Late Night.
Hogwarts Library, Forbidden Section.
The air here was colder than the dungeons, thick with the smell of moldy paper and stale blood.
Madam Pince stood guard at the door like a withered old bat, holding a feather duster, her gaze sharp enough to peel skin.
"One hour only, Potter," Madam Pince warned hoarsely. "Don't touch what shouldn't be touched, or I'll let the books in this section swallow you whole."
Ivan stood behind the red rope, shrugging. "Madam, I suggest you go have a cup of hot tea. The upcoming scene might be a bit... rated R."
With that, he stepped over the red rope.
Hum—!
The bookshelves of the entire Forbidden Section instantly came alive!
Hundreds of books like The Evolution of Dark Magic, Cannibalistic Etiquette, and How to Kill a Unicorn in the Most Painful Way let out piercing shrieks. Their covers opened to reveal sharp teeth, lunging at Ivan like a pack of hungry wolves!
"Good!"
Ivan didn't retreat. Instead, a flash of excited red light sparked in his eyes.
"Word Soul · Area Predation."
He didn't use his wand. He simply opened his hands.
A black gravitational field erupted from his center!
The pouncing Dark Magic books suddenly realized they were the prey.
Ivan clawed at the air, and a brick-thick copy of Compendium of Extreme Dark Arts was sucked into his hand.
The evil spirit inside the book tried to bite Ivan's finger, but Ivan slapped it back into the pages.
"Behave."
Ivan's eyes transformed into a Sharingan-like (no, it was the System Analysis Eye) state.
"System, activate 'Mental Vacuum' mode."
[Ding! High-speed reading in progress...]
[Content Analysis... "Compendium of Extreme Dark Arts": Low-level techniques, 12 logical loopholes found. Suggest destruction.]
[Gained Knowledge Point: Soul Tearing (Enhanced).]
[Gained Emotion Value: 50 (Fear from the book)!]
It took only three seconds.
This forbidden book, which could give Aurors nightmares, instantly lost all its luster, becoming as pale as waste paper.
Ivan tossed it onto the floor, spitting out a mouthful of black smoke like a fish bone. "Too dry. No nutritional value."
He walked to the next book.
It was a lone copy regarding "Ancient Runes."
The book tried to run, but Ivan stepped on it.
"Going somewhere? I haven't finished reading."
Ivan squatted down, pressing his finger against the spine.
"Alchemy · Matter Conversion."
Under the metaphorical public gaze (if Madam Pince could see), the book melted directly into a puddle of golden liquid and drilled into Ivan's body through his finger!
[System Alert: Ancient Runes Mastery analyzed! Host has mastered the writing method for "Death Curses."]
Ivan stood up and dusted off his hands.
The entire Forbidden Section was dead silent.
The remaining thousands of books huddled in the corners, shivering, spines pressed tight together like frightened quails.
They possessed sentience; they knew the demon in front of them wasn't here to read—he was here to restock!
"Full already?" Ivan wiped his mouth with dissatisfaction. "I only ate half a shelf."
His gaze fell upon an independent glass cabinet deep within the Forbidden Section.
Inside lay an extremely ancient, tattered parchment manuscript.
No words on the cover, only a triangular symbol.
The Legend of the Deathly Hallows.
Ivan walked over. Without even touching the lock reputed to be "only touchable by the strongest Dark Wizard," he punched the glass cabinet to pieces.
He picked up the manuscript and opened it.
There was no blinding golden light, no divine oracle.
The first page contained only a line of scrawled text:
"If you can read this, it means your magic is overflowing with nowhere to go. Congratulations, you are qualified to be an engineer."
Ivan's mouth twitched. "Engineer?"
He continued reading.
The so-called "Elder Wand" was described in the notes as a "Causality Weapon Interface."
The so-called "Resurrection Stone" was described as a "Quantum Entanglement Soul Anchoring Device."
The so-called "Invisibility Cloak" was a "Light Refraction Field Generator."
"So that's it..." The fanaticism in Ivan's eyes grew. "This isn't magic at all; this is higher-dimensional technology! Or rather... Ancient Magic is actually forgotten engineering?"
Tucked in the last page was a yellowed photograph.
It showed two young men, one with dazzling blond hair, the other with messy auburn hair. They were raising glasses, laughing at the camera.
Young Dumbledore and Grindelwald.
On the table behind them lay not wands, but piles of precision gears and blueprints.
"Dumbledore..." Ivan whispered the name. "You really fooled everyone."
Just then, footsteps approached from behind.
"It seems you have discovered it."
Dumbledore stood in the shadows, holding the Elder Wand. There was no anger in his blue eyes, only a deep weariness and... expectation?
"Headmaster?" Ivan turned around, waving the notebook. "This is the secret you guard? It's actually a copy of Advanced Mechanical Drawing?"
Dumbledore sighed, stepped forward, and waved his wand to restore the "abused" forbidden books on the floor.
"That was the fantasy of Gellert and me in our youth." Dumbledore's voice was hoarse. "We once thought we could use science to explain magic, and magic to drive science. But later... we found it too dangerous. Once magic becomes a 'tool' anyone can operate, the world would be destroyed."
"So you locked it up?" Ivan tossed the notebook back to Dumbledore. "What a waste of heavenly gifts."
Dumbledore caught the notebook, looking deeply at Ivan. "But you are different, Ivan. The way you just 'ate' the books... that is something only a legendary 'Spell Eater' can do. You aren't learning magic; you are parsing it."
"So?" Ivan raised an eyebrow.
"So," Dumbledore suddenly smiled like an old fox, "since you are interested in these 'blueprints', why don't we make a deal?"
Ivan looked at him warily. "I have no money."
"No money needed." Dumbledore pointed to the notebook. "I can lend you Nicolas Flamel's alchemy notes. In exchange... during the summer holidays, if that pitiful soul fragment of Tom Riddle dares to cause trouble, you are responsible for beating him back. No explosions allowed; you must crush him with 'technique'."
Ivan's eyes lit up. "Nicolas Flamel's notes? That old monster who lived over six hundred years?"
"Deal."
Ivan reached out and shook Dumbledore's hand.
"However, Headmaster," Ivan suddenly remembered something, pointing to the shivering pile of books in the corner. "Can I take these books to go? My pet Basilisk needs chew toys."
Dumbledore's beard twitched. "...Leave two for breeding stock. Take the rest to feed the snake."
[System Alert: Dumbledore (Shocked by Tech + Found a Scapegoat): Emotion Value +500!]
[System Alert: Host successfully unlocked Hidden Class "Alchemist"!]
[Reward: Soul of an Engineer (Passive Skill: Automatically learn to use any mechanical/magical device upon touching it).]
Ivan snapped his fingers in satisfaction.
A pile of forbidden books floated up behind him as if carried by invisible hands.
"By the way, Headmaster." At the door, Ivan looked back. "That Invisibility Cloak... I suggest you update the version. The current refraction index has a 0.03% error margin; a sprinkle of 'Revealing Dust' exposes the silhouette. Next time, I'll make you an 'Absolute Invisibility' coating."
Dumbledore froze in place, watching Ivan's retreating back.
After a long time, the old wizard chuckled softly.
"Absolute Invisibility, huh..."
"It seems this summer, Tom is going to be unlucky."
In Ivan's Dormitory.
The Basilisk cub lay on the floor, hissing happily at the mountain of forbidden books before it.
Ivan held Nicolas Flamel's notes, his eyes shining brighter than Galleons.
"The Philosopher's Stone is just an energy battery..."
"Horcruxes are cloud backups..."
"Voldemort..."
Ivan's lips curled into a cruel smile.
"I'll graciously accept your soul fragments as 'System Upgrade Packs'."