Chapter 159: Trust, Hidden Dangers, and Formation

Looking at the text on the parchment, after just a moment, Ciel decisively looked away. His expression was extremely calm. "The magic Voldemort offers isn't so easy to take. If there are hidden traps, with my magical mastery, I might not be able to distinguish them. Untrustworthy." If this was truly his only path and he'd otherwise be trapped by talent, then with no other options, he might attempt it. But since he could steadily break through talent constraints with the cultivation system, why would he take risks like a gambler? "However, this transfiguration contains methods for using magical creature blood. Very helpful for solving my Blood Jade problems. Blood Jade rewards are quite useful to me... abandoning them would be a shame. It's best to find a wizard skilled in both dark magic and transfiguration, someone trustworthy, to help me evaluate this." His eyes showed contemplation. "First, exclude Dumbledore. Dumbledore is too distrustful. If he learns I'm connected to Voldemort and received magical knowledge from him, endless probing would follow. Second, exclude Aunt. Never mind dark magic and transfiguration... just letting her know I've encountered such knowledge would worry her terribly." After much consideration, only one candidate remained in his mind. Severus Snape. First, because Snape's mastery of both dark magic and transfiguration was extremely high. The transfiguration knowledge Voldemort gave should be relatively basic content. With Snape's mastery, if there were traps inside, he should be able to detect them. Second, Snape's relationship with him was already quite close. He'd even taught him his exclusive Severus Potion Transfiguration. The level of trust was sufficient. Of course, if this was all, he still wouldn't rashly show this knowledge to others. Voldemort's knowledge was too easily bewitching. If it harmed someone else, he would feel uneasy. But Snape, as a double agent walking between light and dark, had such profound Occlumency mastery that even Voldemort couldn't detect his true thoughts. The knowledge on the parchment might bewitch others, but bewitching Snape would be harder than reaching heaven! So he made his decision. He copied the parchment knowledge with a Quick-Quotes Quill and headed to Snape's office. "Professor. I've obtained some peculiar transfiguration knowledge. After thinking it over, probably only you at Hogwarts have the ability to evaluate it. Could you help me look?" His words made Snape raise an eyebrow and snort softly. "My time is quite precious. You'd better not bring me some child's play knowledge for guidance. Or I'll throw you out." Then Snape took his copied dark magic transfiguration knowledge. Initially, Snape's eyes held some dismissiveness. After all, he'd gone far in the dark magic field during his youth. Few dark wizards had deeper mastery than him. But after reading several lines, Snape's expression suddenly changed. Grim, like frost descending. He stared intently at him. "This thing... where did you get it? This isn't something you should be able to access." He was equally serious. "Professor. I can't reveal specific details. But someone delivered this knowledge to me through some means. That person probably wants to recruit me and make me work for him." Snape's eyes flashed with cold light. His palm quietly gripped his wand. He stared into his eyes. "Did you agree?" He shook his head. "I felt he had ill intentions. So I deceived him." Snape's eyes relaxed marginally. "Given that you're aware of his malevolent intentions, you should understand that such forbidden knowledge must not be touched, much less presented to me. You realize this could result in your immediate expulsion from Hogwarts. The material contained within... should you attempt to implement even the most basic procedure, it would suffice to confine you to Azkaban for the remainder of your natural life. How dare you expose me to this?" He said softly, "Because there's indeed some content I need inside. And... I trust you, Professor." Snape paused. His eyes showed some bewilderment. Trust? For him, truly a rare word. Snape thought he'd never hear such words. Yet he heard them from his mouth. And this kid had actually placed such knowledge before him. Snape snorted coldly. "Foolish. Blindly trusting others is the most foolish thing in the world. If you don't fix this habit, you might die for it someday." But after "lecturing" him, Snape's lips couldn't help curving slightly upward. Then his gaze returned to the forbidden knowledge. After a moment, Snape frowned tightly. "This is indeed very profound dark magic transfiguration. But there are problems, big problems." Snape's eyes flashed coldly. "If someone foolishly followed this method to purify their bloodline, once this process begins, it can't be stopped. They must continuously introduce more magical creature blood until completely transforming into a non-human state. Otherwise, they'll experience intense pain from their bloodline. This path, once taken, is a road of no return... they'll be forever controlled by whoever gave this knowledge." Hearing Snape's words, he felt cold dread. He knew it. The knowledge and power Voldemort offered weren't so easily taken. Like in the original story, when Peter Pettigrew sacrificed his arm to revive Voldemort. In return, Voldemort granted him a new silver arm. The silver arm was incredibly powerful. But when Peter accepted this power, that arm also became a monitor. When Peter caught Harry but felt a trace of pity, thinking of letting him go, the silver arm turned and strangled Peter instead. Because he had read the original story in his past life, he was extremely wary of knowledge and power from Voldemort. Otherwise, if someone else tried it even slightly, they'd probably fall into the trap irretrievably. After taking a deep breath, he looked at Snape. "Professor. Can you remove the traps inside and extract useful parts?" Snape stared at him with an indifferent expression. "What do you want this part for?" He answered honestly. "Planting trees." Snape paused, his face rarely showing amusement. If anyone else said this, he wouldn't believe a word. But him saying he wanted to learn this knowledge for planting trees... Snape truly believed it. This little badger really was... Snape didn't know how to describe it. If his younger self had seen such knowledge while at school, he'd probably have been irresistibly immersed. But he really only focused on planting trees. This made Snape somewhat admiring. After a moment, Snape raised an eyebrow, speaking with calm confidence. "Fine. This might be difficult for others. But for me, it's nothing difficult." Then Snape began writing and drawing on paper, with extensive deletions and corrections. After a long while, a new transfiguration knowledge was handed to him. Snape said to him, "This magical knowledge removes the drawback of being unable to stop once started. But I must warn you. Dark Magic Transfiguration, also called Flesh Transfiguration, is absolutely forbidden knowledge in the magical world. Once you truly begin involvement, you're already gazing into the abyss. And when you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes back at you." He stared seriously at him. "I believe you have a will different from other young wizards. Don't disappoint me, Ciel Sprout. If I discover you've performed flesh transformation on yourself..." He gripped his wand tightly. A supremely sharp Sectumsempra curse whistled past his cheek. "I'll use the most painful method to dig out that flesh bit by bit. Then send you to Azkaban to cool your head. Do you understand?" Feeling the sharpness passing his cheek and the "threat" in Snape's words, his heart warmed. He understood this was Snape's way of expressing concern and worry. He nodded seriously. "Don't worry, Professor. I haven't thought of not being human." Then, after hesitating, he added, "Just... could you not tell others about this? Including Headmaster Dumbledore. If he knows, there'll probably be endless lectures." Snape raised an eyebrow, looking at him with a cold smile. "Since you know, how dare you touch these things within Hogwarts? This is the last time." He immediately smiled. He bid farewell to Snape and prepared to leave. As he was about to leave the office, Snape seemed to remember something and called him back. "Oh, and one more thing. That Severus Potion Transfiguration I showed you before. Keep practicing it when you get the chance... it'll help with both your Transfiguration and Potions. Plus, you've got some pretty dangerous secrets up there now. Next semester, you're learning Occlumency with me. I don't want to find out you said something in your sleep and got yourself thrown into Azkaban... it would make me look bad too, got it?" After saying this, Snape didn't hesitate. With a bang, he shut the office door. He stood before Snape's office door for a long while. After a long time, he bowed slightly and walked away. In his mind appeared the tragic image of Snape dying in the tree hollow from the original story. After a moment, his fist clenched slightly, driving this scene from his mind. This time, given time, he absolutely wouldn't let Snape meet the original story's fate. But then he felt pressure. To change Snape's destiny, he'd need the ability to face Voldemort, right? Remembering the oppressive feeling Voldemort gave him even through parchment, his fist clenched tighter. This was just weakened Voldemort. He couldn't imagine what level prime Voldemort would be. Less than seven years to face Voldemort... the difficulty was unimaginable. He needed to hurry. His current strength was far from enough. Then he quickened his pace, returning to the greenhouse. He opened Snape's improved dark magic transfiguration. Though dark magic transfiguration was a different branch from Gamp's Law and Switching Spells, many principles were interconnected. He had Bronze-tier transfiguration mastery as a foundation. Plus this dark magic transfiguration didn't involve overly profound content. So his learning speed was quite fast. By the next morning, on his system panel, a blurry line of text gradually became clear. [Dark Magic Transfiguration (Black Iron Tier)], formed!