conducted magical experiments.

They were still books borrowed from Professor McGonagall... As the carefully selected private collection of Hogwarts's Deputy Headmistress, every one of these books, lent to the Seer with certain hopes for the future, was a precious treasure. Each had influenced Roger's construction of his magical worldview to some degree.

This particular book, however, was somewhat special.

"The Connection Between Soul and Brain." Among the many books, it was one of the rare modern works.

Its author was not any specific wizard. The credited name was the Department of Mysteries of the British Ministry of Magic.

If Roger remembered correctly, the Department of Mysteries seemed to have a Department of Brains. This should have been one of their research results.

Beyond that, the book had two other peculiar features.

First, rather than a single cohesive work, it resembled a bound collection of numerous internal publications.

Second, large sections of its text had been blacked out as ███.

Professor McGonagall had not done that. It had been printed that way from the start.

It was probably due to the Department of Mysteries' internal confidentiality clauses.

Even so, the remaining public content of the book still held considerable value.

What had originally caught Roger's attention was the research theory related to wizards' Mental Power—the question of whether, based on whether thoughts themselves could harm others, wizards' Mental Power might possess some ability to affect certain things in the real world even without relying on magical enhancement.

But now, he had discovered that the book contained quite a few other highly valuable insights.

For example, its compilers had clearly absorbed a great deal of modern Muggle medical knowledge and had explored the functions of different regions of the brain within the human body.

When it came to medicine, wizarding healers possessed far more advanced methods than Muggle doctors... The additional effects of all sorts of potions alone were enough to keep the Muggle medical world chasing after them for a long time.

Thus, these wizards' progress was quite encouraging. Although they still had not uncovered all the brain's secrets, the depth of their knowledge surpassed Muggle neuroscience by at least an era.

If he combined the knowledge of the brain from The Connection Between Soul and Brain with the "Brain Transfiguration Theory" envisioned in the old age of the wizard who had used Body Part Transfiguration to extend his life, as described in Bloodline Magic and Transfiguration—Speculations on a Future Age...

And then added the Magical Neuron Technology he had developed...

"This experiment is very dangerous... Even a tiny mistake could kill me," Roger murmured softly.

If something went wrong with limbs or internal organs, St. Mungo's could still save him. If something went wrong with his brain, there would not even be time to save him! Roger had been at Hogwarts for some time now. During that period, he had not only found the path he wished to walk, but had also begun his own practice and growth.

Throughout that process, he had also roughly positioned his abilities within the wizarding world.

A person's abilities were varied, like the attribute panel of a game character. Everyone had things they excelled at and things they did not.

What Roger excelled at was using his logical way of thinking and already solid worldview to absorb, digest, and turn other people's knowledge into his own.

His Mental Power was strong—far beyond that of nearly all young wizards, even stronger than that of some professors teaching easy classes—but due to shortcomings in spells and casting, his combat ability had not yet reached the level his Mental Power should have warranted.

Having already formed his own system of magical theory, Roger possessed a certain degree of magical research and development ability. By his own estimate, he was roughly no weaker than Snape during his Half-Blood Prince period. That put him at an upper-tier level in the wizarding world, though he was not one of those true, once-in-a-century geniuses.

The reason Roger's magical research progressed by leaps and bounds was purely because the Seer ability of danger premonition was simply too useful in the field of magical research.

As for casting, he was highly talented in magic such as Transfiguration, which leaned toward conceptual casting. He was fairly average with emotion-based magic such as dark magic and Defense Against the Dark Arts, and had poor compatibility with curses like the Fiendfyre Curse, which leaned more toward imagination-based casting.

What he was not good at was memorization. He often read in the library alongside Hermione Granger. Though they did not speak to each other, Roger had noticed that after Hermione read a book, she could soon recite it backward and forward. He, meanwhile, had to write densely packed annotated notes like the ones Harry had once seen, recording every thought that passed through his mind, in order to retain the knowledge he wanted to memorize.

In terms of thinking speed, he had no particular advantage over other wizards either. He learned quickly entirely because he had already formed his own learning logic, and because his fine control over Mental Power was also quite good—not because his mind truly worked faster than anyone else's.

Overall, if the Seer's power was excluded, Roger had the potential to become a wizard on Voldemort's level. But to go a step further, to reach the next level, his potential was somewhat lacking. He could only rely on opportunity.

And even if Roger became one level stronger than Voldemort—or even three levels stronger—he would still be far from Eternal Life...

At that thought, Roger overcame his hesitation! Those who cherished their own safety when undertaking great deeds yet risked their lives over petty gain did not deserve to obtain the fruit of Eternal Life!

So what if the experiment was dangerous? What powerhouse's path to greatness had not gone through hardships where survival was uncertain?

Retreat would not make anyone stronger.

To obtain achievements beyond ordinary people, one had to accomplish deeds beyond ordinary people! He would do it.

"I need to learn the Undetectable Extension Charm... If I remember correctly, the Ministry regulates that spell?" Having made up his mind, Roger sprang into action.

In his previous life, Roger had watched a work called A Certain Magical Index.

It had an ability system where the stronger one's brainpower was, the stronger one's combat ability became.

When Roger had modified Harry to improve his talent, his thoughts had wandered to whether there was something that could similarly upgrade his own potential. Then, out of nowhere, he remembered that work.

In A Certain Magical Index, some people enhanced their computational power by linking their thoughts with others, becoming one mind among countless people.

Others used external brains as large as houses to improve their computational power. Roger did not know how they had managed it, or how such technology could be achieved.

But with the Magical Neuron Technology in his hands, he could not create an external brain or borrow someone else's. Strengthening his own, however, might be possible! For example, if he placed an Undetectable Extension Charm inside his skull and then proliferated his brain...

Perfect memory, multithreaded thought, thinking speeds increased dozens of times over—and perhaps, after the brain developed to a sufficient degree, even Mental Power itself might grow stronger alongside it. That was also worth researching.

Of course.

Although Roger had resolved that "no matter how dangerous an experiment is, if the benefits it can bring are worth it, then it must be done"...

That did not mean he intended to blindly shut himself away and build everything from scratch.

Roger was not arrogant enough to believe that he understood magic better than anyone else.

What was more, some of Roger's ideas needed to be discussed with the Ministry of Magic.

So...

"Professor McGonagall, help me!" Roger once again knocked on the office door of Professor McGonagall, the Deputy Headmistress.

When in doubt, call in help! Professor McGonagall, who was currently pondering a problem that was giving her quite a headache, looked over at him in confusion.