"This is difficult," Hester read, tracing the distorted characters with her fingers. "It requires ingesting bat dung, and having a frog's eyeballs exposed under the full moon."
"But you are different; you have already mastered Finger Magic."
"You just need to chant the incantation. No, you also need to obtain Arthur's personal item, then lie down and use that item to find the corresponding dream."
"Then you can, in your words, have your consciousness mate with Arthur and steal his purity."
"So—" Sophie grinned foolishly, drool almost overflowing from the corner of her mouth, "The impurity of a consciousness does not violate school rules."
She pretended to accept Hester's book, ignoring the strange, delicate feel of the cover.
He opened the private chat interface and said, "Basil, can you teach me magic tomorrow?"
Meanwhile, Basil, who had already communicated with Madison, opened his private chat window. "Sophie, the Killing Curse is dangerous. I'll be alone with you tomorrow—"
The two, taken aback, began a hypersynchronous conversation.
Sophie: "Don't tell Madison."
Basil: "Don't tell Madison."
Sophie: "You—"
Basil: "You—"
Sophie: "Tomorrow morning at ten o'clock."
Basil: "Tomorrow... cough cough, classes start at 10 a. m. at Madison, just in time."
Sophie: "Goodbye."
Basil: "Goodbye."
——
The next day at noon, in a treehouse atop a towering tree in the World Box, Madison smoked a cigarette while drawing circles on Basil's chest with his other hand.
"Is that country girl as capable as me?"
"Her?" Basil's thoughts began to drift back to two hours earlier.
Sophie was very direct, going into battle unarmed.
Before he could even exchange pleasantries and give a proper explanation of the precautions for the Killing Curse, his mouth was gagged.
Sophie's coming-of-age ceremony took place on a sky-blue sofa in the lounge.
However, she was too incompetent; she said she wanted to leave after only half an hour.
Then, it went offline and disappeared into thin air.
"You win," Basil said dismissively.
Madison tossed his hair, flashed a stunning smile, licked his lips, and bent down to start overtime.
The real world.
In the garden, at 1:30 pm.
Beatrix looked at Basil, who was already awake and lying on her lap, and asked worriedly, "What's wrong with you? You've been so sleepy lately. Today, apart from lunchtime, you've been sleeping since 10 a. m.."
"I'm meditating," Basil said with a serious expression. "Remember the spell class? We all developed our own unique talents when we came to the academy."
"I hope to master it as soon as possible. In order to defeat evil!"
"Truly my hero, the King of the Good." Beatrix couldn't help but kiss Basil's forehead.
"Call me Basil. I am not Arthur," Basil prompted.
"Yes, my hero, my prince, my future partner, Basil." Beatrix's eyes sparkled with affection as gentle as spring rain.
Basil couldn't help but look away.
Silly girl, you're making it sound like I'm a bad person.
The number of knights echoing in "Dark Magician: Knight Commander" has also reached 3.
Madison and Sophie were not the first to reach the gold level of favorability.
Instead, it's Beatrix from the original storyline who is vain and enjoys American-style bullying.
It's normal that it's hard to understand Madison because she was exploited and treated like a cash cow by her parents since childhood.
Sophie, who seems infatuated, is actually very selfish and cares about no one but Agatha.
Even so, thanks to Basil's stunning good looks, their pre-made echo interface is almost entirely gold.
Basil thought that after today, he would acquire the talents of Madison and Sophie.
But this thin line is like an insurmountable chasm.
Sophie's Knight Card allows Basil to gain Finger Magic ahead of time, transforming the immense emotional power brought by the [Inspiration] talent into the magic of this world.
Madison's Knight Card contains immense potential; through it, he could gain the absurd power of resurrection, as seen by wizards in the Harry world.
Wizards often like to use magic to preserve the bodies of the deceased, making them appear lifelike.
Just like in the novel, after Voldemort opened Dumbledore's grave, Dumbledore's body remained exactly as it had been before his death.
The same is likely true for the body of Dumbledore's sister, Ariana.
If the body is intact, the power to bring the dead back to life can take effect.
Ariana's resurrection will undoubtedly change the world.
The number of gems obtained at that time will probably be Astronomy.
Beatrix's Knight Card, aside from allowing Basil to transform into her appearance, serves no other purpose.
The other two knights.
Hermione is very knowledgeable. Unlike Basil, who specializes in Dark Magic and mental magic, she knows all the spells in any Grimoire she has read.
With Hermione's power, Basil will be even more versatile.
Neville's swordsmanship talent is also very useful to Basil.
Beatrix's talent, which remained unawakened until the very end of the movie, is now clearly etched on her knight card.
Its name is "Radiant Beauty".
It not only maintains her beauty at its peak, but also adds a Winky special effect.
Basil felt she didn't need to be more beautiful.
Surely he won't need extra special effects to survive against some heartless, ruthless female demon.
Basil shook his head, denying the absurd idea.
By the way, they were supposed to have a beauty class that afternoon.
That's ridiculous. Could it be that Michelle Yeoh's character, the beauty teacher, hasn't regained her identity as the head of the magic history department yet?
In the movie, this class was only for princesses.
Is the prince going to participate too?
To reiterate, Basil believed he no longer needed to be handsome.
Everything has its limits. If this continues, he'll probably become a gender-swapped version of Tomie, a male succubus.
In fact, he is that person now, but the kingly majesty of King Arthur and the leadership qualities of the young Dark Lord suppress his excessive charm.
Therefore, he prefers taking uglification classes to beauty classes.
Time quickly passed to four o'clock in the afternoon, the time for the beauty class to begin.
With the dress code lifted, the princes and princesses, who had been wearing casual clothes, donned their splendid attire once again.
The rules of both the House of Good and the House of Evil are magical; even the principal and deans must submit to them.
They are all commonalities rooted in fairy tales.
Princesses are always beautiful, princes are brave and skilled in battle, witches are ugly and vicious, Werewolf are smelly and disgusting.
The corruption of the rules of the Hall of Virtue is also because fairy tales depict princesses as having more beautiful appearances than inner purity and intelligence, and princes as having more handsome looks than kindness and compassion.
The evil chapters in fairy tales further added an evil and terrifying element to the rules of the Hall of Virtue.
These are common sense to princes and princesses who know the inside story.
Although the evil school rule that permanently Transfiguration a student's status after failing three courses has disappeared.
However, the existence of beauty classes demonstrates that the commonality that virtuous people are inevitably beautiful and handsome still exists to some extent.
Making yourself beautiful or handsome can still elicit positive feedback from others, thus increasing your allure.
Therefore, they all dressed the same way they did when they first enrolled.
Those princes and princesses who were unaware of the inside story followed suit.
This undoubtedly drew the ire of Professor Anemone, the current master of the A History of Magic.
Despite being demoted to a beauty class professor by the college's rules, she was actually quite dissatisfied with the content of the beauty class.
In her view, it was absurd and ridiculous to fail a student simply because their smile wasn't pretty enough.
So she quickly walked into the classroom.
Ignoring the princes, her gaze fell upon the magnificent dresses worn by the princesses, which she was growing tired of looking at, and then shifted to the women wearing them.
And so she recited the same opening line of her beauty class that hadn't changed in decades.
She began with a smile, "Calm down, ladies, I am Professor Anemone."
"I'm here to show you how to become a truly powerful woman through beauty."
"A lady's smile is her sword, capable of winning the war for true love."
"Grab the mirror and strike!"
But the next second her face fell again. "Did you think I would say that?"
"Vain, ignorant, and all show and no substance?"
She then looked at the princes, "And you, you big, strong, clumsy fools?"
She adopted a different demeanor when facing Basil.
"Of course, this certainly doesn't include you, Your Majesty."
"You two are very good too, Sophie and Agatha of Gavalden."
Sophie's simple black dress, Agatha's afro and masculine clothing also won her favor.
"You must understand! A beautiful face and a strong body will both fade away with age."
"Only wisdom will always accompany you, growing with experience and age."
"And history is the shortcut to wisdom."
"It records the lessons learned from history by our ancestors. We can draw wisdom and strength from it to move forward."
"The Ugly Duckling teaches us to stay true to ourselves in adversity." She glanced at Sophie and Agatha.
"The Tales of King Arthur tells us that beauty lies not in appearance, but in the heart." She glanced at Beatrix, who was sitting close to Basil.
"The story of 'The Frog Prince' teaches us the importance of trust." She looked at the Frog Prince's daughter, Beatrix's black sidekick.
"These stories are mostly familiar to readers outside the community."
"They call them fairy tales. But for us, they are real history, the stories of your fathers."
"These are also what I'm going to teach you today."
Professor Anemone waved his hand, and the wall flipped, transforming the pink wall, which resembled a little girl's room, into a wall of thick books.
"Let me reintroduce myself now. I am the head of the Magic History class."
"In this lesson you will learn to fill your souls with the weight of history, so that you can—"
She waved her finger, and a white book with gold trim flew into her hand.
It clearly reads, "The Tales of King Arthur".
The pages turn automatically:
The Sword of Kings was forged in the elven kingdom of Avalon. Its hilt is made of gold and inlaid with gems. Because its blade can cut through iron like mud, the Lady of the Lake named it Excalibur (meaning "Caliburn" in Old Celtic).
Merlin then warned Arthur: "The Sword of Kings is powerful, but its scabbard is more precious than the sword itself. The one who wears the scabbard of the Sword of Kings will never shed blood; you must never lose it."
However, King Arthur eventually lost his sword sheath, and thus, despite possessing a sword that could cut through iron like mud, he was ultimately killed by the traitorous knight Mordmore.
At King Arthur's behest, the Sword of Kings was thrown back into the lake by Belial, returning with King Arthur to the elven kingdom of Avalon.
"Of course, this is just a legend from the outside world. Our history differs from the real fairy tale. The Caliburn does not have a scabbard."
"It does not cut through iron like mud. Its power lies not in killing, but in the attraction of good. Only the king of good can truly exert its power."
She looked at Basil.
Not far away, Tedros lowered his head in shame. In his hands, Excalibur could only emit light from its blade and cast a few light waves.
Agatha took his hand.
Professor Anemone continued speaking.
"Just like King Arthur used it to cut off the head of the Extremely Evil Red Dragon and kill it completely, it wasn't because it was sharp."
"You should know that before this, no weapon could harm it."
"Even the sharpest legendary sword of the Fairy Tale Kingdom — the Sword in the Stone —broke and broke before its scales."
"But Caliburn that is not made of sharp steel can break through its scales."
"Why is that?"
Encouraged by Agatha, Tedros stood up. "Because good always triumphs. Because we fight for one another and care for one another, that is the love of the good. The wicked fight only for themselves, which is a far cry from love."
"Yes!" Professor Anemone nodded approvingly. "Please sit down."
"The Caliburn can unite the good, awaken the magic of goodness in everyone, embrace them, illuminate the darkness, and destroy evil."
"However, our lesson today has little to do with it."
"It's history—"
Her hand reached into the pages of the book.
As she drew the sword, an elegant scabbard followed, detaching from the pages of the book and appearing in her hand.
But the outline of the scabbard was blurry and strange, as if it were being viewed through a foggy window.
"That's the power of history. Find strength in the past, even if it's false. Come on, ladies and gentlemen. Immerse yourselves in the story, find the parts that excite you, and try to feel them."
"Even if you haven't been given magic yet, you can get used to it now."
The books on the bookshelf seemed to leap and land at the desks of every student.
Beatrix raised her hand. "Professor Anemone, could you give me a copy of the Tales of King Arthur?"
She glanced at Basil shyly and timidly, "I want to make a suitable scabbard for my prince."
After she finished speaking, she gave Sophie a defiant look.
Sophie merely smiled coldly, thinking disdainfully, "I am already Basil's scabbard."
Basil also chose the Tales of King Arthur.
The instant the sword appeared in its sheath, he felt a jolt from the Excalibur at his waist.
Tedros did the same, except he wanted to pull out the sharpest sword that had broken— the Sword in the Stone —to prove himself worthy of being Camelot's heir.
Sophie chose the "The Fire-Box," hoping to obtain the Fire-Box to summon three large dogs. She could determine their size from the description of the size of their eyes—as big as a teacup, as big as a waterwheel, and as big as a round tower.
Moreover, they can talk and bring back a continuous stream of copper, silver, and gold for their owners.
Just as Madison envied Sophie for gaining magic from cards, she also envied the summons Madison received.
The beautiful unicorn goes without saying.
Especially that Golden Snitch, as long as it's not destroyed, it can continuously regenerate magic power and stamina.