CH 7 First Steps in Wizarding World

Alcor walked along the streets of London, his mind clear about his destination. He carried a small bag with him containing a few changes of clothes, some miscellaneous supplies, and a few bundles of cash. He had informed his family that he will be off on a small trip for a while.

They didn't ask much after he told them that it was related to the Wizarding business. moreover, they were well aware of what Alcor was capable of so they were more worried about what destruction Alcor might wreak instead of him coming to harm.

Alcor's feet slowed as he reached Charing Cross Road. His eyes soon located the small weird little pub, which also served as an Inn. This pub, which appeared as a broken-down old shop front for non-magical folk, was the entrance to one of the secret wizarding locations, The Diagon Alley.

Adjusting the strap of the bag, Alcor walked forward into the pub with confidence. Thanks to his workouts and rapid growth, his body was much more developed than an average ten-year-old. In fact, he looked closer to 12 or 13 physically.

As he walked into the pub, he attracted a few eyes from the more traditional wizards because of his 'muggle' clothes. But he ignored them and observed the flow of wizards and witches moving in the pub. He soon found the way to the backside of the pub. Luckily, he saw an old witch tapping the brick that made the old wall transform into a gateway to pass through.

Waiting for the witch to go away, he observed the wall morph back into its regular form. Alcor walked up to it and looked at the brick that was to be tapped with a wand for morphing it into the gateway.

'I wonder if my unique style of magic will work too instead of the wand method.' Alcor wondered. Gathering a bit of mana on his forefinger, he tapped the gateway and found that the gateway opened with even more speed as compared to when it opened for the witch.

'Ah, it seems I was correct. My way of using pure mana does work, in fact, it may work even better than the usual wizard ones.' Alcor thought. But the next moment, he was surprised to see a notification pop up in front of him.

[Host came in contact with an Enchanted Artifact of old origin that contains great reserves of magic.]

[Gluttony is straining against the seal as a result of the stimulation.]

[Strengthening of Gluttony's Seal in progress .... Strengthening Failed.]

[Gluttony is forcefully inscribing a Skill into the Host's Soul.]

Alcor suddenly felt a surging pain from deep within himself. He immediately moved away from the entrance to the Diagon Alley and kneeled in a dark corner, gritting his teeth to prevent himself from screaming.

After a few minutes, the pain subsided and a few new notifications appeared in front of him.

[Host has been inscribed with the Unique Skill: Devouring Mouth]

[Unique skills can't be leveled or upgraded. Their growth or transformation depends on various unique circumstances.]

[Gluttony has calmed down. Gluttony has successfully been sealed again.]

'Gluttony? Devouring Mouth? What are those?' Alcor asked the System.

[Information on Gluttony is currently beyond Host's access. Please grow stronger to get the access.]

[Devouring Mouth is a unique skill granted to host by Gluttony. It allows the Host to manifest a 'Mouth' made out of unknown energy temporarily. This 'Mouth' can eat enchanted artifacts and grants Host the related skills and knowledge based on the artifact that was eaten.]

Alcor looked at these notifications in shock and glee. This was like getting a jackpot without even gambling. While the pain was definitely something leagues worse than anything he had felt before, this unbelievable skill kind of made it worth it.

He definitely was even more interested now in 'Gluttony' which could grant him a skill like this. But he knew that the system won't tell him anything until he became stronger. So that is what he will do. But right now, he had other tasks.

Sucking away the dust on his clothes with a bit of Aerokinesis, Alcor once again opened the entrance to the Diagon Alley. This time thankfully it went without a hitch, with no sudden notification or pain.

He ignored all of the interesting and distracting things in the alley for now. He made his way towards the North Side of the Diagon Alley, where the infamous Gringotts Wizarding Bank was located.

As he climbed the steps of Gringotts, his eyes fell on the two warrior-like goblins who were guarding the gate. They looked back at him when they felt him gazing at them. Alcor swore that for some reason both of the goblins shuddered slightly before determinedly looking straight ahead as if avoiding looking at him.

Confused by this behavior, Alcor ignored the two as well, along with the grim Gringotts Poem. He arrived at the vast marble hall and looked around with interest. Long counters stretching along its length, with doors leading off to the vault passageways, having around a hundred goblins sitting at the various counters doing all sorts of transactions.

If he remembered correctly, The vaults of Gringotts extended for miles under the city and were accessible through rough stone, complex and interconnected passageways by means of magic carts that were operated by goblins. Dragons and other mysterious beasts lurked in the depths as additional security devices.

Putting the trivia away from his thoughts, he walked up to the nearest free goblin who had just finished the last paperwork on his desk.

"Greetings, Sir. My name is Alcor Celesta and I have come here to open a bank account." Alcor addressed the Goblin with a smile and polite words. After all, there was a saying that one should not mess with those that handle your food and your money.

The Goblin looked up with an irritated expression, as if angry at someone interrupting his rest. But just as he looked at Alcor, all the irritation faded away, replaced with an expression of wariness, and slight respect.

"Ah, Greetings Mr. Celesta. I am called Arknog, and I can certainly help you with opening your account. Now, what sort of account would you like?" the goblin asked with complete politeness.

"I want to open a savings account, with no restriction on the amount that can be deposited or withdrawn by me. Also, I would like a bag or a box connected to my vault that would allow me to withdraw a certain amount of money from it without having to come to the bank."

"Finally, I would like for a way for me to deposit muggle currency to you remotely and for you to convert it to Wizarding currency and deposit it to my vault." Alcor listed his requirements.

"Hmm. The first request is no trouble. While you certainly may be underage, but since you are not from a wizarding house and we don't have any restrictions from your guardian, the account and the related vault can be opened." Arknog replied.

"As for the second request, it is a bit more challenging, but it's just a variant of Extension Charm along with Transference Enchantment of the Vanishing Cabinets. For a suitable price, it can be made in a few weeks. If you cant come to us at that time, we can also get it delivered to your home."

"And as for your last request, in its essence, it goes against Gringotts Policies. A Gringotts Goblin will not enter the vault of a customer without the customer or his assigned proxy being present."

"The only exception can be when we withdraw payment from a vault for our services. But even in that case, we are only allowed to withdraw the amount owed to us and not make any other changes.

"Also, Before you say anything about assigning one of us as the proxy, Sir, I would like to impress upon you that a proxy will have the same amount of authority over your vault as yourself," Arknog said strictly.

"Hmm, I guess the last one is not possible. In that case, I would like to buy a second pouch or bag with an Extension Charm of sufficient strength to be equivalent to a large room. I think that should not take up as much time as my second request?" Alcor asked.

"Of course, it will be ready in a few hours. Do you still want the item you asked for in the second request too?" Arknog asked.

"Yes, I do." Alcor

"Alright. I will assign one of our enchanters to start working on both items. Would you like me to get the object mentioned in your second request delivered to your home when it gets finished?" Arknog asked.

"No, just tell your enchanter to give me a rough idea when it will get completed. I will make sure to come and collect it then." Alcor replied.

"Very well. Any other business I can help you with?" Arknog asked.

"Yes. I want to convert this Muggle Money to Galleons." Alcor said as he started stacking the rolls of fifty-pound notes, getting a raised eyebrow from Arknog. While Muggle's money was valued less than wizarding money, the pile in front of him would be converted into a whole fortune of Galleons.

Alcor enjoyed the look on Arknog's face. But the truth was that Alcor had worked hard for this money, this was not part of Kane's enormous fortune.

To earn this money Alcor had acted as a Bounty Hunter for the London Police. Kane assisted him by being a proxy to turn the criminals over to the Police. Along with this, Kane and Alcor sold all the illegal objects owned by their targets to Night Wolves.

With Alcor's efficiency and a little bit of Magic, he had managed to gather over 500,000 pounds in these five weeks. The only reason he had stopped was that the police had started getting short of Bounty Targets they could ask Alcor to catch.

"Ah, this is quite a fortune, Mr. Celesta." Arknog said as he finished counting the money "500,000 Pound Sterling converts to 100,000 Galleons. It seems you calculated the amount yourself before bringing it to us." Arknog said with a smile that looked like a grimace.

Alcor just gave a smile of his own without replying, as he watched Arknog instruct another goblin to take the notes away and bring the heaps of gleaming gold Galleons in its place.

'Is that how a dragon feels like when he hoards mounds of glittering treasure?' Alcor thought as he watched the goblin bring the galleons in a large open box with wheels.