"I don't have any money!" Since Dumbledore's pitch had such a strong pay-to-win vibe, Isaac instinctively covered his wallet and warily waited for the old man to continue.
"It won't cost you anything."
Dumbledore stared at Isaac for a long time. He simply couldn't figure out why the boy's mind worked that way.
Dumbledore had made plenty of predictions about how Isaac would respond. He'd guessed the boy might be like Grindelwald, or perhaps like himself.
He'd even considered that he might be like Tom...
The one thing he hadn't expected was that Isaac's first reaction would be to worry about him swindling his money.
Well, that was the limitation of the times, wasn't it?
Dumbledore had never downloaded the National Anti-Fraud App, so he couldn't possibly imagine how wary young people in later generations were of scams and things that seemed too good to be true.
Noticing the occasional twitch at the corner of Dumbledore's mouth, Isaac realized his reaction had been a little too intense.
He couldn't help it. Caution was practically etched into his bones, especially since he was still just a child and had even fewer ways to earn money.
Still, Dumbledore was the greatest wizard in contemporary Britain. Even if he did swindle someone, it would be one of those Pure-blood families.
Isaac was a bona fide pauper. How much money could he possibly have on him?
At that thought, Isaac blinked and naturally lowered the hand covering his wallet.
He cleared his throat and said to Dumbledore, "Ahem, I do trust you, Professor.
"So what do I need to do to become stronger?"
"I won't go over the usual methods again. This time, I'll tell you something different."
Isaac nodded silently to show he was listening.
The usual methods amounted to studying: learning from books and improving by seeking guidance from renowned teachers.
They involved studying the works of other masters and cutting-edge papers in the field of magic, growing stronger through the accumulation of knowledge.
In the Wizarding World, knowledge was power.
The Four Heads of House at Hogwarts represented the four major branches of magic.
Transfiguration, Potions, charms, and Herbology.
Any wizard who became a master in one of these magical fields would be no pushover in a fight.
The conventional methods Dumbledore spoke of were simply ordinary study. When it came to learning, Isaac, a Seer, had an enormous advantage.
He could attend master classes that ordinary people could only dream of, and even seek answers selectively based on whatever problems he encountered in his studies.
But clearly, Dumbledore wasn't talking about ordinary study this time.
"Isaac, since you're a Seer, do you know what Gellert, Tom, and I have in common?"
What did Dumbledore, Grindelwald, and Voldemort have in common?
They were all Dark Lords?
So what? Was the White Lord not a Dark Lord too?
The words circled around in Isaac's mind, but in the end, he swallowed them.
He already knew that Dumbledore was no kindly, harmless old wizard.
The man was the self-proclaimed White Lord, secluded at Hogwarts. So when Dumbledore acted amiably, it was best not to push his luck.
If he really forced Dumbledore to reveal his Dark Lord side, a single high-powered spell would be enough. How many people in the entire Wizarding World could honestly say they'd be able to withstand it?
Even Voldemort, crippled as he was now, didn't dare provoke Dumbledore. He had to keep out of sight.
Why would Isaac, of all people, be foolish enough to dig into Dumbledore's past?
But aside from being Dark Lords, what else did those three have in common?
If it were only Dumbledore and Grindelwald, Isaac could have said that they shared the same sexual orientation. They both liked men.
But with Voldemort—Tom—added to the mix... Tom had lost his nose, but surely his sexual orientation hadn't changed too.
Right?
After racking his brains, Isaac actually came up with something those three shared.
"Professor, you and the other two... were all wizards who made a name for yourselves at a young age?"
That was right. In their respective eras, all three had been undisputed prodigies.
During his time at school, Dumbledore was hailed as the most outstanding student in Hogwarts history.
He'd won every honor the school had to offer and served as both Prefect and Head Boy.
Even as a young man, he'd corresponded with the alchemy master Nicolas Flamel and the magical historian Bathilda Bagshot.
It was like a high school student at a top university regularly having academic discussions with multiple members of the Academy of Sciences.
Grindelwald's excellence was much like Dumbledore's.
Born into a magical family in Europe, he'd displayed astonishing magical talent from a young age and was called a once-in-a-century genius.
At sixteen, Grindelwald was expelled from Durmstrang Institute for conducting Dark Magic experiments.
It was worth noting that Durmstrang didn't actually prohibit the teaching of Dark Magic.
Later, Grindelwald was expelled for conducting extremely dangerous Dark Magic experiments that seriously injured his classmates.
This showed just how great Grindelwald's talent and skill in Dark Magic really were.
The third was Tom Riddle, also known as Voldemort.
If Dumbledore hadn't been there to outshine him, Tom would have been the most outstanding student in Hogwarts history.
Unfortunately, he'd crossed paths with Dumbledore.
That title was never going to be his.
Even so, Tom's performance at school had been dazzling.
He hadn't just impressed the Hogwarts professors. He'd impressed his classmates too, especially the heirs of the Pure-blood families in Slytherin.
It was worth noting that when Tom was at school, he'd been a handsome young man in every sense of the word.
He had top-tier magical talent and top-tier fighting ability. He possessed Slytherin's bloodline and could speak Parseltongue.
At the same time, he stood firmly with the Pure-blood families, making him a natural spokesperson for their class.
The heirs of those Pure-blood families had naturally rallied tightly around him—who could have guessed that the guy would mess with Dark Magic until he broke his own brain?
Setting aside the period when Voldemort's mind had gone wrong, he, Dumbledore, and Grindelwald had all been young wizards who rose to fame early.
"That's right, Isaac. You've summed it up very well. As boys, we all showed an excellence that set us apart from other young wizards.
"We were even far more accomplished than anyone else our age.
"That excellence meant we were far ahead of our peers from the very beginning of our magical careers."
Isaac carefully mulled over Dumbledore's words.
If he'd been an ordinary young wizard, he would never have understood what Dumbledore meant.
The old man was a veteran Hogwarts riddler who simply didn't know how to speak plainly.
He'd made a habit of hiding seven parts of the meaning behind every three he said.
But Isaac was a transmigrator with a scattered jumble of knowledge. As he turned Dumbledore's words over in his mind, the sense of déjà vu grew stronger and stronger.
Dumbledore, Grindelwald, Voldemort... How were their paths to fame in their youth so much like the invincible paths in cultivation novels?