Pure Blood

Gallup gulped down several mouthfuls of water with a pained expression, then closed his eyes in agony, his whole body trembling as if enduring extraordinary suffering.

"Keep drinking!" Skylar commanded sternly.

Gallup took a few more big gulps, and as he put the bowl down, he staggered forward and collapsed onto the stone platform. His eyes were still closed, he was panting heavily, and his whole face was twitching, as if he were asleep, having a terrible nightmare.

"Don't stop! Keep going!"

"I don't want to... don't force me..." Gallup gasped for breath, his voice almost completely distorted, making him unrecognizable.

"Sarf," Skylar commanded decisively, "Go and pick up the bowl, and pour it all into his mouth!"

"Yes!" Sarf obeyed Skylar's orders unconditionally, and she did so immediately.

With a cold face, Sarf shoved the bowl to Gallup's lips, forcefully and roughly prying his mouth open and pouring the poison down his throat. Gallup groaned in pain as he was forced to swallow large amounts of poison until he finally couldn't bear it any longer and screamed, his shrill cries echoing through the cave.

"No, no, no... no... I can't... I can't, don't force me, I don't want to..." Gallup cried, "Please stop it, I know I did wrong, oh, please stop it, I'll never, ever again..."

Sarf glanced at Skylar slightly, and seeing that Skylar showed no reaction, her cold and beautiful face remained unchanged. She continued to faithfully carry out her task with an expressionless face, and then poured a large amount of poison into Gallup's mouth.

This time, Gallup went mad. He collapsed to the ground, screaming again and pounding his fists on the floor. He cried out, "Please, please, please, don't... don't do that, don't do that, let me do it!"

Anything is fine... really... anything is fine...

This time, even Sarf showed a slight hint of reluctance on her face.

Skylar watched her expression with interest and said softly, "Do you know? This is the person who, along with several others, attempted to attack me at the bottom of Black Lake, trying to turn me into their puppet, even going so far as to kill me... To achieve this goal, they killed one of my friends, as well as many innocent Merpeople..."

Upon hearing this, the look of reluctance on Sarf's face vanished instantly. To her, anyone who intended to harm her master or her beloved was unforgivable, and no punishment, however cruel or perverse, would be excessive.

Her face seemed veiled in ice, making her appear even more aloof, but from Skylar's perspective, it was all the more captivating. At this moment, she finally resembled a femme fatale. Skylar had to admit that among his several girlfriends, none of them could give him this feeling, because they were all girls who lived in the sunlight, representing Skylar's kind and sunny side.

Only Sarf truly represents the other side of Skylar hidden in the shadows—a corner Skylar didn't want anyone to touch.

I recall Dumbledore once saying that a great wizard is not someone without a dark side, but rather someone who has the courage to face it. The words are beautifully phrased, but he himself chose to evade them. If it weren't for his fear of power and his avoidance of responsibility, where would the Ministry of Magic's corruption be today, and why would the Defense Against the Dark Arts have sacrificed so many promising young professors?

Skylar always scoffed at Dumbledore's hypocrisy. Everyone has a dark side; the key is how to guide it and choose acceptable ways to express it.

Let's get back to Sarf.

She roughly grabbed Gallup by the neck and pulled him back, causing his bloodless face to tilt upwards, then continued to pour the poison down his throat. Gallup drank it like a thirsty child, but as soon as he finished, he screamed in agony, as if his internal organs were on fire. Yet Sarf continued to pour the poison into his mouth.

As he finally drank nearly to the bottom of the bowl, he suddenly cried out, his voice more pained than ever before. "I want to die! I want to die! Stop it, stop it, I want to die!"

The curse on Gallup began to take effect. Wolf hairs started growing on his face, arms, calves, and neck.

However, at the same time, his task was also completed. The poison in the large bowl was drunk clean, revealing a small scarlet bottle.

Sarf raised her wand, looked at Skylar, and asked, "Shall I end his suffering with the Killing Curse?"

Skylar shook his head and said, "No need. Judging from his appearance, he's probably suffering from the backlash of the curse because he lost the suppression of magic. He won't live much longer. Let's ignore him. In his current state, he probably doesn't even have the strength to move a finger."

Skylar walked directly to the large bowl, uncapped the red bottle, and a beautiful red glow shot out from the mouth, like a red rainbow. A drop of blood slowly rose from the bottle's opening.

Skylar smiled; he already knew what it was.

Since Ravenclaw left behind the "Essence of Wisdom" and Hufflepuff left behind the "Source of Life," both of which are the highest levels of magical power, it's clear that Slytherin wouldn't allow themselves to be outdone by two women.

This bead of blood must be—

"Pure Blood".

Skylar reached out and beckoned to the blood bead. As if it possessed a spirit, the blood bead floated toward Skylar on its own. Skylar's Magic Eye could clearly see that it contained powerful energy, and extremely astonishing magical fluctuations emanated from it.

Before Skylar could figure out how to use this Pure Blood, the blood bead suddenly emitted a bright red light, transforming into a beam of red light that shot into Skylar's chest.

When Skylar obtained the "Essence of Wisdom," he experienced a surge in spiritual power; when he obtained the "Source of Life," Skylar felt an inexhaustible flow of vitality within his body; and now, having obtained the "Pure Blood"—

Skylar felt nothing at all.

His magic power did not increase, his mental strength and soul intensity remained unchanged, and there was no difference in his physical body or appearance.

Skylar closed his eyes and used his mental power to examine his internal organs and tissues. He searched carefully several times before finally finding a red blood bead hanging a few centimeters above his heart.

With each heartbeat, the red blood droplet releases a tiny amount of red energy into the heart, allowing that energy to merge into his bloodstream. Because the energy is so small, Skylar can't even discern what effect it will have on his blood.

Although the newfound fortune wouldn't seem to have any immediate use, Skylar showed no sign of discouragement. After all, whatever changes had occurred in his blood, it couldn't be a bad thing, could it?

Just then, the stone platform emitted a series of rumbling noises and sank into the ground amidst repeated shaking.

Around Skylar and his companion, a rumbling sound also emanated as six enormous obelisks slowly rose from the ground.

Each stone tablet was covered with dense, serpentine script written in red blood. Although Skylar and Sarf could both read serpentine, the differences between medieval and modern grammar and sentence structure made reading such lengthy texts quite difficult and time-consuming for them.

Half an hour passed, and Skylar rubbed his temples.

"Sarf," Skylar called softly.

"Master, what is it?" Sarf replied respectfully.

"I've been out of the public eye at Hogwarts for quite some time now. Although Daphne and Astoria will help me cover for it, I think there might be other consequences if I don't reappear soon. I don't want that old white-bearded man to have his eye on me so quickly." Skylar calculated the time. From setting up in the Chamber of Secrets at dawn last night, to the wand-making ritual that took up a lot of time, to setting off for Ireland this morning, from finding the Witch Valley all the way to the Basin, and then from the Basin to finding this crypt, almost half a day had passed.

Skylar paused for a moment, then said, "I've got a general idea of the framework for these six stone tablets. Each tablet corresponds to a Parseltongue spell, which only Parseltongue can use. However, it's not as simple as just pronouncing the words accurately and waving a wand. It requires a fundamental understanding of Parseltongue magic, which is why the tablets are inscribed with such lengthy and complex theories..."

Sarf gently furrowed her delicate brows. "How does the essence of Parseltongue magic differ from other mainstream wizarding magic?"

"The basic Magical Theory among wizards has been established since the Middle Ages. Almost all wizards in the world agree that magic is about how to use the magical power within one's body to influence reality. Everyone also knows that magical power is released from the hands through mental manipulation. Based on this, wizards invented wands and spells to assist in the stability of spellcasting and achieve precise spellcasting."

Sarf already knew this part; in fact, any wizard who had completed the first year of school would know this common knowledge.

Precise spellcasting means avoiding unexpected effects when casting a spell. For example, in Miranda Gossack's * the Standard Book of Spells, Beginner's*, it's mentioned that the wizard Baruffio, due to inattentiveness, pronounced "f" as "s" and found himself lying on the floor with a bison standing on his chest. Later, Professor Flitwick used this incident as a warning to his students when teaching the Levitation Charm, which also became a major source of amusement for Skylar in his previous life when he read fan fiction.

In the past, many fanfiction authors believed that if the Levitation Charm was pronounced incorrectly, it would become the "Buffalo Conjuring Spell." One well-known fanfiction even used this method to conjure a buffalo and annoy Draco. Actually, the complete Levitation Charm is Wingardium Leviosa; where does the "f" come from?

"Sarf, if you carefully recall your memories of transforming into a snake, you'll discover that language and communication do exist in the animal world. For example, bees communicate through their flight paths. Similarly, the different sounds made by snakes, though they all sound like hissing to human ears, actually represent a thought, a meaning, of the snake creature..."

"It's almost an instinct," Skylar said calmly. "So, even though you're a Parseltongue, you might not realize that every Parseltongue syllable contains the serpentine creature's understanding of life, death, and the world—it's their worldview and philosophy. Only by thoroughly understanding the serpentine creature's thought process can you unleash the full power of Parseltongue magic."

"I think we really should head back. We can take the stone tablets with us to study them at our own pace," Skylar said, taking out his wand and briefcase. "For the time being, you'll stay in the Suitcase Space with these stone tablets, responsible for deciphering and studying the magic on them. I can see that each stone tablet corresponds to a Parseltongue spell. You'll stay until you've fully mastered all six spells, okay?"

"Your wish is my command," Sarf said, bowing slightly.