First Real Combat with Magic

Ten o'clock at night in Winton Town, Edward Orphanage.

"Crookshanks, Daddy's going out for a bit. Don't run around while I'm gone!"

Jerry picked up his wand and changed into dark-colored clothes. After speaking to the ginger long-haired cat lying on the floor, amusing itself by batting at its fluffy tail, he opened the window and climbed out.

Jerry's room was on the second floor of the orphanage, but that was no obstacle for him. With a push off the first-floor windowsill, he easily jumped down.

In fact, many children were better climbers than adults, especially Jerry, who had eight-pack abs and strength no weaker than that of an average seventeen- or eighteen-year-old boy.

The orphanage was already pitch-black at ten o'clock. Jerry made his way through the front yard in the dark, nimbly climbed over the large iron gate, and left the orphanage.

He had chosen to test magic at night to earn Little Red Stars because it was harder for others to notice him then, and because many crimes generally happened at night.

"Lumos!"

Jerry took his wand from inside his clothes and softly recited the spell. Bright light immediately shone from the tip of the wand, as bright as a flashlight.

The Wand-Lighting Charm was one of the simplest among the fourteen spells Jerry had learned so far.

However, when he had learned this spell, he had seen a later note saying that it had an advanced version. Once cast, it shone as brightly as a small sun and was generally used in a Small World as a replacement for the sun.

That made him think of Newt's suitcase in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Perhaps the sun in the Small World inside that suitcase had been created with the advanced version of this spell.

So Jerry felt that he could not underestimate the basic spells he was learning now. Many powerful spells developed later might have been created as extensions of these low-level spells.

Edward Orphanage was located on the southern edge of town, in a relatively remote area. Holding his illuminated wand, Jerry walked for nearly twenty minutes before reaching the town center.

Unlike the orphanage, where everyone was already asleep, quite a few small shops in town were still open at ten o'clock. Near the town bar in particular, men and women dressed to the nines came and went in droves.

In Jerry's impression, crimes were more likely to occur near bars at midnight. So he patrolled around the bar with his wand, deliberately wandering near dark alleys with few people around.

Unfortunately, he patrolled until one in the morning without encountering a single crime. The only thing that happened was when he had first entered town and found an elderly couple out for an evening walk who had accidentally slipped. He helped them up and earned two Little Red Stars.

With no other choice, he returned to the orphanage to sleep and planned to try again the next day.

The facts proved that the Harry Potter world and the Marvel world were still different. Especially in a small town where life was not particularly stressful, it really was not easy to come across a crime.

Every night, he left at ten and returned at one in the morning.

It was not until the night before his return that Jerry finally encountered a minor robbery.

The time was eleven thirty at night. The place was a dim alley in Winton Town.

A white-collar young woman returning late from overtime work had been blocked by a burly white man holding a fruit knife.

Jerry, who was patrolling nearby, happened to catch the whole scene.

However, he did not immediately step out to save the white-collar worker. Instead, he hid at the alley exit and quietly watched as the burly man, after succeeding, hurried toward the alley exit with the stolen money and necklace in one hand and the fruit knife in the other.

"Verdimillious!"

Jerry pulled out his wand, aimed at a puddle near the alley exit, and fired a Transfiguration Charm at it.

London's weather was rainy and foggy, and puddles left behind by the rain could often be seen on the ground.

Struck by the magical beam of the Transfiguration Charm, that large puddle instantly turned into extremely slick lubricating oil. The burly man, rushing out of the alley, stepped directly into it.

"Ow!"

His foot slipped. Moving too fast, the burly man was sent flying and crashed hard onto the ground.

Among the fourteen spells Jerry had learned, the Transfiguration Charm was the most difficult. Most other spells merely bestowed a certain property upon some kind of material, while the Transfiguration Charm completely turned one substance into another.

Naturally, since it could be separated from all other spells and established as its own subject, its depth was obvious.

However, not all transfigurations were so difficult when first learning the Transfiguration Charm. The book mentioned several points to keep in mind if one wanted to improve the success rate of transfiguration.

First, transfiguring between similar substances was easier. Turning water into wine or water into oil, for example, was something even Little Wizards who had only recently started their first year could easily master.

Conversely, turning water into stone or steel bars would be extremely difficult.

However, turning nonliving things into living things, or living things into nonliving things, was not considered too difficult. But that required studying some Transfiguration Spells.

Second, the smaller the object, the easier it was for transfiguration to succeed. For example, turning a matchstick into a needle or hair into thread.

Conversely, turning a matchstick into a spear or a utility pole would also be very difficult.

Finally, the simpler an object's structure, the easier it was for transfiguration to succeed. Turning a mouse into a snuffbox or a rabbit into slippers were things first- and second-year Wizards could accomplish.

Conversely, turning an owl into a telescope was very difficult. Even many fifth-year Wizards could not accomplish it, much less create airplanes, cannons, or machine guns. Even Dumbledore might not necessarily be able to transfigure those.

Those were only the basics. More advanced transfiguration also involved Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration, Cross-species Transfiguration, Human Body Transfiguration, and so on. He would have to slowly learn those things at school.

"Obscuro!"

Taking advantage of the instant before the burly man could get back up after falling, Jerry immediately cast a Smokescreen Charm.

At once, the burly man was enveloped by smoke, while Jerry charged into it like a little cheetah.

The burly man on the ground was still somewhat dazed from the fall, but he seemed to notice a figure appearing before him and hurriedly grabbed the fruit knife that had fallen to the ground.

"Spongify!"

Jerry reacted faster. He cast a Softening Charm on the fruit knife, and it instantly went limp like a noodle.

"Little Dragon Tail Swing!"

Having removed the greatest threat to himself, Jerry showed no mercy. He unleashed a full-force whip kick at the burly man's head just as the man was trying to stand.

Jerry's strength was no weaker than that of an ordinary sixteen- or seventeen-year-old boy. His full-force kick struck the burly man's temple and knocked him unconscious on the spot.