Chapter 138: Breakthrough Through Relentless Practice

With the incantation spoken, a black shadow burst from the tip of Ciel's wand. A black venomous snake over three meters long, hissing and flicking its tongue, landed on the ground ahead. The snake reared up, assuming an attacking posture. At this moment, on the system panel, the text [Serpensortia] fully formed. Unlike when he first learned spells and only a dim iron luster appeared, [Serpensortia] already had dots of bronze light emerging... clearly it had reached the threshold of the Bronze tier! Seeing this, Ciel showed satisfaction. "The improvement in Transfiguration mastery really has a multiplying effect on learning various spells. Just Black Iron-tier Transfiguration already has such effects. When I advance my Transfiguration to higher levels in the future, I might casually learn any spell starting at the Platinum tier!" But immediately after, his attention shifted to other matters. He waved his wand again, and the black snake dissolved back into smoke. Throughout the entire process, Ciel was fully focused, seemingly not wanting to miss any detail. After the last wisp of smoke dissipated, his pupils flashed with both wonder and shock. "Amazing. Truly amazing. This spell contains a complete Transfiguration process. From nothing, conjuring smoke, transforming into a snake, then from snake back to smoke, returning to nothingness. The key is that even though I don't understand the underlying logic of this process, just by systematically reciting the incantation and waving the wand, I can complete this process." "Like a program... I don't need to understand its principles; just double-click to run it. It looks simple, but the technology behind it runs very deep. The wizard who created this spell probably had master-level Transfiguration skills." He took a deep breath, his expression somewhat excited. He glanced at his own Transfiguration. Currently still at Black Iron tier, but bronze luster already covered most of it. He had a feeling that if he could understand the core of Serpensortia, even just understanding a few points, advancing Transfiguration to the Bronze tier would be effortless. So Ciel began repeating Serpensortia again. Smoke continuously burst forth, accompanied by the sounds of snake hissing. He focused intently on sensing the changes in magical power during this process. The chaotic magic constantly changed form in ways he couldn't understand. First transforming into dispersed smoke, then condensing into a black snake. The profound subtleties in the process left him stunned. After quite a while, Ciel finally came to his senses, showing a somewhat bitter smile. Just the complexity of magical changes he had sensed during the spellcasting process... if he wanted to fully comprehend it, that would definitely be a vast undertaking. But after a moment, his mindset calmed down. He didn't seek to master so much in one breath. Just understanding one point at a time would be enough. Then his expression returned to calm. "Start researching from the most minute detail, like how exactly one snake scale is transformed. Slowly gnaw at it." Then the sounds of snake hissing and smoke bursting echoed once again in the little greenhouse. At the same time, at the end of the fourth-floor corridor of Hogwarts castle, before the trapdoor, a hooded figure entered without hesitation. Upon entering, what met his eyes was the three-headed dog that nearly filled the entire room's ceiling. Foul, hot wind hit his face. The three-headed dog let out a low growl. Quirrell stared intently at the three-headed dog Fluffy, sweat forming in his palms. This monster was thick-skinned, incredibly strong, and had terrifying close-combat abilities... enough to tear apart a troll. That was manageable. The key was its magical defense was also ridiculously strong. Ordinary spells couldn't even scratch the three-headed dog's skin. It even had extraordinary resistance to Dark Magic. Even the Killing Curse had minimal effect on it. Even placing a dragon here would be far less troublesome than the three-headed dog! Quirrell had suffered too many losses in front of the three-headed dog. Now he only hoped the method he'd learned from Hagrid would actually work. Then, the instant the three-headed dog lunged at him, Quirrell waved his wand and conjured a violin. The bow began moving fluidly on its own. Melodious music immediately emerged from the strings. In that instant, the three-headed dog became drowsy and unsteady on its feet. In less than a moment, the three-headed dog was completely overcome by sleepiness, falling to the ground and snoring loudly. Quirrell's heartbeat began racing violently. He continued letting the violin play while quickening his pace, not wanting to waste even a second as he rushed through the door the three-headed dog was guarding. "The Philosopher's Stone is within reach!" This was his only thought. "Without the three-headed dog, what can the remaining obstacles do to stop me? What's the next challenge? Devil's Snare? One minute... in one minute I can make these things completely barren!" Then Quirrell stepped forward into darkness. In the darkness, shadows were writhing and coiling toward him. He sneered. "Mere Devil's Snare. Get out of my way!" Flames swept from his wand tip, spreading toward the shadows ahead, enveloping the writhing Devil's Snare tendrils. But the next moment, something he hadn't expected happened. The Devil's Snare, which should have been extremely afraid of flames, showed no reaction whatsoever to his fire! Not only that, they seemed angered instead. Dense masses of Devil's Snare tendrils lashed toward Quirrell. He looked shocked and quickly cast protective charms, finally breathing slightly easier. His mind raced through the scene he'd just witnessed. "How could Devil's Snare not fear fire?" He noticed a special smell permeating the air. "This is... Lava grass juice? Damn it, coating Devil's Snare with this stuff? Why didn't anyone tell me about this?!" Quirrell gritted his teeth. This way, the Devil's Snare's greatest weakness had been compensated for. Its difficulty level had directly increased. But fortunately, this plant's main attack method was strangling enemies to suffocation. The lashing like this looked frightening but was actually limited in power. He felt he could completely endure these attacks and proceed to the next challenge. But the next second, when the Devil's Snare tendrils struck his protective charm, tremendous force suddenly erupted. His full-strength protective charm actually began swaying precariously. His expression immediately changed drastically, feeling his worldview somewhat overturned. "This level of force? This is supposed to be Devil's Snare?!" Only then did Quirrell see, through his protective magic, how these Devil's Snare tendrils differed from what he remembered. It wasn't just the layer of lava grass juice. They themselves actually gleamed with a strange metallic luster, almost like forged steel. Whether in thickness or the aggressiveness they emanated, they were far stronger than the Devil's Snare in his memory. At this moment, a shocking and infuriating guess flashed through his mind. "Damn it! This isn't ordinary Devil's Snare. This is a cultivated mutant subspecies, and one with enhanced offensive capabilities!" His eyes nearly burst with rage. This was far different from his estimated situation. The information he'd received wasn't like this at all! The obstacles behind... hadn't he been told they were all like children's games? Quirrell suddenly had an ominous premonition. Originally thinking it was ordinary Devil's Snare that could be dealt with casually using Incendio, in reality it was a mutant subspecies also coated with fire-resistant lava grass juice. And there were so many of them. This level of difficulty even exceeded the three-headed dog. What about the remaining obstacles? Would they really be as described in his previous intelligence? His heart sank to the bottom. If they were all like the Devil's Snare obstacle... appearing simple but actually vastly different... then his entire plan for the Philosopher's Stone could be said to have completely failed, requiring starting over from scratch! Thinking this, Quirrell couldn't help but roar in anger. Even Voldemort's venomous voice echoed in his mind. "Dumbledore! This must be his doing! That manipulative old fool... don't let me find an opportunity, or I'll dig up his grave!" At this time, layers upon layers of Devil's Snare tendrils surged forward. This time it wasn't just lashing... they also employed Devil's Snare's most skilled technique: coiling and strangling. Almost instantly, Quirrell's already precarious protective magic collapsed and dissipated. If not for his quick reaction, waving his wand repeatedly to release new protective magic, being caught by this mutated Devil's Snare would have resulted in more than just suffocation. His bones would probably be crushed to pieces! But the new protective magic only lasted less than a second before collapsing again. Quirrell's face went pale. While continuously waving his wand, he cried out in his mind. "Master!" Instantly, Voldemort's magical power flowed into his wand. A wall of pitch-black flames blocked the surging Devil's Snare. Taking this opportunity, Quirrell quickly escaped. He hurried away from the fourth-floor corridor. The night's cold wind blew, but it couldn't extinguish the fury in his heart. "Spent so much effort to find one unicorn, drank its blood, recovered a little strength. The power I finally accumulated was completely wasted in this one attempt!" His heart was bleeding. After all this trouble, except for gaining a unicorn's curse, he had gained absolutely nothing else?! After a long while, Quirrell panted heavily, organizing his thoughts. "No, there were gains. At least I learned about that old fox Dumbledore's cunning. None of those obstacles are simple!" Recalling the scene of Devil's Snare surging toward him, he still felt lingering fear. "I need to find this mutant Devil's Snare's weakness." But feeling the weakness surging through his body again, his expression became bitter. Unicorn blood was most effective the first time it was consumed. After that, the effects would begin diminishing. He didn't have many opportunities left. Before the next attempt, he had to be completely prepared. He had to ensure success in one try and get the Philosopher's Stone! Quirrell shook his head, dispelling the dizziness in his mind, and headed toward the Forbidden Forest again. At the same time, Ciel's mind was also spinning. His temples throbbed with weary pain. "Hiss..." He sat on the ground, rubbing his head. From earlier until now, he had cast Serpensortia over a hundred times. His mastery of the spell itself had even reached the Bronze tier. However, his research into Serpensortia's underlying mechanics still hadn't made much progress. He had focused intently on those microscopic magical changes. The world before his eyes seemed to turn into a mass of smoke, his vision becoming hazy. After quite a while, he let out a light breath and finally recovered. "This thing is too complex. Hoping to understand it all at once is completely unrealistic. Take it step by step." Then his gaze shifted to the fields in the little greenhouse. "Perfect time to tend the plants and clear my head." Just then, Ciel let out a soft sound and walked to the Devil's Snare. The first batch of Devil's Snare he'd planted... at the cuts made by Sectumsempra, new tendrils had finally grown. He looked delighted. "New tendrils have grown. This means the Devil's Snare's secondary nodes have appeared, allowing further processing. Also..." He carefully observed these new tendrils. They were clearly covered with a dark metallic luster. He tried touching one. The feeling was like some kind of flexible steel... an incredibly amazing texture! His eyes suddenly brightened. "Every time Devil's Snare grows new tendrils, they're more resilient than the previous ones. Devil's Snare induced to mutate by Sectumsempra shows this even more clearly. The tendrils that broke through Sectumsempra's magical power to grow are practically like steel, completely different in strength from the original roots. This also means its effect on practicing Sectumsempra will be much stronger than before!" Ciel looked at the system panel. Silver-tier Sectumsempra gleamed brightly... this was currently his most powerful magical trump card. But after advancing to the Silver tier during Christmas break, progress had been very slow. Even now, he estimated there was still more than half the progress left to reach the Gold tier. By his estimation, even these three weeks of detention probably wouldn't be enough for Sectumsempra to reach the Gold-tier threshold. But now, if he used the Devil's Snare's new roots to hone Sectumsempra, perhaps before detention ended, he wouldn't just reach the Gold-tier threshold... but actually advance to Gold-tier Sectumsempra! Thinking of this possibility, his expression immediately became fervent. At the same time, the sense of crisis that had been lingering in his heart for some time also eased slightly. He could already sense it. Due to his appearance, though fate's general direction still followed its predetermined course... the trio still formed, still believed Snape was the mastermind trying to steal the Philosopher's Stone, and Dumbledore was still using this to set his plans... various details were changing. Several events not mentioned in the original story had emerged. First the Ministry hearing, then Hogwarts' academic review. If things continued developing this way, Ciel felt that in at most two or three years, the plot he was familiar with might completely change. Who knew what kind of trouble he might get dragged into? Because of this, his heart had recently carried some restlessness. But now, seeing the Devil's Snare sprouting new tendrils, joy arose spontaneously in his heart. Like a ladle of ice water washing away his heart's restlessness. His heart completely settled down. No matter what he encountered, thinking too much was useless. Focus on farming and strengthening his abilities. When his strength was sufficient, everything would naturally be resolved. Then Ciel smiled freely. His gaze focused on the Devil's Snare's new tendrils. He softly spoke the incantation. "Sectumsempra!" Gone was the previous feeling of cutting through Devil's Snare skin as easily as butter. Facing the newly grown tendrils, Sectumsempra seemed to strike resilient steel... only leaving a shallow wound that healed in the blink of an eye! His eyes widened. Earlier when dealing with Bozo, the Devil's Snare that hadn't yet grown new tendrils was already much stronger than ordinary Devil's Snare. He had thought that was roughly the strength of mutated Devil's Snare. It was already enough to surprise him. But now it seemed he had been too conservative. What lay before him was the true strength of mutated Devil's Snare. This level of toughness was on a completely different dimension from ordinary Devil's Snare... even Sectumsempra couldn't cut through it! However, this also meant that handling the upcoming secondary and tertiary nodes would be much more difficult. This was somewhat troublesome. His brow furrowed slightly. But the next moment, his gaze fell on the system panel, and his furrowed brow immediately relaxed. The silver luster on Sectumsempra was visibly richer than before. This magnitude was even greater than he had estimated. His gaze became increasingly fervent. "At this rate... Gold tier won't be far away!" Then Sectumsempra after Sectumsempra fell tirelessly on the Devil's Snare roots. The silver luster of Sectumsempra grew increasingly rich. Unknowingly, dawn quietly arrived. Quirrell, pale and gloomy, quietly returned from the Forbidden Forest to the castle. He hadn't found new unicorns. He still had no clue how to exploit the Devil's Snare's weakness. Everything was terrible. But as he walked through the corridor, he heard young wizards discussing yesterday's events. "Did you hear? Yesterday a so-called Herbology master from the review committee was knocked unconscious in Ciel's little greenhouse. Supposedly by some mutant subspecies he cultivated... something called Devil's Snare? Sounds powerful just from the name. Professor Snape and the others said his talent in Herbology is simply incredible!" Quirrell's steps suddenly stopped. Finally, some good news! The Devil's Snare mutant subspecies... he had thought it was cultivated by Professor Sprout. He hadn't expected it to be the work of that little Hufflepuff Ciel? He took a deep breath, his eyes bursting with delighted surprise. Professor Sprout was different from Hagrid... trying to get information from her would be too risky for Quirrell. But Ciel, a young wizard of that age, with a simple mind... how much cunning could he have? How clever could a little kid be? Getting the Devil's Snare's weakness from Ciel would be much simpler! Moreover... His gaze grew deep. "Ciel is currently being detained by Dumbledore. A full three weeks of detention, unable to step outside. How difficult this is for young wizards is well known. He must be very unhappy. Must be very angry. Is he already crying? Desperately wanting to escape from detention?" A smile appeared at the corner of Quirrell's mouth. During this period of being parasitized by Voldemort, under his magical influence, his Dark Magic had grown tremendously. But what had grown even more was his ability in Legilimency and manipulating people's hearts that came with Voldemort's magic. Quirrell extended his hand, full of confidence. As if he already had Ciel in his palm. "No rush, wait a bit first. Wait until his dissatisfaction reaches its peak. That will be my opportunity!" Time flew by. In the blink of an eye, three days had passed. [Chapter Complete] *** Want more? Check out my Patreon for: ✓ Advanced chapters of all my stories ✓ Exclusive novels & fanfics ✓ Early access content [email protected]/meowthtl ???? Community Goal: 500 Power Stones unlocks a bonus chapter! Thanks for reading and supporting the story! Want more? Check out my other stories!