"I'm very proficient with the Lumos spell now. If I turn it into a card, will its proficiency be blank, or will it be based on my actual proficiency with Lumos?" Basil hurriedly asked.
He began to appreciate having this youthful version of Riddle, like a System Sprite.
Without him, the only way Basil could find out would be to spend 100 gems and make a card on the spot.
Then compare the spell's power without using a wand, a Wand Appearance Component, or using both "magic power" and magic power at once—only using the Grimoire.
Because cards did not display proficiency.
The standard data bars for system-story protagonists, which showed the minute progress gained through diligent studying and training.
He did not have those.
Riddle pondered for a moment. "My lord, the essence of making cards is taking a snapshot of the magic you cast and engraving it into the Grimoire."
"There may later be imbalances caused by the habit of 'walking.'"
"But at the beginning, the two are equivalent."
Basil suddenly understood. "So if I really make a Spell Card for Lumos, it will inherit my proficiency with that spell."
Riddle smiled. "Yes. If your mastery of the spell itself surpasses that of the Spell Card, you can update its data by taking another 'snapshot.'"
Basil narrowed his eyes. "I have another question. You said that honing intent and form to perfection would make a spell 'come alive' and engrave itself in one's heart. But from what I've observed, almost no one is working toward that."
"Even Hermione, who takes things most seriously, is only incredibly meticulous about form."
"Even Dumbledore. Based on what I know from watching the movies, it's hard to imagine him as the sort of wizard you described, wholly devoted to magic without distraction. He wouldn't emphasize technical precision and appropriate intent like Professor Flitwick. In short, he doesn't seem like someone magic could change."
Riddle raised an eyebrow. "It's hard to imagine that a college dropout could have such powers of observation."
"This is the smooth path of growth for wizards who truly study magic."
"The path Ravenclaw's 'smart people' take in learning magic."
"Other houses call this sort of behavior obsessive or bookish."
"Like the weaker members of the other houses. Most of them are infected by Black and White Magic with such strong 'life' that it comes alive the moment it is cast."
"And the truly strong ones, like Dumbledore."
"Rely on an unshakable sense of self."
"They change magic through themselves. Rather than making spells develop a 'soul' and allowing them to change themselves, they use unreasonable confidence to make ordinary spells extraordinary."
"Like your friends, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. They hardly care about theory. They simply believe that if they recite an incantation, a spell and magical phenomenon will appear."
"Sometimes, ignorance is also a kind of power."
"Like Dumbledore. He believes love can change everything, so his magic truly possesses unmatched power."
At that, Riddle dry-heaved.
"Do you have any other questions?"
"If not, I'm going back into the room to chat with the other me."
"This feeling really is quite strange."
Basil shook his head.
That room referred to the chamber inside the statue, which had originally contained shelves filled with Slytherin's treasured books and documents.
The other him Riddle spoke of was the original Diary Horcrux.
Even with the Diary hidden in this secret chamber, Basil still felt somewhat uneasy.
After all, there was still Voldemort's main body possessing Quirrell.
Though he probably would not tell a place this private to someone he considered less than a servant.
But what if?
What if he suddenly felt nostalgic and returned to this old place, only to discover that his Horcrux was here?
Dumbledore would have to deal with two Voldemorts at once.
Then the plot would completely derail.
Basil wanted the plot to derail so he could earn more gems.
But not in this bad way.
So, he had innovatively invented the method of using Voldemort to guard Voldemort.
Before walking into the statue, Riddle reminded him, "My lord, I suggest you do not move these broken desks and chairs back to where they were."
"Though I would be delighted if Dumbledore noticed young me's Magic Field and was frightened out of his wits."
"But you do not seem to want that."
"Good thing I have you!" Basil sighed in relief.
He had nearly reflexively put those damaged desks and chairs back into the empty classroom.
Weren't transmigrators supposed to know everything after transmigrating, with every situation under control?
Why wasn't he like that?
He was no different from his Previous Life self, when he had dropped out and lay around wasting away—always forgetting things and leaving them behind.
Then another possibility suddenly occurred to him. "In that case, Dumbledore already knows that I keep wrecking desks and chairs, doesn't he?"
Riddle said nothing.
But he clearly acquiesced.
Basil collapsed onto the bed, utterly dejected.
How had he caught that old bastard's attention in such an embarrassing way?
Other transmigrators either caught attention by looking into a mirror with Harry, or wasted their first time breaking into a forbidden area and facing Voldemort.
But him? Just because he caused damage.
"Why didn't you remind me earlier?" Basil instinctively shifted the blame.
"Is it possible that I had not yet been born then? You had not made me yet," Riddle quietly reminded him. "Besides, you were probably noticed long ago. From what I know of Dumbledore, the moment you stole Harry Potter's first spotlight and killed Fenrir, you were already in his little notebook."
"Fine." Basil gave an awkward laugh.
How had he forgotten about being intensely stared at from behind while waiting for the Sorting?
In the end, the desks and chairs moved out of those empty classrooms were vanished by one of Riddle's Vanishment Charms.
They completely left this beautiful world.
This lesson was completely over as well.
Basil had originally wanted to learn the Killing Curse.
Though he could learn it through the Fenrir Wolf Echo.
But one teacher was Voldemort, while the other was an Echo formed from Voldemort's hound.
Even a troll would know which one to choose.
In any case, Hermione's sudden intrusion into the dormitory interrupted Basil's connection with Riddle.
Her little face was flushed from running, and her two protruding teeth looked particularly adorable alongside her delicate features.
"Basil, I found it!"
"I found out what an Archmage is!"
"Archmages of the Twentieth Century—I found it in the library! Archmage is simply short for great wizard. Any wizard who has made outstanding contributions can be called an Archmage!"
Basil had a headache! A truly massive headache!
What kind of Archmage was that supposed to be?!
He suppressed the urge to complain and patiently explained, "The Archmage in that book may not be the same as the one I meant."
"I saw it in the miscellaneous notes of my grandfather's grandfather's grandfather. About six hundred years ago."
"At the time, he encountered a wizard completely unlike other wizards, one with magic power truly flowing within him. He called him an Archmage. That wizard explained that the magic power flowing through him had been born when an intangible concept became reality under faith, will, and intense desire."
After a moment of silence, Hermione said, "I'm not saying I don't believe your ancestor."
"Magic is advancing. Just like how we believed in geocentrism in the Middle Ages. Now everyone knows heliocentrism is correct."
"In the past, everyone believed in magic power. But now, Magical Theory—the textbook used by the best magical schools in the world—says magic power does not exist."
"Our special abilities all come from the Magic Field."
"So could your ancestor have been mistaken? After all, Magical Theory also says: You can sense it, and you can make others sense it, but it does not actually exist."
Basil was speechless.
"I infer that you are not lacking in intelligence, but unfortunately, you are too narrow-minded, short-sighted, and closed-minded."
He did not know who had said that.
Having never read the novels, he only knew it was an assessment of Hermione.
Before, he had thought it was just nonsense made up by Hermione haters.
But now—it was fucking spot-on!
Before you continue