Mental Seal

Diary: "I once read of a spell that could take a belief, a sentence, or an emotion as a seed and plant it into another person's mind. Once it succeeded, that seed would take root in their head, become part of them, and could never be removed."

"Because it was not a curse, and the seed was implanted the instant the spell was completed, even wizards had no way to break it."

"This spell is too evil!" Alex cried.

Even the Imperius Curse, one of the three Unforgivable Curses, could be seen as a weakened version of it.

After all, the Imperius Curse at most only controlled someone for a period of time, and they could recover from it. It did not have this kind of permanent effect.

Murphy was stunned too.

Wasn't this fucking just a magical version of the Mental Seal?! The wizard version of Kotoamatsukami?

He immediately grew excited. "What's this spell called?"

Alex had wanted to advise him against it, but Murphy glared at him.

That terrifying aura of "say one more useless word and get the hell out" made him cave instantly, and he obediently wrote in the diary.

However, the diary's reply this time disappointed Murphy.

"I only read of its existence in a book. In Katal's Biographies of Dark Wizards, there was mention of a wizarding family named Hell, in whose family this terrifying magic was passed down."

"Ah!" Alex suddenly cried out when he saw this sentence. "Katal's Biographies of Dark Wizards, I've seen that book. It's with my sister. I remember now—the spell I said I'd seen before should have been in that book!"

Murphy rolled his eyes at him.

What was the point of saying that now?

He continued looking at the diary.

"That family originally lived in Egypt, then later settled in Europe. Because of this spell, they were wanted criminals in many countries. It was said that the last member of their family, Joachim Hell, wandered to Britain and finally lived in a small village."

"In Biographies of Dark Wizards, Katal only mentioned that the village was in Caerphilly in southern Wales, but gave no specific name or location."

Murphy frowned. "Are there any other clues?"

"Only a distant view of the village, hand-drawn by Katal."

After the diary finished, it displayed a very rough hand-drawn picture. There were probably mountains in the distance, trees nearby, a wall in the middle, and a few scattered houses. Other than that, he couldn't make out anything.

Even so, Murphy still took a camera out of his undetectable extension bag and snapped two photos.

His camera was a Yashica Electro 35 GTN, which suited his former name, Peter Parker, perfectly.

After developing the photos, Murphy found Serika Wood, who was still working in the Charms research room.

The moment she saw him, she tried to run.

Murphy found it baffling, but he was not about to indulge her. "Serika, Accio!"

Serika was immediately yanked by a force and flew toward Murphy. She flailed her limbs wildly, but it was useless. Murphy still grabbed her by the back of her collar.

Like a little dog lifted by the scruff of its neck, the girl suddenly stopped moving.

"Why are you running?"

Serika didn't know why she had run either, but the moment she saw Murphy, she felt a little guilty and nervous. She worked hard to summon her courage before daring to talk back. "Why are you grabbing me?"

"Fine. I'll put you down. Don't run again."

"Oh."

Murphy released her collar, but Serika instantly turned and ran again.

Murphy frowned. Was she getting into this?

He pulled a stern face. "Stop right there!"

Serika stopped. Looking pitiful and aggrieved, she glanced at Murphy, yet she really did not dare run again.

"Come here! Stand here! Don't move!"

She whined under her breath, reluctant and unwilling, but still obediently stood where Murphy pointed, like an elementary school student being punished.

Huh. Did this girl have a bit of potential for being trained?

Murphy looked around. The wizards who had been working with Serika before were all gone. "Why is it just you? Where are the others?"

"They all left."

"Left? Who allowed that?"

"Me." Serika secretly glanced at Murphy and found that he did not seem particularly angry, so she breathed a sigh of relief. "They said this spell might involve dark magic and didn't want to continue."

"Then why didn't you leave?" Murphy was a little curious.

"We spent so much money. If I left too, wouldn't it all have been wasted? I wanted to try again. Maybe it would succeed..."

"What if it still doesn't?"

"Then... then I'll work for you and pay the money back."

"Heh, that's tens of thousands of Galleons. How are you going to pay it back? With spankings?"

Serika immediately blushed. "I-I..."

"Forget it." Murphy stopped teasing her. "You don't need to work on that secrecy spell anymore. I've already found a decent one. I came just in time to tell you and have you verify its effects."

"You made it? Who was it..."

"Don't worry about the details," Murphy said, handing Serika a note with a spell written on it. "Take this and test it. Study it, see if it's feasible. There shouldn't be much of a problem, though."

Serika took the note, unsure for a moment whether she should feel happy or disappointed. Happy because Murphy had finally gotten the result he wanted, disappointed because it had nothing to do with her.

"One more thing." As Murphy spoke, he handed her another photograph. "This is a village in Caerphilly, southern Wales. A wizard named Joachim Hell once lived here."

"Alex said you've read Katal's Biographies of Dark Wizards? Go back and look for clues. See if there's any other information about Joachim."

Serika did not remember at first, but when she heard him mention Biographies of Dark Wizards, she immediately understood. "You want to find that spell? Hell's Seed of the Mind?"

Hell's Seed of the Mind? So that was what it was called?

"Right," Murphy said, making no attempt to hide it. "You were also a member of the Magical Archaeology Association, weren't you? You should have some methods for excavating ancient magic. Can you help me find it?"

"...I'm not sure." Lately, Serika had begun to doubt her own professional ability. "And besides, it's a very evil Dark magic. Because of that spell, the Hell family was wanted by many countries. What do you want it for?"

What did he want it for?

Murphy thought for a moment. Obviously, to make his enemies fewer and his friends more numerous.

A convenient spell like that—now that he knew it existed, of course he had to look for it.

However, he actually did not hold out much hope.

It was simple. Tom Riddle definitely wanted that magic even more than he did, but judging from his later behavior, there was an eighty percent chance he had not found it either.

So Murphy was just giving it a try. If he found it, great—it would be the equivalent of turning on a cheat. If he did not, that was fine too.

This was only a casual move.