Chapter 131: Arc 4: Chapter 19: London Re-encounter

The meeting with the half-demon Daimon was not a friendly one, that true son of Satan gave people an uncomfortable vibe.

Merlin could feel a slightly mad yet evil soul hidden beneath Daimon's calm and steady disguise.

But the good news was, Daimon was like the legendary devils who took promises seriously, he quickly took over the troubles on the demon badge.

From ConJob's intel, all the cultists related to pentagrams had disappeared in a short 5 days. This saved Merlin quite a bit of trouble.

And for the next few days, Merlin had brought Melinda and Coulson to deal with all kinds of troubles caused by irregulars and supernatural events in New York and its surrounding cities.

Like some disturbed phantoms, cannibalistic ghouls, some over-confident vampires, and werewolves that could not stay in control during full moons.

Just some small troubles.

And as Melinda and Coulson overcame their fear towards irregulars and eliminated their stereotypical thinking, the two excellent newbies grew at an outstanding rate. With their holy silver bullets and some exorcism charms made by Merlin, the two could take on some troubles themselves after a few months.

This made Merlin relieved, and he finally started to let the two newbies operate without him.

Seeing as the time was close to June, Merlin requested a vacation from Nick Fury, he wanted to use what little time he had left to learn and grasp as much magic knowledge and spells as possible.

The young wizards' summer holiday in 1995 was soon to come, which was also the date when Merlin promised Mr. Arthur Weasley to return the magic textbooks.

Merlin did not want to risk offending an official of the Ministry of Magic by hiding these magic textbooks against their promise, so during the last month, he had barely stepped outside and spent most of his time on the magic textbooks.

This near-autistic life continued on until the 1st of July.

London, Heathrow Airport, 9-am.

Merlin in his gray suit yawns while dragging a suitcase out of the bustling airport. There were obvious black circles under his eyes, meaning that he hasn't been having a good rest for the past few days.

He stands by the road and looks at the gloomy weather above, he then stops a taxi and heads straight for Leaky Cauldron.

When Merlin arrived at Leaky Cauldron, Mr. Arthur was already in there waiting for him.

This official of the Ministry of Magic was sitting by the table on the edge of the Middle Ages bar; next to him was a young friend Merlin was very familiar with."Merlin!'

Hermione, who was drinking fruit juice, sees Merlin and waves at him excitedly.

The once little girl had really grown up, her height had risen after 2 years, and her face gave out a vibrant feeling instead of a childish one.

She was now a 15-year-old young girl, she doesn't always wear the black wizarding robe; she wore a white casual shirt and jeans which sets off her good figure, her once fluffy hair was now brushed straight and she had put on faint makeup.

Merlin could hardly recognize her, but the joy flickering in her eyes made Merlin let out a smile.

He walks towards Hermione and Mr. Arthur, pulls out a chair, and sits next to the two, he then waves for the bartender for two glasses of cocktails.

Merlin notices Mr. Arthur had been drinking alone, it's been 2 years and there was lesser hair on his head.

And from his somewhat depressed expression, something must be on his mind.

"These are the textbooks, Mr. Arthur."

Merlin opens the suitcase, takes out a wooden box, and places it on the table in front of Mr. Arthur.

He pushes the box to Arthur and says:

"Now I return it to its original owner."

"Oh, yes, yes."

Like he had been alarmed, Mr. Arthur looks at Merlin and looks at the box by his hand; he lets out an awkward smile to Merlin and keeps the box into his worn-out leather bag.

"Thank you very much, Mr. Arthur."

Merlin takes something out of his handbag and places it next to Arthur's hand.

"So I brought you a gift too."

"Mmm?"

Arthur picks up the paper slip with confusion, on it was the address of a warehouse near London Airport; he looks at Merlin with confusion, the latter shrugs and says:

"I placed a latest edition commercial computer along with a lot of disks in the warehouse, in them is the knowledge on the technological structure you may be interested in."

Merlin smiles softly:

"And detailed instructions so you don't have to worry about not knowing how to use it."

"Oh, computer?"

It was then when Mr. Arthur's expression turns alive, he did not reject Merlin's return gift.

He places the paper slip into his leather bag and says to Merlin:

"I've seen it once in a muggle friend's home before, that cubic metal box was like mechanical elf was living in it; just like the magic dolls with a conscience made by those ancient wizards, how marvelous"

"I've been wanting to study that thing, these products from the world of muggles is truly fascinating, I have to thank you, Merlin, I like this gift a lot."

The middle-aged man with little hair laughs and pats on Merlin's shoulder, he says:

"But we'll talk about the gift later, what I'm more interested in is, did the textbooks be of help to you, Merlin?"

"Of course."

Merlin nods and says seriously:

"I will never forget your selfless aid to me. Of course, I'm also very fascinated by the magical spells listed in these books."

As he spoke, Merlin suddenly remembers something, he turns to look at Arthur and asks:

"Speaking of which, Mr. Arthur, I've been curious about something. The textbooks you gave me are the textbooks used by the 1st to 7th-year students of Hogwarts, but what then? How does the magic learning of an official wizard go on later?"

Merlin asks:

"Does one learn through a specialized magic book? Or is it taught in a more ancient method, by word of mouth? Or find a mentor for one-on-one learning?"

"I can answer you this question, Merlin."

Hermione suddenly raises her hand and attracts Merlin's gaze, she drinks on the seemingly never finishing fruit juice and tells Merlin:

"Young wizards become official wizards after they pass the test in the academy."

"Official wizards don't have a systematic way of learning like the academy, like you adults need to look for work, official wizards would oftentimes first find a job in the wizarding world; then through buying the books, notes, or participating in one of the personal lessons of some powerful wizards, to further improve their own magic capabilities."

"Also, if an official wizard joins the Ministry of Magic, then according to their times of servitude for the Ministry of Magic, he can read the collection of books in the Ministry of Magic's library and learn more complex spells from within."

Mr. Arthur continues:

"Higher class magic spells require longer study times. There are currently over 20 thousand existing spells in the wizarding world, and there are new magic spells being invented every year; so even the most powerful wizard cannot fully learn all those magic spells.

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"Is that so?"

Merlin realizes this, and then a new question arises.

He looks at Mr. Arthur and asks softly:

"Then where can I buy the books of those famous grand wizards? I never came across such books the last time I was in Flourish and Blotts."

Mr. Arthur shakes his head and explains:

"The rules of the wizarding world are different from the rules of the muggle world, when official wizards look for jobs, they can learn the spells they look for while earning their monthly wages; this means that the spells official wizards look for after graduation is monopolized by different powers."

"Unless you're lucky enough to find some lost books, otherwise, you can only learn new magic through joining some power."

"The Ministry of Magic does so, they monopolize large amounts of knowledge to supervise and control the wizarding world, which is why many official wizards would choose to work for them upon graduation."

Merlin's expression turns ugly. But Hermione notices something else, she blinks her big eyes and looks at Merlin, a few minutes later, she asks:

"Merlin, why are you asking these questions? Have you already finished studying all the textbooks up to the 7th-year?"

"Mmm, I just finished them the day before."

Merlin nods, he says:

Merlin nods and says:

"Though I just finished it, I didn't learn them all; in fact, the most complex spells I can cast right now are Protgo Horribilis and *the hiding spell*, I can't handle any more complex spells."

"*The hiding spell*!"

Hermione lets out a sharp scream, which made the surrounding people turn and look at them.

The young girl was self-sware of her gaffe, she lowers her head and says to Merlin in a low tone:

"Are you sure? That's a 5th-year spell! It only took you 3 years, you learned it by yourself too!"

"Yes, that 5th-year spell."

Merlin strokes on his chin and tells Hermione:

"It's difficult and complex, it took me more than a month to grasp it. To be honest, its difficulty is at least ten times harder than the intermediary transfiguration spell.

"I don't believe you!"

Hermione says so in disbelief, she pous her mouth and tells Merlin:

"You must be bluffing."

"Merlin."

Mr. Arthur picks up the burning candle on the table and places it in front of Merlin, he looks at Merlin and says:

"Change it with transfiguration, change it to the most precise extent you can currently muster, let me see your level of mana manipulation."

Like a mentor testing their student's abilities, Merlin looks around, there were too many people for him to use the oddly shaped Lola.

So Merlin directly reaches out his hands and wraps them around the candle.

He closes his eyes and begins chanting the transfiguration spell; the mana in his body is mobilized, and following Merlin's moving fingers, they slowly change the shape and form of the candle.

Transfiguration, an elementary spell young wizards can learn in their 1st year, it's a very un-scientific spell.

It can transform something into something else, like turning a feather into a living spider.

Through the use of mana, it can temporarily realize a near-impossible transformation on a physical level; turning stone into gold, turning glass into diamonds, there are all realizable.

But essentially, transfiguration is just a hoax, the precision and duration of transfiguration all depend on the wizard's level of mana manipulation.

Arthur and Hermione looked at Merlin's folded hands, 3 minutes later, Merlin with his forehead full of sweat lets out a breath, he opens his eyes and unfolds his hands.

A low roaring resounds from inside Merlin's palms.

The previously ordinary candle had been transfigured into a small gorilla with black hair that was the size of a fist.

It was like a shrunk Kong, it was agile and every hair seemed to be realistic.

After Merlin let go of his hands, the small gorilla then waves its fists at Hermione, flapping on its chest while letting out fierce roars.

But anything terrifying would seem silly once shrunken down.

Hermione was amused by the small gorilla, she extends her finger and flicks it on the miniature Kong's forehead, sending it rolling.

It gets back up from the ground and shakes its head very human-likely, it then lets out an angry roar and pounces at Hermione.

The faint mana Merlin left on the miniature gorilla then dissipates, the gorilla that had leaped into the air transforms back into a candle and lands by Hermione's feet.

"This is the limit I can manage."

Merlin takes out a handkerchief from his pocket and wipes the sweat on his forehead, he then tells Mr. Arthur:

"I can't extend the transfiguration period if I have to control the precision, this means I still have a long way to go."

"It's fine."

Mr. Arthur shakes his head and says:

"It seems that I've underestimated your talent, Merlin. Back when I was your age, I could hardly turn a candle into a copper whistle; you can ask young Hermione, she learned transfiguration in her 2nd year, yet she's still unable to transfigure a candle into a living creature."

Hermione nods, admiration towards Merlin appeared in her large eyes.

Just like a little fangirl.

"You're so cool, Merlin, this is basically intermediate transfiguration, maybe you'll be able to learn advanced transfiguration once you learn for a while longer."

Mr. Arthur stands up, he seemingly had made up his mind, he says to Merlin:

"Come with me, we'll talk in my home."

The middle-aged man with little hair blinks at Merlin and says:

"The Weasley family is a pure-blood family too, we also have a large collection of books by famous wizards. If you can do me a favor, Merlin."

"I can consider gifting you some of them."

 

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