I set this matter to the side at the moment though as I simply didn't have enough options that would work here. I turned my thoughts instead to Voldemort and his lessons on dark magic. Despite what one would assume he wasn't impatient and pushy about trying to force me off the deep end. But rather was slowly trying to whittle down my unwillingness to actually cast any of these spells. It reminded me almost like a python slowly pressuring it's prey and only constricting when it tried to breath.-
Unlike in that example however I was not actually wrapped up at all as I had from the start knew what he was trying. Still the guy definitely knew most of his stuff about dark magic as his foundational lessons alone were quite thorough. I did however catch on immediately to the fact he was quite unwilling to teach me about rituals. I brought it up in a casual manner a few times and each time he'd change the subject through a subtle trick of some sort. That didn't stop me from looking into the art however as I had the system shop that possessed a vast amount of books from this world all without having to set foot in the forbidden section of the library.-
Granted this came at the cost of system coins but once I spent the coins the books were totally mine to keep. It was thanks to a few tomes on rituals that I figured out why Voldemort didn't want to teach me about it, it was the source of his power. It had always been a mystery how the guy had gotten so powerful all with his soul poked full of holes like it was and now I figured it out.-
He had forcefully raised his power through sacrificial rituals of highly forbidden nature. It was why he was so inhuman looking as well, a side effect of the rituals and his souls state compounded. I was fairly certain I had even figured out one of the rituals he'd used. A profane ritual known as the "Rite of blood replacement" that like the name suggested replaced the blood in the body with that from an external source. This wasn't some mundane transfusion however as the ritual bound that bloods owners properties to the one casting the ritual.-
It was fairly obvious that Voldemort must have used the blood from some sort of magical snake in his particular ritual. This meant his own innate magical power grew based on that creatures own innate magic stacked on top of his original. There were probably other rituals he'd used as well to force himself to roughly Dumbledore's level but those would likely be rather troublesome to pick out with how vague a lot of ritual effects were. Yes, vague. Turns out most recorded rituals I'd found were less exact science and more "I hope this doesn't blow up in my face". -
Don't get me wrong there was absolutely a method to that madness but no two rituals were ever the same even if the roughly same steps were followed to the letter. Take the rite of blood replacement for example. If two wizards were to use the exact same source for their blood replacement the results could vary wildly. One might mutate in form to posses the physical features of the bloods previous owner such as what Voldemort experienced and the other might instead not show any external shift at all. The benefits of the ritual would also differ greatly more likely than not.-
Like how Voldemort seemed to get the raw magical power of whatever he had used the other wizard might instead gain a magical ability innate to the creature but that's all. From my own careful research I roughly figured out the best way to use rituals. It wasn't individually either but rather stacking them. For example if I was going to use the rite of blood replacement for myself I'd first undergo a ritual of physical stasis to lock my appearance in place as well as a rite of oppression that would make any magic I performed in a certain time limit dramatically more potent.-
With this ritual combo done I would maximize the rite of blood replacement all without making myself monstrous looking. The trick to stacking rituals however was arithmancy. Using math to calculate the exact parameters for each ritual to get the best result and prevent clashing due to conflicting magics. It was a balancing act, one Voldemort was likely too obsessed with power to care to do. He didn't care what his power cost him, so long as he got it in the end. Unlike him I didn't need to use rituals to get more power, I had the system.-
I wasn't limited to merely the powers and rules of this world, a fact made abundantly clear by my body, devil fruit and haki. I had a body stronger than an adult athlete in this world thanks to the tempering I put it under with my fruit and that growth was made possible by the one piece physique itself. My haki also grew with use and my bodies improvement. It was slow improvement there since I had no one to fight against to temper it properly but I was still growing all the same.-
That was only the benefits of that one world and it shouldn't be forgotten that I also held two of Zeus's artifacts. His weapon amplified all my weather and lightning based powers and his scepter had the sum total of his knowledge in it and also might possibly also have his soul itself, verdict was still out on that theory. The thing in the scepter hadn't slipped up yet but I double checked everything it taught as best I could before using it.