A Web Of Magic - Volume 1 Chapter 51 Inheritance Trial

In the end they extracted just over a pint of venom. By the time they were done, the acromantula just lay there wilted. They took this chance to slip away. Whether the redcaps manage to escape before the giant spider woke up, that’s up to their luck. Magnus decided to hold the venom with himself for now before he could find a buyer. The fight net him 40 impact points.

A few days later, Magnus found himself once again sparring with Tonks. She had some free time and decided to teach him some more dueling while also picking up her order of potions. Magnus felt that his training with Tonks greatly helped him in his fight with the redcaps and the acromantula. Its not the spells that helped him but the fighting experience and the mindset to remain calm during a battle. He was thankful for her training and he told her that along with the incident. He trusted her now.

“See? I told you I’m good. Just learn from me and you’ll be set for goodwait a minute. You fought an acromantula?” Tonks just realized the absurdity of the situation.

“Yes, it wasn’t as scary as I thought it would be. And I’d appreciate it if you would keep it to yourself,” Magnus looked at her deadpanned.

“Jeez, alright. It’s not like I’m going to rat you out. And here I thought I was ballsy for imitating Snape,” Tonks muttered.

“You imitated Snape? Why would you do that and what happened?” Magnus asked one part in awe and the other curious.

“Easy to scare people for starters. And useful to roam around the castle late hours, easily enter the Restricted section of the library and you get the point,” Tonks shrugged.

“You casually break so many rules and you want to be an auror?” Magnus looked at her mockingly.

“Ah, well you know. It’s all for fun,” Tonks looked around sheepishly.

“Go on then, what happened?” Magnus encouraged her to continue her story.

“Well, got caught by McGonagall in the fourth year. Thank Merlin it wasn’t Snape. She noticed my dress under the cloak and she guessed the rest of it. Comes with being a Transfiguration professor, I guess. Most just look at the Snape face and run away. Gave me detention and cost me my chance at being a prefect. Hmph, who cares about being a prefect anyway,” she snorted in the end. That alone told Magnus that she cared enough, but he kept silent. She looked like she’ll beat him up if he pointed that out. He’s not strong enough for a physical tumble.

Tonks recovered in a few moments and she continued, “Anyway, I won’t tell on you, but you better take care of yourself alright. Fooling around in the castle is fine, it’s safe, most of the time. The forest is dangerous most of the time.”

“Alright,” Magnus agreed. ‘Maybe I should ask her about it,’ he ruminated for a moment and asked, “Hey Tonks. You said your dad’s a lawyer, right? Can you ask him what procedure to follow if I want to sell some of my potions in Diagon Alley? I asked some of the shopkeepers last time but they didn’t give me a proper reply.” He then told her the conditions they quoted.

Tonks didn’t question him why he would need to make some money. She came to know about his family condition over time and she knew he’s in need of money. Besides, it isn’t rare for students to try and make money by themselves despite most failing to do so effectively. But she doubted he would fail with his talents. “Alright, I’ll ask my dad. But I don’t think it’s as complicated as those shopkeepers made it out to be. They’re probably trying to fleece you. Don’t sign anything till I ask my dad yeh?” she said. Magnus agreed and thanked her in advance. He gave her the usual amount of Wit-Sharpening potion and his new Skin-glow potion. It was a colorless potion with pink sparkles floating in it which gave gorgeous light upon exposing it to light.

Tonks noticed it was new and asked,” What’s this now?”

“That’s the new potion I developed. It’s both cheaper and better than the one you can find at Madam Primpernelle’s. You get the first sample. Think of it as a payment for your services. There’s more after you succeed,” Magnus tempted her with the potion. He was betting on this to make him good money. Giving it to Tonks will both serve as a gift and a trial test. While he did verify the effects with [Identify] and check for harm via Divination, it would always be nice to see the effect in person.

“Aww Magnus, you don’t have to. You always know how to please a girl. I taught you well,” Tonks pulled him into a hug and ruffled his hair. Magnus would have liked to get out of the hug, but it felt nice and she was too strong. He looked up the reason among the books in the Room of Requirement. Apparently, metamorphmagi have denser muscles and bones to facilitate their transformations. This meant they have greater physical strength than the average witch or wizard. Magnus vowed to start working out later. It wouldn’t do well for girls to manhandle him like this. A vague image of another girl came to his mind before he shook his head. Magnus and Tonks finished their session and went about their own ways.

It was just two weeks to Halloween and Magnus worked hard everyday to finally reach the level required to complete Ravenclaw’s Trials. ‘Just second- and third-year knowledge she said. It’s bloody fourth year knowledge! It’s a good thing I leveled up most of the schools of magic to Lv4. Only when I reached Lv4 did I understand how to tackle the trial. No wonder I always felt there was something lacking. If I had gone ahead to complete the trial before leveling-up, I would have definitely failed,’ Magnus looked at his interface.

[Magnus Webb

Title: Seer Descendant

Traits: Beast Blood (Magic), Blood Curse (inactive), Beast Blood (Deformation)

Body: 3

Mind: 17

Magic: 29

Impact Points: 629

School: Divination Lv4 (10%), Healing Lv4 (10%), Charms Lv4 (10%), Transfiguration Lv4 (10%), DADA Lv4 (10%), Potions Lv4 (30%), Herbology Lv3 (90%), Astronomy Lv3 (80%), Magical Theory Lv4 (30%), Mind Arts Lv3 (10%), Care of Magical Creatures Lv2(80%), Runes Lv3(10%), Arithmancy Lv3(10%)

Skills: Wand Magic Lv4 (60%), Wandless Magic Lv4 (10%)]

Magnus looked at his stats in satisfaction but one look at his points made his heart ache. He always thought he had plenty of points to spare as he was earning over 10 points every day, but reaching Lv4 and tackling this trial cost him over 500 points. Leveling up a school from 90% at Lv3 to Lv4 cost him 40 points each. But the points spent were well worth it. ‘If this was the level of a third-year student centuries ago, then I might be equivalent to a fourth or a fifth-year student now?’ Magnus mused in his heart. What he didn’t realize was that while the higher-level students do come in contact with advanced magical knowledge, they don’t have an all-round development like him. They all specialize in their favorite subjects and neglect the others.

Lv4 greatly expanded his repertoire as it gave him knowledge not easily available in most books. But what he was most satisfied was with his Mind arts which was now at Lv3. He had reached the third stage- bringing back his emotions under control and managing them however he liked in his mind. The next step will involve giving a shape to his mind and forming a mindscape. He can also now get started with Occlumency and Legilimency. While he could have trained in them even before Lv3, they wouldn’t be as effective as doing it now. His increased Mind arts also now boosted his Mind stat to 17. He had been worried when he couldn’t improve it for a long time.

Magnus thoughts finished as he reached the secret room of the Grey Lady where she lay waiting for him as if she knew he would come. Magnus greeted her and she replied, “Hello Magnus. Are you sure you’re ready to attempt the trial now? There’s only one chance you know.”

“I am confident in my knowledge,” Magnus replied.

“Very well then. Let’s begin,” she waved her hand towards the wall and it started changing, bringing forth the contents of the final trial. Magnus went through the questions one by one. They ranged from translating an excerpt from an ancient language to spell theory, magical theory, arithmantic prediction and finally, creating his own spell. For example, one question was what would happen when he read an incantation backwards or if the wand movements are reversed? Those were questions that you wouldn’t be able to answer without a good grasp of magical and spell theory, both of which aren’t taught much at present in Hogwarts. It took him two hours to complete everything else when he came to the spell creation part. The Grey Lady stood behind him watching silently so he didn’t notice the astonished expression she would have from time to time. She noticed he stopped at the spell creation part. She always thought this was asking for too much from young students as they need to be at least fifth year to have the sufficient know-how to successfully create one. But this was a matter of Ravenclaw’s inheritance so this much was expected. Only by challenging one’s knowledge would they strive to improve.

“You can always have something to eat and come back later to continue. Spell creation is a complex process and this part of the test is meant to take time,” the Grey Lady informed him. Magnus thought over her words but he decided to finish it now. He was already part-way through creating his own spell anyway when his Runes and Arithmancy each reached Lv3 and Magical Theory reached Lv4. He just has to continue and finish the process now.

He pulled out an arithmancy chart from his sling bag and placed it on the floor as he sat down. He removed some parchments and quill for roughwork as he set about completing his spell. Soon, the parchment was filled with strange geometric shapes, lines and numbers.