Although Ted had found a part-time job, there was no way he intended to stop there.
If you were going to work part-time, then obviously you should take on several jobs at once.
Money was one reason. Experience was another.
Just today, while learning from Mr. Giggs how to process slugs, Ted had unexpectedly gained experience points.
A full 16 points!
When he handled slugs on his own afterward, the rewards were smaller, but dealing with a dozen or so would still yield a point or two.
Which meant only one thing.
Time to get more jobs!
Grind! Keep grinding!
After two days, Ted had practically filled every spare moment of his schedule.
In the morning, he would get up early and help Old Tom tidy up the bar a little. After finishing a simple breakfast, he would head straight to Diagon Alley for work.
His morning shift was at Giggs & Giggs Apothecary, where he carried supplies and processed simple potion ingredients that were in high demand.
Things like slugs.
Or chopping herbal roots and stems into pieces.
Or weighing powdered ingredients.
Or bundling feathers from various magical birds.
Just yesterday, Mr. Giggs had already taught him the Scouring Charm—Scourgify.
This spell was an absolute necessity.
Otherwise, after a whole morning surrounded by potion ingredients, Ted would practically smell like he'd been marinated in magical materials!
Working in the apothecary also exposed Ted to all kinds of advanced potion ingredients and knowledge.
For example: rhinoceros horn plated like iron, feathers from the Silent Bird, and the ink sacs of giant squid.
Of course, Mr. Giggs only explained their properties and preparation methods. He never allowed Ted to handle them personally.
Those materials were far too expensive.
If Ted ruined even one by accident, his entire salary for several months would vanish instantly.
At noon, once he finished the apothecary work, he headed to the Magical Creatures Pet Shop.
Ted's duties there included cleaning cages, removing droppings, feeding the animals, and refilling water dishes.
The shop housed many magical creatures that were safe enough to keep as pets.
There were Puffskeins, giant orange snails, shape-shifting rabbits, antlered hares, ravens, two-tailed salamanders, and even massive purple toads.
Some creatures had rather particular requirements.
Some couldn't tolerate loud noises.
Others couldn't eat food with too much moisture.
The midday shift was physically demanding. By the time Ted finished, he usually had to activate his [Restore Energy (Green)] card just to keep going.
Once his stamina returned, he would eat the free lunch provided at the pet shop.
Then in the afternoon, he headed to Flourish and Blotts Bookshop.
This was where young wizards purchased their school textbooks.
The store was enormous, and the catalog of books was incredibly complicated.
During his two-hour shift, Ted spent most of his time organizing inventory.
That meant heading into the storage room, locating specific books, and carrying them out to place on the shelves.
The warehouse at Flourish and Blotts was massive.
Ted had even found old books buried under thick layers of dust—volumes that clearly hadn't been touched in at least seven or eight years.
This job wasn't easy either.
After finishing work, Ted returned to the Leaky Cauldron to rest while reading and studying.
Most of his practice involved attempting simple and safe spells.
He had not yet tried spells like the Levitation Charm or Transfiguration.
He still remembered a story from the original books about Professor Flitwick teaching spells—about someone attempting a Levitation Charm and accidentally summoning a wild buffalo that trampled his back.
Transfiguration was just as risky.
Without proper guidance, it was better not to experiment recklessly.
Once the cooldown for [Restore Energy (Green)] finished, Ted would use it again.
Then it was time for dinner.
He usually bought something simple to eat from Old Tom.
Old Tom would often throw in a free mug of butterbeer, or maybe two meat pies.
Old Tom would say,"You're still growing, lad. Eat more—you'll need the strength."
Unlike the Muggle world, by six or seven in the evening the bar would gradually empty.
Apparently wizards had far less nightlife.
Ted would help Old Tom clean up afterward.
Thanks to the Scouring Charm, most of the work was easy—just arranging tables and chairs, stacking glasses, and tidying the place.
Using Scourgify so many times each day, Ted had begun to feel the spell flow naturally from his lips.
It had become second nature.
Once everything was finished for the night, Ted would retreat to his tiny storage room.
He would light an oil lamp and begin deeper study, carefully writing notes, recording questions, and preparing things he could ask the professors once school started.
He also practiced the few spells he had learned again and again.
He kept casting until the magic inside his body felt completely drained, until he simply couldn't continue.
Magic had levels and proficiency.
Once proficiency reached its limit, the spell would level up and become stronger.
Of course, experience points could also replace proficiency.
Spend EXP, upgrade instantly.
Simple as that.
Even Old Tom couldn't help shaking his head at Ted's relentless effort.
The boy worked too hard. With such a thin little body, it seemed impossible he could keep this up.
It was practically the ultimate working machine of Diagon Alley—the King of Magical Overachievers.
Seriously!
Ten Galleons a month. Was it really worth pushing himself like this?
And training magic so obsessively…
What was an old man in his fifties or sixties supposed to feel watching that?
If someone like Ted had been his classmate back in school, Old Tom was convinced he would've been completely outclassed!
But Ted knew he wasn't just doing this for the money.
The real goal was experience points.
After all, his Otherworldly Knowledge still needed EXP to redeem.
If the so-called Psionicist really was the kind he knew about…
Then the sooner he unlocked it, the better.
Over the past couple of days, Ted had also managed to pick up several second-hand textbooks.
They were worn and battered, but still perfectly usable.
Some even contained notes from previous owners.
And plenty of nonsense scribbles.
Like someone drawing a modern rifle into the hands of a historical figure in a school textbook—classic bored-student behavior.
By now, Ted had almost gathered everything he needed for school.
A brass scale.
A second-hand telescope.
And other equipment.
As for a pet, he didn't bother thinking about it.
After all, he had no one to write letters to.
If he ever needed to send mail, the school owls were free to use.
Broomsticks were another matter entirely.
Flying through the sky sounded exciting…
But Ted wasn't particularly eager to ride around straddling a wooden stick.
Besides, first-year students weren't allowed to bring their own broomsticks anyway.
Working in Diagon Alley these past few days had given Ted a curious feeling.
The magical world felt oddly post-medieval.
While Muggles were already watching television and using computers, wizards were still relying on newspapers and radio.
Even magical radio hadn't fully spread everywhere yet.
Most people still learned about current events through newspapers and magazines.
In this era of print media, the three most famous publications in the British wizarding world were:
The Daily Prophet,Witch Weekly,and The Quibbler.
The Daily Prophet mainly reported social news and served as the mainstream newspaper.
Ted borrowed it from Old Tom every day to read.
Witch Weekly focused more on entertainment.
Gilderoy Lockhart had famously won the magazine's Most Charming Smile Award multiple times.
The magazine also covered plenty of magical news from outside Britain.
As for The Quibbler, it specialized in spreading strange rumors.
Many of its articles left readers completely baffled.
It was basically the wizarding equivalent of a bizarre tabloid.
And yet, it sold extremely well.
The entire British wizarding population now numbered only twenty to thirty thousand people.
That alone explained why the Statute of Secrecy existed.
The population was simply too small.
Calling it a "society" might even be a stretch.
It was more like a large village.
Which made Voldemort, the village bully, look far less impressive compared to Grindelwald.
Grindelwald had stirred chaos across the entire world, pursuing grand ambitions.
Voldemort?
He mostly fought his battles within Britain itself.
Even worse, he slaughtered his own villagers.
The population was already tiny.
During those ten years of conflict, Voldemort and his Death Eaters had killed hundreds of wizards.
Not to mention the Muggles who had died along the way.
A week passed in the blink of an eye.
One day, while Ted was processing potion ingredients in the apothecary, he heard a commotion outside in the street.
Looking through the window, he saw a crowd gathered in front of a shop across the way.
People were pointing, discussing something excitedly.
Just then Mr. Giggs walked in through the door.
Ted set down the turtle shell he had been scrubbing and asked,
"Mr. Giggs, what's going on outside? Is some shop having a sale or promotion?"
Mr. Giggs was basically the information hub of Diagon Alley.
Wherever something interesting happened, he would be there.
Especially now that Ted handled so much of the work, giving Mr. Giggs plenty of time to gossip and chase rumors.
Pulling aside his wizard robe, Mr. Giggs sat down and said with a grin,
"A new shop just opened…"
Ted didn't respond.
He continued scrubbing the turtle shell.
The shell belonged to a Rhode Island Mud Turtle, whose back was covered with aquatic plants that needed to be cleaned off, otherwise it would reduce the potion's effectiveness.
Ted didn't ask another question.
Because he knew Mr. Giggs couldn't possibly hold back.
Sure enough, Mr. Giggs soon said,
"You'll never guess what kind of shop it is!"
Ted played along.
"Oh? What kind?"
"A blacksmith's shop! Run by dwarves!"
Ted froze.
The brush in his hand stopped moving.
Dwarves?
What dwarves?
"Mr. Giggs… when you say dwarves, what kind of dwarves are you talking about?" Ted asked.
"Dwarves! You know—the short, stocky kind with big beards. One of those otherworld races that appeared after the Celestial Convergence ten years ago!"
Dwarves.
Celestial Convergence.
Otherworld races?!
Hold on.
What on earth are you talking about?!