Chapter 390: Oath

By the Black Lake.

Murphy was taking a walk with Dumbledore.

The two walked a short distance along the gravel path. Dumbledore suddenly stopped, looked at the castle in the distance, and sighed. "What are you going to do with Hogwarts?"

"It's no longer suitable to continue as a school. On the one hand, the spirit world channel still has hidden dangers; on the other hand, the number of little wizards will increase significantly in the future, and Hogwarts may be difficult to bear the responsibility of educating all little wizards."

"However, this place has a long history and is buried with many secrets. I plan to use it as a research and archaeological base."

"Murphy, I hope you understand that this school has an incomparably special meaning for many people."

"I understand. Why are you looking at me like that? I'm not going to blow up the school."

Dumbledore didn't seem to believe it. "I heard that you blew up more than a dozen doors to let Snape enter the headmaster's office."

"Cough... isn't it because you used some means when you left..."

"That was not my means; that was the will of Hogwarts itself."

"It sounds like it's alive."

"It has existed for a thousand years, with countless magic intertwined in it. Even though I have been in the school longer than most people, I can only glimpse a small part of it. So many complex magic powers are mixed together, and for a whole thousand years, every brick and stone of Hogwarts has been soaked in this magic power. Who dares to say it is not alive?"

"Even now, I can still feel its special call."

Murphy glanced at the castle. "Sorry, Professor, even if it is alive, it has never spoken to me."

Murphy shrugged. "It probably doesn't want to pay attention to me."

Dumbledore was speechless for a while. After a long time, he moved his lips, seemingly wanting to say something, but held back.

"I guess you want to say that I lack awe for some things," Murphy teased with a smile.

"Time has its own power, Murphy," Dumbledore sighed. "History does too. But such words of mine may seem like clichés that should be abandoned in your eyes. After all, you are the winner."

Murphy looked at the school for a long time and said, "Hogwarts is also a special place for me, although it may not be as important to me as it is to you, it does have an extraordinary meaning. Don't worry, I will protect your school well. Maybe one day, you can go back and continue teaching."

Dumbledore shook his head and didn't take Murphy's words seriously.

"Speaking of history," Murphy said, "Professor, how did you know about the existence of the Oath? You must have studied this aspect, right?"

Murphy looking for Dumbledore to take a walk was naturally not for idle chat. He wanted to figure out the truth about the Oath and the gods, and Dumbledore was the wizard he knew who understood this matter the most.

"Indeed, I have done some research," Dumbledore said. "What do you want to know?"

"Let's confirm first. In my understanding, the Oath is something like this: it is a spell similar to the Fidelius Charm, which takes magic as a secret and preserves it in the hearts of wizards, and all wizards are Secret-Keepers. It is precisely because of this secrecy effect that magic is hidden from many people, the magic level of the world has declined because of this, which led to the exit of the gods. Is that right?"

"Not bad," Dumbledore said. "That magic has no name, but it is probably the source of spells like the Fidelius Charm and the Unbreakable Vow. It is an extremely ancient magic power, named 'geis' or 'geasa', which is the 'Oath'."

"In ancient legends, the Oath would bring power to ancient heroes, making them invincible, but at the same time, it is also a taboo and a weakness. Once heroes violate the Oath, they will immediately lose their power, suffer terrible misfortune, or even lose their lives directly."

"The Oath is like an exchange of fate. It gives heroes power and will guide heroes to destruction. The greater the power obtained from the Oath, the greater the price often needs to be paid."

Murphy nodded. For this kind of ancient magic, he had also seen some explanations in books. "Then, do you know who created this Oath?"

"The data does not record it. The time it was formed is very ancient, more than a thousand years ago. However, some data shows that some ancient Druids were the guardians of the Oath, and later this group of Druids evolved into the Order of Merlin."

"I was able to know about the existence of the Oath also because after I received the Order of Merlin, First Class, I was able to browse some of the history of the ancient Order, and then discovered some clues from it."

"Merlin?" Murphy was stunned for a moment, then asked, "Is it possible that he created this Oath?"

Merlin is almost equivalent to the god of wizards. He might be the most powerful wizard in legend. If anyone in the past could do such a feat, Merlin seems to be the only candidate.

"Perhaps, but I can't find relevant data..." Dumbledore said.

Murphy pondered for a while, but there were no useful clues. The era Merlin lived in was too ancient, and basically no credible text was left.

After thinking about it, he asked again: "There is another question. The purpose of this Oath is to expel the gods, right? Why? Are wizards and gods hostile? What exactly are gods?"

"I don't know. Almost no pure-blood or half-blood wizards are interested in religion," Dumbledore said. "Perhaps wizards are indeed hostile to gods, but I don't know the specific reason."

"Alright, then you don't know the means to achieve the Oath either, right?"

Dumbledore shook his head. "I'm sorry, I really don't know. But I have a guess. Such magic that can cover the whole world should be difficult to complete by just one wizard. This is probably a ritual. And since it is an Oath, and its effect is so powerful, then to make it take effect, I am afraid it also needs to pay a very significant price."

"Alright," Murphy sighed, somewhat disappointed.

"What are you preparing to do by wanting to understand this?" Dumbledore asked.

Murphy thought for a moment and didn't hide it. "Naturally, I want to find a way to deal with the gods. I think since the Oath can seal them once, maybe it can come again. As long as I know the specific method of the formation of the Oath, maybe I can solve the problem once and for all. At least it should be able to weaken them."

Dumbledore frowned. "I think it's impossible for such a thing to be preserved."

"The fundamental form of the Oath is secrecy. Stating the existence of this secret itself will increase the risk of the secret being exposed. This is also the reason why I didn't want to tell you before. Those people who founded this Oath will definitely eliminate any information about the existence of this secret as much as possible."

"Therefore, until now, we can only infer the general content of the Oath, but cannot accurately know what it is and how it works."

Alright.

Murphy could also guess that it was probably like this.

The idea of figuring out the mechanism of the Oath on the gods and then doing it again seems to be unworkable.

"So magic revival is inevitable."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 391 =====