Lucius's shock! Off to Diagon Alley

The moment Argus gave his name, he clearly saw Lucius's pupils contract sharply!

Lucius had never dreamed that the person buying his house today would be Grindelwald's heir!

As a former Death Eater, he knew all too well how powerful a Dark Lord was!

Locked up in Nurmengard? What a joke!

That was a living Dark Lord!

If he wished otherwise, no one in the world could catch him, let alone imprison him!

Even if the Acolytes were a shadow of their former selves, as long as Gellert Grindelwald was still around, they could stage a comeback at any time!

"So it's Mr. Grindelwald. A pleasure to meet you!"

"Likewise, Mr. Malfoy. Please show us around the manor."

Lucius grew increasingly deferential, and Argus wasted no more words, getting straight to the point.

Along the way, Draco was positively thrilled to have someone his own age visiting and kept pestering Argus with all sorts of chatter.

He was only eleven, after all, and few of the children his age he had met before had been his equals in status.

Most had treated him with flattery.

Having finally found a playmate he seemed able to interact with normally, he could no longer contain his delight.

"What do you think, Mr. Grindelwald?"

After their brief interaction, Lucius's regard for Argus rose another notch.

He had initially thought that, as a child, Argus would leave most decisions to Vinda Rosier.

But the truth was precisely the opposite!

Vinda rarely offered an opinion throughout the visit. Argus took the lead in everything!

The composure and insight he displayed left Lucius deeply shaken.

Looking back at his own son, who knew nothing but Quidditch, Lucius could not help feeling a surge of disdain.

They were both eleven. Why was the difference so great?

"Not bad. What do you think, Aunt Vinda?"

Argus was quite satisfied with the manor. It was only somewhere for him to stay, after all. He could not really make it his base.

As long as the decor was decent, there was enough space to practice magic, and it was fit to live in, that was enough!

"If you like it, let's settle on this one. I've brought the Galleons, so we can sign the contract at any time."

Without saying much more, Vinda signed a magical contract with Lucius on the spot.

"It's getting late. We won't disturb your rest any further, Mr. Argus."

"Come along, Draco!"

"Please wait a moment, Mr. Malfoy."

Noticing the reluctance in Draco's eyes, Argus's lips curved ever so slightly.

He stopped the pair as they were about to leave.

"Draco just told me you're going to Diagon Alley tomorrow. If you don't mind, he could stay the night, and we could go together tomorrow."

"Dad!" Draco's eyes lit up. Looking up at Lucius, he shook his arm coaxingly, his expression pleading.

Lucius had intended to refuse, but at the eager look in his son's eyes, he hesitated before finally nodding.

"Then I'm sorry for the trouble of looking after him, Ms. Vinda, Mr. Grindelwald."

"Draco, remember to come home early once you've finished shopping. Don't cause Ms. Vinda any trouble."

"I know, Dad!"

With Lucius gone, Draco's suppressed nature finally broke free.

Especially with Argus there as a playmate, he kept pestering him until late into the night.

Looking at the utterly exhausted Argus, Vinda's eyes filled with amusement.

"This is the first time I've seen you spend so long with someone your own age."

"What, is the young master of the Malfoy family rather to your taste?"

Argus curled his lip. "That's not my thing. I had him stay to prepare for our entry into Britain's pure-blood family circles."

"The Malfoy family may have a poor reputation, but they hold a high position among the pure-blood families. They'd be a good choice to introduce us."

"It's just that Lucius is too clever. We'd have a hard time finding an opening with him. Draco is different."

"He's still young and hasn't experienced scheming and intrigue. He might not even realize it if someone sold him out."

After briefly discussing tomorrow's trip to Diagon Alley with Vinda and exchanging goodnights, Argus returned to his room.

It was late at night now. The manor was silent, with only the howling wind echoing ceaselessly.

Argus lay on his bed and opened the system's draw interface.

"Now isn't the time to hoard. My talent is maxed out anyway. Increasing my combat strength right away is the way to go!"

"System, perform the draws."

The moment he finished speaking, a heap of card packs slowly appeared, surrounding Argus and spinning continuously.

"Looks pretty similar to Hearthstone."

Argus picked five at random.

Amid a burst of dazzling golden light, Argus seemed to hear the announcement from the game he had played in his previous life.

Wow, golden legendary!

[Congratulations, host! Obtained: Reducto (level 3)]

[Congratulations, host! Obtained: Serpensortia (level 2)]

[Congratulations, host! Obtained: Incendio (level 2)]

[Congratulations, host! Obtained: Locomotor Mortis (level 1)]

[Congratulations, host! Obtained golden reward: Occlumency (level 7)]

[Current achievement points remaining: 200]

[Detected that the host has already mastered some of these spells. Would you like to merge them?]

"Merge!"

The moment he spoke, waves of spell knowledge flooded into Argus's mind.

Without giving him any chance to resist, they thrust forcefully inside, rubbing back and forth!

[The host possesses exceptional talent. Comprehension exceeds spell level.]

[Serpensortia (level 3), Incendio (level 3), Locomotor Mortis (level 3)]

"High talent comes with this perk too! Looks like I really was right to max out my talent before drawing!"

Only after finishing the spell merger did Argus realize that the so-called spell rewards and spell merging did not simply add levels together.

They provided experience!

For instance, his Incendio had originally been level two. Merging another level two did not raise it straight to level five. Instead, the spell experience of level-two Incendio was poured into his mind, and his level was determined by his comprehension.

The same applied to the other spells.

"I thought so. If the levels simply added together, improving spells would be far too easy. I could max them out without any effort."

"It's just a shame the system doesn't classify golden rewards by spell power, but by spell level. Only level seven and above counts as golden."

"Luckily, this one was pretty good. If it had given me something like Tarantallegra, I'd have had nowhere to cry."

Argus was quite satisfied with the Occlumency he had obtained this time.

Although it had no direct combat capabilities, facing a master of Legilimency like Dumbledore or Voldemort without knowing Occlumency was no different from running around naked.

Even in future magical battles, using Occlumency to stop an opponent's Legilimency from reading his combat intentions would be indispensable.

For Argus, who urgently needed to turn his talent into combat strength, saving a great deal of practice time was quite a bargain.

Early the next morning.

"Argus, I just received word. Last night, the German and Austrian Ministries of Magic launched a joint operation, hoping to catch us off guard. Fortunately, we reacted quickly and withdrew our people in advance."

"Today's Daily Prophet is full of your exploits last night. It even says you brutally murdered quite a few Aurors."

Having only just woken up, Argus was yawning. At Vinda's words, he could not help chuckling.

"They have no evidence. Let them say whatever they like. The British Ministry of Magic can't throw me into Azkaban over a few words."

"Besides, I'm just an eleven-year-old child. Who would believe I killed more than a dozen Aurors?"

Argus had anticipated the Ministries' actions. Otherwise, he would not have immediately ordered everyone to relocate to Britain.

Besides, Britain was Dumbledore's territory. Given Dumbledore's nature, as long as Argus did not let anyone get anything on him, he would be acquitted even if someone brought him before a court.

Although quite a few people in his previous life had considered Dumbledore obstinate and even somewhat prone to moral blackmail, Argus felt that it was precisely this kind of Dumbledore who would give him an opportunity.

A gentleman could be taken advantage of through his principles!

If Dumbledore truly had no bottom line, like a certain noseless power strip, then he would really be difficult to deal with!

Just then, Draco came downstairs rubbing his sleepy eyes, and their conversation stopped abruptly.

Argus looked at Draco with a smile.

"Get ready. We're heading to Diagon Alley!"