Chapter 216: New Abilities of the Eye of Arcane Perception
(TL Note: I've updated "Peeking Fiend's Eye" to "Eye of Arcane Perception." The new name reads more naturally in English and better matches the tone and naming style used in the system.)
Hagrid's hut was warm and snug, the hearth giving off enough heat to keep the wind and snow well outside the walls.
The air smelled of rock cakes and strong tea.
Hagrid wiped the corner of his eye, his voice thick and unsteady.
"I really have to thank yeh, Leonardo. If it weren't for you, I'd probably have ended up takin' a trip to Azkaban."
He shuddered involuntarily.
"That place ain't fit for humans. Those dementors… they're terrifying."
"Dementors?" Ron asked from his seat, curious. "What are those?"
Hermione took over at once.
"They're the guards of Azkaban. A type of Dark creature. They feed on your happy memories and leave you with nothing but your worst ones. They can even give you a 'Dementor's Kiss', which pulls your soul right out of your body."
Harry and Ron both went pale. They sank lower in their seats, as though trying to make themselves small.
"Oi, don't worry!" Hagrid said quickly, forcing his voice into a lighter tone. "Long as you lot behave and don't end up in Azkaban, you'll never have to deal with them!"
Leonardo lifted his teacup and took a quiet sip, a thought lingering at the back of his mind.
No need to go to Azkaban. Next year, they would see dementors right here at Hogwarts.
Hagrid's spirits bounced back quickly. His face flushed with colour, bright with excitement.
"The truth about fifty years ago is finally out! The Ministry's already sent word. I'm allowed to go to Ollivanders and buy a new wand! From now on, I can use magic openly and properly!"
Ron blinked, as if something had just occurred to him. He turned to Harry.
"Hang on, Hagrid. Harry told me that when you went to pick him up from the Dursleys, you gave his horrible cousin a pig's tail?"
Hagrid's big, bearded face went instantly white. He waved his enormous hands in sudden panic.
"Shh! That, that was an accident! Don't you dare tell anyone! Just pretend it never happened, all right?"
They all promised earnestly that they wouldn't.
The trio still looked somewhat puzzled, but Leonardo's gaze had drifted to the conspicuous pink umbrella propped against Hagrid's bedside.
Hagrid's wand had been snapped by the Ministry fifty years ago, but Dumbledore had privately repaired it with the Elder Wand. It had been hidden inside the umbrella ever since, disguised for practical use.
During the conversation, Hermione happened to glance at Leonardo. His dark green eyes seemed subtly deeper than usual.
The moment their eyes met, a faint sting touched her eyes, and she shut them tightly.
Noticing her reaction, Leonardo asked, "What's wrong?"
Hermione shook her head and rubbed her eyes. "Nothing. I just looked at your eyes, and it felt… strange. Like a sting."
Harry nodded from nearby. "I felt it too. I couldn't quite bring myself to look directly."
Ron, hearing this, leaned in with a stubborn look, refusing to believe it. He stared straight at Leonardo for all of two seconds before snapping his head away.
Hagrid rumbled from across the room. "I didn't feel anythin'. Looks the same as always to me."
Leonardo considered this for a moment, then took out his silver-framed spectacles and put them on.
"How about now?"
"Much better!" the three of them said, almost in unison.
It didn't take Leonardo long to understand what had happened. He had just finished modifying the Eye of Arcane Perception using the basilisk's eyes, and the magic had not yet fully settled. It was leaking out without his conscious control.
All the original abilities had all been strengthened to varying degrees: tracking magical flow, dynamic visual acuity, and microscopic zoom.
But the most notable addition was something entirely new.
If he held eye contact with a living creature, the target would enter a state of paralysis. The severity varied.
It resembled the basilisk's killing gaze in principle, but the effect was far weaker.
He had only used the basilisk's eyes as raw material for modification. A wizard's magical circuitry was fundamentally different from a basilisk's. There was no way to perfectly replicate the original creature's ability.
Leonardo had tested it on the large rooster he had borrowed from Hagrid.
If he sustained eye contact long enough, the paralysis deepened continuously, and it could eventually become lethal.
But the process was painfully slow.
Against a single chicken, he'd had to stare for several seconds before the bird was on the edge of death.
Afterwards, he made sure to compensate the rooster properly: a comfortable warm bath, and rubbed down with various herbs and spices.
It did smell quite nice in the end.
Through further experimentation, Leonardo found that brief eye contact produced a much milder paralysis, and the degree also varied depending on the target's magical strength.
Simply put, the stronger the target's magic, the weaker the paralysis.
He hadn't tested the lethal threshold on anything truly powerful, but by extension, achieving a genuine "death stare" would probably require him to stock up on eye drops. Staring that long would dry them out.
All things considered, Leonardo found the ability somewhat underwhelming. Against someone of Dumbledore's calibre, the effect would likely be negligible.
The ability probably scaled with the gap in magical power between Leonardo and his target.
He suspected that as his own magic strengthened, both the paralysis and the killing effect would improve. That was something to revisit later on, once his magic had grown noticeably.
Still, Leonardo's conclusion remained the same. This was an ability best suited to one-sided fights.
Against someone far weaker, a single glance would finish them, but aside from its visual impact, there was no real advantage over a spell.
Against an opponent of comparable strength, the brief paralysis could create an opening, which was useful.
Leonardo glanced at Hagrid, considering why the big man had felt nothing. Partly because Leonardo hadn't actually activated the Eye of Arcane Perception. It had only been a passive magical leak. But the other reason was Hagrid's half-giant blood. His natural magic resistance was absurdly high.
Leonardo had the distinct feeling that even without a wand, Hagrid could wade through other wizards' spells and simply beat them to death with his fists.
The conversation soon turned to holiday plans. Leonardo mentioned he wouldn't be staying at school over Christmas this year.
He had plenty of things to take care of outside Hogwarts.
Ron spoke up enthusiastically. "I'm going home! George and Fred have been saving up to buy me a new wand!"
"They saved for a whole month! They might always mess with me, but when it really counts, they know how to be proper older brothers!"
Harry listened, and something he couldn't quite hide flickered through his eyes. He had always envied the warm, noisy bustle of the Weasley household.
Leonardo, however, looked mildly puzzled. The twins had saved for an entire month just to buy Ron a wand?
A wand costs seven Galleons.
Was the wage he paid them really that low?
Well. Ron.