Immortality Prophecy

Moriarty took the Ice Moon Necklace from the System Space and held it in his hand. The Mithril chain felt exquisite, like a clear spring flowing through his palm.

The snow-white crescent pendant glimmered with a pale light. From deep within his heart, Moriarty heard a voice calling for him to put on the necklace.

Moriarty neither put on the necklace nor responded to the system. He simply gripped it tightly in his hand.

As for this trophy, Moriarty had planned to investigate the secrets behind it when he returned to China. But for now, the Ice Moon Necklace clearly had a close connection to Water Elemental Magic.

This made Moriarty alter his plans. He summoned Luke and had him lead the way to the Castle dungeon.

Ingo's face turned pale at once, while Lockhart said eagerly, "Master wants to interrogate that Gnome Dark Wizard? Let me do it. I may not know Legilimency, but I've watched interrogation procedures no fewer than a hundred times."

But when he saw that the dungeon was actually a massive pit, with countless venomous snakes coiling within it, Lockhart's face became as pale as Ingo's.

Moriarty, however, nodded in satisfaction. This setup would do a better job of breaking through the Eastern Isles Wizard's psychological defenses.

Using a Levitation Charm, he suspended the Eastern Isles Wizard—along with the Ice Coffin that had frozen him—above the pit.

Moriarty gave the snakes an order. Countless venomous snakes crawled over the Ice Coffin, and before long, they melted it away.

When the awakened Eastern Isles Wizard found himself covered from head to toe in slick, writhing venomous snakes, he let out a shrill scream.

He was already seriously injured, and now he had been terrified as well.

Dazed with fear, the Eastern Isles Wizard suddenly heard a cold, stern voice. "Name?"

Through more than a dozen snake tails, the Eastern Isles Wizard saw Moriarty's icy gaze. Knowing Moriarty was interrogating him, he swallowed instinctively.

The snakes sensed movement in his throat and raised their heads to meet the Eastern Isles Wizard's eyes. Before he could let out a second howl, one snake flicked out its tongue and licked his face.

The sight reminded the Eastern Isles Wizard of the terror of being dominated by the Twelve Ice Serpents. Trembling, he answered, "Tsukamura Kureno."

Moriarty continued in Japanese. "What were you doing in China?"

Tsukamura Kureno pressed his lips together tightly. Only when a small venomous snake tried to crawl into his ear did he hurriedly say, "A mission."

"What mission?"

Tsukamura Kureno stubbornly refused to speak, his eyes filled with malice as he looked at Moriarty.

Moriarty extended the hand clutching the Ice Moon Necklace before him and said coldly, "Tell me its secret!"

At the sight of the Ice Moon Necklace, the hatred in Tsukamura Kureno's eyes was replaced by astonishment. Then his eyes turned blank as he allowed the venomous snakes to crawl across his face.

Seeing that Tsukamura Kureno was clearly determined to resist to the end, Moriarty sneered and ordered the snakes, "Play with him as you please. Don't kill him."

To stop Tsukamura Kureno from biting off his tongue and killing himself, Moriarty cast a Freezing Charm on his mouth.

Moriarty intended to keep Tsukamura Kureno in the dungeon for three days.

After leaving the dungeon, Moriarty said to Lockhart, "Come with me. We need to discuss the details of your new book's release."

Once they reached the hall, Moriarty began, "Go negotiate with the Fli Family and demand a sixty-forty split.

You get sixty, and they get forty. The reason is that you are the person who understands the Slytherin Descendant best, while the Fli Family—and the entire British magical world—knows nothing about the Slytherin Descendant."

"I'll offer all the money we make to you, Master," Lockhart said as if presenting a treasure.

"Be quiet and listen to me!" Moriarty shot him a glare, and Lockhart immediately sat up straight.

"Besides the content I've already written for you, add Slytherin Castle to the novel." Moriarty pointed toward the vault and the castle walls, signaling Lockhart to include them. Lockhart nodded in understanding.

"On the other hand, British wizards have always been deeply interested in Salazar's whereabouts after he left Hogwarts. Focus on that. And these... mention them only briefly, leaving some suspense."

The two spent the entire afternoon talking, finalizing many details, including the novel's content and the new book release event.

It was not until Luke came to remind them that the seafood feast for dinner was ready that Moriarty realized dusk had arrived.

At that point, Lockhart looked like a true wizard. He said he would use dinnertime to negotiate with the Fli Family and settle the partnership as quickly as possible.

Before he left, Moriarty had Luke place ten gold bricks into the suitcase that had long been prepared for Lockhart.

"Use this money to make arrangements. You can seek out Rita Skeeter, a reporter from The Daily Prophet. I'm sure she won't miss such a major story," Moriarty said meaningfully.

Lockhart was deeply moved and solemnly promised that he would get everything done properly.

After dinner, Moriarty found a brand-new bedroom and continued listing out his plans.

This was Moriarty's plan for the school year. Two more spells had now been added to the list as must-master skills: Legilimency and Occlumency.

If Moriarty knew Legilimency, interrogating Tsukamura Kureno would not have been so troublesome.

However, Legilimency was an exceptionally profound form of magic. Moriarty could not learn it immediately, and it cost 7,000 points in the shop. He did not have that many points either.

So Moriarty placed learning Legilimency on his agenda. He firmly believed that mastering it would be of immense help to his future plans.

The other spell, Occlumency, was even more worth learning.

Moriarty would definitely enroll at Hogwarts in a few months. He had no desire to let his secrets be exposed under someone else's prying gaze.

Looking at the school-year plan on the list, Moriarty was full of enthusiasm. The Elemental Magic provided by the system and the magic of the Harry Potter world happened to complement each other's weaknesses perfectly.

If he could master them all, perhaps he would become a God of Magic ahead of time without even needing the system's rewards!

But before beginning his studies, Moriarty still had many things to do.

For example, he needed to organize the Serpent Tongue left behind by Salazar, compile Salazar's Runic Script, Ancient Latin, and Ancient Greek, and adjust the Spatial Teleportation Array before the Castle gates.

Most importantly, he needed to remove the House-elf's movement restrictions so Luke could leave the Castle and buy ingredients outside.

Moriarty did not want to eat seafood for all three meals every day. Who knew what strange Magical Creatures lurked in the great lake behind the Castle?

Three days later, Slytherin Castle had taken on an entirely new look. While retaining the characteristics of a battle fortress, it had also gained much of the style of an aristocratic manor.

Early that morning, Luke went to Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions in Diagon Alley to order wizard robes for Moriarty, while Moriarty entered the dungeon.

Tsukamura Kureno had lost a great deal of weight. His already short frame looked as though it had shrunk.

Being toyed with by venomous snakes was no different from torture to him. His pupils were unfocused as he stared at Moriarty and muttered, "Kill me... kill me..."

Moriarty waved his wand. "Water as Clear as a Spring."

Tsukamura Kureno was drenched from head to toe and looked a little more alert. Moriarty said, "Same question as before. The secret of the Ice Moon Necklace."

"I... belong to a Dark Wizard organization, the Ravenous Crow Society." Tsukamura Kureno spoke in an almost inaudible voice. "Half a year ago, we received a mission to bring the Ice Moon Necklace back from East Tibet. Other than that, I know nothing."

That was all?

Rather than being resolved, Moriarty's doubts only deepened. But Tsukamura Kureno did not look as though he was lying.

So Moriarty changed his approach. "Does your Eastern Isles magical world have any unusual prophecies, myths, or Dark Wizard leaders?"

Tsukamura Kureno widened his eyes and said mysteriously, "In the Eastern Isles... there has always been a prophecy passed down among us. The Immortality Prophecy."

"That's it?" Moriarty raised an eyebrow as another venomous snake flicked its tongue at Tsukamura Kureno.

Tsukamura Kureno shook his head weakly. "That's it. We all know it is a prophecy about immortality, but no one knows its exact contents."

Moriarty's expression darkened. The trail had gone cold here. The Eastern Isles magical world increasingly resembled a murky pool of deep water, clouded and unfathomable.

Tsukamura Kureno saw that Moriarty was dissatisfied with his answer. Terrified of suffering more torment from the venomous snakes, he cried, "Please—I really told you everything I know! That's all I know! I can also tell you about the secret Dark Magic of the Eastern Isles Dark Wizard organizations and our Ravenous Crow Society. Please, kill me."

An hour later, Moriarty had extracted everything Tsukamura Kureno knew and ordered the venomous snakes to devour him.

Back in the hall, Moriarty took out the Ice Moon Necklace and examined it closely. That voice was calling for him to put it on again.

Unlike before, the Ice Moon Necklace radiated a faint coolness that made Moriarty feel extraordinarily comfortable.

His mind raced, and all kinds of information seemed to sort themselves automatically, shifting from disorder into clarity.

Moriarty easily arrived at a conclusion. Through my family inheritance, I used Ice Magic, increased my Water Elemental Magic, successfully unlocked Water Elemental Magic, and gained the Ice Moon Necklace's recognition.

In other words, Water Elemental Magic can unlock the Ice Moon Necklace!

And the Phoenix Egg found in the Underground Chamber can unlock Fire Elemental Magic for me.

If the Ice Moon Necklace and the Phoenix Egg are classified as the same kind of unusual magical item, then one can assume that the key to the Ice Moon Necklace unlocking Water Elemental Magic lies in its ownership!

Perhaps that is the real reason the Ravenous Crow Society wanted the Ice Moon Necklace!

Just as I possessed the Phoenix Egg and unlocked Fire Elemental Magic, the person or Dark Wizard organization that assigned the Ravenous Crow Society this mission wanted to use the Ice Moon Necklace to unlock Water Elemental Magic.

The exact reason remains unclear, but one thing can be confirmed: the Ice Moon Necklace and the Phoenix Egg can unlock the two major elemental magics of water and fire, while Water Elemental Magic and Fire Elemental Magic can also activate the usage rights or ownership of the Ice Moon Necklace and the Phoenix Egg.

The theory makes sense, but I still can't find any connection between the Ice Moon Necklace and the Immortality Prophecy. Maybe I'm overthinking it. Was it really just a prophecy?

Moriarty wrote all his speculations about the Ice Moon Necklace into a notebook. The appearance of the Ice Moon Necklace and the Eastern Isles Dark Wizards had shown him a different magical sky.

Just then, Luke returned. The moment he entered the Castle, he began banging his head against the wall. "Luke is a bad House-elf. Luke failed to order wizard robes for Master."

Ingo sneered a few times, drawing an angry glare from Luke. "Luke saw Lockhart in Diagon Alley! He was surrounded by a huge crowd, and Diagon Alley is full of wizards now. Luke was squeezed out of Diagon Alley!"

"It's all right, Luke. This isn't your fault." Moriarty's lips curled upward. The more people gathered around Lockhart, the more popular the novel was. "But pay attention from now on. I want The Daily Prophet the moment it comes out!"