I'm Just Looking, I'm Not Learning

The moon was bright and the stars were numerous.

Inside the quiet little cabin.

Soft moonlight filtered through the half-drawn curtains, spilling in mottled patterns across the wooden floor and draping the tranquil night in a veil of silver, while the air was filled with the faint scent of pine.

Ian sat upright before an oak desk that was likely older than he was, holding his Elder Wand in one hand; the light emanating from the tip of the wand illuminated the forbidden book resting on the desk.

Secrets of the Darkest Art

This was the "Dark Bible" written by the notorious dark wizard of the old era, Orle Brock, and its shadow loomed behind every major event that occurred throughout the late 20th century.

Voldemort, who had plunged the entire wizarding world into panic and fear, had obtained the power he craved from this very book, laying the groundwork for the Seven Steps of Magic that would run through his entire campaign.

Many people likely only knew one thing.

Voldemort had learned the method of creating Horcruxes from this book, successfully splitting his soul into seven pieces, which gave him the confidence to face Dumbledore despite his eventual failure.

However.

This book clearly contained more than just the method for creating Horcruxes.

It held other high-level content involving dark magic. It was simply that, due to the limited length of the original records, that forbidden knowledge had remained a little-known secret.

Now.

Through a twist of fate.

This forbidden book, which could land someone in Azkaban just for a glance, sat quietly before Ian, and naturally, he could not help but be curious about its contents.

Admittedly.

The magic recorded in this book was undoubtedly filled with danger; after all, dark magic was considered forbidden knowledge not only because of the power it possessed and the harm it could inflict upon wizards.

One had to understand.

There were many types of powerful magic.

However.

Most magic classified as dark magic, beyond the harm it could cause, also acted as a form of corruption and threat to the practitioner themselves.

A moment of carelessness.

And it would mean an irreversible descent into madness.

It was hard to say that the Death Eaters under Voldemort were all so deranged without the influence of half-baked dark magic eroding their minds—after all, their leader had turned himself into a noseless lunatic through his own studies.

"A book given by Grindelwald to her descendant shouldn't contain such terrifying dangers, right?" Ian's understanding of the first Dark Lord was limited to the meager few words found in the original story.

He had actually just flipped through his A History of Magic textbook, but the introduction to Dumbledore's nemesis, Grindelwald, contained only vague and ambiguous information.

Regarding this period of history.

The upper echelons of the wizarding world clearly did not wish to speak of it. Yet, one point could be gleaned from the few existing records: Grindelwald was not as insane as Voldemort.

She was a dark witch.

An ambitious schemer.

A genocider.

The source of chaos for an entire era.

But even Grindelwald's enemies did not deny her brilliance, nor did they treat her as a dangerous, irrational madman in the way they referred to Voldemort.

This person.

She was far more benevolent toward her subordinates than Voldemort ever was.

Based on this alone.

Ian felt that Grindelwald would likely not use dangerous knowledge to recklessly harm her own descendant.

Of course.

Allowing a child who had just reached the age of enrollment at Hogwarts to come into contact with a textbook like Secrets of the Darkest Art was, to some extent, beyond the scope of ordinary comprehension.

"Knowledge might be poisonous, but knowledge itself is clearly innocent."

After a long period of internal struggle, Ian finally opened the pages with a heart full of trepidation.

Many dark wizards would likely spend their entire lives searching in vain for the knowledge mentioned here in passing, and now that it lay before his eyes, few wizards could resist such temptation.

Ian was no exception.

He was not interested in the magic of splitting one's soul, but he did want to collect the Three Unforgivable Curses; they would, at the very least, serve as a trump card while attending the dangerous Hogwarts.

The noseless one would come sooner or later.

Even if he didn't intend to get entangled in the Savior's fate, being at Hogwarts itself carried inherent, uncertain dangers, and having more means of self-preservation would make him feel more at ease.

"I'm looking at this critically, dialectically. This isn't yearning for darkness; it's the same logic as General Kim playing Steam critically and driving a Maybach critically."

Hypnotizing himself with such thoughts.

Ian moved the wand in his hand a little closer to Secrets of the Darkest Art.

Compared to a dim oil lamp.

The light source released by [Lumos] was more stable and bright, and it could also increase his proficiency before Ian went to sleep, so he chose this method of lighting most nights.

The wizarding world actually had convenient lighting tools, such as the alchemical creation known as the [Deluminator], which could absorb light sources and also generate them.

However.

Such a priceless alchemical creation.

Clearly, it was a toy for the rich that a penniless little wizard like Ian could not afford.

Besides.

Was the Deluminator as useful as [Lumos]?

It couldn't increase his proficiency!

"I'll just take a look, I won't learn it... I'll try to learn as little as possible."

Accompanied by Ian's mutterings of questionable credibility, he brought the light source from his wand close to the book in front of him, and the text on the opened pages became clearly visible.

This was a book compiled in modern times.

Although most of the Dark Arts within it contained shadows of ancient magic, they ultimately belonged to the category of modern spells, so they were not as complex and difficult as Runes.

"As expected."

Ian had only flipped to the first chapter of the book when he verified his previous guess; the first page of this book had notes and strict warnings written in quill.

Not only that.

Flipping further ahead.

Almost every page had annotations and reminders in ink... it was a very detailed tutorial, feeling even more profound than the author of Secrets of the Darkest Art themselves.

This was clearly a textbook specially prepared by Grindelwald for her descendants.

It was even more valuable than the original work.

Just as Ian had imagined, the method for creating Horcruxes was only a small chapter in Secrets of the Darkest Art that did not take up much space.

The author who wrote this book perhaps did not care much about Horcruxes. Compared to knowledge related to Horcruxes, the content of other Dark Arts made up the vast majority of the book.

Starting from the first page.

Step by step.

Moving from simple to difficult and complex.

Flipping to the first page and looking at the spell marked as [Simple, and not dangerous] [Elder Wand is most suitable], Ian subconsciously became serious.

"Revenant Resurrection..."

The focused little wizard.

Perhaps he forgot that he was holding his wand.

At the same time.

He might have also underestimated the quality of Grindelwald's annotated teaching, as well as... his own talent in certain areas.

[Corpse Control Curse: (Level 1): 2/100]

He didn't have time to notice the panel update.

Because the flow of magic was perceived with absolute clarity at this moment.

Ian was shocked.

He watched as the light source at the tip of his wand turned from a warm white glow into a sickly green, as if the entire room had been rendered in a chilling hue.

"Click... click... click..."

The old floorboards.

Were heaving.

(End of chapter)