Edward suspected he had misheard. For a mont, he was at a loss.
"Who?"
"Viscount Glaint!" Xio confird firmly. "I was surprised too. Aren't you two friends?"
"Uh…sort of."
To be precise, Viscount Glaint was Audrey's friend. Edward was just riding on Audrey's coattails. He never expected this guy to be so two-faced—acting friendly on the surface while scheming behind his back. What deep calculations…And to think I was even considering returning the favour by getting him an Apothecary formula.
"Wait, no!"
Strictly speaking, he and Viscount Glaint didn't actually know each other. When they t last ti, Edward had been under the effects of Polyjuice Potion, disguised as soone else.
"Why would he put a bounty on ?"
Xio shook her head. "I only happened to see one of Viscount Glaint's servants inquiring about the status of the bounty."
Edward removed his hat and gave a slight bow. "Thank you, Miss Xio. I have other matters to attend to, so I'll be leaving now." He handed her a slip of paper. "This is the incantation for summoning my ssenger. If you have an urgent matter, you can set up a ritual to send a ssage."
After explaining the summoning thod, he emphasized multiple tis:
"Rember, only use the ssenger for urgent matters."
"Got it, got it. You've repeated it like three tis already," Xio replied, a little exasperated.
"…Because it's expensive."
Fors, still sprawled lazily on the couch, waved him off with a yawn. "Bye~"
———
Back at the inn, Edward wasted no ti and imdiately began brewing the Trickmaster potion. Using the sa alchemical setup as before, he took a deep breath and started the process, following the standard sequence of auxiliary ingredients first, then the main ingredient.
Sizzle!
As steam and heat waves surged, the viscous liquid in the cauldron turned scalding hot—only to rapidly cool down in the next mont, condensing into a droplet of pale purple liquid.
Once everything settled, Edward carefully poured every last drop into a prepared transparent glass bottle.
After confirming that the temperature was stable, he tilted his head back and drank the potion in one gulp.
Unlike last ti, this felt no different from drinking water. No strange taste, no unusual sensations, no out-of-body experience, no incomprehensible whispers—only the brief flicker of that mysterious door before his eyes.
It was almost too calm.
Monts later, Edward sensed his total spirituality had roughly doubled.
He had successfully advanced to Sequence 8: Trickmaster.
Trickmaster granted Edward multiple Beyonder abilities at once:
- [Burning]: Burns object(s) with a scarlet fla.
- [Freezing]: Freezes the target.
- [Fog]: Creates Fog.
- [Wind]: Creates a light Wind.
- [Flash]: Creates a Flash.
- [Electric Shock]: Shocks the target.
- [Bounce]: Causes the targeted object to Bounce.
And [Tumble]: Makes the ground beneath the target slippery....which looked more like an oddly out-of-place Tripping Charm.
"Uh… aren't these just Incendio, Glacius, Nebulus, Ventus, Lumos, Fuln, and Leglock Jinx?"
Edward felt a bit disappointed. He casually tested a few of these abilities, then tried casting so of the corresponding spells from the wizarding world—Incendio, Glacius, and so on.
As expected, there wasn't much difference. If anything, magic spells were actually more powerful than these Beyonder abilities.
No improvent at all…
"Wait a second."
The spells he just cast…seed slightly stronger than before?
He imdiately cast Incendio again, carefully observing the effect.
"This is…the power of the Beyonder abilities stacking onto the corresponding spell?"
Edward quickly tested several other spells. As expected, all magic that aligned with the Trickmaster's abilities had increased in power to so extent.
He rubbed his chin, deep in thought, a flicker of joy in his eyes.
"As I advance further, these abilities will continue to grow stronger…and when combined with magic… "
The future looks promising!
Besides these abilities, Edward also noticed that his body had beco more agile—useful for both casting spells faster and performing sleight of hand to deceive audiences.
Pressing his fingers against his temples, he continued digesting the information brought by the potion.
The last ability: [Unfettered]—By consuming spirituality, he could break free from control effects. The closer the Sequence levels between him and the opponent, the higher the success rate.
As expected!
Advancing to Sequence 8 had granted him a completely new ability. Though not as absurd as [Dullness], it was still a god-tier skill in actual combat.
First [Dullness], now [Unfettered]—would advancing to Sequence 7 bring another new ability as well?
But where were these extra abilities coming from? And ultimately, where would they lead him?
For now, there were no answers.
———
This concluded all the abilities granted by Trickmaster. So were expected delights, so were unexpected surprises, but the real, undeniable gain was the doubling of his spirituality.
"Huh? I've already digested half of the Trickmaster potion?"
It didn't take him long to understand why. Trickmaster's Beyonder abilities overlapped significantly with magic. Every ti he had cast a spell before, he had been unknowingly acting in accordance with Trickmaster's nature, preemptively digesting the potion.
The reason he had only digested half was probably due to a key difference:
Wizards in the Harry Potter world were supposed to hide themselves as much as possible, avoiding exposure to the non-magical world.
Trickmasters, on the other hand, needed to perform in front of an audience and use their abilities to fool people.
In other words, Trickmaster requires a crowd.
In the original story, Fors had gone to circuses and theatres to act as a Trickmaster.
And for Edward…?
Should he follow the sa path?
———
[Empress Borough—the Luxurious Manor of Earl Hall]
"You're already Sequence 8?"
Audrey's tone was sour with envy. "It's only been a week! Even though I knew your potion was fully digested upon drinking it, I still can't help but feel jealous. I beca a Beyonder so many weeks before you…"
"I just got lucky," Edward said, smiling. "You shouldn't be far from advancing either, right?"
She sighed. "I still need the pituitary gland of a Rainbow Salamander. I've already written to my brother about it, but I have no idea when I'll get it."
Edward consoled her briefly before revealing what he had learned—Viscount Glaint had placed a bounty on him.
"Impossible."
Audrey's first reaction was disbelief. "Him? He didn't even know you at the ti."
Edward shrugged. "I can't figure it out either. I'm considering whether I should go along with Miss Xio's plan and turn myself in. That way, I should be able to get to the bottom of this."
Audrey's interest was piqued imdiately. "I want in!"
"Alright, but we're heading to my world tomorrow. We'll plan properly after we get back."
Audrey's excitent soared. She pulled a small suitcase from under her bed and grinned. "I've already packed everything. I can just grab this and go."
She unzipped the suitcase, revealing an expanded space enhanced by the Undetectable Extension Charm—about the size of a small room. Inside were so basic furnishings: a table, chairs, a cabinet, and a bed…
A bed piled high with gold coins and jewellery!
Her cheeks flushed slightly. "Th-that's to counteract the side effects of using my wand…"
"But where did you even get so many gold coins all at once?"
Edward had no doubt that Audrey could afford this amount of gold pounds, but from what he recalled in the original novel, amassing such a large quantity of coins wasn't an easy task.
"I…I borrowed them from my father's private vault…"
As if to make her reasoning sound more convincing, she raised her voice. "He doesn't even use them anyway! Worst case, I'll just take a little less when I inherit my share of the family estate in the future."
"…"
Miss Hall, you are truly a filial daughter. Your father is still in his pri, and you're already thinking about your inheritance? What a wonderful child he has!
Audrey noticed his expression and imdiately puffed out her cheeks. "What are you thinking? I get a generous inco every year, okay? I'll pay him back when I get my next allowance!"
"By the way," she quickly changed the topic, "how do you manage to retrieve exactly what you need from your extended space? I always have to climb in to search for things."
Edward reached into his suitcase and pulled out a single gold coin. "This is just silent, wandless summoning—Accio. You have no idea how long I practised before I could barely manage it. That's also why I haven't expanded the space any further. If it's too large, the objects get too far away, and the spell becos unreliable."
Audrey suddenly understood. "So that's how it works."
"Speaking of magic, the situation with the Son of the Evil God gave an idea. When we go back this ti, I want to ask Mr. Ollivander if it's possible to modify wands—maybe turn them into rings. That way, they'd be more convenient and safer to carry around."
Audrey, however, glanced at her delicate fingers with concern.
"But…what if soone casts Expelliarmus on you? Would they accidentally disarm your entire finger?"
"Uh…"
Edward froze, scratching his head awkwardly. "Wait, is that the real reason wands were never made into rings?"
After having another al at Audrey's place, he finally returned to the inn. As for the luxurious villa in Empress Borough, he wouldn't be staying there for the foreseeable future. Who knew when the mbers of the Aurora Order might co knocking? Unfortunately, the prepaid one-year rent was non-refundable.
Money…he needed to find a way to make money.
As his Sequence advanced, the cost of extraordinary materials would skyrocket. If he wanted to acquire any mystical artefacts, that would be even more expensive. Audrey wouldn't be able to support him forever.
Lying in bed, he tossed and turned, brainstorming ways to make money.
Should he act as a smuggler between the two worlds? Sell enchanted Undetectable Extension Charm suitcases? Or maybe start selling various potions?
The crimson moonlight stread through the bay window, making his restlessness worse. He even started considering pulling off a heist for a pile of Goblin gold in the Harry Potter world. It was only around two or three in the morning that he finally drifted off to sleep.
———
[Next Day—Noon]
[Tingen City, Divination Club]
After lunch, Klein arrived at the Divination Club as usual. He planned to take the assessnt for Sequence 8, Clown, in the near future, aning he wouldn't be coming here much longer.
Just as he greeted Angelica at the front desk, Kristina hurried over from the lounge. She looked much worse than she had the last ti he'd seen her.
"Mr. Moretti, gose has been missing for a week now. I brought a lock of her hair today—could you try divining again?"
Klein was surprised. "That's impossible. According to my last divination, she should have made it ho long ago."
The last ti Kristina had inford him of gose's disappearance, Klein had perford a dream divination. In the vision, he had clearly seen gose getting lost on the outskirts of Tingen before being picked up and brought ho by a kind passerby.
"But…she never ca back," Kristina said, her eyes filled with confusion. However, she did not doubt Klein's abilities, despite his previous divination seemingly being incorrect.
"Could soone have interfered with the divination?"
Klein's expression turned serious. He had initially assud this was just an ordinary missing person case, so he hadn't conducted the divination above the grey fog. But now, it seed the situation wasn't as simple as he had thought.
"Madam Kristina, please wait a mont. I need to…wash my face in the restroom."
Klein skillfully made his way to his secret passage, locked the door, and took four steps counterclockwise, ascending above the grey fog.
First, he used the pendulum thod to determine whether his last divination had been affected by extraordinary interference.
The yellow crystal spun rapidly in a clockwise direction—indicating that it had indeed been influenced.
Next, he leaned back against the chair, took gose's hair, and began dream divination.
His vision blurred. Klein found himself in a distorted, hazy dreamscape.
In the vision, gose stood in front of a villa, repeatedly knocking on the door.
The scene shattered and shifted—gose was back in front of the sa villa, still knocking on the door.
The vision shifted again. gose now stood before an abandoned warehouse, pushing open the heavy wooden doors. Inside, a shadowy figure with indistinct features turned to look at her…
At that mont, the vision shattered.
A massive, blood-red eye dangled upside-down behind a curtain of darkness. A chaotic, formless whisper gushed forth from the void, crashing over Klein like a tidal wave.
Klein—exploded.
———
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