HP: The Arcane Thief

Chapter 24: Trouble Comes without Knocking

Axel looked at the scene with a slight shock in his eyes. This was just too absurd! This mad woman taught students dark magic?! How?! Why did no one stop it?!

'System, do they know they're learning dark magic? Do I tell everyone?!' Axel asked the system urgently.

[You can try doing that. However, it is not recommended. The people in this world don't even know what exactly dark magic is anymore. Your words will not be believed by most people and your enemies will be alerted.]

Axel could properly understand what the system was saying.

'What exactly IS dark magic though?' he wondered. 'How is it harmful?' From what he had gotten from the general knowledge, dark magic was banned in Britain by the ministry.

[Dark magic is the magic from the Nether Dimension. Its destructive power is much more than the ordinary magic that the wizards use. Currently, very few spells known to wizardkind actually make use ofDark Magic, like Fiendfire.

Most of the spells that have been labeled dark don't make use of dark magic at all. They are called Dark just because they are brutal. Hence, wizards don't actually have any real knowledge of dark magic.

Dark Magic is harmful because those who don't have an affinity with it can be negatively affected after using it.]

*sigh*

Axel lightly banged his forehead on the desk.

"What an ordeal…" he muttered exasperatedly.

Daphne, who was sitting beside him thought that the reason behind Axel's odd behavior might be that his enemy had gained strength too fast.

"Don't worry," she said, "I'm sure you can still beat him."

Axel raised his head to look at her in bewilderment.

"I'm not worried about that. I'm worried that the methods she's using to improve them might be harmful, but… never mind," he said while sighing.

It's none of his goddamn business if they harm themselves, he decided.

If you look at it from his point of view, there's nothing much he can do about it without putting himself in danger.

If he openly claims that they are using dark magic, he'll be in trouble with that creepy woman. As for informing the authorities? As if they're better people! The minister of magic herself is a woman who enjoyed forcefully getting information out of him, searching his mind. He's never trying his luck with another person in power.

As for informing someone anonymously, in a magical world, there's no way to do it anonymously, considering the fact that his murder was somehow discovered by the minister.

'It's better to just let the world burn...rather than foolishly putting myself in danger. I'll only think about it when I have the power to do something about it,' he decided.

'You're not going to force me?' He asked the system.

[The system doesn't have any power to do so. Of course, you will get hefty rewards if you do stop them from propagating dark magic.]

'No thanks, I'll pass,' thought Axel without hesitation. With his bad luck, he already gets into enough trouble already. He doesn't want to go out of his way to court it.

…

Later that day, after classes, Axel was doing his exercise and training in the abandoned classroom.

It was evening now and it seems that there was supposed to be a feast or something in the great hall for Halloween but Axel rarely went to the great hall these days. It was simply a waste of time and effort.

The diet along with the food he frequently brings from the Great Hall is more than enough to fill his stomach. Why waste the extra time and effort of walking to the Great Hall?

*Huff* *Huff* *Huff* Panting from extreme exertion, he flopped down on themattress.

This classroom was no longer that dingy unwelcoming place it used to be.

With the castle being so huge, no one really comes into this part of the castle since there's nothing important here except for some creepy-looking abandoned classes. Especially after the sun is down since they hadn't bothered installing lights here. If they aren't used to the dark like him, they'll be creeped out just from the vibes of this place.

So, now that he was sure that this place seemed secure enough, he had invested some effort in making it a more convenient place to stay during his past few months.

He hadn't bothered bringing a whole bed, but he did bring a mattress from the Slytherin dorms. Aside from that, there were a few light balls (the magical equivalent of light bulbs) since he couldn't forever depend on the moonlight coming from the window and his wand light. Oh, and he had also personally cleaned everything while also learning the lowest cleaning charm.

After taking a breather, he started taking various supplements since the best time to eat was after training.

Even though some of them tasted horrendous, he still ate them without complaint.

This was bought after spending an obscene amount of money and would give him power. He'll be damned if he complains.

"Let's see", he muttered as he checked the skills. These were not all, but are some of the new ones in this list as well.

['Blend': 39.9%]

['Presence Reduction': 35.9%]

['Arcane Acrobatics: 15%]

[Pain Tolerance: 60%]

[Wand Aim: 5%]

[Knife throwing: 4%]

[Knife Wielding: 5%]

[Silent Steps: 40%]

[Trap designing: 5%]

Most of the new skills he had gained were pretty minor ones. They didn't have much-complicated stuff about them yet.

Silent Steps was easy enough to get since his legs were working just fine as long as the movements weren't fast or strenuous and he had a good mastery of the skill already.

Knife Throwing and Wielding, he already had a crude but practical knowledge and minor mastery, so it had unlocked when he had tried using his knife. But, his proficiency at the moment was 0% due to his disabled handle. He has raised it with a lot of difficulties. 'Wand Aim' also had a similar case.

Now, even with his hands always trembling and moving differently than how he intends them to, he is predicting how much his aim would randomly deviate and then making adjustments. Helluva chore, but anything to make it work. Especially since things aren't looking up now...

The past two months had been smooth enough, but he had several blocks in his way now. He realized that the skill progress was more difficult to increase the more he raised the percentage.

And if that wasn't enough, he took out the man's pouch to check the money.

*Jingle*

"Sigh… it's too low,"

The money was almost all spent after spending so much on his diet.

In the beginning, he had thought that money would not be a problem since he already needed to perform theft for unlocking new skills. But…things aren't as easy as they seem.

First of all, with his hands as they are, he can't make use of all that dexterity he had. So, picking anyone's pockets was simply not an option.

But… that is not the only way to steal, is it?

Axel sighed as he laid down on the mattress, putting aside all the ingredients.

Crippled hands weren't exactly the real problem here and he knew it.

The real problem was, that he just couldn't bring himself to actually steal after his last attempt had gone horribly wrong and he had to suffer such consequences.

Even if it was supposed to benefit him by unlocking his skills, even if he liked stealing from the rich, and even if he really needed the money... he just couldn't. For two months, he had tried. He really did, but…there was this resistance, this hesitation that he had developed towards stealing anything that he always found himself finding some excuse not to do it.

He recalled Andromeda's words.

//It would be quite weird if you are completely fine after going through that experience. There has to be some kind of impact it would have brought on you//

Axel hadn't thought there was anything wrong with him, but it would seem that the torture might have left behind one small trauma after all.

It wouldn't have been a big deal at all to most people. After all, they are better off not stealing at all. It would instead be counted as a plus point. But for him whose future is based on stealing after getting the Arcane Thief class? It's quite a big problem.

Axel shook his head.

"Might as well focus on training," he muttered as he began doing his mental training. He'll get over it. He'll make himself get over it.

By the time it came to the turn of his occlumency, he was already feeling quite spent. In Occlumency, he focused on organizing his memories.

Without properly organizing them, your memories are a jumbled mess. You can't recall the right memory without connecting it with other memories. And some memories are stuck so far back that you can't even recall them. You have to pull such memories back into your mind, which is easier said than done.

That's why occlumency takes time. Many occlumens don't bother doing this their whole life since they know the correct way and think this stage is useless. But Axel has no choice but to do so since it is included in the beginner stage Occlumnecy, thus not giving him the choice to skip it like other people.

Due to the frustration, Axel had trained so much that he fell asleep while he was still sorting his forgotten memories out of exhaustion.

Axel had the weirdest dream. He felt quite weak for some reason, and his vision was quite blurry. He seemed to be hanging in the air, held by something.

"Do we really need to do this?" He heard a woman's voice. It had a sad and resigned tone to it.

"I have no choice. They had found two keys in the location. I could only steal one and they can't be allowed to use the second. So, 'I' need to do this. But you just won't let me do it alone," said a man's deep voice. It sounded quite helpless.

"Come on, Tristan. You know you can't do this without me! Besides, we're coming back! We have to," said the woman, and Axel felt himself getting squeezed. He realized that he was in the woman's embrace.

It was quite a… peculiar experience. He felt so comfortable that he fell asleep.

*ring*

When he woke up, he could only make out the blurry silhouettes of two people looking down on him.

*ring**ring*

"We'll be back very soon, Axel. Stay strong until then," he heard them speak.

*ring* *BOOM*

Axel jerked awake from his dream. He was in such a deep sleep that he didn't even wake up after the bells he had set up to alert him started ringing, meaning that someone was here!

As soon as he opened his eyes he saw red words flashing on the system interface. He then heard the system's voice,

[It's a Mountain Troll, Axel. You need to survive. You need to survive.]

"The FUCK?" Axel questioned, grabbing his wand and knife in each hand. He couldn't understand the situation. A mountain troll…here? Furthermore, he was still a bit disoriented from the dream he'd just had.

*BOOM*

*BLAST*

But his doubts were instantly cleared as the huge doors were blasted open from their hinges and a giant creature came rushing in.

System's words had been clear enough. It was a mountain troll alright.

'RUN!'

Axel was already in his stealth so he wasn't much worried. His first thought was to escape quickly.

Just as he was about to execute this brilliant plan, his mind analyzed the situation clearly and gave him the bad news. Why would a mountain troll suddenly come into this part of the castle? And even if it did, why only target this door? It was at this moment that he saw the Trolls mouth dripping with saliva as it stared Hungrily at the supplements he ordered.

That's right! The smell of these magical ingredients! That's why it's here!

'Oh…nonononono. NO! You muthefuckah, you don't even think about touching that!'

It was the precious ingredients he had ordered after spending all his money. He can't just let this thing eat it!

***

A.N.: Next Chapter Title: Axel vs Troll. Those who are commenting that it's depressing need to read the next chapter before they decide.

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I'm writing chapter 34 now.

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