There were also three chances to draw Silver Grade magical knowledge.
All thanks to the diary, his dogfather, and the slick-haired bodyguard.
Harry had planned to save up for a ten-pull.
But now...
"Let's draw! One at a time. Single pulls can work miracles!"
[Horklump Burrowing — Gold]
[The ascension of extraordinary magic within an ugly body, the metamorphosis of the very essence of magic]
[...,YSE or NO]
—You piece of—
—Why wasn't it Dirt Digger?!
Harry suddenly had a lot he wanted to curse the Dogskin Book for.
Gnomes could dig underground, sure, but Dirt Diggers were a cut above them, and their danger rating had one more x.
As for Horklumps...
They were only X-class Fantastic Beasts, like mosquitoes in the wizarding world. Their rating merely described them as a nuisance; they didn't even qualify for the 2X rating of harmless and tamable.
What's more, their shape closely resembled male anatomy, and they could grow tentacles to reach underground and grab earthworms to eat.
Dumbledore's aunt had even broken off her engagement after seeing her fiancé play with a few Horklumps. As a result, Dumbledore could only feign ignorance and say he couldn't understand why anyone would enjoy playing with them.
With a talent like this...
—Wait... Burrowing?
Harry finally understood.
"Could it be... the Diadem wasn't buried underground?"
"Accept."
The next moment, a ripple began inside him.
It was the pulse of the earth.
Without thinking, he stopped mimicking the magic of [Sassabansai]. Gravity returned to his body, and he dropped away from the ceiling.
The tabletop piled high with books and the marble floor were as fragile as cardboard beneath his steel body.
Yet the instant he made contact, ripples spread.
Like a Ghost type that could roam the castle, passing through obstacles without a care, Harry sank into the ground.
Wooden tables, stone slabs, metal pipes, and other man-made objects seemed to count as earth for him to pass through.
The Ancient Magic within them offered not the slightest resistance.
His body, harder than gold and stone, passed smoothly through floor after floor, sinking into the dark earth.
He seemed to have become part of the earth.
His senses spread with him.
The Black Lake's magic, accompanied by the sound of lapping waves; Hogwarts Castle's magic, where the ancient and the new blended in harmony, encompassing both Voldemort's sinister menace and Dumbledore's sacred benevolence...
And two conspicuous discordant presences.
One was alien and hollow, something every living instinct shied away from.
The other was vast and deep, like a bog of decaying matter. It saw no sunlight, yet teemed with life.
They were the Basilisk and the Forbidden Forest.
As Harry sensed it now, the Basilisk wasn't really alive. It was a living Curse with a physical body.
And the Forbidden Forest truly lived up to its name. Even without sunlight, plants still clung to life beneath the towering trees, sustained not by the sun but by the strange vitality of the dark forest.
Over the course of a thousand years, it had sheltered countless Fantastic Beasts and consumed countless lives.
Only it could conceal the ominous magic of Voldemort's [Horcrux].
A drop of ink in a bog naturally went unnoticed.
—No wonder the task requires me to find it within three school years.
—Going from a flat plane to a three-dimensional space, with the forest's own magic interfering, even having Gold Grade burrowing and never needing to rest wouldn't make this an easy goal.
Beneath the castle, Harry raised his right foot and stepped onto an invisible stair.
The next moment, he was back in the library, upside down on the ceiling, walking as if descending a staircase.
"Keep drawing."
Three dazzling silver lights flashed.
Furniture City Combat Style Chan
Scroll Magic Pei
Complete Origami Magic
"Another Jackie Chan Adventures?"
"Furniture... this is Silver Grade, too?"
"Liu Bei's magic only explains the principles, and only covers some of them? Explosive [Energy Scrolls], flying [Gravity Scrolls], and controlling [Paralysis Scrolls]."
"That makes sense. If the Saint's book on dividing Shendu's power were complete, it would probably be Gold Grade."
"At least I finally have a way to fly. My flight-task progress isn't stuck at zero anymore."
"Can I paint the Talismans on my body—or even engrave them there permanently?"
"Origami... a magical ritual that changes the body... vulnerable to water... That one's useless. Only an idiot would use it."
"If only it had been [Shadowkhan]."
Harry shook his muddled head and restored his arm, which had turned into a paper knife.
Time began to flow again.
—Might as well capture the Basilisk while I'm at it.
Looking at the page describing the [Vanishing Spell], Harry suddenly had the idea.
The Basilisk was a 5X creature. That rating was given to creatures that had killed wizards and were considered impossible to tame.
To this day, the Dogskin Book had never rewarded him with a physical item, only power and knowledge. He was curious how it would give him the [Poké Ball].
He'd originally planned to choose the Norwegian Ridgeback that was soon going to end up in Hagrid's hands.
But now he'd changed his mind.
[The path to greatness allows no idleness... Execute immediately? The [Reading] task will be suspended...]
—Of course!
Harry spun and landed. The books circling him fell onto the shelves, each returning to its original place.
[The path to salvation allows no idleness. You have been granted fifteen minutes of free time. If you need an extension, submit your report at least three minutes in advance.]
—Damn it, I wasn't a wage slave before I crossed over, but now I am.
Harry put the Dogskin Book away and made a self-comforting motion as if stomping on it.
In Ron and the others' eyes, Harry had once again used that strange [Stair Stomp] teleportation spell, one that even Hogwarts' Anti-Apparition Jinx couldn't stop.
Sure enough, the next moment, he vanished.
"Why does Harry disappear whenever he sees us?" Hermione said, a little dejected. She picked up a hefty tome and sat down, intending to read for a while.
"He's gone to the bathroom, I suppose." Ron opened his schoolbag and started on his homework.
Inside the girls' bathroom on the third floor.
A one-inch-long Origami Crane appeared out of thin air.
"Open. (Hiss)"
A flash of white light ran through the snake-carved faucet, and the entire sink rotated.
A moment later, a thick pipe was revealed.
The white Origami Crane beat its wings, and an intricate Cloud Seal Script shimmered across its body.
---Gravity Scroll Tattoo Version!
After a sharp whistle through the air, the Origami Crane vanished.
At the same time.
Quirrell, his turban wound around his head, was leaving his office.
Ten minutes later.
In the basement, shrouded in a mysterious green haze.
Only the wavering water reflections danced across the stone pillars and the colossal stone carving that reached the dark ceiling.
A hurried footstep broke the silence.
"Speak to me, Slytherin—the greatest of the Four Founders of Hogwarts. (Hiss)"
Slytherin's comical stone face began to shift, and a huge opening appeared beneath his beard.
"Heed my command, long-slumbering Millennium Basilisk! (Hiss)"
There was no answer, only deathly silence.
"Where's the Basilisk? Could it be...?"
Quirrell was still pondering the question when he left the Chamber of Secrets.
In an empty classroom on the third floor, Dumbledore appeared as though he had drawn aside an invisible curtain.
He had been hidden there the whole time.
He pressed his palm to the floor, his ear close to the corner of the wall.
"No Basilisk? Is it because Tom isn't inside Quirrell?"
In the library, Harry sat down like a normal person for once, gently stroking his stomach with his right hand.
"From now on, Hogwarts has no Basilisk—only Arbok."
Before you continue