Muggle-born Wizard

September 3rd, the first official day of term at Hogwarts, and the gloomy rainy weather suddenly cleared up.

Albert had just opened his eyes and awakened from his sleep. He slowly climbed out of bed, walked barefoot to the window, and opened it to let the cool morning breeze into the room.

His three roommates were still asleep. They had spent the entire previous evening discussing Quidditch matches over the Daily Prophet and had gone to bed very late, so Albert had no intention of waking them now.

After all, classes did not begin until nine. Getting up now was simply too cruel for people who had stayed up late.

After washing up, Albert glanced at his timetable. Once he had checked the books, Quill, Ink, and Parchment in his bag, he slung it over his shoulder and headed to the Gryffindor Common Room.

There were already people in the Common Room, and they were students from the same year.

"Good morning, Wilson." Albert greeted the girl from his year. She was flipping through Miranda Goshawk's Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1, likely preparing for the morning's first Charms Class.

"Good morning..." Shanna Wilson looked a little awkward because she did not know the name of the boy greeting her, though she knew he was a new student in her year.

"Albert Anderson. You can call me Albert." Noticing Shanna Wilson's discomfort, Albert casually introduced himself. "Want to go to the Great Hall for breakfast together?"

"Oh, y-yes, Albert!" Shanna spoke hesitantly, hugged her book to her chest, and hurried after Albert as he left the Common Room.

Along the way, Shanna did not speak. She merely followed closely behind Albert, looking around as though trying hard to remember the places they passed.

Albert noticed Shanna's movements and could not help thinking, Don't tell me she doesn't know the way?

That was actually quite possible.

Back when he had attended university, he had nearly gone to the wrong place for his first class.

Hogwarts was undoubtedly far more complicated. It was perfectly normal for someone with a poor sense of direction to get lost.

Just as Albert had expected, Shanna truly did not know how to get to the Great Hall, so she had waited in the Common Room for others to go with.

To be honest, Gryffindor students were not particularly enthusiastic about showing people the way. Many older students even enjoyed watching first-years panic. This rotten habit came from having gone through similar experiences themselves at the beginning, and over time, it had turned into a nasty little pleasure in watching others suffer.

Yesterday, when Albert returned from the kitchen, he had seen several older students watch helplessly as a first-year fell into a staircase trap. They had simply laughed and walked away, with no intention of helping.

Of course, those were only special cases. Most students were willing to lend a hand, or at least the Hufflepuff students would.

After arriving at the Great Hall without incident, Shanna Wilson seemed to let out a huge sigh of relief.

Albert sat at the Gryffindor table, poured himself a glass of milk, and tipped it back in one go. When he looked up, he found Shanna staring at him with her mouth slightly open, as though she wanted to say something. "What is it?"

"Nothing. Albert, do you like milk?" Shanna was trying to make conversation with the boy in front of her.

After all, nobody wanted to have no friends at all, and Albert seemed easy enough to talk to.

"Like it?" Albert shook his head. "I wouldn't say that. It's just a habit. I've been drinking a glass every morning since I was seven. After enough time, you get used to it."

Shanna opened her mouth, then suddenly did not know what to say. She actually admired Albert quite a bit. She definitely would not have been able to do that herself.

Albert spread a slice of bread thickly with jam and took a big bite. Across from him, Shanna was eating a fried egg—the English kind where an egg was boiled and shelled, coated in flour, then dropped into oil and fried until golden on the outside.

Well, Albert thought Golden Fried Egg was probably a more fitting name. He himself had absolutely no interest in this distinctive English fried egg. Even an ordinary boiled egg tasted better.

After finishing the slice in his hand, Albert prepared two more pieces of bread, added some vegetable salad, bacon, and sausage, then made himself a Sandwich.

There was also a small bowl of Corn Porridge. So-called Corn Porridge was actually Corn Chowder, made by boiling ground corn with water and a little milk.

Compared to Daisy's Corn Chowder, the school's Corn Porridge was merely passable. That was hardly surprising; Daisy's Corn Chowder was one of her best dishes.

After breakfast, Shanna began talking to Albert about spells.

"I heard Angelina say that you've already mastered many spells. Is that true? How did you learn all that magic in such a short time?" Shanna spoke slowly, as though carefully choosing her words.

"Well... first, you need to be interested in it, then..." Albert thought for a moment before saying, "...you also need to spend time studying and practicing."

He felt that interest was very important. Only when someone was interested would they be willing to put in the time and seriously learn a subject well.

"Interest?" Shanna seemed thoughtful.

In truth, students like Shanna who came from Muggle families had never imagined that they would be witches or wizards. They were still confused about many things, after all; Muggle-born wizards had far too much to learn.

Without a doubt, students from wizarding families were already ahead of them.

"Actually, you don't need to worry too much. The gap between everyone isn't that great. Spend a little more time on your classes, and you'll catch up soon enough." Albert suddenly felt that his words were a little ridiculous.

He was actually telling Gryffindor students to love studying?

Not every student was Hermione Granger, and she herself had nearly been sorted into Ravenclaw.

"You too?"

"Of course. What else did you think?" Albert replied as though it were only natural.

Yet for some reason, he felt a little guilty as he said it. After all, Albert was different from everyone else. He had a panel. Aside from learning knowledge through his own efforts, he could also master it by using the panel to level up his skills.

If he maxed out Wizarding Bloodline, Albert's speed in learning magic would leave everyone else far behind. Yet he had not done so. He had not even accepted the Wizarding Road quest.

Albert was still considering whether to wait until he had raised his Wizarding Bloodline level before claiming the quest reward. That would undoubtedly be the most cost-effective method.

But the problem was that Albert was still torn over his future career. He did not particularly want to remain in the magical world.

If he decided to develop in the Muggle world in the future, he would have to reserve a large amount of experience and Skill Points for leveling up various economics-related skills.

Forget it. Better not think about those things.

Albert shook off those distracting thoughts and slowly flipped through Nineteenth Century Spell Selection. He was fairly satisfied with his current situation. As for the experience and Skill Points he had saved up, he could use them whenever he needed them in the future.