"Idiot!"
Snape's furious roar echoed through the dungeon classroom.
"Why would you put venomous snake fangs into your potion at this stage?"
Draco Malfoy looked utterly bewildered.
Because he genuinely hadn't added snake fangs.
At least, not intentionally.
Unfortunately, he currently lacked the ability to defend himself properly. The exploded potion had splashed all over him, covering his face and arms with swollen red boils identical to Neville's.
Malfoy shrieked miserably while clutching his burning skin.
Several nearby Slytherins had also been caught in the explosion and now looked equally miserable.
Meanwhile, Gryffindor's side remained mostly unharmed.
Thanks to Lucas reacting quickly earlier, Neville's exploding potion had vanished before it could spread across the room. Aside from Neville's own injured hand, nobody else had suffered damage.
Snape's expression looked murderous.
Still, even he couldn't ignore injured students completely. He immediately ordered several Slytherins to escort Malfoy and the others toward the Hospital Wing.
By the time Potions class finally ended another hour later, the entire Gryffindor table looked emotionally exhausted.
As they climbed out of the dungeon classroom, Harry immediately began ranting furiously.
"This is ridiculous!"
Ron nodded aggressively beside him.
"Neville's cauldron explodes?" Harry continued angrily. "I lose points."
"Malfoy's cauldron explodes?" He threw his hands into the air. "I lose points again!"
Harry's face turned red remembering Snape's excuse.
"He actually said Malfoy got distracted because Neville exploded his potion earlier! Then blamed me for not warning Neville in the first place!"
Ron looked deeply traumatised. "I honestly think Snape would deduct points from Harry if the sun exploded."
Lucas coughed awkwardly.
After the next lesson, he finally admitted the truth privately to Harry.
"…Malfoy's cauldron exploding was technically my fault," Lucas confessed. "Sorry. You lost points because of me."
Instead of getting angry, Harry immediately looked delighted.
"You did that?" he whispered excitedly.
Lucas nodded calmly.
Harry instantly burst into laughter.
"That was brilliant," he said happily. "Honestly, Malfoy screaming like that completely healed my soul."
Lucas thought about it carefully afterward and decided Harry had a point.
Besides, no matter how many points Snape deducted now, Dumbledore would probably add triple the amount back at the end of the year anyway.
After lunch, Lucas separated from Kassandra and Hermione before returning directly to his dormitory.
The moment he touched the bed, he lost consciousness instantly.
By now, he had already spent three consecutive nights inside the Restricted Section and finished more than thirty Dark Arts books.
Previously, he'd still forced himself back to the dormitory around two in the morning because classes started the next day.
But now it was Friday.
Saturday meant freedom.
Which meant Lucas had made a dangerous decision.
This weekend, he intended to stay inside the library all night.
His goal was simple:
Finish one hundred Dark Arts books before Sunday ended.
…
Unfortunately, Lucas had seriously underestimated the absurdity of his own Dark Arts talent.
By late Saturday night, he had already completed ninety-nine books.
Ninety-nine.
It was now five o'clock in the morning.
Technically speaking, Sunday had already begun.
Normally, Lucas should have returned to Gryffindor Tower by now.
But with only one final book remaining before completing the system mission, leaving now felt impossible.
After all, Madam Pince wouldn't arrive this early.
Surely reading one more book couldn't hurt.
Using the system interface for guidance, Lucas accurately located the final Dark Arts text hidden deep within the Restricted Section.
The book itself looked strange.
Its entire cover was wrapped in black leather without a single title written anywhere.
Still, through the system panel, Lucas could see its true name clearly.
Soul Magic.
At the same time, the system displayed another warning.
Do not open directly.
According to the system's explanation, anyone opening the book normally would immediately lose consciousness and forget ever seeing the book at all.
Lucas instantly broke into cold sweat.
If not for the system warning him beforehand, he might've collapsed unconscious inside the Restricted Section overnight.
Then Madam Pince would probably discover his body the next morning and drag him directly to Dumbledore's office.
Meanwhile, the library's protective enchantments would quietly return the book to its shelf automatically, leaving nobody with any idea why Lucas fainted in the first place.
Naturally, this warning only made Lucas even more interested.
Following the system's instructions carefully, he used his finger to draw three clockwise circles across the black leather cover.
After the third circle, the book suddenly changed colour.
The dark leather slowly turned blood-red.
Then—
Click.
A faint unlocking sound echoed softly from inside the cover.
Lucas narrowed his eyes and slowly opened the book.
The first thing he saw was a detailed anatomical diagram of the human body.
He blinked in confusion.
Why would a soul magic book begin with anatomy?
Suppressing his curiosity, Lucas continued reading.
The opening chapters focused entirely on one central question posed by the book's original author:
Where exactly does the human soul exist inside the body?
The idea fascinated Lucas immediately.
After all, wizards clearly understood souls existed.
Ghosts proved that.
People died, souls separated, and under certain conditions, fragments could even remain behind.
But where did the soul actually reside while a person was still alive?
The author described countless horrifying experiments attempting to answer that question.
Many details were disturbing enough that Lucas skipped entire paragraphs instinctively.
Still, the conclusions themselves were fascinating.
The author observed that ordinary physical injuries did not immediately damage the soul.
However, certain severe or irreversible injuries did.
For example, when Muggles permanently lost limbs, their souls also became incomplete at the same moment.
Meanwhile, wizards who lost limbs but later restored them through magic showed no damage to the soul whatsoever.
Why?
What determined the soul's condition?
The author eventually reached a shocking conclusion.
The soul's completeness depended entirely on self-perception.
If a person truly believed they had permanently lost part of themselves, their soul would become incomplete accordingly.
A Muggle who lost an arm forever subconsciously accepted that reality.
Therefore, the soul itself also became damaged.
But a wizard injured temporarily by ordinary means understood deep down that healing magic could restore the injury eventually.
As a result, the soul remained whole from beginning to end.
The soul reflected belief.
Subjective belief.
And based upon this theory, the author eventually created a terrifying spell.
A curse capable of directly harming the soul itself.
A spell that ignored all physical defences entirely and attacked the target's soul directly.
....
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