Based on Cedric's character, Victor felt that he would have no problem joining his guild, the Fairy Tail. So teaching him the magic circle now was not an issue.
However, Skyscraper itself is an extremely powerful illusion spell, powerful enough to affect the caster.
In Earth Land, even Mystogan needed the help of a staff to stay conscious, or he would easily become trapped in his own illusion. Furthermore, after being modified and strengthened by Victor, Skyscraper had reached the level of a Great Magic.
If Cedric wanted to learn Skyscraper, Victor would have to test if his innate mental strength could withstand the backlash of the illusion magic. Otherwise, he would fall into his own illusion during his practice and die without even knowing it.
So, to be safe, Victor thought for a moment and said to Cedric, "I can teach you Skyscraper!"
"Really?!"
"But!"
Before Cedric could get excited, Victor's "but" was like a bucket of cold water, dousing the smile on his face.
"I can teach you Skyscraper, but you have to promise me one thing!" Victor continued. "Sometime next term, or the school year at the latest, I'll be establishing a guild at Hogwarts. If I agree to teach you Skyscraper now, you have to promise me that you will join my guild then!"
"What… what is a guild?" Cedric asked curiously. He was very wary of joining such a vague organization. It wasn't because he thought Victor was a bad person; it was mainly because he was afraid that after joining, the guild's ideals wouldn't align with his own, and he would be forced to do things against his conscience.
But Victor simply replied to Cedric's question, "Don't ask. You'll find out then! Just tell me if you can accept this condition!"
"Well… okay! No problem, I promise you!" Cedric struggled internally. After weighing the pros and cons, he finally decided to agree.
"And..." Victor continued.
"There's more?!"
"Do you Hufflepuffs love to interrupt people? Can you please let me finish my sentence?!" A vein throbbed on Victor's forehead.
The last time he went to the kitchen for a midnight snack was the same! That night, he ran into a few Hufflepuffs who were secretly snacking in the kitchen. This was normal since the kitchens were right next to the Hufflepuff common room.
At first, the students just said hello to Victor and then continued eating. But when they saw Kururu helping Victor make a midnight snack and smelled the delicious aroma, their eyes lit up. They all ran over to Victor and asked him how to make it.
At first, Victor was enthusiastic about explaining, as it was his duty to promote his country's excellent food culture! But he hadn't expected that the Hufflepuffs would have so many ideas during his explanation. They would directly interrupt him and say things like, "What if we replace the garlic with ketchup?" Victor was so angry he wanted to turn those Hufflepuffs into tomatoes and plant them in his garden!
Back in the present, Cedric saw that Victor was a bit angry and quickly apologized, "I'm sorry, please continue…"
Victor took a deep breath and continued, "To learn the Skyscraper spell, you need to have a very high level of talent in a certain area! In a moment, I will cast a spell on you. If you can escape within the given time, it will prove you are qualified to learn Skyscraper."
As he spoke, Victor drew his wand from his waist. "Also, if you can't learn Skyscraper, the promise you just made to me can also be voided. But you can still choose to learn other spells. I have many more to choose from!" he said with a proud expression.
"So, are you ready?"
"I'm ready!" Cedric nodded nervously.
"Alright, let's shake hands first!" Victor's thoughts suddenly jumped, and he extended his hand. Cedric reflexively shook it.
Instantly, a fine, dazzling tongue of fire suddenly appeared from Victor's arm, like a hot, red wire, wrapping around Cedric's hand.
"An Unbreakable Vow!!!" Cedric shouted in shock. But before he could react, Victor's wand quickly tapped him on the head, and Cedric felt a flash of white light. His vision became increasingly blurred, and then he fainted.
"Cedric!"
From a distance, Cedric's friends, who didn't know the full story, saw Victor cast a spell on their friend. They ran over in a panic. "What did you do to him?" one Hufflepuff asked aggressively.
"Don't worry, it's the same spell as the Halloween game yesterday. He'll wake up in about ten minutes," Victor explained with a wave of his hand.
In the illusion...
Cedric slowly opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was complete darkness. He felt his body, as if he were lying on a cold floor.
"How did I get here?" was Cedric's first thought. But he quickly realized, "Dreyar cast a spell on me. He wants me to escape within a set time. Escape? How?"
Cedric slowly stood up and looked around. He found himself standing on a giant square staircase. The four corners of the stairs were connected, and they seemed to go up and down, giving him a very confusing feeling.
"Where is this place?!" Cedric walked a few steps to one corner of the square staircase, looked up and down, and found nothing special. Then he walked to another corner. But as he walked, Cedric suddenly realized something was wrong!
This staircase wasn't as simple as he had imagined! He couldn't distinguish between the reality of the stairs. He had felt like he was going up, but when he reached the other corner and looked back, the starting point was above his head?!
Cedric couldn't believe his eyes. He quickly ran around the square staircase once. He found that from every angle, the stairs seemed to be constantly shifting. He couldn't find the highest or lowest point. This was completely beyond his normal understanding of things.
In reality, Cedric was standing on a famous geometric paradox, the Penrose stairs. It was proposed in 1958 by British mathematician Roger Penrose and his father, geneticist Lionel Penrose. It is a staircase that always goes up or down but never ends. It can be seen as a variation of the Penrose triangle. On this staircase, one can never find the highest or lowest point.
At this moment, Victor watched Cedric swaying back and forth on the Penrose stairs, looking helpless, and couldn't help but sigh for him.
Cedric was from a pure-blood wizarding family. He had never been exposed to modern science and didn't understand the concept of a four-dimensional space, so he couldn't understand what was happening.
Furthermore, the Penrose stairs were just a hint from Victor, not the real challenge! The things after the staircase were Cedric's real test…
On the Penrose stairs, Cedric ran around a few times but couldn't find any useful clues. So he thought for a moment and then slowly moved to the edge of the stairs. Looking at the bottomless darkness below, which seemed to swallow everything, Cedric nervously swallowed.
He thought that if he couldn't find a way out on the stairs, he would just find a different way!
He couldn't die in an illusion anyway!
With that thought, after a final bit of self-convincing, Cedric took a few running steps and jumped into the abyss below the Penrose stairs...
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