Chapter 25.

  After css, the Slytherins were still excitedly discussing the events that had taken p the previous lesson. This time, Slytherin had made quite an impression and earned a total of sixty points for the house.

  In the hearts of Slytherin students, Soren was gradually establishing a reputation without even realising it.

  Among the Slytherin boys, the Malfoy brothers and Theodore Nott from the Nott family had the most distinguished identities. After st semester—when Soren was io joiransfiguration Club, participated in the Charms Club, and won the Most Promising Newer Award from "Today's Transfiguration"—all these aplishments demonstrated Soren's exceptional abilities. Eveoriously unruly Theodore Nott had to aowledge that Soren was the leading figure among the Slytherin students of the same year.

  Several Slytherin girls from the same year started looking for opportuo get closer to Soren. For instaracy Davis and Audrey Len, who often hung out with Pansy, would sometimes use the excuse of asking for homework help to engage Soren in versation. At other times, they would wait in the on room for Soren to go to the Great Hall for dinner. Unfortunately, Daphne and Meredith would act like territorial little cats, closely guarding Soren and preventing them from getting any closer.

  Soren was not someone who sought the spotlight; the as taken in Defense Against the Dark Arts css had other iions.

  The first week of school quickly passed.

  During the first week, Soren attehree Defense Against the Dark Arts csses. Although the subsequent csses didn't include hands-on practice like the small pixies, Soren, who had memorized Lockhart's works, was still able to frequently score points for Slytherin in the css's daily Q&A, gaining Lockhart's favor.

  Over the weekend of the first week, Drasurprisingly passed the tryouts for the Quidditch team and became a Seeker.

  Harry Potter also followed the inal storyline, being the Gryffindor Seeker in his sed year. The only differen this world was that Professonagall did not gift him a Nimbus 2000, so he bought a sweep Seven out of his own pocket.

  Soren didn't pay much attention to that. Uhe carefree Draco from the inal, in this version, Draco wasn't able to measure up to Soren in academic performance, so he felt his only strong point was in flying. Soren personally witnessed Dracorous training throughout the entire summer.

  Based on Soreimates, Draco's skills would not be much worse than the exceptionally gifted Harry, and ating for the differen brooms, it was entirely possible for Draco to outcss Harry.

  Notably, on the day of the tryouts, Soren's troublesome brother cshed with Harry and his friends again.

  Hermione sharply mocked Draco for having to buy his way onto the Quidditch team, whifuriated Draco, who publicly humiliated Hermione by calling her a "Mudblood," leading to a massive brawl between Slytherin and Gryffindor.

  Ron foolishly tried to cast the "Slug-vomiting Charm" on Draco, but his broken wand misfired and hit himself, causing him to vomit slugs all day.

  Hearing about this, Soren could only shake his head in disbelief at his brother's reckless behavior.

  In his view, his brother's stant use of "Mudblood," imitating their father, was utterly foolish. Hogwarts was now under Dumbledore's leadership, who leaowards Muggle sympathies, and doing such loathsome things under his nose was simply asking for trouble.

  In the sed week of school, Soren had Dobby buy him a bottle of Ogden's Old Firewhiskey, which he personally took to Lockhart's office. As soon as Soren knocked on the door, it swung open immediately, and Lockhart greeted him at the door with his signature smile. "Ah, it's Mr. Malfoy, my most outstanding student! Wele, please e in."

  Inside Lockhart's office, tless frames of Lockhart adorhe walls, illuminated brightly by many dles. There was alse stack of photographs on the desk, all featuring grinning faces with gleaming white teeth and deliberate smiles.

  Soren first presented Ogden's Old Firewhiskey to Lockhart, expressing his admiration as a fan of Lockhart's books and his adventures, whistantly infted Lockhart's vanity.

  After some casual exges between teacher and student, Soren saw that the atmosphere was just right and stated the purpose of his visit: "Professor, I have read some of your works and entered some questions. For example, I didn't quite uand the ic ghoul venom mentioned in 'Hiking with Ghouls'; also, the methods to resist the mental trol of the Banshee in 'Vacationing with the Banshee'; and the spell that ultimately restores the werewolf's human form in 'Wandering with Werewolves'..."

  Lockhart froze there, appearing somewhat at a loss for words. Soren's questions seemed to be a bit beyond his scope.

  "Of course, I didn't e to ask you for help!" As Lockhart's eyes wandered, Soren hurriedly added, "I believe these simple questions are something you could easily answer, but since you didn't write them in the books, you must want us to explore these issues ourselves..."

  "Really?!" Lockhart blinked. "No, I mean you are quite right, Mr. Malfoy. I did want you to explore the ao these questions yourselves; you are indeed my best student!"

  "Therefore, I would like to find some books in the library to help crify my doubts. However, the issue is that these books are in the restricted se of the library, so I need a professor's signed permission slip to access that area."

  Lockhart nodded affirmatively: "Of course, I ot stop a seeker of knowledge from expl the truth." He fmboyantly signed a rge, ornate name on a piece of paper, which read: Permission for Soren Malfoy to ehe library's restricted se. Gilderoy Lockhart.

  "Thank you, Professor!" Soren quickly took the slip.

  "You're wele, Soren..." Lockhart waved his hand grandly. "Study hard, and you might achieve aplishments close to mine iure!"

  [Permission Slip for Restricted Se Acquired!]

  Ihe purpose behind Soren's as was to gain access to the library's restricted se!

  Soren had access to the Malfoy and Bck family's colles, the heirloom spells of the Freat Families, Professonagall's notes on Transfiguration, and Niel's alchemical insights. He cked no powerful magic; he was fully aware that the problem he faced was that his magical power was insuffit to learn high-level spells that ed rge amounts of power and had great effects. The agical power was his biggest bottlene learning magic.

  The methods to increase magical power were quite limited. Besides relying oural increase with age, the three knowhods were:First, to collect magical artifacts like the Elder Wand, but these artifacts are extremely rare and hard to e by; many wizards may never see one in their lifetimes;

  Sed, to push oneself in dark magic like Voldemort did. It is said that Tom Riddle was very handsome in his school days, looking nothing like the hideous and terrifying Voldemort he ter became. This method easily granted powerful strength, but Soren did not want to turn into a noseless monster like Voldemort;Third, to use various potions and alchemical items to stimute a wizard's magical potential, which usually lies dormant within their bloodline.

  Although Soren had browsed through several family colles, he found no records regarding bloodline power, so he set his sights on the restricted se of the Hogwarts library, hoping to find useful materials for his resear bloodline power.

  In the following days, Sore a lot of time in the restricted se of the library. It had a chilling atmosphere; as Soren stepped inside, he felt a shiver run through his pores.

  He examihe books on the shelves one by one: "Deadly Curses," "The Wizard's So," "The Book of Spells," "Powerful Potions," "The Secrets of the Soul," "The Demon Codex," etc. The titles sent chills down his spine, and the covers were even more terrifying. For example, the cover of "The Wizard's So" depicted a gaunt male wizard with blood flowing from his seven orifices, tilting his head as if reg something.

  Curiously, Soren opened a book called "The Secrets of the Soul," which felt soft and smooth to the touch, but as he ope, a howling soued. A skull formed from thin mist lu him menagly, which he narrowly avoided as it floated into the air and vanished.

  Soren did not open this book further; he was currently ued in overly profound soul magic. The priority now was to find books reted to bloodline magic.

  Soren quickly sed through the titles on the spines of the books in rapid succession. After the events with Voldemort, it was reasoo assume that Dumbledore wouldn't allow any books simir to "Dark Arts Revealed" in the restricted se. Sore rather at ease about the dangers of actally toug a dark magic book.

  After three weeks of effort, Soren finally succeeded in gathering all the information he needed.

  Even with the library's rich colle, there was still limited material on bloodline magic. Among the many resources, the most helpful was the legendary wizard Merlin's researotes on bloodliransformation. Merlin aimed to increase human magical capacity by impnting the bloodlines of magical creatures into the human body. Unfortunately, this research ultimately ventured into forbidden realms, f him to abandon it.

  Although Sore a bit disappointed about not finding a specific way to awaken his bloodline powers, he wasn't disced. Researg magic was ily a step-by-step process, not something to be rushed. He sidered himself very fortunate for his smooth progress so far, and now fag a setback was just an opportunity for personal growth.

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