Cedric Still Had Not Returned

Ariana didn't try to persuade Phoebe. After exchanging glances, their gem counts simultaneously dropped to zero.

Ariana, who had just redeemed the [Magical Power Refinement] item, finally understood Mrs. Potter's momentary lapse in judgment.

This sensory leap is truly captivating, as if one has taken Wit-Sharpening Potion and become smarter and omnipotent.

At this moment, Phoebe's smile was as hard to suppress as an AK.

She discovered she had stumbled upon a great bargain.

Clicking on the details page reveals the description. "Patronus Charm Spell Card Model with Some Optimization."

It looks quite ordinary.

But after exchanging it, she realized how remarkable it was, and how valuable this "certain degree" was.

It is nothing like an open-source standard spell card, which is simply a three-dimensional Magic Circle inscribed in the mind that allows people to cast spells conveniently without a wand.

At the same time, it is also a method for self-cultivation.

There's no need to repeatedly cast the Patronus Charm with a wand and experience joy and happiness to enhance the power of the Patronus.

Simply close your eyes and meditate on its structure, repeatedly sketching its trajectory in your mind, and your Patronus will improve, its appearance will change, it will break free from the influence of acquired experiences, gradually return to its innate state, and approach its true self.

No wonder it's called "The Image of True Self".

Moreover, this has contributed to her improvement in more ways than just that.

She is still a fairy, and the Patronus of fairies will merge with elves like Harry did.

To some extent, this had a synergistic effect on her, where 1+1 was greater than 2.

First, her magic power increased.

The Green Magic Fairy's meditation enhances her magical power because she is connected to the vibrant nature of the Magic Immortal World.

The Red Magic Fairy's enhanced magic power is caused by a spiral phenomenon resulting from the combination of the magic power of the Fairy Order and the chaotic magic power of Fantastic Beasts.

The "Image of True Self," which involves looking inward, constantly analyzing oneself, and enhancing one's magic through self-improvement, was a pleasant surprise for her.

It was completely beyond what she had learned in the Magic Immortal World.

However, the increase in magic power is only secondary.

Most importantly, the Magic Immortal Artifact is also a silhouette of herself. The shadow of her true self is becoming clearer, and she feels that her relationship with her Magic Immortal Artifact is becoming closer.

If she hadn't covered it up, she might have even caused the same glowing phenomenon that Harry had experienced before—his body glowing for no reason, followed by a surge in magic power—in public.

If things continue like this, it might not be long before she can achieve the Second Stage Liberation of the Magic Immortal Artifact.

The other Champion and Heroic Spirits also noticed Phoebe's expression.

Harry didn't care; he had already spent all his gems.

Lily, who had 240 gems, didn't care what use the 20-gem [Image of True Self] would have. She simply opened it, glanced at it casually, and then looked away, continuing to plan what to exchange for.

Krum has 144 gems, as do the Prewett Brothers, who have a total of 66 gems.

Only Riddle also only had 20 gems, had the idea, but the next second he began to doubt whether this was a play deliberately put on by Phoebe to mislead him.

So after looking at the details of [Image of True Self], he clicked on [Shadow of Death], which was priced the same and clearly came from the Rune Card World.

"Compared to the Patronus Charm, the Killing Curse suits me better." With this thought in mind, Riddle made up his mind.

The biggest lesson he learned from this mission was that he didn't manage his relationship with Cedric well, which led to him being blocked from accessing information. He was also too confident and didn't leave the Magic Immortal Artifact to obtain information from the outside world as soon as he was blocked.

This leads to a situation where one step behind results in further setbacks, ultimately leading to failure.

And now is another opportunity to maintain a semblance of harmony.

Cedric has 30 gems left.

Now all he has to do is lay the groundwork for Cedric and see if it's really a surprise or a trap set by Phoebe.

The sound of jewels sliding down the wall filled my ears, and the numbers on the pop-up window returned to zero.

Riddle closed his eyes and sensed the spell card that shone with a deathly green light in his mental world.

It seemed to have been there for a long time, and upon closer inspection, the very essence that shaped it came from itself.

But Riddle knew that it didn't exist before it was exchanged.

If the Killing Curse spell card he created based on his fairly extensive knowledge was carefully sketched by a failed art student, then its sudden appearance out of nowhere is at least the masterpiece of a visiting professor at an art academy.

Even a farmer without an artistic temperament can tell the difference between the former and the latter.

The fact that the original Killing Curse card, which was constantly collapsing due to the appearance of spell cards of the same nature, could also prove that it did not exist a second ago.

Riddle had no choice but to lower his proud head.

He knew from the beginning that there was a world of difference between him and the Behind-the-Scenes God, but he still firmly believed that if he investigated carefully, he could at least sense the changes happening in his spiritual world and feel a trace of the aura belonging to the Behind-the-Scenes God.

But reality proved that he overestimated himself.

The discovery that he could improve the level of the Killing Curse by meditating on this spell card called "Shadow of Death" should have surprised him, but it only made him force a smile.

"It seems that's not a good choice." Noticing the dejected look emanating from Riddle, Lily misunderstood that Riddle had exchanged for the wrong item.

She has already decided how to use and allocate her 240 gems.

40 gems for [Magical Power Nature Addition (Customizable)], 30 gems for [Magical Power Refinement] x3, 70 gems for [Human Cauldron].

The nature she planned to add was 'love,' for the same reason Riddle chose 'snake'—to make it a better fit.

She redeemed [Magical Power Refinement] three times because she had already redeemed it four times before, and [Magical Power Refinement] can be redeemed a maximum of seven times. She wanted to see what would happen if Magical Power Refinement were pushed to its limit.

The [Human Cauldron] is her new discovery; it should be a product from the Rune Card World.

She chose it because she was most skilled in Potions.

Potions is a very valuable discipline.

It is also a subject that only wizards can master.

If you give Muggle a Potions book and the right ingredients, and teach them how to boil dead flies and daffodils in a pot, all they'll get is a pot of awful soup, and they might even get poisoned.

The wand, this little wooden stick, is indispensable in the process of making Potions, serving as a spoon.

The underlying principle is that the medicinal properties of certain ingredients can only be extracted, activated, and prepared in a pot by a Potions.

For example, the Polyjuice Potion has the following ingredients: Lacewing Flies, leeches, Bicorn Horn, Knotgrass, Fluxweed, and the skin of African Tree Snake. At first glance, it makes no sense.

But in reality, every ingredient is carefully selected and indispensable:

The Lacewing Flies symbolizes the intertwining of two qualities; the leech can absorb the essence of a material and add it to other substances; the Bicorn Horn symbolizes relative duality; the Knotgrass signifies connection with another person; the Fluxweed symbolizes the variability shown during transformation; and the skin of the African Tree Snake metaphorically represents the shed skin and the new outer skin.

The magical ritual of the "Human Cauldron" involves transforming the human body into a cauldron capable of cooking Potions. This cauldron can extract the 'medicinal properties' of materials, store them within the body, and then refine Potions within the body.

It's somewhat like Magic Immortal World where magic is used to simulate the 'properties' of medicine, giving rise to the power of Potions.

At the same time, the [Caliber Transformation] body can also transform freshly made Potions into spell cards. Although there is an upper limit, just like with Summoning Card, it is entirely possible to select rare, difficult-to-refine, or Potions that take too long to refine and can be used as the base for other Potions for spell card transformation.

In short, this is something a Master of Potions cannot refuse.

Furthermore, some Potions have very unique effects that cannot be achieved through spells or other means (such as Felix Felicis).

If she redeems this ritual, she can better help her son, such as by giving him good fortune—through Felix Felicis, or by injecting purified Dittany cinnabar into his body to create a pseudo- Immortal Body.

("Only 70 gems?" Seamus asked incredulously.)

("For the average wizard, it might only have the function of turning Potions into spell cards," Hermione rolled her eyes, "The steps and timing required to concoct Potions within the body using only the properties of the potion would need to be re-derived.")

("And spell card conversion only makes it more portable. Eternal Potion [Potions that leave their source and automatically multiply in suitable environments. Any Potions can be made Eternity] are difficult, but for Master of Potions like Mrs. Potter, it just requires more time.")

(Basil retorted, "What do you mean by 'just portable'? That's hard to say.")

(This means that wizards don't need to maintain a suitable environment at all; they can create the Magic Eye simply by expending magic.)

("The difficulty with Eternal Potion lies in maintaining a suitable environment. For Potions like Skele-Gro to become Eternity, it's more costly to brew new ones than to spend a lot of money maintaining them. Only large Potions factories are willing to do this, as they can make a profit while maintaining a balance between income and expenditure.")

Hermione had just been displaying her knowledge like a peacock spreading its tail feathers, shrank back.

(She thought it was because of the recent SPEW that Basil had become hostile towards her.)

(Little did she know that the seemingly useless "Human Cauldron" she was slandering was actually her boyfriend's proud creation, and he was secretly pleased with Lily's choice.)

After Lily started exchanging items, Krum and the Prewett Brothers also found their targets.

They adopted a cautious redemption strategy, choosing items that they and others had redeemed before, with clear and unambiguous descriptions.

Krum redeemed another [Magical Circuit - 100 Gems].

Because of it, he did not fall behind Harry and Cedric in terms of magical power, whose magical power increased exponentially due to the accelerated progress of the Magic Immortal Artifact's liberation.

He is now preparing to amplify his advantage.

The remaining 44 gems were used to exchange for 4 [Magical Power Refinement · 10 Gems] to improve the quality of magic power, adding 4 units of [Pure Magical Power] to further enhance the magic power.

The Prewett Brothers still exchanged for their younger brother, Fabian, choosing to Magical Power Refinement six times. They then exchanged the remaining six gems, just like Krum, for six units of [Pure Magical Power].

(Ron thought Krum and the others' choice was too low-class. If it were him, he would definitely choose the [Magic Eye]. Casting spells with your eyes is so cool, especially Expelliarmus that glows red.)

(Ron did this for a reason: his eyes could glow with magical light, which reminded Harry of Superman —something he knew from reading Dudley comics.)

(Upon learning this, Lily's maternal instincts kicked in, and Snape, who lived in the Muggle World of Spinner's End, immediately ordered a large batch of Superman comics.)

(And Harry, because of training, didn't have time to watch, which benefited Ron.)

(Ron then realized that these static comics were actually just as good... no, even better!)

(He's currently a Superman fan, and spends his days fantasizing that he was actually found by his parents in a meteorite crater.)

Now, except for Cedric who is still in the Rune Card World and hasn't returned, all the other Champion and Heroic Spirits have completed their redemptions, and there isn't a single gem left.

Without Cedric's return, none of them could choose to stop exchanging and leave the settlement space.

Meanwhile, Cedric...

"Is that so? I'm actually a man, I have no children with Gellert, and I even imprisoned him?" Dumbledore's eyes flickered, clearly dissatisfied with this unfamiliar version of himself.

(Grindelwald looked at the strange yet familiar woman who was angry on his behalf, and a strange warmth welled up in his heart.)

(At the same time, Dumbledore coughed nervously.)

(But the next second he became self-righteous, believing that he had done nothing wrong in his treatment of Grindelwald.)

(In their world, Grindelwald is not a hero, but a radical, even somewhat evil, reformer.)

(He didn't have any selfish motives, and he didn't even visit Grindelwald in prison once.)

(Basil 'Dumbledore thoughts, had a strange expression. He began to understand why Grindelwald in the movie version didn't keep Dumbledore's secret from Voldemort.)

(In his world, the Novel World of Dumbledore, at least he wrote letters and occasionally visited people in prison.)

(And perhaps because Dumbledore in this world has a more fiery temper, he is more likely to be 1 in the 0 and 1 pair, taking the lead in the relationship between the two, and is more decisive in refraining from looking at Grindelwald.)

(It's normal for Grindelwald, who never saw his beloved again until his death, to harbor resentment.)

"Grindelwald in our world is not a hero, and it's said that he was involved in the death of Professor Dumbledore's sister, Ariana," Cedric defended his headmaster.

He did not consider mentioning Ariana's death to be offensive to Dumbledore.

First of all, Ariana has essentially been resurrected.

Secondly, Ariana's identity as Heroic Spirits is not a secret, either in the past or present.

After all, Riddle, the young Voldemort's past, is almost universally known.

(Basil looked at Dumbledore, who was frowning like a volcano about to erupt, and thought that Cedric had still made a mistake.)

(Ariana's death was a complete mystery; neither Albus Dumbledore, Aberforth, nor Grindelwald knew whose curse killed her.)

(Grindelwald hopes it was either himself or Aberforth who did it.)

(Albus Dumbledore wished it were himself.)

(Aberforth hoped it was himself or Grindelwald.)

"Is that so?" Dumbledore's brow relaxed. "No wonder he was so cruel to Gellert."

"However, Aryan's fate changed quite differently simply because he was a different gender, which is also..."

She was still shaken by Cedric's words.

She supported Grindelwald's reforms not only out of love, but also so that her brother Aryan could attend Hogwarts.

She simply couldn't accept that her husband, Grindelwald, had become her sister's killer in another world.