On the system panel, when Ciel's mind, which had been tense for many days, gradually relaxed in the pleasant atmosphere of the Hufflepuff common room, the golden lustre on Occluncy beca increasingly brilliant.
Though this improvent couldn't match the ti when he had taken the Dramatic Illusion Potion and received electric shocks, it wasn't far off. This made his eyes show surprise. Because at this mont, he didn't feel his mind being bewitched, shaken, or enduring intense pain. On the contrary, his mind felt quite relaxed and comfortable. How could this also increase his Occluncy mastery? This was completely different from his previous experience of constantly enduring pain.
After a mont, he had a thoughtful expression: "Pain and hardship can indeed make Occluncy grow, and it's extrely fast in the short term, a shortcut. But perhaps this isn't the only path for Occluncy improvent. It might not even be the orthodox path for Occluncy advancent."
Through his use of Occluncy during this ti and reading nurous magic related books, he understood Occluncy's origins more deeply than before. This art originated from legendary ditation. Initially, it wasn't specifically ant to defend against Legilincy and various ntal magics, but was considered by wizards as a pure cultivation thod for controlling one's own mind.
In the earliest records, there was no ntion of wizards experiencing much pain while practising it. It even ntioned tranquillity and joy accompanying the process. In the original story, Dumbledore had Snape use Legilincy against Harry for ntal offence and defence only to help Harry quickly master Occluncy and sever his ntal connection with Voldemort.
Unfortunately, the Harry in the original story was too resistant to Snape and felt that seeing Voldemort's perspective was his unique advantage. So even under such conditions, he failed to master Occluncy. Only after Sirius's death did he finally master it through extre pain. It could be said that pain was an extrely fast shortcut.
"But long term reliance on pain and pressure to improve Occluncy also has drawbacks. Like battlefield veterans who've experienced life and death, hard as iron, who seem like they'd never yield to any situation. But after leaving the battlefield, they have a high probability of developing ntal problems. Occluncy is similar; it can be quickly mastered through pain and pressure. But the mind also needs relief. Long term tension – even tal has fatigue, much less the mind. Instead, alternating between tension and relaxation brings better effects."
Enlightennt dawned in his mind. anwhile, before his eyes, the little badgers had already expertly arranged the common room. Tables were combined into long tables. The small kitchen began serving various delicious pastries. Pot after pot of tea, pumpkin juice, and butterbeer were placed on tables. Even the common room's centre was cleared as a wide space for the little badgers to dance.
In just a few minutes, the Hufflepuff common room had beco a joyful ball scene. Such efficiency made him both amused and exasperated. The usually lazy little badgers showed remarkable enthusiasm when it ca to enjoying life.
But speaking of which, he really hadn't participated much in Hufflepuff's celebrations. Even when he had previously led Hufflepuff to win the Quidditch finals, he had slipped away to the greenhouse to plant trees just as that grand celebration began.
But this ti, he exhaled softly. He temporarily forgot all thoughts about magic, Herbology, crises, and plans in his mind. He imrsed himself in Hufflepuff's joyful atmosphere, soothing his mind that had been tense for far too long.
Just then, Cedric waved his wand. Pleasant notes imdiately burst forth. A group of senior little badgers also waved their wands. Harmonious, cheerful music echoed through the common room.
Then Cedric looked at him with "ill intent". While he was still sowhat caught off guard, he heard Cedric loudly declare: "Our number one contributor Ciel hasn't danced at any of our previous celebrations! Today everyone must watch him; we can't let him run away again! Girls wanting to invite Ciel to dance, don't miss this opportunity!"
His expression froze slightly. Then a warm palm grabbed his arm. He instinctively turned to look and found Hannah Abbott's face red as an apple.
The little girl seed startled by her own instinctive action, her face full of panic and confusion as she stamred: "I, I was afraid you'd sneak away again... And, and..." Hannah mustered her courage: "Ciel, you've helped so much. You taught Lumos and Transfiguration tricks... I want to ask you to dance..."
He looked at the extrely shy little girl, warmth showing in his eyes. At this age, little girls might not understand romance yet. Inviting him to dance might be fondness, impulse, or genuine liking. There was no need to analyse it closely. Who hadn't experienced youth and felt those budding emotions? Just a dance.
He nodded, extended his hand, and showed a helpless smile: "I'll say this first: I've never danced before and know nothing about it. If I accidentally step on your feet later, Hannah, don't bla ."
Hannah's eyes imdiately brightened, her twin braids swinging excitedly: "No, it won't happen. I'll teach you!"
At this mont, under the regretful gazes of many Hufflepuff girls who hadn't acted fast enough, Hannah bounced and led him forward. Cedric waved his wand, and the music beca gentler, like an opening invitation.
Hannah also took his hand, clumsily guiding him: "Walk here. Step here. Turn around."
He followed Hannah's movents while carefully listening to her explain the dance steps. With his current learning ability plus physical coordination, such simple dance steps were naturally no problem. In no ti, he could not only keep up with Hannah's pace but also danced with increasing ease.
Later, when the music beca increasingly cheerful and lively, as if sprites were dancing in the air, he gently held Hannah's waist: "Hannah, want to try sothing challenging? How about flying up to the sky? I'll catch you."
Hannah's eyes lit up. Though usually timid, she unhesitatingly entrusted control of her body to him. With his gentle effort, Hannah gasped softly, then rose into the air, performing beautiful spins like high difficulty figure skating moves before being gracefully caught.
After this move, the little badgers couldn't help applauding. Those girls looked at Hannah, now the centre of attention, with sparkling eyes full of envy. Even Hannah herself was dizzy, hardly knowing where she was. But one thing she was absolutely certain of: today was simply the happiest day of her life so far, comparable to receiving her Hogwarts letter.
Soon, the final dance ended. He and Hannah returned to their seats amid applause and whistles. With their opening, new pairs of little badgers went up to dance. The celebration atmosphere grew increasingly rich.
He tasted Hufflepuff delicacies while chatting and laughing with Hannah and Susan nearby, putting everything unrelated to this joyful scene behind him. Even the system panel was ignored. But even so, the lustre flickering on Occluncy in the system panel continued becoming richer at an accelerating pace.
It was like a switch had been flipped. The fatigue that had long accumulated in his mind slowly surfaced, making his eyelids increasingly heavy. Finally, even he didn't know when he fell into deep sleep he hadn't experienced in ages in the common room's comfortable chair.
After discovering he had fallen asleep, Hannah's eyes showed distress. Since she had known him, she had never seen him rest. It was as if every minute and second, he carried tasks on his back, moving constantly like a wound spring.
The other little badgers imdiately lowered their voices. Cedric quietly got up and dimd the common room lights while making the fire burn brighter. Hannah and Susan covered him with a blanket to prevent him from getting cold at night.
Then Cedric whispered: "Everyone, disperse. Keep quiet." The little badgers silently got up without making any sound, leaving the entire common room to him.
The night was deep. Hogwarts had also experienced celebration; to commorate Quirrell solving the magical world's disappearance incident, the young wizards celebrated as if it were a holiday. After the revelry, they were too tired to even think of night walks. Hogwarts corridors were empty.
But soon after, a tall figure in a cloak darker than night silently moved through the corridors. His target was clear: the greenhouse direction. This figure was naturally Quirrell.
Recalling the dayti scene where he had wanted to kill Ciel but was interrupted, Quirrell's eyes were full of gloom. Ciel ntioning that troll thesis had indeed surprised him. When he was still human, he might have actually set aside his killing intent.
But unfortunately, his human form was now just a disguise; he had long beco an inhuman monster. The killing intent boiling in his heart was like lava. Even though Voldemort repeatedly reminded him that now wasn't the ti to act, he couldn't suppress his impulse to drink Ciel's blood.
How could so minor dayti episode make him abandon his murderous urges? "That little badger should be busy in the greenhouse at this ti." Beneath his cloak, sothing writhed, ready to erge.
Until Quirrell reached the greenhouse door and found no movent inside. The door was locked with a sign: "Temporarily closed, preparing for finals."
This sight left Quirrell's killing aura with nowhere to vent, only able to let out frustrated roars: "Ciel Sprout!"
After venting, Quirrell looked toward Hogwarts castle, seemingly evaluating how likely he was to successfully infiltrate the Hufflepuff common room and kill Ciel. But soon after, Quirrell frowned and slowly cald down. This difficulty was extraordinarily high.
Hufflepuff's common room had the strictest protection among the four houses. Unlike other houses that had elaborate entrance chanisms, Hufflepuff's protection was plain and practical; it detected malice. Any wizard harbouring ill intent toward Hufflepuff would trigger protective magic and alarms. Even Occluncy could hardly escape the house's protective magic detection.
Moreover, even if he entered, attacking Hufflepuff students would imdiately activate protective magic. It was practically an impregnable safe house. Even Quirrell, with his Quintaped transformation, was helpless against Hufflepuff's protection. Wanting to enter and personally strangle Ciel, even if possible, the price would be unbearable. His goal had always been the Philosopher's Stone.
Thinking this, Quirrell's face showed unwillingness. But soon, as if rembering sothing, his eyes showed strangeness and malice. Hogwarts' protective magic, especially in Hufflepuff, was indeed powerful. Quirrell indeed couldn't personally enter.
But this didn't an certain special powers couldn't penetrate. For instance, curses. This strangely natured Dark Arts was among the few thods that could work through protective magic. No matter how strict Hufflepuff common room's protection, curses could still penetrate.
But using curses to kill Ciel would still trigger Hufflepuff's student protection, which was not what Quirrell wanted, as it would affect his plans. But if he just used curses to tornt Ciel, making him ntally disturbed and scarred, that he could do.
Soon after, Quirrell coldly left the greenhouse and returned to his room. He cut fabric from his cloak and quickly made a small, eerie doll. This doll was crude, but the simply sketched features on its head carried bone chilling evil.
As Quirrell waved his wand, dense curse magic entwined around the doll. The next mont, the doll seed to co alive, emitting bursts of giggling.
Quirrell's mouth also curved into a smile. This was a special curse magic he had learnt during his travels, a voodoo doll. Once successfully made, it would constantly pester its cursed target, using hallucinations to make them sleepless and terrified while absorbing their negative emotions to strengthen itself.
Originally, voodoo dolls weren't particularly powerful curse magic. But the current Quirrell was completely different. After the Quintaped transformation, his magic's nature had quietly changed. Casting these vicious curses was like having divine assistance. This voodoo doll had beco extraordinarily strange and venomous, capable of bringing unimaginable ntal and physical tornt to the cursed.
Quirrell took out an assignnt from the Defence Against the Dark Arts class with Ciel's na on it. The voodoo doll sniffed it, seemingly confirming his scent. Then, amid cold laughter, it strangely flattened like paper and slipped through the door crack.
Quirrell's face showed a fierce smile. Thus, until his plan began, this voodoo doll would pester Ciel, slowly tornting him in fear and pain. As for whether Ciel could handle the voodoo doll, Quirrell never even considered this.
Curse Studies was such an obscure field. If he hadn't gained knowledge from the Dark Lord plus his Quintaped magic's natural advantages in this field, he probably couldn't have cast such thods. As for Ciel, just a little badger. What could he know about curses?!
Just then, in the Hufflepuff common room, all was quiet. Only firelight cast warm illumination inside. In this tranquillity, he slowly opened his eyes. Interrupted thoughts surfaced in his mind: "I... fell asleep without realising it?"
Recalling the deep fatigue that had spread from his mind, he was alard. He hadn't expected his mind to have accumulated so much burden unconsciously. Long term, this might create hidden ntal dangers.
But imdiately after, he assessed his current condition, his eyes showing amazent. Refreshed, an unprecedented refreshing feeling perated his entire body. As if countless invisible burdens had been lifted, with incomparable lightness. It even reminded him of the day his college entrance exam results ca out in his previous life. No, it felt even more relaxed than that. Even his thinking speed seed improved.
Then his gaze fell on the system panel. The changes he saw made him widen his eyes: "This is?!"
[Occluncy (Gold, nearing platinum)]
On the system panel, his Occluncy, which had only recently advanced to the Gold level, not only had brilliant golden light but was already half covered in platinum lustre. This ant Occluncy wasn't far from advancing to Platinum level. At this rate, perhaps using Dramatic Illusion Potion twice more in the Room of Requirent could fully advance Occluncy to the Platinum level.
This progress speed was completely unexpected to him. Then he showed a thoughtful expression: "Could it be that my Occluncy should have reached this level already, but I had accumulated too much ntal fatigue and hadn't truly relaxed in ages? This dragged down my Occluncy until today, when I finally rested well and released accumulated fatigue, finally displaying Occluncy's full mastery."
Soon after, he stopped worrying about why progress was so fast. Regardless, he had reached this point. Rather than dwell on this, it's better to think about how to quickly advance Occluncy to the Platinum level. The difference between Platinum and Gold abilities was enormous, a complete qualitative change he had experienced before.
But he had never experienced what qualitative change effects would be like for ntal magic like Occluncy. But he had a premonition that if Occluncy could advance to the Platinum level, the qualitative change might bring him a huge surprise.
But how to fill the remaining progress? Just practising alone, though progress was visible, would take about two months to complete this advancent. For him, this was still too slow.
Using the Dramatic Illusion Potion in the Room of Requirent would certainly be fast, but with Quirrell's return, the risk was also high. From Quirrell's dayti appearance, if given the chance, he wouldn't mind attacking isolated him. Current Quirrell could no longer be understood through human nature. Unless necessary, he didn't want such risks.
Just as he was torn, suddenly he seed to hear sothing. It sounded like children's giggling, approaching from distant to near, from vague to clear. But compared to the little badgers' laughter at the previous dance, this laughter was more childish, like a five or six year old child.
Yet it completely lacked the innocence such laughter should have. Instead, it was full of malice, making listeners feel cold and horrified. He frowned.
Then his pupils contracted slightly, focusing on the crack under the door leading from the common room to the corridor. This door's security was well known to all. If you weren't from Hufflepuff, opening it from outside was impossible.
But now, sothing strange, thin as paper, was slowly slipping through the crack. Once inside, it stood up and inflated. It was a strange doll. He frowned even more.
With his current Platinum level Curse Studies mastery, he naturally knew what this was: "Voodoo doll? But this voodoo doll seems unusual. The curse magic covering it is very dense, even denser than so of my cursed jewellery. This thing ca for ?"
He imdiately understood whose handiwork this was. It seed Quirrell had already visited the greenhouse looking for him but hadn't found him. Unable to break through Hufflepuff's protective magic, he had chosen to use voodoo doll curses against him.
As he pondered, the voodoo doll's gaze also fell on him. As if surprised to find its target so easily, the crude mouth roughly sketched on its shabby face slowly curved upward, showing an ill intentioned smile.
Chilling laughter attacked him, mixed with curse magic and Legilincy magic Quirrell had left on the voodoo doll. This combination with the voodoo doll's curse could more easily find the cursed person's ntal weaknesses, making them more susceptible to hallucination induced madness.
The voodoo doll looked at him, already preparing to see his panicked expression. It would hide in every corner, absorbing his fear every mont to grow stronger while constantly tornting him!
However, when the voodoo doll's laughter carrying Legilincy and curse magic reached his ears, his eyes actually brightened. This Legilincy combined with curse magic had unusual ntal penetration effects. Though it couldn't shake his increasingly formidable Occluncy at all, it was still magic with threads of connection to Voldemort.
As his Occluncy resisted the magic invasion, flickering platinum points were slowly increasing. Though not matching the Dramatic Illusion Potion plus electric shock effects, it was much faster than self practice.
This made him look at the voodoo doll with suddenly fervent eyes: "This little thing delivered itself to my door?!"
anwhile, the voodoo doll's smile suddenly froze. Because it sensed no panic or fear from him at all. Instead, he seed to be looking at so treasure?
The voodoo doll's mind held only one thought: "Wait... why isn't he afraid of ? If he were afraid, I could absorb his fear and pain to enhance the curse's power. But he's not afraid; the magic didn't explain what to do about this! What now?!"
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