"Exceptional wisdom is the greatest wealth of mankind."
Li Lin stroked the inscription on the Diadem, trembling with excitement.
He didn't realize that he didn't enjoy reading, let alone ancient books.
He didn't notice that his Explosion Charm targeted useless, broken furniture. Books and other valuable items were conveniently ignored.
He didn't even notice that the rust on the Diadem in his hand was starting to fade, and his sallow skin was slowly fading, turning into a deathly pale color.
A sapphire on the Diadem flashed with a hint of red light.
Masaru Kobayashi's dark brown eyes instantly turned into vertical pupils, and his Japanese-accented English became instantly standard.
"Mahoutokoro?"
"Nick Flume?"
"Basil Granger?"
"The most interesting one. Ariana Dumbledore!"
Her pale skin glowed with a pearly white fluorescence.
Her narrow, slit-like eyes appeared larger, as if she had undergone canthoplasty.
Her flat nose started to stand up straight.
"Interesting magic, huh? That little island has such tricks up its sleeve?"
With one hand forming a mudra, the water vapor in the air condenses into a mirror.
In the Japanese Wizarding World, the most difficult one-handed hand seal of Shintoism was easily performed by an 11-year-old boy.
Masaru Kobayashi looked in the mirror and stroked his jawline.
"No. In this state, I'm afraid I can't compete with Granger."
How can I win the heart of lovely Ariana?
"The resurrection of the dead is far more interesting than any so-called Philosopher's Stone!"
"Saint Albus Dumbledore, you are nothing but a hypocrite!"
The Chat Group is currently buzzing with excitement.
Basil broadcasted everything that Room of Requirement.
They also learned the whole story from Basil.
Madison: "Masaru Kobayashi is dead just like that?"
She's not a saint.
She felt it was a pity that Masaru Kobayashi had died.
Those who dared to target Basil died so easily.
Zoe: "Yeah, that's a real shame."
Basil: "Don't worry, he won't die so easily."
"Losing the ability to control one's body and watching it act on its own, being imprisoned in the dark must be quite interesting."
"It seems my memory was perfectly fabricated; Voldemort, who resides in the Ravenclaw's Diadem representing wisdom, didn't even notice."
"Gilderoy Lockhart truly deserves to be called a master of the Memory Charm."
"I benefited greatly from his dream."
Sophie: "But how did Voldemort know that Ariana had been resurrected?"
Beatrix: "Foolish hopelessness. I don't even need to ask Professor Anemone to know."
"The person who knows you best is not your friend, but your enemy. Haven't you heard that saying?"
"In order to thoroughly understand Dumbledore, Voldemort probably already dug up his past completely."
Sophie: "You finally admit it!"
In the dormitory, Sophie lay on her bed, kicking her legs wildly, almost rolling off the bed onto the floor in her excitement.
Beatrix: "What did I admit to?"
Sophie: "You!"
She almost couldn't breathe.
A strong wind blew around us, and the glass in the window shattered all over the floor.
Bellatrix: "You two should talk privately if you're arguing! It's always like this."
"Shouldn't we be worried about Ariana now?"
"She's been targeted by Voldemort!"
Ariana: "But isn't Basil there?"
In the Gryffindor Common Room, she blinked and leaned on Basil's shoulder.
Bellatrix: "Oh yeah."
They then started discussing when they would like to go for a spring outing in SGE's Blue Forest.
That fantastical and beautiful forest is something that can't be found in other worlds. After the arrival of the Dream Kingdom, a convenient and free transit point, they often used it to travel to this forest.
Moreover, this gives them the opportunity to meet Basil offline and develop a more substantial relationship.
Madison and Zoe were among them, of course.
Although their world did not have the concept of a vast Dream Sea, their dreams could be infected just as easily.
And so, like Fairy Tale Mage, they were given new abilities.
Madison's ability was still telekinesis, so her data panel had a strong suffix for "telekinesis".
Zoe's ability is extremely interesting; she can use intangible things, which are defined as knowledge, as food to sustain her life.
She herself found it very useful.
Not because it helps her eliminate waste.
Rather, it allows her to keep reading a book she likes and always maintain the joy of reading it for the first time.
Once you've read it once, as long as you absorb the content, you'll forget the details, only remembering that it's your favorite book, and then you can start over.
Compared to Zoe, the other characters' abilities are relatively less novel.
Ariana awakens the same transformation ability as Basil; she transforms into a phoenix.
Alice's flight.
Rosalie conceived, but not through her own efforts; rather, she made others feel the pain of all stages of pregnancy and childbirth through her gaze.
This ability has a very high ceiling. When Basil used the Rosalie Knight Card, he discovered that if he activated it to its fullest potential, he could actually make the person he was watching have a big belly and give birth to a baby.
And it doesn't discriminate between men and women.
Basil suspected that further developments could allow ghosts, or even conscious, living magical artifacts, to conceive and give birth.
I would like to thank Barty Crouch Jr.. for his contributions to the experiment.
Basil never forgot the look of surprise and joy on Old Crouch's face.
I will never forget the time: 9:12:12 AM on August 29, 1992.
I will never forget the 101,371.2 gems I gained as a result.
This gem is quite strange.
Perhaps this boy will become a great person in the future?
——
In the Headmaster's Office, Dumbledore's eyes gleamed.
He did not underestimate any of the international students.
They may be weak, but they are all supported by a powerful force behind them.
They each possess, to varying degrees, the strange and wondrous magic of their respective countries.
Some even possess powerful magical artifacts.
The ring on the hand of Manstein, the necklace of Thaddeus Ross Mary Scott, and the headband of Dragon Country An Feng.
These are not Dark Magic items, nor are they offensive, so there is no excuse to confiscate them.
Preventing them from enrolling could cause a diplomatic incident.
Therefore, the study buddy system emerged.
He even left a mark on each international student.
But what he never expected was that among all the international students, the Japanese students were the first to cause trouble.
It's still the weaker one.
They also know the location of the Room of Requirement and how to enter it.
But none of that matters.
Most importantly, he witnessed Ravenclaw's Diadem appear and Voldemort's words, "How shall I win the heart of lovely Ariana?"
"Why? Why couldn't I find the Horcrux in the Room of Requirement?"
"The Room of Requirement and Departure is the heart of Hogwarts and the place where the Headmaster has the most power besides the Headmaster's Office."
Dumbledore suppressed his anger as he pondered.
Long, slender fingers tapped the table, the force gradually increasing.
"Could it be because Tom at that time still possessed the privileges inherited from the descendants of Slytherin?"
After roughly figuring things out, Dumbledore quickly shifted his thoughts.
He was afraid, and he couldn't help but grab his wand right now and give 'Masaru Kobayashi' an Avada.
"Erich von Manstein, why do I feel the same way about him?"
"I don't remember being such a shallow person."
The next second, Dumbledore placed his hand on his chest, looking melancholy.
Completely devoid of his previous anger, he couldn't help but reveal a wild, Beast -like look in his eyes.
——
It was a towering, dark, and intimidating building, a sinister fortress.
It was completely surrounded by a black brick wall.
During the day, only the top floor receives a sliver of sunlight.
But the window was an extremely narrow slit made of black stone, allowing only a small patch of light, about the size of Knuts, to filter through.
This also resulted in the room having a damp, musty smell.
This is Nurmengard, Austria—the prison where the first Dark Lord held his opponents.
He is currently being held in custody.
This meant that the thin figure under the thin blanket on the black stone slab was none other than Gellert Grindelwald.
The skeletal face, the sunken eyes, and the almost missing teeth do indeed show a faint resemblance.
But if Dumbledore himself were to identify it, he would be greatly surprised.
In the tower of Gryffindor, in the dormitory for international students, a blond, blue-eyed German boy wore a happy smile, his body unconsciously curled up into a ball, as if he had long been accustomed to this, accustomed to sleeping in narrow spaces, such as small black stone slabs.
Branches, the dormitory door opens.
Masaru Kobayashi, his face now plain and unsavory, walked straight toward the four-poster bed engraved with his name.
Beside him, on the four-poster bed facing the window, the blond, blue-eyed boy suddenly opened his eyes, his gaze filled with shock and amusement.
——
Early the next morning.
In the lounge, Percy stood at the door handing out study buddy forms to every international student who passed by.
The document listed the information of the international student's three study buddies: their grade level, names, and physical characteristics.
This greatly annoyed Ron. "This is ridiculous! So many students signed up and met the requirements for a study buddy program in just one night?"
"These are Gryffindor! Don't they have any self-respect?!"
He kicked a suit of armor in the fifth-floor corridor and then walked downstairs.
Harry yawned. "Haven't you figured it out yet?"
"They call themselves study partners, but they should really be seen as monitors."
"Both Dumbledore and Basil graduated from Gryffindor."
He carefully dodged another girl who greeted Basil and continued, "It's perfectly normal for students in our college to participate so enthusiastically."
"Seamus from our dorm signed up."
"Right, Seamus?"
They had arrived at the lobby on the first floor.
Seamus looked on with envy at Basil was being watched by almost everyone.
Hearing Harry call him, he nodded quickly, "Ah, yes."
Approaching the Great Hall.
The magical ceiling was the gray of a cloudy day.
On the long tables of the four colleges, there were bowls of porridge, plates of pickled herring, piles of bread slices, and dishes of eggs and salted meat.
Harry, Ron, Neville, and Seamus sat down at the Gryffindor long table.
Watching Basil leave them, he went straight to Hermione, Phoebe, and Ariana, and sat down between them.
Ron brought a bowl of porridge to himself and Harry. "It's nice to be able to sit with that Dracula."
He added more bacon and eggs. "Harry, what do you think is the relationship between Ariana and the headmaster?"
"Basil returned to his dormitory very late yesterday. He didn't seem to want to answer."
Seamus took a sip of milk and scoffed, "If you don't dare ask, then don't meddle with Harry."
Ron raised an eyebrow. "You dare?"
Seamus shook his head. "I wouldn't dare."
"Basil is a kind and approachable man, but he has an inexplicable air of authority."
"I wouldn't dare to offend you."
(Neville nods, "Yes!")
"A natural leader."
Ron swallowed a mouthful of pickled herring. "Then what did you say?"
"Harry, you?" He turned to look at Harry.
He noticed that Harry's porridge was untouched, and he was staring intently at the Japanese wizard named Masako Li Lin who was accompanied by a fat girl.
Harry snapped out of his reverie. "Don't you think that guy looks a bit paler? And his eyes are a little bigger too."
For some reason, he couldn't stop wanting to see that Japanese shaman.
Ron nearly knocked the milk jug over. "Why are you paying attention to him? There are so many international students."
"You can look at Feng An, she's very cute."
"Or Junko Suzuki, who is also a Japanese shrine maiden."
"That Mary Scott is also good."
Harry covered his forehead, hoping to temporarily lose his hearing.
Sirius led Ron astray.
The posters of Muggle women in bikinis in his bedroom evoked another side of Ron.
Just like now, even if Harry ignores Ron.
Ron was still rambling on, "I should have applied to be a study buddy too!"
"The idiot next to them is clearly not as good as me."
"Wait. They're all moving closer to Basil!"
Ron immediately stood up, his face solemn. "I'm going to protect my friends."
But the way he rubbed his hands together like a fly revealed his true feelings.
Ron wasn't the only one who shared the same idea.
Instantly, a wall of people appeared around Basil, blocking their only way.
Basil frowned slightly, and a trace of displeasure in his heart was instantly transmitted to the crowd through the Magic Field.
The crowd dispersed automatically as if given a command, revealing a passage.
International students preparing to go forward.
In the end, only three remained: An Feng, Suzuki Junko, and Mary Scott.
The others instinctively returned to their seats.
Now possessing a charm that transcends form and originates from the heart, Basil can easily convey his emotions without even needing the contact of the five senses.
Anyone who is captivated by his charm will subconsciously obey commands that do not violate their own personality.
Basil didn't even need to speak up.
"Speak, what is it?" Basil raised an eyebrow.
An Feng has a baby face and looks very delicate.
But she speaks and acts directly, displaying the unique straightforwardness and magnanimity of a Sichuan girl.
"My family member is seriously ill and needs an elixir of Elixir of Life."
"I can use it to exchange."
As she spoke, she pulled off the white hairband.
"When people learn, they always need to repeat the process in order to master a piece of knowledge."
"But in fact, the memory has not been forgotten, but is hidden in the mind."
"And wearing it can access anything you've ever seen in the past, anything you thought you'd forgotten."
"You can give it a try."
Basil blinked to take the photo, then said righteously, "Sorry, I don't need it."