For the Greater Good!

The magical system of this world was based on the mind.

Every spell encompassed the wizard's emotions and intent at that moment.

So, at its core, the essence of magic in this world was, to some extent, "wishing makes it so."

Thus, truly powerful wizards often did not need spells to cast magic.

Of course, when they did speak an incantation, their emotions and intent would reach their peak, and the power of their magic would be enhanced to the greatest extent.

Like Tom in the future, using the Killing Curse as a basic attack...

However, for Tom at that time, loudly chanting the Killing Curse's incantation was not only meant to increase the spell's power, but also to intimidate everyone else.

At that moment, Li Weide lay back in a recliner and entered the same meditative state as before.

But this time, rather than deliberately reining in his chaotic thoughts, he silently sensed the "energy" known as magic within him.

I need inner peace, free of distracting thoughts, Li Weide thought.

Then, he felt as though the magic within him had begun to move, yet also as though it had not.

Just as Li Weide was about to try again, he suddenly felt utter calm within. Every stray thought vanished in an instant!

The sensation was strange, like being in a bustling city when all the sounds around him suddenly disappeared. Everything became completely quiet, leaving only the sound of his own breathing and heartbeat.

Li Weide marveled at the changes, but then he found something odd.

He was clearly still thinking, so why was his mind free of distracting thoughts? Wasn't that a contradiction?

It was like someone checking his breathing and finding none, even though he could clearly feel himself breathing!

Why couldn't others detect that he was breathing?

Before long, Li Weide figured out the reason.

His stray thoughts had not disappeared, nor had his thinking stopped.

They had merely been hidden away!

Why had that happened?

Because magic could fulfill a wizard's wishes.

So, in order to fulfill Li Weide's desire to be free of distracting thoughts, his magic had no choice but to hide the thoughts that Li Weide could not remove at all.

It then created a brain with no memories and no traces of thought, replacing the original brain.

In other words, the memories and thoughts displayed by this false brain were what Li Weide wanted others to see. They were all fake.

His real brain, meanwhile, was locked behind a door.

Only at that moment did Li Weide truly understand how Occlumency worked, successfully reaching the first stage of Occlumency.

That was to completely conceal his memories and true thoughts.

Without wasting any time, Li Weide began attempting the second stage.

He began expanding the new "brain," allowing its false thoughts and memories to tightly wrap around his true thoughts and memories.

Next, Li Weide began trying to connect the false and real "brains."

Then, he covertly transmitted the false thoughts and memories created by the real brain into the false one...

In that instant, the stiff, artificial thoughts and memories inside the false brain suddenly came alive!

They were no different from real memories and thoughts!

In other words, Li Weide could now alter the memories and thoughts in his mind whenever he wished.

Whatever others glimpsed would only be what Li Weide wanted them to see.

Who knew how much time had passed? By the time Li Weide opened his eyes, the sky was already completely dark.

After carefully sensing his condition, Li Weide felt immensely satisfied. There was no doubt about it—he had truly mastered Occlumency.

That feeling... was a little hard to describe.

It was like putting on a pair of sunglasses.

If others wanted to look into his eyes, all they could see were dark lenses, while his own eyes could still see others normally through them...

Although his Occlumency had only just begun, it was more than enough to deal with Queenie's passively activated Legilimency.

At that thought, Li Weide could not help but let out a sigh of relief.

"You're awake? You really slept for a long time." Tom looked at Li Weide suspiciously.

He had nearly thought Li Weide had slept himself to death.

"Oh, I stayed up late reading last night, so I was exhausted today."

"But didn't you go to bed very early last night?"

"I couldn't sleep, so I read." Li Weide replied casually.

By then, Toby had already brought over the dinner that had been specially saved for Li Weide.

"Weide, you'll gradually get used to it. I was the same way before. Whenever I went somewhere new, I couldn't sleep because I wasn't used to it," Professor Hicks said with a smile.

She still believed that Li Weide couldn't sleep at night simply because he wasn't used to it.

"Mm, I'll work hard to get used to it." Li Weide nodded with a solemn expression.

Li Weide suddenly realized that after mastering Occlumency, his acting skills seemed to have improved as well.

A false expression paired with perfectly appropriate false emotions was simply flawless...

Occlumency could boost one's acting ability to such an extent.

No wonder Professor Snape had been able to serve as a spy right under Tom's nose in the future, never exposing his identity until the day he sacrificed himself.

Li Weide truly was hungry, having barely eaten anything all day.

After wolfing down dinner, he once again told Professor Hicks that he felt tired and wanted to rest.

Tom looked at Li Weide as though he were looking at a pig.

Who slept that long every single day?

This guy had suddenly become so lazy—wasn't he afraid that Tom would surpass him in strength and then take revenge on him?

What Tom did not know was that Li Weide had falsely claimed to be sleepy last night, but this time, he truly was tired.

He had spent a tremendous amount of energy learning Occlumency and genuinely needed a good rest.

After closing the door again, Li Weide sat on the bed and opened the System Shop.

He had not had time to check it last night. If he did not look now and there happened to be something good, it would be a shame if it refreshed away at midnight.

Item 1: Felix Felicis 10ml (Unlocked) 500 Merit Points

Item 2: One Unicorn Hair (Unlocked) 5 Merit Points

Refresh Countdown: 5 hours 21 minutes 55 seconds

Merit Points: 100

Dark Lord Achievement: Not Achieved

Li Weide spotted the bottle of Felix Felicis at once.

This was good stuff!

After drinking it, it could increase one's luck! And it was extremely difficult to brew.

Even a Potions Master who could guarantee a successful brew would need at least roughly half a year from beginning the process to obtaining the finished product!

Li Weide very much wanted to buy the Felix Felicis. Whether for his own use or to sell, it would be excellent.

But he did not have enough Merit Points right now, so Li Weide could only lock the Felix Felicis first.

As for the other item, the Unicorn Hair, Li Weide did not waste any Merit Points on it.

After closing the System Shop interface, Li Weide gradually felt an overwhelming wave of drowsiness.

The side effects of the Energy Potion, combined with the excessive drain on his own energy, were more than Li Weide could withstand. Before long, he fell into a deep sleep.

This sleep was far from peaceful. In his haze, Li Weide seemed to have arrived in a very strange place.

That place was an endless expanse of white, as though it were shrouded in thick fog.

Within the fog, a shadow whose features he could not make out was beckoning to him. Its lips moved as though it were urgently telling him something.

Unable to hear what the shadow was saying, Li Weide could not help but grow anxious. He forced his inexplicably heavy legs forward, stumbling ahead.

Suddenly, Li Weide tripped over something, and everything around him began to collapse and vanish. Even that shadow was gradually fading away...

Li Weide wanted to ask who it was, but to his surprise, he found that he could not open his mouth at all!

Just then, he suddenly heard someone calling his name from behind him.

The moment he turned around to see who was calling him, everything before his eyes abruptly disappeared.

Toby's terrified face suddenly appeared before him...

"...Young Master Weide! Wake up! Young Master Weide, we have to go! Toby has to take Young Master Weide and Young Master Tom away! Someone... someone is attacking us!"

Li Weide jolted awake. At the same time, the clamor outside reached his ears!

There were sharp crackling sounds of spells being cast, along with all kinds of curses and shouted slogans...

One of them sounded especially familiar to Li Weide—"For the Greater Good!"