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Chapter 23: Alternative business models
🕑 Added 2025-08-31 18:13:03 +0000 UTCRyan was in the Room of Requirement, immersed in a comfortable silence. Tonight he wouldn’t be studying books on Charms, Transfiguration, Potions, or Defense Against the Dark Arts.
No.
That night he would be studying a new book he had purchased from the system.
In front of him rested his latest acquisition from the system: Practical Rune Manual II. It had cost him 20 galleons, more than double the first one. It offered twice the content, more advanced, more demanding, and of course, far more promising.
For now, the system’s shop offered him only seven formulas. Out of these, Ryan had already acquired three: the Light Pen, the Speed-Reading Glasses, and the Perfect Sleep Potion. Four were still available, but each came with its own magical knowledge requirements.
For example, the Light Pen had only required him to study the first rune manual. The glasses, on the other hand, demanded knowledge of both Runes I and Charm Theory I. That kind of progression forced him to carefully plan his studies.
He had made a decision. His next project would be to create the Magical Agility Shoes. For that, he needed to master three areas of knowledge: Rune Manual I, Rune Manual II, and Charm Theory I. Two of those he already had under control. All that was left was to complete the second rune manual, which he had just purchased.
As for the other items available, the Language Translator Amulet was the only one he could make with his current knowledge. But, to be honest, he didn’t see any immediate use for it.
He could sell it, sure, but at Hogwarts it was hard to do business, since students didn’t really need such an amulet. His potential buyers would have to be Ministry employees working in an international department or something like that, too much trouble given his current situation.
It was better to sell the pens and glasses to the Hogwarts students. Besides, it was a production process he was already used to.
The item he truly wanted to create was the Dimensional Storage Ring. But its requirements were far too high for the moment: Rune Manual II and Charm Theory II. He was still far from achieving that.
Once he created the agility shoes, he would already have the knowledge from Rune Manual II, so he could then purchase Charm Theory II.
That was why he chose the shoes.
The Magical Agility Shoes increased the user’s speed and agility. Not to Flash’s level, of course… but to a very useful degree, whether to be quicker in a duel, to escape a magical creature in the Forbidden Forest, or whatever else.
And that wasn’t all. They had a very curious function: they allowed the user to stick to any surface. Walls, ceilings, glass, it didn’t matter. He could run up a vertical wall or hang upside down.
Ryan’s funds had dropped quite a bit from their peak: the 1,885 galleons he had once managed to accumulate. His personal record.
He had faced several expenses. First, the frames and lenses for the three pairs of speed-reading glasses he made: one for himself, one for his mother, and one for his uncle. That cost 21 galleons in total, 7 per pair, using quality materials so they would withstand both the magical rune inscription and the enchantment.
On top of that, there were the frames and lenses he ruined in his first attempts. Even though they were of lower quality, they were still decent, he couldn’t use trash, or the frame would simply shatter when engraving the rune, or the glass would crack under the enchantment.
Those failures cost him another 12 galleons.
And of course, there was the cost of the formula itself, which the system had sold him for 100 galleons.
All in all, his total investment in the glasses was 133 galleons.
Then there was the Perfect Sleep Potion. A heavy initial investment: between the formula, the ingredients, and the failed attempts, he had spent 180 galleons. And since he planned to take one dose per week, to extend his study hours one day each week and keep his performance optimal, he bought ingredients for four more doses.
Each batch of ingredients for a single dose cost 25 galleons, adding another 100 galleons.
Total spent on potions and ingredients: 280 galleons.
And now he had to add the 20 galleons for the new book, Practical Rune Manual II, which he had just begun to study.
“Oh… right. This too,” Ryan thought, as he pulled a long, padded case from his robe.
Inside rested a majestic griffin feather. Yes. An authentic feather, legally obtained, just as eagle feathers were traded, griffin ones could be as well, though they were far rarer and more expensive. Griffins were XXXX-classified beasts, hard to tame, even harder to shear, and generally quite unpleasant if you approached them with scissors.
The feather alone, unenchanted, had cost him 20 galleons.
Madness? Probably.
Extravagance? Definitely.
Had the money gone to his head? No doubt.
But come on, an enchanted eagle quill? With 1,800 galleons in his pocket? No, thank you.
He wanted something exclusive. Personal. He was the quill maker; he needed style. He had already inscribed the runes onto the griffin feather. Now he could write in the air. And the effects were improved: the letters could float for up to 8 hours instead of the 4 hours of ordinary enchanted quills. On top of that, the feather had a lifespan of two years, double that of a normal one.
And if he wanted, he could sell it in the future, though of course it wouldn’t be a brand-new item. Still, with these enhanced effects, he could easily sell it for 40 galleons if he was generous with the buyer and didn’t want to squeeze them.
In short, with all this, he had spent a total of 453 galleons.
He wasn’t broke… but his wallet certainly felt lighter.
He had 1,440 galleons left, still a respectable sum.
And fortunately, his mother hadn’t asked him to pay for his own school supplies, despite knowing how much money he had. She could very well have said: “Since you’re earning so much, pay for all your Hogwarts things yourself.”
But she hadn’t, and Ryan thanked her silently.
He put on his Speed-Reading Glasses, opened Practical Rune Manual II on the study table in the Room of Requirement, and immersed himself in reading.
For just over two hours, he maintained iron concentration. Without the glasses, it would have taken him twice as long. At 3:30 AM, Ryan closed the book.
He took off the glasses and set them down on the desk.
Then he opened his case and carefully look out his enchanted griffin quill. He twirled it between his fingers. Its weight was perfect. Its balance, flawless.
He stood up and began to write in the air.
Lines of blue light floated in the room like suspended strokes, fragments of runic formulas, complex symbols, key words, inscription structures, connections between materials and runes.
Ryan walked through the room in silence, studying what he had written, nodding, correcting, thinking.
He erased lines with a gesture, rewrote concepts with firm strokes. He did this for an hour until finally stopping and sinking into the sofa with a faint sigh.
A glance at the clock showed him there were thirty minutes left until five in the morning.
'Thirty minutes…' Ryan thought.
Tomorrow, or rather, today, in just a few hours, his first official day as a Hogwarts student would begin. And with that life came an infernal routine.
On top of classes, homework, and the typical studies of any advanced student, he had to continue his parallel training with the system’s books, study the formula for the Magical Agility Shoes, and finish the orders of speed-reading glasses for Emmeline and Pandora.
Oh, and of course, push forward his business of magical airborne quills within the Hogwarts market.
That too.
The business had potential, yes.
With an estimated student population of 450 to 600, and being optimistic, maybe 50% would be interested in buying a magical quill if the price was reasonable. At 7 galleons per unit, if he was generous and marketed it as a “special student price”, that would give him a solid income base.
But it was a finite market.
The quill lasted one year.
And once everyone had one… then what?
Maybe some students would ask for “premium” versions. Exotic plumage like the griffin quill. The magic would be the same… but no one had to know that.
He could charge them double. Or triple.
Prestige is a very effective kind of enchantment. There might also be students who would buy quills in different colors simply because they had the money.
Even so, the ceiling was obvious.
He could keep sending quills to Diagon Alley shops he was already working with. But the orders would at best hold steady, or more likely decline now that the best months for buying that kind of item had passed.
He needed another source of income. The glasses x2 would certainly help, but he was thinking of something more exciting.
After all, he was fifteen.
He was at Hogwarts, a magical boarding school with uncharted dungeons, forgotten towers, and students bursting with excess energy on weekends.
Why not take advantage of that?
An idea began to sprout in his mind. An idea, questionable, probably illegal… but very, very promising.
Underground dueling tournaments. With bets, prizes, and an entry fee.
He would be the organizer. He would handle the entry money, the bets, and set the odds.
With the capital he had, he could set it all up quietly, cover minor bribes, distribute benefits to the right prefects, and keep Filch and his cat off the map.
The castle was enormous.
He was sure there had to be some abandoned hall large enough to turn into a hidden dueling arena.
He could cover the room with defensive charms, sound-dampening spells, and could even craft a detection rune in case an outsider approached. And the members would have their own way to enter.
Ryan slowly rose from the sofa.
He stretched lazily.
And with his griffin quill, he wrote in the air, in large, proud calligraphy:
“MAGICAL FIGHT CLUB.”
One line below, he wrote:
“First rule of the Magical Fight Club: Do not talk about the Magical Fight Club.”
He smiled.
And kept writing whatever came to mind.
“Competitions by year (4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th).”
Include 1st to 3rd years? Doubtful. Their spells were too basic, and besides, they were the ones most likely to get caught wandering at night.
Although… a category of “11- to 13-year-old kids throwing clumsy spells and tripping in the middle of the fight” could be fun as a special event.
Sixteen participants per category? He didn’t know how many people he could actually bring in, or how many would even want to sign up to fight. Single elimination, of course.
Average duel time: 3 to 5 minutes.
Champion of each year: a fixed prize in galleons.
Forbidden to use Unforgivable Curses (obvious).
Forbidden to kill (obvious, but worth writing down).
Injuries permitted… as long as they weren’t permanent.
He wrote and wrote.
Ideas, structures, rules.
Calculations, profit margins, categories, control spells.
He was so focused he didn’t even notice he had barely fifteen minutes left to sleep.
He stared at the floating letters, and another idea, different, more absurd, yet just as tempting, crossed his mind.
What if he organized something more than just duels?
What if he brought in wizard chess… but extreme?
No desktop boards or calculated moves.
He meant real chess, with giant pieces, like the ones from the first book and the first Harry Potter movie.
Pieces that shouted, smashed each other apart, and carried a sense of danger and adrenaline that classic chess could never offer.
Risky? Yes.
Would he need to buy special pieces? Also yes. He had no idea how much they would cost. He’d have to find out. Though even if he could buy them, moving such pieces would be very difficult, almost impossible. Unless he had the Dimensional Storage Ring.
The Ravenclaws would surely be thrilled with something like that: strategy, magic, adrenaline.
And if he added bets and entry fees, he could repeat the business model without relying solely on duels.
Ryan stopped, checked the time, and decided to stop writing down questionable, but fun, business ideas.
He carefully stored his griffin quill back inside his case, next to the book.
Then, he took out a small potion of dark blue liquid. A simple glass vial, hermetically sealed.
Perfect Sleep Potion.
He uncorked it. A gentle scent of lavender, mint, and something he couldn’t quite identify wrapped around him.
He hesitated for just a second.
And then drank the contents in a single gulp.
He didn’t know if it would work. Not because he doubted the system, but in case he had made a mistake at some point in the preparation. Although judging by the color and the aroma, it should be well brewed.
Ryan turned off the lights, lay down on the comfortable double bed, and closed his eyes. In two hours, he would know the real effects firsthand.
