His Suspended Heart Finally Died

In a dark little room on the first floor, there was only a battered wardrobe and a small iron bed, leaving it bare and empty.

In the shadowy corner by the bed, Tom sat on a gray blanket, staring intently at his right hand.

Coiled around it was a little green snake.

"Hisss..."

Tom kept making sounds like a snake.

The little snake seemed to understand him and nodded in an almost humanlike manner.

After a while, the little snake slithered down from Tom's hand, climbed out through the narrow window, and quickly disappeared.

"Weide... what exactly is the secret behind your strength? I'll have the answer soon... Whatever you can do, I can do too!"

Tom stared in the direction where the little snake had vanished and silently clenched his fist.

"Petrificus Totalus!"

"Thud!"

A gray mouse dropped stiffly from the windowsill.

Li Weide picked up a green stick beside him and poked it. It felt as though he were poking a stone.

After thinking for a moment, Li Weide made another simple gesture with his hand.

"Finite Incantatem!"

"Squeak!"

The Gray Mouse, which had become as hard as stone, came back to life. It suddenly sprang up from the floor and fled like mad.

However, there was little furniture in the room, leaving the Gray Mouse nowhere to hide. It could only keep charging toward the windowsill, half a meter off the ground.

"Petrificus Totalus!"

"Squeak!"

"Finite Incantatem!"

"Squeak..."

After being put through this more than ten times, the Gray Mouse stopped running.

It merely lay on its back in the corner, playing dead.

Li Weide ignored the mouse and continued flipping through the Spellbook in his hands.

Sure enough, practicing this sort of offensive spell was much more effective with a living target.

What puzzled Li Weide, though, was that even if he was talented, could he really succeed at casting a fairly difficult spell with Non-verbal Magic after just over ten attempts?

That was far too fast!

Moreover, when he had faced Tom's attack that day, Li Weide had discovered that Tom's magical attacks felt like a breeze when they landed on him...

Let alone posing a threat, they did not even have enough force to serve as a fan...

According to the book, there was only one reason for this: the difference in magical strength between the two sides was too great. Practice had little to do with it.

That should not have happened. Tom was the future Dark Lord, and his talent was unquestionably extraordinary.

Even if Li Weide was more talented at the same age, the gap should not have been so enormous that he could utterly crush him.

In the section of the Spellbook that explained the principles of magic, Li Weide finally found the answer.

...As a wizard grew older, the strength of their magic would continue to increase, reaching a theoretical limit after adulthood. If they neglected practice, or for other reasons no longer wished to use magic, the strength of their magic would decline and might even disappear... Research showed that the strength of a wizard's magic was also linked to the strength of their soul...

After reading it, Li Weide remembered something: he was not actually Tom's peer.

In truth, after transmigrating here, only his physical age had become younger. His actual age was already that of an adult! Therefore, the strength of his soul was very likely still that of an adult.

From this, Li Weide formed a preliminary hypothesis: the magical strength he possessed now had already reached that of an adult!

When he fought the underage Tom, no matter how gifted Tom was, it was still an adult fighting a child... It would be difficult not to crush him.

Then... can my magical strength continue to grow naturally? If it can't, is there a way to break through this bottleneck?

Li Weide was in no hurry over that question. As the youngest biologist in the past, breaking through the limits of the human body had been his primary research subject before he transmigrated.

Only now, his research subject had changed from ordinary humans to wizards...

Tom absentmindedly flipped through the book in his hands, but his gaze never actually fell on its pages.

The little snake he had sent out had still not returned, leaving him restless and uneasy.

He knew very well that whenever Li Weide closed his door, it meant he was conducting his secret practice.

Tom had sent the little snake to spy on him, intending to wait for it to return and tell him what it had seen. Then he might be able to glimpse the secret of Li Weide's growing strength.

But now, the little snake that should have returned long ago was nowhere to be seen...

Another hour passed, and Tom finally could not wait any longer. After taking a deep breath, he headed toward Li Weide's room.

Li Weide's room was on the second floor.

As soon as Tom went upstairs, he saw Li Weide's door.

Yet the door was actually ajar! As though it were waiting for someone...

Tom barely suppressed his own jumpiness and slowly pushed open the door.

Li Weide was gently poking a Gray Mouse on the floor with a green stick.

But... Tom suddenly felt that the stick looked familiar?

Li Weide turned his head and saw Tom peeking in from the doorway. A gentle smile spread across his face.

Merit Points were here...

"Tom, you're here! I was just about to tell you that I discovered a very interesting use for our special ability."

Only when Li Weide stood up did Tom understand why the stick in his hand had looked so familiar...

It was unmistakably a little snake that had somehow become stiff as a board!

Tom's suspended heart finally died...

"Ding! Detected that the host has caused a slight change in the future Dark Lord's life trajectory. The host has been rewarded with 100 Merit Points!"

Li Weide:?

Hogwarts.

The blazing Floo Network kept the round Headmaster's Office warm as spring.

"Armando, I happen to be going to London. Leave these two children to me." Dumbledore waved the two letters in his hand.

"Oh, of course, no problem..." Dippet sat behind his broad desk, stroking his somewhat messy white beard as his cloudy eyes turned toward Dumbledore. "Has it been confirmed? Has he really come to London?"

"Not yet. There are only signs pointing to it. But... you know, I cannot take lightly any news involving him... Especially when this information comes from a highly reliable source." Dumbledore carefully tucked the two envelopes into his coat pocket.

"Hmm... Scamander wrote to tell you, didn't he? Back then, it seemed he did not graduate from Hogwarts normally..." Dippet asked somewhat absentmindedly.

"Yes... but I assure you, Armando, Newt is absolutely trustworthy. And his abilities have indeed been plain for all to see." Dumbledore spoke with a serious expression.

"Mr. Scamander has indeed proven his ability and his stance through his actions. I did not mean that I distrusted him. I have always trusted your judgment of people. So... there is a high chance that person truly has gone to London. Have you prepared yourself?"

Dumbledore took a deep breath. "Of course. I have long been prepared to face him. It is only that in recent years, his whereabouts have become extremely secretive, and he has never appeared before me again."

"Good. I am glad you have finally made your choice... If you need help, just tell me. I may be old, but I am not so useless that I cannot still wave a wand..."

"I will, Armando... And thank you very much for your understanding and help over the years."

"All right, stop being sentimental. Even without my help, you would have done very well. Go. Go to London and resolve this once and for all... Of course, once this is over, do not forget to deliver the Acceptance Letters to those two children. They are both at the same Muggle Orphanage, and a professor needs to go in person to explain the situation."