The Gringotts Great Thief is Warming Up

"It seems that occupations and personas are also ranked by level."

Personas all start out as white text on a black background, but as the level increases, the color changes.

And since the new occupation appeared in a bold red font that had never been seen before, it makes sense that it would be different from previous occupations.

So another question arises: what is the principle behind occupation generation?

The student occupation can be understood as something he obtained upon enrolling at Hogwarts, but who gave him the Dark Lord occupation?

Quirrell? Voldemort?

After a period of contact, Quirrell had fully acknowledged him, or perhaps Voldemort had struggled internally for a long time, only to find he couldn't convince his own heart, and so truly accepted Tom as his main body.

He still needed to find a way to test this point.

Since advanced occupations had effects, if he evolved his current student occupation into a professor or headmaster, could he also gain new effects?

Since the white-text-on-black occupation wasn't high enough level and granted no effects, could a green occupation, which was one tier higher, possibly have effects?

"I need to experiment more. The sample size is still insufficient."

Over the next two days, Tom continued living his life as usual.

Aside from his fixed rest periods, he spent his time training his body outside the castle or practicing spells in the Room of Requirement. The rest of his time was spent reading.

Quirrell had brought him far too many books, and for a long time to come, he would never lack for knowledge to absorb.

Moreover, Tom noticed that when he read, the knowledge in the books was much easier to understand than before, especially in the area of Dark Arts defense. He grasped content related to spells and dark creatures particularly quickly.

He didn't need to think twice to know this was because he had obtained Quirrell's abilities through [Dark Lord (Occupation)].

Quirrell was a theoretical scholar even Dumbledore praised. Even if Tom could only use a portion of his abilities, the effect was still obvious.

"Is it just Quirrell's abilities I've obtained?"

According to the current timeline, there should still be many Death Eaters in the magical world—a large number of fugitives and many still imprisoned in Azkaban without execution.

Based on the effect of [Dark Lord (Occupation)], Tom should also be able to use their abilities, but the result was that he couldn't.

"To use the abilities of other Death Eaters, they first need to recognize me, right?" Tom analyzed the reason.

But he was still a student. He couldn't exactly run into Azkaban and shout, "I am Voldemort," could he?

So the only Death Eaters he could currently access at Hogwarts were two: Snape and Little Tail.

But their mental states were far better than Quirrell's, and earning their trust wouldn't be easy.

This matter would have to be handled carefully.

Time flew by.

After the second class of another morning ended, Ron asked Tom curiously, "Big brother, I've noticed you seem more tired than before lately."

Tom used to be full of energy all the time, no matter how much physical exertion he had each day, always spirited. But recently, a trace of fatigue had appeared on his face.

If Tom kept up his current state much longer, he might even develop dark circles.

"I don't know either." Tom propped his chin on his hand.

After thinking for a moment, he guessed it was because of the spells.

With such an excellent theoretical scholar like Quirrell by his side, Tom, following the principle of not wasting what was available, had spent even more time on spells.

Spells consumed a lot of mental energy. [Innate Divine Strength] did provide some boost to mental power, but the effect wasn't that pronounced.

That was why he felt so drowsy all the time.

Even with [Laziness], that persona was only Lv.1, and merely halving rest time wasn't quite enough.

Tom wanted to level up the [Laziness] persona, but given how much of a workaholic he was, who could honestly think he was lazy?

The progress of [Laziness] remained at a pitiful 0.

On the other hand, [Diligence] had leveled up to Lv.4, and [Wisdom] was close to Lv.MAX, soon ready to evolve.

"Big brother, do you need to rest?" Harry asked with concern.

"No need. I have my ways." Tom waved his hand, then instructed, "You two keep training according to the plan I gave you. Next month, the school will organize the 'Dueling Club,' and I'll come to check your results."

"Yes!" Ron and Harry immediately stood at attention.

Watching Tom head mysteriously upstairs in the castle, Ron's face turned worried.

"Harry, what should I do? I'm really not good at dueling."

He couldn't even change the color of his pet rat, let alone fight with a proper offensive spell in practice.

Though his physical strength had improved a lot.

"Don't even mention it. Right now, besides a basic Floating Charm, I barely know one spell—Expelliarmus—that the boss taught me hand by hand yesterday. I don't know if it'll be enough."

"Don't stress." Tom suddenly turned back and comforted them. "The ones competing with you on stage are all your peers. Aside from those pure-bloods with family legacies, they're not much better than you."

With that, he left again.

Ron: (;へ:)

"I'm pure-blood, after all."

["Friendliness" +1]

The Room of Requirement.

Several dummies darted back and forth across the room at high speed.

According to Tom's new wish, the Room of Requirement had changed its form, adding several magical tracks beneath the dummies so they could move automatically at speed.

Enemies on a real battlefield wouldn't stand still like wooden posts waiting to be hit, so moving-target training was necessary.

Tom's goal wasn't to be a shooting-range champion.

Expelliarmus!

Diffindo!

Expelliarmus!

A stream of glowing magic flew out.

Headshot after headshot, all the dummies' heads burst open.

The benefits of body refinement were showing.

Faster neural reactions, quicker movement speed, better dynamic vision...

If he hadn't crossed over, with this body, he'd at least be a prodigy.

Half an hour later, Tom finished his practice and flopped face-down on the ground, closing his eyes to rest.

"Original body, you've been far too exhausted lately. Your magic consumption is severe," Voldemort said slowly.

It seemed he had fully accepted his identity as a Horcrux.

"I know. I'll adjust my schedule soon," Tom waved a hand.

The sudden increase in training intensity had disrupted his original training plan.

"If only I had potions. If I could brew a few bottles of Vitality Potion, maybe I could maintain my energy without reducing my training volume."

Vitality Potion was a potion from the O.W.L. exam. Besides restoring physical strength, it also restored mental energy.

Right.

Suddenly, Tom jerked upright.

"Horcrux, are you still good at stealing?"

"Stealing? What are you talking about? Even as a Horcrux, I inherit the great Voldemort's will. How could I stoop to sneaky thievery?" Voldemort snorted coldly.

"I'm asking if you're good at it. I want to steal a potion ingredient stockpile."

"Uh..." Voldemort paused. "If Quirrell completely relinquishes his body and lets me control it, even Gringotts' high-security vaults couldn't stop me."

"Good!" Tom's lips curled slightly.

Snape, here I come!