HMJ - Chapter 63 (Patreon)

It’s been two weeks since Harry broke through to the level of a rank 1 acolyte. “Can I help you with something?” asked Kroft when Harry approached him after his assistance duty.

Once Harry had successfully advanced to rank 1 acolyte, he was able to take a more active part in the professor's smaller experiments. He was able to prepare some ingredients, so he could learn how to do it properly.

An actual acolyte had a higher resistance to dangerous influences and radiation present during these experiments. In fact, not becoming a Rank 1 acolyte for too long was dangerous for anyone in the academy, since there were many dangerous sources affecting the people present.

While Bessita would still need a while with her talent, Harry had secretly cast some protective charms over her; the ancient language was just that flexible and easy to use.

Their acolyte robes were also enchanted to shield them a bit from these radiations.

But if an acolyte took too long to reach the rank of a proper acolyte, they would receive damage to their bodies and life span. In fact, this screwed low-talent acolytes even more.

Anyway, this isn’t important right now. “Yes professor! I have been a rank 1 acolyte for some time, an I feel like I have a good enough understanding to actually receive one of the lessons you are offering.”

“Ah, I see. I already wondered when you would visit me. From what I heard, you reached that level a while ago and were even giving lessons to other acolytes." Kroft nodded in understanding.

Kroft retrieved some items from what appeared to be a storage space in his laboratory.

Unlike Harry, he didn't have a pocket dimension repurposed into a portable storage space. Such a thing wasn’t impossible for a Magus, but the necessary ingredients were quite rare on the South Coast.

For a Magus who had used Grine Water to forcefully become one, it was definitely unattainable or rather impossible to keep.

Small, fixed, immovable pocket dimensions were far easier to accomplish, requiring only the right spells and energy resources.

"These three items represent my areas of specialization," Kroft said. "The book on the left stands for the neutralization of energy, the crystal ball for herbology, and the test tube for potioneering. Make your choice!"

Harry already had knowledge from two of these subjects: herbology and Potioneering.

Fields that his senior Merlin had focused on. Unfortunately, for his money-making plans, he couldn’t choose the book, or Kroft would realize that something fishy was going on once he started to sell Potions.

While neutralization of energy was an interesting enough subject, focusing on the removal of spells and curses, it had no immediate use for Harry. “I choose Potioneering.”

“I knew you would pick this.” Kroft chuckled. "The art of potion brewing is extremely complex and intricate. The slightest mistake can result in failure. Every potion master has invested vast resources to gain their expertise. Are you ready for this?"

Internally, Harry was amused, but this introduction was a bit boring. He had to give Snape the lead if it came to a direct competition between his potion’s teacher.

At least if he compared the introductions. If the old bat hadn’t been such an ass, Harry Potter would have genuinely had fun in Potions.

“I am, Professor. I will put hard work and effort into the art.”

“That’s the spirit!" Kroft nodded as he handed the yellow test tube over to Harry.

“Do I just have to drink this?” Asked Harry, a potion that stored knowledge was an interesting concept. He could create something similar with the help of his contracts, but this was basically through cheats.

“Yes, drink it directly.”

He would have loved to study it a bit, but he could learn more about it in the future. Harry opened the tube and was greeted by the stench. He was familiar with unpleasant potions, Hust polyjuice, and didn’t wait long to gulp it down.

While the potion was distasteful, its immediate effects were even stranger. His surroundings began to twist and swirl, and Professor Kroft transformed into a long, distorted noodle.

It was more surreal than he had ever imagined an actual drug trip could be.

Then, his entire body seemed to melt into a puddle and vanish into darkness.

“How do you feel?” Professor Krofts woke him from a strange dream, and his surroundings returned.

“That was crazy.”

“Your reaction is mild. Some weaker minds lived their whole lives in an illusion after drinking such a potion, and nobody woke them. But the information is already in your brain.” Kroft explained, and Harry could already confirm that it was there.

He couldn’t wait to cross-reference it with the information he had taken from Senior Merlin’s mind.

———

With the help of the AI Chip and his own past potioneering experiences at Hogwarts, Harry had already had a decent success rate in brewing, even on his first try.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t sell any Potions yet, or he would become known as an unparallel genius.

Even a once-in-a-century genius like Merlin took a month to successfully brew a potion. And Harry had succeeded with his first batch.

While he had no problem with being known as a genius, he had no interest in becoming such a genius that any of the families backing the academy wanted to recruit him at any cost.

Probably he could make an actual profitable deal with them if they considered him an unparallel genius. They may even offer an advanced meditation technique, but Harry didn’t want to go through the trouble of having to break a magical contract with them.

His freedom was more valuable than a bit of easier short-term profit.

If he had a similar success rate to Merlin, they would still try to recruit him, but he could play them that way and gain a bit more preferential treatment until he was ready to leave, without anything binding.

After all, the Abyssal Bone Forest Academy had at least four different major factions backing them. Three major families, and Principal Siley, a Rank 2 Magus himself. While they were working together, they were competing at the same time.

It didn’t mean that he would throw away the potions he was brewing at first; he would store them safely inside his inventory pocket dimension. With the lessons he was giving, he had a steady stream of income to supplement his own experiments for now.

Beyond that, he had a ton of resources he had gathered before landing in the Magus World.

Parts of Draugr, Inferius, and other creatures; different plants from the Wizarding World; Westeros and more that he had grown; Devil Fruits; a Philosopher Stone with several thousand souls; and more.

There are enough materials to research. Although it was probably a bit early to experiment with his Devil Fruits and Philosopher Stone, They were too unique and valuable.

Any excess potion was safe in his inventory; once he went on a long-term mission, he could find a black market and sell it there.

The other acolytes that came from the Chernobyl Isles had been assigned to other areas of the academy, which meant that he rarely met them.

One change to Leylin's experience in the story was that Kaliweir was avoiding him out of jealousy. That meant the boy hadn’t tried to invite him to participate in a mission without having the strength to be successful.

Instead, he had tried to invite Bessita, who had refused him once again. She already knew that she didn’t have the strength for such a mission.

Harry himself was different. It was true that Leylin didn’t have the strength to complete the mission, nor did Kaliweir and his group, but Harry did.

Even if he couldn’t portray his real mental stats at this point, Based on his own estimates and the description he knew from the original story, he guessed that his magic had at least the strength of a Rank 1 magus.

Destructive spells like Fiendfyre or the Killing Curse were probably of even higher rank.

But at the same time, he didn’t possess the same advantages that Magus had. Specifically, an innate skill.

Innate spells were spells that were a core part of any magus; they were naturally formed by advancing through an advanced meditation technique.

They were basically more powerful spells than any other, and they cost only a fraction of the normal cost for such a spell. Many magus were using defensive spells that were always active or automatically activated.

Meanwhile, Harry had to use such spells himself and pay the full prize in mana costs.

Whether he could beat a Rank 1 magus depended on many factors, and he lacked the data yet to safely determine. But he could, with 100% certainty, say that he was on the level of a Rank 1 magus, strength-wise.

Which was worlds more powerful than a Rank 3 acolyte, who these missions were made for?

So he fell into a cycle of meditating, assisting Kroft in his experiments, attending lessons, giving lessons, his own potion experiments, and the occasional mission from time to time to gather even more magic crystals and contribution points.

Of course, he only went on missions that were about collecting something. People would simply consider him very lucky that he was succeeding on these missions without encountering a monster.

The monster parts are just additional resources for his own experiments and studies. And he had encountered a lot of them; after all, he goes out of his way each time each time to explore the surrounding areas.

———

His presence had different effects on the world beyond Kaliweir and Jayden’s rivalry, including him. Some said that he had no idea what had caused it.

One of them is Bicky. In the original storyline, her training would go very slowly compared to her actual level of talent. She would remain a Rank 1 Acolyte for too long because she would simp for Fayle and actually gift him her stuff.

But this time around, she had already reached the level of a Rank 2 acolyte.

Originally, by the time Leylin showed his first successful potion to the public, she was still a Rank 1 acolyte.

That had been almost half a year after he had started in the academy. Harry chose to show his first successful potion brewing only after two months to his professor.

Slightly slower than Merlin, but definitely at the level of a genius.

His main concern was that he could sell the Potions on the market.

For example, the ingredients for brewing 10 times a strength potion cost 1 magic crystal. He could sell one of them for four magic crystals.

As long as he pretended his success rate was 10%, he would already make a profit and could use the remaining ingredients for his own experiments. His average success rate is over 80%, depending on the quality of the ingredients.

The Potions in his inventory were gathering up.

Allowing him to experiment a lot will further expand his database.

Thanks to his experiences as a university student and the memories of Leylin he had stolen, who had a scientific background before reincarnating, he approached his experiments in a in a systematic and scientific manner.

Granting him optimal results.

One thing became clear quickly: the potion ingredients in the Magus World are more volatile than the ones from the Wizarding World. Too many, even smaller, mistakes, and the potion becomes unusable.

That’s why there are so few Potioneers. Without an AI chip, one would dedicate the majority of his time to Potioneering, which is extremely profitable.

“Wow, Harry, it’s so impressive that you already succeeded in brewing your first potion!" Bicky gushed when she had invited him to eat some food in the premium dining hall of the academy, where one had to pay for the food in order to celebrate his successful brewing.

“Thanks, but you seem to be doing well for yourself. You already became a Rank 2 acolyte. Harry nodded apropos, making the green-haired girl blush.

“It’s all because you have encouraged me to work hard. My family is pleased that I reached a speed above average for my talent. Bicky replied.

Now that he thought about it, Harry remembered that Bicky tried to give her some of her resources a while ago, but he had refused and told her she should use them for herself.

Neither did he hear anything about Fayle being a genius around the academy. Just an average Grade 4 acolyte.

It seems like Bicky’s family has some good things, even though they no longer have an acutal magus in the family. Just a Rank 3 acolyte.

If he recruits Bicky, he could gain access to her family connections and resources.

“I should also reach rank 2 soon.” Harry mentioned that he kept meditating every day but had to lessen his acutal speed to not look suspicious, or he would have reached the rank weeks ago.

Somehow his talent was beyond Grade 5, or there was another reason.

“That’s impressive; even for someone of your talent, you are really fast.” Bicky genuienly exclaimed.

Professor Kroft was really pleased with all his students. Even Bessita had already reached the level of an actual Rank 1 acolyte, her speed comparable to a Grade 3 talent instead of a Grade 2 one.