Inside the little greenhouse, Ciel exhaled softly.
"Three days have already passed?" he murmured. "Time really flies."
"Staying here, I barely feel time passing."
"I have to say, if it were someone else, they probably couldn't handle these three weeks of detention."
"But for me, every minute and second is precious experience worth treasuring."
"Being able to practice and cultivate with complete focus... this feeling is incredible!"
Ciel glanced at the system panel, satisfaction spreading across his face.
The silver glow surrounding [Sectumsempra] had deepened significantly compared to three days ago. He estimated that in another day or two, golden flickers would appear, marking his approach to the Gold tier threshold. With one or two weeks until complete advancement, he'd certainly reach Gold-tier Sectumsempra before detention ended.
This achievement alone was deeply gratifying.
Similarly, [Serpensortia] had changed remarkably. Over three days, Ciel had repeated the spell hundreds or thousands of times daily. Though the underlying operational mechanics remained as elusive as looking at flowers through fog, his practical mastery had grown tremendously through countless repetitions.
His spell mastery now showed brilliant silver gleams within the rich bronze luster... not far from Silver-tier proficiency.
Ciel casually waved his wand. Black smoke burst forth, forming a serpent over four meters long. The snake slithered forward swiftly, its sharp fangs dripping with venom.
Whether the serpent's combat awareness and agility when attacking or its sheer size had noticeably improved. This made Ciel nod with satisfaction, his eyes showing anticipation.
At this rate, Serpensortia held tremendous potential. If he practiced it to extremely high mastery, perhaps he could conjure thousand-year-old basilisks. He might even summon Níðhöggr from Norse mythology, or the World Serpent!
Of course, these were just fantasies for now. Ciel shook his head.
"Keep practicing. Strive to understand Serpensortia's underlying changes as soon as possible. Even understanding just one aspect would be enough for my Transfiguration to break through the bottleneck and enter the Bronze tier. It might even significantly increase progress within the Bronze tier. From there, my overall magical mastery could increase substantially."
Just as Ciel prepared to continue practicing, a small opening suddenly appeared in the protective magic outside. Food, water, and some potions he needed for cultivation in the little greenhouse were sent in.
After three days, he had grown accustomed to this sight. Though with his constitution, going without food or water for days wouldn't affect him, Professor Sprout still arranged for Hufflepuff's kitchen to prepare the most nutritious medicinal meals for him daily. She insisted he finish everything, worried he might become malnourished during detention.
He could only smile helplessly at this, having to "squeeze out" time to eat each day. But the deliciousness of Hufflepuff kitchen's food was unquestionable... a nice diversion from his monotonous life. Eating while clearing his mind was quite beneficial for his condition.
This time, Ciel took the tray as usual but discovered a piece of parchment somehow mixed under the food. His eyes showed surprise.
The protective magic Dumbledore had set up was like a firewall with extremely strong filtering capabilities. Nothing could enter except food, water, and cultivation necessities.
What was this parchment about?
His gaze fell on it. Text slowly appeared on the parchment.
"Do you want freedom?"
"Do you want to escape from detention?"
"Don't you think this is all unfair?"
"Why should you be treated this way?"
"Ciel, I can help you. I can ensure such things never happen to you again. I can give you the power to enforce fairness and justice."
As these words appeared, his pupils suddenly contracted.
At the same time, outside the little greenhouse, Quirrell wore a sinister smile as he slowly turned and left.
The protective magic personally established by Dumbledore was indeed extraordinarily powerful. If its function was simply to seal the little greenhouse and prevent anything from entering or leaving, Quirrell would have no options. Even with Voldemort's power, it would be difficult to shake Dumbledore's magic.
But unfortunately, because this protective magic had a filtering mechanism allowing food, water, planting materials, etc. to enter, its complexity was greatly increased. The more complex something was, the more loopholes could be found.
Quirrell had been a rare genius scholar at Hogwarts. Now parasitized by Voldemort, his magical level was even higher than before through constant exposure. After three days of research, he had finally found a loophole.
Using this loophole, he cast a Confundus Charm on an interactive parchment, sending it into the little greenhouse as "food."
His eyes gleamed. He didn't believe that after three days of detention, Ciel could have no grievances. Seeing the parchment he'd sent in, he must be tempted.
As long as Ciel was moved by these words and began writing responses on the parchment, Quirrell believed he could use the slight insight into human nature he'd gained from Voldemort to easily extract the mutant Devil's Snare subspecies's weakness from him.
"Now then. Time to wait for the harvest."
"Ptui! Ptui! Ptui!"
"How unlucky!"
Seeing the text appearing on the parchment, Ciel's face turned as black as a pot bottom. He'd been staying peacefully in the little greenhouse, eating and drinking well while freely grinding magic and cultivation progress. While enjoying comfort and singing songs, how had something dirty gotten in?
He didn't even need to think... he could guess with his toe who had sent the parchment. Come on, would Quirrell ever stop?!
Ciel took a deep breath. Though Dumbledore's protective magic should prevent things emanating Dark Magic from entering, just to be safe, he didn't even want to look at the parchment anymore.
He immediately went to the field where Patronus Trees were planted. Gently touching the Patronus Tree saplings that were much taller than before, waves of sacred protection against Dark Magic fell upon him.
Only then did he finally relax slightly. He waved his wand, tearing the parchment into pieces. After pondering for a moment, he scattered and buried these parchment fragments near the Patronus Tree saplings.
This way, even if the parchment contained any Dark Magic power, it would be annihilated by the Patronus Trees that restrained Dark Magic. After all, this was the work of a double agent... no amount of caution was excessive.
After finishing this, Ciel went to a place farther from the parchment fragments to continue his practice.
At this time, Quirrell waited in his room for Ciel to write a response on the parchment. But as time passed minute by minute, the parchment in his hands never showed any reply.
He raised his eyebrows in surprise. "This little brat has no reaction? Is he too cautious? Right, Hufflepuff students are always very timid. Seems he needs more motivation."
So Quirrell held his quill, writing line after line of seductive text on the parchment.
In the little greenhouse, ink flowed on the parchment fragments. Wisps of extremely weak, mind-influencing magic emanated from the text, only to be annihilated by the Patronus Trees' sacred magic the next moment.
Quirrell wrote continuously for over half an hour until his wrist ached but still saw no response. His expression suddenly turned annoyed.
"Damn little brat. Why be so guarded? I've written so many sentences without a single response... does he understand politeness?"
Then he thought of an unpleasant possibility. "He wouldn't have thrown away my parchment, would he?"
Thinking this, Quirrell gritted his teeth. But soon he calmed down.
"Calm down, calm down. It's only been three days. Ciel's anger and dissatisfaction about detention haven't peaked yet... that's understandable. But as time passes, I don't believe he won't develop such emotions. Continue the offensive!"
The next morning, Ciel carefully checked the parchment fragments buried under the Patronus Trees. He found all the ink had completely disappeared... it looked like the most ordinary parchment. Only then did he relax slightly.
But soon, the protective magic opened another gap. Today's breakfast was sent in. What made his heart sink and his expression angry was another new parchment pressed under the food.
Text continued appearing on it endlessly.
"Ciel, you don't need to be afraid."
"This is Hogwarts, the safest place in the magical world."
"I just want to help you."
"Fairness and justice are pursuits everyone has in their heart."
He didn't even bother looking. He again used the same method, tearing the parchment into pieces and burying them under the Patronus Trees.
Half an hour later, Quirrell gritted his teeth, still trying to attract Ciel's attention.
"Hello? Hello? Is anyone there? Ciel, are you watching?"
But except for his own writing, there was no other feedback on the parchment. This made his expression darken.
"Damn little brat! I've written so much... at least give some reaction! What's the meaning of this cold treatment?!"
Quirrell wanted to immediately grab his quill and curse Ciel thoroughly. But after a moment, he still gritted his teeth and restrained his impulse to explode.
"I don't believe it... could someone really be so satisfied while detained? Isn't that sick?! Persist, Quirrell, you must persist. Send parchment in every day... someday this little Hufflepuff will take the bait!"
So for the next three days, almost every meal, Quirrell stuffed a parchment into the little greenhouse, trying to gradually break through Ciel's defenses.
This day marked exactly one week since his detention began. Looking at yet another parchment sent in, he felt like he was seeing a persistent adhesive plaster. What was wrong with Quirrell?! As a double agent, instead of figuring out how to steal the Philosopher's Stone, why was he sending harassment letters daily?!
His expression was grim. He again tore the parchment into pieces as before, then walked toward the Patronus Tree field to bury them under the trees.
Just then, his gaze fell on the Patronus Trees. He suddenly paused, his expression quite puzzled.
If he remembered correctly, these Patronus Tree saplings hadn't been this tall before, had they? In just a few days, how had they visibly grown taller?
Moreover, he observed carefully and noticed the edges of the sapling leaves had developed a faint, hazy silver color. This made his heart tighten. Could these parchments be poisonous, causing problems with his Patronus Trees?
He quickly checked the information on the Patronus Tree saplings. At that moment, he discovered a new line had quietly appeared in the reward information.
[Extremely Weak Occlumency Enhancement]
This reward information was so faint it was barely visible, not even having an Iron-tier rating. Clearly, forming this reward information was quite forced.
But his eyes suddenly burst with strange light. Occlumency enhancement?! This was a property the Patronus Trees had never displayed before.
His gaze fell on the parchment fragments buried under the trees. A hypothesis formed in his mind. Could it be that these parchment fragments emanated Legilimency magic, and in the process of annihilating this magic, the Patronus Tree saplings gradually developed corresponding characteristics? This ultimately led to Occlumency rewards that could resist Legilimency appearing in the reward information!?
Thinking it over, this seemed to be the only explanation. When Ciel realized this, the gloom in his heart from days of parchment bombardment suddenly vanished.
Occlumency was definitely a good thing. Though actively using Legilimency on people was seriously illegal in the magical world, some wizards skilled in Legilimency almost passively possessed the ability to capture others' thoughts. Especially Voldemort. His Legilimency ability was practically an innate talent.
Even now without a physical body, he could easily probe others' thoughts. This meant that when Ciel moved around Hogwarts, even occasionally encountering Quirrell or just passing by, he had to stay tense and focused. To avoid accidentally having his thoughts probed by Voldemort if he happened to wake up.
He had worried that if he talked in his sleep someday, he might accidentally reveal things. Perhaps no one would take it seriously, but better safe than sorry. What if his increasingly conspicuous performance aroused curiosity?
The system was his greatest reliance... he never wanted to risk even the slightest chance. But with Occlumency, these wouldn't be problems.
Thinking this, he looked at the parchment he'd originally despised with somewhat fervent eyes. After hesitating for a moment, Ciel called Shadow over.
The shadow danced, wrapping around a quill to write a crooked line on the parchment.
At this time, Quirrell had already lost interest. His enthusiasm was nearly worn away, and he'd begun doubting whether his strategy was wrong. But the next second, a line of text appeared on the parchment.
"Who are you?"
This made Quirrell jump up immediately, his expression becoming excited. "He replied to me?! I knew my strategy couldn't be wrong! I, Quirrell, am a genius! Right, right, how should I respond now?"
His thoughts raced through his mind. Finally, he had an inspiration. To gain the trust of a naive young wizard like Ciel, the best method was to disguise himself as the opposite sex.
So after a moment, Quirrell slowly wrote a line of shy text.
"Hello. I'm your senior. A very beautiful one. As for how beautiful... hehe, guess?"
[Chapter Complete]
***
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