Professor Baker's Gift

Chapter 35 Professor Baker's Gift

But once Avada returned to the familiar Hufflepuff common room and saw those familiar faces, he decided to stop thinking about it.

All he wants now is to get a good night's sleep and wake up whenever he wants!

So he immediately put the idea into practice—after saying goodbye to Cedric, his three roommates, and other friends, he went straight back to his dorm room, collapsed onto his soft bed, and lost consciousness.

When he opened his eyes contentedly and went to the common room to get some breakfast to fill his stomach, he was met with shocked looks from a group of Hufflepuffs.

"It's already 9 PM! You slept for fourteen hours straight!"

Summers' tone was exaggerated: "I went to your dorm several times to check on you, asking if you wanted to go out for lunch and dinner... but you were fast asleep, not hearing a thing, and fourteen hours passed like that!"

"ha?"

Avada paused for a moment upon hearing this, then suddenly realized and said, "It's probably because I was under too much pressure recently and my mind was constantly tense. Now that the pressure is suddenly gone, my mind is completely relaxed, so I slept for a while... Don't worry, I'm fine."

"Of course we know you're alright, considering how busy you've been lately. And we did save you some dinner, but the problem is..."

"What's the problem?"

"The problem is, if you're waking up at this hour, you can forget about sleeping tonight. What will you do for class tomorrow?"

"..."

"Actually, it's not a big problem." The senior who sold the brain-boosting drug to Avada had overheard their conversation and said cheerfully, "All we need to do is prepare a sleeping potion... It's very simple, just heat up some daffodil root powder and mugwort together."

"I just couldn't sleep one night, and you're telling me to drink the living hell potion?!" Avada exclaimed in horror.

"What are you thinking? The real Hellfire Elixir is much more complicated than this; it requires at least a sixth-grade level of skill to make. What I'm talking about is just the base for the Hellfire Elixir, the simplest kind of sleeping pill..."

Finally, on the advice of that senior, Avada prepared a simple potion of Hellfire and drank it before going to bed, asking his roommates to wake him up on time, and if they couldn't, to give him a potion to invigorate him.

……

After being scolded by Snape for using excessive amounts of stimulants, Avada finally finished his day's classes. After a quick bite to eat in the Great Hall, he immediately went up to the third floor, suppressing the urge to cast a Disillusionment Charm, and walked to the familiar Defense Against the Dark Arts office, where he found Baron already waiting for him.

The two didn't say much, exchanged a glance, nodded, and then knocked on the office door.

"You're here?"

The door clicked open by itself, revealing Professor Baker, who was smiling and watching the two of them. He seemed to know who was outside without even opening the door.

"Come in quickly, your payment is ready..."

After Avada and Baron entered the office, he waved his hand and closed the door again. Then he walked to his desk, took a large bag from the cabinet, and opened it.

"First, there's the monetary reward of 500 Galleons per person. I know you're all fairly well-off, but 500 Galleons is still a considerable sum; it's almost all the cash I carry with me. The cost of the materials you purchased yourself has already been factored in; they're all in the bag..."

"Don't refuse, unless you think my life isn't even worth a thousand gallons."

As he spoke, he took out two money pouches from the large bag, and then took out two identical booklets, placing them in front of the two men along with the money pouches.

"And then there's this..."

Professor Baker gave a mysterious smile: "This is the main event of today."

"What is this?"

The two asked curiously, "The book is so small, how much valuable knowledge can be recorded on it?"

"Remember the 'double casting' I mentioned?" Professor Baker chuckled. "This is where you learn how to 'double casting'."

"You're going to reveal your trump card to us?!"

Avada asked in shock. Of course he remembered this skill—Professor Baker had repeatedly warned them from the beginning that they must knock off his first wand at the start of the battle, otherwise he could use two wands at the same time to use 'double casting' in the battle, putting them under several times the pressure!

"I believe you won't leak it carelessly, and its effects aren't as exaggerated as you imagine."

Professor Baker explained, "The essence of dual casting is multitasking, but this consumes far more energy than usual, so it can't be used as a regular move, nor can it double your combat power out of thin air. Its main purpose is to use it to achieve a surprise victory when things get deadlocked."

"Even so, it's deadly to those who don't know this move—almost all the formidable enemies who gave me a hard time fell to it, including Ethelred. I deliberately covered it up when the memories played back."

"Two more items..." — Two more items?

Professor Baker then pulled out two more books: "These two contain the true knowledge of the 'Confession' spell. When I asked you to set up the spell before, you simply followed my instructions without understanding the underlying principles. However, now that you have successfully set up the spell, I think this knowledge should be of some use to you."

"However, the knowledge inside is too profound, and some parts are incomplete, so you'd better not expect to understand it before graduation."

"Finally, I've also prepared a gift for each of you."

To the astonishment of the two men, Professor Baker took a familiar-looking black crystal ball from the bag: "This is for Mr. Shafik."

"Professor," Baron stammered, pointing at the crystal ball, "is this...?"

"That's right, it's the container that once held my consciousness."

Professor Baker, seeing the somewhat frightened look in Baron's eyes, said with amusement, "I know what you're thinking, but you're overthinking it. This thing is just an ordinary prophecy orb right now; it won't suddenly absorb your consciousness one day. Unless you, like me, accidentally split your consciousness and figure out how to use it by consulting a lot of cryptic information..."

"It currently has only two functions: first, it's incredibly durable, strong enough to withstand the scorching heat of Fiery Blaze for ten seconds; second, it can make a 'prophecy' once a month to predict the danger of the thing you're about to do. When you use this function, one to seven stars will appear inside it, one representing the safest and seven representing the most dangerous—I've written a booklet about how to use it, and it's here."

"And when you're strong enough, you can try to analyze it. You'll discover many amazing and practical techniques that might greatly benefit you... As a token of gratitude for saving my life, Mr. Shafik, are you satisfied?"

"Why did you add a prophecy function to your container?" Baron felt much more at ease after hearing Professor Baker's words, and then asked curiously.

"It's for disguise. Once people discover that it originally had its own purpose, they generally won't think about whether there's a wizard's consciousness hidden inside," Professor Baker replied casually, but then a look of struggle and hesitation appeared on his face.

"Mr. Ken's gift... Mr. Ken, you're a Hufflepuff student, right? Then I think you're qualified to accept it..."

As he spoke, he slowly took out the last item from the bag: a huge book as thick as a dictionary and as large as a magazine, which was now tightly locked by a pure black cover and straps of unknown material.

"Mr. Ken, could you put a drop of blood on this book? I need to bind this book to you so that only you can see its contents."

Avada was taken aback, then conjured a needle and pricked his arm, squeezing out a drop of blood to smear on the book cover—he couldn't prick his fingertip, as it hurt.

"alright."

Professor Baker pushed the enormous book towards Avada, staring intently into his eyes: "The knowledge within may very well touch upon the deepest, most fundamental mysteries of this world. It is incredibly profound and fascinating, but if you lose your caution and reverence in the process of exploring it, it could also cost you dearly..."

"I suspect you harbor a great secret—don't be surprised, I've been suspicious ever since you concluded my vessel was a dark magic artifact, and subsequent events have only confirmed my suspicions…and I also believe your character is sufficient for you to harness the knowledge within. So I've decided to give it to you as a token of my gratitude for saving my life. Accept it, don't refuse, and if you feel it's too precious, then use the knowledge within to do something that aligns with your perceived value."

"To avoid any potential risks, I've also put a seal on this book, so you can only open it and start learning about its contents after sixth grade."

"call……"

Watching Avada and Baron leave the office and close the door again, Professor Baker leaned back in his chair and let out a long sigh.

"An extraordinary sensitivity to magic? Or... is it directly gazing upon the 'origin'?"

(End of this chapter)