Character Setting Evolution!

The headmaster's office.

By now, the Sorting Ceremony had completely ended, and all students were being led back to their common rooms by their prefects.

Dumbledore and Snape remained in the headmaster's office, gathered around the Sorting Hat.

"So that's why you shouted 'Azkaban,'" Dumbledore said with a nod.

According to the Hat, it had sensed an exceptionally pure magical power from Tom—one perfectly suited to the Dark Arts—coupled with Tom's utterly ambitious nature.

That was why the Sorting Hat momentarily mistook him for some old acquaintance wearing it, and hastily called out 'Azkaban,' hoping to have Tom arrested.

"Magical power suited to the Dark Arts?" Snape's composure cracked even further.

The collection of traits was too complete to be coincidental.

Same name, same ambition, skilled at making friends, respectful to teachers and elders, a natural-born Dark wizard... With all these elements gathered together, if Tom wasn't Voldemort, then who was?

Who would believe it?

"Snape, don't be so tense. Have you forgotten who reviews new student admissions?" Dumbledore said slowly.

"You mean... the Quill of Acceptance and the Book of Admittance?" Snape caught on.

Hogwarts possessed a quill made from a Fwooper feather. It sensed the moment a child in Great Britain and Ireland first displayed magical talent, no matter how faint the magic, and wrote it down.

The black dragon-hide book then supervised and verified, ensuring the recorded child had sufficient magical aptitude, preventing Squibs or Muggles from being accidentally inscribed.

You see, the Quill of Acceptance and the Book of Admittance were crafted by the four founders of Hogwarts, imbued with countless wondrous, long-lost spells.

For a thousand years, not a single wizard had ever touched that pair of book and quill with their hands, nor had any wizard ever infused them with magic... In other words, they had been operating entirely on their own ever since.

Dumbledore had often enjoyed spending hours quietly in the tower, just to witness the miracle of the Quill of Acceptance flying out of an empty ink bottle and writing a new student's name in the Book of Admittance.

"Though Voldemort's magical skill is extremely high, that doesn't mean he could fool the means left by the four founders. That pair of book and quill would never record the same person twice."

"Fine."

Snape expressed his acceptance of authority.

"Speaking of which, that boy has entered your house now." Seeing that he had finally managed to calm the other man, Dumbledore patted his shoulder, ready to discuss other matters.

"Though I have no objection to Slytherin, there are far too many pure-bloods there..."

Even though Tom had received quite enthusiastic applause when he walked to the Slytherin table, that ultimately only represented a portion of them. There was definitely a group pretending, since pure-blood families specialized in saying one thing to your face and doing another behind your back.

"Harry Potter also has a good relationship with him. Even if not for Tom, for Harry's sake, please look after them."

At the mention of Harry, Snape's body wavered slightly. But after recalling that face almost perfectly carved from the same mold as James, he turned cold again: "Hmph! Slytherin is a house for the strong. Survival of the fittest has always been the rule. As head of house, I can't actively violate that principle, or people will say I'm unfair."

With that, Snape turned and left.

He still had many things to do.

Recently, Tom's affairs had consumed too much of his energy, leaving him no time to deal with that suddenly suspicious Professor Quirrell.

"Snape..." Dumbledore tried to call him back, but the man had already vanished from sight. He could only shake his head regretfully.

As headmaster, he couldn't be too blatantly partial either.

Meanwhile.

Slytherin common room.

The dormitory arrangements were already made. There were eight first-year Slytherin boys this term, with four to a room—very easy to split.

Crabbe, Goyle, Nott, and Zabini in one room.

Tom, Harry, Ron, and Malfoy in another.

"Tell me this is a nightmare..." Draco Malfoy sat on his bed, staring at the hellish scene before him.

Of all the people in the entire school, the only three who held a grudge against him had all been assigned to the same room as him.

Merlin!

Who the hell was in charge of dormitory assignments?

That person must have a grudge against the Malfoy family, otherwise they wouldn't have made such an obviously targeted arrangement.

The Malfoys had been loyal for generations—who was trying to harm him?

Bang!

A sudden loud noise made Draco leap up from his bed and shrink into a corner.

Cracking his eyes open a sliver, he noticed it was just a dumbbell that Tom had knocked over from his luggage, clattering to the floor.

"Ron, we ate quite a bit during the ceremony, and it's too late now, so training starts tomorrow."

"Yes sir!"

After arranging everything, Tom turned his attention to his panel.

Ever since the fight on the train, his [Robust] persona had been steadily growing in progress. After finishing dinner just now, there had been several large surges—no doubt the other professors in the castle had learned of his deeds from Dumbledore as well.

After the accumulation before enrollment, combined with the series of events today, [Robust] had long since broken through Lv.9, reached Lv.10, and was now advancing toward the next level.

[Robust +20 progress, Impression Level reached Lv.MAX (max level), Achievement Points +1]

The next moment, the original black-on-white [Robust] entry on the panel suddenly shattered, and the fragments then coalesced into a green entry.

[Character Setting: Innate Divine Strength (New)]

[Impression Level: Lv.1 (Progress: 0/200)]

[Description: With a physique and bone density surpassing humans, your drug resistance and magic resistance far exceed ordinary creatures. When you reach adulthood, even an adult dragon cannot match you in raw strength.]

"Character settings can evolve?!" Tom exclaimed inwardly, stunned on the spot.

[Robust] had already been strong enough, and now it could be even stronger.

At that moment, he felt a warm current flow through his entire body, and he immediately sensed his physical strength growing greater. But without a reference point, he couldn't tell exactly how much stronger he had become.

However, according to the character setting's description, he should now be able to overpower dragons of the same age in brute force.

Though Tom's strength had increased dramatically, his appearance remained unchanged. Not only did his muscles not swell, but they actually shrank somewhat. Wearing his wizard robes, no one could tell he had any physical training at all.

After all, his flesh and bone density had increased—concentrated essence.

He now seriously wondered what would happen if he used steroids like those athletes he'd seen online in his past life. Would he become even stronger?

No, that kind of steroid concentration would probably only dilute the steroids in his body, actually reducing his strength.

"Interesting." Tom continued studying the new entry.

He noticed the new character setting entry was green. Following the logic of typical online games, this meant the setting still had room to level up.

If he raised [The Born Dark Lord] to Lv.MAX, what would it become?

[Dark Lord Incarnate]?