Enhancing Talent

Following the record on that Parchment, Vaughn found his dormitory.

Slytherin dormitories usually housed four students, though the number was adjusted according to enrollment. Vaughn was fairly lucky; only three people had been assigned to his room.

The other two did not deserve names, and Vaughn could not be bothered with them. If they were sensible enough, perhaps they would move out soon.

The moment he pushed open the dormitory door, a large cat with orange-red and golden fur pounced at him. Its front paws landed on Vaughn's chest, and its fluffy head rubbed hard against his chin.

"Alright, alright, Guoguo Tea, you clingy little thing. You're too heavy!"

"Meow~"

"You must be starving, huh? Sorry, pets weren't allowed at the Great Hall feast... Alright, stop rubbing against me. I'll feed you some Dried Fish. Tomorrow morning, you can have breakfast with me." Vaughn soothed the affectionate cat, smiling happily.

In his previous life, he had merely been an ordinary office worker in a first-tier city, with no time or energy to keep pets. He had bought Guoguo Tea because it was smart, hoping it could help him keep an eye on Scabbers.

But after spending so much time together, he had grown increasingly fond of this clingy little darling.

If he could feel this way about a cat, then what about his family in this life...? As he fed Guoguo Tea Dried Fish, Vaughn thought of Percy, Fred, George, and Ron's shocked expressions when he had been sorted into Slytherin. His head began to ache.

He still had no idea what Parents would think!

But there was nothing he could do. He was a Transmigrator, and he had always possessed an adult's mindset and ambitions.

Fortunately, the beginner's gift package had given him max-level Occlumency.

Otherwise, leaving aside whether the secret of his transmigration would be exposed, merely having an adult's thoughts might have been enough to scare the Sorting Hat.

No matter how cruel a child might be by nature, their limited experience and immature outlook still left them somewhat innocent and foolish.

Adults with mature values were different. Their actions could be constrained by law, but their thoughts could not. The casual malice in every adult's thoughts was probably enough to earn them a trip to Azkaban.

Setting those thoughts aside for now, Vaughn groomed Guoguo Tea's fur while silently saying, "System, claim the reward!"

Several lines of information appeared before his eyes:

[Claim Reward]

[Free Talent Points +1]

[Magic Power Level +50]

The air trembled slightly. It was the ripple of Magic Power.

Guoguo Tea noticed the disturbance and looked up at Vaughn. Seeing that nothing seemed wrong with him, it relaxed and continued gnawing on the Dried Fish.

Vaughn opened the System Panel.

[Host: Vaughn Weasley]

[Magic Power Level: 432 (500 for an ordinary adult Wizard)]

[Talents: Charms 7, Dark Arts 6, Transfiguration 7, Potions 10, Herbology 6, Divination 2 (maximum value: 10)]

[Spells: Occlumency LV5 (MAX), Shield Charm LV3 (3/8), Disarming Charm LV2 (2/4), Levitation Charm LV2 (1/4), Petrifying Charm LV2 (1/4), Fire Charm LV2 (2/4), Light Charm LV3 (0/4)...]

[Potions: Draught of Joy, Energy Potion, Blood Replenishing Potion, Hair Softening Potion, Hair Growing Potion, Beauty Potion (master level, including multiple types of Recipe)...]

[Reputation Points: 17]

[Free Talent Points: 1]

[New mission updated, pending review]

Vaughn looked over his stats. It had been almost two months since he received his acceptance letter and enrolled at school.

Compared to then, his Magic Power Level had increased by 62 points. Fifty of those had just come from the reward, while the remaining twelve had been natural growth over the past two months.

Based on the standards marked in the System Panel's brackets, Vaughn had previously guessed at the trend of Wizards' natural Magic Power growth.

Since every Young Wizard awakened their Magic Power and experienced Magic Burst at different times, there was no universal template. But one thing was certain: the natural growth of Magic Power was related to magical talent.

The higher the talent, the more Magic Power naturally increased each month.

There was no universal template for that either. Vaughn guessed that the three talents with the greatest influence on Magic Power growth were Charms, Dark Arts, and Transfiguration, while the others carried less weight.

It might also be affected by developmental stages.

He had spent years observing his brothers, yet he still could not calculate an expected value based on his own circumstances.

Magic Power was not that simple, but improving his talents could not be wrong!

After all, they also affected the learning, mastery, and development of Magic.

Vaughn carefully sensed the surge in his Magic Power for a while. Once he confirmed that he could still control it freely, he turned his attention to his talents.

He needed to think about where to put the newly acquired Talent Point.

"Based on comparing Percy, Fred, George, and my own experience learning spells, I can conclude that a talent value of 7 is already exceptionally good."

"Combined with the original story, it's probably about the same as Hermione's, perhaps a little higher... Hmm, for now, it's enough for learning spells."

"Dark Arts is a little low, but it'll be hard to learn any Dark Arts in the short term anyway."

At that thought, Vaughn frowned slightly.

When it came to Dark Arts, it was not merely difficult to learn. Casting them also required stirring up the appropriate emotions.

To use Avada Kedavra, one needed sufficiently intense killing intent and vicious thoughts.

To use the Cruciatus Curse, one also needed enough cruelty and bone-deep hatred.

Those Dark Wizards and Death Eaters who seemed mentally unstable and deranged had not been born that way. It was more or less related to their abuse of Dark Arts.

Vaughn rubbed his chin. "Before learning Dark Arts, I need to find a way around that problem. Dumbledore should have some tricks. Before he started believing in the 'power of love,' he was also a master of Dark Arts. Unfortunately... given his personality, there's no way he'd teach students to study Dark Arts."

"The other person with a traceable record, someone proficient in Dark Arts without going insane... Snape!"

Slytherin's Head of House was not only a Potions Master but also a master of Dark Arts. Even while he was still in school, he had created Sectumsempra.

As long as Vaughn could latch onto him, he could kill two birds with one stone.

Perfect!

"So, Dark Arts talent, pass. Herbology talent, pass. Divination... my greatest weakness. Even if I improve it, it'll be useless. Pass!"

"Then only Transfiguration remains!"

Transfiguration was the most complex and vast discipline. It was not simply a handful of spells, but an enormous body of knowledge that overlapped with Charms, Dark Arts, and Potions.

From the simplest transformation of inanimate objects, to living transformations, then spell transformations and human Transfiguration, every improvement in Transfiguration could be said to be comprehensive!

It was also the only form of Magic that did not require an incantation from the very beginning.

Vaughn stopped hesitating and assigned the Free Talent Point to Transfiguration.

The increase in talent was silent and invisible, entirely unlike the obvious boost to Magic Power. But when Vaughn drew his Wand and lightly tapped Guoguo Tea's Dried Fish, a completely different sensation immediately flooded his mind—

Magic Power flowed into the strip of Dried Fish like a babbling stream, soaking through it and outlining every minute detail of its internal structure before feeding it back into Vaughn's thoughts.

The entire process no longer carried any of its former difficulty or vagueness.

As Vaughn's thoughts shifted, he easily pried at those structures in his mind. Many little tricks suddenly became clear, and he smoothly adjusted and altered them like silk, then used Magic Power to turn his imagination into reality.

Pop!

The Dried Fish turned into a lively little mouse!

Guoguo Tea's eyes went wide, and it pounced immediately.

According to Gamp's Law of Transfiguration, transforming an object could not change its essence.

In other words, Guoguo Tea had gotten a mouse that tasted like Dried Fish...

Meow~

Double the happiness!