HP: The Arcane Thief-Chapter 41: Special Quest and System Shop

***

Special Quest Received:

[Get the Elixir of Life:

Elixir of Life, also known as the Elixir of Immortality, is a substance that can extend a person's life indefinitely as long as they keep consuming it regularly. It can only be created through a Philosopher's Stone. You need to get the Elixir of Life in order to complete the recipe.

Rewards:

•Elixir of Life

•+3% approval

•Special Skill

•Further Information of Nether Dimension]

"...."

But… the system wasn't even done yet. The notifications hadn't stopped yet.

[Total Approval Rate: 25%

Congratulations. You have gained enough Approval Rate to unlock the Shop feature. The skills you can gain from your SP are no longer random.]

'The shop feature?! Yeah!' Axel cheered. But then he frowned.

"....Hey! Don't try to distract me with this shop feature!" Yelled Axel after pushing down his excitement. The shop feature was good, but the information about Elixir of Life had already ruined his mood. It can only be produced by a Philosopher's Stone and that thing can literally grant you immortality. How is he supposed to get it?

"System, how can this be so difficult? Phoenix Tears? Elixir of Life? Isn't this overkill? Are you trying to make things difficult for me?! I think even when used individually, they'd be able to heal me," he protested. He just had a simple injury, damn it. Why does this have to be so difficult?!

[Negative. The system isn't trying to make it difficult. The solution is completely reasonable. Your nerves have been terribly damaged by massive amounts of dark magic from the Cruciatus Curse. There are some other methods that can cure you but this is the most viable option. The procedure of the recipe is not complicated and no complicated magics or rituals need to be performed.]

[And you are wrong. the ingredients can't heal you individually. Phoenix Tears aren't all-powerful, especially against excessive dark magic and if they could really heal everything there'd be no permanently disabled people in the wizarding world. Elixir of Life can extend your life, but it can't heal you. Granted that there are other ways to heal you, but this is the most convenient one for you in the current circumstances.]

Axel laughed sardonically.

"Convenient? You call this CONVENIENT?! Look at the ingredients, damn it! How am I supposed to get them?!"

Phoenix Tears? He'd seen this being sold on Auctions on BigOwl. Ain't no way he had that kind of money. And let's not even mention the Philosopher's Stone. Gold and Immortality. Are you fucking kidding? How is he supposed to get that thing?!

The system, however, was unfazed by his outburst.

[It is indeed the most convenient method. You already have most of the ingredients. And Dumbledore currently has the possession of Philosopher's Stone so you can obtain the Elixir of Life as well.]

"......"

Axel had the longest pause before he blinked his eyes.

"Back up for a moment, Miss Robotic voice. Could you fucking explain?" He asked, still trying to process that.

He already had most of the ingredients?! What was the system saying? There were only two ingredients that actually matched with the diet he had but currently, he didn't even have those. So what did the system mean he had most of it? And that jolly old man had currently had the fucking Philosopher's Stone?!

And so, the system explained.

[Check the contents of your bag once again.]

"What?"

A few moments later…

Axel sat on the floor with a variety of things spread out all around him. His eyes were empty and his appearance looked quite lifeless.

He already knew that the most powerful woman in Britain had sent him gifts. On two occasions. Once with the apology letter and once for Christmas. Of course, he hadn't even bothered opening those extended-space pouches. But, he had no idea that they would all turn out to be… like this. And even Andromeda had sent what she could. So...

Right now, around him were piles of coins, a lot of Potions related to healing and health, and various ingredients and supplements as well. Somewhere in that pile, there was also a small vial of phoenix Tears.

Suffice it to say, he was damn near scared to death right now. If they are willing to give him this much, there's only one thing they could want out of this: His Life. Or more correctly, something that'll be equivalent to giving up his life.

Why else would they bother?

Of course, he isn't going to use any of this.

'This is useless. I ain't using these,' he declared.

[Then you can ask Evelyn. In hopes of curing Astoria, she has collected a wide variety of healing materials. None of which actually worked.]

"Hmm…" Axel thought about it. That was more doable. He can return the favor later. Making a decision, Axel crossed the ingredients from the list. Now, the only problem will be… the Elixir of Life.

"System, you still haven't told me about the Elixir of Life. How do I get it?"

It is a given that something as important as the Philosopher's Stone has to be kept under maximum security. How is he supposed to get it? And, where should he look? Under Dumbledore's bed? In his locker? Or does he keep it with himself all the time?

[It is hidden in the third-floor corridor. You need to figure out the rest by yourself.]

"Damn…"

Axel's eyes widened. That was more than enough information for him!

Why didn't he think of that?! It all made sense now. Why else all that fanfare? The man had even put the Dementors on guard, as he witnessed and experienced first-hand.

Now that he had a clear direction in his mind, a feeling of excitement began cursing through him.

Philosopher's Stone… Immortality… Infinite Gold…Getting healed…

All these things can be possible.

A fire lit up in the depths of his eyes. There's no time to waste. He needs to get to work as soon as possible.

He stood up even as his mind began to think up everything he'll need to do in order to get the Stone.

First of all, he'll have to go past the Dementors. Then it is also expected that there'll be some wards he'll have to pass by, so his Ward breaking has to be top class. And last but not the least, his stealth skills need to be as high as possible.

He looked at the stealth Skills.

[Presence Reduction:

progress: 50%]

[Blend:

progress: 50%]

These two skills were the skills he already had. At 50%, he's already the master of stealth now. They had stopped progressing since he'd need Potions to progress further. And now that he had contracted a potioneer through Evelyn, that problem has been solved. He'll now make that percentage higher just in case.

Then he looked at the Ward Breaking.

[Progress: 20%]

This won't do. He quickly needs to increase this one.

Next, he looked at his defense against Dementors.

[Special Skill:

Light Infusion

Progress: 17%]

He had practiced this one as well, due to his fear of Dementors and not wanting to feel that weak and helpless again, but it would still need some work.

And last but probably the most important,

[Arcane Eyes: 15%]

He's going to need this one as well. The most important thing would be to SEE. This skills is a special skill. And it has huge potential. Since he now he the Potion, he can level this one as well.n

But… this doesn't seem enough, does it? He's against someone as good as Dumbledore. Ain't no way he could succeed with just this much, right? He'll need to use all of his cards.

'System, open the Shop feature,' he ordered. He decided to check out the new feature of the system. Upto now, he has unlocked four features.

1)Class Feature: Upon choosing a class, he gets to master all the skills and knowledge entailed under it.

2)Stealing System Feature: The more he steals, the more SP and knowledge he'd gain. Once the SP has reached a certain amount, he'll get a skill.

3)Arcane Speech: He broke free some laws of this world and gained the ability to use the Arcane Language.

4)Shop: Yet to find out.

Upon giving the order to open the Shop Feature, a list of skills along with their SP price appeared in front of him along with the description of the Shop.

Shop Feature—

Buy the available things like skills, Rituals, Information, etc. in exchange for SP. Currently, only skills can be bought from the shop.

Skill list:

Your SP can now be used to buy the skill you want and you can afford. There is no end to the skills available, so the skills displayed will only be a fraction of those. You can either choose from these, or search a skill of your preference by giving its description.

Axel looked at the list available in front of him.

Knife Strike: 100 SP

Dash: 2000 SP

Dodge: 5000 SP

Camouflage: 2000 SP

…

The list went on and on but he couldn't really find the satisfying ones here all seemed mediocre. It looks like he'll have to describe the skills he wants in order to get them.

But that wouldn't be a problem, would it? After all, the second feature had helped him a lot.

Stealing System Feature: The more he steals, the more SP and knowledge he'd gain.

He had gotten two things from the second feature. SP and Knowledge. And between those two, the more valuable one isn't the SP. It's knowledge.

There are some things about stealing that he wouldn't have known without a lot of experience and research that he could just get into his head easily.

For example, he wouldn't have known that there are ways he can be tracked through his blood, DNA, or even fingerprints.

He also didn't know that he had been leaving behind so many clues and traces that a skilled detective would have caught at least some of them.

That's the kind of Knowledge System gives.

And due to all that knowledge, he knows exactly what he needs.

And he'll damn well make sure he has it. Because this time, the one he's stealing from is Albus Dumbledore. The person who reportedly has the highest amount of Magical Power among the people he has encountered until now. The man who is called the greatest wizard of the century.

Thus began Axel's preparations for his biggest Heist until now. And there were a lot of things he needed to do.

And the thing on his list was: to get more SP.

After he had unlocked his ward breaking, the next skill he was supposed to get was: [Arcane Runes]. And it was fucking expensive: ( 20,000 SP ). The deal didn't seem worth it to Axel, considering the fact that he can't even draw runes. So, he hadn't worked hard enough to reach that objective.

Thus, he had around 9k SP on him at the moment, most of which was spent on buying a skill he'd need for his heist.

[Traceless thief]

[A true thief never leaves any traces behind. This skill is going to help you in hiding everything that can give away your identity.]

Yep, he had needed something like this for a long time. And he wasn't much surprised that a skill like this already existed. After all, it's the most crucial part of being a magical thief.

But, after buying the skill, he was in a dire need of SP to buy more skills that were going to be necessary for the heist. And he needed it quickly, since he also has to learn and practice those skills as well after buying them.

So, to get the SP as quickly as possible, he went for the desperate measures: The Slytherin Dorms... and the Girls' side of the dorms. Up until now, he hadn't tried Slytherin or Ravenclaw dorms and any girls' dorms yet due to obvious reasons, but now was not the time to be hesitating.

Slytherin dorms have the most number of rich students so the SP he gains will be higher, even though the risk is high. And most of them are assholes anyways, so he can even take something precious from some of them without remorse.

The girls' dorms, well the things stolen from there gave much more SP but he still had put his dignity first in the past and not gone there. But, now is not the time for that. There's a chance for him to heal, to get rid of all this pain and everyday struggle. and the lengths he's willing to go to get rid of this miserable status.... will surprise anyone.

….

A.N.: List out the skills you want him to buy.