Sirius Black, the last male heir of the Black family, one of the twenty-eight holy pure-blood families, Harry Potter's godfather and the best friend of his biological father.
He has a flamboyant, arrogant, reckless, impulsive, and violent personality. He often does things without considering the consequences. He does not look like an adult at all, but rather like a rebellious teenager in his teens or twenties.
Perhaps the only advantage is that he is loyal enough to his friends and is willing to sacrifice his life for them at critical moments.
As for the "cleverness" praised by the professors, there needs to be a big question mark here.
Because Zuo Si didn't think that what this guy did could be described as "smart".
Whether it was giving the Secret-Keeper to Peter Pettigrew, or later finding out the truth and desperately hunting the latter down, or finally being lured into a trap and killed by Bellatrix, in his opinion, it all gave people a feeling of being brainless and stupid.
If it were me, I would definitely not change the secret keeper in the first place.
After all, according to the description given by the Ministry of Magic afterwards, when Voldemort and his Death Eaters were wreaking havoc in the British wizarding world, due to the abuse of the Imperius Curse, trust was an extremely luxurious thing, and even the relatives around them could betray them in the next second.
Therefore, at this time, only everyone knows who the traitor is.
Blake obviously knew that he was not a traitor, so according to normal thinking logic, he should not give up the position of secret-keeper and be replaced by Peter, who usually showed timid, cowardly and fearful character.
As for his later actions, which many bystanders thought were "manly enough", such as avenging his friend at all costs, even if it meant being charged with a crime and sent to Azkaban prison, it was extremely brainless.
You know, there is a thing called truth serum in the magic world! He only needed to catch Peter Pettigrew first, and then hand him over to the Ministry of Magic for interrogation with truth serum. By then, the truth would be revealed. There was no need for him to spend more than ten years in prison, which would have given his godson Harry a rather unhappy childhood.
As for revenge...
He could have waited until Peter was imprisoned in Azkaban and then used his status as the only heir of the Black family, as well as his family's connections, wealth, and influence in the British wizarding world over the years, to torture this traitor bit by bit until he was worse off than dead, or even completely destroy his spirit and will, turning him into a complete lunatic.
Just like what madwoman Bellatrix did to the Longbottoms.
You have to know that revenge is not about killing your enemy as quickly as possible, but about making him suffer enough before he dies.
In short, by analyzing Sirius Black's life experience, we can easily draw a conclusion that this guy is 100% inclined to the chaotic camp.
Compared with Snape, who endured humiliation and was willing to be an extremely dangerous double agent and secretly completed Dumbledore's arrangements after his death, he neither fulfilled his duties as a godfather to take care of and protect Harry after his friend's death, nor played any important role in the fight against Voldemort. Recklessness, impulsiveness and stupidity were written all over his forehead.
Therefore, Zuo Si looked at Black coldly from beginning to end. He did not think that there was anything worthy of sympathy for Harry's godfather who had been in Azkaban for more than ten years. It was all his own fault.
Just when he had just finished reading a page of the Netheril scroll and was very tired and wanted to stop and rest for a while, he suddenly felt someone hugging him from behind. Without turning around, he immediately asked with a smile: "Is today's Defense Against the Dark Arts class over?"
"Well! Apart from the fact that he is not very friendly to Gryffindor students, Professor Snape is actually quite good at Defense Against the Dark Arts. I don't understand why Headmaster Dumbledore did not agree to let him teach this course concurrently, but instead recruited some random guys, so that students of all ages could not learn any useful knowledge for two consecutive semesters."
Hermione said as she threw her backpack full of notes and textbooks onto a nearby chair, her tone full of complaints.
Zuo Si explained nonchalantly, "Do you remember what I told you in Diagon Alley before the start of this semester?
This course is cursed, so the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor is actually a consumable.
Look at what happened to Quirrell in the first semester, and then look at what happened to Lockhart this semester, and you'll know how dangerous this position is.
The headmaster obviously didn't want the school to lose an excellent Potions master, so he had to find someone to make do with it for the time being.
In fact, the essence of Defense Against the Dark Arts is spell dueling.
The outcome of a spell duel depends on a series of factors such as vision, insight, knowledge, experience, the amount of magic mastered, etc.
In this regard, you are actually ahead of others. "
"You mean... the magical theory knowledge and hundreds of spells from other worlds?" Hermione's eyes lit up slightly.
As a top student, she would never forget the mountains of books, notes and scrolls in the doomsday bunker.
However, if you want to understand the content, you need to learn at least seven more languages.
Yes!
Master at least seven relatively independent and unrelated languages and writing systems! This is the minimum threshold for learning magic.
From this point alone, it is not difficult to see how difficult it is for most ordinary people to become a magician.
The only thing that made Hermione feel fortunate was that she didn't have to learn all the languages at once. Instead, she only needed to learn one of them first and then start learning the basic theoretical knowledge.
Seeing the eager look of the girl in front of him, Zuo Si couldn't help but smile and nodded: "That's right. Since you already know the existence of other magical time and space, why limit yourself to this world? The multiverse is very vast, so vast that it exceeds the limits of everyone's imagination."
"Then...then can you take me to these time and space and appreciate the different scenery together?" Hermione asked with a faint blush on her face.
"Of course! But the prerequisite is that you must have the strength to protect yourself first.
You have to know that not all time and space are as safe as this world.
There are many monsters in time and space running rampant, wars, killings and conspiracies raging, and there is no order or law at all.
It's completely a law of the jungle where the strong prey on the weak and only the fittest survive. If you're not careful, you'll die.
Even more extreme are places populated by evil creatures like demons and devils.
Where evil is equal to good."
While saying this, Zuo Si looked directly into the girl's eyes, and his tone was more serious than ever before.
Just as he said, this world is too safe. Even Voldemort, known as the most terrifying dark wizard, only caused the deaths of a few hundred people.
Compared with the situation in Faerun where a civilization or a species would simply disappear from the stage of history and millions of people would evaporate into thin air, it was just like a joke.
Of course, the two world wars fought by Muggles and the subsequent development of thermonuclear weapons are not included.
After all, since they have no resistance to magic such as charm control, instant movement, and ultra-long-distance transmission, the governments of the Muggle world are basically defenseless in front of powerful spellcasters, and the top leaders of the ruling class can be easily wiped out.
By then, if they lose the nuclear missile launch button and control of the army, they will basically become puppets controlled by others.
This is why Zuo Si dared to say that he could become the "ancestor" of this world at any time as long as he wanted.
Therefore, he must make the girl understand the huge risks of traveling across time and space.
"Demons? Devils? Have you really seen these creatures that only exist in myths and legends?"
Far from being frightened by the horrific scene depicted, Hermione became even more excited.
There is no doubt that this is the bravery and adventurous spirit that emanates from her, and it is also the reason why she was sent to Gryffindor House by the Sorting Hat.
Zuo Si reached out his hand to help the girl tidy up her messy hair, and answered without hesitation: "Angels, demons, devils, elves, dwarves, orcs, undead creatures, truly intelligent dragons, and super-giant elemental creatures as tall as skyscrapers. These all exist in reality. But the question is, are you ready to face them?"
"Don't worry, I will do my best to achieve your requirements as soon as possible." Hermione assured confidently.
"Haha, then I'll look forward to it. Oh, by the way, in order to help you learn more knowledge in a short period of time, I decided to give you a small gift."
As he spoke, Zuo Si took out a homemade time converter from his pocket and handed it to the girl.
Hermione picked it up and asked curiously, "What is this? Some kind of timekeeping device?"
"No! It's a time-twister that allows you to go back a few hours or even a day or two.
This way, you can use one day as if it were two or three days.
But please note that it is best not to be discovered by anyone when using it.
In particular, you must avoid encountering your past self as much as possible, otherwise something terrible will happen.
Besides, a person's time does not increase or disappear out of thin air.
The accumulated time you spend using the Time Converter will eventually be returned to you.
To put it simply, if you go back three hours in the past, your body's growth rate will not stagnate during these three hours, while that of other people at the same point in time will remain the same.
Maybe after a few days or weeks, nothing will be seen.
But if you accumulate it over a few months or even years, you will look taller and more mature than your peers..."
Zuo Si patiently explained the principles of the time converter and the things that needed to be paid attention to.
It was only after careful consideration that he decided to give the time converter he made to the other party.
On the one hand, Hermione is currently in her growth spurt, so even if it accelerates the consumption of one or two years, it doesn't matter. On the contrary, she can accumulate knowledge quickly during this period when her learning ability is the strongest.
On the other hand, the current girl is too weak. If she is not strengthened a little, she will not be able to achieve the desired goal.
"Time...time travel? This is too unbelievable!"
Hermione stared at the little gadget in her hand and swallowed subconsciously.
"It's nothing unbelievable. In fact, there is a special place in the Department of Mysteries of the Ministry of Magic that studies time magic. This converter is one of the results of many years of research. Also, remember to keep it confidential and don't tell anyone, because it is strictly illegal to use this thing without the authorization of the Ministry of Magic."
After saying this, Zuo Si picked up the time converter and hung it around the girl's neck.
moment!
The time-turner changed from an hourglass into a uniquely shaped amulet.
You don't need to ask to know that this is a disguised illusion magic.
After all, many professors at Hogwarts know about the existence of the time-turner. If they discover it, it will cause a series of unnecessary troubles.
Hermione lowered her head and looked at this magic prop with magical powers. She could no longer contain her inner excitement and stood on tiptoe to give Zuo Si a passionate kiss.
Hermione licked her lips with satisfaction, staring at the Netheril scroll on the table, and asked in an uncertain tone: "What exactly is this thing? I noticed that you have been reading the contents of it whenever you have free time recently."
"This is a scroll of Netheril, a carrier that records the most primitive theoretical basis of magic in a certain time and space. Anyone who can read it will inevitably gain unimaginable and amazing theoretical knowledge, and will have a deeper understanding of magic." Zuo Si explained concisely.
Through these days of hard work and study day and night, he has successfully read most of the first chapter of the scroll, that is, six of the scrolls, and successfully upgraded his archmage level to LV5.
As for the extra opportunities to increase arcane spellcasting levels, they are added to the mage profession.
This means that including the LV6 mage and LV10 mystic, the total level of arcane spellcasting professions has officially crossed LV21 and officially entered the realm of legendary spellcasters.
Among them, the Archmage profession offers optional higher arcane abilities for upgrading. Zuo Si chose [Power of Spells], [Spell-Like Abilities], and [Arcane Hands].
[Power of Spell] is very simple. It is to sacrifice a fifth-ring spell slot to increase your own effective casting level, making all spells more powerful and more difficult for the opponent to resist and exempt.
[Arcane Hand] sacrifices a seventh-level spell slot to gain the ability to use a magician's hand, which can be used to complete some magic that requires direct contact with the target to take effect, with the maximum distance reaching more than eighteen meters.
This ability is similar to the magical pet's [Transfer Contact].
If you learn to double cast or even multicast, that is, cast two or more spells at once, the effect will be unexpectedly good.
[Spell-like Ability] is relatively complicated. First, you need to sacrifice a fifth-level spell slot and use an empty spell slot that does not store any magic to permanently store a specific spell. Then convert it into a spell-like ability. This ability can be used twice a day.
If you memorize a lower-level spell using a higher-level spell slot, you gain additional uses per day for that spell.
To give a simple example, if a sixth-level spell slot is used to store third-level magic, then this spell-like ability can be used four times a day instead of twice. If it is stored in a spell slot of sixth level or above, it can be used six times.
As for the two abilities like [Arcane Fire] and [Counter Spell Control], Zuo Si had no interest in even opening his eyes to look at them.
Because he already had the higher-level silver fire bestowed by the goddess of magic, he naturally looked down on low-level things like the arcane fire.
Counterspell control overlaps with the special abilities of the Creator class, so it was ruthlessly eliminated.
As the Archmage class reached its maximum limit of LV5, Zuo Si began to consider whether to create an advanced class for arcane spellcasting.
Otherwise, it would be a bit of a waste to add all the rewards provided by reading the scrolls of Netheril to the basic mage profession.
In addition, because he had learned and collected a vast amount of magical knowledge from different worlds, even though he had just crossed the legendary threshold, he had as many as six legendary spell slots per day.
Including the [Mummy Dust] and [Great Collapse] which had been researched with huge amounts of money and resources, as well as several super spells transformed from the secret library in the central tower of the floating city, the total number of legendary magic mastered by Zuo Si reached an astonishing seven.
You have to know that most of the legendary wizards in Faerun can only master one or two, or two or three legendary magics at best.
Upon hearing the astonishing origin of the Netheril scroll, Hermione immediately showed a curious look and subconsciously took a look at the contents on it.
The next second...
She suddenly felt a sharp pain in her brain, and a lot of horrible hallucinations that could not be described in words appeared before her eyes. She immediately fell to the ground and screamed in pain.
“Aa ...
Needless to say, the girl's current level of intelligence is not enough to withstand such a huge amount of knowledge and information. Her nose is even bleeding.
Upon seeing this, Zuo Si immediately put away the scroll on the table and winked at Fenghuang beside him.
The latter immediately understood and released the fire of eternal life to wrap Hermione's entire head.
After a full ten minutes, the reckless girl finally recovered, trembling, and asked in a fearful tone: "What...what's the matter with that scroll? I...I feel like there is suddenly a lot of inexplicable knowledge and memories in my brain."
Zuo Si held his forehead and responded in a slightly reproachful tone: "Congratulations, you have successfully obtained some extremely valuable magical knowledge from the scroll.
But promise me you won’t do it again next time.
Do you know that if a person with insufficient intelligence reads this scroll, he or she will easily become an idiot or a madman under the impact of the huge amount of information?
In its original world, no mortal had the ability to read all the knowledge contained in the scrolls of Netheril.
Unless there is guidance from the goddess of magic.
Another thing is to control your strong curiosity. After figuring out the real purpose of something, it is best not to touch it easily, let alone try to read its contents.
Compared with other time and space, there are often many books that can control people's minds, tempt people to fall, or even have terrible curses, the so-called "dangerous" books in the restricted area of Hogwarts are actually nothing.
The truly dangerous things are like this Netherese scroll, which can kill you just by looking at it."
Hermione also saw the area around her mouth and nose, as well as the large area on her clothes that was stained red. She immediately realized how much blood she had just lost, and nodded with lingering fear: "I see. Thank you for saving me just now."
"You're welcome. Given the relationship between us, even if you die accidentally, I will do everything I can to revive you."
Zuo Si pulled the girl up from the ground, waved his wand and cast a cleansing spell to clean the blood off both of their bodies.
"We will be together forever, right?" Hermione asked without raising her head while hugging Zuo Si tightly.
"certainly!"
Zuo Si gently kissed the girl on the forehead.
With his high emotional intelligence, he knows better than anyone that no matter what he is thinking in his heart, he must not hesitate at this time and must give a positive answer at the first time.
After this lesson, Hermione finally developed a sense of vigilance towards other worlds and no longer dared to touch the things that Zuo Si brought from other worlds.
…
At the same time, far away in the continent of Faerun, inside the Snail Shell Ship beneath the Mage Tower of Askatra.
The three Isadoras stood in a row, watching another one of them take off all the clothes on her body, and at the signal of the Mind Flayer, slowly walked into the brain pool, allowing the tentacles controlled by the main brain to capture her and then pull her into the deep crevice of the brain hillock.
There was no resistance or struggle during the entire process.
"This... is it really okay to do this? Wouldn't Soth be angry if he knew?" The shy Isadora asked stutteringly.
"Don't worry, all we do is for Soth. It shows that we love him deeply. He won't blame us." Another Isadora at the side comforted in a very calm tone.
The third Isadora snorted coldly and said with a jealous look, "This guy is really cunning! He actually wants to use this method to avoid his personality being devoured and to follow Soth forever in an independent form."
"There's nothing we can do. Among the four of us, she is the only one who is most suitable to replace the main brain's consciousness." The second Isadora shrugged helplessly.
"Keep quiet! The ritual has already begun!" the Mind Flayer warned, waving its tentacles.
In just a few seconds, a powerful spiritual energy gushed out from the brain pool, covering the entire room.
The powerful destructive force tore into pieces in just a moment several goblins imprisoned in cages at the door that were used as food.
Before they could even figure out what was happening, their entire bodies suddenly exploded from the inside, with bright red flesh and internal organs splattering everywhere. The scene was extremely bloody.
However, the three Isadoras and the Mind Flayer were not affected.
At this moment, they were all shining with the light of spiritual energy, and it was obvious that they had added protection in advance.
"Attention! The battle for consciousness has begun! Everyone, suppress the main brain as much as possible to ensure that it cannot concentrate."
The Mind Flayer gave orders to the three Isadoras through telepathic connection.
The latter did not hesitate at all! Almost at the same time, he released his mental energy, forcing the main brain to use part of its power for defense.
After all, the psychic powers released by the three Isadoras together are enough to threaten its life and death.
Right now, in the room where the brain pool is located, one can see with the naked eye the blue light flashing in the air from time to time colliding with each other, and then releasing a powerful mental explosion.
You have to know that psionic energy is not like arcane energy, which is often easy to capture.
Just the opposite!
The former will only become visible when it is powerful enough.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Along with the surging energy and the soul-shaking roar, the brain pool finally had a more violent reaction.
To be precise, it was the main brain that accelerated the speed of devouring Isadora's body.
Suddenly, densely packed tiny tentacles as numerous as cow hairs grew out from the cortical surface of this enlarged version of the human brain, and began to frantically dismember the latter's body.
After a while, the girl's fair skin and attractive curves that were enough to arouse men's endless fantasies were completely devoured, revealing a large area of white bones. It seemed that she could not last long.
But what is unbelievable is that at this moment her psychic power has not weakened, but has become stronger, directly suppressing the consciousness of the main brain.
One minute...
Ten minutes...
Half an hour...
When Isadora's body entered the brain pool and completely disappeared from this world, the fierce confrontation finally stopped, and then a voice suddenly echoed in everyone's mind.
"I am Isadora. I have successfully devoured the consciousness of the Mastermind. From now on, I am the Mastermind!"
moment!
Both the mind flayer who was in charge of presiding over the ceremony and the other three Isadoras breathed a sigh of relief.
(End of this chapter)