As he watched the Granger family walk away, Sullivan was about to turn and head back into the Leaky Cauldron when a voice suddenly rang out in his mind—the system's notification:
"Ding! Nice job. You've already made your first friend at the school before term even starts. Achievement unlocked: 'Finding Friends.' Reward: +1 general skill point."
The unexpected alert left Sullivan stunned for a good ten seconds. It wasn't until Tonks spoke up that he snapped out of it.
"Sullivan , I didn't peg you for someone who likes kids so much."
"Huh? Why's that?" Sullivan asked, genuinely confused.
"You were super patient with the first-years. You stuck with them through pretty much the whole shopping trip, and even after Miss Granger walked off, you stood here watching them go." Tonks explained what she'd noticed.
Sullivan figured she'd gotten the wrong idea, but he wasn't in the mood to clear it up. "I just remembered I've got something to take care of. I'll head back real quick."
Once he was locked in his room, Sullivan immediately pulled up his character panel. Sure enough, there was the extra general skill point.
His first instinct was to dump it into Alchemy—his Alchemy skill hadn't budged in years and felt totally bottlenecked.
But when he tried, it failed. The system explained: after LV7, each level-up required an extra skill point on top of the base cost.
So going from LV7 to LV8 would take 2 points, LV8 to LV9 would take 3, and so on.
That left him with a choice: use the single point now, or save up for a bigger Alchemy boost later?
After thinking it over, he decided to spend it—and he chose Magical Power.
Magical power was the foundation for every spell a wizard cast. In this world, there was no mana bar; your magical power basically determined the maximum output you could handle in a single burst.
Deep down, Sullivan suspected that the reason his Alchemy progress had stalled was partly because his magical reserves weren't deep enough to pull off some of the trickier steps.
Decision made, he hit the plus sign next to Magical Power and bumped it to LV6.
The next moment, a warm current surged from his core, flowing through his bloodstream, spreading throughout his body, and finally settling in his brain.
The whole process lasted about ten minutes. When it was done, his total magical capacity had roughly doubled.
Even better, he could feel his sensitivity to magic and his control over it had sharpened.
The real surprise? The flow of magic through his body had physically strengthened him too—boosting his strength, stamina, reflexes, and even mental clarity. Total bonus.
After taking a moment to feel the changes, Sullivan's mind raced. If making one friend gave an achievement, what about ten friends? A hundred? A thousand? Would there be bigger rewards?
That got him thinking: if making friends triggered achievements, then probably other stuff did too. So besides quests, achievements were another way to earn skill points.
When he stepped back out into the hallway, he was cradling a black cat and looking totally refreshed.
Tonks was still waiting for him. The second she spotted the cat, her eyes lit up. "Whoa, Sullivan ! I didn't know you had a cat!"
Sullivan gave her a funny look. "Before they sent you to… protect me, didn't the Ministry give you any background info?"
Tonks caught that he'd almost said "follow" again and looked a little sheepish, but she answered honestly. "Just a photo and basic ID stuff."
Sullivan let it drop. "Her name's Coal Ball. She's a clingy little sweetheart."
Tonks clearly loved cats and tried to say hi, but Coal Ball couldn't be bothered. She just curled tighter into Sullivan's arms and closed her eyes.
"So, Sullivan , where to now?" Tonks asked.
"Shopping!" Sullivan said, leading her back into Diagon Alley.
Now that he had his supply list and had just done his first point allocation, he was itching to knock out that first main quest.
As he worked his way through the first-year shopping list item by item, Tonks couldn't hold back anymore.
"Sullivan , what are you buying all this for? This is all stuff first-years need."
"Haha, just reliving the back-to-school vibe. Makes me feel like a kid again," Sullivan said, throwing out a random excuse.
Tonks's eyes brightened, like she thought he was trying to stay young at heart. It only made her more curious about him.
After the big shopping spree, his main quest panel showed the first task complete. He claimed the reward, and a new one popped up right away.
Quest Name: Enrollment
Quest Requirements: Arrive at King's Cross Station in London by 11 a.m. on September 1st. Board the Hogwarts Express at Platform 9¾, travel to Hogsmeade Station.
Then take the first-year boats across the Black Lake to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and complete the Sorting Ceremony. Reward: +1 general skill point.
Seeing the new quest made Sullivan wince. Everything up to the Sorting was doable, but actually getting Sorted? That felt way above his pay grade.
At least the system didn't seem like the type to obliterate him for failing a quest. He'd just have to take it one step at a time.
Back in his room, he spent another point and pushed Magical Power straight to LV7. This time, it doubled again from LV6.
If it kept scaling like this, by LV12 his magical power would be 128 times what it was at LV5.
That was a scary number. He had no idea what level Dumbledore was at, but it had to be at least LV10, right?
With the first quest done and the second not starting until September 1st, Sullivan didn't need to hang around Diagon Alley anymore. He packed up his stuff and got ready to leave the Leaky Cauldron.
As his assigned bodyguard, Tonks naturally tagged along. "Sullivan , where are we headed now?" she asked curiously.
"Home," Sullivan replied.
"Home? Wait—you're an American wizard, aren't you?" Tonks looked totally confused.
Sullivan sighed. "Seriously, does the British Ministry of Magic's intelligence department just sit around eating all day? They send an Auror out with intel this thin? Your success rate must be terrible."
Tonks didn't know what to say. She gave an awkward laugh and tried to save face. "Actually, our success rate's pretty decent."
Sullivan explained, "Truth is, I graduated from Hogwarts. During the Second Wizarding War, the Death Eaters kept trying to recruit me, but I turned them down.
"I even made a few little gadgets that messed with their plans. So they came after me and tried to kill me. Lucky for me, I survived—and I got out and fled to America."