The Vanishing Basilisk

There were also three silver-grade opportunities to draw magical knowledge.

All provided by the diary, the dog godfather, and the greasy-haired guardian.

Harry had originally planned to save up for a ten-pull.

Now...

"Start drawing! One by one. Single pulls create miracles!"

[Horklump's Earthburrow]

[Sublimation of extraordinary magic within an ugly, clumsy body, a transformation of magical essence]

[..., YES or NO]

--You motherfucker!

--Why couldn't it be a Dirt Digger!

Harry had a lot of curses he wanted to hurl at the dog-skin book.

A goblin could dig, sure, but a Dirt Digger was above that, and its danger level had one more X than a goblin's.

And a Horklump...

Was just an X-level magical creature, akin to a mosquito in the wizarding world, rated only as a nuisance, not even reaching the harmless, tamable rating of a 2X-level creature.

Plus, its appearance was very similar to male genitalia, and it could grow tentacles that reached underground to catch earthworms.

Dumbledore's aunt had broken off her engagement because she saw her fiancé playing with a few Horklumps, forcing Dumbledore to hypocritically claim he couldn't understand why anyone would like playing with them.

A talent like this...

--Wait... Earthburrow?

Harry finally reacted.

"Could it be... the diadem is buried underground?"

"Accept."

The next moment, a ripple was born within his body.

It was the pulse of the earth.

Instinctively... he canceled his simulation of [Sassabansai] magic, gravity returning to his body, and he fell from the ceiling.

The desk piled with books, the marble floor—all were as fragile as paper shells beneath this steel body.

Yet at the moment of contact, ripples spread.

Harry sank into the ground as if he were a ghost that normally passed through the castle's obstacles without hindrance.

Wooden tables, stone slabs, metal pipes—man-made objects seemed to be treated as part of the earth he passed through.

The ancient magic contained within them caused no obstruction.

His body, harder than metal and stone, smoothly passed through each floor and sank into the dark earth.

He seemed to have become part of the earth itself.

His senses spread along with it.

Whoosh—

The magic of the Black Lake accompanied by the sound of tides, the magic of Hogwarts Castle where ancient and new harmonized as one, encompassing Voldemort's sinister terror and Dumbledore's sacred compassion...

And the two obvious discords.

One was alien, hollow, instinctively avoided by life.

One was vast and deep, like a swamp of decay, though it never saw sunlight, it was still brimming with vibrant life force.

That was the Basilisk, and the Forbidden Forest.

In Harry's current perception, the Basilisk was not a life form, but a living curse with a body.

The Forbidden Forest lived up to its name—plants that survived under the shade of giant trees without sunlight didn't rely on sunlight, but on the strange life force of this dark forest.

Over a thousand years, it had accommodated too many magical creatures, devoured too many lives.

Only it could hide the ominous magic of Voldemort's [Horcrux].

A drop of ink falling into a mud puddle would naturally be inconspicuous.

--No wonder the mission required me to find it within three school years.

--From planar to three-dimensional, plus the interference of the Forbidden Forest's own magic, even with a gold-grade earthburrowing ability, without rest, it wouldn't be an easily achievable goal.

Beneath the castle, Harry lifted his right foot and stepped onto an invisible staircase.

The next moment, he was back in the library, above the ceiling, in the posture of descending stairs.

"Continue drawing."

Three dazzling silver lights flashed.

Furniture City Combat Style Chan

Scroll Magic

Complete Origami Magic

"Or Jackie Chan Adventures?"

"Furniture... this can turn silver too?"

"Liu Bei's magic only explains principles, only parts? Explosive [Energy Scroll], flight [Gravity Scroll], control [Paralysis Scroll]."

"True, if the Saint's work that could split Shendu's power were complete, it'd be Gold grade."

"At least I finally have a means of flight. The flight mission progress isn't zero anymore."

"Can I also smear the talismans, or permanently tattoo them on my body?"

"Origami... a magical ritual that alters the body... countered by water... this one's useless, only a dog would use it."

"If only it were the [Shadowkhan]."

Harry shook his muddled brain, restoring his arm—which had turned into a paper blade—to its original form.

Time resumed its flow again.

—Might as well capture the Basilisk while I'm at it.

Gazing at the page describing the [Vanishing Spell], Harry suddenly had the thought.

The Basilisk was a 5x-level creature, having killed wizards. Only untamable, untrainable beings earned that rating.

To this day, that dog-skin book had never rewarded actual items—only power and knowledge. He was curious how it would hand him a [Poké Ball].

He'd originally planned to choose the Norwegian Ridgeback that was about to fall into Hagrid's hands.

But now his mind had changed.

[The path of greatness brooks no slack... Execute immediately? The [Reading] task will be interrupted...]

—Of course!

Harry spun and landed. The books circling him flew back into the shelves, each returning to its original place.

[The path of salvation brooks no slack. Fifteen minutes of free time provided. Submit a report three minutes in advance if an extension is needed.]

—Damn it. Before transmigrating I was a beast of burden; after transmigrating, I still am.

Harry put the dog-skin book away and made a stomping motion as if crushing something, a self-soothing gesture.

In Ron and the others' eyes, Harry had once again performed that strange [Stair Stomp] Apparition, one not even Hogwarts' anti-Apparition wards could restrict.

Sure enough, the next moment, his figure vanished.

"Why does Harry disappear the moment he sees us?" Hermione said, a little disappointed. She picked up a thick tome that could be called a doorstopper and sat down to pass the time.

"Probably went to the loo." Ron opened his bag and started on his homework.

Inside the third-floor girls' bathroom.

A one-inch-long origami crane fluttered into existence.

"Open. (Hiss)"

The serpent-carved faucet glowed white, and the entire basin rotated.

Moments later, a thick pipe was revealed.

The white origami crane vibrated its wings, a complex Cloud Seal Script shimmering across its surface.

—Gravity Scroll Tattoo Version!

A sharp crack of air, and the crane vanished from its spot.

At the same time.

Quirrell, his turban wrapped, was walking out of his office.

Ten minutes later.

In the dungeon, thick with a green, mysterious haze.

Only water ripples cast flickering shadows on the stone pillars, and a massive stone carving reached toward the pitch-black ceiling.

An urgent footstep broke the silence.

"Speak to me, Slytherin—greatest of the Hogwarts Four. (Hiss)"

Slytherin's comical stone face began to shift, and a huge hollow opened beneath the beard.

"Heed my command, thousand-year Basilisk, long asleep! (Hiss)"

No response. Only dead silence.

"The Basilisk? Could it be..."

Quirrell was still pondering this as he walked out of the Chamber.

Inside an empty classroom on the third floor, Dumbledore appeared as if pulling back an invisible curtain.

He had been invisible here the whole time.

His palm pressed against the floor, his ear to the wall.

"No Basilisk? Is it because Tom isn't on Quirrell?"

In the library, Harry—sitting normally for once—gently touched his abdomen.

"From now on, Hogwarts has no Basilisk. Only Arbok."