[Bonus for Powerstones!]
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"This kind of Ancient Magic power, once directly absorbed, will greatly enhance your Ancient Magic. It's a fundamental strengthening, not the kind of external boost brought by the 'residue.' It's extremely useful for you."
After hearing this, Wade couldn't help but recall parts of the game.
He realized—wasn't this just like the gameplay where you search for Ancient Magic hotspots, absorb them, and increase your Ancient Magic "mana bar"?
The senior continued, "The gift I want to give you is a notebook I left behind at Hogwarts. It not only records the places I visited that had Ancient Magic power, but also many suspected locations I hadn't had the chance to explore yet."
"When you find that notebook, you can visit those places one by one. Oh, and the locations I've already been to—you should still check them out, because I'm not sure whether the Ancient Magic there regenerates. If not, then head to the ones I haven't visited. Based on my experience, there's a high chance those places also hold Ancient Magic power. It should be more than enough for you."
Wade nodded, then asked, "Senior, since this kind of 'residue' can even be absorbed by people who don't have the talent for Ancient Magic, why did you have to find me? Couldn't you just find someone else? Why were you trapped for so long?"
"Because only someone with the talent for Ancient Magic can fully contain the 'residue.' If it were someone else, no matter how much they absorbed, they'd probably burst before managing to free me… The amount of 'residue' inside me right now is far greater than what I absorbed after defeating Ranrok," the senior said helplessly.
"If that's the case, then couldn't your friend have just gathered more people and had each person absorb a little? Wouldn't that have freed you much earlier?" Wade still had some doubts.
"Because I've only survived until now thanks to this cloak, which froze everything—my body, my magic, and even the 'residue' inside me that was on the verge of exploding… The bottle of 'residue' I gave you had leaked out by accident."
"This clearly shows that my cloak is already reaching its limit. Once it's undone, I won't be able to wear it again. So, if you want to save me, you'll have to complete the devouring process in the shortest possible time after the cloak is removed."
"That short time window allows for only one chance. And the devouring spell I use can only be cast on one person at a time. So no one else will work—only you are the ideal candidate!"
"If you do change your mind and decide to help me in the end, it's best to wait until your Ancient Magic has progressed to a certain level, and you're confident that you can absorb these 'residues' without bursting. That would be the safest approach. I admit I was a bit too eager before and didn't think everything through..."
After hearing the senior's long explanation, Wade couldn't help but feel a little helpless.
So the real problem wasn't with Ancient Magic itself, but with the "residue" discovered by Morganach—something produced by Ancient Magic mixed with negative emotions.
Still, this revelation didn't have much impact on his overall plan.
From the moment he began understanding Ancient Magic, he had already divided his next steps into two main goals:
The first was to confirm what kinds of side effects Ancient Magic power might have.
The second was to figure out the cause of those side effects and whether they could be removed.
Now that it was confirmed the problematic power he needed to study wasn't Ancient Magic itself but rather a mixture of Ancient Magic and negative emotions, things had actually become simpler than before.
In other words, he could continue refining true Ancient Magic without worrying about overloading himself from absorbing too much.
As for the "residue," it was merely an added bonus.
After all, even without the power boost from the "residue," the senior had still managed to defeat Ranrok, who had been strengthened by it, using only unenhanced Ancient Magic.
That alone proved how powerful pure Ancient Magic already was. So why risk everything for such a dangerous and unstable power like the "residue"?
At this point, Wade's motivation for studying the power had shifted—from growing stronger himself to trying his best to save the senior's life.
If he could save her, great. If not… Meh.. then at least he had tried, right?
Of course, Wade still hoped he could save her, because that would mean he had found a way to neutralize the biggest side effect of the "residue."
And that would prove that his Ancient Magic—and even other kinds of magic—could be safely enhanced by it, making him stronger than ever.
With that thought, Wade's mood lifted considerably.
"Senior, I heard that back in the day, you often fought outnumbered—and no matter how many enemies there were, you always managed to get away unscathed… How did you do it?" Wade asked curiously. "Before, when I was up against a group of wizards from the Alliance, once they cast Shield Charms, I really didn't have many options left…"
"The Alliance, huh… I heard of them while wandering through people's dreams. They're bad guys, right?" the senior asked.
"Mm… you could say that," Wade nodded.
"How many of them were there at the time?" she asked again.
Wade thought for a moment and replied, "Twenty-five."
"Hm? Not even thirty? Isn't that just a matter of one Killing Curse?" she asked, puzzled.
Wade coughed and explained, "Ahem, first of all, I don't know how to use the Killing Curse yet, and even if I did… there were over twenty people. One Killing Curse might take out one of them, sure, but the rest could easily counterattack. If each of them threw a spell at me, I'd get blown to pieces… not even a Shield Charm would hold up."
"What? You can only kill one person with a Killing Curse?" the senior stared at Wade in surprise.
Suddenly, Wade seemed to realize something. "Wait… are you saying…"
The senior flipped her hand, and a wand appeared in her grasp. At the same time, Wade's dream changed once more.
More than twenty wooden dummies appeared in front of them.
The senior raised her wand.
"Avada Kedavra!"
Zzzap!
The green light illuminated the entire pale dreamscape in a vivid emerald hue.
A single green curse shot straight forward, and as it struck one dummy, it suddenly split apart!
Boom! ZZzap! Boom! Zzzap! Boom! Boom!
The dark green curse branched out like a chain of lightning, striking each of the other twenty-some dummies with pinpoint precision.
"There. They're all dead," the senior said calmly.
..Damn.. that was.. amazing..Wade thought in a daze.
Even though Wade had somewhat guessed what was coming, he still couldn't help but be impressed... very, very impressed.
She was currently limited to only a fraction of her magical power, and she could still pull this off—he could only imagine how fearsome she must have been at her peak.
Taking down seven or eight dark wizards on her way to class wasn't an exaggeration—it sounded entirely believable now.
Wade couldn't help but ask, "Then… what if I don't want to use the Killing Curse?"
"The Stunning Spell, the Full Body-Bind Curse—they all work the same." This time, the senior didn't even say the incantation. She casually flicked her wand.
A red spell shot forward, split mid-air, and once again hit all the dummies dead-on.
"Senior, I want to learn this!"
At that moment, Wade's eyes were filled with a burning determination—like someone about to join a revolutionary cause.
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Read ahead: P^treon: Captain69
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