Isaac had chosen to specialize in Transfiguration not only because of Dumbledore's influence, but also for another reason.
His talent for Transfiguration was entirely different from his talent in other fields.
In other areas—Potions, Herbology, even Alchemy, which wasn't taught to younger students at Hogwarts—
Isaac's talent could only be considered excellent.
Excellent talent meant that, with enough time and effort, Isaac could become a master in that field.
If Isaac hadn't learned about his talent for Transfiguration, he might truly have thought he was pretty talented in all the other fields.
But after considering the master class in the Prophecy vision and his own practice at home, Isaac realized that his talent for Transfiguration seemed far more extraordinary.
For example, simple object transformations—which took other young wizards an entire lesson just to get the hang of—were very easy for Isaac.
He could even apply what he'd learned to new situations once he had mastered simple object transformations.
At first, Isaac had thought it was only because he'd been an adult in his previous life and had a stronger will than young wizards.
After all, wasn't it perfectly normal for an adult to have more willpower than a child?
The magic in the Harry Potter world was different from the conventional idea of magic that Isaac knew from his previous life.
The magic he knew of before was more like the kind practiced by standard magicians, who needed to meditate, increase their mental strength, and refine their magical power.
But people in the Harry Potter world weren't magicians. They were wizards.
At the same time, Isaac had never felt anything like his magical power running dry while practicing magic.
After casting a lot of spells, he only felt exhausted, as if he'd just run a marathon.
In Isaac's view, when local wizards cast spells, what they used up was mostly their energy.
The best proof of Isaac's theory was the Obscurus.
How did an Obscurus form? It was created when a young wizard forcibly suppressed their own magical power under extreme trauma.
See? To create an Obscurus, they first had to suppress their magic—and suppress it to the point of death. They couldn't let even a bit of the magic inside them "spill out."
When a young wizard's magic was bottled up inside them for too long, it could end up forming an Obscurus.
That proved that wizards in the Wizarding World weren't lacking in magic at all.
Just this one fact would make how many mana-starved mages from other worlds jealous?
Wizarding magic emphasized the power of the mind, and Isaac had always believed that his mind was stronger than a young wizard's.
Perhaps during the adjustment period, he could adapt to Hogwarts' education and magic faster than the other young wizards.
But it was only after Isaac spent three days learning the entire first-year Transfiguration curriculum that he realized his talent for Transfiguration might be rather impressive.
To test his talent, Isaac also studied some second-year material with Professor McGonagall. The pace still didn't slow down at all.
Only then did Isaac realize that his talent for Transfiguration might truly be astonishing.
Based on his observations of the other young wizards in the Prophecy, Isaac divided magical talent into six levels.
From lowest to highest, they were: poor, average, ordinary, excellent, top-tier, and exceptional.
Most young wizards fell somewhere between average and ordinary. The rare young wizard who clearly seemed to have something wrong with their head might fall into the poor category.
Young wizards with excellent talent could absorb what their professors taught right away and demonstrate it in their homework.
As for young wizards with top-tier talent, they absorbed knowledge faster than others and could even apply what they'd learned to new situations to some extent.
Exceptional talent meant that a student didn't need a professor's instruction at all. They could "devour" the material just by reading the textbook.
If a professor did teach them, they'd absorb it even faster.
Professor McGonagall deserved a great deal of credit for Isaac's ability to learn an entire year's worth of material in three days.
Professor McGonagall's lessons absolutely lived up to the name "master class."
Next, Isaac planned to buy the remaining Hogwarts Transfiguration textbooks, Intermediate Transfiguration and Advanced Guide to Transfiguration.
He also planned to stop by Flourish and Blotts to see if they had any other books on Transfiguration.
This time, without Dumbledore's "free ride" by Apparition, Isaac couldn't take the Knight Bus either.
He didn't have any wizarding money on him.
Not a Galleon, not a Sickle, not even a single Knut.
He could only have the old butler drive him to the Leaky Cauldron on Charing Cross Road, then go through the Leaky Cauldron to Diagon Alley.
This time, he really did enter Diagon Alley through the "proper channels."
With the start of term approaching, Diagon Alley was still bustling. Wizarding families were everywhere, bringing their young wizards along to "stock up."
And there were Muggle families, whom Isaac could recognize at a glance.
In Diagon Alley, the people who looked as though they were in a Muggle shopping mall, unfazed by their surroundings and simply taking their children out shopping, were wizarding families.
By contrast, the ones who found everything novel, kept looking around, and let their eyes wander everywhere were Muggle families.
If someone acted like that without being with their family... well, calling them a thief seemed pretty fitting.
Isaac headed straight to Gringotts and exchanged the one hundred Galleons allocated for the year to Muggle-born young wizards, enduring the Goblins' stony expressions.
Even now, Isaac still couldn't understand why wizards let the Goblins control the economic lifeline of the wizarding community, when the Goblins had been the losing side in the war.
After leaving Gringotts, Isaac went straight to Flourish and Blotts.
The moment he entered the shop, the manager appeared in front of him.
"Welcome, Mr. Waldore. How can I help you?"
"I need Intermediate Transfiguration and Advanced Guide to Transfiguration.
"By the way, what other books on Transfiguration do you have?"
The manager didn't question Isaac's book list at all.
Come on, this young gentleman had been personally brought in by Dumbledore, who had paid his bill.
Though his surname wasn't Dumbledore, all of Diagon Alley was now speculating that Waldore might have some secret connection to him.
Professor Dumbledore was a master of Transfiguration. So wasn't it only natural for Mr. Waldore to want to buy books on the subject?
That was what you called a family tradition!
The manager immediately had a clerk bring over Intermediate Transfiguration and Advanced Guide to Transfiguration.
Then, curious, he asked Isaac, "May I ask, Mr. Waldore,
have you already learned everything in Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration?"
"Yes, Mr. Manager." Isaac nodded. The next second, a cry of surprise came from behind him.
"What?!"