4 Chapter 4: Money and Magic
It took us around 4 hours to reach an agreement of general terms in our deal, then another 10 hours to finish writing, proofreading and double and triple checking our contract. After the written contract was over, I gave them the information needed for patenting, materials that were needed and their optimum condition, requirements I had for the potion masters, equipment I needed and so on, which took another 2 hours and before we knew it evening came.
After it was done, me and Brodguss shook hands and laughed like drunk dwarfs. He prepared food for us during the process and after the agreement, he took us to a fancy dinner. It was a giant table with many different types of gourmet food.
In my previous life, I lost my sense of smell and taste. Sacrificed for power in a ritual. I was truly a fool!
I had in my plate, truffled mushroom ravioli in sage butter sauce. I dug in and with each bite a symphony of flavors danced on my palate.
I could feel myself having the journey with the ingredients, as the homemade ravioli was made and each succulent piece was generously stuffed with a medley of earthy mushrooms and truffle, then delicately tossed in a fragrant sage butter sauce. This dish exemplified the art of pasta-making at its finest.
Suddenly I felt an immense pressure, it was worse than the most powerful Imperius Curse I ever felt, to just make my hands into cone like shape and raise my shoulder and move my wrist forward and backward. But I resisted the magic.
After dining like kings, me and Michael waited for Brodguss to bring his initial payment.
Our contract covered many detailed areas, for example, they were in charge of production line and I was in charge of teaching the staff. But If they wanted to shelf the item to manipulate the market, I would still get enough money to pay for my school and rent a room for Michael and I.
I gave up a part of my royalty percentage for that. But it was a needed part. Also, my percentage went down to 30% which was a great deal still. And I had to train 15 potion masters. 5 for each potion.
I didn't care for the overall profit that I would gain from this product. I was planning to make other sources of income. This would just be the first push for getting everything running.
Brodguss came back with a pouch of 150 galleons. It was my first monthly payment. I smiled at him and said:
- when should I start working?
He thought for a moment and said:
- I need to gather a team, Mr. Riddle, stay in contact and I'll let you know.
- We'll stay at The Leaky Cauldron, Mr. Brodguss. I'm looking forward to our partnership.
Michael and I went straight to a clothes shop to burn some of that money.
Michael looked at me with a wondering face and said: "An angel really gave you the secrets to making magical weapons?"
I made a fake thinking gesture and said: "in a sense" and smiled to him, "you can't ever say that to anyone. And don't ask about these things. People will magically listen!"
'It's for his sake' I thought.
He didn't continue after that. We reached Madam Malkin's store and bought 3 sets of clothes each. It costed us the total of 38 big G. Which was really expensive. I bought a normal robe of brown and dark green. It was the plainest color combination I could find.
We then went back to Leaky Cauldron, paid the surprised Tom and Madam Alcott and this time we ordered food. I insisted on paying for the night before, but they didn't accept.
- I'm sorry sir Tom, can I ask you something if it's ok?
Tom looked at me and said: "Go ahead. what is it?"
- Do you have any books that I can borrow on history of magical people, because I'm unaware of everything that happened and is happening. I went to the book stores but they were closed by the time I got there.
He looked at me a bit suspiciously, because I had all day and didn't buy the books myself.
- I have two books, but make sure not to damage them. If damaged, you'll have to pay for them.
He summoned two books from the backdoor of the kitchen and gave them to me. Two thick tomes with leather covers. One read "The Chronicles of Arcane Realms", a general guide to history of wizards. A book that depicts general events happening from the post Merlin era, until 1900. I actually read that book in my previous life. I had to just look through the titles to see if any big changes happened in the past. The other book was called "Wizards at War: Legacy of Doombringer". Tom told me that was a book on what happened after Grindelwald battled Dumbledore and what changes that brought to magical society.
I thanked him and went back to the rented room. Michael followed me like a clueless puppy. I gave him the first book, "The Chronicles of Arcane Realms," So he could understand the world we were in better. I started reading the other one to see the changes in society.
In an overall sense, governments in all countries were weakened and chaos was at its all time peak in history. Grindelwald funded and trained 3 new darklords that wreaked havoc all around the world. Even though they were at the same power level of a proper darklord, they only call themselves generals of Doombringer.
Even in other countries like US which currently wasn't festered by a darklord, many different cults and terrorist groups appeared that reportedly created and raised dangerous magical creatures and it was obvious that breading and raising a manticore was way easier than killing a roaming one.
That was only a part of the problem! Magical plants in jungles in a way that many jungles around the world turned into magical ones, putting dark forest into shame.
Covering giant camps with dragon aphrodisiacs which lead to rapid increase of giants and them moving out of their mountain ranges to find more food.
The world was in shambles. And it seemed that having a magic power and wanting to create chaos are a dangerous combination.
I also felt a bit demoralized. Giving aphrodisiac to giants. Making dragons and manticores go on a killing spree. Such brilliant ideas. Simple, yet elegant. I wish I did the same in my world.
'Enough of the sad thoughts' I reminded myself. 'I have to practice magic fast!' So I got to work.
It took Brodguss two days to contact me. during this time I reviewed all the first year materials of Hogwarts using wandless magic while working on meditation and Occlumency at night.
Transfiguration [Level 1/80] (NEW)
Charms [Level 1/80] (NEW)
Ritual magic [Level 1/100] (NEW)
(Astronomy[1/25] | Ancient runes[0/25] | Ritualistic Potions [0/25] | ??? [0/25])
Meditation [Level 7/50] -> [Level 9/50]
Occlumency [9/25] -> [Level 12/25]
Wandless Magic [Level 5/200] -> [Level 6/200]
When a knowledge turned to skill, it gave me a complete control and understanding over the subject/skill/spell, and would give a wave of euphoria. It solidified it in my mind in a way that I never felt before. Even though my current system skills where nowhere near my previous life, but it I still had a sense of accomplishment and happiness each time I would get a skill level.
I also had to increase my stats too. best option was killing a bunch of clueless muggles, but I thought maybe I had to wait until I get to the fourth or fifth year materials of Hogwarts, or even getting my hands on a mass killing poison.
So I shelved my plans, and looked at the mail that the owl brought. Brodguss prepared the team, my first job at Gringotts began that day.
I first gave some money to Michael, told him to buy some books and start on reading them. Then I visited Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions and bought myself a nice cloak. I didn't want some wandering eye see me working with Gringotts. I went to the same room/elevator and was brought to a new potion lab that was bigger than the last one.
The work was easy. All the potion makers that Brodguss brought were all professionals and knew how to work with ingredients on a standard level. After getting the first batch of people ready for the first potion, Brodguss took me to the second lab. And the third after that.
After the instructions were over, I would just go and check the quality of potions and fix the mistakes.
I looked at Brodguss and said:
- So, what is the projected income for this?
Brodguss showed me a toothy grin and said: "We are pushing the product patent fast. If things go well, we'll launch the first product in a month, and the "Bloodmoon Essence" the month after that, and finally the "Phantom Fume" two months after that. "Phantom Fume" can create the biggest profit margin. Don't worry yourself with the numbers." His toothy grin got wider and continued, "we can invest in your other products too if you create new potions. We have a great relationship with Pfizzerous, Jesus & Jesus and Classica."
I smiled politely and stopped him from continuing his pitch. "I don't plan to design new potions for now. I might in the future." I probably wasn't.
Potions didn't intrigue me as it did others like Snape. For me, potions were a tool for the weak. The person who can't change his body using transfiguration, would use a Polyjuice which takes more than a month to brew. I could send people into dreamless sleep, poison them with my wand and even remove or regrow bones. I even had a spell that worked like a wolfsbane potion. My spell turned that poor excuse of a wizard Fenrir Greyback into a beast he was.
I should admit that my mastery of magic wasn't at the level of Felix Felicis, but I'm sure if I put my mind into it, I could create a spell for that.
After my first day at work I went back to Leaky Cauldron and grabbed a launch with Michael.
- How was work today?
He sounded a lot like a house wife. I said: "Stop worrying about me. I told you before, they don't eat wizards. Goblins think their our tastes too bitter. I'm more worried about you."
"They eat muggles?" he asked in a genuine scared tone.
- No. Don't be silly. I meant what do you want to do in this world?
- Of course I'm going to follow you.
I answered, " OK, but I'll probably go to Hogwarts soon. You can't follow me there. You need at least a job or a training program for the duration. Until I find a way to give you magical powers. It might take a bit of time."
At this time Tom came to our table with two large bowls of pumpkin soup and a basket of sliced bread.
- Thank you Tom.
He nodded and was leaving but I hurriedly asked: "Mr. Tom. Do you know where a squib can find a job in Diagon Alley? My friend here needs a job."
- No clue boy. Squibs join darklords now days. Maybe try the muggle world. I don't know.
- Thank you Mr. Tom.
I thanked him and looked back at Michael and said: "What do you think? If you want to go back to the muggle world, I'll help you land a high paying job, if you want to stay in the magical world, maybe I can find something here too. Herbology and Potions usually are the parts that you need least amount of magical powers. I can even enchant some items to help you for these jobs."
He scratched his head in a clueless way and I continued: "No rush. I'll get you some books and prepare you for them. Lets work on improving magic for now."
************************************
Name: Tom Riddle
Titles: The Phoenix Lord (+10 Vit per 10 levels)
Race: Human
Level: 4(75%)
HP: 280/280
MP: 390/390
STR: 15
DEX: 15
VIT: 28
INT: 39
WIS: 28
AP:15
Money: 110G 6S 3K / 0$
Perks: Master of Magick[Lvl2], Inner Control[Lvl1], Dark Master, Genius / PP: 0 (+4 INT and +WIS per 5 lvls, +1 INT per level)
Traits:, Touched by death, MetaMorph, ParselMouth, Arsonist / TP: 0]
Skills:
Wandless Magic [Level 6/200]
Meditation [Level 9/50]
Mind Arts [Level 15/100]
(Occlumency [12/25] |Legilimency [3/25] | Mind design [0/25] | ??? [0/25])
Healing arts: [Level 1/80]
Potion making: [Level 1/80]
Charms [Level 1/80] (NEW)
Transfiguration [Level 1/80] (NEW)
Ritual magic [Level 1/100] (NEW)
(Astronomy[1/25] | Ancient runes[0/25] | Ritualistic Potions [0/25] | ??? [0/25])
