The small room before Eisen, only ten square meters in size, was where he lived. Near the bed was an old desk with a candle lit at each of its four corners, providing decent lighting for the entire room.
Though the room was slightly shabby, its cleanliness and comfort surprised Eisen. Based on the state of the Leaky Cauldron's main hall, the wizards here seemed somewhat untidy, but the guest rooms on the second floor were unexpectedly nice.
After placing all his belongings on the desk, Eisen picked up his wand again. Instantly, the character panel before his eyes changed just as it had earlier.
"Discovered supernatural trait—Excellent-grade Spellcasting Trait. Consume one Miracle Trait to replicate?" Taking a deep breath, Eisen focused his mind and clicked "Yes" on the prompt.
Afterward, Eisen felt no unusual movement from the wand in his hand, but the prompt disappeared. The character panel then underwent some changes.
Character: Eisen Turner
Supernatural Talent: Magic (activated)
Magic Value: 10 (increases by 10 points daily)
Supernatural Traits: Excellent-grade Spellcasting Trait x1 (unfused)
(Note: After fusion, compatibility will increase by 20%)
Miracle Traits: None (automatically gains 1 per year)
The changes to the character panel surprised Eisen. Clearly, one Miracle Trait had been used to replicate the wand's spellcasting trait, which then became a supernatural trait—still unfused.
The mention of compatibility improvement made Eisen guess it referred to the bond between a wand and a wizard. Higher compatibility meant the wand could better channel the wizard's power.
As for Eisen's wand, the seamless control he felt earlier suggested high compatibility. This meant Garrick Ollivander had indeed recommended a wand well-suited to him.
However, the note stating that fusion would increase compatibility by 20% puzzled Eisen. Did this mean that after fusing the spellcasting trait, his bond with the wand would strengthen further?
In any case, higher compatibility was a good thing. It meant Eisen could cast spells more smoothly and with greater power.
But what exactly was fusion?
Next, Eisen focused his mind on the unfused spellcasting trait in the character panel. A new prompt appeared before his eyes.
It read: "Select a body part to fuse the spellcasting trait."
Below were several options: Arm, Finger, Leg, Toe. Each option also displayed a percentage. The Finger option showed 95%, followed by Arm at 70%, Toe at 80%, and Leg at 60%.
What did this mean? Staring at the screen, Eisen fell into thought. After a while, a look of realization crossed his face. Was it possible that fusing the spellcasting trait wouldn't just improve his compatibility with the wand but actually allow the fused body part to replace the wand entirely for spellcasting? And the compatibility boost was just a side effect of his cheat ability?
The thought excited Eisen. In the Harry Potter world, wizards were overly dependent on wands. A single Disarming Charm could leave them helpless. Even masters like Albus Dumbledore and Voldemort were no exception.
Though they could perform wandless and wordless magic, a wizard with a wand would always defeat one without. This showed just how crucial wands were in this world.
If Eisen's cheat ability worked as he suspected, wands would no longer limit him.
Calming himself, Eisen focused on the Finger option and selected fusion. The percentages likely indicated how well each body part aligned with the spellcasting trait.
Once chosen, a tingling sensation surged through all ten of Eisen's fingers. It lasted two full minutes before fading completely.
Now, Eisen felt his fingers had taken on the properties of a wand, fully capable of replacing it. Checking the character panel, the Supernatural Traits section had indeed changed:
Supernatural Traits: Excellent-grade Spellcasting Trait (Compatibility: 115%) (Fused)
But what did "Excellent-grade" mean? After some thought, Eisen still had no clue.
Still, with this trait, Eisen could now cast any spell wandlessly. Of course, preferring to keep a low profile, he decided to treat this as a hidden trump card and continue using his wand as a disguise for now.
At present, Eisen couldn't yet compare wand casting to finger casting because he only had 10 Magic Points and didn't know any spells. His next goal was to self-study some spells, at least enough to pass as a proper wizard.
Otherwise, wandering around the Leaky Cauldron and Diagon Alley might expose him.
Another question weighed on Eisen's mind: How did his 10 Magic Points compare to others? For example, what were the magic levels of first-year students like Harry Potter or Hermione Granger? This uncertainty troubled him.
Eisen couldn't help but complain. In the original story, a wizard's magic was a vague concept without clear power levels.
It was only stated that a young wizard's magic grew with age until adulthood.
Yet his cheat ability had quantified his magic. And since he was already an adult but had only just activated his magic, his current level was likely weaker than a young wizard's.
As for comparing magic strength, Eisen had no reliable method. From the original story, the ability to cast certain spells seemed like an inconsistent benchmark.
For instance, the Shield Charm, a defensive spell. Though Harry Potter mastered it in his fourth year, this was likely due to protagonist privileges. In reality, the spell was quite difficult. The Weasley twins once mentioned that even some adult Ministry of Magic employees couldn't cast it successfully.
Even Gilderoy Lockhart, though a fraud and a hack, was a Ravenclaw graduate. Yet he couldn't cast the Shield Charm.
Thus, Eisen could use this as a rough gauge for his own magic level.
The current date was July 1990. This year's batch of first-years would soon arrive at Hogwarts, but the "Golden Trio"—Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley—wouldn't enroll for another year.
In other words, Eisen had over a year to study before the main plot began.
Logically, since Eisen had missed his chance to enroll, the best course was to stay far from Hogwarts, the center of the storm, and quietly develop his abilities.
Getting involved would expose him to threats from Voldemort and his Death Eaters, which Eisen saw as unnecessary trouble.
Yet, despite this, many books required for Hogwarts courses weren't available at Flourish and Blotts.
For example, Eisen desperately wanted to learn space-related magic like the Undetectable Extension Charm and Apparition.
Such advanced spells seemed only teachable at Hogwarts.
Moreover, the Hogwarts library was a major attraction for Eisen. Thus, his best option was to apply for a teaching position at Hogwarts before Voldemort's return, using the opportunity to learn as much as possible.
If he could withdraw after Voldemort's resurrection, he'd hide far away. If not, he'd use those years to grow strong enough to face Voldemort without fear. With his cheat ability, Eisen believed this was achievable.
However, to apply for a teaching position at Hogwarts, Eisen's current skills were insufficient. He planned to spend the next year studying intensively.
He was confident that in a year, his abilities would improve significantly. At the very least, he shouldn't be worse than Lockhart. If a fraud like Lockhart could become a professor, so could he.
The only question was which subject he'd apply to teach. That required careful consideration.