At Ollivander's wand shop, after several attempts, Harry could conquer any wand with his charisma, but the effects were uniformly mediocre.
Seeing the old man looking quite troubled, Harry's body trembled, and his world-shaking 5-point Charisma aura enveloped the area.
Numerous boxes jumped and tumbled, seemingly all competing for Harry's favour.
This left the old man's intended comment about "the wand chooses the wizard, not the other way around" stuck in his throat.
'No, why are you all so eager today? How am I supposed to give my speech? Be more modest, you fickle things.'
Finally, Harry obtained it—"Curious combination. Holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches long."
The effect was better than other wands. Specifically how it was better, Ollivander understood more clearly—like shoe sizes, Harry's high Charisma forcibly changed all shoes to fit his size, but this pair was more like custom-made.
Harry was quite satisfied. This wand looked no different from others, but seemed to carry extra weight in destiny, similar to famous swords bearing prophecies or regional legends.
This was one of the abilities of extremely high Charisma. Harry could judge a person's talent better than any mortal monarch with discernment, and this extraordinary identification effect extended to objects as well.
At critical moments, this "curious" wand could probably bear Lightbringer briefly.
Though it wasn't even a sword and was completely mismatched, it could probably last two minutes before breaking, which would be sufficient.
Ordinary wands couldn't last two seconds—they'd probably break instantly.
Ollivander placed Harry's wand in a box, wrapping it in brown paper while continuously saying: "Curious... curious..."
Harry asked: "What do you find curious?"
He felt it probably related to this wand's unusual weight.
Mr Ollivander gazed at Harry with pale, colourless eyes.
"I remember every wand I've sold, Mr Potter. Every single wand. You see, it so happens that the phoenix whose tail feather is in your wand gave one other feather—just one other. It is very curious indeed that you should be destined for this wand when its brother—ah, its brother gave you that scar."
"Yes, thirteen and a half inches. Yew. Curious how these things happen. Despite what just occurred, the wand still chooses the wizard... I think we must expect great things from you, Mr Potter..."
Harry raised an eyebrow. So there was such a connection.
Speaking of which, the moment he first touched this wand, among the various forces suppressed in his forehead, one seemed to react.
Related to Voldemort—that other magic constantly entangled with him, that magical power feeling completely opposite to the Killing Curse—was that the reason his former self survived?
Time to study magic. It was knowledge worth learning and obviously related to his background. This summer, besides recovering his body and robbing banks, he should also preview first-year knowledge.
If Hagrid could learn well, mastering many daily charms before his third-year expulsion, there was no reason Harry couldn't learn.
He paid Ollivander seven Galleons for the wand, and Ollivander bowed as he saw them out.
Hogwarts started in September—over a month remained.
Hagrid had returned to Hogwarts, but Harry didn't return to the Dursleys. They truly despised each other, so he rented a room from old Tom at the Leaky Cauldron.
He had few personal possessions anyway.
Before leaving, Hagrid said Dumbledore hoped Harry would return, reasoning that Harry was still too young.
Thinking of Harry's performance, he felt it unnecessary and reported to Dumbledore.
Later came a reply—Dumbledore agreed but hoped Harry would return home once after the first year ended.
Harry thought Dumbledore was quite meddlesome.
Ordinary wizard children probably didn't receive such treatment, though it was normal—given his ridiculous one-year-old combat record, attention was warranted.
Time passed in Harry's fulfilling study and training.
Eating meat voraciously, mobilising stamina to recover strength and hone skills while adapting to his body, he joyfully wielded that small wand he'd previously looked down upon:
"Aguamenti", "Incendio", "Reparo", "Petrificus Totalus", "Wingardium Leviosa", "Alohomora", "Locomotor Mortis"...
"Lumos", "Lumos", "Lumos".
Though he learnt many new spells, Harry's favourite remained the light charm—personal preference, and using it didn't interfere with combat.
He discovered unlocking charms like Alohomora were particularly idealistic—as long as you considered something a lock, it could be opened. For Harry, he didn't need to hypnotise himself to change this perception, but he could use high Charisma to alter objects' perceptions.
This feeling was hard to explain—conquering certain objects and modifying their classifications, a very inexplicable sensation. Harry's charisma operated above certain rules.
Taking the minor jinx Locomotor Mortis as an example, Harry could not only make people's legs lock rigidly, but he could also make running machines lock up.
Charisma indeed functioned as the system described, powerfully influencing magic. Charisma, Divine Power, and Intelligence all seemed to be superior attributes to Magic and Stamina, while both Magic and Stamina could naturally alter physical form.
Additionally, Harry practised potion-making extensively.
He discovered some talent—whether from parents or family genes—though it required extensive practice to manifest.
This often demanded substantial money.
Nothing more to say—on a dark, windy night, Harry obtained what he wanted.
He opened upper-level old vaults unopened for at least a century. For safety, Harry only took gold coins, cleansing their aura with Divine Power.
Incidentally, even with Charisma enhancement, his Alohomora failed to work. Charisma was useful, but his spells were too inexperienced. He felt that with more practice and improved proficiency, he could naturally open doors.
No matter—when Alohomora failed, Harry had his King of Strength's door-opening method.
Furthermore, by visiting Muggle libraries, Harry finally understood what script his system's initial text was.
Forgive him for only attending elementary school and being unable to distinguish—that script wasn't from any familiar European tradition but appeared to be from some ancient mystical source.
Could this system have been created by ancient "mages" or "arcane masters"? Everything remained unknown.
Rather annoyingly, Harry had gained another subject—learning this ancient script to obtain firsthand system knowledge and numerous annotations and "mystical methods" that were untranslated or mistranslated.
Hearing others translate ultimately created a barrier to understanding true meaning.
Seven hells! This was much harder than learning magic.