Chapter 43. The Unseen Blade.
Lynn felt his hamster seemed to have gained a lot of weight overnight.
He stared at Little Umaru for the entire morning, finally confirming that he wasn't mistaken; Little Umaru was indeed now as round as a ball.
Lynn checked all his snacks with a strange expression, but found nothing missing. He had no choice but to interrogate the culprit.
"Tell me! Did you run out and steal food from someone else's house last night?"
Little Umaru lay in its little nest, grumbling and whimpering, busy digesting its food, completely oblivious to what Lynn was saying.
Lynn poked its round belly with his finger, causing it to roll over unhappily and continue lying in a different position.
Not getting any results, and not expecting to get anything out of a hamster, Lynn changed into a thick robe and left the Slytherin common room.
It snowed lightly on Christmas Day. There were only a few young wizards in the school, and the snowflakes falling on the dusty castle created a serene beauty.
Lynn, having nothing better to do, decided to take a stroll around Hogwarts. As he passed Hagrid's hut on the edge of the Forbidden Forest, he heard a familiar voice.
"Remember to line its den with plenty of dry hay. It gets colder at night here, being so close to the Forbidden Forest, which is one of the reasons it's sick."
Professor Fawkes emerged from Hagrid's hut, Hagrid following behind.
"Thank you, Fawkes. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have discovered that Toothpick was sick. He's my best friend, and I've neglected him..."
Hagrid's voice sounded self-reproachful. Professor Fawkes patted his arm comfortingly.
"It's not your fault, Hagrid. Animals are different from humans. You've already done more than enough for it."
"I'm really not available this time. Wait another week, Fawkes, then I'll go with you into the Forbidden Forest to look for Red Hats."
Professor Fawkes put on his top hat and straightened his trench coat collar.
"Thank you, Hagrid. See you next time."
Hagrid saw him out of his courtyard. "See you next time."
Lynn didn't hide himself; Professor Fawkes saw him as soon as he came out.
"Merry Christmas, Lynn! What are you doing here?"
"Merry Christmas, Professor. I was just bored and came out for a stroll."
They walked back to the castle together.
"I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but what's a Red Hat?" Lynn asked.
"Red Hat, it's a type of elf, an evil creature. They love blood and can appear wherever there is blood. Red Hats hunt human blood and soak their hats in it to maintain their vibrant color. This is all third-year material; you'll learn about it later,"
Professor Fawkes explained. "I needed this creature as a demonstration when I was teaching third-year students, but they usually only appear in Northern Europe and are rarely seen in England.
However, there might be one or two hiding in the Forbidden Forest at Hogwarts, so I came to Hagrid for help, wanting him to come with me to look for them in the Forbidden Forest."
He then solemnly instructed Lynn.
"The Forbidden Forest is the most dangerous place at Hogwarts. Even I have to call Hagrid if I want to go in. You absolutely must never sneak into the Forbidden Forest alone again."
Lynn had no intention of sneaking into the Forbidden Forest. He'd have to be crazy to do that. Don't be fooled by the fact that the main characters will treat the Forbidden Forest like their own backyard, coming and going as they please.
Lynn didn't have that kind of protagonist's halo.
"By the way, Professor, I've finished reading 'Advanced Dark Magic: Exploration.' What else do I need to study?"
If Lynn hadn't run into Professor Fawkes here, he would have gone to see him that afternoon; his dark magic studies were about to enter a new phase.
"Your progress is really too fast," Professor Fawkes remarked.
"To begin formally studying the highest levels of dark magic at the age of eleven, I've never seen such talent. However, it just so happens I prepared in advance."
He led Lynn to an empty Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, drew his wand, and aimed it at a demonstration stake.
"Actually, I've been struggling with which advanced dark magic to teach you. In the end, an old rival of mine helped me solve this problem, and I paid a considerable price for it, but compared to this spell, the price is nothing."
With that, he chanted the incantation on the stake.
"Divine Blade!"
An invisible blade sliced through the air, instantly cutting through the stake!
"Thump."
A dull sound rang out; the stake was sliced in two horizontally, the cut extremely smooth, as if it had been waxed.
"This dark magic was invented by your Headmaster, Professor Snape, during his fifth year at Hogwarts. He was a genius, exceptionally talented in potions and dark magic. However, we had some conflicts, so it wasn't easy for him to teach me this spell."
Lynn's expression was quite strange. Of course, he recognized the spell "Shadowless Spell". It was one of the proud creations of that guy in his chuunibyou (adolescent delusions of grandeur) phase, which he had even recorded in his potions book, along with other self-created dark spells like "Inverted Bell."
Lynn had originally planned to look for it in the upperclassmen's potions classrooms when he had the chance, thinking there was a good chance he could find it.
But he hadn't expected Professor Fawkes to have already traded this spell for him from Snape.
Lynn was somewhat moved.
From Hubert's incident, he could tell that Professor Fawkes and Snape had a deep-seated grudge; otherwise, Snape wouldn't have taken such a swipe at him when he was down.
Therefore, Professor Fawkes must have paid a considerable price to trade for Shadowless Spell from him, and now he was teaching him this spell for free.
Yes, Professor Fawkes's investment in Lynn didn't include teaching him dark magic. Compared to the five hundred Galleons, the instruction and guidance in magic were undoubtedly far more valuable.
In other words, Professor Fawkes was Lynn's guide on the path of magic.
He was deeply grateful.
Professor Fawkes's teaching was painstaking, and Lynn would fulfill his promise after graduation to help the professor with his dark magic research.
Although even now he still didn't know exactly which aspect of dark magic Professor Fawkes was researching.
After beginning his truly advanced dark magic studies, Lynn's learning speed noticeably slowed down.
The specific reason wasn't that he encountered difficulties in learning magic, but rather that his current magical power was too low.
Too low to support him in using a complete Divine Strike.
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(End of Chapter)