After finishing the Parasitic Pod's enhancement, Leonard fed it a few Fire Dragon scales, causing scale-like growths to appear along its branches.
That earned Leonard a hundred experience points, which was no longer a very significant number for him now.
At this point, if Leonard wanted to level up, then unless he planted on a large scale, even the experience given by precious magical plants was hardly worth mentioning.
The Parasitic Pod was the brand-new symbiotic plant Leonard had prepared for Midgard. Fire Dragon scales could increase its defense, and through Plant Modification, Leonard had changed the plant's self-destruct ability into a magical burst.
In other words, after fully absorbing magic, the Parasitic Pod could, under Midgard's control, directly turn that absorbed power into a magical shockwave and hurl it back at the attacker.
The original self-destruct ability had not required stability, but now that it had been changed into a magical shockwave, the cost was that its efficiency at absorbing magic had weakened. It could no longer absorb magic perfectly, so dragon scales were needed to strengthen its defenses.
Now all that remained was to complete the symbiosis with Midgard, and she would gain even stronger and more flexible abilities.
However, because intelligence work on the werewolf wizard side had only just begun, Midgard did not have time to keep bringing Claudia to the botanical garden to wait around for Leonard.
So after returning to his dormitory, Leonard stayed up through the night writing Midgard a letter, telling her to come back and update her equipment whenever she had time, and to buy some daily necessities as well so they could be stored in the storage space for emergencies.
By the time he finished all of that, dawn was already breaking. Going to sleep at that hour would only make him feel even worse, so Leonard chose to drink a bottle of Invigoration Draught and stay up until morning, then go to class as usual the next day.
For Leonard, ordinary lessons were very easy. All he needed to do was listen to what the professor said the class was about, then show the required results during practical work.
Leonard's magical level had long since left people his own age behind. Whether it was the amount of magic he had or the number of spells he had mastered, he far surpassed the average adult wizard.
Aside from specialized subjects like Potions and Herbology, he attended other lessons only out of respect for the professors.
On the fifth day after term began, Leonard had his first Defense Against the Dark Arts class.
"I heard this year's Defense Against the Dark Arts professor is really good." On the way to class, Justin sounded excited. "Students from the other houses said Professor Raymons is incredibly knowledgeable, and he doesn't just stick to the textbook. His classes are supposed to be really interesting."
Beside him, a drained-looking Ernie yawned. "That's good. Last year's Professor Quirrell was absolutely awful. Listening to him teach was worse than just reading the book myself... though right now, I'm kind of hoping this professor isn't too serious."
Because he still had not finished his final assignment, Ernie had ended up with joint detention from both professors.
Snape's verbal attacks had left him mentally exhausted. He had to spend a great deal of effort just to keep himself from sinking into depression.
Professor Binns's endless droning had made him dizzy, and even in his sleep, he felt as though he could still hear Binns's flat, stone-hard monotone echoing through his mind.
Compared with Snape, Professor Binns was the one who really made your head hurt.
"Uh..." Justin glanced at Ernie's haggard face and found himself at a loss for words. Then he turned to Leonard. "Leonard, what do you think of the new professor?"
"I haven't actually seen enough to judge," Leonard said calmly. "But I'm looking forward to it."
He was looking forward to seeing what this professor, who had come out of nowhere, was planning.
Leonard had originally thought that this professor would be eager to get in touch with him, the Heir to Ancient Magic, but to his surprise, the man had stayed remarkably patient and still had not come looking for him.
The other side definitely knew he existed, so why were they ignoring him for the moment?
To make him lower his guard? Or to present themselves as relatively friendly?
Actually, those two things could be seen as the same. The reason they had not approached him right away was probably to show that they meant no harm, that they could communicate amicably, and that he did not need to be resistant.
But unfortunately for them, when it came to Raven, Leonard was going to assume the worst possible intentions.
He had no desire to entrust his safety to someone else's morality or credibility.
Inside the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, Harris Raymons had arrived early. He sat beside the lectern, smiling as he looked at each student.
That attitude alone was already worth praising. Compared with Quirrell, who loved slacking off and never managed to teach anything useful, this was already a vast improvement.
On top of that, Harris Raymons was young and handsome, with a constant smile on his face. He looked every bit the warm, charming type, the kind of man who could easily win the favor of female students.
After greeting the professor, Leonard and the other two found seats. The professor showed no special attitude toward Leonard at all, as though he did not know him.
"Just based on appearances, this professor is way better than Quirrell," Justin whispered after sitting down. "At least he's handsome."
"Yeah. That Quirrell guy smelled bad, and he wore the same outfit every day. I almost thought he was Indian," Ernie said with another yawn.
Leonard said nothing. He merely opened his textbook and pretended to review while quietly observing the professor.
Everything about him looked normal. His gaze never lingered on any one student for more than two seconds, including Leonard himself.
But Leonard noticed that after sweeping his eyes around the room, the professor's pupils would unfocus for less than a second.
The students had not noticed that brief moment at all. Even the infatuated girls staring at Harris Raymons had missed it.
That periodic blankness caught Leonard's attention. After thinking for a moment, he remembered something important.
A raven.
When Harris Raymons had infiltrated the werewolf settlement, he had had a raven with him, and he had even used that raven to cast ancient magic.
According to the intelligence Leonard had gathered, ravens of that sort were a symbol of status within Raven. Under normal circumstances, any Raven member who possessed a raven had no ordinary status, and they would never allow the bird to stray too far from them.
After all, the raven was one of their greatest tools. Through its power, they could use transfer magic that ignored anti-Apparition wards, and they could even cast ancient magic.
So... where was Harris Raymons's raven?
Leonard quietly let his gaze search around the classroom, but found nothing. Then, once he calmed down, he quickly became aware of a stare fixed on him.
He looked up, and soon spotted a small raven with crimson eyes perched on the dragon skeleton model hanging from the classroom ceiling.