"Mastering magic power is actually very simple. You only need to find the path of its flow through repeated magical outbursts, then break through the magical barriers within your body," Mu En said, leading Harry underground.
This was Harry's first time seeing the underground levels of Moonlight Castle. They were not as special as he had imagined: old wooden floors that sometimes creaked beneath his feet, corridors lined with wine bottles from who knew how many years ago, and piles of miscellaneous clutter.
Mu En calmly said, "You can't expect me to have that much time to tidy up an entire castle."
Harry looked awkward. Uncle Mu En, didn't you think it was a little late to explain that now?
Over the past week, he had already seen just how messy this castle was!
The corridors beneath the castle were even wider than those aboveground, and the rooms were spaced farther apart.
Oil lamps swayed along the hallways, their orange-red flames intertwining endlessly with the darkness in a dance that never ceased.
When they arrived at a room called the Potions Room and pushed open its heavy doors, Harry saw a chamber filled with glass instruments, cauldrons, and scales.
Besides all kinds of potion-making equipment, the shelves on either side held piles of herbs and jars containing eyeballs, animal carcasses, and pickles.
Pickles?!
Mu En paid no attention to Harry's gaze and simply took out a variety of medicinal herbs from the cabinets.
"You've already learned how to brew Energy Potion, so you have some solid experience with potions," Mu En said. "Next, I'll teach you Rousing Potion."
This potion had originated from Rage Potion. It was a combat potion that could greatly agitate magical power and increase the effectiveness of spells.
Of course, Rousing Potion was not nearly that powerful. It merely heightened a wizard's emotions and stirred up their magical power.
It was exceptionally effective at stimulating young wizards.
After explaining the logic behind the potion and magical training, Mu En began brewing.
"I'll only make it once, so watch carefully. Until you can control your magic power on your own, you'll have to brew every potion yourself. I won't help you.
"If you make a mistake and cause an explosion, corrosion, diarrhea, intestinal perforation, or something like that... I'll do my best to make sure you don't die!"
Cold sweat poured down Harry's face as he nodded repeatedly. Without saying a word, he stared at Mu En brewing the potion, determined to engrave every preparation method, ratio, and processing time into his mind.
An hour later, a pool of bright red liquid appeared in the cauldron. Mu En poured it out, then gave Harry time to ask any further questions.
More than ten minutes later, this introductory Potions Class finally came to an end.
Outside the castle, Mu En set up a dummy on the lawn and said, "If you don't have a target for your magical outburst, aim at it. You can imagine it as anyone—Dudley, your aunt and uncle, or anyone else at school that you hate."
Holding the small bottle of red Rousing Potion, Harry felt somewhat nervous. His feet kept shifting restlessly on the grass.
Seeing this, Mu En said nothing more. Many things did not need excessive instruction. No matter how much he said, it would be useless. Everyone was nervous the first time.
After watching Harry drink the potion, he returned to Moonlight Castle and picked up a book he had bought in Diagon Alley.
The red sofa had already molded itself to his shape. When he lay down in it, the leather felt a little cold at first, but after a while, it felt as though his whole body had melted into it.
Lucifer added more firewood for himself, hoping to make the fire burn brighter. Before long, the flames began to rise and fall. This was his unique "sleeping posture."
Rather than choosing advanced spellbooks or looking into the seemingly distinctive art of Transfiguration, Mu En first opened A History of Modern Magic by Bashat.
He had once liked powerful spells and novel magic, but now he preferred to first trace the course of development through magical history before conducting corresponding, systematic magical research.
Take history as a mirror; learn from the ancients...
In contrast to the warmth within the castle, even in summer, the Scandinavian Mountains had winds cold enough to cut to the bone, especially atop the peaks.
But Harry did not care about the cold wind. He only felt his blood rushing to his head, leaving his mind in complete chaos.
It was like the state Dudley fell into whenever he woke up without enough sleep and threw a tantrum for no reason.
Probably...
"Hey—"
Standing three or four meters from the dummy, Harry stretched both hands forward and let out a muffled grunt, imagining himself blasting it away through the air.
"Ha—"
Harry exerted himself once more.
A few blades of grass drifted past Harry's eyes on the mountain wind. The dummy was still the dummy, and he was still himself.
Nothing had changed at all.
"No, no..." Harry clawed at his hair, his voice growing irritated. "That's wrong!! It's not like this!!!"
This is so annoying—
He felt incredibly agitated, yet he could find no outlet for it. He was like an overinflated balloon, trembling unsteadily in the air.
After simmering in frustration for quite some time, Harry suddenly raised his head and looked at the dummy's face, trying to imagine Dudley's features upon it.
Yet no matter how much he told himself Dudley was standing before him, it did no good.
Where would you find a Dudley that skinny?!
Whether it was the Dursleys or anyone at school who had bullied him...
The disgust, anger, and even extreme hatred were almost gone.
Over the past week, the Dursleys had treated him like air. No one had bullied him, so what was there left to hate?
A child's heart was not filled with all the thoughts born from desire. Even if he wanted to hate them, he could not summon the feeling.
Harry stared fixedly at the dummy's face. It was no different from the mannequins used to display clothes in department stores, except that it had no features...
For some reason, perhaps because of the potion or perhaps due to something else, a face suddenly overlapped with the dummy before Harry's eyes.
At the same time, the scar on his forehead began to burn with pain, twisting his features involuntarily.
Scenes flickering with green light flashed before his eyes. A bald, noseless figure with a hideous grin began to overlap with the dummy in front of him...
The pain in his forehead, his already agitated thoughts, the flashing lights before his eyes, the screams in his ears, and that hideous, cold, low laughter constantly flooded his mind...
With an angry roar from Harry, a force suddenly erupted from his body.
A tremendous bang rang out. The dummy suddenly flew backward as though it had been hit by a truck, smashing into a rock behind it before tumbling sideways until it finally struck a huge redwood tree and came to a stop.
Harry hunched over, clutching the scar on his forehead.
At that moment, Harry remembered the scene from a week ago, when Uncle Mu En had been attacked.
It had been exactly the same...
"Something's wrong. Maybe I should ask Uncle Mu En..." Harry muttered, forcing himself upright. The mountain wind swept over him, bringing a trace of comfort to his body soaked through with sweat.
Inside, Mu En had just finished reading the table of contents and synopsis at the beginning of the book. Before he could turn to the first chapter, he saw Harry push open the door and walk in.
"Uncle Mu En, I have some questions," Harry said impatiently.
Mu En nodded and looked at Harry. "What questions?"
"I want to know about myself," Harry said, then felt that he had phrased it poorly. "My scar. There's something wrong with it.
"I... My scar suddenly hurt terribly just now, and then I saw a figure using a wand to cast magic at me. A woman rushed forward and blocked the magic, turning into..."
For some reason, the more Harry spoke, the more his heart pounded with fear.
He took a deep breath, recalling Uncle Mu En's advice not to wear his emotions on his face. Then he said as calmly as possible:
"I think... that woman was my mother."
Before you continue