Sagres's special lectures over the past two days had subjected all students, from first to seventh year, to a complete and brutal "baptism" regarding the dark side of the magical world.
To the students' surprise, the fierce opposition from within the school and the interference from the Ministry of Magic that they had expected never materialized.
A strange calm spread throughout the castle.
The professors tacitly remained silent. Even Filch, for once, did not take the opportunity to bother any students during the past two days.
Sagres was well aware of this calm.
The Ministry of Magic's silence was less a form of acquiescence and more an act of cowardice.
Cornelius Fudge might be foolish, but he certainly knew that openly confronting Sagres at this time would be extremely unwise.
What's more, Dumbledore's silence was itself a signal.
This brief period of calm provided Sagres with valuable operational time.
On one hand, he refined the "Magic Ruin Exploration" instance based on the suggestions put forward by the various professors.
On the other hand, an even bolder, somewhat shocking concept was gradually forming in his mind: true combat sparring.
Simple magic puppets and simulated environments ultimately lacked the cunning and cruelty that came from living enemies.
Students needed to face opponents who could think, deceive, and attack at all costs.
But introducing real Dark Wizards?
Even if they were captured, the risk would be extremely high. Once things went out of control, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Sagres needed a solution that was absolutely controllable yet extremely realistic.
Thus, an innovative magical concept formed in his mind: "Memory Projection."
Simply put, it involved diverting memories to load the Dark Wizards he had "dealt with" into the Duel Monument.
The core of this magic lay in how to precisely extract complete fragments of deceased Dark Wizards from his own vast store of memories.
These fragments included the opponent's appearance, magical characteristics, fighting style, commonly used spells, and even their bone-deep killing intent and cunning.
He would then use magic to shape these memory fragments and fuse the resulting forms with the instance, creating highly accurate "Memory Projections," or "Mirror Projections."
These "Dark Wizards," composed of memory and magic, were neither ghosts nor living entities. They had no true self-awareness and were merely "programs" that acted according to the behavioral patterns Sagres remembered.
In the arena, they would perfectly replicate the original owner's fighting style, cast various dangerous spells, and even simulate their insidious cunning, giving students intense pressure and practical combat experience.
Most importantly, they could not cause real harm, making them relatively safe.
The arena's protection mechanism would make the final judgment on these projections' attacks. Once an attack was deemed "fatal" or "disabling," the protection mechanism would trigger and teleport the student out of the arena.
It was a combat experience infinitely close to reality, yet without death.
As a former Dark Wizard hunter, Sagres possessed numerous and varied samples of Dark Wizard combat within his memories.
From low-level minions who relied on crude Dark Arts and even physical violence, to seasoned villains skilled in curses and full of tricks, and possibly even some powerful, extremely vicious individuals.
All of them would become "valuable" practical combat teaching materials for the students.
Practice is the best teacher, and death is the best lesson, especially when it only happens in an illusion.
This was undoubtedly the fastest way to transform these hothouse flowers into warriors capable of enduring storms.
However, creating this magic was not easy. It involved multiple fields such as memory magic, soul magic, magical shaping, and ancient runes, making it extremely mentally taxing.
"So… should I rely on my own knowledge system to gradually build it, or go find a few Dark Wizards to recharge?"
An evil thought flashed through his mind.
But after a brief moment of deliberation, Sagres ultimately discarded the latter option.
Although this magic was complex, he was not entirely without direction. The golden finger was indeed useful, but he needed to exercise restraint, as he feared he might one day push himself too far.
The story of Amon Blade in history was a cautionary tale.
So, after completing his daily teaching, he devoted a large amount of time to the library.
Meanwhile, through the efforts of all the professors, the Magic Ruin instance became increasingly refined.
During this period, Sagres rejected Professor Snape's proposal for a "full moon night limited-time challenge," because the other party was clearly including personal interests.
Professor Snape suggested that Sagres design a challenge that would only open on the night of a full moon, in which the task would be to brew a potion for Lupin.
This suggestion was, of course, rejected. Wolfsbane Potion, as a highly difficult potion, could only be brewed by a handful of people in the entire magical world. Professor Snape's proposal was never intended for students to brew real Wolfsbane Potion; he simply wanted to annoy people.
Moreover, he did not become angry after being rejected by Sagres. He had most likely just wanted to try his luck. If it succeeded, he could cause trouble for Lupin, and if it failed, there was no loss.
After rejecting Professor Snape's trivial personal motive, Sagres refocused his energy on constructing the "Memory Projection."
The depths of the library's Restricted Section almost became his second office. Except for classes, he could always be found there.
Progress was slow and difficult.
Precisely extracting specific individuals from his own river of memories while maintaining the integrity of their magical imprint was as difficult as performing microsurgery with magic.
Not to mention the need to fuse this "memory imprint" with the stable structure of ancient runes, and finally inject it into the cornerstone of the Duel Arena.
Over the course of a month, Sagres made countless attempts but could only make the runes along the edge of the arena briefly light up.
Only once did he successfully form the phantom separated from his memory into a blurry, distorted dark shadow.
The shadow solidified for a few seconds before dissipating, causing several young witches and wizards who happened to pass by to flee in terror.
Soon afterward, rumors of hauntings began circulating around the castle, though this was hardly unusual for a group of young witches and wizards who dealt with ghosts daily.
Sagres paid no attention to this string of failures or the frightened gazes of others.
Each sharp sting of mental pain caused by magical backlash was endured by him with indifference. Every failure became valuable data, turning into parameters for adjusting the next sequence of runes.
Finally, in the early hours before dawn, when the last complex rune sequence was engraved into the arena's control core, the entire monument began to hum.
Immediately afterward, a gradually solidifying figure appeared in the arena, exuding a cold and realistic aura of killing intent.
It was a success.
Sagres had taken a shortcut. He had not created a completely new spell, but instead solved most of the problems using runes and alchemical arrays.
Without informing anyone, he simply added a short note to the N.E.W.T.-level advanced class for seventh-year students during that day's dueling lesson:
[Practical Drill: Memory Mirror. (Note: Those with low psychological tolerance should proceed with caution.)]
At present, he had only created one "Memory Projection." The prototype for this projection was a minion he had once encountered in the underground black market. It was not too difficult to deal with, making it just right for the young witches and wizards.
The first step was always the hardest.
Now that there was a successful example, things would become much easier. He even considered bringing out Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall, Professor Snape, and others from his memories.
Of course, that would only be possible if they themselves had no objections.
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