"Turn off the voice? What do you mean by that? If I turned off the voice, how would you know I was scolding you? I might as well not scold someone secretly so that no one can hear me..."
Tom used the Whispering Spell to vent his dissatisfaction and jealousy.
Some people are born in Rome but don't know how to cherish it!
Tom felt that his and Robert's current situation was like participating in a race together.
Robert's starting line was originally closer to the finish line than his.
But now, this guy insisted on running back to him, saying that it would be fair if they started running together…
Tom believed it at first, thinking that Robert was just a little faster than him.
Since we are all at the same starting line now, I have a chance to catch up…
However, when the race officially started, Tom realized—everyone was running on foot, but Robert was riding a horse!
Fair? What is fairness? Tell me, what is fairness?
Fairness means that you ride a horse, complain that I run too slowly, and finally mock me for being a bad runner, saying that I should practice more!
"Tom... you seem a little bit arrogant lately. You even stopped avoiding people when you scold me?" Robert looked at Tom in surprise.
Tom used to talk behind his back, but now... he was too lazy to even pretend and started cursing people in person!
"Then you're going to kill me?" Tom replied expressionlessly.
Robert didn't know that, because of a single casual comment, Tom's resentment had grown even greater than that of a ghost who had died unjustly for more than ten years...
"It's not necessary to kill him, just beat him up a few times."
"Then beat me to death!" Tom stiffened his neck and glared at him angrily.
"Okay… Tom, since you insist so strongly, why should I refuse… Do you have any last words?"
"Hiss... No! Are you serious? I... I admit that I spoke a little loudly just now..."
When it came to his own life, Tom suddenly came to his senses.
No matter how much you envy others' abilities, they belong to them. But your own life… that is what truly belongs to you!
At this moment, Anne finally stopped.
"It seems to be just ahead," she said, looking at the map in her hand.
About fifty meters in front of the three people, there was a ruin.
"This is the first time I've heard that people lived in the Forbidden Forest." Tom frowned as he looked at the ruins in the distance.
"Hogwarts has a history of thousands of years. It's normal to have some abandoned buildings around. With time, the former town has turned into the forest today..." Robert said casually.
Anne suddenly said, "But… this is just the ruins of a building. It's not a town or anything like that. If… I mean, if all the places you speculated about are ruins like this… don't you think there's some kind of connection here?"
Robert pondered and said, "That's a good question. There is indeed a problem here. If all these magical powers are hidden in these ruins… it is possible that these buildings themselves are related to the magic."
"I don't know… were these buildings originally used for living, or did they have other purposes..."
Having said that, Robert seemed lost in thought.
On the surface, he was talking about Morgana's magical power, but deep down, he was thinking about ancient magic.
He hadn't thought about it carefully before.
Now, looking back, he realized that all the locations of those ancient magic hotspots were within ruins!
Anne looked at the ruins, then pretended to move forward to explore.
In reality, she had seen this place many times before, and there was nothing here. But she couldn't just stand around and do nothing—after all, this should be her "first time" here!
Robert approached the ruins, examining them carefully, as if trying to find some iconic architectural symbols.
He wanted to figure out who built these buildings… and why they generated ancient magic hotspots.
That way, he might truly understand the origins of these ancient magics—and where else these hotspots might exist besides Hogwarts!
Anne also frowned. "These ruins look like they are at least several hundred years old. That means they were already ruins when Professor Morgana was alive. But why would she hide magical powers in ruins? It's too obvious! Why not hide them somewhere else?"
"Maybe it has something to do with how magic forms or is stored..." Tom guessed. "Otherwise, I can't think of any reason to put such a precious thing in such an unprotected place."
Robert said nothing, focusing entirely on the ruins he had previously ignored.
After a while, he finally noticed something.
These buildings had remnants of ancient magic… just like his lighter.
Now, Robert had a bold guess.
These buildings were originally built using ancient magic!
So, after these buildings declined, the ancient magic that once maintained them overflowed and then gathered together again, forming an ancient magic hotspot...
Even though the buildings had weathered, the ancient magic within them had not dissipated!
That showed just how powerful ancient magic was...
Because of this, Robert could absorb these ancient magic powers so smoothly without being rejected!
The ancient magic used by past generations to build houses had now become like batteries, charging Robert…
Of course, proving this theory was simple. All it would take was a controlled experiment.
Building houses with ancient magic… Could it be that ancient magic was a common practice in the past?
Soon, Robert shook his head and dismissed this thought.
Just because some people built houses using ancient magic didn't mean the power was widespread.
If it had been common, it wouldn't be so rare that there was no mention of it in the history of magic.
Even the senior student who first awakened ancient magic had only learned about it from the portraits of former professors.
"There's nothing here," Anne said after a brief inspection.
Nothing was different from the last time she investigated.
So, she didn't need to check further to know there was nothing here.
"Let's search more carefully," Robert said.
As he spoke, he looked at Tom.
Tom nodded, then took out his wand and used detection spells to examine every inch of the ruins.
Anne watched from the side and shook her head.
She had checked these ruins so many times before and found nothing.
Not only that—after she submitted her findings, Grindelwald had his own people investigate the area multiple times.
Among them were many "professionals" in relic exploration.
They even had special instruments distributed by the goblins.
Logically, if magical power really existed here, it should have been detected.
Either it never existed in the first place, or it had been taken away many years ago.
So, no matter how meticulous Robert and Tom's methods were, they were doomed to fail.
While pretending to help, Anne was already thinking about how to convince them to move on.
"Something's here," Tom suddenly said.
"Really? Let me see!" Robert walked over excitedly.
Anne's eyes widened. No way!
They had checked so many times and found nothing. How could these two find a clue so quickly?
Thinking of this, Anne hurried over.
She saw Robert and Tom studying something around a stone slab.
Anne looked at it and felt relieved.
"It's just a floor tile. What's so special about it?" she scoffed.
But Robert and Tom ignored her, lifting the slab together and placing it on open ground.
"What are you doing?" Anne sighed.
"Help us out. Don't just stand there," Tom said, annoyed.
"Fine..." Anne pulled out her wand to use a levitation spell.
But Robert stopped her. "It's useless. I tried. Magic doesn't work on this tile."
"Hmm?" Anne frowned.
A stone immune to magic?
Before she could react, Robert grabbed a branch, transformed it into a hammer, and smashed it onto the slab!
"Crack!"
"Clang!"
A small silver ball rolled out, making a crisp metallic sound.
(End of chapter)
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