Looking at the text on the parchment, Ciel took a deep breath, his heartbeat slightly accelerating. His palms were also somewhat sweaty. After all, he was facing Voldemort, a being at the pinnacle of the magical world. Even through parchment. Even though the other party was still in a weakened state. He was definitely not someone anyone could underestimate.
Quirrell's fate had already proven what price underestimating Voldemort would bring. Though Ciel was confident, he still maintained the utmost caution. If anything went wrong later, he would directly abandon the plan to obtain Transfiguration knowledge. If necessary, he would directly notify Dumbledore!
He calculated every sentence he would have Shadow write next. As thoughts flashed through his mind, "Delphini's" handwriting appeared again on the parchment.
"Junior. Why aren't you speaking? Don't you like Senior's name?"
As the text appeared, a bewitching magical power slowly surged. Even though Ciel was merely observing the parchment and not directly facing this bewitching magic, he still felt a moment of daze. As if he could really see a charming senior humming softly on the other side of the parchment.
Fortunately, at this moment, the Patronus Tree saplings swayed gently. Hazy silver light shrouded their leaves, emanating sacred magic. The bewitching magic on the parchment was gradually worn away under the suppression of the sacred magic. The scene of the "senior humming softly" dissipated before his eyes.
His heart filled with shock. Through just a piece of parchment, Voldemort's abilities could manifest to this extent. No wonder in the original story, a mere diary nearly took Ginny's life. And Voldemort's personal bewitchment was even more irresistible. Even knowledge as forbidden as creating multiple Horcruxes in Dark Magic, he had managed to extract from Slughorn's mouth.
Good thing it was Shadow Thorns directly facing this magic. Things like "senior humming softly" held no temptation for Shadow Thorns. Bewitching abilities were also difficult to affect plants. Plus, with the sacred magic of nearby Patronus Trees, the situation remained under control.
He even glanced at the Patronus Tree saplings and found that this level of bewitching magic was still within their tolerance range. In their reward information, the [Occlumency Enhancement] reward that had just reached the Iron tier was slowly deepening its luster in the process of resisting the bewitching magic.
Only then did he let out a light breath. He opened two bottles of Sacred Tree Potion, waved his wand, and silver mist lingered around the Patronus Tree saplings. The sacred magic became even more concentrated, like silvery-white moonlight shrouding everything, calming his heart. The tense expression on his face also relaxed slightly.
Only then did he have Shadow reply. "I didn't speak because I suddenly had a toothache. Because Senior's name is so sweet."
On the other side of the parchment, Voldemort looked at the cheesy pickup line that appeared before him and suddenly paused. His expression was quite strange. Hmm? This little brat was quite good at this? These sweet words had quite a bit of his own youthful flair.
But after a moment, his eyes showed a triumphant expression. It seemed this little Hufflepuff had already taken the bait. Since that was the case, it was time to get to the main topic.
Then, after some back-and-forth, Voldemort controlled the quill to write several lines. "I've already told you my secret. So as an exchange, shouldn't Junior also tell Senior one of your secrets? That would only be fair, right? Senior heard that Junior independently cultivated a mutant subspecies of Devil's Snare... that's truly a remarkable achievement. So junior, do you have methods to deal with them?"
At this moment, Ciel suddenly understood. So the double agent was looking for a way to get through the Devil's Snare? But the Devil's Snare obstacle in the original story was extremely simple to pass. Even the first-year trio could easily get through it with Hermione casting fire magic. This obstacle shouldn't be able to trouble the double agent.
Unless... "It must be Aunt Sprout. She replaced all the Devil's Snare in the second obstacle with the variant Devil's Snare I cultivated and used some method to mature them. She might have even equipped them with some fire-resistant measures, which could make even the double agent rack his brains. As a last resort, he's targeting me, trying to extract the variant Devil's Snare's weakness from me."
But after a moment, he showed a strange expression. The variant Devil's Snare was indeed cultivated by him, that was true. But what Voldemort didn't know was that he hadn't even finished cultivating it to maturity yet. Weaknesses? Besides the conventional fear of fire and light, he really didn't know!
Never mind Legilimency and similar magic... even if Voldemort used Imperius on him, he wouldn't get the method to pass the obstacle. But this didn't prevent him from fishing with Voldemort.
After all, Voldemort was a being standing at the pinnacle of the magical world. Though he was most prominent in Dark Magic, his Transfiguration mastery was also on the same level as Dumbledore's. The original story had mentioned that besides gaining immortality and enhanced power through creating Horcruxes, Voldemort had also performed multiple dangerous Dark Magic transformations on himself after graduation, making his power increasingly formidable.
Combining Transfiguration with Dark Magic, in this field, Voldemort's mastery was probably even more profound than Dumbledore's! Moreover, Dumbledore liked to guide students to think for themselves, quite the riddler style. Voldemort was much more direct, often engaging in naked interest exchanges. Do things for him, and he'd teach you magic... that simple.
If he could get some guidance on Transfiguration from Voldemort, his current bottleneck in Transfiguration might be easily resolved. This thought flashed through his mind.
Then he had Shadow reply again. "The variant Devil's Snare's weakness? They're my cultivation, of course I know. The weakness is..."
When the text appeared to this point, Quirrell and Voldemort on the other side held their breath, eagerly wanting to see the answer. But immediately after, another line of text appeared.
"No way. Headmaster Dumbledore told me that I can't tell this weakness to anyone. No one at all. As a reward for keeping the secret, Headmaster Dumbledore even said he'd personally teach me Transfiguration later. Headmaster Dumbledore's teaching is too precious... I can't reveal this secret."
Seeing this, fury immediately surged in Voldemort's eyes. He was just one step away from that secret, yet still couldn't get closer? "Damn it!" He cursed.
But soon, Voldemort calmed down. "This little brat should be close to having his defenses broken by me. What's stopping him from telling me the variant Devil's Snare's weakness now is nothing more than his promise to Dumbledore. And that Dumbledore will teach him Transfiguration."
Thinking this, he sneered. His quill scratched across the parchment. "I see. Headmaster Dumbledore wants you to keep the secret and promised to teach you Transfiguration. That is indeed a precious opportunity. But Senior doesn't quite understand... Dumbledore could completely teach you during your detention. When does he plan to teach you? We all know Headmaster Dumbledore is incredibly busy with countless affairs. I've never heard of him teaching first-year students. What if he forgets later or remembers this matter after a very, very long time? And as far as I know, Headmaster Dumbledore always likes students to think for themselves. Are you confident you can learn anything from his teaching?"
This series of questions seemed to leave Ciel speechless. His replies were also somewhat stammering. "This..." "That couldn't be..." "Then what should I do?"
Voldemort's eyes flashed as he immediately struck while the iron was hot, making a suggestion. "Since Headmaster Dumbledore hasn't given you compensation yet, it doesn't count as a contract, does it? You could completely reveal this little secret to Senior. Would Senior do anything bad? As an exchange, Senior has quite some insights into Transfiguration. My teaching might be more suitable for you than Headmaster Dumbledore's."
With these words, Ciel's defenses seemed completely broken. From the text that appeared and was erased on the parchment, you could see he was struggling and hesitating. Voldemort watched this scene with certainty in his eyes. Humans... once they started being tempted, convincing themselves was just a matter of time.
After a moment, a line of text indeed appeared on the parchment. "Could you teach me Transfiguration first?"
Seeing this line, Voldemort was delighted rather than angry. In his view, this was just Ciel's final resistance. Honestly, his resistance had been quite resolute. But before his innate bewitching abilities, it was still no match. Soon, he would surely completely obtain the method to pass the second obstacle. He might even gain a quite important chess piece. And all he had to pay was some trivial Transfiguration knowledge.
Voldemort wasn't that petty. So he immediately replied. "Of course. What would you like to know about Transfiguration?"
When seeing this line, Ciel suddenly clenched his fists. After taking a deep breath, he gradually calmed his surging emotions. "Calm down. Calm down." He constantly warned himself. The closer to success, the more careful and cautious he needed to be, without the slightest carelessness.
After a long while, he slowly had Shadow write his confusion about Transfiguration on the parchment. "When learning Serpensortia, I encountered some trouble. The process of conjuring smoke from nothing, then transforming the smoke into a venomous snake. I want to master it, but the entire process is too complex, so I thought I'd start by mastering the change of a single scale locally, gradually mastering everything. But this approach has never made progress. Do you have any insights, senior?"
Seeing the question he asked, Voldemort's eyes showed some surprise. After a moment, he even felt some appreciation. Most first-year students only sought to be able to use spells... who would probe the underlying mysteries of a simple spell? This little Hufflepuff was different from those mediocre young wizards. He even reminded Voldemort somewhat of himself during his school days.
The difference might just be the vast gap in magical talent between them. But in Voldemort's view, this wasn't too remarkable. Enhancing magical talent seemed like fantasy to others. Even Dumbledore was just a beginner on this path. But Voldemort had researched extremely deeply in this field.
His Dark Magic transformation techniques could modify wizard physique and bloodlines. Though it would make the transformed wizards develop increasingly toward non-human directions. Like himself, who had changed from the originally handsome Tom Riddle into a pale, fierce, ugly monster. But the power enhancement was real.
After experiencing the Dark Magic transformation, both magical perception or magical strength had tremendously improved compared to before! If Ciel could truly become Voldemort's chess piece and help him obtain the Philosopher's Stone, given his demonstrated Herbology talent and his qualities different from ordinary young wizards, Voldemort really wouldn't mind giving him some cultivation.
So at this moment, facing what was essentially child's play to him, Voldemort actually began explaining in detail. "From specific to general... this is indeed an effective research approach for difficult problems in many subjects. But if you carefully study the Emerald Tablet, you'd realize this approach fails with Transfiguration. Transfiguration is a holistic transformation. The changes don't occur independently—they're interconnected. If you study one part's change in isolation, severing its connection to other parts, naturally you won't make progress. In my view, you should still research from a holistic perspective, just simplified somewhat. For example, when conjuring a venomous snake from nothing... you don't need to focus on details like scales, fangs, or eyes. Simply focus on the entire process of transforming from smoke outline to snake outline. Remember: as above, so below; as below, so above... by this the miracle of unity is accomplished."
As these words appeared, his eyes suddenly burst with bright light. Voldemort was indeed a top-level Transfiguration master. And he didn't give any empty talk... straight to the practical knowledge! His erroneous thinking and previous confusion instantly vanished under Voldemort's simple explanation. Countless inspirations immediately burst forth in his mind.
The next moment, he had Shadow reply. "Senior. I'm going to take a bath."
Then he tore up the parchment and buried it under the Patronus Trees.
On the other side, having just finished his lengthy explanation, Voldemort suddenly widened his eyes when he saw Ciel's reply, feeling something was wrong. Huh? No way? Taking a bath at this time?!
Voldemort continuously waved his quill, writing line after line of probing text. But except for the slight swaying of Patronus Tree saplings, there was no further response.
He at this moment had no intention of continuing to converse with Voldemort. He couldn't be greedy. How much risk arose from greed? He had obtained what he wanted... that was enough. If he continued greedily seeking knowledge, then while he gazed into the abyss, the abyss would also gaze into him. Greed for knowledge might truly become an opportunity for Voldemort to exploit!
Then, after his rapidly accelerating heartbeat gradually calmed, Ciel shifted his attention back to Transfiguration and Serpensortia. His eyes showed anticipation as he recalled Voldemort's guidance.
"Focus on the whole, not the parts. As above, so below... as below, so above..."
The next moment, he suddenly waved his wand. "Serpensortia!"
A cloud of smoke immediately burst forth, transforming into a hissing black venomous snake. Serpensortia surged forth again. And his eyes didn't blink, constantly staring at the overall magical changes during the process from smoke outline to snake outline.
The millions of previous studies, though heading in the wrong direction, weren't without accumulation. Now that the direction was corrected, previous tireless efforts immediately bore fruit. The previous feeling of seeing the moon in water and flowers in a mirror suddenly dissipated!
On the system panel, a trace of bronze luster quietly increased on the Transfiguration text. Just this trace... [Transfiguration (Bronze Tier)] advanced!
Not only that, but the luster on Serpensortia also began soaring crazily the moment he gained some understanding of its underlying logic. Silver light was instantly completed. Then golden light shone brilliantly. Until a touch of platinum color burst forth on Serpensortia!
He took a deep breath, his eyes full of shock. "This is?!"
[Chapter Complete]
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