'Newbloods and the Moonlit World' was a very... Very interesting book, and once I got to my room rented within the 'Pristine Cauldron' as apparently the 'Leaky Cauldron' wasn't exactly a very marketable name when it was acting as one of their main entry points into Diagon Alley.
Either way with the modicum of privacy of my rented room I first got into the book Olivander recommended me with myself using the Library of Heaven's Path to speed read the book after I collected the information from it and the other books.
And the book didn't fuck around... It was less of an educational book and more of a manual on how not to get yourself killed being a new magical in the moonlight world.
As the very preface had three lines that set the pace of what the book had within it.
[Knowledge is power
Knowledge is a heavy-weight
Knowledge is a danger to one's self]
As the book went into very clear and painful detail as it explained how all major Pantheons were real, with entire sects and countries protected by the Divine Pantheons. Now that I was aware in truth to my magical power. Myself cursing in the name of a god, speaking their names, or praying to them... Would get their attention.
This wasn't the Percy Jackson Universe where the gods where diddling around in the background. No they were very real things where the countless magical entities of the world and the very world itself fed the divine entities' existence making them want to stand at the forefront of everyone's minds to gain more faith energy.
No this was Percy Jackson Warhammer 40k divine style... You went on a grand hunt and killed a dragon and sacrificed the dragon's heart to Thor or something and you WILL find yourself blessed whether you like it or not.
And obviously some blessing's weren't something you would want... Like the book went into painful detail about how a man seduced a hundred women from their husbands with elixers, magic, and other tools in order to become an adopted child of Aphrodite.
The 'blessing' Aphrodite gave the man was to most people a curse as his soul was split carefully and lovingly by Aphrodite into a hundred shards granting him a hive mind as Aphrodite then created ninety-nine female clones of the man that would eternally love and serve the core single male soul shard body.
With the book very clearly saying in bold lettering the 'man' never could tell if the single male clone was the original or another soul clone shard.
"So yeah... Muck about with the gods at your own peril." I muttered as I continued reading the next section which was the wonderful side of 'Cultivation' that the British oh so helpfully stole from the Chinese Pantheon.
And then when they tried to put it up in a museum, the Egyptians stole it on accident instead of stealing their own artifacts back. And cultivation thus got spread across the world when the wizards who stole it got attacked by more smugglers who made copies to sell the cultivation methods.
But the core stages of magical cultivation were actually surprisingly simple... That made sense as Wizards weren't basic human chumps who had to spend years actually integrating magical energy into themselves.
Whereas normal humans had to train their bodies to accept magical energy in the first stage of Elemental Enrichment, and then the second stage of Magical Explusion.
We skipped those first two stages that most non-magical humans couldn't get past as we started basically at Magical Core Formation.
And from there we had the four main stages of. Mist in which our mana was just whispy mist within our magical cores, then the Liquid stage in which we pooled the mist together into a stronger form.
Then from there, it became the Magic Sea stage in which the wizard created the largest possible pool of magic. And then once again all the magic would be pooled together into a solid form to form a True Core which was the last stage of where we wizards started out at.
From there we could go on to the Nascent Soul level in which our manifested soul would break out of our core and devour our magical core to enrich our soul so our soul could withstand centuries to even millennia of life.
That was as far as cultivation the 'Newbloods and the Moonlit World' went as past the Nascent Soul was a topic only the masters and gods apparently knew and kept close their chest.
"Ok... So cultivation for wizards seems rather straight forward at least. Take magic power, get more of it, make it more solid, profit." I muttered as I was lounging on a chair in the Library Of Heaven's Path while reading the book.
And I noticed in the corner of my eye that in the slightly system-like interface next to the book was a sign stating. [Imperfections 0]
This meant that the information within the book wasn't incorrect but then again the book wasn't a spell manual, cultivation method, or a guide to anything. Which was the main focus of the Library of Heaven's Path.
Either way I kept reading the book as it was certainly an enlightening read and as I hit the next and seemingly last major section of the book, I tilted my head to the side as I read the header.
[The howls of monsters will ring out to you. The price of knowledge is the Hunt will be upon you.]
[Monsters of all faiths, monsters of magical anomalies, monsters of the void. Now that you have embraced your magical knowledge, your scent will ring out to their own senses.]
[Monsters and Magical Creatures are very different things. Monsters are classified as being an entity that by their nature exclusively consume humans and especially hunt wizards and cultivators to devour their magical energy which is their inborn form of cultivation of magical energy.]
The book then had in a bold outlined section that I could feel was magical as my eyes were drawn and forced to read the outlined section that was done in blood-red writing. [Monsters are enemies of humanity. Do not talk with a monster, do not approach one, do not interact with one... If you find one do your best to flee if you cannot kill it as Monsters look upon humanity as naught but food and nutrients for their own rise to power.]
[Monster species include but are not limited to.]
[Dhamphir- Spawn of a Vampire and Cultivator's union. With the vampiric nature to consume lifeforce being mutated between the human half makes the Dhamphir need to consume humans to keep their sanity as their human and vampire heritage fight within themselves.]
[Lycan- The Primordial versions of Werewolves that live off human flesh exclusively and are born commonly when divine-aspected creatures mate with something with wolf aspects.]
The list ran on, and on but I did notice a rather interesting bit. Like the Dhampires being monsters while Vampires were not.
Along with Werewolves not being monsters especially as Artemis had a regulated system where if you didn't want to be a werewolf, you could do a hunt in her honor and so long as you hunted honorably with a bow and arrow your lycanthropy would be removed without any fuss.
Either way, the book was very specific that should I run into a monster, I should immediately run for a temple of worship so that. A- the monster couldn't get me as the divine in charge of the temple would smite the monster for daring to enter. And B- All Pantheon's had their own warriors, demigods, or followers that hunted monsters for their divine's favor.
With that, I had finished the book with their being a bit on magical nobility here in Europe but it said for Newbloods the only thing I had to worry about was the nobility trying to ensnare me into a magical marriage contract as my magic was pure and untainted by rituals or anything.
Which was a major issue for the noble families. In return for a single person to gain alot of power with a ritual and higher tier elixirs they basically taint their bloodline with that ritual which makes magical cultivation more difficult for their future heirs.
And only 'Newblood' being added to the line will refresh the bloodline allowing people to cultivate more easily down the line. And for magical clan's that have existed for often more than a millennia... They know they need to keep track of that kind of thing.
"Now the rest of these books... I can worry about it later! One thick-ass book to comprehend is enough. And I probably should wait till I meet with a teacher as I don't even have a magical cultivation technique or anything." I spoke to myself.
And with that I ignored the rest of the books I had on hand before I closed my eyes and I willed myself out of the Library of Heavens Path while a thought idly struck me.
'I wonder how quickly Hermione would drop to her knees and worship me for having a super cheat library in my soul.'
-
After taking a good rest I woke up the next day bright and early knowing I still had two more days till the Hogwarts train so I decided to go see if I could meet the teacher who was supposed to be here at the Pristine Cauldron.
And after bypassing the wizards and people going about their business I talked to the nice older lady who was serving up breakfast to people who had rented a room. "Excuse me, do you know where I can talk to the Hogwarts teacher that's supposed to be here?"
The older lady smiled and said kindly. "Ah yes, Miss Mavuika is just over in the third meeting room doing some paperwork."
I blinked hearing the name Mavuika as that certainly wasn't a name I knew from canon HP but then again with the Percy Jackson elements and other stuff along with the cultivation raising the general power ceiling... Some teachers obviously just wouldn't cut it.
So I headed over to the third meeting room which the lady told me about and after knocking on the door I heard a firm but female voice speak out. "Come in!"
Opening the door I gazed upon my new Hogwarts teacher and I could only think... 'Holy fuck I love leather.' She was wearing some kind of tight-fitting leather outfit that was stretched out over her large bust with her seemingly glowing crimson hair in a beautiful cascade down her back.
But what drew me in was her alien and inhuman eyes that seemed patterned like the sun as she raised an eyebrow at seeing me as well with her saying with a small smile. "Ah a Newblood, come on in and we can talk for a bit if you need."
Smiling wryly I asked. "I mean... Besides the clothes how could you tell?" As I was wearing mundane clothes currently.
To which Mavuika gave a sharp smile and said with that grin. "Oh, I could tell because of how surprised you looked at seeing me. Your clothes were the biggest giveaway honestly, most wizards raised naturally are used to wearing robes or at least combat-grade clothes and you are just wearing mundane clothes during the last weekend before Hogwarts starts."
"Fair point." I conceded before taking a seat in front of Mavuika and I took a breath before I spoke bluntly. "So... Miss Mavuika, what do you think as a Newblood I need to be most worried about and where can I get myself a cultivation technique."
Mavuika chuckled deeply as she rested a hand below her chin as she relaxed against her chair, seemingly happy I was giving her a break from some boring paperwork.
"Well, first of all introductions young man... In this society of pride, face, and strength. Your name should be the first thing on your lips if you want your words to have any weight. Do you understand?" Her voice went very amused to very serious at the end with a sort of pressure filling the room that made me swallow and nod.
The pressure faded in a single blink of her glowing molten sun-like eyes with her waving her hand and I spoke simply. "My name is Jake Barriss, Newblood attending Hogwarts this year."
Mavuika nodded with a small smile as she said firmly. "Good! My name is Mavuika Murata, the Sun Rider, Contractor of the Feathered Serpent, the Winged Serpent, Quetzalcoatl."
Her eyes glowed brighter as she invoked each name of the divine serpent of Mesoamerica and I felt a windy rustling in the room as she spoke the name Quetzalcoatl. And I realized she had invoked its name and thus got its attention.
"That feeling there Jake. That is your first lesson, divinity. No matter your magical power is to be respected even if you are contracted to said divine. Do NOT, I repeat, do not speak the true names of the divine unless you want their attention you understand." She said extremely firmly.
I nodded with Mavuika brushing a hair through her vibrant hair before she continued. "Now, speaking bluntly can be rude... And you never know if who or what you are speaking with so speaking cordially cannot harm you frankly."
"In any case as to your previous questions... What you need to be worried about is monsters sensing you in the mortal world and eating. They will be able to sense how weak you are and will make an attempt at your life in the mortal side of the world." She explained.
I frowned hearing that and I asked curiously. "How are monsters such an issue that they will hunt me so openly? Mr. Olivander recommended a book about Newbloods and it described how monsters were so terrible but, why are they such an issue when so many forces are hunting them?"
Mavuika sighed and then said frankly. "Honestly this is a sad secret for humanity which includes wizards and the other supernatural species that aren't monsters. But the creation and breeding of monsters are far faster and easier than we grow in numbers and power."
She took a breath and then added. "Then there is the fact that monsters grow in power... Far, far more easily and faster than humans and other supernatural races as they need to merely consume the flesh of humans and other life forms to gain their power."
"Is it truly that easy for them? They just... Snack on some human and they gain like all the magical power of the human they snacked on?" I asked with confusion and disgust at how fucking overpowered that was.
And Mavuika gave me a long look before she said calmly. "Worse, a magical being... Has far more magic in it then the magical beings can use themselves easily at any point in time. Their blood energy, their life force, their mental energy, their literal souls. No Jake, if a monster consumed you who only has the basic state of Mist magic, it will be like for them eating a brand new Solid Core state wizard amount of magical power."
I just gaped at Mavuika but she smiled... And it was a cruel smile as she added. "Oh but don't worry. Monsters naturally hide from us no matter how many Monster Kings they have or gain. Because we non-monster folk heavily outpower them at the higher ranks of power even if they outnumber us."
A record-scratching noise went off in my head as I said in confusion. "They outnumber us?"
And Mavuika just blinked before she smiled wryly and said. "Oh yes, Jake... They prefer to live underground or even in the ocean most of the time to avoid us besides during their hunts. But while there is a solid eight and half million people and magical in the world they are supposedly sitting around ten billion."
Once again... I just stared at Mavuika before I asked in utter confusion. "How do they outnumber us though? Like do they only birth triplets or something?"
And the teacher nodded and said calmly. "That's a conservation number frankly. Many monsters also capture humans to forcibly breed with them so their violent reproductive rituals don't cull their own numbers and three is typically the bare least amount of children born in a single much faster pregnancy... Driders for example will birth hundreds of their kind with their foul kin eating their host alive from the inside to emerge from the world."
Just the imagined sight of that made me want to fucking hurl so I held up a hand as I shook the thought from my head. 'Oh my dear god. Ovipositor monstergirls are a thing... I think I am going to be sick.' I thought with a shudder.
Shuddering again I heard Mavuika say in a drawl of a voice. "Yes, many monsters spawn hordes with each breeding season. In either case... Moving on from the topic of monsters as you will be learning plenty of the subject within Hogwarts, your question about Cultivation manuals."
Mavuika took a breath as she herself had to reset herself as she pushed for the change in topic. "Most Cultivation Manuals only differ past the core formation state and is where truly valuable Cultivation Manuals stand out... However, the immortal Sage Lord Dumbledore in his infinite wisdom has gone out of his way to fill the Hogwarts Library with thousands of Cultivation Manuals."
There was a hint of fear in her voice as she said somewhat slowly. "The Sage Lord regularly goes on punitive missions into the hearts of Monster territory and butchers them in other countries which he then turns in the merits in return for new Cultivation Manuals for people."
I tilted my head to the side and asked curiously. "So there are a lot of manuals in Hogwarts, is there requirements to using them? Or otherwise a price?"
The fiery woman shook her head with an awkward expression on her face as she said dryly. "No Jake... The Sage Lord has forbidden on pain of death from his own hand, anyone gate-keeping cultivation techniques from the rest of the population of Hogwarts. Either you are skilled and talented enough to use a cultivation art or you aren't. That's basically the only requirement."
'Well geez... Dumbledore doesn't seem to be so afraid of spilling blood now is he?' I thought dryly.
But either way, I nodded and said. "Ok thank you, I am glad I don't need to sell myself to a noble clan or something to get a cultivation technique at least."
Mavuika sniffed and rolled her eyes with her saying with amusement. "You most certainly will not need to do so. Maybe for elixirs and extremely powerful artifacts but otherwise no, you will not need to sell yourself off to be married to some heiress or old woman."
She chuckled seeing my face pinch at her words and I likewise chuckled before I asked on final question. "Alright Miss Mavuika, I thank you for answering all my questions. But uhm I did forget to ask. What do you teach at Hogwarts?"
She blinked before she chuckled a bit as she said. "That's a good point, I didn't say what I taught. In any case, I teach Beast Taming and Spiritual Bonds which you will be enrolled into."
There was a pause as I nodded before she blinked and said. "Oh yes and Jake. In that vein of conversation, before you have my class. Don't make any soul bonds or contracts with any supernatural creatures... No matter how attractive they are." She finished with a dry tone.
"Uhh... Sure thing Miss Mavuika, I planned to be good and just wait the last few days out here in the Pristine Cauldron so I didn't have to worry about any monsters anyway." I said with her nodding.
"Good, very good Jake. Now go on ahead and play in Diagon Alley or something, I have this dastardly paperwork to finish today before the term starts next week." She said waving me off.
-
With that, I obviously left Mavuika to her paperwork and after a bit of thought, I just went back to my room. I didn't have any money besides the pitiful amount of money I got with my reincarnation.
And how was I going to make money in a single day? Best to just save my money for when Hogwarts rolled around in a couple of days.
"Whelp... Might as well go fiddle fuck with the books at the bookstore to store a bunch of knowledge I can peruse later." I mused as I left the Pristine Cauldron to do just that.
Once I got back to the bookstore I first went to one of the workers and asked curiously. "Excuse me, how are the books and such sorted here?"
The woman who was looking a bit tired and bored gave me a bland look before she said flatly. "Books are sorted by theme, and then alphabetically if they aren't a book like the Hogwarts books that are purposefully kept together."
And with that, the all-but corporate drone witch... If she was a witch at all actually. Just put her head down and went back to life as the worst kind of librarian.
One that worked in a bookstore.
'Ok... That was no fucking help at all.' I thought with a roll of my eyes as I just begun exploring the massive bookstore on my own.
And just to begin filling my Library of Heaven's Path I began running the back of a finger across the spines of the books at my hip height as I walked casually.
"Well, this is something." I mused as I found a large book section. [Monsters.]
So I walked in there and began looking at the books, taking them out to inspect them and just generally handling them more openly as I downloaded dozens of books to the Library of Heaven's Path.
After swiping past a couple of dozen books, I grabbed myself a small cheap snack at the front desk before leaving without having spent a lot more money on an actual book.
And I went straight back to my rented room with my ill-gotten gains. Though... I did have a thought. 'What if the reason Mavuika and other teachers are being rotated around here, is to stop Newbloods like myself from going back out of Diagon Alley and getting snatched up?"
But I didn't go bug the teacher about that. Instead, I just spent the free two days doing research on Monsters and why they were the big bad of this universe besides the gods themselves.
Which Mavuika was right, 'Monsters' didn't do their breeding and child-rearing casually like any human would... No most would spawn or force their partner to spawn at the bare minimum six more of their ill-begotten kind.
With Monster's and Supernatural creatures being very distinctly different from one another by the fact that monsters had their entire existence basically revolved around eating humans and other sentient supernatural creatures for the magic within all such beings.
As in this world, sentience was one of the major hallmarks of how magic was in a being... This could get weird as some supernatural species like Pheoniex's were born without true sentience until they went through their first burning after living for exactly 100 years without dying.
Surviving that long gave the Pheonix their true sentient intelligence and the ability to take a human form and truly cultivate their own magic.
So Pheonix children were raised extremely carefully for their first life, to say the least, and only Pheonix's that had gone through their first unblemished burnings could share their feathers to make wand cores.
Back to the monster's for example, the divine Minotaur, for all that it ate humans and demi-gods. It wasn't even close to a 'Monster' it was firmly just a supernatural creature. However, Empousa that had been banished from Hecate's domain of magic were monsters as they rampantly hunted humans and other magical to drain their magic to use for their own.
"Ugh... Ok that's enough reading." I muttered as I spent the two days before Hogwarts reading about Monsters as I figured they were the biggest threat.
And frankly I wanted to leave magic to when I had a teacher watching as there was a reason why Hogwarts started for late teenagers in this universe... Magic was dangerous and much more respected in this universe at least.
So with my Hogwarts books stuffed into my expensive slightly space-expanded trunk I finally left the Pristine Cauldron and took the trolley I came in on back to King's Cross which directly put me on the magical side of Platform Nine and Three Quarters.
"And there she is." I muttered as I saw the beautiful pristine Hogwarts Express... But my lips twitched as I looked upon it and frowned.
As fucking mounted atop the damned thing were dozens of machine guns and cannons that had glowing vents that oozed magical energy.
And then it hit me. For all that the Hogwarts Express was still a major tradition in sending all the students of the British Isles to Hogwarts, it was actually to the Monster's a roaming buffet of weak magical children they could devour should they manage to overwhelm the train.
'Honestly it's a surprise that the train is a thing at all when the monsters are such a horror.' I mused as I took in the hundreds of teens and young adults climbing into the train.
But I shrugged and made my way up to the train as the calls of what looked like Prefects reached my ears. "New students! Take whatever seats you want in the back half of the train, there is no order to the seating besides the later years are at the front!"
With that I went directly to the back of the train... But not the very back of the train. As I was genre savy enough to know that should something happen on the train it was always the last cart that got snapped first.
The inside of the train cart was definitely spatially expanded with rooms on each side and each cart having two large bench seats at the sides with luggage racks at the top and a couple seats around a table that was in front of the large window allowing us to see outside the train.
"Empty cart for me, yay." I muttered as I took a seat and my lips twitched as I recalled how I coudn't find a copy of 'Hogwarts a History'. So I had no idea what Hogwarts truly was like in this weird alternate universe where the British stealing magic from other nations had literally flipped the worlds natural law on its head.
But my cart didn't remain empty for long. All too soon the door slid open and I blinked as two girls stood at the door who paused at seeing me sitting with one of the school books in my lap as I was doing some light reading.
One of the two had long red hair that was left to hand from her head in a vibrant curtain with her wearing robes that coudn't hide her well developed voluptous frame. While the other girl was asian and having a more petite frame and long black hair that was kept in an orderly ponytail.
"Do you mind if we sit with you?" The asian asked and I shrugged.
"Go on ahead. Would make for a boring ride if I was alone the entire way." I said as I gently closed the book and set it aside.
I then stood up and offered my hand to the two as they came into the decently-sized room. "My name is Jake Bariss. Would you ladies like help getting your trunks up to the top?" I asked.
And then both raised their eyebrow before the red-haired one said in some amusement. "No, we are capable of the Levitation Charm at least."
Which made me feel a bit awkward seeing them kind of awkwardly say the whole Winggardium Leviosa, bit with both their trunks shakily floating up into the air into the cabinets above us.
"Anyway Jake was it? My name is Susan Bones, and here next to me is a friend of my family in Cho Chang." The now-named redhead spoke with myself nodding in understanding.
There was a bit of silence as the girls sat themselves down finally and after a bit Cho Chang slowly asked. "So... Jake, I guess you are Newblood? Or don't have magical relatives?"
My lips twitched and I said flatly. "I haven't messed around with magic yet... Even if the levitation charm can be useful for lazy teenagers. The books were rather clear that without adults around first-time magic users should wait for supervision."
I shrugged and added on. "Wouldn't it be stupid if I tried to use a levitation charm and accidentally hit my bed with it and yeeted it into the ceiling with me on it?"
There was a pause as the two imagined the sight and then Cho said slowly. "Wait... I myself threw myself off my bed when I levitated my blanket instead of a pillow I was aiming for."
I held out my hand in a 'what can you do' motion and said frankly. "Hence why I decided to wait to get taught a bit of magic before I went mad in learning whatever magic I wanted... Plus I want to get my own Cultivation Manual before I do too much magical experimentation."
After a moment I focused on Susan and stated calmly. "And yes, I am a Newblood."
Cho and Susan shared a look before they both shrugged and Cho said calmly. "I see, and have you had any contact with any of the noble houses?"
To which I said flatly. "I think I ran into the matriarch of the Malfoy family and their daughter... Said daughter then proceeded to call me a filthy commoner as I had committed the grave offense of being behind her in the line into Olivanders."
Susan's face twitched in distaste and I just shrugged and said plainly. "So yeah not my best first impression on the nobility of the United Kingdom."
To which Cho just smiled and said proudly. "Yes the British nobility are truly lacking in refinement and any forms of manners aren't they Susan?"
Susan's mouth actually curled into a frown before she drawled out. "All groups of power have their bad apples... Dorea happens to just be rotten to the core with how spoiled she is."
"The necromancer calling a spoiled princess rotten is just... Hahaha so funny." Cho Chang giggled and I saw Susan's face turn red in mortification as she looked before me and Cho with betrayal clear on her face.
"Cho! He is a Newblood he wouldn't understand!" She hissed at her friend with some actual heat.
I just coughed and tried to move this on... As I realized real quickly that Cho had some kind of agenda or something. Or she was just a major gossip.
"So what kind of Necromancy does your family do? Do you guys like pull-up souls from the afterlife? Have spooky skeletons climbing out of their graves or something?" I asked jokingly.
And at my earnest question, Susan flushed with her folding her arms underneath her large breasts as she muttered. "Uhm... We mostly hunt monsters and then we use their corpses as servants and some of their body parts as reagents to make more powerful flesh-crafted creations."
To which I clapped my hands together and said. "Well better the monster's corpses are put to use I say. Anyway, Cho what is your family involved with?" I asked drawing the Asian back into the conversation at seeing her staring at me in shock at how casual I was hearing Susan was a necromancer.
Cho cleared her throat and then said more formally with pride entering her voice. "The Chang family can trace our noble lineage all the way back to the first Qin Emperor in Shihuangdi... Or as you people may know him as Qin Shi Huang."
"My family have been alchemists and herb growers for millennia now. And my family is responsible for a solid percentage of all of Britain's, oriental herb shipments!"
Seeing how proud Cho looked I gave another set of clapping though obviously a bit more stilted compared to the applause I gave Susan and both of them could tell the difference.