Having concluded his exploration experiments on circuit transfiguration, Lucien found a quiet corner in the magic practice room for the Metamorphic Flesh Puppet·Modified. He carefully organized and filed the data recorded that day before finally leaving the Suitcase World.
The moment he stepped out of the suitcase, he headed straight for the large, soft bed in his temporary dormitory.
He sank his entire body into the bedding, letting his taut nerves finally relax a little.
He had been tossing about in the practice room for quite a while, repeatedly adjusting those precise magical nodes. Even his improved and upgraded Arcane Sight was struggling to hold up under the strain.
Fortunately, the gains were significant. Although he had failed many times, he had at least verified that this path was indeed viable; it just needed more time to polish.
Tomorrow was the award ceremony for the exchange competition.
Thinking of this, Lucien rolled over and stared at the ceiling.
He didn't want to worry about anything tonight. He would get a good night's rest, receive the award tomorrow, and set off back to Hogwarts the day after.
However, before falling asleep, his thoughts habitually began to drift.
Lucien began to take stock of his current "debt" situation in his mind.
He currently carried two Year-Loans.
The Emerald Tablet Fragment loan was already nearing completion. Once "SwiftSpeak" was fully released and the issue of cross-border transmission lag was optimized, repaying the loan within the time limit shouldn't be a problem.
The demonstration at Beauxbatons had gone very well. Several Alchemy Masters showed great interest in SwiftSpeak. After returning, he could use this momentum to push things forward and try to establish cooperation with the Ministries of Magic of various countries.
The other debt was the newly shouldered Year-Loan for the Seed of Idun's Apple.
This one was more troublesome.
Cultivating the seed itself required a massive amount of magic and various rare materials, which was enough to give Lucien a headache.
And then there was the requirement of the repayment task itself: Cure three types of Blood Maledictions.
This meant he would still have to come into deep contact with Dark Magic in the future.
Not just simple understanding or exposure, but true learning and research.
At least in the field of Curses, he needed to invest a significant amount of energy and time.
But...
Who should he find to learn Dark Magic from?
Hogwarts didn't teach this. He had heard that Durmstrang, one of the three major European magic schools, taught its students Dark Magic...
Lucien adjusted the position of his pillow and continued staring at the ceiling.
First, he could start with the System to see if he could trigger some loans related to Dark Magic knowledge.
But the knowledge or items needed to cure deep-rooted Blood Maledictions would require at least a Month-Loan or Year-Loan level in the System.
Loan tasks of this level were often very abstract and not so easy to stumble upon.
Moreover, relying solely on the System wasn't enough.
He still needed to find a "teacher."
Someone for Dark Magic, or at least someone proficient in Curses.
Actually, Lucien's talent for Dark Magic was extremely high—a full SS+—which was also brought about by Loki's Faceless back then. It was just that he never had the chance to truly use it.
Then again, if he really had the chance to go all out in the field of Dark Magic, that might actually be a problem. Who knows what kind of chaos the world would be thrown into...
But having empty talent wasn't enough.
The guidance of a forerunner was crucial, whether it was personal instruction from a mentor or the legacy of classic texts.
Only by learning the knowledge and experience left by predecessors could one walk more steadily and faster—mastering the known first, then creating the new.
But the problem circled back.
High-end tomes on Dark Magic were hard to find, and masters proficient in Curses were even harder to come by.
Lucien quickly ran through his network of contacts in his mind.
Teacher Nicolas and Mr. Newt could definitely help, but he would have to be extremely tactful when bringing it up.
Telling them directly that he wanted to study Dark Magic or Curses would definitely scare them.
Lucien didn't want to put too much pressure on the hearts of the two elderly men.
Mm, finding Dumbledore first was still the most appropriate course of action.
Anyway, the two of them had long discussed issues regarding Dark Magic in depth. He could candidly express his thoughts and needs.
After all, the motivation for learning Curses this time wasn't to harm people, but to save them—to cure Nagini's Blood Malediction, and other victims of blood curses he might encounter later.
This reason was legitimate enough.
Moreover, Dumbledore himself possessed considerable attainments in Dark Magic. Although he probably hadn't used or studied it much in years, his knowledge and vision were undeniable.
Most importantly—
Of the two wizards who had gone furthest in the field of Dark Magic in this era, one had become a residual soul wandering who-knows-where, and the other was "spending his old age" in Nurmengard.
And regarding the one in Nurmengard... Lucien knew that Dumbledore could definitely contact him.