The Trace was something the Ministry of Magic used to monitor underage wizards.
It was much like a monitoring system attached to their bodies.
Before students left Hogwarts, the school gave every Little Wizard a letter warning them not to use magic outside school.
This thing was as mysterious as Hogwarts' enrollment list, but John wanted to see whether he could remove it.
Then he would no longer have to worry about getting a warning for using magic.
Others might not be able to do it, but John had alchemy.
His level was not high, but the Trace used on a Little Wizard could not be too intricate either. It would be perfect for practice.
John got straight to work, studying his wand.
The Trace was a monitoring mechanism, or rather, a spell. The notice Hogwarts students received when leaving school actually served to extend its duration.
It was like a subscription that needed renewing every year.
Clearly, the magic involved in the Trace was not particularly advanced.
Nor was it all that effective. It mainly monitored where magic occurred. As long as there was an adult wizard nearby, it would not be blamed on a student.
A Little Wizard using magic in a pure-blood family was nothing unusual, and the Ministry of Magic would not come knocking.
To John, it seemed more like a means of restricting Muggle-born Little Wizards.
"Isn't this basically telling Muggle-born wizards to sit around and do nothing?"
John was annoyed.
He admitted that privilege existed everywhere, and it was only natural for pure-blood families to have advantages over Muggles.
But being singled out like this himself still pissed him off.
After studying it, he finally managed to extract something resembling a transparent silver thread from his wand.
He gently pulled it out with silver tweezers and placed it in a test tube, then John took out another wand.
He had made this wand using materials gathered in the Forbidden Forest. It looked much the same on the outside, but its craftsmanship was nowhere near as fine as Ollivander's.
Cherry wood and unicorn hair, eleven inches.
He intended to keep it as a spare wand.
"Now nothing can go wrong."
John took out the magic blood, gave it a shake, and prepared to drink it.
It had originally been silver, but adding dragon blood had turned it red.
He opened the cap. There was no particular smell. Frowning, John muttered, "This probably won't taste like orange juice."
He would have to drink it sooner or later. Steeling himself, John closed his eyes and downed it.
The magic blood slid down his throat and into his body, feeling just like a bottle of potion.
His body began to heat up. He clutched his throat, his face turning crimson with agonizing pain.
The test tube slipped from his hand and shattered on the floor.
Watson Wick, who had been about to come in and ask for the twelfth time, heard the noise and entered.
"Good heavens, John! What's wrong?"
Watson rushed over, only to burn himself the moment he touched John.
Seeing John's pained expression, he tried to bring his temperature down.
A wave of magic spread outward from John.
Everything in the basement floated into the air.
"Get out! Hurry!"
What little reason John had left told him he could not let Watson stay here. He waved his hand.
Without even using a wand, he sent Watson floating out of the room.
"John!"
"Lock the door! Don't come in!"
John's skin was red all over, and the surges of magic had thrown the entire basement into chaos.
Mr. and Mrs. Wick could only wait outside, frantic and helpless.
"My magic is increasing."
John could clearly sense what was happening within his body, and his pain gradually faded.
Some Little Wizards experienced bouts of uncontrolled magic as children. John had never gone through that.
But he felt that he was experiencing one now. In this state, John felt like a god walking among mortals.
He needed no wand. With a mere thought, he could control everything.
Under his control, the objects around him kept changing, becoming kittens one moment and puppies the next.
An owl flew over the roof. It had originally been a chair.
He did everything he could to control himself, but the waves of magic continued spreading outward. The grass outside the house grew, and enormous fruit appeared on the apple tree.
"Stop!" John pounded the floor with both hands, roaring like a cornered beast.
The basement gradually grew quiet again.
Everything floating in the basement crashed heavily to the floor. John lay there, gasping for breath.
[Ding, magic blood effect complete] [Fire Dragon Trait Blessing acquired: Fire-Eating, Intimidation, Hardening, Dragon Language] [Fire-Eating: increased affinity for fire magic, increased resistance to fire magic] [Intimidation: increased intimidation against lesser creatures] [Hardening: increased resistance to physical blows] [Dragon Language: learn the language of dragons]
John regained control of his body. He felt as though he had just suffered a severe fever.
His clothes were wet enough to wring water out of.
Propping himself up, he cast Scourgify on himself. Still shaken, John cursed inwardly, The system never said the process would be this unbearable.
Had he known, he would not have used it at home. Now the basement was wrecked.
Although the process had been difficult, the gains were enormous.
Even aside from the four fire dragon trait blessings, the increase in his magic was considerable.
[Magic: level 3 (635/1500)] [Spells: Alohomora (level 3), Levitation Charm (level 4), Transfiguration Spell (level 2, dragon form available), Disillusionment Charm (level 4), Lumos (level 2), Incendio (level 4), Reducto (level 3), Fiendfyre (level 3), Occlumency (level 3)...] [Skills: Short Weapon Mastery (level 7), Greatsword Mastery (level 4), Firearm Mastery (level 1), Runes Mastery (level 1), Alchemy Mastery (level 1)] [Blessings: Strengthen the Body, Rapid Attack, Precision, Top Student 2.0, Pilot, Long-Distance Running, Sword Dance, Night Demon, Troll Bane, Knight, Fire-Eating, Intimidation, Hardening, Dragon Language]
Besides the blessings, his magic had gained a whopping 500 experience, and his two fire spells had leveled up as well.
John suspected that was because of Fire-Eating. His Transfiguration Spell had also changed.
It had not leveled up, but it now had a dragon form option.
When John clicked it, however, the option was gray. He probably needed to raise the spell's level before he could use it.
The advanced form of the Transfiguration Spell was the Animagus transformation, a kind of magic that allowed a person to turn into an animal.
There were currently seven known registered Animagi, including Professor McGonagall, Gryffindor's Head of House.
Perhaps once the Transfiguration Spell reached level 4, he would be able to perform an Animagus transformation.
The Transfiguration Spell was very difficult to level up. At least, John had not seen it progress for a long time after reaching level 2.
He still had four Free Points earned during his first year. Looking over his skills, John put one point each into Runes and alchemy.
After leveling up, both skills turned gray. He would have to accumulate enough progress before he could upgrade them again.
He put another point into Occlumency and decided to save the last one for emergencies.
"The system isn't all-powerful either."
He cleaned up the basement, which only took a few flicks of his wand.
John emerged under his parents' worried gazes. Naturally, he could not escape being examined from head to toe like a rag doll.
John stopped his father from checking whether his private parts were still intact and assured them they had nothing to worry about.
Only after John repeatedly promised that it would never happen again did the couple abandon the idea of taking him to the hospital.
"Thank goodness I removed the Trace. Otherwise, the Ministry of Magic would probably have come knocking ages ago after all that."
Just as John was feeling immensely relieved, he saw an owl fly past the window toward another house.
If John remembered correctly, that seemed to be 4 Privet Drive.
Harry had only been home for a few days, but by using the method Hagrid had taught him, he had stopped the Dursleys from daring to boss him around.
He followed the school rules and had not used magic.
Even when scaring them, he merely took out his wand for show.
Yet despite that, he had received a warning letter from the Ministry of Magic.
He was confused. Was even frightening people with a wand forbidden?
As the one responsible for it all, John remembered that Harry's wand apparently had the Trace on it too.
He had escaped trouble himself, only to leave Harry taking the blame.
John silently offered an apology.
Harry had been minding his own business at home when the blame fell out of the sky.
Before you continue