"Wait a minute."
"From the moment I entered the chamber until now… has it even been twenty minutes?"
Sean frowned.
"By that logic, it should still be lunchtime. Cassius and Chris are usually hanging around the common room at this time. How did they suddenly end up in this place?"
Sean glanced down.
Immediately, dizziness washed over him.
The drop beneath him was at least seventy or eighty meters.
Falling from here would not be a joke.
Merlin wouldn't seriously gamble with a student's life, would he?
If Sean saved only one of them…
Would the other truly die?
Sean didn't believe Merlin would be that cruel.
He activated the Magic vision again and carefully examined Cassius and Chris.
Under the Magic vision, both of them emitted a faint white glow.
However, Chris's glow was slightly brighter, while Cassius's was dimmer.
This indicated that Chris's magical power was stronger than Cassius's.
"But does Cassius really have that much magic power?" Sean muttered.
He tried recalling the last time he observed Cassius with the Magic vision.
It wasn't that Sean looked down on him.
Cassius was simply too lazy.
After class, he never practiced magic.
His magical growth depended entirely on getting older.
Yet the Cassius hanging from the treetop now seemed to possess more magical power than before.
"That guy… did he secretly start practicing magic recently?"
It was common knowledge that frequent practice increased magical capacity.
Sean's magical power was three times that of ordinary first-years not only because of the Magic vision—
but also because of his relentless training.
Sean suddenly shouted into the open air.
"I bet this is an illusion!"
"I'm saving neither of them. If I'm wrong, I'll jump down myself!"
His voice echoed through the vast Forbidden Forest.
The beasts hidden within the forest responded with distant roars, as if answering his declaration.
Then—
a calm, distant voice sounded.
"Young wizard, there is no need to be so irritable."
"You have already passed the test and are about to obtain the treasure. Shouldn't you be a little happier?"
Sean looked around but saw no one.
The voice spoke again.
"Young wizard, I'm above your head."
Sean looked up.
A crystal sphere floated above him.
It radiated a brilliance like the rising sun.
The light was so intense that Sean immediately shut off his Magic vision.
Ever since the Sorting Feast, when he saw Dumbledore's magical power, Sean had believed that was the peak of magical strength in the wizarding world.
But the power radiating from this crystal sphere…
Sean couldn't even estimate how many times stronger it was.
He simply couldn't look at it directly.
"What are you?" Sean asked.
"I am the one you seek."
"The legendary great wizard—Merlin."
Sean snorted.
"You calling yourself a legendary wizard sounds exactly like a scam call."
The crystal sphere floated down from above.
It hovered before Sean.
Then a human-shaped phantom appeared.
The figure was that of a young man.
Slim, tall, with delicate features.
He looked almost fragile.
Sean remembered what Baron had said—Merlin had left Hogwarts even earlier than Salazar Slytherin.
If that were true, Merlin must have been quite young when he left.
So Sean asked cautiously,
"You're really Merlin?"
"Authentic and genuine," Merlin replied.
"Then where's your treasure?"
"It's right in front of you."
Sean pointed at the floating crystal sphere.
"You mean this? What does it do?"
Merlin answered calmly.
"Yes."
"It is called the Wizard's Heart."
"It contains incomparable magical power."
Sean was absolutely certain of that.
Just now, the Wizard's Heart had nearly blinded his Magic vision with its radiance.
But the real question was—
How was it supposed to be used?
"Wait."
Sean suddenly remembered something.
"I heard you and Salazar Slytherin went your separate ways because of a treasure."
"Was it this Wizard's Heart?"
Merlin sighed softly.
"You actually know about that."
"A thousand years have passed. Salazar is gone. I am gone."
Sean asked curiously,
"So you really betrayed him for this?"
"Yes."
"I stole the Wizard's Heart from Salazar."
Sean blinked in surprise.
There was no twist.
Merlin had simply admitted it.
Seeing Sean's expression, Merlin continued,
"Do you know the origin of the Wizard's Heart?"
Sean shook his head.
It was an artifact from over a thousand years ago.
How could he possibly know?
But Merlin corrected him.
"This object is far older than a thousand years."
"In ancient Greece, around 700 BC, there was a dark wizard named Herpo."
"He was the most powerful dark wizard of his era."
"According to legend, he murdered thirteen powerful wizards and extracted their magic."
"With dark rituals, he forged this artifact—the Wizard's Heart."
Sean quickly did the math.
"700 BC… that's nearly 2,700 years ago!"
Merlin nodded.
"The Wizard's Heart contains the magical power of thirteen wizards."
"But something created through such cruelty could never be easily controlled."
"When Salazar and I discovered it in Greece, he was immediately captivated."
"He carried it with him everywhere."
"When we returned to Hogwarts, Salazar became increasingly irritable."
"His emotions grew unstable."
"Students were afraid to approach him."
Merlin paused.
"I knew the Wizard's Heart was influencing his mind."
Sean instinctively glanced at the floating sphere.
Even someone as powerful as Salazar Slytherin had been affected.
Just how terrifying was this artifact?
Sean suddenly remembered how he had almost been tempted by Voldemort's Horcrux before.
He took two cautious steps backward.
"So you stole it after that?" Sean asked.
"I tried to take it away," Merlin replied.
"But Salazar placed enchantments on it."
"It could not leave Hogwarts."
"So I secretly built a chamber to hide it."
Sean nodded.
"That explains things."
"But Peeves said I was chosen by you."
"If this thing is so dangerous, shouldn't you keep it hidden forever instead of letting someone find it?"
Merlin smiled faintly.
"As I said, the Wizard's Heart contains extraordinary power."
"To hide it forever would be a waste."
"So before leaving Hogwarts, I placed my thoughts within Peeves."
"I allowed him to wander the castle and search for a suitable successor."
Sean frowned.
"Aren't you worried the successor will also be controlled by the Wizard's Heart?"
"That is why I designed the tests."
"To determine whether the successor is worthy."
"Before you, there was another Slytherin student."
"Tom Riddle."
"He was extremely talented."
"I had Peeves guide him here."
"But during the fourth test…"
"I saw the darkness within his heart."
Sean muttered to himself,
"So it really was a test of character."
Then he asked another question.
"If you understood the Wizard's Heart so well, why didn't you use it yourself?"
Merlin chuckled softly.
Then he asked in return,
"Do you know how I earned the title Legendary Great Wizard?"
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