Wade immediately felt a sense of foreboding. "Don't tell me you… also left behind a giant cluster of Ancient Magic underground at Hogwarts, like that Professor Isidora Morganach?"
"No," the senior shook her head.
"Oh… you scared me there…"
Wade had really been startled. He thought she might've lost control in the end, just like Professor Morganach, and hoarded a massive pool of Ancient Magic beneath Hogwarts.
That would've truly been a case of the dragon-slayer becoming the dragon.
"In fact, not just one—there are many clusters. These sources of Ancient Magic are scattered around Hogwarts. You can go and absorb them…" the senior continued.
The relief Wade had just felt vanished in an instant.
"Senior… the gift you mentioned… don't tell me it's those sources of Ancient Magic? I… I don't dare absorb too much of it for now…"
The senior waved her hand to stop him, then turned her palm over. A cloud of mist, dark with streaks of red and silver, appeared in her hand.
"This is the kind of power you're afraid to absorb, right?"
"You actually don't need to worry at all," the senior said with a smile. "Because this isn't Ancient Magic power at all. True Ancient Magic power is something you can absorb freely."
Wade asked in surprise, "This isn't Ancient Magic power? But… I awakened my Ancient Magic after accidentally absorbing a small bottle of this stuff."
"That's because, while this isn't Ancient Magic itself, it's a different kind of power—one that can enhance Ancient Magic. By absorbing this, you naturally triggered your Ancient Magic awakening ahead of time. You've probably heard that Professor Dumbledore told you a bit about Professor Morganach, right?" the senior asked.
Wade nodded. "He gave me a general idea, but not much detail."
In fact, back before transmigrating, Wade had never finished the game where all this lore originated. His knowledge of Ancient Magic and some of the characters was only surface-level.
And when Dumbledore had retold the story, he himself wasn't a firsthand witness either—he'd only heard it from others. In the end, he actually knew even less than Wade did, so he couldn't offer many specifics.
The senior continued, "Let me tell you briefly what happened back then, and you'll understand…"
"When Professor Morganach was researching Ancient Magic, she discovered by accident that Ancient Magic could extract people's negative emotions."
"After her brother's accidental death, her father was overwhelmed with grief and hadn't spoken in a long time. So, in hopes of relieving his pain, she used that magic on him."
"She extracted all of the sorrow from her father's heart… and then made another surprising discovery."
The senior brought that swirling mist closer to Wade and continued, "When you use Ancient Magic to extract someone's negative emotions, it produces a kind of residue… and that residue can strengthen Ancient Magic." Thɪs chapter is updatᴇd by Nov3lFɪre.ɴet
Wade's eyes widened. "You're saying… this black mist is actually some kind of power formed from the fusion of negative emotions and Ancient Magic, and not pure Ancient Magic itself?"
"That's right," the senior continued. "Back then, after more in-depth research, Morganach discovered that this kind of 'residue' worked like a magic enhancer. Not only could it make Ancient Magic users' power stronger, it could also amplify the magical abilities of those who couldn't use Ancient Magic at all!"
Wade frowned. "How is that even possible?"
"It's the truth," the senior replied. "After Professor Morganach discovered this, she couldn't suppress her thirst for power. So, using her position as a professor at Hogwarts, she secretly extracted the negative emotions of the students at the time. She then stored the resulting residue in several hidden vaults…"
"Though she was killed not long after the start of her plan… those vaults remained."
"And because the containers used to store the residue were made by goblins, many years later—around the time I started at Hogwarts—a goblin named Ranrok accidentally discovered the journal of the goblin who had originally helped craft those vessels, and learned about the existence of this power."
"He believed that this power was magical energy stolen and hidden away by wizards, originally belonging to goblins. So, he made it his mission to reclaim it all, to empower the goblins and ensure they'd never be oppressed by wizards again."
"Ranrok was extremely clever. He found every vault except the one hidden beneath Hogwarts. He and his followers absorbed all the 'residue' stored in those vaults…"
"In the end, Ranrok and his followers launched a war against us beneath Hogwarts."
"The goblins who absorbed the 'residue' became terrifyingly powerful—especially Ranrok. Even my teacher, Professor Fig, struggled to withstand his attacks."
"In the end, he even managed to absorb all of the 'residue' stored beneath Hogwarts, transforming into a massive and powerful dragon. He launched a brutal assault on me."
Wade was completely absorbed in the story. He couldn't help asking, "And then?"
The senior shrugged. "Then I killed him."
Wade blinked. That had to be the calmest, most casually delivered flex he had ever heard.
Defeating the immensely powered-up Ranrok, who had absorbed all the vaults' residue, and saying it like it was nothing—this was the pinnacle of understated bragging. Clearly, he still had a long way to go in that department.
"So after defeating Ranrok, the residue he absorbed dispersed again," the senior continued. "And I believed that power shouldn't go to waste. It should've been mine all along. So I absorbed all of it."
She sighed. "And it was only after absorbing it that I realized… the temptation from this residue was even more dangerous than Ancient Magic itself."
Wade was beginning to understand. "So… the thing that overwhelmed you wasn't the Ancient Magic… it was this 'residue' that strengthens it?"
"Then… what is actual Ancient Magic like? The kind you said is safe to absorb?" Wade asked curiously.
The senior withdrew the black mist in her hand, then snapped her fingers.
A mass of magical energy, shimmering like liquid mercury, appeared before Wade.
"This is the purest form of Ancient Magic… Of course, this one is just something I conjured using Nightmare Magic based on my memory of it."
"These pure Ancient Magic energies are scattered all around Hogwarts. Only those who possess the ability to wield Ancient Magic can perceive them."
(Tomorrow, the story can finally begin the school enrollment arc.)
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