3 Travel

Legilimens were able to read people's minds, simply put, that's what it was. That was a very specific area of magic.

While legilimency was the art of invading minds, occlumency was the opposite of that, responsible for closing your mind and protecting your thoughts from unwanted invaders.

When facing a legilimens, whether or not you manage to put him out of your mind can be the deciding factor for victory.

Adam was a natural, which gave him a huge advantage. In two months, with his talent and the fact that he was a natural, it was enough for him to reach a basic level in the art of closing the mind.

Reading the minds of others still seemed a little difficult, but it would be a matter of time. Time that Adam didn't want to waste right now. So he focused on closing his mind, after he managed to keep the voices out, he knew that now he could finally go on the journey.

George, who had already left several employees responsible for various tasks, was waiting for Adam in the living room, in front of the fireplace.

''Are you ready?'' he asked, as soon as Adam came downstairs.

''Yes,'' confirmed the young man, he who wore a serious expression as he thought.

'This is an important moment for me, I must do my best and absorb everything that this trip can offer me.''

Since arriving in this world, Adam knew he was in a race against time, in a few years Voldemort would return and start a war, where life and death were separated by a simple spell.

He wanted to be prepared so he could deal with any unforeseen events that arose, he wouldn't let anyone scare him or stop him from getting what he wanted.

Adam and George disappeared under the green flame in the fireplace. This was the moment when Adam would start his journey towards the top of the magical world.

Traveling to other countries required the use of portkeys. Apparating between countries seemed impossible, and flying on broomsticks, while possible, was not practical.

Thus, portkeys were the most common form used by wizards. Clearly discarding Muggle ways of traveling.

The Ministry of Magic was responsible for legal portkeys, so there was no problem for Adam and George to travel.

Their first destination was Italy.

Italy was a beautiful country, with old and important buildings, some traditional families there, were even older than the Davies family.

In Italy they visited Rome, and the Vatican City, which was somewhat ironic considering the church-led witch hunt.

Even though it was the first stop on the trip, Adam had already bought an absurd amount of books, which would only increase in the next countries.

The journey continued through the countries of Europe. Staying a short time in each country, with the purpose of maximizing the number of places visited.

After visiting many other countries across Europe, they reached the Asian continent.

First it was China, which brought Adam his first big shock.

China's culture was unique, very ancient and mysterious and this reflected in the magic. Ancient and mysterious spells were found everywhere, whether in ancient songs passed down through the generations, or scrolls that survived hundreds of years.

This culture of antiquity and passing on traditions, as interesting as it was, also brought problems, not only in China, but in other countries in Asia, such as Japan and Korea.

The problem was the lack of innovation, Adam believed that magic could not be something based on absolute rules, and keeping traditions without innovations was a sad thing.

But there was also no way to take credit for keeping such ancient traditions in such a well-preserved form. Especially when it came to such an ancient culture.

He still remembered visiting an ancient temple in Japan, and getting chills just looking at an inscription on a scroll.

Another stop on his trip was North America, which he didn't spend much time on, but was still excited about.

Whether it was the rules or the magic, everything caught his attention. The Ministry of Magic was extremely strict with the secrecy of magic, forcing them to use memory spells to preserve the wizarding world much more than other countries.

There were cases where even Muggle parents were the targets of memory spells. A strict regimen, but one that seemed to work.

What little Adam saw made him understand that it was a place that spawned talented wizards, he was particularly delighted with the mastery they had with space spells.

Walking through the buildings of the wizard community was funny, you opened a door on any street and found yourself inside a large building that looked like somewhere else, but was actually just hidden, made to look smaller from the outside.

But Adam had more interest in his next two destinations.

South America was an extraordinary place for lovers of magic, especially enthusiasts of Herbology and Care of Magical Creatures.

Among the countries of the continent, Brazil stood out, with a rich and abundant fauna and flora. Adam settled in Brazil and faithfully studied the magical creatures of that country.

In his time in Brazil he visited the Amazon rainforest, expanding his knowledge in the field of herbology.

He was delighted with the potion masters he encountered, making potions under the light of the moon, which added certain effects to the potion.

But time passed quickly and soon it was time for Adam to go to his last and most important destination; The African continent.

Before going on this trip, Adam did a meticulous study to design his most efficient route and which countries he could get the most out of, unfortunately he had to leave some places out as he felt he would get better out of visiting them at another time, with his magic in a more mature state.

At the end of its program was the African continent, rich in culture, history and tradition, without losing the essence of magic even over the centuries.

Adam lost count of how many little wizards doing wandless tricks he encountered, it was a strange and fascinating scene.

Not as fascinating as when he visited a high-class event, and witnessed a fourteen year old transforming into a leopard, a fourteen year old Animagus was something of a surprise.

The African continent, unlike other places, did not have the custom of using a focus object to perform spells.

The wand revolutionized the way magic is done, bringing ease and help to wizards of all ages. Especially for young people, the wand was like training wheels on a bicycle.

But after witnessing all manner of magic, Adam came to the understanding that wands could be more of a handcuff than a crutch.

And when you thought about how it hindered the development of young wizards, it was really unfortunate.

Mainly for mediocre wizards, who without a wand, wouldn't be able to do a simple spell. As if his magic came from the wand and not himself, it was sad and pathetic.

Whenever he analyzed how much he had learned during this trip he couldn't help but laugh.

How lucky he was to be rich.

Money was something really useful, in his days on the African continent, Adam managed to take some private lessons with different teachers who gave him some lessons. Besides, of course, buying a plethora of books.

But time did not stop passing and soon the trip came to an end. It was morning and Adam was lying in his bed at Davies Manor. They had arrived a few hours into the trip and after taking a shower and eating something, he went back to his room.

'I gained a lot on this trip, but I still need a few months to stabilize my progress.' he mumbled lying on the bed

During the trip Adam accumulated hundreds of books, George didn't ask twice before buying any book he wanted.

In addition to the books that were already in English or French, George was also in charge of sending the books in other languages for translation.

Not just books, potion ingredients, and other spices, Adam made a complete collection of everything he could afford.

Deciding to begin his review of certain studies, Adam got up and opened the black briefcase that was on the floor beside the bed.

Unlike expected, there were no clothes in the suitcase, but a wooden ladder that led to a hidden space. The Briefcase was a gift George gave him on his 9th birthday.

Down the stairs, a large space emerged, most of the place was filled with bookshelves filled with books, but there were glass panes that protected small vials, and herbs.

Adam walked over to one of the shelves and picked up an old book and notebook.

''Let's see where I left off,'' he muttered as he flipped through the book.

The thick old book was one of the best finds he made during the trip. The item was part of an old wizard's old collection, apparently the wizard had died and in Adam's eyes, the family was stupid enough to think that the books weren't of much value.

That wasn't his problem and Adam was more than happy to buy the entire collection.

But among the collection, there was one book in particular that caught his eye. It was an old book on Runes.

Runes was the area that had the least accurate study, apart from some more reserved cultures that had a better understanding of runes, the rest of the countries only maintained a more theoretical study of runes, in the form of an alphabet.

But Adam wanted to go beyond that normality, since he laid eyes on the runes he felt that the magical trace there was much deeper.

So he devoted much of his study time to the runes.

Sitting on a large cushion, Adam pulled up his shirtsleeves and began his study.

''In that book these runes symbolize fire...but it looks different from the other runes I've seen..''

''Yes, it looks like this trait is different…''

Adam paused and picked up the notebook at his side, carefully using a quill and ink to draw the rune representing fire. Making a few changes, it appeared to be a combination of the many fire runes he'd seen.

Soon a medium-sized rune was drawn on the paper.

''I hope it works this time.'' He muttered, as he pulled out the sheet with the rune drawn on it. He didn't remember how many times he had tried to draw this rune and always failed.

Taking a deep breath he let his magic flow into the leaf.

His eyes remained fixed on the rune, searching for any change. ''Another glitch…''

Ready to score another fail, Adam stopped his words, because in the next moment the rune glowed red for a brief instant, followed by a flame that erupted.

''It worked!!'' He yelled

''hahah. of course it worked after all I'm a ge- Ouch!!'' Adam let go of the sheet as his fingers were burned.

His face turned red with embarrassment, but he soon remembered that there was no one to see his ridiculous scene.

Excited by the progress, Adam went back to leafing through the book, as well as visiting all the other books on ruins he had.

Thanks to his study of occlumency, Adam had a great memory, which made it easy to find what he was looking for in books he had already read. He could wander through his memories and search for the information he wanted.

The runes turned out to be as complicated as they could be and Adam knew he was entering a vast and unknown world.

Which would cost you a lot of time and study.

Even though his discovery in the area of runes amazed him, he didn't put his other studies aside. At first he struggled to find time to do everything he wanted to do, but after a few weeks he finally got into a useful routine.

In addition to studying the runes, Adam prioritized his studies in the area of spells and transfiguration, spending most of his time on these activities.

He knew that if he wanted to stand any chance without the protagonist's luck in future battles, he would have to be confident in his combat skills.

Between study and training, almost a year passed, and Adam's tenth birthday arrived, with only one year left for the moment when he would have to go to a school, he felt that it was time to return to Great Britain.

After all, he had already made his choice of where to study a long time ago.